Shadow of the Vampire (35 page)

         
"Alex," he breathed.

         
She pinched her eyes, her head tossing back and forth. Hooking a finger under her chin, he forced her eyes to his. "Alexia, look at me." She complied. But at the pure agony and torture on her face, he decided he could tell her later and pulled her to her feet. Once she was steady, he removed the dirty gown and tossed it aside. The intoxicating scent of her arousal perfumed the air around him. His mouth watered and his cock throbbed with need. When he pulled back, the sight of her sent his heart kicking against his ribs.

         
So beautiful. So delicate. The beast within him roared to dominate her, to pound into her hard and fast and claim her as his own. The urge so intense and overpowering he didn't know if he could hold it at bay. Tremors raked his body and blood roared behind his ears. Granite-hard, his shaft stood out from his body, reaching for her heat. The stories he'd heard about all his life finally rang true with a vengeance.

         
Dragons were fiercely violent when they mated.

         
Mated.

         
An intense wave pulsed between them, beckoning him to her. His fingers bit into her hips, holding her an arm's length from him. "Alex," he panted, his voice as shaky as the rest of him. "I can't do this without telling you."

         
Small hands grabbed his face, hard, yanking him to her lips. Claws scored his cheeks as her warm tongue speared between his lips. Declan groaned at the sweet pain and wound his arms around her waist, pinning her against him.

         
ALEXIA CRIED into his mouth. The friction of his skin on hers was more powerful and intoxicating than she had expected. It was like she was freezing cold and only he could warm her. Frantic, desperate, their bodies, mouths, souls did all they could do to get closer. Yet, it was never close enough. An unquenchable burning smoldered inside her. An itch she could not reach, much less scratch and soothe. But she knew Declan could. Knew only he could tame the wild inferno raging inside her.

         
"Please," she begged, tearing her mouth from his. "I can't wait anymore."

         
Turning, she rested her hands on the bed frame and bent forward, offering herself to him. Anticipation thrummed through her. Her sex pulsed, greedy, hungry, waiting for him to ease the ache. Seconds melted into minutes. She looked over her shoulder to see what kept him and her breath stuck in her throat.

         
He stood, fists swollen, face drawn tight in a mask of rage. In a flash, he reached out, seizing her shoulders in a firm grip, spinning her around.

         
"You never do that with me," he bit out, his face inches from hers. "Ever. Do you understand? Not with me."

         
Shocked, she could little more than nod. The flames of rage died in his eyes. It was after that she saw the sorrow and affection burning behind them. Then he closed his eyes and enveloped her in his embrace.

         
"I'm sorry," he whispered fiercely. Wet and hot, his kisses scored her throat, easing the wounds she'd already forgotten about. Shivers danced along her skin. She tipped back her head and wrapped her arms around his neck. "For everything," he said in a dark, seductive voice as he lifted her in his powerful arms and set her back on the edge of the bed.

         
DECLAN'S HEART SPLINTERED into a thousand fragments when she turned, submitting to him the way he'd seen Lotharus take her. He'd barely been able to control his fury. It had been her eyes that had brought him back from the edge. Those beautiful pink eyes, blinking up at him with awe and complete surrender. In that moment, he realized she'd given herself to him. That she trusted him enough to go through something that had never been pleasurable for her, to please him.

         
He could not change the past, but he could take control of the future.

         
Inclining his head, he bent his lips to hers, his eyes never leaving her face. When their mouths would have touched, he held back, hovering over her. Their breath mingled. The delicate, feminine scent of her crackling through him like lightning, summoning him to her. His shoulders shook and tension coiled his insides, but he did not move. He wanted her to come to him, wanted her to have all the control, all the power for once. She already wielded it over his heart, but he wanted to give her power over his body.

         
A hand cupped his cheek and he jumped at the contact. The demand to mate tackled him. His hands gripped the edge of the bed frame in a white-knuckled grip, holding himself back, fighting a nature inherent to his kind since creation.

         
"Declan, please. I need you."

         
She did. He could see it on her face. Dots of sweat covered her brow and dark circles lay under her sallow eyes. If he didn't claim her soon, she would wither. Her newfound strength would ebb and she would slip back into the untimely death his blood had saved her from. Yet, it still wasn't enough for him to let go of the reins and give in to the dragon.

         
"Don't want to...hurt you," he panted.

         
"You can't hurt me. I'm burning already."

         
He shook his head. "Don't understand." Every muscle in his arms shook. The tendons burned, feeling like he held an avalanche away from her.

         
Long and smooth, her legs wound around his waist, pulling him close where he tried to keep back. His body tensed as she scooted forward so her butt rested on the edge of the bed. Her breasts jostled with the movement, heavy and perfect. The nipples puckered so tight it looked painful. His mouth watered to taste them. An unseen force pressed on his head, trying to fulfill his silent desire.

         
He yanked back only to have another pull of her emerging dragoness pheromones beckon him back to her. His hips bucked forward and showers of light burst in front of his eyes. This time she felt it, too. Her body answered back, arching toward him. A visible shudder trembled over her skin and her eyes widened in understanding.

         
"I think I do."

         
Sitting up tall, a sense of wonder in her eyes, she tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled herself up to his mouth. His bones melted at the feel of her warm lips sliding against his. A low purr hummed out of her and she did it again.

         
ALEXIA KNEW HIS RESTRAINT hung by a thread. Knew only a thin fiber of control stood between the gentle, caring lover before her and the beast that would ravish and claim her. Heat pooled between her legs at the thought. Although she recognized and admired what he tried to do, whatever happened had changed her. She needed him as badly as he needed her.

         
"Please," she murmured, brushing the tips of her sensitive nipples against his chest. "Let go." Another spike of need pulsed through their bodies. They both tensed and held their breath. Alexia clung to his back, her open mouth covering the apple of his shoulder.

         
"Mating is the..." he groaned as another jolt wrapped around them, drawing them together "...only way to stop this. It's what you need. Me inside you."

         
Alexia leaned back and gazed into his face. His eyes were completely black, the pupils dilated, covering up the blue. Without taking her gaze from his, she reached down to his hand. It took more force than she imagined to yank him free from the bed frame. She wouldn't be surprised if the wood bore the indent of his fingers.

         
"Touch me," she said, placing his hand over her naked breast.

         
His chest heaved and his nostrils flared. And then, whatever leash held him back snapped. He lunged for her and she met him, accepting the full brunt of his assault with contented relief. Ravenous, his mouth covered her lips. Alexia captured his kiss, claiming him in return with equal lust and fervor. A primal sound rumbled through his chest. The desire she heard in his groan made made her yearn to be claimed.

         
Heavy and thick, he covered her. She cried out in bliss at the feel of their bodies clashing together, clawing to get closer. The hand on her breast flexed, squeezing and kneading her flesh. Declan bent, taking the aching tip in his mouth, sucking, curling his tongue around it and nipping the sensitive peak with his teeth.

         
Liquid heat shot through her veins, pooling between her legs. "Declan," she whimpered.

         
He released her nipple. Cool air kissed the damp skin, making it crimp tighter, reach up for the heat of his mouth. But his head lifted, his gaze settling on her face. Eyes dark with passion, he kept his gaze on hers as the hand on her waist slid lower. Alexia let her knees fall open. The move had his heavy body sinking into the cradle of her hips. Her eyes fluttered shut at the delicious contact. So close. Soon.

         
DECLAN REACHED BETWEEN her legs, his hand covering her sex. A low groan tore from his throat at the feel of her. Gods, she was fire, burning, slick against his fingers. His cock pulsed, begging to plunge inside her heat. Feeling like he'd desired nothing but this for so long.

         
"Please," she panted, her hips arching into his hand. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm burning."

         
He knew. Gods, he knew.

         
"Declan, I need..."

         
"I know."

         
Her body was telling him what she needed, as if she hadn't spoken it eloquently enough already. The exotic fluid of her need bathed her skin. His fingers slipped between her pink folds with ease. Blood rushed to the tip of his already stiff cock, engorging it even further. Hard and heavy, his balls throbbed with the need to come, to give her what she longed for. Instead he glided a finger inside her heat. Her tight walls gripped him, greedily hugging his finger and sucking it deeper. Gods, he couldn't breathe, couldn't think of anything other than how amazing she was going to feel wrapped around him.

         
He wanted to dive down and taste her, wanted to worship every inch of her. But he knew now what she required to live was not his tongue but his seed coating her womb. She whimpered when his hand left her, sighing when he positioned the swollen head of his cock at the heart of her.

         
ALEXIA PIVOTED HER HIPS, trying to ease him inside, but he held back. Bending over her, he set his mouth to hers, his tongue slipping between her lips, sampling the moist recess of her mouth. Alexia's head spun, her body vibrated on the edge of madness. Her core contracted, trying to pull the tip of him farther into her body, while she sucked his tongue deeper into her mouth.

         
Then he pulled back. The flat of his palm skated down her face, a look of awe and wonder filled his eyes before he bent to her once more.

         
"I love you, Alex," he whispered against her lips before entering her in one plunging stroke, joining them. Alexia cried out as the delicious size of him spread her, stretched her, filled her.

         
DECLAN HELD HIMSELF INSIDE HER, his face buried in the sweet place between her neck and shoulder. The overwhelming sensation of her wrapped around him was almost too much to bear. Declan wasn't sure he could stand to move. Wasn't sure he could move. But then he was. On primal instinct his body began the dance both of them had been moving toward since he had first fed from her days ago.

         
At the vibrating pleasure quaking through him, he hissed in a breath and eased inside her an inch, and then two. And each time he did, she took him in, took him deeper. Alexia moaned and tipped her hips. Every gasping sigh and breathy moan spurred him on and reined him in.

         
Declan stared down at the beauty beneath him. Her blond hair fanned out across the bed, her flushed skin and beautiful eyes. Suddenly, the sight of her was one sense too many, so he closed his. The hot slide of her walls hugging his cock intensified. So warm. So tight. He pressed in and out of her in a deep rocking rhythm, faster, deeper, harder. Each stroke declaring the litany repeating in his mind--Mine. Mine. Mine.

         
Alexia was his, now and forever.

         
WATCHING D ECLAN'S BODY loom above her, his golden skin slick with desire and hot to the touch, nearly sent her over the edge. Alexia clung hard to his shoulders, her fingernails burrowing into his skin as her body crested. At first she tried to hold on, tried to keep the pleasure from taking over her. But Declan wrapped a wing around her back and dipped his mouth to her throat. That amazing voice of his, deep and thick, told her he wanted her to let go, wanted to feel her contract and pulse around him, wanted to hear the sounds she made as she came.