“You’re such a baby sometimes,” she teased.
Skyler waited until Dimitri settled on the bed. He was a big man and he took up a lot of space, nearly the entire mattress. She studied his body for a long moment. His muscles were extremely defined, roped and fluid. His chest was deep, his waist narrow and his belly flat. Already his erection was heavy and full, long and thick, with desire for her. His long legs were very muscular.
From his neck down to his ankles, the loops of silver chain had been burned into his body. They went entirely around him, front to back. She had mostly tried to lessen the impact of the scars on his forehead and neck, but she had wanted to try something altogether different.
Slowly she slung one leg over his hips and straddled him, settling the heat between her legs directly over his erection. He sucked in his breath, but he didn’t move, allowing her to continue.
“I’ve thought about this for the last five nights,” she confided softly. “I’m Carpathian, a Dragonseeker and daughter of Mother Earth. I am Razvan’s daughter, mage is in my blood. I learned from Francesca, one of our greatest healers. I will not let silver defeat me. What is it? A metal of the earth. The properties that burned you can be undone.”
Dimitri opened his mouth, thinking to protest, wanting to complete the ritual of lifemates, but she leaned over him, her soft wet heat rubbing sensuously over his cock, robbing him of breath, of the ability to think, let alone speak.
Her tongue lapped at the chain burns high on his chest with her healing saliva. He heard her chant in his mind, a soft litany of words calling the tiny silver particles embedded in the burns to come forth, and take with them the damage they had caused.
I am Skyler, daughter of the Dragonseeker,
Great-granddaughter of the high mage,
I am Skyler, daughter of Mother Earth.
I call to thee, silver, let us break him from this cage.
Her voice rang with power, swelling in strength, not volume. She became commanding, a true child of both Dragonseeker and mage, as well as a child of the earth. Dimitri marveled at her poise and confidence, even as he tried to stay still beneath her ministrations.
You are silver, my beautiful brother,
But your beauty has been tainted by another.
You have been misled, you have been misguided,
I am calling to you, pleading, help me fight it.
The chant was in her mind. Her mouth moved over his skin, lapping gently, thoroughly, her fingers tracing ahead of her tongue. It was beyond sensuous, beyond anything he’d ever imagined. Skyler concentrated on healing him, but her body moved over his with such intimacy, her every touch mixed with passion and love for him.
Adoration, she murmured and stroked her tongue lower.
His cock jerked, as she slipped off of that intimate part of him to straddle his thighs. Her breasts pushed into his groin. He could feel the soft mounds and her erect nipples pressing into his center so that his heavy erection nestled in the heat between them.
I have adored you almost from the moment we met. You came into my life and there has been no other to fill those dark empty places. Only you, she whispered into his mind.
Her tongue continued to administer to his burns, following the chains lower and lower with those soft lapping velvet strokes until his heart nearly stopped beating in anticipation.
I call to my brother silver, let go,
Free yourself from this blessed soul.
Bring forth with you the damage to skin and bone,
My brother, give me aid, I cannot heal him alone.
Desire and love twined together until there was no separating the two. She used her devotion for Dimitri as well as her growing hunger for his body to chain the silver to her, to draw out the tiny particles, calling them to her, the worst of the burns adhering to the metal.
Her mouth moved lower, and a groan escaped him as her tongue lapped at the chain links across his shaft. Her tongue bathed him with soothing heat, her lips brushing kisses over him in between that soft stroking.
His lungs burned for air, but she didn’t stop, moving even lower, to the chain marks around his hips and thighs. She was killing him with her healing, a slow, deliberate assault on his senses.
He knew she wanted to heal his scars, to ease that tightness in his body that refused to go away, but she could explore, she could taste him, get to know his body intimately, claim every square inch of him for her own, getting lost in the sensations rising between them—and not feel threatened. She was in her element healing him. She was in control.
Dimitri knew she was making her way to him the only way she knew how, and for him, her determination was not only beautiful, but sexy beyond description. She moved over him with care, every touch loving. He felt her love intertwining with her power to lift the rigid tight scars and draw out the tiny particles of silver left behind in skin and bone.
Her mouth moved over him in a kind of worship that left him mad with desire, and trembling with such a terrible love for her he felt the burn of tears behind his eyes.
Come to me, silver, I offer my skin,
Bring all the scars away from him.
Join with me, brother, drive out his pain,
So that only my warrior, my beloved, remains.
To his utter shock, the chains around him loosened noticeably. He hadn’t realized he’d pushed pain to the back of his mind, accepting that it would be there for all eternity. He should have known she would find it there when she merged with him. It was impossible to hide anything from her. The pain eased and then slowly disappeared, leaving him lying beneath her, free of all silver, the chains only faint memories in his body.
Skyler sat up slowly, and at once he could see the burns covering her skin like a coat of armor. His heart jerked, his hands coming up to grip her arms. “What have you done?”
She shrugged, and the coat shimmied to the floor and disintegrated. “I’ve loved you the best way I know how.” She smiled at him and brushed her hand over his flat stomach.
He rolled her over. “Then it’s my turn, isn’t it?”
Skyler lay sprawled beneath him, but he was very careful not to pin her down, or make her feel trapped. He caged her in with his arms, but made certain she had freedom of movement. She didn’t flinch, but looked up at him, the love in her eyes wreaking havoc with his heart.
“I’m expecting great things, my love,” she whispered softly, tracing his lips with her fingertip.
A slow smile curved his mouth. Amusement crept into his glacier-blue eyes. “I’ll do my best not to disappoint.”
He bent his head to fasten his mouth to hers. Tasting her. Savoring her. Loving her. She was a miracle of heat, of fire, pouring into him, cleansing him until he felt brand-new. He tasted her passion and knew he was addicted for life.
He kissed his way from her mouth to her chin, and then down her throat. He stroked one finger over her breast and felt her immediate response, a shiver of pleasure. Her hips moved subtly, a calling, a need.
He cupped her breast, his thumb sliding over her nipple, brushing gently at first, and then tugging and rolling, all the while watching her reaction. She shivered again, not pulling away, but rather pushing into his hand. Her breasts were definitely sensitive. Each touch sent a small rush of liquid fire dampening between her legs.