Page 65 of Kiss of Light

“Yes. Yes, now!”

She didn’t close her eyes, and he didn’t close his. He slid into her like a sword through silk, sheathing himself in her heat as they held each other’s stare.

It was the most extraordinarily intimate moment of his long, long life.

He thrust his hips against her, pushing into her as deep as he could. Her little grinding movements against his shaft were driving him mad. Every now and again she rubbed her aching nipples against his chest.

He knew he wouldn’t last long. And he didn’t. But neither did she.

The motion of his body sent tremors of toe-curling pleasure through hers. The sensation of his girth filling her completely, whilst simultaneously rubbing the sensitive little knot between her legs, made her weak with desire.

He saw the moment she started coming when her eyes flared silver. She dug her fingers into his back and ground hard against him.

Then she was biting his shoulder and her inner muscles were rippling along the length of his erection. He felt her tighten around him, again and again, and it sent him over the edge.

He buried his face in her neck, seeking out the pulse beneath her flesh, sucking on it until he could feel it jump against his tongue. He pulled back when his canines unsheathed, not wanting to break her skin. He didn’t need to. It was enough.

He grasped her hips and shuddered as he released inside her. It seemed to last forever, and yet it didn’t last long enough.

He kept his face in her neck until she gently cradled his head and pulled him up to look at her.

“Don’t. My face… “

She studied the veins still pulsing below his eyes and across his cheeks. He had managed to retract his fangs, but he knew his dark side was still showing and for the moment, he was unable to rein it in.

She kissed him gently.

“You never have to hide from me, vampire,” she chided him softly. “I know you now.”

They lay entwined and listened to her heartbeat until it gradually slowed to a normal rhythm.

A battle lay ahead, they both knew it. But for this moment, under that bed, they were in their own private sanctuary.

Twenty Six

They drove for an hour until they reached Dolores. Lemar expected Tala to stop but she continued south, crossing the narrow neck of a reservoir. They passed through a small town named Cortez and shortly after, Tala pulled up by the side of the road.

She’d bought an emergency survival kit along the way. The kind of thing someone might take on a camping trip, containing torch, tools, rope. But among all the paraphernalia there was really only one thing she needed. The flare. She picked it out of the kit and slid it into her back pocket.

Climbing out of the pickup, she sent a quick text to Avery. The keys were under the sun visor. He could retrieve his truck later.

Lemar looked around. They seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.

“What now?”

“Now we walk.”

She led him north west, off the highway and into the sandy terrain. Here, there was nothing but rocky outcrops and scrubland. Every so often they would pass through a cultivated field or skirt by some farming settlements, but for the most part it was a yawning wilderness.

The lack of light pollution made the stars as bright as diamonds. The night air was cool and quiet, the hum of traffic far behind them. Lemar glanced at Tala as they walked at a steady pace. They could have been the last two people on earth.

“It’s very peaceful out here,” he commented. Neither of them had spoken for the past hour.

“It’s mostly protected land. National parkland and Native American reservations. The area we’re walking through contains the relics of the ancient Puebloan civilisation. It’s called the Canyons of the Ancients.”

“Sounds very spiritual. And the Gate?”

“Near the highest point. We’ll be going uphill for the next few hours. I have to time it so that when we emerge in Nush’aldaam, it’s still night.”

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