Hunger Aroused (15 page)

He could lose himself in her. In her drugging kisses. Gods help him, he wanted to.

Corin had heard her pleading with him to stay as he lay on the floor, swinging precariously close to mortality. He'd felt the hot drops of her tears as they fell. The slowing of his heartbeat had been an erotic sort of calm, one he could have easily let himself become used to, but her raw sadness, her desperate cries pulled him out of its grip.

He awoke ravenous, the need to pair with her an appetite he couldn't quell. Even now, coming to her, making her tremble in his arms had meant to be a way to slake that thirst. The opposite happened instead. He wanted her more now than ever as his paired, his mate and his life, for now and always.

“I shouldn't be here like this,” he said even as he thumbed her clit again. Little touches that made her sex tighten around his probing fingers. The cinnamon scent he'd become used to had disappeared to be replaced by something more clean. More pure.

Erratic tingling at the base of his balls disagreed with his assessment. The woman in front of him had become eroticism defined. It would only take the delicate touch of her hand on his cock—hell, even his stomach—and he'd embarrass himself, so he stayed focused on her. Knowing with every passing second he lost a little of the distance he'd tried to put between them.

Who was he trying to fool? There hadn't been much distance to lose in the first place.

Corin bent, sliding his lips along the delicate curve of her neck, suckling at water and skin, pulling the moisture and her taste into his mouth. Her grip tightened around his biceps, her sexy little sounds picking up in volume and strength. She shifted, enough to make his teeth scrape against her skin, and he froze. It would be so easy. So tempting.

Just one little nick. A little bit of her blood. Bonded forever.

“Corin?”

An undercurrent of need wove through her one-word question. He heard it, would not deny it. The breathy whisper might have been the only thing that saved her from him. “Come for me, baby,” he said sweetly.

He dropped lower, his mouth blazing a trail over the delicate bone of her collar. Followed a zig-zagging line of water that fell over her breast. The tip of her nipple was pebbled, the color of ripe fruit ready for plucking. The moment he wrapped his mouth around her and pulled, Jasmine's body went rigid.

Corin manipulated that little bundle of pleasure, curved his fingers inside her. She was so gods damned beautiful in his arms as she came that he swore to capture this moment in his mind forever.

He pulled himself away from the generous peak of her breast so that he could admire her. Jasmine laid herself open before him. An erotic pink flush covered her neck and breasts. Each rise and fall of her heaving chest a testament, even as rippling tremors went through her. His hand covered the dark curls of her mound, but feeling the liquid heat surrounding his fingers, the silken sheath of her walls clenching and unclenching was enough to make him swallow several times. He would have bet money steel had nothing on the hardness of his dick.

In that moment he knew what he had to do.
He knew.

Coaxing Jasmine down from her sexual high rather than burying himself inside her took the strength of the Titans. Her fingertips slowly eased from his arms, little half-moon indentations left behind from where her blunt nails embedded in his skin. She'd never hurt him on purpose, so the loss of control was a type of victory. A thrill rocketed through him at the sight.

“Crap. I'm sorry,” she said, still panting. “Your arms…”

“Can handle a lot more than that.” He dipped in for a kiss. Had to have it. “Are you good?”

She laughed. “More than good, I'd say.”

Corin ducked his head in acknowledgement before bringing his cream-coated fingers to his face. Jasmine's jaw dropped open when he inserted them into his mouth. The tangy burst sent another jolt to his raging hard-on, and he almost tossed aside his good intentions. He smiled, lips tight over his teeth, when he glanced into her flushed face. She tracked the motion of his tongue as he licked over every drop of her moisture.

She continued to follow his movement as if in a daze when he used his other hand to turn off the faucet. “You've finished in here?”

Her nod was barely more than jerk.

“Dry off,” Corin said, his heart beating faster. “Get on the bed.”

“But…” Her gaze drifted to the still-prominent part of his body.

He inhaled deeply, let it out slowly. His patience was waning thin, but he needed to do this right. If she had any idea of the lascivious thoughts running through his mind, she would hesitate to do as he asked even further.

“Believe me,
mellita.
I'm not done with you.” Her eyes widened a fraction. “Not by a long shot.”

“Are you sure you're up for this?” Jasmine asked.

He laughed at her unintentional play on words. That wasn't going to be a problem.

She flushed. “I mean, how are you feeling?” She kept scooting back on the bed, the flash of her pink slit against the creamy flesh of her thighs mesmerizing in its beauty. “You were at death's door not long ago.”

“Takes a hell of a lot more than that to kill a vampire, Jas.” He rubbed the towel over the expanse of his arm, using the act as way to calm down. “It takes even more to bring
me
down.”

Her voice dropped, a note of fear creeping into it. “What about Sijourn?”

“He's part of the reason I have to do this.” Corin stood before the bed, uncertain if he joined her now if he'd be able to hold himself back.

“But…”

“Ease your mind. They're done with us for now.” His blood began a slow simmer. “He's giving us time to think over his proposal.”

“What fucking proposal?”

Corin almost laughed at her irritation. She would not go down easily, of this much he was sure.

Gods, how he admired her. The fierce determination in the face of extreme odds. And this was why he had to pair with her. Another reason why he loved her. This woman in front of him who would not go down without a fight had earned his very respect.

He crawled forward on his knees, covering each inch of the bed with growing determination. “I'm supposed to convince you that he means well and that he has no intentions of harming us.”

“And I suppose that's why he had you shot?” she asked after a most unladylike snort.

“And then why he had me fed and briefly checked out by one of his medical staff.”

Her eyes narrowed. “So you believe him?”

Corin pulled her into his embrace. “Not a chance.” He couldn't stop touching her. It was if a light had been shined on her, illuminating her delicate curves, her sensuous lips, her soft skin. He couldn't stop looking into her expressive eyes or keep his gaze away from the upturned curves of her breasts, the swell of her hips. When he said he hurt for her, he meant it. His heart thudded with disappointment, a loud intrusive knock against his ribs, with the mere thought of not being near.

A saying from his past popped into mind. “
Auribus teneo lupum,
Jasmine.”

“Spanish?” Her hands moved over his chest, her fingertips as hot as a flame.

He groaned. “You wound me, woman. Latin.”

“You know Latin?”

The answer froze on his lips when her quest moved lower on his abdomen, tracing the lines of muscle. Swallowing, he nodded. “My home tongue. I'm very rusty, but some of it doesn't leave.”

“So what did that mean?”

His eyes slipped closed when she brushed the fine hair on his groin. All conscious thought fled. When she began to finger the raised line of a vein on his lower abdomen, Corin hissed through his teeth.

“Corin?”

“Gods,” he panted.

“What did it mean?”

“What did what—oh
fuck.
” He wasn't going to make it. She would touch his cock, and he would come. There was no way he'd make it.

Jasmine must have thought so too, for the next thing he felt was the warm brush of her breath on his swollen tip. By the time she engulfed him with her moist mouth, a rush of tingling had him arching his back. Everything that he was surged through his body until left with no place to go, his need, his want, his soul left him in a violent surge. It happened again and again, Jasmine using her talented tongue to tease more of his essence into her mouth.

His hands were threaded in her hair, the slow up-down motion of her mouth on his length enough to make him shudder. She hummed a soft sound, the tremor traveling through his cock and twining around his spine. Her fingers massaged his sac, coaxing his body to release the last of his spend.

She relinquished him with a soft
pop,
her pink tongue swiping across her kiss-swollen lips. Corin pulled her upright, slanting his mouth over hers. She drew back momentarily, but he held on. Kissed her with the fervor still boiling in his blood. There was a subtle pungency lingering in her mouth, but he coiled his tongue with hers, wanting no secrets, no barriers between them.

“Wow,” she said softly after he released her. “I would have done that a lot sooner if I knew what kind of kiss would await me afterward.”

“I'm so hungry, Jas.” He pulled her into his arms, lowering them both to lie on the bed. The reckless sexual urge was gone, but the drive for her hadn't diminished one bit. “I hurt.”

“They were supposed to feed you.” Her gaze drifted to the doorway, as if she would summon help from her captor if that's what he truly needed.

“They did. That isn't what I mean.” He used a finger to lift her chin. He wanted to peer into her pretty blue eyes. To make certain she understood. “I hunger for you. I won't be satisfied with anything—or anyone—else.”

“But…oh…but…well, hell.”

“I don't deserve you…”

“Corin—”

“I don't deserve you,” he repeated. “My life has been nothing but blood and death. Even before I became a vampire, that's all I ever knew. And you're nothing like that. You're…”

“Stubborn.”

“Beautiful. A healer. Full of life.”

She cast her gaze down, but he would have none of that. He dipped in for another heart-stopping kiss and forced her to look at him again. Eyes shiny and bright with unshed tears looked back at him.

“I can't believe I'm going all girly on you,” she sniffled.

“Be sure this is what you want, Jasmine. If I have to live without the pairing, I'll find a way, but be sure.”

“I-I don't understand.”

“Once we exchange blood, we will be tied for the rest of our lives. If either of us dies, the other will be drawn toward death's door. The pull supposedly can be overcome, but in all of my years, I've only heard of a few cases where the other chooses not to submit to it. Being paired can be almost like a death sentence.”

“Now there's an offer I'd hardly refuse.” She let out a soft laugh, but it was mirthless. “Are you saying you've changed your mind, then? Ezra said you wouldn't.”

“I need you.” It was a statement of simple fact. “I wish I had more time to tell you everything, to make certain you had all of the information you need to make a decision…”

She pressed a finger to his lips. “What are you so afraid of?”

He kissed it. “I'm paired with another, a male. There's no emotional tie, but the pairing
is
there.” It was his turn to avoid her assessing gaze. “From a time when I was a slave.”

“Corin!”

“See? And that's why you must be sure. I have a long history, Jas. I can't change any of it. For you, if I could, gods know I would.”

She remained silent for such a long time he thought he'd lost her. When she leaned forward and kissed his chin, however, his heart kicked. “But I might not have met you otherwise.”

“Truth.” Hope began to fill him.

“Are you sure you have no feelings for this…male? I'm not getting in the way of anything?”

“I swear it.”

“What was that phrase? The one in Latin.”

“Ah.” He'd said it before he'd come to a final decision. It no longer described his feelings toward her, so he translated. “I said ‘I hold a wolf by the ears.' I didn't want to burden you with my life. I still don't, but I can't shake this feeling. This yearning to pair with you.”

“Why now?”

Corin hesitated. Should he tell her of another feeling, one that promised a violent end for them both? He didn't want to frighten her with the foreboding that Sijourn would hurt her badly before he was done. And if that happened, the wrath of the gods would rain down on the affluent vampire. Corin would see him killed beneath his own hands before following Jasmine to the afterlife.

But he'd promised himself that nothing would come between them. No barriers. “Because when I get you out of here—” It wasn't a lie, as he would give his life trying, “—there is still the Council to contend with. Even if we can avoid them for a time, they will eventually catch up to us. It's the Council's way.”

Did she understand? They still held a wolf by its ears. If they let go, the result would not be pretty.

“And you still want to be with me for that?”

“Down through my soul, I would have it no other way.”

A hesitant smile curved her lips. “What do I have to do?”

“Only trust me.”

***

Corin recovered from both the orgasm and his previous injury far quicker than she would have thought him capable. But his lazy kiss, one that began as a slow, simmering heat, soon grew in its intensity. His slender hips nestled between her thighs, his comfortable weight a blanket of masculinity.

“You've changed,” she murmured. Despite the circumstances, the insane disbelieving whirlwind of events, a calm washed over Jasmine. “There's a tenderness to you now.”

His lips brushed her shoulder. “For you.”

It was an answer that was no answer. “I like both sides, I'll admit. The gruff exterior and this gentle Corin.”

A live, constant thing, his heartbeat against hers soothed her in the same way his hands skimmed across her skin. Touching. Caressing.

She tilted her hips, cradling Corin where she wanted him. He slipped easily inside her wet and ready body, pushing forward until she thought she could take no more of this fullness. Her moan was part sigh of satiation, part moan of pleasure. When he withdrew, she released a breath she hadn't realized she held, only to gasp softly when he entered her completely again.

She reveled in the sounds of their lovemaking. This quiet solitude of his body against hers. His breathing mingling with hers. The silence in the room punctuated by her muffled cries, his whispered words of encouragement.

A sensation she couldn't give name to spiraled within her belly, rising swiftly and spreading through her body at breakneck speed. It warmed her, this rightness, this sense of belonging. No other place would have been as right. No other man as perfect as the one she loved with right now.

“
Mellita,
you honor me with your acceptance. My past…” He looked down on her with a soft gaze before pressing his lips to hers. She felt the heaviness of his heart. Knew the pull of whatever past that had shaped the man into what he was now.

“Don't—don't ruin this. Whatever is in your past, leave it there.”

“There are many things I would have you know.”

“Corin.” She took his shadow-laden jaw in her hands. “Your past may have shaped you to be the man you are today, but who you've been with me these two days is the man I'm falling in love with.”

“But—”

The press of her finger to his mouth stopped his protest. “Bond with me, and we'll face an uncertain future together. The past is over. Let's have now.”

He nodded, confirming his agreement with another slow thrust that took her breath away. “If you've not changed your mind, then taste me.”

Her teeth pulsed, a natural reaction to her arousal. She felt them lengthen, reveled in their growth. Their readiness for feeding.

Corin extended his neck, the pulse at the side of his throat, a beautiful sight. Letting the instinct of her new life take over, she gripped the back of his head and brought her mouth against his skin.

The first burst of his blood on her tongue was as sweet as ever. The taste of his life like velvet. A luxurious addition to this precious time together. Each draw reaffirmed her need for him, the hunger that grew with such violent insistence—not one of survival, but a hunger of need. A compulsive passion. She drank until her heart settled, the eroticism of the act lulling her mind into a wondrous haze.

She licked the wound closed. “What now?”

He shifted his body, withdrawing only slightly, and nuzzled her neck. “I'll be gentle,” he said.

“I know.”

But knowing and getting her body to reconcile that fact was difficult. Her heart hammered, her breathing quickening at what she knew would come next. His mouth opened against her skin, the moisture teasing her senses. She closed her eyes and remembered what she'd told him.

She gave him her trust.

The moment his teeth pierced her, she couldn't help the sharp arch of her back. Corin held on to her, his hands tightening on her shoulders as sensation—too much overpowering, over-stimulating sensation—poured through her. Her mind almost shattered beneath the brilliance, too absorbed in her feelings to recognize whether the bite or how his body completed hers created such a startling effect.

Her arms flailed at her sides, her fingers curling into the crisp sheets, clutching them between her fists. She tried to cry out to tell him that it was too much, that she would cease being beneath the weight of this exquisite rapture. Her voice locked, a swiftly rising orgasm freezing her muscles in place, as well. All Jasmine could do was shudder and moan. She forced herself to live through this torturous pleasure, gave herself over to pure love. It ended all too soon, but she lost track of it beneath what they were sharing.

Corin pulled again. It was like a thread of her life that he brought into himself. In her daze, she felt it as if on a spindle. In her mind's eye she watched it unravel, this fine strand, and enter him. Despite its fragility, it did not break. The thread went into his body, and she saw their connection. Watched it weave down his throat, then into his torso. It worked its way through his entire length, to her surprise, only slowing after touching almost every place. The final place it stopped was next to his heart. There it glowed, almost like a living, breathing thing.

“Beautiful,” she said. Her voice sounded distant. Foggy.

His teeth retracted, his tongue licking the same spot a second later. The haze immediately lifted, but the surety of the thread connecting them held strong. The bond.