Rhyannon Byrd - Primal Instinct 05 (37 page)

“Morgan, honey, just shush and listen to me for a
moment,” Kierland said with a tender smile, pressing his mouth to her
petal-soft lips. He pushed his fingers into her hair, shaping his hands around
her skull, and pulled back just far enough that he could hold her gaze. “I
didn’t bite you just to keep you alive. I did it because I can’t live without
you. Because I don’t want to wake up one single day without your body next to
mine. Because I want to grow old with you, and build a life with you. Once this
bloody war is over, I want to take you someplace and keep you there for days,
weeks, until we’ve made a miracle and our baby is growing right here,” he told
her in a husky voice, lowering his right hand so that he could rub her belly
with the flat of his palm.

“Am I dreaming?” she whispered, clutching onto his
shoulders, and then her eyes went comically wide. “Oh God, I didn’t die, did I?
That would be so typical! Get everything I’ve ever wanted, then find out that
I’ve croaked…and none of it’s real.”

“You’re not dreaming.” A crooked smile touched his
mouth, and he kissed her again, saying, “You’re very much alive, sweetheart.
And you’re also very, very loved.”

“I am?” she murmured against his lips.

“You are,” he rumbled, pulling back to see her face.
“And you’re also a beautiful little liar.”

“Oh.” Pulling her lower lip through her teeth, she
asked, “Which one did you find out about?”

Holding her close, Kierland told her about the talk
he’d had with Ashe, explaining how the vamp had told him the truth about their
past relationship, as well as the horrific attack she’d suffered at the hands
of the rogue vampires. Then he explained how they’d come to be at the Sabin
compound, recounting the events from Thursday evening, and his voice shook as
he said, “After I left Kell and started making my way back to you, it scared
the hell out of me, thinking that I might have lost you because I’ve been such
a jackass. That I might have to go through life without you. It’s…That’s
something I can’t do.”

“And your father?” she asked, pushing his hair back
from his brow. “That doesn’t worry you anymore?”

He took a deep breath, and quietly explained, “I’m
jealous of everything where you’re concerned. Of every man who looks at you. Of
the air that you breathe. The clothes that touch your body. But the difference
is that I love you, Morgan. And that love is more powerful than anything else.
I would never hurt you or betray you.”

Her eyes went hazy with memory, and she whispered, “I
remember something from Thursday, after the attack. I could hear you arguing.
You tried to get Ashe to bite me.”

“Because I thought you still loved him. That he was
the one you really wanted.” He swallowed, working to push the words past the
knot in his throat. “And that’s all that mattered to me. That you lived and
were happy. If being with Ashe would have done it, then I would have gotten
down on my knees and begged him to do it. But he…he said that you weren’t in
love with him.”

“He’s right.” Soft, husky words that made heat crawl
up his chest. “I’m not, because I’m in love with you.”

“Yeah, he said that, too.” Cupping the side of her
face in his palm, Kierland caught the glistening drop of a tear with his thumb,
and there was a rough note of urgency in his voice as he said, “Don’t join The
Guard. Come home with me. Work with me. Live with me. Put me out of my misery
and make me whole, Morgan. Do that, and I swear I’ll worship you in every way
that there is, until the end of time. You’ll be a queen. My queen. I’ll—”

“I couldn’t care less about being a queen,” she
murmured, cutting him off, a provocative gleam sparkling in her eyes. “I just
want to be yours, Kier.”

“You always have been,” he groaned, running his hand
down the graceful curve of her spine, until he was cupping her bottom, pulling
her against the burgeoning ache of his erection, his cock getting harder,
thicker, by the second. “I was just too terrified to admit it.”

“And now?” she gasped, arching against him.

“Now the only thing that scares me is losing you.”

“And what about Ashe?” she asked, sounding worried.
“Because he’ll always be my friend. I can’t…I couldn’t ever just turn my back
on him.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” he rasped, his hand
slipping along the back of her thigh, to her knee, and he hitched her leg over
his hip, thrusting against her. “And I trust you, Morgan. Nothing can change
the way I feel about you.”

“And the panic attacks? Because, well, I could be a
liability,” she explained unsteadily. “I’m still…broken, and I don’t know that
I’ll ever be able to not…to control the panic. It makes me weak.”

“Like hell it does,” he growled, hating that she felt
that way about herself. “I don’t know of any other man or woman who could have
survived what you did and still gone on to be a Watchman and a helluva soldier.
You’re a miracle, Morgan, and I’m so damned proud of you.”

“You are?” She blinked, looking…shocked. “You always
said, back at the academy, that you couldn’t stand any kind of weakness.”

Kierland winced. “God, I was just being a cocky
jackass, spouting the same bullshit I’d grown up hearing at home. But the truth
is that it’s our weaknesses that make us whole, that make us complete, and even
the toughest son of a bitch has them.”

With a wry smile, she said, “You don’t.”

“Do, too,” he argued, his voice thick with emotion.
“I’m holding my weakness in my arms, angel. The fear of anything ever happening
to you… Christ, it drives me insane just to think about it. And I still don’t
understand how you could have put yourself at risk the way you did with those
rogues.”

She lifted her hand to his face, lightly stroking the
shape of his brows as she said, “It was an easy choice, really, because I knew
you were going to get yourself killed if we didn’t do something. And I couldn’t
let that happen.”

“Just promise that you’ll never put yourself at risk
like that again,” he muttered, pressing his lips to her forehead, “because I
would die if I lost you.”

“THEN WE HAD BETTER MAKE sure you did it right,”
Morgan whispered, her heart so full of love, she didn’t know how she kept it
all inside. “You know, the whole claiming thing. Just to make sure.”

His eyes gleamed with predatory fire as he twisted his
hand in the soft hair at her nape and pulled her head back. “You wear my mark,
Morgan.” His voice was a dark, intoxicating rumble of sound. “Trust me, angel.
I did it right.”

“But we’d better make sure,” she said huskily,
completely dazzled by the smoldering look of love-drenched lust on his face.

“You’re still healing!” he growled, his color rising,
as if he were burning with fever. “Christ, don’t tempt me.”

Nipping his chin, Morgan reached down and popped open
the top button on his jeans. “If you don’t get inside me, Kier, I’m going to
get rough with you.”

“Damn it, Morgan. Wait—”

“No,” she gasped, undoing another button. “I’ve waited
forever for this. I want to know how it feels to have you staring down at me,
with your body buried inside mine, as you tell me you love me. Don’t make me
wait any longer.”

“Hell, I can’t deny you anything,” he groaned, his
hot, powerful hands stripping off her panties and T-shirt. Morgan helped him
rip his own shirt over his head, and then he was settling over her, his weight
braced on his left arm as he opened his mouth over a sensitive nipple, his
tongue stroking her…licking her, while using his right hand to shove his jeans
over his hips. And then he was inside her, the feeling of rightness so intense
she cried out, dissolving in a long, shivering release, his mouth finding
hers…and he kissed her as if he was starved for her. As if he wanted to eat her
alive. They made love with a primal, passionate intensity that was so much
sweeter for the breathtaking emotions burning between them, their mouths
feeding off each other with long, drugging kisses that tasted of happiness and
hope and hunger.

“Mine,” he breathed against her lips, nipping her with
his teeth, and she clenched around him, milking his cock with lush, greedy
pulls, desperate for everything he had to give her.

When their ragged breathing had finally slowed, she
asked, “What happens now?” She pressed her ear to his chest, listening to the
steady beat of his heart as he lay on his back beneath her.

“We need to monitor Westmore’s compound,” he told her,
his deep voice rich with satisfaction. “Wait for a signal from Kell. I’ll give
him ’til Friday, but that’s it. After that, I’m finding some way to get him out
of that place, even if I have to dig through miles of ice to do it.”

“Fair enough,” she murmured. “Are we going to contact
Quinn and the others?”

He stroked his hand through her hair, saying, “Ashe is
going to head out tomorrow and track down Gideon, then come back here to help
us against Westmore. He’s also going to call Quinn for me and let him know
what’s happening. If Quinn and the others are determined to come and help, like
I imagine they will be, then Ashe will meet up with them and lead the group
back here.”

“It’s so strange, hearing you talk about Ashe.” She
grinned and pressed a kiss to his warm chest. “It’s like the universe has been
knocked out of whack or something.”

“Yeah, well, I owe him a lot for being there when you
needed him.”

Morgan’s grin got bigger as she raised her head,
locking her gaze with his. “I told you he wasn’t such a villain.”

“We won’t be picking out best friends’ bracelets
anytime soon,” he drawled, a lopsided grin kicking up the corner of his mouth,
“but, yeah, he’s not so bad.”

“You know,” she whispered, “when you grin like that,
it just makes me want to attack you.”

Heat gleamed in his beautiful green eyes, but he
frowned, his voice rough as he said, “I don’t want to wear you out.”

She lifted her brows. “Then give me what I want so I
don’t have to fight you for it.”

“Morgan,” he groaned, his voice catching as she
reached down and wrapped her hand around the hot, rigid length of his cock.
“Damn it, you’re killing me.”

“I feel incredible, Kierland. Better than I’ve ever
felt. But I’ll feel even better with you inside me again,” she told him,
stroking him with a slow, possessive grip. “Please.”

He cursed, growling husky, sexual words about how
crazy she drove him…how much he wanted her…craved her, as he pushed her to her
back again and settled himself into the cradle of her thighs. Her lips curled
with a slow, satisfied smile as he fit himself against her, forcing his cock
inside the slippery, clutching depths of her body. He pressed his open mouth to
hers, licking his way inside, and pushed himself deep…deeper, the muscular wall
of his chest rubbing against her breasts. A rough, guttural sound slipped from
his lips as he pulled back his hips, then thrust back inside with a slow, heavy
lunge that arched her back, her hands gripping onto the hot, sweat-slick
surface of his shoulders.

Then she shivered, choking back a muffled sob, and he
lifted his head, staring down at her, a stricken expression tightening his
features the instant he noticed the tears in her eyes. “Damn it, did I hurt
you?”

“No!” she gasped, locking her legs around his lean
hips when he started to withdraw. “It’s just that…I’m so scared, Kier. I’m
terrified you’re going to wake up and suddenly change your mind.”

“Aw, angel. That’s never going to happen,” he told
her, taking her hands and threading his fingers with hers. “God, Morgan, my
life has been hell without you, and I know I have so much to make up for. So
many mistakes. I’ve wasted so much time that I could have spent with you,
because I’ve been an idiot and a jackass, but I’m not going to be one anymore.
I’m just… I’ll be whatever you need me to be.”

“Mine,” she said breathlessly. “All I need is for you
to be mine.”

“Always. I promise. I couldn’t ever be anything else.”

“Then bite me again,” she whispered, smiling up at
him. “I want the chance to enjoy it this time.”

“Bloody hell,” he growled, already opening his mouth
over the curve of her shoulder as he buried himself deeper within her body. And
then she couldn’t hear anything except for the pounding of her own heart. The
roar of her pulse.

As the ecstasy swam through her system, Morgan closed
her eyes, giving herself up to the beauty of the moment. To the blistering
warmth and pleasure and limitless expanse of love that surged inside her.

Then Kierland pulled his fangs from her shoulder,
nuzzled his way along the shivering column of her throat…and whispered a soft,
husky question in her ear.

With perfect trust in her heart, and tears burning in
her eyes, Morgan threw her arms around his neck and said, “I thought you would
never ask.”

The End

ISBN: 978-1-4268-5482-8

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Copyright © 2010 by Tabitha Bird

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