Dark Prince (22 page)

"They will heal, won’t they?" Her wide eyes moved to capture his. "You’re going to be fine, right?"

Yusef nodded. He wanted her so badly that the need was becoming painful. Leaning over, he pressed his mouth to hers, deepening the kiss as he passionately ground his mouth forward, diving into her to suck at her tongue and possess her lips. This time her body did evaporate. Her legs fell from under her and she swayed against him as if she would swoon. Only by the power of her hands around his shoulders and the strength of his good arm around her back, did she stay upright.

When he pulled back this time, his eyes were flecked with golden promise and Olena knew she had her answer.

"I’m not going anywhere, firebird," he said tenderly, "except to take my wife to bed."

Olena trembled. The bedroom seemed so intimate, so permanent. She couldn’t allow herself to fall deeper into his maddening spell. A smile coming to her parted lips, she let an unmistakable mischief come to her gaze.

"Why not here?" She smoothed her hands onto his body and pressed kisses on his chest and stomach. Yusef tensed, unable to deny her mouth as she trailed it lower.

He moaned. He tangled his fingers into her hair, urging her to continue her wayward descent. Her breath fell rapid and hot against his flesh, rippling over it like little pools of undulating desire.

Olena kissed the tip of his arousal and Yusef thought he would go mad from the sweet torture of her lips. She kissed him again before tracing feathery caresses along the shaft to the base. His body lurched.

Yusef’s back spasmed. No matter how much his body wanted to stand rigid and take her torture, his wounds wouldn’t let him for much longer. Having no wish to faint dead away at such a pleasurably rewarding moment, he sat down. Olena blinked in surprise.

"Come here," he said in a voice that was all syrupy with promise. "I’ll show you how to ease us both."

Olena crossed over the bubbling water, seeing he intended for her to sit on his lap. The heat from the steam was making her hair stick to her creamy flesh like streaks of fire. A long wave curled around the bend of her breast and he nearly lost himself at the seductive sight. He lifted his hand to follow the wet trail of her locks, moving to brush them back as he unveiled the nipple puckered beneath. Olena shivered. Yusef caressed her with the backs of his fingers.

Slowly, his eyes burning into her, his hand moved down her stomach to grasp her hip. Pulling her forward, he urged her to sit astride him.

"I’ve burned for you, Olena, since the first moment I saw you, standing defiant and beautiful at the mouth of that spacecraft. I knew I would have you then, as I want you now."

He dipped his fingers into the water, reaching to feel her even as he cursed his useless arm for its limits. Olena’s hands fell to his shoulders as he stroked a fire into her. As her hips responded in restless motion against him, he slid a finger inside of her to stroke more intimately.

Soon the hand wasn’t enough. She need more--much more. She needed him. She needed to feel him inside of her. Olena leaned over, kissing his wet neck, drinking from his glorious skin. Her lips nipped at his ear, delighting in the shivering response she felt in his skin at the touch.

He took his fingers from her, urging her to move so he could enter. Olena stiffened slightly, remembering how full he’d felt the last time. Her thighs clenched, keeping him from easing her downward.

"Mmm." He felt her resistance. Nuzzling into her as she kissed his ear with dizzying effect, Yusef said, "You control the depth. Don’t be afraid of me."

Olena couldn’t resist the plea in his words as his hand once more pulled her to take him. Not looking up, she felt his hand against her leg as he guided himself to her opening. He rubbed the tip several times against her, letting her get used to his hardness. Then, ever so slowly, he pushed his arousal just into the slick entrance of her body.

Olena was rewarded with an overwhelming sense of pleasure and need. With a slowness that made sweat bead Yusef’s brow, she loosened her legs and slid down to capture him. Her breath came out raggedly along his flesh.

Yusef wanted nothing more than to grab her and slam her down. Biting his lips, he resisted. He clenched his hands almost desperately against the soft flesh of her hips, letting her set the pace while at the same time praying she would soon set a faster, harder one.

Olena gradually fit him inside her, feeling the unyielding fullness of him as his length compelled her to fit around him, to accommodate his size. Olena pushed up from his shoulder by small degrees. He went deeper still and she gasped.

His voice harsh, catching as he spoke. "You must move Olena. Move me in you."

Olena pulled up a fraction and then lowered as her body wanted him back into its fold. The thrust was achingly shallow.

Yusef’s hands gripped her tighter as he fought the beast within him that wanted nothing more than to begin mindlessly pumping and ramming into her moist softness.

"Again," he commanded.

Olena pulled up only to repeat the same aching torment. Her body burned for more, but she was reluctant to let him out of her just yet. She was still getting used to the feel of him, still discovering the sensations he was causing.

"Again." His voice ground out in a pain that had nothing to do with his back. In fact, he couldn’t even feel his wounds, so exquisite was her soft to his hard.

This time when she moved, he lifted her up higher. Olena protested and forced her hips down against his hand. The water caused her to slide from his grip and, she came down forcefully upon him. Olena cried out in pleasant surprise. She was rewarded with a gratifying wave of pleasure.

Yusef’s groan followed her.

"Just like that, Olena, oh … yeah … just like that, firebird." Yusef’s hand was again on her hips as he lifted her. "Do it again."

Olena lifted up only to push down hard as her buttocks hit upon his legs. Yusef’s hand kneaded along the curve of her back, moving to her breasts to circle and pinch her nipples.

"Do it faster," he urged, moaning. "Take me in faster."

Olena obliged and was richly rewarded. Her hips took over, mindlessly driving her body against him, building in unforeseen ecstasy. Yusef growled loudly in appreciation as she obeyed his plea. It was like nothing she had ever felt. His body was so strong and protective and gentle, yet commanding and sure at the same time.

Feeling her tense, Yusef pushed up from the seat and thrust up into her, going as deeply as her body would take him. Olena howled, arching back in the most beautiful display Yusef had ever seen. Her body quivered violently. His body answered her call to him, jerking roughly inside her as he released all the tension that had been building since the night they first met.

Olena dropped against his flesh, terrified that she could feel so much, unable to process the rush flowing between them--not only with their physical release, but their minds and bodies as he tried to connect to her. Shudders still wracked her thin frame. It was too much for her to handle, as she knew she would leave him soon, would deceive him so horribly that the affectionate expression on his face would never hold. After she delivered his brother’s wife to Doc Aleksander, he wouldn’t even be able to look at her.

Something had to give and since her body had a mind of its own, still encasing him inside her, it was her emotions that shut off to him, blocking the connection before it could take root.

Yusef felt the snap between them as sharp and real as a slap across the face. They’d been so close. Only a second more and he would have been able to read her completely, and she him. But she refused the intimacy of his mind and soul. The feeling left him cold and weary.

"Olena?" He wondered at her mental withdrawal.

"Hum?" Olena moaned into his neck, still suffering from the aftermath of their pleasure. She detected pain in his voice and mistook it for physical. She took herself off him, her wide eyes checking him over for injury. "Oh, Yusef, I’m sorry, your back!"

Yusef let her think what she wanted, not wanting to put unreturned feelings at her feet. He did have some measure of pride left, even if this vixen he called a wife had taken everything else from him--including his heart.

Her flushed features filling with concern, she said, "Why didn’t you stop me? Oh, you didn’t break anything open, did you? Can you move? Are you paralyzed?"

Yusef chuckled despite himself as she tried to move around to see his back. If ever he was to be injured, let it be with her thrusting like a flaming tree-witch on top of him.

His member grew with alarming speed at the thought. His mouth twitched, as he wickedly replied, "Feel me and see if you think me paralyzed."

Olena blushed furiously, all the way to the roots of her hair. She looked down. Indeed, she could see the tip of him in the water. Gulping, she asked, unsure if she could handle another round of such pleasure, "Again?"

Yusef grinned and shrugged. "It seems I like your medicine better than that of the doctors."

Even as she wondered if she could take him into her again, Olena felt a stirring inside her womb, answering his lurid call.

"Should we get out of the bath?" she asked, hot from their lovemaking and the steam from the tub.

"Where would you have us go?" He captured her lips. His back did indeed feel loosened from the hot water, ready to try something more vigorous.

"I," Olena turned as red as her hair and couldn’t think of a single thing to say. Every sarcastic comment she’d ever had left her in the face of his sultry dark, animalistic gaze. The gray burned with golden hues of promise. "Where do you want me?"

Standing, he pulled her with him. Her breast slid over his body, hardening into him. Boldly he kissed the breath from her lungs, only to release her when her knees were bending and her hands were clutching at his shoulders. Growling against her mouth, he said dirtily, "I would have you deeply impaled on my shaft."

* * * *

Olena sat curled on a chair, fully clothed, chewing absently on her thumbnail as she watched Yusef. Her body ached in a hundred different ways, all of them a testament to how much he had recovered. Only after the third time coming together on the white fur rug before the fireplace, did Olena climb from on top of him and demand he go to bed.

When he lay down, his body worn and past all imaginable limits, he had reached for her to join him. To Yusef’s obvious dismay, she refused, using the excuse of his injuries not to lie intimately beside him while they slept, lest she hurt him when she tossed in sleep. Making herself a bed on the white couch before the roaring fire, she had inevitably drifted off into the nightmarish world of her dreams.

Now that it was morning, she felt the weight of her world bearing in on her. Doc Aleksander wouldn’t wait long for her compliance. Comforting herself with the fact that Doc was a family man--so much so he wouldn’t cheat on his wife no matter how hot his desire was--Olena tried not to feel guilty. Surely the man would welcome his daughter with opened arms, taking her back into the protective fold of his world. Besides, the reasons why the woman left him in the first place was a family matter, best resolved between them as a family.

Yusef stirred, drawing her thoughts. He’d grimaced a few times in his sleep, but his body was stretched out and his arm didn’t appear so locked against his chest in pain. He blinked, automatically sensing her presence in the still room. Turning to look at her, a soft smile curled his features, until he was reminded of her rejection to lay with him throughout the night.

"I was about to wake you," Olena said quietly. "It’s still early, but you have to meet with the war council."

Yusef had said as much to her the night before--in between orgasms. King Attor was being given the right of defense, as per a truce set before the Draig and Var nobility yeas ago. If it was the King who was responsible for Morrigan’s poisoning and Yusef’s attack, then there would be justice and possible war.

Olena could do nothing about the war. And the bloodthirsty, vengeful side of her nature would gladly see justice done on Yusef’s behalf. But this was a matter for the royal Draig family. Even though she was technically a part of their family, she knew she could take no real stand with them. She wouldn’t be staying to see any of her hotheaded declarations through and she wouldn’t be the cause of a battle she couldn’t fight herself.

Olena also knew she wasn’t to leave the house this day. Yusef had told her that spies were most likely afoot in the palace. Whoever had stabbed him knew the back passages well enough to escape through them without being caught. Attor himself had been far enough away to shield him from direct responsibility for the attack. Unless, the Var King confessed, many nobles would be hesitant to face another war without solid proof. Yusef admitted that they remembered all too well the losses the last war had brought them. Many had died and no one had won.

"Come here." Yusef wondered if he was a glutton for punishment. But he had been looking at her sad, contemplative face and couldn’t resist the urge to hold her.

Olena unfolded her body and climbed off the chair. He was naked beneath the coverlet, his bare chest more than doing its share of tempting. She went beside him, studying his handsome face as he didn’t move to sit up.

"Come lay with me," he urged.

Olena wanted to. Oh, how desperately she wanted to. "No. You should get up and ready. I imagine with your wounds it will be slow going as it is. I can walk you to the war council --"

"No." He forced himself to sit.

The coverlet was thrown from his body and Olena instantly looked to see the condition of his manhood. It was half erect, just at the edge of filling. If she were to touch it, it would rise eagerly in her fingers ready to pleasure her with mindless enchantment.

His body ached, but Yusef could well deal with it. Her touch had sent him fast on the road to recovery. "It isn’t safe. You must stay inside."

Olena nodded her head and Yusef was surprised when she did not protest the order.

"I mean it, firebird," he insisted.