She had set out to prove something to herself and maybe to everyone else as well. She wanted freedom above all else. But freedom was choice. Fenris Dalka, surrounded as he was by danger, was her choice. She couldn’t even say for certain it was the pull of lifemates. She liked him. She respected him. He didn’t waste time on useless arguing. She was in his mind and knew he respected her vast amount of knowledge when it came to all the species and their fighting abilities. He didn’t relegate her to a safe corner somewhere, although her protection and safety was uppermost in his mind. He made her feel beautiful and special, as if she were the only woman in the world. He listened to her. He liked hearing her talk. He had a sense of humor. And right now, in this moment, he was the sexiest man alive to her.
He took his time with the flower, his gaze growing hotter and wilder as he savored every single drop of nectar. “I love your taste,” he murmured.
Her entire body seemed to clench in anticipation. “I am beginning to think it might not be so bad to have you claim me,” Tatijana ventured. “I’m getting used to the idea.”
His gaze grew hotter. More intense. He lowered the blossom, his eyes moving over her in a slow, possessive manner that left her mouth dry.
“Don’t tempt me, Tatijana. Not now. I don’t think I have the strength to resist and we both know it isn’t the right time.”
“I think it’s exactly the right time. There’s more to this ritual, and I want it done right. Binding us together is logical. This feels like the perfect time to me.”
Fen’s breath came in a long rush, which added to her happiness—and her certainty that she was right. He tried not to be affected by the fertility ritual, or by her close proximity, but he was. He was just as hungry for her as she was for him.
Fen’s eyes devoured her even as he tried to reason with her. “I’ve been showing restraint because I won’t be able to resist sharing blood with you. Over time, you’ll end up like me—the
Sange rau—
and until we know what agreement the Lycans and Carpathians come to, mixing our blood could be dangerous to you.”
She stepped close to him, a mere breath away, one hand going to his chest. She could feel his heart, rock steady beneath her palm. His skin was hot beneath the thin shirt he wore. “I am your lifemate, claimed or not, Fenris Dalka. What happens to you will happen to me.”
“Not so, my lady,” he denied. “Should I be killed, claimed or unclaimed, you could choose to live out your life. It would not be easy, but easier if unclaimed.”
“I would follow you as most lifemates would, Fen. It does no good to pretend our lives are not woven together. I’m in your mind every bit as deep as you’re in mine. My sister, Branislava, has always been my world, yet I follow you wherever you go. We are lifemates. Our blood will mingle and I will become as you are. No matter what you choose, I will follow you. I prefer to be a claimed lifemate, but if you insist I follow you into the next life unclaimed, so be it.”
He shifted on the balls of his feet, a slight movement both fluid and graceful that sent her heart racing all over again. His gaze held hers captive.
“Tatijana, it’s important to me that you want me for who I am, not because Gregori or any other sought to shame you for being unclaimed. I need you with every breath I take. My body hungers for yours. The more I share with you, the closer I feel, but I will not let any Carpathian tell us what we have to do. This is our life, and I want us to do things our way, at our pace. You have reservations. I feel them in your mind, and until they are resolved and I feel strong enough to protect you from even me, then we will just have to be careful.”
Tatijana placed both hands on either side of his head to frame that beloved face. She loved him all the more for wanting the time to be right. He didn’t rush her. He never had. “I am your lifemate. I would bind you to me if I had the power, not because Gregori or any other decrees it, but because I know you now. My life is safe with yours. You do not expect me to change or be any other than Tatijana. I want this for myself.”
Beneath her hand his heart seemed to burst. Joy crept into his hungry gaze. His eyes had gone from glacier blue to hot cobalt. “You’re certain, my lady? Once it is done, it cannot be undone.”
“Here, in this field of flowers, right now, before the sun comes up and we have to go to ground. Bind our souls together, Fen.” Tatijana didn’t feel in the least bit shy. She knew what she wanted and she told him in bold, certain terms. “The moon is full and never again will we have a time like this one. I know you’re not safe above ground during a full moon, but tonight is ours. I think it is meant to be, don’t you? We have this one chance, Fen. Let’s take it together and never look back.”
Fen studied her face, loving her all the more for her declaration. Her emerald eyes never once flinched away from his stare. He slipped into her mind and found implacable resolve. She had every intention of becoming
Sange rau
, just as he was. There was no fear of a future with him, only contentment now that she’d made up her mind. If he refused, he would hurt her to no end.
And how could he refuse her? Not when every cell in his body demanded hers. Not when his soul cried out for hers. The ritual words pounded through his veins with the force of a jackhammer.
Fen took control immediately, setting the blossom carefully aside for later, wanting to complete the fertility ritual, but the need and hunger surging so hotly through his body had to be assuaged first. He swept his hand along the rows of flowers lifting their faces to the night sky. Velvet soft petals rained from the sky as the rows parted to allow a soft cushiony bed of sheer fragrance. The scent was a mixture of both of them, heady and intoxicating.
He bent his head to hers, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her into the heat of his body. She fit perfectly, breasts tight against his chest and the vee between her legs riding his thigh as he kissed her, pouring the intensity of his hunger into the haven of her mouth.
Who knew that kisses could be so heady? So intoxicating? She swept him into paradise where there was no way to get enough. Not in this lifetime and certainly not in the next. He craved that soft, hot mouth, full of raw wild honey, lavender and clover mixed together. He kissed her over and over, pulling her closer until her body was imprinted on his. Still, it wasn’t enough.
He shed his clothes even as she removed hers, the Carpathian way, with just a thought. Both needed to be skin to skin. He felt as if he couldn’t get close enough to her. In her mind, in her body—he wanted to wrap his heart around hers.
They floated to the bed of velvet petals, the fragrance sinking into their lungs, so that blood heated and tension coiled. Need lived and breathed between them. Fen could feel the blood pounding in his veins, whispering at first, then drumming louder, demanding he claim what was his. His soul reached for hers.
He laid her down into the bed of white so that her hair spilled around her face, the thick braid falling across the petals. He loved her hair, that ever-changing color, vivid and bright and as thick as his arm. Before he could stop himself, he unwound the cord binding it, fanning the luxurious length across the velvet petals, and buried his face in the waterfall of silk.
The sensuous feel of her hair against his skin only added to the building hunger. Her voice in his mind whispered to him, filling his mind with her. She felt like warm molasses pouring into every dark crack and fissure, repairing damage, bridging the gaps, until all darkness was gone and there was only his lady with her soft skin and sinful mouth.
He kissed her over and over while the ground seemed to shift and tremble and thousands of stars glittered above them like comets streaking overhead in a rare display. His pulse thundered in his ears, and a drum beat hard in his veins. He could feel his teeth sharpening, hungering for the taste of her.
Her mouth was delicious. Hot. Velvet soft. The roaring in his ears grew as the wind danced gently over their bodies. The embers burning so hot in the pit of his stomach became a roaring conflagration, spreading fast like a wildfire out of control.
Fen lifted his head, pressing his forehead against hers, staring into those beautiful multifaceted eyes.
“Te avio päläfertiilam,”
he whispered. The moment he uttered the words, he knew he had waited his entire life to say them. Nothing in his life had ever felt so right.
He kissed her again, needing to taste that exclusive spice and honey that was only Tatijana. She was cool on the outside like water, blue and green and soothing to the touch, yet a wealth of hot springs deep inside. She moved against him, her body melting under his, her arms sliding down his back to his narrow waist, her hands shaping his hips, pulling him even closer. She turned her head and licked at the pulse pounding in his neck.
“You
are
my lifemate,” she murmured against that rhythmic hammering beat, translating the ancient language.
He nudged her knees apart with one thigh, wedging his hips in the tight junction of her thighs. His heavy erection pressed into the heated entrance, bathed in her slick welcome. He wanted to take his time, but his body burned from the inside out, his Carpathian/Lycan blood demanded his mate. Her teeth scraping seductively back and forth over his pulse nearly drove him insane.
“Éntölam kuulua, avio päläfertiilam.”
The words came out in his ancient language, all Carpathian male, claiming his lifemate.
“Ted kuuluak, kacad, kojed.”
“You do belong to me,” she reiterated, showing him she understood every word he uttered binding their souls with unbreakable threads.
“Élidamet andam.”
“I offer my life back to you,” she whispered, nuzzling his neck.
Flames licked at his skin. He was all too aware of her teeth so close to his veins. His blood called to her. His lifemate. His lady. The one.
“Uskolfertiilamet andam.
Sívamet andam.”
Tatijana lifted her head to look him straight in the eye. “I give you my allegiance,” she answered back. “I give you my heart.” The ring of truth was in her voice.
He had never known tenderness, nor gentleness, but it was there inside of him—for her. She was turning him inside out with her generosity and her acceptance of who he was. He’d killed hundreds, maybe far more than he ever wanted to remember and each kill had brought him closer to that hovering darkness. In truth, he had been close more times than he’d ever care to admit, and she saw those terrible moments when only the thought of his brother kept his honor intact.
“Sielamet andam.”
“I accept your soul, Fenris,” Tatijana whispered into his throat, “and I give you mine to make us complete.”
“Ainamet andam.”
Even as the words broke from somewhere deep inside him, Tatijana made her own demands. She began a slow assault, moving her hips enticingly.
“I give you my body,” she whispered back. “I want you inside me, Fen. I want your blood in my veins, and your heart entwined with mine. I want our souls bound together, but most of all, right this minute, I want you and I to share the same skin.”
Even had he wanted, he wouldn’t have the strength to deny that breathless, ragged plea. He entered her scalding hot sheath slowly—so tight she robbed him of breath and reason. Her cool skin was in such contrast to his heat, and yet deep inside, those snug velvet muscles were on fire, surrounding and gripping, slowly submitting to his invasion. The sensation was so exquisite he could barely bite out the next words in the ritual.
“Sívamet kuuluak kaik että a ted.”
He took her body into his keeping for all time.
He could feel her surrounding him, squeezing and milking his cock, her muscles scorching and tight, strangling him with pleasure. He felt her barrier, thin, almost insubstantial. His fingers tightened around hers.
Take a breath. Breathe for me.
He wanted only pleasure for her, not even a small bite of pain. He surged forward, making her his, burying his body deep inside hers. He swallowed her gasp and stayed still, allowing her body to adjust to the invasion of his. To him, she was a haven of pleasure.
Her heart found the rhythm of his. Her hips moved, a small telling sign that she wanted, even needed more. Only then did he begin to move, a slow pull to the very verge of her entrance and then burying himself in a long, equally slow assault on both of them.
Tatijana moaned softly, her hips rising to meet his, urging him to move faster. He kept the pace slow and languid, savoring every moment of being inside her.
“Ainaak olenszal sívambin.”
Her life would be cherished by him for all time. He meant those words. She was his miracle and she always would be.
He found the longer he was in her, that exquisitely tight sheath creating such friction as her muscles clung and dragged over his shaft, it was becoming increasingly harder to concentrate. Her hands stroked his hair, his back. Nails dug into him, sharp little pinpoints of pain that only added to the pleasure building, always building. Her breathless moans and soft little pleas seemed music like none other than he’d ever heard.
“
Te élidet ainaak pide minan.
Your life will be placed above my own for all time,” Fen said softly. How could that not be the truth? She was everything to him, with her sweet body and generous heart. Even more, she was a warrior in every sense of the word, unafraid and willing to enter into a life, that of both Lycan and Carpathian, knowing fully the danger they would always be in.
As if reading his mind—and she probably was—her teeth sank deep. His entire body shuddered with erotic pleasure. Through his telepathic connection with her, he felt a scorching hot burn traveling through veins and arteries and spreading to every organ. His blood merging with hers—the most basic and sacred of all rituals between lifemates. His body reacted with a hard surge forward.
“
Te avio päläfertiilam.
You are my lifemate.” He had been so certain it would be best to protect his lady from becoming the
Sange rau
, yet he had never considered the actual bond between lifemates. He couldn’t imagine continuing without her. Why should their bond be less for her?