Harlequin Nocturne March 2014 Bundle: Shadowmaster\Running with Wolves (14 page)

He sighed and closed his eyes. “Let's stop playing games, Phoenix,” he said. “I had a choice, and I made it.”

She moved closer, drawn by the torment in his voice. “You don't believe your revenge is more important than the thousands of lives that will be destroyed after Shepherd is dead. If the Opiri succeed in infiltrating the Enclave, every man, woman and child here will lose their freedom.”

“The freedom your citizens have now, constantly risking deportation for the slightest infraction?”

“As
you
were,” she said, staring at him with all the contempt she could muster. “But I think I understand now. It's not just Shepherd or Patterson or what they did to people you loved. You
do
think the Enclave deserves to fall.”

“Maybe all of it does,” he said, the grief and anger naked on his burned face. “The Enclave, the Citadel. Maybe none of it should survive.”

She clenched her fists. “You're wrong, Drakon.”

“There is only one sure solution to your problem. See that I die, or become a real traitor to your people.”

“No,” she said, unable to comprehend what was happening to her. To
them
. “You said you once believed, like Julius, that we might find a new way of peace.”

“I once believed it,” he said. “But if it happens at all, it will only be after cleansing by fire and rebirth from the ashes.” His eyes grew moist, and somehow she knew he was remembering those he had loved and lost. “Sacrifices must be made.”

“And yours will be the most noble of all. Because you can't face the thing that's tearing you apart inside. You don't have the courage to stop what you know is wrong. You're giving in to what you hate, and you want me to save you.”

“It will tear
you
apart if you don't stop it.”

“Do you hate
me
so much?”

“I only wish I did.”

Chapter 14

P
hoenix's heart jumped in her chest. She hadn't imagined what she'd heard in Drakon's voice. Or what it meant.

It wasn't only lust, after all, though there was no way to be sure how far his feelings for her extended. And she still didn't understand how she could care so deeply for a creature who could destroy everything she believed in.

What
do
you believe in, Phoenix?
she asked herself.
Do you even know anymore?

“Drakon—” she began.

But sometime during her pause, Drakon had fallen unconscious. Or asleep...she couldn't tell which. She climbed onto the other side of the bed and stretched out beside him. Very, very gently she touched his neck, feeling for his pulse. It was a great irony that, unlike the monsters of legend, Opir
“vampires”
had nearly all the same biological functions as human beings.

And Drakon's seemed fine. His heart beat steadily, and his breathing was normal. He only needed time to let his body take care of itself.

Until then, he was helpless. He'd let himself go. Had she wanted to, she could kill him in his sleep.

She didn't realize she'd fallen asleep herself until she felt Drakon's chest move under her cheek. Somehow she'd come to rest on one of the burned parts of his body, but she knew at once it was healed by the texture, the firm, warm skin supporting her head.

Before she could pull back, she felt Drakon's hand in her hair, gently twisting the strands around his fingers.

“You slept,” he said.

The sound of his voice was slightly drowsy, and yet there was an edge to it. A hungry edge. And her throat was very close to his mouth.

“Why didn't you kill me?” he asked, his chest rising with a deep, slow breath.

“I don't know,” she said, making no further attempt to move away. Her thoughts had suddenly fallen into new and disturbing channels. What if she willingly shared her blood with him?

He'd as good as admitted that his feelings for her went beyond what he'd willingly admit. Even if addiction—and all it implied—was virtually impossible, might his taking her blood create a bond between them that would tip him over to her side?

There was always a chance. But she was afraid. Afraid she was making another terrible mistake.

“How long have you gone without blood?” she asked, closing her eyes.

His breath gusted against her hair. “Too long,” he said. “Maybe all you have to do is wait me out.”

“Take mine,” she whispered.

She could feel his stare burning the top of her head. “What?” he asked.

“You heard me,” she said, swallowing.

He pushed her away. She rolled onto her side, her own pulse beating so fast that she was sure he must hear it.

“You don't know what you're saying,” he said.

“Yes, I do.” She met his troubled, hungry gaze. “We have opposing goals, Drakon. We'll always be enemies. But there
is
something between us, and for some crazy reason I want to have at least one good memory, no matter what happens.”

He sat up, the sheets she'd tucked up around his chin falling to his waist. “A good memory?” he said hoarsely. “I could convert you into my vassal.”

“No. The part of me that's dhampir is one of the forty percent who can't be converted.”

“And because you're part dhampir,” he said, his expression stony, “you think you can bind me in some way, force me to—”

“No,” she said, touching his healed hand. “I know you've been attracted to my blood from the beginning, but you can't become addicted to the blood of someone like me.”

“And yet you seem so eager to help me, when you should want just the opposite.”

She sat up, ready to get off the bed. “I offered,” she said. “Don't forget that, when we're—”

Drakon grabbed her wrist and pulled her back across the bed. “I'm willing to take the risk,” he said softly.

Phoenix looked up from her prone position, feeling more vulnerable than she had since she'd first met him. “Something else might happen, Drakon,” she said. “Something even you don't expect.”

In answer, he pulled her onto his lap. She could feel his cock pushing the sheet into a peak just under her thighs, and in spite of herself she moved until it was between them.

“Watch yourself, Phoenix,” he said, “unless you're prepared to give me more than blood.”

She half-turned and kissed the side of his mouth. “I said I wanted something to remember,” she said. “Can you give me that, Drakon?”

He rolled over on top of her, his lean and graceful body uncovered, holding himself above her with his muscular arms. She thought he would begin by biting her, but instead he kissed her, very gently, as if they had all the time in the world. She pushed her fingers through his hair and returned the kiss with greater urgency, but he pulled back.

“Easy,” he said with a warmth that made her catch her breath. “I will survive a few more minutes.” He turned slightly away and touched his mouth. When he turned back again, his incisors were clearly visible, no longer covered by the caps that had disguised them. He resumed his former position, and kissed Phoenix again. She sensed the slight change in the feel of his mouth on hers, though his biting teeth never so much as grazed her lips. His tongue slipped inside her mouth, and she opened to accept him.

The kiss was lingering, deep, incredibly arousing. But it didn't give her what she wanted most. She was almost ready to beg him when his tongue made a trail down over her collarbone, above her breasts and suddenly found her nipple. He teased the erect tip with a curl of his tongue, bringing it to almost painful attention. She pulled his head down and his mouth closed over her, taking in as much of her breast as he could. Gradually, he withdrew and began to explore the underside of her breast and below.

It was a slow, fascinating, wonderful thing, how he kissed his way down to the hollow of her ribs and lower to her belly. The way he seemed to remove her pants without her feeling it. The way his tongue was suddenly in just the place she wanted it to be, doing just the things she had imagined.

But so much better. He parted her thighs gently, and his lips settled on the soft curls between them, already damp with arousal. His tongue slid down into the indentation beneath, darted inside, touched her in a place that sent a powerful shock through her entire body.

He didn't linger there, though the torment was exquisite. He began to explore, licking slowly, as if he were savoring a particularly delicious treat. He ran his tongue along every fold, every valley, sometimes skating over the surface, sometimes pushing deep. Phoenix dug her fingers into the sheets and moaned as he slowly circled her entrance and probed inside, making her shudder and gasp. Then, as his tongue darted in and out, he began to rub her clitoris with his thumb.

Bucking helplessly, Phoenix felt herself begin to come. But he withdrew just in time, letting her body relax for a few moments, before returning to her breasts. He slid one, two, three fingers inside her and moved them in rhythm with his eager suckling.

Again she came to the edge, and again he stopped. But this time what she felt between her legs was very hard and large and as hungry to enter her as she was to have Drakon inside her. She wrapped her legs around his hips, and he entered her slowly, an inch at a time, though she could hardly wait to be filled to the brim.

She moaned in relief as he thrust deep, pushing her into the mattress, letting her feel his hardness stretch her before withdrawing and thrusting again. Each movement was deliberate, not desperate, as if he meant to torture her. And each time she gasped as if he were doing it for the first time.

“More,” she whispered. And he obliged. He began to move faster, thrusting harder, rocking her, claiming her, kissing her and pushing his tongue between her lips. She was open to him in every way, and still it wasn't enough. She wanted him so deep inside her that he could never leave again.

But that was not to be. He slowed for a minute, taking his time again, and then suddenly was thrusting almost violently, forcing her to cry out not in pain but in ecstasy. She came with a great shudder that sent spikes of pleasure through every nerve, from head to toe, and a few seconds later he came, as well, driving a last time, his chest heaving, his breath coming fast.

Even that was not the end. For as her body throbbed with sated pleasure, he put his lips to her neck and bit her.

There was no pain. She knew there would be none, because no Opir bite was uncomfortable unless the Nightsider wanted it to be.

And this was every bit as wonderful and astonishing as the sex. She felt her blood flowing into his mouth, but it was an incredibly erotic experience, sending new shock waves of orgasm through her body. She came again and again until her senses nearly overloaded, and only then did he draw back, licked the small wounds, healing them with the touch of his mouth.

He lay over her for a while, and she mumbled a soft protest as he withdrew completely and rolled to the side. Still throbbing with pleasure, she maneuvered herself into the crook of his shoulder and laid her hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat thunder beneath her palm.

They lay together in silence for an indefinite length of time, and eventually Phoenix fell asleep. When she woke, her head was tucked under Drakon's chin, and he had looped his arm around her shoulder. Holding her. Protecting her. Almost making her believe...

“We've still got a problem,” she said softly.

His ribs heaved with silent laughter under her stroking hand. “Only one?”

“You gave me a chance to stop you. I didn't take it. Now what happens?”

His faced turned to stone, and his mouth remained firmly closed.

“You can't let me go and make your bargain for you,” she said. “Maybe I could never hurt you, but I'll have to tell them who you are. You won't get a chance to try for the mayor.”

He stared at the far wall, decorated with a brown photograph in a cracked frame. “And young Patterson?”

“Once I tell them who and what you are, they'll have no choice but to move against you,” Phoenix said. “He'll be sacrificed, no matter what outrage it causes or the hell his father will raise. If they have to choose between the consequences of that sacrifice or the far worse problems that will follow the mayor's assassination, it'll be the former.” She released her breath. “And unless you stop
me,
they will get you eventually.”

His chest rose and fell three times before he spoke. “What if I agree not to take action during the week in question?” he asked. “What if I leave the city the moment Patterson is exposed?”

“Are you—” she began, rising on her elbow to look into his face. “Will you actually—”

“Yes.” He turned his head to meet her gaze, and there was absolute sincerity in his eyes.

He meant it. Somehow, she'd convinced him.

Without another word she kissed him, pouring all her passion and gratitude into it, making him feel how deeply he had affected her. He put his arms around her gently, barely returning the kiss, as if he were embarrassed by what he perceived as a terrible weakness in himself.

She drew back, catching his gaze as he tried to look away. “If you'll have me,” she said, “if you want me, I'll come with you.”

“Phoenix—”

“Don't tell me now. Think about it. You'll have time while I'm arranging the other things we discussed.”

“Then you'll go through with the bargain?”

“To bring Patterson down? Yes. Whatever happens to him and his faction afterward...that I'm willing to risk. He deserves whatever he gets.”

Drakon pulled her head down and kissed her brow. “Thank you,” he said.

“Are you kidding?” she said, laughing as the tears spilled over her cheeks. “You've made me the happiest woman in the world.”

“Then maybe you won't be too upset when I tell you your other part in my plan.”

“I don't think I'm going to like this,” she muttered.

“It's very simple. When I go to confront the senator with you and his son, I'll have young Patterson read the files while I have a burner trained on both of you. When he's finished, I let him go and hold you as a hostage to make sure they let us leave. Once we're away, we head straight for the passage I'll have arranged for us to use. One just for you and me.”

“We have a deal.”

“There's only one thing I need you to understand, Phoenix.”

She already knew what was coming. “I know you...don't feel the same way about me as I do about you. I never expected you to. You lost people you loved, when you were human. Maybe even if you'd remained human you can't feel that way about anyone again.”

“When I was human,” he said, his voice thick and heavy, “I believed Opiri couldn't feel the way humans do. In Erebus, I learned it wasn't that simple. Different things are important to them—us—but we can still feel grief, and happiness, and hatred and affection.”

“Not love.”

“I loved Julius, as a father. He loved me as a son. I saw other examples in the Citadel. But they don't express it the way we... The way humans do.”

“I understand,” she said quietly.

They lay side by side for a while, legs entangled, until Phoenix began to grow drowsy again. Drakon got up, dressed and left the room on silent feet. She stretched, trying to awaken stiff muscles.

At this very moment, Drakon was probably consulting with Brita, making arrangements, speaking with the other members of his crew, concocting some explanation for why he was sending Phoenix to make a bargain with Matthew Patterson's father when, ignorant of her true purpose as they were, they'd have trouble believing she'd willingly go anywhere near the authorities again.

It would have to be a very good story, Phoenix thought as she gathered up the clothes that had become tangled among the sheets and flung on the floor, but she didn't doubt he could do it. His crew had to trust him, fight him or abandon him. And she didn't think they'd try the last two options. When she left, they wouldn't stop her.