“Again,” Rafael said softly, a demand. A command. The need to bring her into his world was a living breathing monster in his mind and body. He knew he wanted her to accept him, but if she didn’t, if persuasion didn’t work, he would take what was his and damn the consequences. “I want you again.”
Colby twisted away from him, pushing up on her hands and knees in the soft carpet of grass in an effort to get up. “You’re killing me, I can’t, I can’t move.” Her body was rocking with aftershocks, her breasts aching, her mouth swollen with his kisses.
He moved with blinding speed, a large jungle cat bringing down its prey, his body blanketing hers, his arm circling her narrow waist, dragging her hips back against him. The firm muscles of her bottom were pressed tightly against his heavy erection so that he grew even harder. “I will never get enough of you, not in all the long centuries to come.” He bent his head to the smooth line of her back, trailing kisses along her spine.
“This is for all time,
querida,
can you feel it? How right it is? How perfectly we fit together.” Rafael closed his eyes and slowly eased into her, inch by slow inch. It amazed him how tight she was, how hot, how her muscles were so delicate yet gripped him, milking his body with the expertise born of a true lifemate.
Colby gave herself completely, without inhibition, moving with him, meeting each powerful surge and thrust with one of her own. It was impossible to think, to hold anything in her mind when there was only room for pure feeling. Her body had a mind of its own with him, moving in perfect rhythm while the lightning danced and sizzled and electricity arced all through her. It was the first time in her life she had ever been completely out of control, giving herself up to him, pouring everything she was into him, for him, for herself. She felt her body tightening around his, the earth-shattering release a long endless series of shocks, fragmenting body and soul. The only safe anchor was Rafael’s arms as he held her tightly to him, his body and soul soaring with hers.
Colby collapsed forward, on her stomach, exhausted, unable to move, her fingers fisting in the carpet of grass. “Since you are very, very old, this can’t possibly be good for your health.” She turned her head slightly to look at him, her eyes dancing with laughter. “Has there ever been a recorded death from too much sexual activity?”
He lay over her, his head beside hers. His black eyes shimmered with amusement. “I do not think I recall such an event, but if you like, we can try.”
Her lashes fluttered. “I can’t move. I think I’ll stay right here in this nonexistent grass, which by the way, is very cool. Can you make my front lawn, that ugly brownish patch, into this?” She patted the grass with her clenched hands.
He kissed her shoulder, savoring the feeling of her small, soft body beneath his, the imprint of her firm bottom, her narrow waist. He could live forever buried deep within her, her body beneath his. “I can command the earth to move for you, or bring the rain if you need it.”
“Let me get my hay in first,” she said pragmatically. She turned her head to look at him. “What are you, Rafael, are you a vampire?”
He shifted his weight to lie quietly beside her, his arms locking her to him. There was no fear in her mind. He had deliberately allowed her to see him with his true predatory nature and yet she wasn’t afraid of what he might be. He nuzzled her neck. “I am not the undead, Colby; I am Carpathian, and once bound to you there is no chance that I might turn to such an evil creature.”
“You think you can become an honest-to-God vampire?” She opened her eyes wider to study his face, although she didn’t move a muscle, too tired to make an effort.
“There is such a monster. Our males can turn vampire and prey on the human race, and on our own species. They are wholly evil and must be destroyed. We have hunters in every land.” His hand found her bottom, needing to touch her while he told her of his world. His fingers began a slow, soothing massage. “There is a vampire somewhere close by in this region. I’ve hunted them all of my life, and I feel him. They are capable of murder and the most vile of acts.”
“Pete?” She held her breath, waiting. If she hadn’t seen Rafael’s fangs lengthening, if she hadn’t read his mind, she would think they were both insane.
He bent his head and nipped at the soft expanse of flesh so that she jumped beneath his sharp teeth. “Not Pete. A vampire would have killed him . . . differently. But the vampire is up to something. Nicolas, my brother, is far too close to turning to allow him this hunt. He needs to be back in the rain forest, near my other brothers where we can all aid one another.”
“Why would he be close to turning? You mean turning vampire?” Colby couldn’t help the sudden memory of Nicolas invading her mind, of his cold eyes and merciless expression. In that moment of touching minds, she knew Nicolas De La Cruz was as close to a killing machine as she ever wanted to get. Her heart slammed painfully in her chest. She had touched Rafael’s mind and there was a large part of him that was much the same as Nicolas.
“Colby,” he said gently, “I tell you these things to relieve your fears, not add to them. Our males lose emotions and colors after two hundred years. We exist, but we do not live. I was sent out to kill the vampire, yet each time we make a kill, the whisper of darkness calls to us with more urgency. When the
kill is made during the taking of blood, we feel. To someone with emotions, that is nothing, but when you feel nothing, century after century, it is everything. I do not want Nicolas to make a kill.”
“What about you, Rafael?”
“You are my anchor. You will prevent me from turning. It is much safer for me than it is for Nicolas.” He leaned over her. “Why are you believing me so easily? How can you accept the things I am telling you so readily without fear?”
“Because I’ve touched you, Rafael. I’ve looked into your mind and touched your memories. You can’t hide something that intense from me when you’re sharing my mind. I admit I don’t understand everything I’ve touched on, but you aren’t a killer of humans. And you are powerful—the things you can do are much more extreme than what I can do.” She rested her head on her arms. “In a way, it’s very comforting.” The feel of his hands moving over her bottom, his fingers massaging her muscles, soothed her deliciously sore body even as deep within her, pooling heat felt sinfully wicked. She was too relaxed, too sated to care.
Lying beneath the stars without a stitch of clothing, with his finger marks on her body and signs of his possession on every inch of her, held a sultry, primitive satisfaction. She could feel the weight of his eyes, the burning intensity that filled that terrible emptiness inside of her. For a moment she thought of what her life would be like after he went away, returned to his own land, and her heart nearly stopped beating. The breath left her lungs in a terrible rush. She went very still. This night would have to last her forever.
His hand tangled in her hair. “Tonight I want to show you my world so you will understand why I have no choice but to do the things I must.”
His tone warned her. A soft velvet, but there was steel in it. Something implacable, something immovable.
“Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?” She made a supreme effort and turned over so she could stare up at the glittering stars scattered over her head. When his hand reached for hers, she entwined their fingers together. “You can’t be out in the sun, can you, Rafael? That’s what the Chevez brothers were worried about this morning when you
came to help fight the fire—the sun had come up.” She leaned close to brush his shoulder with her mouth. “You suffered to stay and comfort me, didn’t you?”
“I had to be with you, Colby.” His voice was husky, touching her deep inside as his body had. “I cannot bear your unhappiness. And if you are in danger, I can do no other than see to your safety. Pain is a part of life; you learn much in centuries of living. Pain is momentary, but enduring every moment of a barren existence is intolerable. I cannot go back to such a thing. I was closer to turning than I had believed. I know this because I feel it in my brother Nicolas now. You felt it in him. His darkness when he was so close to you. He frightened you—I read your memory of your meeting with him.”
Colby knew he was telling her much more than she was hearing, than she was understanding. She didn’t touch his mind, preferring to allow her brain to process the information at its own pace. She didn’t want to fear him, not now when her body was vibrating with a thousand sensations, when she was more relaxed and happy than she had ever been in her life. “If I never say it again, Rafael, thank you for this night. Thank you for caring enough to lend us the money to save the ranch. And thank you for accepting me the way I am, for making me feel accepted.”
“You sound as if you are saying good-bye to me, Colby.” His voice was gentle. “Did you think to wonder why your skin burns in the sun? Why your eyes are so sensitive? Why you need to sleep in the middle of the day?”
She sat up, her palm over the dark brand of his possession. She could hear the sudden beating of her heart, loud in the silence of the night. He sounded as if she were becoming what he was. “Taking my blood would do what? What are you saying?” She pushed down panic, fought to stay calm. There was something terrifying in the way his black eyes moved over her body. She looked around for her clothes, suddenly feeling more vulnerable than ever.
“Taking your blood would not affect you so. We exist on the blood of others. The women you think I sleep with hold no interest for me, other than as prey.” He said the words starkly, watching her reaction closely. “If you were in my mind, you know I take sustenance from humans.”
She reached for her shirt, feeling more threatened than ever. His hand caught her wrist, held her still. His gaze was very direct, very black as it moved broodingly over her face. “You belong with me, Colby. This night has proved that to both of us.”
There was enormous strength in his grip. More than the viselike shackle of his fingers, there was the feeling of restraint, as if she were a prisoner, not a lover. She swallowed the tight knot of fear welling up. “Let go of me.”
“A few moments ago you thanked me for the night, now you fear me.”
“I have reason to fear you,” she pointed out and waited for him to deny it.
His gaze didn’t leave her face. “You knew that the first time you saw me, but it didn’t stop you from wanting me. Did you ever ask yourself why?”
She made the mistake of struggling. Colby didn’t know why she did it. Rafael was the type of man to respond aggressively to a struggle and he was far stronger. She found herself lying in the thick mat of grass, staring up at the stone carving that was his face. She swore she heard a growl rumbling in his throat, and his eyes blazed with fire.
“Do not do that,” he hissed. He brought his hand up to span her throat and bent his head slowly to press a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “I would never hurt you, Colby.
Never.
I am incapable of harming you.”
She took a breath. Let it out. Forced her mind away from panic. “I gave you acceptance, Rafael. I acknowledged what you are. Why are deliberately scaring me this way? What more do you want from me? Do you think I lie in the field with any man who comes along? I’ve done things with you I never even thought about. I let you do things to me I never considered doing with another man. I even let you take my blood. I watched fangs lengthen in your mouth and let you sink them into me.”
His mouth moved to the spot on her neck. His tongue swirled there. “And it was erotic, was it not?” He bent his head to the mark over her breast. “I want all of you. You are giving me only a part of you and I refuse to accept that.”
“It’s all I have to give you. I’m sorry it’s not enough for you,
but you knew that I had responsibilities going into this. I told you I wouldn’t trade Ginny and Paul’s future for anything.”
His tongue flicked over his mark on her. He lifted his head, his black eyes glittering. “And what do you think a vampire would do to Ginny and Paul?”
For some reason, unbidden, came the memory of being trapped in the mine with a living, breathing monster. It had been as trapped as she was, pinned beneath the rubble, but clawing at the dirt to get to her. She remembered the sound of it hissing and gurgling, the glowing eyes, demonic in the blackness of the mine. The stench had been horrific, evil permeating the mine shaft so that she was sickened by it. She had inadvertently burned the thing, her fear causing flames to lick over its trapped body so that it screamed horribly. She still woke with nightmares, drenched in sweat, hearing the echoes of those cries. Had it been a vampire? Could she have encountered one in her youth? Ginny and Paul would never survive such a creature.
“I’ll protect them,” she whispered fiercely. “From you, your brother, the Chevez brothers, and a vampire if necessary. Let me up, Rafael. I mean it.”
He didn’t move, his wide shoulders blocking the sky, his heavy muscles rubbing along her skin causing every nerve ending in her body to come alive. If it was possible, his eyes darkened more, robbing her of breath. “You do not get to close your eyes to what is between us. I told you I would have all of you and I meant it. If I kissed you and took your body right now, when you are afraid and when you are angry with me, you would let me because you want me. You need me in the same way I need you.” He leaned close so that his breath was against her mouth. “You are not complete without me. That is why you let me have your body, Colby. It is the only reason. You need me. You wanted sex to be enough, but it is not enough and will never be enough.”
“What then?” She asked him the question quietly, no surrender in her defiant gaze. She would
not
trade the children for her own life. Whatever he was asking, the price was too high.
“I am going to bring you wholly into my world.”
Colby might have been expecting it. She had considered briefly he might ask her, but the way he said it with his hard,
implacable resolve was terrifying. Hearing the words said aloud was far different from turning the idea over, however briefly, in one’s own mind. For a moment she was paralyzed, lying beneath him like a sacrifice. Her body had betrayed her long ago, soft and pliant, belonging to him, alive beneath his hands, beneath his body, ready for him even when he was holding her captive.