Briannas Prophecy (19 page)

“Yes, Niklas, we are one.” Brianna panted.

As he eased in and out ove, and over again, she was completely mindless. Still, she was affirming their bond, making it easier for Niklas to bind her to him without her knowledge.

He deliberately moved with a gentle rhythm that was killing him, so he would not hurt his Brianna. His body shook with the effort to move so slowly, even as he burned for the ecstasy of release. He knew he would soon find the ultimate pleasure in the solace of her body. Niklas groaned as he finished the ritual. “One heart, one soul, in gifting ourselves we are bound to each other. For all time.”

Brianna screamed beneath him, her climax so intense, she nearly bucked him off her. Her slick velvet walls gripped him, milked him, until he was the one who was nearly out of his mind with pleasure. He forgot the promise to himself to be gentle and drove into her, shouting to the heavens. Thanking the Gods for the precious gift they had given him, his beloved, his wife. Niklas had his mate. He had finally found her. And she had chosen. Later, she wouldn’t be able to deny he’d given her the choice.

She collapsed beneath him spent, aftershocks rippling through her body, her breathing hitched and ragged.

He leaned down and claimed her lips as she lay panting beneath him. He wasn’t looking forward to explaining exactly what they’d just done. But now might be the best time. She was too tired to put up much of a fight. “Brianna, I must thank you,” he began formally. He took her hand and kissed her palm sensuously. Niklas searched though his mind, wanting to find a way to tell her that she would understand, that she could forgive.

She turned toward him, looked at him through sleep fogged eyes. She licked her kiss-swollen lips slowly, not realizing how sexy it looked or how many ideas it gave him.

He leaned up on one elbow, the muscles of his arm bunching and clenching as he shifted his weight. He brushed the damp hair from her forehead, placing a tender kiss there. “I am honored that you gifted yourself to me. I hope I will never give you cause to regret it. I will care for you always and see to our happiness together.” He glanced down at her, saw the dreamy half smile on her face. Heartened to see she was taking this so well, Niklas lay back, gathered her into his arms and nuzzled her neck for a moment. “I must admit that I am surprised that you are taking this so well.”

* * * *

“Taking what so well, Niklas? Are you planning to leave already?” She turned away, her heart already breaking into tiny pieces. She was so tired, she hadn’t heard much of what he’d said. But it sounded like he was trying to say goodbye. Had he just taken advantage of her? She shook her head. No. As much as she might want to, she couldn’t blame this all on him.
She
had started it.

“No,
Mi Dara
, that is most emphatically
not
what I am trying to say.” Niklas caressed her shoulder, his hands rubbing up and down her arms in a rhythm meant to sooth.

She turned in his arms, wanting to face him, to see the truth in his expressive eyes. She searched his face intently. “What does that mean,
Mi Dara
, and the other word you used?” She wrinkled her brow trying to remember.

“Laharra?”

She inclined her head. “Yes that was it.”

“
Laharra
means beloved, in my language.”

Brianna smiled drowsily, kissed him passionately, glad that he thought of her that way. He must not be planning on going too far if he thought of her as his beloved. “And the other?” she asked, her fingers lingering in his fine ebony hair. She could live the rest of her life happily, if she never had to remove her fingers from his silky hair. Her eyes were sparkling now, happy. Niklas’s were dark and troubled.

“Mi Dara?”

She nodded expectantly, smiled through her exhaustion, her eyes drifting closed.

Niklas cleared his throat, uncomfortable. “Basically, the closest translation would be…my wife.”

Brianna’s eyelids flew open. “But we’re not—”

Niklas placed a finger over her lips. “In the eyes of the Gods and in the eyes of my people, we are married.”

“What?” She jumped out of the bed as quickly as her jellied limbs would allow. “What sort of archaic country do you come from? You can’t just marry a woman without her consent,” she said, glaring at him. “We are not married!” She stamped her foot in a fit that caused her breasts to jiggle invitingly.

Following his gaze, she looked down at herself and realized she was standing in the nude arguing with a crazy man who thought they were married. “Look, just because I agreed to have sex with you does not make me your wife.” She reached down, grabbed her T-shirt and pulled it over her head. She snorted. Apparently the man didn’t get around much if he thought a little romp between the sheets was a wedding ceremony. The sound of his words came back to her.

Do you choose me?
he had asked.
There is no going back.

I choose you.
She remembered saying it clearly. She’d
had
said those words. Then Niklas had said something else. Something strange, something about being bound for all time. Brianna’s trembling hands flew to her pale face. “Oh, my Goddess, what have I done?” She leaned against the cool wall and slid to the floor in shock. She wrapped her arms around her knees and rocked back and forth, staring into space.

Niklas sat up in the bed. He watched her for a while before he stood, walked to her and lifted her into his arms. It was a measure of her shock that she didn’t resist. “You have given yourself to me,
Laharra
. To put it in a term you would understand, we are married or handfasted.”

Brianna’s trembling hand slid to her throat. Her fingers rested over her racing pulse. Her heart drummed frantically in her ears. Emotions, fear, joy, passion, all crowded through her.

She looked at Niklas, her eyes like saucers. When she gazed into his beautiful dark chocolate eyes, try as she might, she couldn’t make herself regret what she’d done. She blinked. After all, Brianna Lynne O’Neill was no idiot. The man was very nearly a God!

Chapter Eleven

Brianna closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply, taking in the intoxicating scent of his skin, their intermingled scents and the aroma of sex. She thought of the wild, uninhibited way she had given herself to him and blushed.

Leaning her head to the right, she rested it against his broad chest. She could hear his strong heartbeat and felt the rightness of what she’d done. Her hand moved from her neck to his chest. Her fingers made a lazy circle around his perfect flat nipple.

Niklas sucked a breath between clenched teeth. He quickly returned to the bed and sat, still holding her in his arms. He watched her with those wonderful eyes. Those addicting eyes. They were every bit as addicting as the chocolate they resembled and every bit as decadent.

He inhaled deeply and shook his head slowly. “You have no idea what you do to me.” His hand captured hers against his chest. Leaning down, he brushed his lips against her forehead and smiled, obviously nervous. “There are words that must be spoken, words that you must say to truly complete our bonding.”

Brianna looked at Niklas. Fascinated by the way his eyes changed color—ever so slightly—with his emotions. She peered into their mahogany depths, wondered if he was telling her the truth. “Tell me what they are, and I’ll say them.” Tears pooled in her eyes. She thought that he was being noble and giving her an out.

Shaking his head, he kissed her soundly. His tongue grazed her lips, entering her mouth when her lips parted and tangled with hers. Brianna wanted nothing more than to stay right here, in this beautiful moment with him. He was everything she’d ever dreamed of in a man, even if he
was a bit chauvinistic
.

Niklas reluctantly broke their kiss and looked into her eyes. “I cannot tell you the words you must say.” He shook his head slowly. “For this to be a true bonding, they must come from your heart. Your soul knows them. If we are truly meant to be bonded, you will know them.” He raked a nervous hand through his hair. “If you truly do not want to be bound to me, you can refuse to say the words.” His head was bowed as though it really mattered to him.

Brianna closed her eyes and reached inside herself. She looked for the words that Niklas needed to hear from her. She found a flicker of light within her that was strangely a part of Niklas. Then to her surprise, she began to speak in another language. “
Mi Daru un dula, Mi Daru sonay. Laharru mon sunta waleema budai
.”

Brianna’s eyes flew open. She clapped her hand to her mouth in shock.
Where
had that come from?
She knew she’d just spoken another language, didn’t even know what she’d said. No, that wasn’t true. She
did
know what she just said. She just didn’t know
how
she knew it.

She’d said,
my husband and life, my husband and soul. You are my beloved. I gift my heart and soul into your keeping forever and beyond.
Brianna’s gaze flew to his, both eager and terrified to know if what she thought she’d said was correct. But how could she know that? It definitely wasn’t normal.

Niklas smiled, kissed her slightly parted lips. Lying back on the bed, he took her with him. Brianna’s lips parted further, his tongue slid between her teeth, dancing, mating with her own. She felt a peculiar wrenching in her heart and her mind. Somehow she could hear him talking to her. Yet he wasn’t because his lips were still firmly pressed against hers in a searing kiss, as his hands roamed her body, enflaming her, driving her wild.

* * * *

Mi Dara
, my wife. I have waited so long for you. You humble me with the gift of your trust and your beautiful body. Know this, your heart and your soul are safe in my keeping for as long as I live.

He was still kissing her, drugging her with his mouth and hands. He gently nudged her legs apart with his knee. She parted her legs easily, and Niklas settled himself in the cradle of her hips.

He groaned with intense pleasure as he entered her again. He whispered sweet nonsense into her mind as his body drove her wild. Niklas heard her whispers of encouragement, knowing what she wanted, needed, before she could voice it. And he knew with a startling realization that the legends of his people were true. Against all odds, he had found The One. And they were truly bound in heart and mind.

On his knees, Niklas lifted her buttocks, tilted her hips, and drove into her with the abandon that he could hear her whispering for. She wanted him out of control, needed the both of them to go up in the flames she could feel licking at their skin. Brianna moaned, the sound coming from the deepest recesses of her being. A guttural sound, which barely escaped his throat, burst free as Niklas felt his own release.

Afterward, they lay panting side by side, both exhausted, both replete. With their hands clasped together, their fingers entwined, they finally slept.

* * * *

Brianna woke to deliciously sore muscles. Muscles she’d never even known existed, protested movement. She stretched slowly and smiled. Knew if she wanted to, she could lie back and sleep for a very long time. “I don’t
ever
remember being so relaxed.”

She remembered the dream she’d had. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to really be so connected to the person you loved that you could hear their thoughts? She paused. Did she really love Niklas? Could she? She didn’t even know him. Not really. She moaned, rolled over and crawled out of bed. She didn’t even want to think about what her silly heart had gotten her into this time.

She headed for the shower, wondering when Niklas had left. Part of her was bothered that he hadn’t decided to stay. Another part of her, the part that knew she couldn’t have faced him first thing this morning, was glad he was gone. After all, she had plenty of reasons to be embarrassed after the way she had made love with him with such abandon.

Turning on the water, she stepped into the little stall and tried not to think of the way she had totally lost control. She felt the blush steal up her neck, warming her face. Had she really raked his back with her fingernails, screaming for him to drive into her harder and harder? Brianna covered her face with her hands, completely mortified.

Do not be embarrassed by your sensual nature,
Laharra
.

“Niklas?” Startled, Brianna jerked her head up and poked it out of the shower, the cooler air brushing her cheeks. Realization hit. When had her water heater started working? Turning the water off, she stepped from the shower, grabbed a towel, and rubbed it briskly against her skin. She walked to the counter, and, leaning over, she rubbed the towel over her mirror to see if she looked any different. Should she?