Marked by an Assassin (24 page)

That was a future she couldn’t give to him.

All she could do was seize this moment.

It was all she could have with him, and although it might end up hurting her, she needed to take it. She needed to know what it felt like to be with him.

She wasn’t afraid anymore.

Aya leaned over him, lowered her head and pressed her lips against his.

He responded instantly, his mouth claiming hers in a kiss so fierce that heat blasted through her and she moaned. He pushed forwards, his lips clashing hard with hers and tongue seeking entrance that she granted in a heartbeat, her own tongue tingling as they touched. He groaned and grabbed her hips, his fingertips pressing in, anchoring her in place in a way that thrilled her. This was what she wanted. This passion and intensity, this need. She wanted to feel desired by him.

Needed by him.

He tugged her against him and she went willingly, her hands leaving his cheeks so she could brace herself on the mattress when she ended up on top of him.

The violent shove away from him tore the air from her lungs and it left her in a gasp as she found herself standing before him. His dark silver eyes flashed dangerously as he growled and locked his arms, keeping her at a distance, and her heart stung as the shock of his rejection swept through her.

“I can’t,” he breathed and shook his head, ice reigning in his eyes, turning them colder than she had ever seen them.

She curled her hands into fists at her sides to stop them from shaking and lowered her head, unable to look at him as she battled the hurt blooming inside her.

She sucked down a deep breath as her feelings settled and bravely lifted her gaze to meet his. “Do you have someone else?”

His eyes widened again, a flicker of confusion crossing his face. “No. It’s not that. I just can’t do this…”

Aya broke away from him, anger flaring hot in her veins as her mind hurled reasons at her, every one of them striking her heart. “I get it. I do. You’ll fuck every female who so much as glances at you but not me. You can’t do this with me. What was that pretty speech for earlier? To make me feel better? Are you lying to me now too, Harbin? I don’t need people feeding me bullshit to make me feel better. Just say it straight… you never wanted me. That kiss meant nothing.”

Harbin’s face darkened and he pushed onto his feet, coming to tower over her. She glared up at him, refusing to let him intimidate her.

“I don’t fuck every female who glances at me,” he growled.

Aya huffed and planted her hands on her hips. “That’s all you have to say?”

“No,” he snapped and grabbed her shoulders, his grip so tight it hurt. His eyes brightened, molten silver that warned she was pushing him again. “It isn’t that I don’t want you, Aya… I wanted you all those years ago… I want you now…”

She cursed her heart for doing a ridiculous flip in her chest and knocked his hands off her. “So what is it then?”

He sighed and reached out to touch her face but she stepped back, evading him. He lowered his hand to his side, his jaw clenched as he gritted his teeth and his nostrils flared as he drew in another deep breath.

His silver eyes held her immobile.

“It’s too dangerous.”

Before she could say a word, he grabbed her arm, pulled her close to him and shoved her right palm against his chest. Gods, he was as solid as a rock beneath her hand, his heart thundering against it.

“You can feel it… can’t you?” he whispered, his eyes locked on her face, imploring her to answer that question.

The beat of his heart was too fast, too hard.

Too wild.

He was barely in control and she had only kissed him.

“I’m on the cusp, Aya, and the hungers you bring out in me are too strong. I might not be able to… I don’t think I can keep control.” He flashed his fangs on a growl and clutched her hand, his short claws pressing in. “What you’re asking of me… I can’t. It’s too dangerous.”

Aya stared at his hand, strong and beautiful, holding hers so tightly against his chest. Her heart beat in unison with his, a mad rush that turned her blood to liquid fire and made her burn to feel that hand on her body, satisfying the need that had been slowly consuming her from the moment he had kissed her in Archangel’s facility.

“I know it’s dangerous,” she whispered and slowly lifted her chin, bringing her eyes up to meet his. “I’m not asking you to retain control, Harbin… because I’m not sure either of us can.”

He snarled and swooped on her lips, his hands grasping her backside and hauling her up against him as he kissed her hard.

Gods, this was what she needed to feel. This hunger. This need. It poured through him into her, stoking her own need. She clutched his shoulders, moaning as she felt his muscles flex beneath her palms.

His feral growl as he turned and pinned her to the wall sent a cascade of shivers down her spine and had her pulling him closer, needing to feel him against her. She looped her arms around his neck and lifted her legs, locking them around his waist. He groaned and pressed against her, the hard bulge between his thighs rubbing her in just the right spot.

A moan slipped from her lips, she angled her head and kissed him deeper, tangling her tongue with his and seeking to master him. He fought back, his fierce kiss melting her bones and leaving her at his mercy. She needed more.

He gave it to her, using his body to pin her in place as he tore her robe open with one hand. She gasped as his cool hand cupped her right breast, squeezing and palming it, stirring the heat in her veins into an inferno. She rubbed against him, aching to feel him against her.

Naked.

She wanted to be flesh to flesh with him.

Aya released his shoulders, grabbed the hem of his t-shirt and yanked it up. He inched back, keeping his hips pressed hard against hers but giving her a view she would never forget as he helped her, tugging his t-shirt off over his head, revealing delicious compact muscles to her eyes.

Hell, she wanted to run her lips over every powerful inch of his body.

She wanted to kiss every scar, from the thickest ones on his left pectoral and above the ridge of muscle that ran over his right hip, to the tiny silvery ones that were barely noticeable on his creamy skin.

The need to feel his mouth on hers again overshadowed those hungers and she dragged him back against her. He took the hint and kissed her again, so hard that the back of her skull ached where it pressed against the wall. He strummed her nipple with one hand, the other cupping her backside.

Maddening.

She growled into his mouth, earning a low moan as her reward, and raked her nails down his sides, delighting in the firmness of his body beneath her wandering hands. She stroked her thumbs over his hips, the ridges of muscle there sending a hot thrill through her. His body was so hard against hers, the sense of power that ran from him into her cranking up her arousal until she was throbbing with need.

She needed him.

She needed her male.

“Harbin,” she uttered, the sound of her voice dripping with that need shocking her.

He growled in response and dropped her to her feet. She could only stare as he pulled his belt open and popped the buttons on his fly, and pushed his black jeans down his lean hips. Her breath hitched, desire pulsing through her as he revealed his cock. Her groin throbbed, wet with her need, and she moaned and bit her lip.

Gods, she needed him.

She reached a shaky hand out, wanting to touch the rigid steel length that rose from a nest of silver curls and stroke the shaft before teasing the soft dark tip.

“Can’t take that,” he muttered and grabbed her again, grasping her hips and shoving her up the wall. “Next time.”

She nodded. Next time.

The tiny sensible part of her mind that remained reminded her that there wasn’t meant to be a next time.

Harbin drowned it out by pulling her legs around his waist and entering her in one delicious hard thrust.

Aya cried out and he captured her lips and drove deeper into her, until their bodies were pressed against each other and she couldn’t take any more of him. She stilled with him, savouring the feel of him inside her, sensing he was doing the same. His kiss softened, slowing and warming her, filling her with light inside.

Dangerous light.

She couldn’t let this become anything other than getting her taste of him, discovering what it was like to be with him. She couldn’t. It was too dangerous.

He feared his primal need of her was dangerous.

She feared the same thing about hers. She feared it would make her fall for him all over again and he would break her heart again too.

She deepened the kiss and rocked against him, trying to shatter the softness of the moment and drive him into losing control again, surrendering to his carnal desires. He growled and grasped her hips as he withdrew, his cock almost leaving her before he drove back inside. She moaned in time with him as he thrust into her, each long stroke of his length cranking her need up to startling new heights.

He nipped her lower lip and then pressed his forehead against hers, his breath hot on her face as he pumped her harder, his hips flexing deliciously beneath her hands as she latched onto them.

Heaven.

Heat and tingles swept through her with each meeting of their hips, growing more intense as his thrusts grew fiercer. She moaned and tipped her head back, pressing it into the wall as she clung to him, feeling every intense plunge of his cock into her, feeling him laying claim to her body. She was ruined. She knew it. No male would ever be a match for Harbin. None would ever surpass him.

She had never felt anything like this.

It was mind blowing.

Incredible.

The soul-deep connection between them blossomed as Harbin dipped his head and kissed her neck, devouring it with soft nips of his blunt teeth, licking and teasing her until she quivered with need that only he could sate.

She tightened her legs around him and grabbed his right shoulder with one hand and the back of his head with the other, tunnelling her fingers into his hair.

“Gods,” she moaned, white lights dancing in front of her closed eyes as pleasure rolled through her, flowing from the spot where his lips touched her and mingling with the bliss already building in her belly, edging closer to detonation.

Her mind whispered of the danger of allowing him at her neck but she couldn’t hear anything above the rush in her ears and her thundering heartbeat.

He snarled and thrust harder, his claws digging into her hips, pinning her at his mercy as he took her.

Claimed her.

She could sense it building within him, her instincts blaring a warning that she didn’t have the strength to heed. The hunger building within her, the need for release, was too powerful, consuming her.

She wanted more.

“Harbin,” she whispered and he growled against her throat in response and dipped his hips, angling them as he pumped faster, his powerful body flexing hard against hers.

His pelvic bone slammed against her sensitive nub and she cried out as the pleasure bomb that had been building inside her detonated, sending a shockwave through her that stole her breath and left her shaking from head to toe.

She moaned with each delicious aftershock that blasted through her, sweeping upwards in the wake of every hard rough thrust of his cock. He clutched her tighter, might have muttered her name into her throat, and nipped at her flesh again, sending a sharp wave of tingles rushing through her.

Aya started to shift her head to one side, desperate to feel his tongue on the nape of her neck and the sweet press of his fangs.

He inched closer and then snarled and grunted, his actions turning jerky as his cock throbbed and she felt his hot seed shooting into her. He sharply pulled back and pressed his forehead to hers, his hips thrusting slowly as his release swept through him. The feel of his cock pulsing sent more ripples of pleasure through her and she moaned in time with him.

As she slowly came down from her high, realisation dawned on her, cooling the blood rushing through her veins.

Harbin was tense beneath her hands, his feelings in disarray. He pulled free of her, set her down and tugged his jeans back up and buttoned them as he paced away from her, heading towards the bathroom to her left. Without so much as a backward glance at her, he slammed the door closed and she flinched as the loud bang echoed around the silent room.

Aya sank against the wall, her legs trembling, as shaken as he was.

She touched the spot on the back of her neck, the place where she had tried to tempt him into biting.

Into claiming her as his mate.

He had been right.

It had been too dangerous.

Harbin gripped the edge of the black marble counter in front of him and stared at his reflection in the mirror, his face lit by the oil lamps that burned at a low setting on either side of it. Bright silver eyes looked back at him, shining and intense. He breathed hard, trying to quell the buzzing in his veins, the fierce demand that told him to return to Aya and finish what they had started.

His primal instincts commanded him to satisfy the need he had felt go through her with her climax.

The need to feel his fangs in the nape of her neck, marking her as his forever.

He growled and yanked the tap on, not waiting for the murky water to clear before scooping it up and splashing it on his face. The first wave drawn up from the well beneath the guild was warm, but it cooled quickly after that, until it was frigid and helped douse the powerful urge to surrender to that need and bite her.

He shouldn’t have let her carry him away like that, stripping down his resolve and his defences until he had given in to the hunger to have her. He should have been stronger.

He should have resisted.

Now he feared the buzzing in his veins would never go away, that he would forever be compelled to find Aya and be close to her, would forever need another taste of her, craving it until he went mad from that unfulfilled yearning.

They didn’t belong together. They were separated not only by the worlds they walked in, the realms they called home, but by a million other things, all of which he didn’t even want to attempt to overcome because it felt inevitable that there would always be one thing standing between them.