Braving the Elements (12 page)

“Take my blood.” His voice was deep and gruff, primal.

He snatched the dagger on the nightstand and made a small cut in the skin on his neck. Lowering back down, she took to him eagerly, her hips rising up to meet each of his thrusts. Her soft lips fastened on his skin, the first draw causing him to suck in a sweet breath of glory, her scent infusing the sensations. Their power swirled, mixing together and fusing their essence—one soul split into two bodies.

“Oh
Stefan,”
she sighed, blasting the link wide open. A love so deep, it consumed him and poured through. It spilled into all the dark and shut-up places; filling up all the haunts and sadness in his life; healing it with her. His chest burned and his limbs tingled, more magic pumping into his body than he’d ever experienced. A sweet elation took his breath away, her essence riding the wave like a surfer. She was imparting her own mark, one just as permanent, and just as driven by a place without thought.

“Harder, Stefan.
Harder
.”

The world disappearing, all he could focus on was her. Her beautiful face, eyes lit up in wonder. The feel of her body, smooth and delicate, spurring him deeper, taking him higher.
Of her magic, pure and sweet, encasing them in a bubble of pure delight.

“
Submit to me,” Stefan commanded softly, his voice gruff and primal. He stopped, not allowing her to move until she did.

A languid smile lit up her face. “
Back to that again, are we? I remember you saying that in the alley the first time we were alone.” She paused for a minute, her husky voice hiding the nervousness. ”You first.”

It sounded as if she didn’t expect him to dive in with her.
“Forever. You will want for nothing. I will make sure of it.”

“I’ve always been yours,
Stefan; you know that.”

He closed his eyes in relief.
“Yes.”

With renewed determination, he crashed into her,
the pressure growing, taking over. Tighter and tighter it coiled, the sensations almost unbearable.

“Oh,
Stefan…” Her fingers clutched at him and her body tensed.

Stefan
licked at her neck, opening the quickly-healed cut, waiting for that right moment. A few more strokes into her tight body and he was ready, fissure lines working through his very fiber.

Her moaning got higher, almost there.
Almost…

As she neared that edge, balancing on the cliff, he sucked
in, the pull tugging deep in her body.

“
Oh!”
Her eyes fluttered and she shuddered, her insides squeezing Stefan so tight, he nearly blacked out.

He blasted his seed into her a second later, pushing her into the mattress, bellowing with the glory of the orgasm. Their comb
ined magic blossomed and flowered, the whole room drenched in a feeling so intoxicating, it felt like they hovered, weightless, only knowing the feeling of each other’s body.

He kissed her deeply, his body fractured,
wanting her to collect the pieces and fit them back together however she wished.

When they stopped panting,
lying exhausted in the quiet room, she said, “You forgot to yell
surprise
when you barged in earlier.” Her laughing voice dripped with awe and completion.

“I saved it for this moment.” He shifted to the side, leaving himself inside her but
removing some of his weight. “I figured I’d give you the best orgasm you’ve ever had, and then say it…Surprise.”

“You’re under the impression that was the best orgasm I’ve ever had? Not overly full of yourself, are you?”

He laughed. “Confident, there’s a difference. And yes, that was the best. I figure if I’ve never had better, and I’ve had way more experience in these matters, then it must rock your world, too.”

“I haven’t
experimented much. I hadn’t realized that fact until the people in this house opened my eyes.”

Stefan
laughed. “Well, now you have me to experiment on.”

Her arms, resting on his back, still wanting that closeness, momentarily tightened. “How long can you stay?”

His eyes drooped, consciousness fleeting. He was so damn relaxed, yet the magic pumped within his blood. He’d never felt this truly alive before, especially while also never feeling this complete and utterly satisfied.

The woman did nothing but complicate his life
, but for all that, he would never walk away. Not from her. He’d have to make some decisions, but no one else was getting her. She was his. End of story. The question was, how did he both keep her and his duty? How did he compromise to keep her near?

He only had two months to figure it out before the Regional got there, but it would
have to wait another turn of the sun because he was in no mood for thinking at the moment.

Answering her question, he said,
“All day. If you’ll have me.”

“Hmm.
In that case, can you move off my leg a fraction so it doesn’t fall asleep before I do?”

He kissed her cheek.
“Of course. We’ll need to speak about what I just did, but it has to wait. I can barely keep my eyes open.”

“Hmm.”
She was asleep before he’d finished adjusting.

Yup, she was
gonna play hell on his life, but there was nothing for it now. The decision had been made in that first second his eyes had touched hers under the streetlight those few months ago. It was amazing he’d resisted this long.

Fate was such a tricky bitch.

I came awake with a soft kiss brushing my lips. I threw my arms around the culprit—a large, muscled hunk—and smiled good morning…or evening, rather. He wore the same clothes as when he’d barged in, but seemed more relaxed. The stress lines on his face had softened, making him almost hard to look at he was so danged handsome. I said so.

He smiled
his flawless smile, making me blink in wonder at the rest of the transformation into super-hot.

“To think, I’ve hated having women in my bed. Turns out, I just
hated having the wrong ones,” he said quietly with soft eyes.

Warmth filled my midsection. I smiled like a fool.

“I have to go to work,” he said tenderly. “I’ll see you close to dawn.”

“You’re going to spend the night with me again? How’d I get so lucky?
Or are you attempting to take a pet…which you very well know that—”

He claimed her lips, his kiss deep and passionate. “We still need to talk about what I did. You might not think you’re lucky by the end of the
night.”

I tilted my head, surveying his suddenly serious face
, and then falling into those dark eyes. “Cryptic.”

He straightened up, tall and broad, a man of strength and power. Who would’ve th
ought he could be so gentle. “I’ll talk to you later, love. Leave that link open, I want you present always.”

“Bossy.”
I turned and glanced at the clock. Time to get up. Damn.

“Sasha.”

I waved him away and climbed out of bed. “I’m going to give you a firm maybe on that one.”

He growled and slapped my butt. “Talk to you later.” Before he walked out the ruined door, he paused. “
Oh, and…I’ll fix this.” His head nodded to the broken hinges.

“By
the morning.”

“
Morning-ish. Also, be easy on Charles. I think I scared him.”

“When you were freaking out for no discernible reason, you mean?”

“There was a discernible reason—“

“Which you will explain.”

“—that I don’t intend to apologize for—“

“But you will, anyway.”

“—but, yes, when my…dander was up last night. He got the brunt of it.”

“Well, I got the good part. Although, maybe taking it easy for the next couple days might be in order.”

His eyes took on a liquid heat, arousal flooding through the link. He almost started back to me, every muscle on his sizable frame taut, but he held firm. Shaking his head that little bit, he grinned. “Note taken. I bet I can make it even better with a longer build-up.”

“Hmm, yes please.”

Committing his smiling face to memory for my spank bank, I headed for the shower.

After I had finished getting ready, I glanced around for Charles. Usually
, he was in annoying me by now, unable to keep from talking for longer than a few hours at a time. On the way out the door, I finally found him, huddled naked behind a plant in the corner by the door, the thin green leaves shaking, doing a poor job of hiding his whole body.

I stopped, staring down at him.
“Hey. What-ah…whatchya doin’?”

“Oh nothing much.
Just crouching here behind this plant in a puddle of urine. I’m naked though, so I dried quick. Spot of luck on that score.”

I struggled to keep a smile from my face. “How long have you been there?”

“Oh, just since the Boss came barreling through in a battle rage. Thought he’d kill me. Then thought he’d kill whoever was with you. Then thought he might kill you accidentally because you tried to save someone, all while I hid in the bush like a bitch. Not my finest moment, Sasha, but it’s been a while since I saw that crazy male in a rage. Took me by surprise.”

I stepped behind the plant and hauled him up. “You didn’t really piss yourself, did you?”

“Yeah. Please don’t tell anyone. There’s a reason that man has been the leader so long. He’s got great logic, sure, great leadership, great loyalty to his people—but if all that fails, he freaks the fuck out. He scares the shit outta me. Yuck, and you still smell like him.”

“I do?” I smelled myself. I’d taken a shower, so I had no idea how that was possible, but these guys had subatomic noses, so who knew. “Anyway, we’re
gonna be late. Hurry up.”

“How are you so
chipper this morning? I expected screams of terror when he beat your door down, not a blast of magic and a loud orgasm.”

My body zinged with
remembrance. My knees went wobbly and I stumbled into Charles’ door. I hadn’t been scared for one minute. I felt him coming, his rage as a means to hide a deep fear. I didn’t know what he had been afraid of, but when he stood, silhouetted in my door, my heart stopped.

In his battle rage, as Charles called it,
he’d been magnificent. Like a raging Viking of old, his powerful body flexed from head to toe, his thick slabs of muscle on display in the best of ways. His eyes had been on fire, hair wild, his purpose honed and sharpened.

Seeing him
like that triggered the thrill I’d always had; the side of me that needed fast cars and rose to meet danger with a knife and a snarl. I couldn’t help but hold my arms wide, waiting for him to rush in and take me, dragging me in and under, losing the world as we raged toward each other until climax.

And we
’d done just that. I’d willingly taken blood, somehow not grossed out in the least. I’d also given it, engaging in feelings that I couldn’t even understand, let alone explain. The sensations had been so deep, reaching the center of me, and then tickling.

And the magic
…

I sighed as Charles quickly hopped in the shower. Usually
, I half-raged trying to stop the flow of magic into my body, then had to organize and spread it out so I didn’t feel weirdly lopsided. It always felt great, joyous, and exhilarating, but it took work. Stefan’s added power presence had smoothed all that out. Balanced it. Made drawing easy and storing effortless.

“Quit daydreaming, we
gotta go,” Charles said as he passed by with a towel wrapped around his middle.

“What’s up with the coverage?” I asked as I followed him to his room. “I’m not used to seeing you glistening without a naked show of some sort—“

The door closed in my face.

Taken aback, I tried the handle, only to find it locked.

“Are you mad at me?” I called through the wood.

The door swung open a moment later, Charles grim and
clothed, his eyes downcast. “No, but I never want to see you naked again, I never want to think that you saw me naked, and I do not want any sort of arousal passing through my brain where it concerns you.”

Still without meeting
my eyes, he squeezed past as if I had a contagious virus.

“What the hell did I do to you?” I asked in
outrage, following him. “Because I left with Jessiah? Did you get in trouble or something? And what does that have to do with your love of nudity?”

Charles spun on me, making me shrink back. “That crazy fucking male you’re sleepi
ng with nearly tore my head off thinking I’d touched you. I do not intend…”

Charles trailed away, his expression changing to one of disbelief. “He marked you.”

My hand flew to my neck. “Yeah, we exchanged blood. Is that weird?”

“
No—” Charles leaned forward to enunciate his words very carefully. “He…marked…you.”

I glanced down at my body, checked over my arms,
and then turned my puzzled expression back to Charles. “How? Where?”

“Did he not explain what that meant?”

I shook my head, still lost to confusion. “He said he had to talk to me about what he did. I figured it had to do with him breaking down my door, and making my roommate piss himself and then sleep in a bush.”

“I didn’t sleep. I was afraid he’d come out.” Charles shook his head.
“Not important. A male hasn’t marked anyone in…decades. He was probably embarrassed or he would’ve told you.”

“Why? What does it mean? Is it bad?”

Charles held the door and yanked his head for me to go through. “Back in the day, when you staked your whole life on one female, you'd mark her. You'd declare yourself as the defender to her and her offspring, to the death. You basically said you were her department store; whatever she could possibly need or want, it was your job to provide. Darla wants that from him like nobody’s business.”

My heart fluttered.
Stefan had given me something he wouldn’t give his intended. That another man hadn’t given a woman in a great many years. I didn’t understand fully what it meant, but that alone made me feel special. It made me feel…important to him. Treasured.

Charles went on.
“It’s a great risk to him, though. If anyone goes after you, it’s a challenge to him directly. As a leader, he will be forced to answer the challenge—all challenges—or he loses his title. Not to mention his girl and his pride, obviously.”

“So, basically, the mark is to ward everyone away
from me with the implied warning ‘or else.’”

Charles nodded.

“And…he’s promised to another.”

Charles nodded again, but this time, with a grimace. “We stopped marking
because times changed. We’re extremely promiscuous as a culture—it wouldn’t be fair to limit that.”

“So, after you mate, you still screw who
mever?”

“’Course.
Though less as you age, obviously. But yeah, mating is really meant to provide stability for offspring and protect the family. You might have noticed—we are a fairly violent race.”

“But I haven’t seen any
families around here…”

“We wouldn’t be so stupid as to have pregnant females and children hanging around the city where Trek and his idiots are roaming free. Families with children are in our lands in the woods or more suburban settlements.”

I took a deep breath. On one hand, it was a little unbelievable that Stefan would care for me that much. As Charles said, based on his peoples’ culture, this was way huger than marriage. That gave me a dramatic pause.

On the other hand, he just cut off my ability to find someone else within this species. When he got mated, I would have a giant, permanent road block to my moving on. I couldn’t get pissed at him and breakup because I’d still be tagged as his. I’d be cast off and alone,
it would be him or nobody.

“Humans can’t tell, right? This is just limited to your race?” I inquired to Charles as we neared the main house. I slowed for obvious reasons. Yes, I needed food, but I got suddenly worried how people would perceive me. Something told me I’d get more stares than usual.

“No, humans wouldn’t know. If it goes pear shaped with him, you can always snag a human.”

That helped
lessen the blockage in my chest. Realistically, he was my other half. Being together last night felt so instinctive. I wouldn’t get that with someone else. Anyone else. Still, fail-safes were good.

Then something occurred to me.

“If I want to cause him no end of grief, and possible death, all I have to do is seduce someone?”

Charles thought about it a second. "Huh. Yeah. I guess you kind of have the upper hand on that one.
If anyone would touch you. He’s the top of the food chain, so…"

"They're men. Men are
dumb when they get turned on."

"Good point. Please don't try to seduce me."

"Why? Afraid you'll give in?"

"Obviously.
Thank the gods you're not a vindictive bitch."

"That you know of."

"Oh no, I've catalogued your bitch side. You are an explosive, wild, unpredictable bitch, but if I avoid the triggers, I'm good."

"You still manage to surprise me."

"As long as I don't turn you on, I don't care."

We entered the dining hall. Five steps in and people started to notice the difference in me. Wide eyes turned to stare, sticking to me as if I w
as a ghost. By the time I had breakfast on my plate, the whole place was silent.

“This is awkward,” Charles
whispered, his head down.

“Yes, Charles, this
is
awkward. Thank you for pointing it out.”

A gasp went around the fifty or so spectators. I glanced up to find
Stefan entering the room, three people at his back. Face stern, his eyes locked on me, his body heading over in a calm, measured pace. People’s eyes darted back and forth between us, ample entertainment.

When he reached me, he put his hand on my cheek. Then, surprising me, leaned down to kiss my lips. “Good evening, beautiful. I felt your embarrassment
, so I figured you were here. I’m trying to lessen the…discomfiture.”

“Not helping,” Charles muttered, making
himself as small as possible. He wouldn’t look at Stefan.

“Did you come to me last night with the intention to mark me?” I asked quietly, allowing
Stefan to lead me to a table in the middle of the dining hall. He was openly staking his claim, which helped cement that the mark had to do with his feelings for me, and not his professional interest.