Dark Storm (Dark #23)(83)
Author: Christine Feehan

He didn’t wait. Couldn’t wait, as desperate for her as she was for him. He pushed her back on the platform, so that she sprawled out, panting, her breasts rising and falling with her agitated breathing. She brought up her knees, planting her feet a good distance apart, lifting her hips in invitation.

"Hurry, Dax. Hurry."

He dropped over top of her, slamming his cock deep so that she screamed, arching her back and pressing harder into him. He thrust hard and fast, burying himself deep while her hot sheath suckled and gripped, the friction building their release fast. Too fast. He wanted this to last forever, but already he could feel her tightening, clamping down on him, the hot wash of her body, and the strong waves rippling through her, taking him with her. He surged forward again and again, slamming deep as her body locked down on his, squeezing and milking, demanding his hot release. His hoarse shout joined hers, and he collapsed over her, fighting for breath.

He wrapped his arms around her and rolled, taking her weight, loving how she sprawled over him like melted lava. "I think I left a little gold dust in your hair."

Her laughter was muffled. She didn’t lift her head. "Everyone will think I have body glitter on. Those scales of yours are beautiful, but they do leave evidence behind." She yawned lazily. "It might come in handy if you ever decide to stray."

"Carpathians don’t stray," he said, and bit her earlobe. He rubbed her enticing butt. "Sit up, we need to talk. We’re racing the sun."

She yawned again. "I see how you are. Get what you can from a woman and then insist on talking." She rolled off of him reluctantly and watched him rise in his fluid, easy way.

"I want to talk to you about what will happen when I convert you," he said. "It’s important for you to know. I looked into Gary’s mind to find answers to why you, a human, would be my lifemate. In my time, there was no such thing. No one ever conceived of such a thing. The few times anyone tried to save the life of a human by converting them, it was disastrous."

Riley sat up slowly, pushing her hands through her cascading hair. The action lifted her breasts and made him hungry for her all over again. "That might be pertinent. What kind of disaster happened?"

He leaned forward and brushed a kiss over the sweet slope of her creamy breast. "I think you’re going to have to put clothes on if we’re going to discuss this. I have to go to ground and that means I have to put you safely in Gary and Jubal’s care, so we don’t have much time left." Before she could protest, and he was a weak man when it came to her desires, he covered up temptation with a wave of his hand.

"If you converted me, we would have plenty of time." She moved like a siren, in spite of her clothing, her hot gaze drifting over him.

"You are a very wicked woman," he decreed, catching her wandering hand. He needed clothes as well, a good distance from her if he was going to have a chance to resist her. "You need this information."

She made a little moue with her lips, those lips he always found irresistible. She definitely had an unfair advantage over him. If she pouted, or cried, he’d be lost.

"All right. I’ll behave," she conceded with the smallest of teasing smiles. "Bring on your worst. But I won’t change my mind."

He hoped not. He’d told her once started, there was no going back, and she was well on her way to being in his world. He couldn’t reverse the process.

The smile faded from her face. "I’m listening Dax. I can see this is upsetting to you." She sat up straight and folded her hands in her lap. "Get on with it. I’m listening. What kind of disaster?"

Dax felt tension gathering in the pit of his stomach. "The men and women they tried to save over the last few centuries apparently became deranged and had to be terminated. It wasn’t until the prince discovered his woman could be turned because she had psychic gifts that our species became aware a few human women might save us."

There. He’d said it. He’d told her the horrible truth he’d found in Gary’s memories. There was more, but he needed to see her face. Feel her reaction. Check that he wasn’t showing how, for the first time he could remember, fear held him in its deadly grip.

She nodded her head. "I see. As in deranged, you mean like those people in the village? Mindless? Intent on murder?"

He nodded. "Drinking blood much like a vampire. Sometimes turning cannibal."

She reached for her hair, bringing it over her shoulder, beginning to weave it into a long, thick braid. It was something to do with her hands, he knew. She hadn’t blinked, but her hands were trembling.

"Okay then. Is that it? Because you haven’t settled down."

"It’s painful." He nearly blurted out the information when he didn’t blurt. Ever. She was turning him inside out with the stoic look on her face. "Very painful." Just to clarify. And adhere strictly to the truth. "It’s like dying, convulsions, I can show you the memories if you wish." He made the offer reluctantly.

She studied his face in silence. He worked at being completely expressionless, not wanting to persuade her one way or the other with his aversion to revealing the actual images.

Riley threw her braid back over her shoulder and stood up. "I don’t want to see. I’m not stupid. I knew in order to cross into your world, I’d have to leave mine. Your body is very different from mine. I knew from the beginning that a change wouldn’t be easy. Nothing worthwhile ever is." Her eyes met his. "Believe me, Dax, you’re worthwhile."

She stood up and crossed to him, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Women have babies knowing it could hurt, but that a small few moments are nothing compared to the joy they’ll receive when they have their child in their arms. Whatever I have to do, I’ll do." There was absolute resolve in her voice and in her eyes.

Her face blurred for a moment, forcing him to blink rapidly.

"When you deem it safe, I’m ready. I want you to just finish, and while you’re doing it, remember the kind of woman you tied yourself to. I take responsibility for my own choices. I don’t do what other people tell me to. I like information shared with me, and I want respect and a partnership." She lifted her chin. "I would never be silly enough to argue with you over safety, or even health, which I’ve observed are your two big issues, but I like to make my own decisions."

He gripped her upper arms. "Is that a warning?" His heart felt as if it had swelled so large it was too big for his chest.

"Take it any way you like. I know you’re afraid I haven’t really looked at the real you. I have. You tend to be a very dominant man, and that’s okay with me, it really is. But I’m just as afraid that you haven’t taken a good look at who I really am. I make my own decisions and I’ve never done well with someone telling me what to do."