Yes! A chapter! I know, it's a miracle. Please don't think I'm snubbing you, loyal readers and reviewers. I have not had time to even work on my "real" stories--the original ones I'm trying to publish--or any of my art commissions, of which I have 4 sizable ones to start. My stupid job is sucking the life out of me, so please be patient with me. By way of thanks, here's a racy chapter. Tee hee!
Chapter 10
Isaac flew through the air with Sarina in his arms. He traveled north to a small system of caves near the coast. He knew Sarina would be uncomfortable away from the ocean, and even though he was reluctant to be so close to her escape rout, he sensed that she needed the reassurance of the waves to make it through this night.
The caves were dry and smelled of earth and herbs. Isaac whisked them through to the back cave where it was safe beneath the earth. A beautiful king sized bed was at the back of the cave and several pools of water collected from rain were to one side. Isaac set Sarina down in the middle of the cave and relaxed his arms so she could make the next move.
Sarina took a deep breath and walked over to the huge, plush bed. She sat on the edge, her furtive glances at Isaac betraying her nervousness. He tested her mind and found no barriers. She was terrified that sex might become a means of controlling her, especially since she was a virgin, but her body demanded his urgently and she couldn't refuse him after all he'd done for her, her father, and now Keona.
"Is this how it will be then?" Isaac asked, his voice flat. "We are to come together in uncertainty, only to serve the demands of our bodies? To pay the tab, so to speak?"
"I don't know what all you want from me," Sarina whispered.
Isaac stood his ground, keeping a safe distance between them. "I want your love. With out it, I may as well give my self up to the burning rays of dawn. Certainly, I would not invade your body without it. I may be a more animal than man, but I have some shred of honor left in me."
Sarina looked away. "So after everything you said, you don't want me. Am I to skinny for you? To dark? To free spirited?" she demanded harshly.
"Now you are trying to bait me," he cautioned her. "You know I want you. You know that you are the only woman I see, the only one I desire. But I want all of you, your heart, your soul, your mind as well as your body. I want you to love me as much as I love you. You said you loved me a little, but still you hold the rest of your heart away from me."
"My heart is already yours," she snapped. "I couldn't give it to another even if I wanted to." The image of Mark asking for a date flashed into her mind despite her determination not to think of him.
The beast in Isaac roared with jealousy when he saw her thoughts. He wanted to rip out the young Marine's guts with his bare hands. He held himself in check until he could control the monster within. "I ask again," he rasped, his throat dry with lust, anger, and desperation. "What must I do to prove my love to you? To gain your love in return? To earn your unwavering trust?"
"It's not that simple. You can't do anything--" she started.
"Then tell me how this other male achieved such a high place in your affections?" he growled. "Why is he more worthy than your lifemate to receive your attention and compassion?"
"This isn't about Mark!" she cried.
"You are right! This is about us," he agreed. "Why do you not trust me? Have I given you any reason to doubt my intentions?"
"You have never…it's just…" she faltered, tears closing up her throat.
"Just what?" he demanded.
"I'm not good enough for you," she screamed. "You're the big bad night hunter, and I'm the weak mixed-blood mortal who, by the way, is already marked by another night hunter. You're so strong and powerful, while I'm skinny and bald! You're centuries old, while I'm barely 24. We're so obviously not compatible, but I was still willing to take the time to get to know you and fall in love with you. I thought who knows? Stranger things have happened! Then you had to panic about my safety when there was nothing wrong in the first place—and on top of that, because you're worried, you demand that I put my feelings for you on the fast track. I've known you for 3 freaking days, and somehow I'm supposed to be madly in love with you enough to jump into the first bed we come across already. Then when I try to express who I am inside, you flip out! I have friends and family that you show blatant disregard for! You manipulate my father, exile Mark from my company, and even try to keep me from the bedside of a dying child. So I can only conclude that you don't want me, you want someone else—someone with my chemistry but the personality of a lap dog. And what makes this whole thing worse is when I look at you…" her voice cracked, full of exasperation and despair. "All I can think about is sex. My body responds to you like it has never has responded to anyone or anything. Damn me if I can't help but falling into your arms like some trashy novel heroine every time I see you."
Her rant stripped him raw on the insides. Every fiber of his being ached for her confusion. To him, it was so simple; she was his lifemate and he was hers. They were destined to be together. But to her, she was part of a family that he was decimating to get to her. He just couldn't let her be in danger. Every shred of logic and common sense and every primal instinct demanded that he protect her at all costs. But he was beginning to think he didn't know enough about her and her world to do the job right. He hoped he hadn't completely ruined his chances yet.
One sentence caught his attention. "What do you mean already marked?" he asked softly.
Buoyed up by frustration and adrenalin, she turned her back to him and pulled her shirt off. Isaac's breath stopped as his eyes took in the soft slight curves of her back from the waist up. He wanted to kiss every tiny bump in the trail vertebra. Then he saw the ornate lily on her shoulder blade, dark ocher against her cinnamon skin. Her cream colored bra strap crossed one petal, but it was as large as his palm and refused to be hidden.
"See it?" she demanded. "That's not a natural birthmark, is it? My mother had the same mark, and her mother before her. I'm marked. By a night hunter. So what do you think of me now?"
The odds of such a birthmark appearing randomly were functionally impossible. Even then, few Carpathians had the ability to modify genetics to make such a mark hereditary. That her line had been touched by a Carpathian generations ago explained a little of how she might be a lifemate to another Carpathian now. The danger was in who had left the mark, if he was safely mated or dead, or turned vampire. Perhaps the same vampire had taken Sarina's mother from her because of the mark.
He came up behind her, and circled her shoulders in his arms. He just couldn't stay away from her any more. She was on the brink of hysteria and he needed to comfort her. "It would not matter if you had a hundred marks from a hundred ancient hunters; I would fight them all to the death for a smile from you. It is I that is not good enough for you. I am a wraith wraped in haunting shadows, and you brush them all away with a whisper. I am humbled by your compassion and honesty. I do not want a lap dog. I want you, with all your quirks and your spitfire personality. I love your passion hidden under your casual zen exterior. You are like a lantern in the night, and island haven in the middle of a storm. I cannot go on in this world without you." He stroked her head absently, soothingly. "I apologize for my…overreaction to the minor threat to your safety. I was so afraid of loosing you that I lost perspective. Fear is not something I have felt since my earliest youth. It is difficult to control."
"So what now?" Sarina tried to demand, but her voice wavered as her heartbeat accelerated. Relief washed through her, making her weaker still. She knew she could never refuse his affections, even if she wanted to. She just hoped she wasn't making a terrible mistake.
"Now, I would very much like to show you how it is supposed to be between lifemates," he whispered, his hot breath in her ear sending prickles down her spine.
"And how is that?" she returned, her voice breathy and sexy.
"I listen to you. I show you that I love you. How much I love you. I worship you with my body. I dedicate my life to your happiness," he replied. He kissed the top of her shoulder. "You are so fragile that I am afraid I might break you, but if I do not touch you, I might go insane."
"What about…my father…and Mark…and…" she tried to continue the fight even as her bones and willpower melted under Isaac's lips.
"Your father will be waiting in the new house for us, and I will make reparations there. Mark is welcome to visit, and considering his abilities, I might even offer him a job," he whispered softly.
"And an apology?" she gasped as he nibbled on the base of her neck.
"Perhaps," he consented. "The rest of it can wait until morning, mein liebe."
Sarina trembled in his arms. Her body was on fire, and his touch soothed the flame but left left her craving more. With her last ounce of discipline, she gritted out a final query. "Will you ever let me go? Will this...thing ever stop? Can I ever be normal again?"
Isaac paused in his attentions and held very still. He couldn't tell if she was looking for a way out or trying to confirm the finality of fate. He replied honestly, "To answer your questions in reverse order, we have exchanged blood once, and that cannot be undone. Even if we never exchanged blood again, you will always have one foot in the Carpathian world. The passion between us will not stop so long as we are alive. I have heard from other mated Carpathian couples that the mating heat never diminishes—if anything it increases, although I imagine it becomes easier to control with time, for it it were not so the fiercest and most powerful of us would be completely...er, vulnerable."
Sarina laughed at the thought of all the big bad night hunters turning into uncontrollable nymphomaniacs at the sight of their spouses. Strangely, that gave her some hope that she could still control her life. Isaac's heart stuttered at her laugh and musings. Finally something eased the ache of dread from her heart.
"If you would truly be happy without me," he continued, "I would gladly leave this life and wait for you in the next. But I hope," he whispered tenderly as his hand slipped under her bra cup and caressed her soft and perfect breast, "that you might allow me to make you as happy as I can, to fulfill all your dreams and desires and wildest fantasies, before you make such a pronouncement."
Sarina moaned as he unhooked her bra and firmly massaged her breasts. The cottony undergarment fell away and she leaned back into him, her only retreat from his marauding hands. He took the opportunity to kiss the line from her shoulder up her neck to her ear. Her hands reached behind her, and her fingers dug into his thighs. He groaned and nipped her shoulder in response. She cried out and jerked away, but he held her close, knowing her protest was from being startled more than an actual objection.
"Love me enough to save me," he whispered. "The darkness creeps over my soul until I hardly know it is still there."
"How?" she gasped.
"Let me bind us together, in the way of my people," he breathed against her earlobe.
Sarina went stiff in his arms. "Does this have something to do with those words you were screaming at me as I escaped into the ocean?" she asked softly.
Isaac nodded slightly against her scalp. "I was desperate, and wanted to keep you by my side at all costs. Now I know that is folly, and it is to your side that I must tie myself."
"Are these the ritual binding words you were talking about before?" she persisted.
"Yes," he murmured, his soft voice holding only honesty.
"Say them," she begged huskily. "You said before you needed them. I gave myself to you then, and I'm not going to back out now."
Isaac's heart melted in his chest. Truly, he did not deserve such a selfless and compassionate woman, and yet she was the only one who could save him from the beast inside. He very gently turned her around and let her settle on the bed so that he could look down into her open face. He supported his weight on his hands, one on either side of her head. He kept his pelvis to one side of hers to minimize any discomfort, even though he desperately wanted her legs wrapped around his waist.
"I claim you as my lifemate," he intoned sincerely. "I belong to you; I offer my life for you. I give you my protection, my allegiance, my heart, my soul, and my body. I take into my keeping the same that is yours. Your life, happiness and welfare will be cherished and placed above my own for all time. You are my lifemate, bound to me for all eternity and always in my care."
Sarina felt the ragged edges of her soul finding purchase with his. The awkward feeling from the incomplete binding was replaced by the feeling of being whole. She hadn't realized she'd lived her entire life only half alive until Isaac came into her world. Now her skin sizzled with his close proximity, and she felt more aware than she ever had before.
"Those are beautiful words," she murmured, tracing his angular jawline with her fingers. Her touch was so innocent, yet it made him ache with lust.
"And you are a beautiful woman," he replied. He was afraid to move, as aroused as he was, for fear of his tenuous hold on his control shattering.
They stared hungrily at each other for a long moment before she finally said, "That can't be the end of it. What's next?"
Isaac laughed huskily. "Next, mein liebe, I spend the night making love to you."
"Mmm, I like that idea," she replied, rubbing one thigh along his. She could see the erotic images in his mind and was eager to experiment with them.
Without another word, he descended to take possession of her lips with his. He kissed her, long and hard. Her arms wrapped around his neck as she arched towards him. He kissed his way down her throat and chest, pausing to take first one nipple in his mouth then the other. She moaned in delight, cradling his head. Without pausing in his ravishment, he pealed her jeans off her legs.
Her scent called to him and he continued kissing down her stomach, over the ridges of her hips, to the source of the scent, barely covered by a simple cotton thong. He clawed at it, pulled it down, his teeth biting through the thin strings so he could peal it away from her sensitive parts. Chemo had stripped her of the normal pubic hair, leaving only soft flesh for him to nuzzle. She smelled so delicious, like creamy honey and spice. His tongue darted between her sensitive folds and she instantly cried out in ecstasy, her fingers tunneling into his long hair. Isaac lapped at her wet channel, savoring her unique and maddening flavor. He couldn't get enough of it. Sarina was writhing under his tongue, moaning with excitement.
She couldn't take it any more, he was driving her insane. She tugged on his hair, wishing he would come back up her body. He obliged, his clothes dismissed with a thought, his hair-roughened chest sliding up her body. The friction seemed to light a full-body fire between them. She opened her legs with the intent of trapping him close to her without realizing that she was offering up her vulnerable innocence.
His erection nudged the entrance of her hot channel. Instantly, it was slick with her arousal. With one hand holding his weight off of her, he stroked her body with the other. When he reached her thighs, his hand slipped to the inside, and he slowly inserted one finger deep into her, testing her readiness. She moaned with pleasure. He stroked gently before adding a second finger, scissoring them to gently stretch her folds. She ground her hips against his hand, little mewing noises indicating her desire. He withdrew his fingers and once again his member sat at her entrance.
Watching her face, still terrified that he might break her, he eased into her part way. She gasped and held her breath while she adjusted to his girth. Her tight heat sucked all coherent thought from his mind. He was only aware of the desperate need to protect her from his equally desperate lusts. He pushed forward, impaling her slowly. Her hips moved and bucked under him. He pushed deeper still, waiting for some virginal resistance. He found none as he pressed his full length into her. His confusion was wiped away by the sheer ecstasy of her muscles milking him. Without thought, he nuzzled her breast before sinking his fangs into it. Pleasure arched through them both like lightening.
He started a slow rhythm, and she wrapped her legs around his hips to better accommodate him. She was drowning in pleasure as he withdrew and pushed forward. He sealed the small holes in her breast and slashed his own chest right over his heart. Before she could recoil, he pushed her mouth against him. She willingly lapped, sucked, drank his rich, ancient blood. The feel of her mouth moving a gainst him was almost more than he could bear. Gently, he disengaged her, licked his own finger, and sealed the wound. Then he kissed her, their tastes mingling as their tongues dueled.
Delicious friction spurred them both forward towards orgasm, beyond all sense and reason. They clung to each other as she screamed and arched against him, her muscles squeezing him until he shuddered with release. Sarina felt frozen, her back permanently bowed by pleasure. Isaac panted and gasped before rolling to one side. After a few more moments, she found the energy to unwind her muscles and curl next to him, pillowing her head on his muscular shoulder. He gathered her into his arms and rained kisses on her face.
This was his treasure, more precious than anything else on the face of the earth.
Then the memories floated to the top of his mind. There had been no hymen, and while he was grateful their first time was not painful for her, he had been in her mind and knew she had not had never been intimate with a man before.
Sarina laughed softly. "I know what you're thinking," she teased in a sing-song voice. "I've picked up your little mind reading trick."
Isaac smiled at her, proud and surprised that she was such a quick and resourceful learner. "Then perhaps you can answer my unspoken question."
She laughed again, a blush stealing up her cheeks. "Remember when I said you turned me on unlike anyone or anything?" she reminded him. "Well, for a long time, I was curious about...you know...what went on. I'd heard the usual from classmates and such, but I knew I didn't want to risk actual sex with a boy—and none of them were even slightly attractive. So I...picked up a few things...and experimented..." she trailed of, pink as an autumn rose. She turned away from him, embarrassed.
Isaac arched a brow. In her mind were several toys of different shapes and textures, some with battery-powered motors, various lubricants and lotions. He reached over and gently turned her face back to him. "I am pleased you chose a safe method of personal exploration. Perhaps we shall experiment together."
"Seriously?" she gulped. "You're not mad? You don't think I'm kinky or twisted or totally self absorbed?"
Isaac chuckled. "How could I think such, when you respond to my slightest touch?" he asked. He cupped her breast and thumbed her nipple just to prove a point. She let out a whimper and pushed into the pressure. "For tonight, however, I hope you will be content with me."
"After all that, you're still fishing for compliments?" she demanded. "That was only the most amazing thing in the history of sex, and you expect me to only be content?"
"Reasonably speaking," he smiled.
"You are some piece of work!" she teased. "I'm comatose. Leave me alone."
"Never," he whispered, meaning it. "Never, ever."