"A nap?" I snorted. "Is that what you're calling it now?"

"There's a child in the house. I feel like a bit of a perv using the word 'bedsport'."

He held my hand, interlacing his fingers with mine as we started up the staircase.

"You're ready to try again?" I queried.

He nodded, taking a deep nervous breath. We had accidentally found that my ward could protect me from his incubus power drain. For a short window of time he had also been recognized by my ward as a part of me, a friend who would not harm me. But that short time had passed. It had been almost a month since his incubus power fed from me back in Vegas. His shield had been used extensively since then, and the energy didn't last forever. It had to be renewed, regenerated in a constant cycle. The "friend" effect had not lasted and now my ward would perceive him as a threat if things got hot and heavy between us again. Fate was too cruel…giving Pritkin a round of sex with a human for the first time in over a hundred years and then taking it away. It had made him frustrated and more pissed off than I had ever seen him. He had stayed away from me for almost a week while I trained with Marsden. His absence had the side benefit of placating Mircea. I was surrounded by more and more people as my inauguration drew closer, but with Pritkin gone I was lonelier than I had ever been. And then one day I saw him enter Dante's while I was at Augustine's getting my inaugural dress fitted. As soon as Augustine was finished with me, I had shifted to Pritkin's room. He was naked, toweling his hair dry after his shower. He had looked at me with fear and longing and hunger while he searched my face for any hint of my feelings. I had stepped into his arms and told him not to leave me again. That had led to what he called our first 'bedsport', with Pritkin actively trying to control his power. It had made him hopeful. For the first time ever he could try and train himself to control his incubus power and had a safe way to test himself. Well, safe for me anyway. He could still get fried by my ward, which had been reattached by a wardsmith brought in by Mircea. No more impromptu taping needed. We had met for bedsport a few more times since then, and we were about to try again.

He pulled me towards the large bedroom at the head of the stairs while I smiled in anticipation. He stopped at the bedroom door and gestured while he muttered an incantation. A glyph glowed on the door.

"What's that for?" I asked as he pulled me into the room.

"Privacy spell. If the child wakes she won't hear us, but we can still hear her. It is a standard spell for magical households with children," he explained as he pulled me close.

"Your ward is secured?" he asked as he rubbed his hands down my back and onto my bottom, holding me close.

"Yes. You can't drain me. What about you? Will your shield protect you if the ward flares?"

"My shields are powered only by my own magic now. Your ward might hurt me. More incentive to control the blasted incubus power. Are you willing?" He stared intently into my eyes. I gazed back into crystal green eyes that seemed to glow, like emeralds lit from behind. He always asked me first. I would do this for him.

"Yes," I smiled as I quickly kissed him. "But no mouth mashing, and you have to remember to let me breathe."

He gave me a quick nod and skimmed my tee shirt off with one swipe of his large, warm hands. My bra was gone the next instant. He pulled me into a deep, wet, hungry open-mouthed kiss as he lifted me off my feet, gently placing me onto the bed. I felt languid warmth starting in my belly and spreading downward. He broke off the kiss and licked the tip of my nose as he smoothed my hair back from my face. With a tight smile, he backed off the bed and peeled off his own clothes. He lay naked on his side next to me and lightly stroked my breast. I felt a delicious tingle in my nipples.

"So smooth…," he whispered. He was getting better at trusting himself, with small touches on my arm during the day and easy light kisses when we were alone. The few times we had met for bedsport, he tested his limits further, always pushing until he reached the limit of his control. On one occasion, my ward had sparked in warning before Pritkin pulled away. It would take some time, but maybe someday he would have a chance at a happy, normal life again.

"What is your pleasure, my lady?" his voice smoldered. He could be really good at this, if he didn't kill women with it.

"Surprise me," I smoldered right back at him.

His warm, calloused hands stroked down my sides, a featherlike touch that awoke all the nerve endings along the path his hands made, over and over while he licked inside the soft folds of my ear. I shivered with pleasure. His lips trailed down, dropping gentle kisses along my neck and down to my breast. He took one hard nipple into his mouth and started to suck. I gasped as I felt a pull from my core each time he sucked. I kneaded his shoulders, feeling hot smooth skin over hard muscle. He nipped me and switched to the other side. I closed my eyes and let the sensation take me. I felt his hands ease my shorts off. I was down to my thong. I heard a muffled groan as he moved his mouth down my body. He shifted my legs apart with his elbow, while his tongue trailed into my navel. I could feel his arousal against my leg, hot and pulsing. He stroked his fingers across the small pink cotton triangle of my thong, so light they barely touched. I felt sweat collect on my chest, my whole body singing from his touch. Without warning, he stripped the thong off of me. I must have gasped in surprise, because he looked up at me. His pupils were dilated, the green ring of his iris first smaller then larger as he fought back his incubus power. I breathed again when I saw the pupils stabilize. He was still in control and I was completely undressed. I hadn't been completely naked with him since I shifted us back to his room after a 'chute landing in New Mexico. During our previous bedsport, he had pulled away before I was at this stage. He stroked my thighs farther apart and settled his mouth at my core. Light flicks of his tongue teased my aching bud. I was muttering to myself, incoherent, as waves of pleasure pulsed thru me. I felt him insert a finger. He moved it slightly, searching, and then he pressed a spot inside me. Heat crashed over me as colored lights went off behind my eyelids. I would have screamed but I was breathless. I writhed beneath him, whimpering with pleasure so intense it hurt. He pulled himself up and held my hands back over my head as he kissed me again, thrusting a hot tongue hard into my mouth. I felt him at my entrance, slick and hot and rock hard. He stopped. Sweat dripped off him onto my nose. He was panting as he let go of my hands and held himself over me. I held my breath as I watched his pupils expand, pushing out the green almost entirely. "No, no, no," I thought desperately. He was so close…so close. There was a crackle and a pop and then the smell of ozone.

Pritkin was gone.

I sat up in horror, frantically glancing around the room. I breathed again when I saw him lying on the floor next to the wall. I could see he was panting hard, but otherwise not moving. I jumped off the bed but stopped when he groggily held a hand up to stop me.

"No…don't come near," he gasped.

"Are you hurt?" I trembled.

"I'll be fine. Just…give me a moment," he forced out.

I sat on the bed, watching him with fear and loathing myself. I did this to him. My ward had not just warned him off, but had hurt him enough to put him down. I just couldn't do this to him again. What if the next time I killed him?

He pushed himself up to a sitting position and sat against the wall, breathing hard, eyes closed. His hair was soaked with sweat, with streams of it gleaming on his neck and shoulders and chest. His face and neck were flushed red. His sex was still swollen but had started to sag to the side.

"Are you well?" he rasped. He swallowed hard.

"No. I almost killed you!"

His breathing steadied. One eye opened a slit as a smile quirked at his lips.

"Did I surprise you?"

I threw a pillow at him.

When he could move again he left to take a shower, and I curled up under the quilt. I really was going to take a nap before he started me on the magic exercises. I drifted off, wondering again about nurseries, Pritkin's strange silence in the training salle, and what the hell did Marlowe want?