Part 37 (1/2)

Her eyes stared up at him, watching him as he swam in the pleasure she gave him. When he sank back against the mattress, collapsing, she crawled up his thighs, advancing. He cradled her head in his hands, arching into her mouth as she found a rhythm.

Right before he went over the edge, he s.h.i.+fted his hips away, not wanting to release yet.

”Come here,” he said, pulling her up his stomach and chest, rolling her onto her back. ”I'm going to be in you when I finish.”

Kissing her, he put his hand on the column of her neck and swept down the center of her, stopping over her heart. It was beating fast, and he dropped down, pressing his lips to her sternum and then moving to her breast. He suckled her as he slid his arm around under her shoulder blades and lifted her closer to his mouth.

She made an incredible noise deep in her throat, a breathless gasp that brought his head up just so he could look at her face. Her eyes were closed, her teeth clenched. He kissed a path down to her navel, where he lingered and licked before moving to her hip.

Urging her onto her stomach, he parted her legs and cupped her core with his palm. The silky wetness that coated his hand had him shaking as he kissed her hip and her lower back.

Slipping a finger into her, he bared his fangs and ran them up her spinal cord.

Mary moaned, her body curving to meet his teeth.

He stopped at her shoulder. Nudged her hair out of the way. And growled as he looked at her neck.

When she tensed, he whispered, ”Don't be scared, Mary. I won't hurt you.”

”I'm not afraid.” She s.h.i.+fted her hips and clenched her wet heat around his hand.

Rhage hissed as l.u.s.t ripped through him. He began to pant, but took comfort. There was no vibration, no G.o.d-awful hum. Just her and him. Together. Making love.

Though he did hunger for something else from her.

”Mary, forgive me.”

”For what?”

”I want to... drink from you,” he said into her ear. She trembled, but he felt a warm rush where he penetrated her and knew the shakes were from pleasure.

”You really want to... do that?” she said.

”G.o.d, yes.” His mouth closed on the side of her throat. He sucked her skin, dying to do so much more. ”I would love to be at your vein.”

”I've wondered what it would feel like.” Her voice was husky, thrilling. Good lord, was she going to let him? ”Does it hurt?”

”Only a little in the beginning, but then it's like... s.e.x. You'd feel my pleasure as I took you into me. And I would be very careful.

So very gentle.”

”I know you would.”

An erotic surge pounded through him and his fangs unsheathed. He could imagine sinking them into her neck. The sucking. The swallowing. The taste. And then there would be the communion of her doing the same to him. He would feed her well, let her take as much as she wanted- Her doing the same?

Rhage pulled back. What the h.e.l.l was he thinking? She was a human, for chrissakes. She didn't feed.

He put his forehead down on her shoulder. And remembered that not only was she a human; she was ill. He licked his lips, trying to persuade his fangs to retract.

”Rhage? Are you going to... you know.”

”I think it's safer not to.”

”Honestly, I'm not scared of it.”

”Oh, Mary, I know. You aren't afraid of anything.” And her courage was part of the reason he'd bonded with her. ”But I'd rather love your body than take something it can't afford to give me.”

In a quick series of moves he rose above her, pulled her hips off the mattress, and entered her from behind, sliding deep. Heat roared through him as she arched under his invasion, and he ran one of his arms between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, holding on to her upper body. With his hand, he twisted her chin around so he could kiss her.

Her breath was hot and desperate in his mouth as he slowly extracted himself from her core. The surge back in made them both groan. She was so incredibly tight, squeezing him hard as a vise. He got in a couple more controlled thrusts and then his hips took over, moving of their own volition until he couldn't keep contact with her lips anymore. His body pounded into hers, and he s.h.i.+fted his hands to her waist as he held on.

Her chest dropped down to the bed and her face turned to the side. Her lips were parted, her eyes closed. He let go of her torso and planted his fists in the mattress on either side of her shoulders. She was so small underneath him, dwarfed by the thickness of his forearms, but she took all of him, from tip to base, over and over again until he was lost.

From out of nowhere he felt a wonderful stinging in his hand. He looked down and saw that she'd curled around one of his arms and closed her mouth on the base of his thumb, biting.

”Harder, Mary,” he said hoa.r.s.ely. ”Oh, yeah. Bite... hard.”

The little burst of pain as her teeth sank into him shot his pleasure through the roof, taking him to the very verge of coming.

Except he didn't want it to end.He pulled out and quickly turned her over. As she landed on her back, her legs flopped to the sides as if she didn't have the strength to hold them up. The sight of her open to him, glistening for him, swollen from him, nearly had him releasing all over her thighs. He dropped his head and kissed where he had been, tasting a little of himself, a little of that marking scent he was leaving all over her body.

She cried out wildly as she climaxed. And before her pulses faded, he shot up over her and plunged back inside.

She called his name, nails scoring his back.

He let himself go over the edge while looking into her wide, dazed eyes. With nothing to hold back, he came over and over again, pumping his flow into her. The o.r.g.a.s.m kept going and he rode the waves that overtook him. The ecstasy seemed to have no end, and there was no stopping it.

Not that he would have if he'd had the power to.

Mary held on to Rhage as he shuddered once more, his body seizing, his breath coming out of him in a rush. He groaned deep in his chest, and she felt him jerk and release again inside of her.

It was a shattering kind of intimacy, she so calm, he in the throes of some kind of multiple o.r.g.a.s.ming. With her concentration undiminished by pa.s.sion, she felt every small thing in his body as well as each heavy thrust. She knew exactly when another release was coming for him, could feel the trembling in his belly and thighs. It was happening now, his breath catching, his pecs and shoulders going tight along with his hips as he surged again.

He lifted his head this time, lips peeling off his fangs, eyes squeezed shut. His body contracted, all his muscles tensing, and then she felt the movement deep inside of her.

His eyes opened. They were glazed over.

”I'm sorry, Mary.” Another spasm overtook him, and he did his best to talk through it. ”Never... happened... before. Can't stop.

G.o.d d.a.m.n.”

He let out a guttural sound, a mixture of apology and ecstasy.

She smiled at him and ran her hands up his smooth back, feeling those thick muscles grab bone as his lower body drove into her again. She was saturated between her legs and deliciously hot from all the heat pouring off of him. That wonderful smell of his bond for her was thick in the air, the dark fragrance surrounding her.

He heaved himself up on his arms, making as though he were going to pull out.

”Where are you going?” She wrapped her legs around his hips.

”Crus.h.i.+ng... you.” His breath sucked in again on a hiss.