“You are my breath,” he whispered into the softness of her mouth. “You are the only reason I am still living, Desari. I intended to greet the dawn after I had completed my errand and warned you of the impending danger to you.” His tongue explored the heated velvet of her mouth, then moved to the slim column of her neck. As he continued to feed the fire between them, he was moving them deeper into the shadows of the forest. His hands slipped beneath her blouse to rest on her narrow rib cage, taking in as much of her soft skin as he was able to. Julian closed his eyes for a moment, just savoring the feel of her, the rose-petal texture of her skin.
Desari circled his neck with one arm, brushing at the wild strands of golden hair falling around his face before she slowly unbuttoned the tiny pearl buttons down the front of her blouse. As each slipped from its resting place, the blouse parted, and she drew his head down to her bare skin. Only a fine film of lace covered her full, aching breasts. Her nipples were hard and pushing through the lace, her need every bit as great as his own.
He whispered something soft and sexy in Italian, but the sound of it was muffled as he blazed a trail of fire from her throat to the valley between her breasts. She heard her own gasp, a soft cry of need as she arched to meet his wandering mouth. His tongue lapped at her nipples right through the lace, a hot, moist caress that created a hot, moist response between her legs.
“I need you, Desari. I was empty without you. And that kind of emptiness eats away at you, consumes you until your soul is dark and ugly and all that matters is sating your hunger. But nothing fills the void. Nothing. Year after year you endure the emptiness until life itself is a curse hardly to be borne. And all the while the darkness, the beast in you whispers, an insidious whisper promising power from the kill, promises that wear away your belief in God, in all the things that are right and true and good. The monster inside you, so black and hungry for life, grows and grows until it has consumed everything you ever were. That is the curse borne by Carpathian males, Desari.”
Julian’s arms tightened around her until their strength threatened to crack her bones, but Desari only held him closer, listening to the anguish in his voice. She cradled his head to her, protective, feminine, his refuge and salvation.
“We have lost so many. I have hunted boyhood friends, dared not become too close to anyone in case I was called upon to end his existence.” His hands moved over her skin, tracing each rib. The palms of his hands were hot as they moved to find her waist. Julian lifted his head to allow his eyes to drift slowly, possessively over her. His molten gaze ignited a firestorm of need in Desari. She loved the weight of his eyes on her, the hunger burning so intensely there.
She watched as he slowly lifted one hand, and stared at his perfect nails for a moment before one lengthened into a sharp talon. Very slowly he inserted it between her breasts, just touching the wisp of lace that hugged her body. One downward sweep sliced the material easily, spilling her breasts free.
Desari held her breath, afraid to move or speak, not wanting to shatter the moment, not wanting that look of hunger for her alone to ever leave his face. His hands moved upward, sliding over her skin to cup her breasts. His heated gaze went to her face, studying every detail, every expression, every emotion in her dark eyes.
“I will never deserve you, Desari, no matter how long we live, no matter how hard I try. I do not deserve a woman such as you.” He whispered the words, meaning every one of them.
She smiled, tilting her head to one side. “Perhaps not, Julian,” she agreed. “But I am not the angel you think me. You have only to ask my brother the trouble you are letting yourself in for. But I promise you, I do plan on showing you.”
Her voice, soft and pure, straight from heaven, slipped over his body like the brush of her fingertips, touching him everywhere, teasing, stroking, promising the very things fantasies were made of. She wanted to end his suffering, take away the centuries of emptiness without hope, the terrible burden of the deaths he carried, forced to hunt his friends and end their lives in order to save mortals and immortals alike. She wanted to play and tease, be as mischievous as possible, teach him the meaning of her kind of “trouble.”
A sound intruded. The others were still far too close to them. The campsite was some distance away, but Carpathians had exceptionally acute hearing. Julian could hear them breaking camp, starting up vehicles. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm the raging storm within. He would not subject the other men, all so close to turning, to the sounds of their lovemaking.
Very tenderly he cupped the creamy fullness of Desari’s breasts in the palms of his hands. His thumbs caressed her nipples into hard, beckoning peaks. “You are so beautiful, Desari, your skin so warm and soft.” He bent his head to trace the valley between her breasts with his tongue, lingering over the steady beat of her heart. “I want you so badly I feel I might go insane if I do not have you at this moment.”
She lay her head over his, rubbing his thick mane of golden hair with her chin. “But?”
Julian sighed softly. “I will have to be content with looking at you in adoration.” He reluctantly released her and stepped away. “I think I can manage to wait a short time.” His golden eyes glittered at her dangerously. “If you do something to distract me.”
Desari tilted her head, her long hair sliding like so much silk over her shoulder, partially covering her bare skin from his view. A small, feminine smile curved her soft mouth. Just the sight of it made him groan. “Distract you?” Her voice hummed with promise. “I can think of several interesting things we can try to distract you from thinking of my family.” Her smile was sexy, enticing, a promise.
“You are not helping me,” he scolded, his body an unrelenting ache.
Desari had slowly merged her mind with his. She saw his terrible need of her, the images of them intertwined. She felt the fire rushing in his blood, the heaviness pooling between his legs. The monster roaring for release, inciting him to take his lifemate with heat and passion and damn the strangers he was trying to be considerate of.
It was a measure of her own raging passion that she had not considered the men, their hearing, their ability to smell. The wind would so easily carry to the others what went on in the forest. “You are far more deserving of me than you believe,” she whispered softly, pride for him making her want to throw herself into his arms.
The fire of hunger and need was on her. She wanted his body crushed against hers, filling hers, his blood running in her own veins. She needed the closeness with him to take away her fear of being separated from him.
Julian shook his head, his hand curling around the nape of her neck. “You cannot look at me like that,
piccola,
or I am sure to go up in flames.”
Desari allowed her fingers to tangle in his golden mane. “Thank you for thinking of my family when I could not.” Her voice was a whisper of seduction, sliding over his hot skin. Just the sound of it made every muscle in his body clench.
Julian made another effort to breathe. Air. It was all around him, yet he couldn’t seem to drag enough into his lungs. He took her hand in his and carried it to the warmth of his mouth. “We need to find a safe subject,
cara mia,
or I will not make it through these next few minutes.”
Desari’s soft laughter was like music in the wind. She perched on a large tree trunk that lay across the forest floor. The breeze tugged at her long hair so that it shifted around her like a veil, one moment hiding the temptation of bare, gleaming skin, the next revealing it. “A safe subject,” she mused aloud. “What would that be?”