Dark Fire (21 page)

His body surged more strongly into hers, each stroke harder and longer, going deeper until they were fully one being. He wanted her to know what she did for him, the beauty of her priceless gift. The rush took over, consumed his mind, consumed his body, until every muscle was bursting with need. Still he held her gaze so that she could see the tension on his face, the wildness in his eyes, the hunger and rapture, the sweet agony and ecstasy her body brought to his. He erupted into her, over and over, a volcano of molten seed, of burning fire, and the terrible darkness that haunted his soul. She was dragging him back to the light, and he felt the purity of it as his cries of joy echoed hoarsely throughout the cavern.

Tempest's legs held him tightly, nearly as possessive as he. Their hearts were beating in the same wild rhythm, their labored breaths matching. He finally released her wrists and lay his head on her breast, even as his elbows held his weight from crushing her. She could feel his tongue lapping at the small beads of sweat on her breasts, and each feathery stroke sent an aftershock rippling through her. She brought her hands down to tangle in the disheveled mane of his hair, to just hold him. They lay like that, their silence speaking more than any words could have.

Darius took their combined scents into his body, the feel of her hot skin, her breast beneath his cheek, the silken strands of her hair against his sensitized skin. Every sensation seemed heightened, seemed to echo through his body and linger there. The taste of her, rich and filled with life, was in his mouth and heart, and for the first time he could ever remember, his terrible craving for hot blood was momentarily sated. He would never again be tempted to make a kill to feel a rush of power, as one so close to turning often was, when he held the ultimate satisfaction in his arms.

He stirred then, a slight frown touching his mouth. "I did not heal you properly."

Instantly he was off her, leaving her feeling somewhat bereft. She also felt lazy and drowsy, the stifling heat of the cavern and his uninhibited lovemaking wearing her out. "I don't care. I want to sleep. You can heal me later." Her wounds no longer hurt, when earlier they had been burning and throbbing. He had successfully introduced her body to other, much more enjoyable sensations.

Darius ignored her sleepy command and lifted her easily into his arms. "I was more than selfish. I should have attended to your discomfort first, before my own."

Tempest laughed softly at his serious expression. Her fingertip smoothed the hard edge of his mouth in a gentle caress. "Is that what you felt? Discomfort? Hmm. Perhaps I should make you feel that way more often."

He growled-a warning or assent, she wasn't certain which-but she laughed at him anyway. "If I felt any more for you, baby, I would go up in flames," he admitted and padded on bare feet to the steaming pool.

She caught at his neck, scowling at him. "I really don't like being immersed in boiling water, Darius."

"It is not boiling. It is the same temperature as a hot tub," he chided.

She had a death grip on his neck. "It looks boiling to me. I don't want to go in. And anyway, I never go near hot tubs. Everyone always wants to get naked, and I don't know anybody that well."

"We are not wearing clothes now," he pointed out, wading into the steaming pool. He was trying not to laugh as she scrambled higher into his arms.

"It's too hot. How can you breathe in here? You know, Darius," she added seriously, "this is an honest-to-God volcano. Lava could fill up this chamber at any time." She peered into the depths of the pool. "It's probably bubbling up through the ground right now. See those bubbles? Lava."

"What a baby. Put your feet in the water," he instructed, amusement climbing from his voice to his eyes.

Her eyes began to throw off sparks, her temper showing. "I don't want to go in, Darius."

"Too bad, baby. It is good for you." Ruthlessly he lowered her feet into the steaming water.

Tempest tried to jerk her toes away from the hot mineral water, but he lowered her even farther, so that her calves, then her thighs, were immersed. She gasped. "It's hot, you ape! Let me out!" But the water was already doing its job, soothing the lacerations on her feet, loosening cramped muscles, though she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of telling him so.

His gaze was on the beads of perspiration running between her breasts to her stomach and disappearing beneath the surface of the water. He lowered her until her feet touched bottom and the water reached her waist, so that his hands could find her hips and hold her still for his inspection. He bent his head to the underside of one satiny breast and caught a droplet in his mouth. "Do you have to be so damned beautiful?" he murmured softly.

Her fingers tangled in his hair and dragged his head to her breast so that she could arch into the moist heat of his mouth. The water lapped at her skin. Bubbles burst all around her. Steam rose. "Do you have to be so damned sexy?" she countered, wanting the feel of his mouth feeding erotically on her.

Darius's hands skimmed over her hips in a light, possessive caress. He wanted to know he could touch her this way, that she was his. He wanted her to touch him. For the first time in all his centuries of existence, he was truly alive. Her soft skin, so like satin, brushed against his body. Her hair, so like silk, feathered over his shoulder, sending heat waves coursing through him.

His mouth wandered lower to find the places where the bird's talons had pierced her skin. He winced, remembering the feeling of lying beneath the earth, helpless, while she struggled for her life. "You scared the hell out of me," he told her softly, his tongue bathing the puncture wounds.

Tempest pressed herself closer to his soothing ministrations. "You have a curative agent in your saliva, don't you?" she asked, suddenly comprehending. He had to. That was how he closed the pinpricks his fangs made in her neck, never leaving evidence behind unless he wanted to brand her. It was how her bruises had healed so fast. Darius. So tender and gentle, carefully healing each laceration, every bruise. "And you must have an anticoagulant in your teeth." It was a guess, but a fairly safe one.

He lifted his head, his dark eyes moody and unreadable. "I can heal you completely, but you must stay very still and accept what I do."

She nodded solemnly. He was so beautiful, in a purely masculine way. She loved the hard bones of his face, the deepness and purity of his voice, the rippling of power beneath his skin. His beautiful face now showed intense concentration. He had withdrawn into himself. Tempest found the way his hips indented fascinating. He was so physically perfect. Her hands, of their own volition, reached out to touch those smooth indentations.

The feel of his skin beneath her fingers sent flames dancing in her stomach. She explored farther, the palms of her hands sliding over his muscular buttocks. A sound escaped his throat, a soft warning growl, and his hands shackled her wrists, holding her palms against him. "Just what are you doing?"

Her large green eyes stared innocently up into his fathomless black ones. "Touching you." Her palms pressed closer. "I like touching you."

"I cannot possibly concentrate if you continue, Tempest." He meant to reprimand her, but one of her hands had slipped free to explore the hard columns of his thighs. His breath caught in his throat. Her fingers felt so good on his skin, an erotic fantasy began to take over his mind. His sexual needs were far greater than hers.

He was a Carpathian male with a need as elemental as time to take his mate. He had promised himself he would remember that she was human and give her as much space as his nature would permit, but she wasn't helping him at the moment.

His body hardened with a savage, aching rush of fire that added to the heat of the cavern and the pool. Her hand brushed against him beneath the water, slid the length of him, settled around him like a glove. He pushed against her, craving the feel of her surrounding him. "This will not help my concentration," he managed to point out.

"Really? And I thought you were so good at blocking out all sorts of things, Darius," she teased, exploring him more fully, more boldly.

He bent his head to the hollow of her shoulder, his teeth scraping roughly. Beneath the steaming water, his hand slid to the junction between her thighs. Tempest accommodated him, pushing against his palm. His fingers slid into her, urging her to climb with him. "I want you to need me the way I need you," he whispered against her throat.

"How is that?" she asked through clenched teeth. In her hand he was growing even harder and thicker, velvet over iron. His fingers were driving her insane, taking her closer and closer to the edge of a cliff. The water swirled around them, fizzed and bubbled against their skin.

Darius lifted her into his arms, the hot water sluicing off her and onto him nearly unbearable in his sensitive state. "Put your legs around my waist, Tempest," he ordered huskily, barely managing to get the words out. His body screamed for hers. She complied, and slowly he lowered her over his waiting shaft. At her hot, moist entrance, he paused, watching the expression on her face. He seemed large and intimidating to her, but her sheath was tight and velvet soft, gripping and enfolding him. The ecstasy of it tightening around him, slowly accepting his invasion, was almost more than he could bear.

The heat in the cavern made it nearly impossible for Tempest to breathe. Or maybe it was the way Darius lowered her with such excruciating slowness over him. She laid her forehead against his chest, gasping as his body invaded hers, ever deeper, the steam surrounding them like smoke from the fire their bodies were creating.

His fingers dug into her waist as she settled around him, taking him fully into her. She moved then. It was she, not he, who moved. She could feel the pleasure in his mind, in hers, so intense that it was close to pain. She rode him slowly, the beauty of the moment forever etched in her mind. The beauty of his face as she engulfed him, retreated, returned. It was erotic just to watch the pleasure she brought him. She knew precisely what to do to enhance that pleasure from his mind merged with hers. She snagged the images in his mind and made some slight adjustments, arching her back so that her breasts slid over his damp skin, letting her hair tumble over his shoulders, sensations he found unbearably sensual. Deliberately she prolonged the moment of release, moving slowly, then faster, slowly, then fast, her muscles clenching around him, reluctantly releasing him, then capturing him once more.

Even as she felt him swell within her, heard him fighting for breath, his heart pounding against hers, she felt her own body begin the climb toward the stars. She couldn't concentrate on his release when she felt herself start to fragment. At once Darius took control, his hands digging into her hips, thrusting into her with sure, hard strokes, pushing her higher and higher so that he was taking her with him. They soared together, breaking free, their cries filling the cavern. Steam wrapped them together as one body, one mind, one skin.

At the end Tempest was totally exhausted. She closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. "I can't move, Darius. Don't ask me to move ever again."

"I will not, baby," he murmured tenderly, lifting the wet hair from her shoulder to place a kiss on her bare skin. He carried her from the hot water to the next pool, which was several degrees cooler, its source outside the mountain rather than within. He sank into the water, taking her with him.

She felt instant relief and released her grip on Darius's neck, lazily floating away from him. If she kept her eyes closed, she could pretend she was out in the open, with the sky above her and trees nearby. The oppressive layers of soil and rock simply disappeared from her mind. But she couldn't keep her eyes closed forever. She tried to concentrate on how Darius made her feel, on the beauty of the cavern, on the glittering diamonds the volcano had produced over the long centuries.

"What is it?" he asked softly.

"Being in this cave is making me feel like a bat. It's beautiful, Darius-don't get me wrong," she added hastily, not wanting to hurt his feelings, "but we're so far underground, and it's very humid."

Darius swam to her, his body rippling with power, his long hair wet and midnight black. "You will get used to it, honey."

She felt her heart jump. What did that mean? She didn't want to stay underground long enough to get used to it. Biting her lip she forced her mind away from the issue and swam a few strokes, taking pleasure in simply watching Darius swim, the fluid way his body moved. She yawned, her movements slow, exhaustion settling into her body. It was impossible to have any real sense of time underground.

"You have had a difficult day," Darius said as he surfaced quite close to her. His hands caught her waist and drew her against him. "I want you to rest while I perform the healing ritual on you."

"What is it?" She was wary, but her fatigue was making her more compliant to his demands.

Darius studied her face, the shadows beneath her eyes. She was drooping with weariness. He didn't ask for her consent; he merely lifted her into his arms and took her to a small alcove where the rich soil was soft and beckoning. He waved a hand so that a cotton sheet floated to cover the grounds, then laid her down with great care.

"You just made that sheet, didn't you?" she murmured, staring up at him.

He brushed back the wet hair from her forehead. "You would be surprised at the things I can do," he said softly.

"I don't think I would anymore," she countered.

"Do not distract me from my task this time, Tempest. I will free myself from this body, and my energy will go into yours. I can heal your wounds from the inside out. The healing process is much faster, and if any infection is present, I can rid your body of it. But I cannot be aware of my own body during this time. My focus must remain on what I am doing. Do you understand? I cannot reenter my body abruptly when I am really in yours. So do not distract me in any way."

She lay very still, watching his face. He was withdrawing from her-she could see that. Withdrawing from the world they were in, he turned his entire attention inward. She wanted to touch his mind with hers.