Dark Ghost by Christine Feehan
Her heart contracted. Her sex spasmed. He had such an old-fashioned way of talking, but it was beautiful. She leaned forward to lick at his neck, right over the pounding pulse. She smiled and kissed her way over his stubborn jaw and up to his ear where she licked and kissed until the breath left him in a long hiss. His cock jumped in her hand and she actually felt him grow scorching hot right there in her fist. She loved that. She loved that she could make a man like Andre fight for his control.
His hands cupped her breasts. She was very small, so slight as to be nonexistent and she'd always been self-conscious of that fact. His hands were large and she felt him cover her completely, his thumbs sliding over her nipples with absolute expertise. She felt each stroke roll through her like a tidal wave, sending streaks of lightning straight to her sex.
She lost her ability to breathe when he abruptly rolled, sliding her beneath him. With him on top, she couldn't move. It felt a little like being captured, but all the more thrilling because of it. He should have felt heavy. Instead, everything feminine reached for him. Wanted him. Needed him. She loved how hard his body was. When his mouth covered her breast and suckled she cried out. When his teeth and tongue laved and nipped she couldn't even find her voice.
"Easy, csitri," he whispered. "We have all the time in the world."
She realized her hips bucked under his. Her body writhed and she was pleading in little gasps for him to do something. She hadn't even realized, but she couldn't stop. One hand slipped lower, trailing down her belly until he was there. Virgin territory. He pressed one finger to her and her hips jerked hard. Her sheath contracted. His mouth pulled stronger at her breast and she felt hot liquid welcome his invasion.
It felt . . . unbelievable. She wasn't certain she could stand much more. The tension in her body coiled tight. He nuzzled her breast with his shadowed jaw and then kissed her, a long, lingering kiss. His finger slid deeper and she gasped against his mouth. She couldn't help herself, she hooked her leg around his hip, opening herself more to him, needing more. Needing him inside of her.
"I waited lifetimes for you," he whispered against her mouth. He slid another finger inside her and flames spread like a wildfire. "So beautiful. You are worth all those years of endless nothing. Centuries, sivamet. So much ugliness. So much brutality. Wiped away with the sound of your laughter. Your nonsense. With your smile and your kisses. You taste so sweet, Teagan. I am holding you in my arms, looking into your eyes and I still cannot believe you are real."
She was real? More like he couldn't be real, not and be so sweet. So loving. Teagan wanted to cry at the things he said to her. He really meant them. She was that special to him. How could he have lived such a lonely existence for so many years--years filled with hunting and destroying friends and even family? He didn't have anyone left alive. No brothers. No sisters. No parents or grandparents. She'd lost her mother, but she'd never really known her. Her father had abandoned her before she was born. Still, she was raised in a loving environment and her family always, always had her back.
She couldn't imagine what his life was like, so bleak and gray and barren. His memories were mainly those of battle, blood, wounds, pain and death. She didn't want to see those things in his mind. It was difficult not to burst into tears. At the same time, she wanted to give him everything he wanted or needed.
She stretched up, bringing his head down to hers again, needing his mouth, needing to show him how much he mattered to her. It wasn't just about what his clever fingers did to her body, or the fire raging in her, she wanted him to know she felt so much more. She kissed him, sliding her lips over his in a caress. Teasing with the tip of her tongue along the seam of his mouth.
Kissing him was a miracle of sensation, especially combined with the delicious feelings his fingers stirred as they pressed inside of her. There was a tiny bite of pain from the stretch, but that was a little wicked and delicious.
Look at me, sivamet.
She reluctantly lifted her head so her eyes met his. There was something there, deep, important. Something that took her breath away.
You are giving yourself to me.
It was more of a statement than a question, but she knew better. She knew he needed to hear her say it to him.
She lifted her head, found his earlobe and tugged gently with her teeth. "I'm giving myself to you," she affirmed.
His eyes darkened. The glacier melted. Went pure liquid. He took her mouth and it was no leisurely kiss, no gentle kiss. It was hard and hot and spectacular. She hadn't known anyone could kiss like that and she lost herself completely, there in his mouth.
10
Andre took a breath to gain control. Teagan had only a glimmer of an idea of what and who he was. He knew that. He knew the pull between lifemates was so strong that they couldn't be apart for long. He also knew she wouldn't be happy when she realized the full of extent of the commitment she was making.
It should have mattered. It had mattered before she walked away from his protection and the safety of the cave. Now it didn't. Not after seeing a vampire dropping out of the fog straight at her. The vampire was newly made so it had the advantage of being able to hunt right at sunset, but thankfully it didn't have the skills to overcome the terrible need for fresh, fear-based blood.
Andre wanted Teagan with every breath in his body. He knew from kissing her, no one had kissed her before. No one. Not a single man. There was no childish fumbling in her school years. She had kept herself away from other men. No one had ever been inside of her, or put their hands and mouth on her. She belonged only to him. Only him.
The thought of her loyalty to him before they'd ever met and her gift of herself to him now, left him wild for her. He wanted to give her everything. Be everything for her. He wanted to see her first orgasm take her, looking into her eyes, his name on her lips, knowing he gave her that pleasure. He wanted to feel what she felt. He had bound their souls. He would bind their bodies, and then he would work for the rest of their eternity together to bind her heart to his.
He tried to gentle the kiss, but possession had taken over. Teagan belonged to him. She was worth every sacrifice he'd ever made. He kissed his way to her chin. To her breasts. She was so small and perfect. He'd never seen a woman more perfectly formed and so sensitive. The expression on her face, the hitch in her breath and the glaze in her eyes when he tugged and rolled her nipples, when he sucked them into the heat of his mouth, wiped out every horrific place he'd ever been, even if it was just for the moment.
Her skin was softer than anything he'd ever felt. He craved her, and he allowed himself to feel that craving. To embrace it. He kissed her throat, laved the pulse in her neck, but resisted taking more of her very essence. He kissed his way along her collar bone, holding her easily beneath him.
Her hands smoothed his back, shaped his shoulders and then tangled in his hair, pulling out the cord so his long hair fell free and she could grasp the thick length of it with her fist. He loved that. He loved her ragged breath and writhing body, the way her hips bucked against him. She held nothing back from him. From his touch. When she gave herself to him, she meant it and she gave him her complete surrender. Her trust.
It had never occurred to him that trust would be such a gift. She put herself in his hands when she'd never made love before. She trusted him to make it good for her. She trusted that whatever he chose to do to her body would ultimately bring her pleasure. He was not about to abuse her trust--not ever.
He lavished attention on her breasts, and then when she was moaning softly, he kissed his way down to her belly button. She wrapped both legs around his hips, pressing herself close to him. She was naturally sensual and with him, uninhibited. Her soft skin had gone hot. Her breath came in sexy little pants. He spent some time on her belly. She had muscle but there was woman under that soft skin, sleek and beautiful, and her belly had a faint soft curve to it that he reveled in.
He knelt between her legs, pulling them over his shoulders. She gasped, and for the
You will like this, csitri, I promise.
Her gaze clung to his. Watching her face, he kissed his way up her thigh until he was at the junction of her legs. Her soft belly contracted in anticipation. She held her breath as he leaned close and the shadow along his jaw rubbed along her thighs. She gasped. He did a slow tongue swipe. Her body jerked and she let out a small cry.
He didn't wait. She needed to be prepared to take him and just with one small taste, he was already so hungry for her he couldn't have stopped himself. He plunged his tongue deep, all the while watching her face--her beautiful face. She came apart for him. Just that fast. That hot. On fire. He knew he would need to see that particular expression millions of times and he'd still crave it as much as he craved the taste of her sex and the taste of her blood.
Teagan cried out, nearly overcome with sensation. Tears burned behind her eyes. She hadn't known she was capable of feeling like that, or that an orgasm could be so strong. Like a tidal wave, washing over and through her.
He moved over her fast, pushing into her slick heat, stretching her beyond anything she'd imagined. It burned, and yet at the same time, she wanted more. He was thick and long and he moved one slow inch at a time, careful to allow her body to become accustomed to his invasion with every inch he gained.
You are so tight, sivamet. Relax for me. As much as you can.
He wasn't hurting her, not really. She knew he was aware that he wasn't hurting her because they were so deeply entrenched in each other's mind. It only added to the intimacy between them. She did her best to do as he said, especially when every single cell in her body was on fire. She was desperate to have him inside her.
He was going at an excruciatingly slow pace. She pushed up, trying to impale herself on him, needing to be filled.
Let me, csitri. I do not want your first experience to be painful.
She didn't want it to be painful either and she'd heard it could be, but still, she couldn't think clearly with wanting him. Each time he moved in her, he took her breath. She felt stretched and full and so much a part of him. He slipped inside deeper and she couldn't stand it anymore. She tried to buck, to push onto him, but both his hands pinned her hips beneath him and he stopped.
Take a breath, sivamet. We are almost there.
She felt his breath. She heard his heart and she automatically tuned her body to his. He surged into her. The pain was more than a bite, but he was lodged deep. So deep she could feel him bumping her cervix.
Andre paused again to allow her to adjust to his size, to being filled by him. It had been a fight, even as slick as she was, to move through her tight channel. His cock was being strangled by hot silk and it felt like paradise. She was so tight he could barely breathe with the way her muscles constricted him. The pleasure bordered on pain, but then her body slowly accommodated his size.
Are you all right? He was in her mind, he knew she was, but he needed to hear her acknowledge it. He needed her soft little moans telling him she wanted more--she wanted all of him. He hadn't given her a lot of choices and if she wasn't ready for this last commitment, he had no problem starting over and making certain she was.
Please do something. Anything. I need this. I need you.
Her breathy voice took the last of his control. He withdrew slowly, feeling the fiery friction, the tight muscles trying to hold him. Burning with pleasure. Scalding him. Taking him to a place he hadn't known existed. He never wanted to leave her body. Never. If there was a heaven, he was fairly certain he was in it.
She gasped and her nails scraped down his back. Her hips moved to follow his and his hands tightened on the sweet curves to keep her still. He waited a heartbeat, savoring the moment. Imprinting a new memory. Her face. Soft. Beautiful. Her eyes. A little dazed. Filled with something he dared not name--for him. All his. All for him. For the first time in his life, he had something--someone who cared about him. She might not know it yet, but it was there in her eyes, the beginnings of love.
He surged forward and she cried out, her hands moving up his back to anchor in his hair. He loved that, too. He loved the fire. The intensity. The way her body moved and the breath left her lungs. In his life there had only been violence and blood. She was the reason. His purpose. Not duty and honor. That was more who he was. She was the reason the males of his species wanted to keep the world a safe place.
He began to move in her, a tight paradise, slowly at first to allow her to get used to the movement. His cock stretched her, filled her so tightly every small movement was exquisite. Her foot slid along his thigh, and he lifted her leg and wrapped it around him. She immediately followed suit with her other leg, wrapping him tight. Her arms came next and she seemed to melt into him.
He moved faster, hard, deep, jolting thrusts, until she was chanting his name, and the fire was consuming them both. They shared the sensations, the mounting tension coiling so tight inside her, building, always building. The same tension coiled in him, that powerful gathering even as pleasure washed over them both.
Look at me, Teagan.
He had to watch. To see it in her eyes. On her face. What he gave her. What only he would ever give her. He wanted his name on her breath when she dropped off the precipice with him.
Her lashes fluttered and she lifted them. His heart stuttered in his chest. She was so beautiful and the way she looked at him . . . her eyes . . .
Let go, sivamet. Give yourself to me. I want this. Keep your eyes on mine and say my name. I need you to know who you are with. Where you belong. Where I belong.
Her eyes went soft. Tender. Loving, even. Her heart beat close to his, the same wild, pounding rhythm. The blood rushed hot through her veins. Her legs and arms tightened around him. The delicate muscles in her sheath clamped hard, holding him to her. He felt the wonder of it sink into his bones. Her brand.
You belong to me, she whispered in his mind. Definitely.
Give yourself to me, he said again.
He surged into her, holding her to him, thrusting deep and hard, feeling her scalding sheath tighten, clamp down to grip and milk. She shuddered, and then the tsunami hit, taking her, and he breathed through it, holding on to his control by a thread because he had to see. He watched the sheer beauty of it. The miracle.
Andre.
There was wonder in her voice. Shock. Pleasure. He had given that to her, but she'd given him so much more. The breathy sound of his name was a miracle in itself.
He waited for the aftershocks and began to move, building the pleasure for her again. She was more than he had ever imagined a woman could be. No one could possibly feel for her what he did. He knew that. He wanted her to know it as well.
Andre bent and nuzzled her throat. Everything about her was perfection. Her scent. Her laugh. Her eyes. The way she looked at him. Her indomitable spirit. He liked her sass and her nonsense and the way she chattered on when she was nervous. He liked her sense of humor and how she used it in difficult situations.
Tet vigyazam. It was too soon for her, and she wouldn't understand in his language. Only the feeling in his mind when he told her he loved her.
He shifted his body more fully over hers, gathered her to him, once more sliding her legs around his hips because he liked the way it felt with her surrounding his body while her feminine sheath surrounded his cock. He allowed himself the freedom to lose himself completely in her body.
They caught fire together, an out of control wildfire, burning hot and long, his thrusts fast and deep, each one jolting her body. Her keening cries for more with each hard stroke drove him higher and higher. He felt her moving over the edge again and he forced himself to wait, just one more time, watching, letting the beauty on her face sweep him with her. They fell together, locked together. He listened to their hearts beat the same rhythm and he'd never felt so content and at peace as he did in that moment.
Bodies
He caught her face in his hands, thumbs sliding along her cheeks, fingers delving into the mass of braids. He stared into her eyes for a long moment. She didn't look away. Instead, her hands stroked his chest, one right over his heart where the vampire had tried to rip it from his body.
"You are the reason I hunted all those centuries, Teagan. Why I held on to my honor. You are the reason the monastery up at the top of the mountain exists. Others, like me, at the end of their ability to hold on, those who have given up ever finding their other half, yet still cannot walk into the sun. Because of you."
She didn't understand the enormity of what she was to him, he could see that and feel it in her mind. She had no way of knowing what she would be to others who needed their own lifemate--a beacon of hope. He was older than most, but younger than others. He had given up, and yet here she was.
He ground his hips deeper into her, held himself inside of her, feeling every aftershock through her tight muscles.
"Are you all right?"
She nodded slowly.
"You are not hurt in any way?"
She shook her head. Bit at her lower lip. He leaned into her and swiped her lower lip with his tongue.
"You have to know I will cherish you for all time, Teagan. In this one moment, you managed to wipe out every horrific battle, all those centuries of loneliness. You made all of it worthwhile."
Teagan felt her heart still in her chest. The things he said to her made no sense and yet it was everything. She knew she would have to ask him questions, but not right that moment. Right then she wanted to be the woman who wiped out centuries of loneliness for him. Wiped out the battles. She knew it was true because there was only her for him in this moment.
Andre kissed her and the tenderness brought tears burning in her eyes. He dropped his head back to the mattress but kept his eyes locked with hers.