Part 7 (1/2)

Chapter Nine

Sara was waiting for Falcon in the large, beautiful chamber. Candles were everywhere, flames flickering so that the glowing lights cast shadows on the wall. She was alone, sitting on the edge of the bed. The other women had been summoned by their lifemates. Sara jumped up when Falcon walked in. She wore only a man's silken s.h.i.+rt, the tails reaching nearly to her knees. A single b.u.t.ton held the edges together over her generous b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in all his centuries of existence. He closed the door quietly and leaned against it, just drinking her in. She was alive. And she was real.

Sara stared up at him, her heart in her eyes. ”It seems like forever.”

Her voice was soft but it washed over him with the strength of a hurricane, making his pulses pound and his senses reel. She was there waiting for him with that same welcome on her face.

Real. It was real, and it was just for him.

Falcon held out his hand to her, needing to touch her, to see that she was alive and well, that the healer had worked her miracle. ”I never want to experience such terror again. Locked within the earth, I felt helpless to aid you.”

Sara crossed to his side without hesitation. She touched his face with trembling fingertips, traced every beloved line-the curve of his mouth, his dark eyebrows-and rubbed a caress along his shadowed jaw. ”But you did come to my aid. You sent the others to me, and you were always with me. I wasn't alone. More than that, I knew you would save the children.” There was a wealth of love in her voice that stole his heart.

He bent his head to take possession of her tempting mouth. She was soft satin and a dark dream of the future. He took his time, kissing her again and again, savoring the way she melted into him, the way she was so much a part of him. Are you ready to be as I am? To be Carpathian and walk beside me for all time? He couldn't say it aloud but whispered it intimately in her mind while his heart stood still and his breath caught in his lungs. Waiting. Just waiting for her answer.

You are my world. I don't think I could bear to be without you. She answered him in the way of his people, wanting to rea.s.sure him.

”Is this what you want, Sara? Am I what you want? Be certain of this-it is no easy thing.

Conversion is painful.” Falcon tightened his hold on her possessively, but he had to tell her the truth.

”Being without you is more painful.” Her arms crept around his neck. She leaned her body against his, her soft b.r.e.a.s.t.s pus.h.i.+ng against his chest, her body molding to his. ”I want this, Falcon. I have no reservations. I may be nervous, but I am unafraid. I want a life with you.” Her mouth found his, tiny kisses teasing the corners of his smile, her teeth nibbling at his lower lip. Her body was hot and restless and aching for his. Her kiss was fire and pa.s.sion, hot and filled with promises. She gave herself into his keeping without reservation.

He melted inside. It was an instant and complete meltdown, his insides going soft and his body growing hard. She tore him up inside as nothing had ever done. No one had ever penetrated the armor surrounding his heart. It had been cold. Dead. Now it was wildly alive. His heart pounded madly at the love in her eyes, the touch of her fingertips, the generous welcome of her body, the total trust she gave him when her life had been one of such mistrust.

His kiss was possessive, demanding. Hot and urgent, the way his body felt. His hands went to her waist in a soft caress, slid upward to cup the weight of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s in his hands. But his mouth was pure fire, wild and hot even when his hands were so tender. He slipped the single b.u.t.ton open, his breath catching in his throat, and he stepped back to view the lush temptation of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. ”You are so beautiful, Sara. Everything about you. I love you more than anything. I hope you know that. I hope you are reading my mind and you know that you are my life.” His finger trailed slowly down the valley between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s to her navel. His body reacted, that painful ache of urgent demand.

And he let it happen.

Sara watched his eyes change, watched the way his body changed, and she smiled, unafraid of the wildness she glimpsed in him. Wanting it. Wanting him crazy for her. She unb.u.t.toned his s.h.i.+rt, slipped it from his shoulders. Leaning forward, she pressed a row of kisses along his muscles, her tongue sliding around his nipple. She smiled up at him as she rubbed her hand over the bulging material of his trousers, her fingers deftly freeing him from the tight confines. Her hand wrapped around the thick length of him, simply held him for a moment, enjoying the freedom of being able to explore. Then she hooked her thumbs into the waistband of the trousers to remove them. ”I think you're beautiful, Falcon,” she admitted. ”And I know that I love you.”

He wrapped his arm around her waist, dragged her to him, his mouth fusing with hers, all at once aggressive, demanding, a little primitive. Sara met him kiss for kiss. His hands were everywhere; so were hers. He slid his palm over her stomach, wanting to feel a child, his child, growing there, wanting everything at once-her, a child, a family, everything he had never had. Everything he'd believed he never could have. His fingers dipped lower into the thatch of tight curls, cupped her welcoming heat even as his mouth devoured hers. ”I know I should slow down,” he managed to get out.

”There's no need,” she answered, feeling the exact same sense of wild urgency. She needed him.

Wanted him. Every inch of him buried deep within her merging their two halves into one whole.

Shadows danced on the wall from the flickering candlelight, threw a soft glow over Sara's face. He lifted his head as he slowly, carefully, pushed two fingers deep inside her. He wanted to watch the pleasure in her eyes. She held nothing back from him, not her thoughts, her desires, or her pa.s.sion. She gasped, her body tightening, clamping around his fingers, hot and needy. She moved against his hand, a slow, s.e.xy ride, her head thrown back to expose her throat, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s a gleaming enticement in the candlelight.

He pushed deeper into her, felt the instant answering wash of hot moisture. Very slowly he bent his head to her throat. His tongue swirled lazily. His teeth nipped. He hid nothing from her, his mind thrusting into hers, sharing the perfect ecstasy of the moment with her, his body's reaction and the frenzy of heated pa.s.sion. His fingers penetrated deep into her feminine channel as he buried his teeth in her throat. The lightning lanced both of them, hot and white, a pain that gave way to an erotic fire. She was hot and sweet and just as wild as he was. Falcon was careful to keep his appet.i.te under control, taking only enough blood for an exchange. His mouth left her throat with a soothing swirl of his tongue; he lifted her with only one arm wrapped around her waist and took her to the bed. All the time, his fingers were sliding in and out of her, his mouth was fused to hers, the pleasure blossoming and spreading like wildfire through both of them.

She expected to find the taking of her blood disgusting, but it was erotic and dreamy, almost as if he had drawn a veil over her mind, ensnaring her in his dark pa.s.sion. Yet she shared his mind and knew he had not. She also shared the intensity of his pleasure in the act, and it gave her courage.

”It isn't enough, Falcon. I want more, I want you in my body, I want us together.” Her voice was breathless against his lips, her hands sliding over him eagerly, tracing each defined muscle, urging his hips toward hers.

He kissed her throat, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, swirling his tongue over her nipples, along her ribs, around her belly but ton. Then she was gasping, rising up off the bed, her hands clutching fistfuls of his hair as he tasted her. She was shattering with the sheer intensity of her pleasure. Falcon could transport her to other worlds, places of beauty, emotion, and physical rapture.

He rose above her, a dark, handsome man with long, wild hair and black, mesmerizing eyes. There was a heartbeat while he was poised there, and then he surged forward, locking them together as they were meant to be, penetrating deeply, sweeping her away with him. He began to move, each stroke taking him deeper, filling her with a rush of heat and fire. She rose to meet him, craving the contact, wanting him deep inside, all the time her body winding tighter and tighter, rus.h.i.+ng toward that elusive perfection.

Sara gasped as he thrust deeper still, the fiery friction clenching every muscle in her body, flooding every cell with a wild ecstasy. Then he was merging their minds, thrusting deep as his body took hers. She felt his pleasure, he felt hers, body and mind and heart, a timeless dance of joy and love.

They soared together, exploding, fragmenting, waves of release rocking the earth so that they clung together with hearts pounding and shared smiles.

Falcon held her tightly, buried his face in her neck, whispered soft words of love, of encouragement before reluctantly untangling their bodies.

They lay on the bed together... waiting. Her heart was pounding, her breath coming too fast, but she tried valiantly to pretend that everything was perfectly normal. That her entire world was not about to be changed for all eternity.

Falcon held her in his strong arms, wanting to rea.s.sure her, needing the closeness as much as she did.

”Do you know why I wrote the journal?” He kissed her temple, breathed in her scent. ”A thousand years ago, the words welled up inside me when I could feel nothing, see nothing but gray images.

The emotions and words were burned into my soul. I felt I needed to write them down so I would always remember the intensity of my feelings for my lifemate. For you, Sara, because even then, a thousand years before you were born, more even, I felt your presence in my soul. A tiny flicker and I needed to light the way.” He kissed her gently, tenderly. ”I guess that doesn't make much sense.

But I felt you inside of me and I had to tell you how much you mattered.”

”Those words saved my life, Falcon. I wouldn't have survived without your journal.” She leaned into him. She would survive this, as well. She was strong and she would see it through.

”I shudder to think what trouble the children are giving this poor stranger who has been called into service,” Falcon teased, wanting to see her smile.

Sara nibbled at his throat. ”How long will it take us to get the children in a real home? Our home?”

”I think that can be arranged very fast,” Falcon a.s.sured, his fingers sliding through her thick, silken hair, loving the feel of the sable strands. ”The one wonderful thing about our people is that they are very willing to share what they have. I have jewels and gold stashed away. I was going to turn it over to Mikhail to aid our people in any way possible, but we can ask for a house.”

”A large house. Seven children require a large house.”

”And a large staff. We will have to find someone we trust to watch over the children during the day,”

Falcon pointed out. ”I am certain Raven and Shea will know the best person to contact. The children have very special needs. We will have to aid them...”

She turned her head, frowning at him. ”You mean manipulate them.”

He shrugged his powerful shoulders, unperturbed by her irritation. ”It is our way of life in this world. We must s.h.i.+eld those who provide sustenance for us, or they would live in terror. Officials who do not want to hand us these children are easily persuaded otherwise. To keep the children from being afraid and allow them to become more used to their environment and more accepting of a new lifestyle, it will be necessary. It is a useful gift, Sara, and one we depend on to keep our species from discovery.”

”The children want to live with me. We have discussed it on many occasions. I would have taken them to my home immediately but I knew that eventually the vampire would come. I was attempting to set up a safe house for them, a refuge where I could see them without endangering them. But the officials continually put roadblocks in my way, mostly to charge more money. But the children knew I was trying. They believed in me, and they won't be afraid of a new life.”

”You will not be with them during the day, Sara. We must ensure that they trust the humans we will have to rely on to guard them during those hours.”

Just then a ripple of fire moved through Sara's body. She put her hand over her stomach and turned her head, meeting his shadowed gaze. He put his hand over hers.

He bent to kiss her, a kiss of sorrow, of apology. ”I would spare you this pain if I could.” He whispered it against her skin. His body trembled against hers.

She caught his hand, twining their fingers together. Her insides were burning alarmingly. ”It's all right, Falcon. We knew it was going to be like this.” She wanted to rea.s.sure him even though every muscle was cramping and her body was shuddering with pain. ”I can do this. I want to do this.” She allowed nothing else to enter her mind. Not fear. Not growing terror. It had no place, only her complete belief in him, in them. In her decision. A convulsion lifted her body, slammed it back down. Sara tried to crawl away from him, wanting to spare him.

Falcon caught at her, his mind firmly entrenched in hers. Together, piccola. We are in this together.