Page 15 of Embers in the Wind

The minute we’re back safely within the confines of the cavern walls, I settle her onto her feet. My finger strokes down the length of her creamy neck, pushing a wayward piece of hair behind her ear. “One chance to walk away, say it isn’t time, that you aren’t ready or that it isn’t what you want. Because if you say yes, I won’t be easy, it will be rough, and I won’t stop until you’re screaming my name.”

Her eyes flare with desire, the light gold flecks in the deep purple color glinting with desire while the pulse on the side of her neck beats so rapidly underneath the creaminess of her skin. Her voice is little more than a sultry whisper, but with the answer I wanted to hear. “Yes.”

I may have said I wouldn’t be easy, and I won’t but the desire to see her bared to me overrules my need to take her fast, to quench the smell of desire that seeps from her skin. My hand snakes around her nape as the silkiness of her hair cascades over my arm. I draw her close, inhaling her scent deeply, filling the intoxicating creature’s scent deep into my lungs before capturing her lips with a kiss that sears us with its heat.

Her hands find my hair, stroking long fingernails against my scalp, pausing momentarily as I raise them overhead to slip her shirt off, unclasp her bralette and let it fall to the floor as I bare Embry’s breasts for the very first time.

She is not immune, the scent of her arousal is strong, wafting under my nostrils, tempting me with the aroma, and that look in her eyes.

Embry groans as I take first one of her nipples and then the other into my mouth, suckling the rose-colored flesh, my cock hardening painfully against the inseam of my jeans as she moans my name. “Corvinus.” My name on her red-stained lips causes my dick to strain. Those lips, the very ones that were bright red with the blood from my veins just last night. The only lips and mouth that have ever received nourishment from me in that manner, at least for centuries now.

Destiny does not play fair. I may not believe in fated mates, but chemistry like this will not be denied. I worship her skin, caressing her softness as she purrs her delight with every stroke of my caress. When I’ve finally bared her completely, and even her little panties lie on the floor, I pick her up, gently carrying her to the bed. Laying her down, I undress while she watches,those purple eyes fixated on every single button that gets undone, following every move I make until I part her legs to stand between them.

Her scent is erotic, a pheromone I cannot and won’t even try to deny. I want her in the worst of ways. I slide my hands over her thighs, resting on the inside of her knees, watching the inhalation of her breaths speeding up as her desire grows. And when I part her legs, her center is already glistening with dewy wetness, slick enough for me to enter, but not first without a taste.

Embry watches me as my head lowers, parting her slightly, gently stroking with a finger, and then a thumb, licking lightly as our eyes meet, fueled by the passion in her eyes and trembling of her thighs. My finger finds her anus. I stroke gently, testing the tightness, teasing her with each stroke and little insertions of my touch. Her desire boils, and I take the sensitive bundle of nerves into my mouth, sucking her while my finger finds its mark, driving in, sliding right against that special spot until she can’t control it one moment more. “Come for me, Embry.”

She does not disobey, beautiful in the height of her passion as her thighs tighten against my face, but I’m not that easily dissuaded. I keep her open, sucking until she’s ridden the orgasm on the end of my tongue, letting her come down while still collecting the cream that is mine.

Embry tries to close her legs, but that will hardly do. “Mine,” I tell her, possessive in my desire to feast on every bit of the cream in her center, not willing to be deprived of one sweet bit, but gently cleaning my mate rekindles her desire, and her eyes open with surprise when I lift her legs and flip her over.

“Knees,” I growl.

She moans, settling onto her hands and knees, her beautifully round ass positioned perfectly in front of me. Embry does not have time to think before I drive all my length right tothe very end of her, hitting that spot deep inside that causes her to gasp. “Again,” she moans.

It wasn’t my intent to stop, and I do it again, and again, and again, driving us both into a frenzy, chasing an orgasm that sears us with its power. I pull her back against me, still building the climax, driving in hard just the way she likes. “Give me what I want, Embry.”

She feels my teeth graze against that sensitive little pulse on the side of her neck and pushes back to accept me deeper and deeper inside of her as my lips mark the side of her throat before my fangs pierce her delicate skin and I thrust the length of my cock into her deep and rough, hitting that special little button time and time again as she screams my name and our desires explode.

The ultimate release, still with her blood on my tongue, and something never experienced before, an experience that I’m already thirsting for again. There is no denying the powers of the temptation that destiny has put before us, barely able to hold out for more than twenty-four hours before succumbing to the sexy female who I now cradle in my arms, still joined as one.

“It’s never been like that for me,” she whispers.

I stroke her hair, watching as the puncture wounds on her neck slowly close and fade. It’s sure as fuck never been like that for me either but whatever this is, it’s gotten much muddier than before. The woman’s scent is like an aphrodisiac that I simply cannot deny, every protective instinct I have roars to life when she steps near danger, and whether I want to believe in destiny or not, I do respect her place in the world.

But she had to have gotten it wrong.

Even if I were looking for a mate, Embry is not mine to have. Her heart is still with another, a tragic loss that will take time to heal. Our connection is something I’ll undoubtedly have to get used to, and I realize in just this second that I’m alreadythinking in terms of the next time and seeing her more. Not just as someone I’ve been tasked with protecting either, damn it all to hell.

Her hand clasps mine as she snuggles into my front, the curve of her ass still gently nestled against me. Her breathing calm and sated, safe and secure. The very way I want her to be. Safe, protected, and in my arms.

She snuggles against my arm but doesn’t turn to face me. “We were so close as friends, closer as lovers, but then something changed. It was before the witches put a curse on him though. Quite some time before that,” she whispers.

I stroke the silky strands of her hair, just letting her know that I’m here, to listen, and comfort, anything that Embry needs because in a matter of hours, something significant has changed.

Her head tilts slightly. “I didn’t realize it until I really thought about it after he was gone. Maybe if I had figured it out early things would have been different, maybe he wouldn’t have turned rogue. But I’ll never know, never be able to get rid of this feeling like I could have done more.”

I kiss the top of her head, stroking a finger down her arm. “Rest, love. Whatever you did I’m sure it was more than most would have done. No one in the close circle of Overmaster Descallia and Lucianna believe you to be a traitor. And the rest of the world, they simply do not matter, at least while they sputter the nonsense they want to believe.”

She nods slightly, but I have no doubt it is only a simple appeasement as she drifts off to sleep and not a sign of believing me for one little bit. I’ve heard the cruelty of the rumors, hell, believed them myself for all of this time. Until I could hear her thoughts and feel her very soul.

Embry loves the vampires with all her being but somehow and for some reason unbeknownst to me finds herself in the middle of the biggest battleground between the witches andvampires that ever did exist. And she’s right. We do need to figure this out, her heritage, why she was drawn here of all places, because until we do, she will never be accepted back into the fold. The vampire masters have come a long way in accepting witches as mates for the purebloods, but with strict conditions and proven allegiance to our cause.

Which is a problem for the lovely vampiress I now hold in my arms.

I’ve almost drifted to sleep myself when her melodic voice draws me back from the brink of sleep. “Do you think the woman we saw was a witch? I think she was. Probably spying on us. Tomorrow, when it’s dark, I need to find her, learn what she knows and why I’ve been brought here. There has to be a reason.”

I inhale a deep breath. I don’t know what the reason is myself, but I can’t go home without her. Embry isn’t going home without finding out the truth and getting her home without pissing off the vampires or the witches is what I’ve been asked to do. Finding the witch now that she knows we’re onto her will not be easy yet words fall from my mouth as though it will be no problem at all. “We’ll find her tomorrow. Sleep, love.”

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