Through the Veil (20 page)

She started toward the weird little refrigerator where Kalen kept food. She would have made it, too. Her legs weren’t that wobbly. Really. But the door opened and she looked toward it. Saw Kalen.

Their eyes met and Lee thought,
Whaddya know . . . a man looking at me really can rock my world.
At least, it sure felt like it.

His quicksilver eyes flared and he crossed the room in three long strides. Strong arms came around her waist, and she gasped as he pulled her against him in one quick motion. He pressed his face against her neck and muttered something too quiet for her to understand.

Just that simple touch was enough to undo her. The strength drained out of her legs, and she would have fallen if he hadn’t been holding her so tight. Tears stung her eyes, blurred her vision, and no matter how hard she tried to blink them away, she couldn’t stop them. And once the tears started, it was like a dam broke open inside her and she began sobbing. Soft little hiccups at first, and then they turned into deep, body-wracking shudders when he lifted one hand to her head and murmured, “Go ahead and cry, sweet baby. You earned it.”

Lee broke in his arms. Kalen could feel her shattering. From the corner of his eye, he saw Morne leave. As the door closed behind the deiron, Kalen lifted Lee in his arms and carried her to the narrow cot. She’d spent nearly thirty hours in that cot, unconscious yet so wracked with pain that Morne had been forced to keep her drugged just so she could rest.

The awful herbed teas the healer forced down her throat had restored her color, and Kalen could no longer sense that brittle, sharp pain radiating from her mind. No, now she was just a raw mass of confusion, fear and shock. She didn’t understand what she had done. She was horrified by it. Scared.

Her hands balled up, clutching fistfuls of his shirt, and he could feel her tears soaking through the material. His heart ached, and he wished there was a way he could take this from her. Wished they didn’t need her so much. Wished he could just understand why they needed her. And it all blended with guilt, because even now, in the face of her tears, he couldn’t regret her being here.

Kalen closed his eyes. For the rest of his life, he was going to remember how she had looked when he got to the clearing. They still didn’t know what happened—Eira wouldn’t have ever let the Ikacado steal up on them like that. She would have called for help. So something had happened to Eira—all sings pointed to a stroke, but they couldn’t know for sure. The medical equipment that could have definitively diagnosed such a brain injury wasn’t the kind of equipment they kept on hand. Even Morne, as skilled a healer as he was, couldn’t look inside the brain.

Eira had been lying near a tree, her eyes open but not really seeing anything.

A dead demon lay a few feet away, his entire body blackened as though he’d been burned. That was what cold did to the Ikacado. Cold-beam lasers were very effective against the fire creatures, but neither Eira nor Lee had a cold-beam on hand.

There was another lying at the very edge of the clearing, and he had a hole in his chest. A big hole, big enough that Kalen could have put his fist through it. No blood, though, and the edges of the wound were black and slippery, as if whatever had made it had melted the flesh. He’d seen wounds to the Ikacado like that before. Cold-beams, powerful ones, could do that, but they left a much, much smaller wound.

That wasn’t the worst though. The worst had been the bits and pieces scattered all over Lee as she knelt by Eira’s side. Lee had been covered with ichor, thick black blood and pieces of flesh and tissue. The small clearing looked like a body explosion, and Lee seemed to have been caught in the middle of it.

Kalen guessed that was about what had happened, too.

Lee had done that. How, he wasn’t sure.

He knew she had powerful magick inside her; he’d seen it. But the power to blow something up just by touching it—it was mind-blowing. The look of horror and fear in her eyes was going to haunt him. If she hadn’t killed them, they would have killed her, and Kalen was damned glad she had been able to defend herself.

But what he wouldn’t give for that to have not happened.

He’d give his very soul up if they could live in a world where none of them had to fight just to survive.

Gently, he stroked a hand down Lee’s back. Her sobs had subsided to soft, broken little sighs that caught in her throat. He pressed his lips to her brow, felt the warm, damp silk of her skin.

More.

He wanted more. Lee had come too close to death—she didn’t understand it yet, but that kind of magick was deadly, even to its user, until control was learned. She could have died, using a power that was too strong to be held inside a mortal body. She would be weak for a few more days, and it could be a couple of weeks before her mind healed enough to use magick again.

But his body didn’t care.

All his body cared about was hers, warm and soft against his. She shifted a little, turning into him, and her hip rubbed against his cock. Already swollen, already demanding that Kalen do more than just hold Lee, the unyielding length of flesh jerked and throbbed. Lee stilled in his arms. Blood rushed to his face and he muttered, “I’m sorry.”

Slowly, she lifted her head and stared up at him. Her lashes were spiky and wet from her tears, her eyes a deep, dark blue. She had tears drying on her face, and her eyelids were red and swollen. But she looked so amazingly beautiful to him.

She licked her lips and shifted. Kalen’s heart thudded to a stop as she turned and straddled him, placing one knee on each side of his hips. “Don’t be,” she whispered. Then she lowered her head and kissed him. He tasted the salt from her tears and something so sweet, so intoxicating, he could have it every day for the rest of his life and he’d still be starving for it.

Her hands, soft and cool, cupped his face as she kissed him. He wanted to haul her against him, roll her onto the narrow cot and tear her clothes off. He wanted her naked and open for him, reaching for him. Then he wanted to mount her, push inside her and watch her face as he took her. Over and over, until she screamed his name. He wanted her addicted to him, craving his touch the way he’d craved hers for years.

Craved, but couldn’t have. Not until now. She was warm and soft in his arms and he tasted the hunger in her kiss. But he also tasted the tears. She was still weak—Lee was so damned lucky she hadn’t killed herself. Lucky she hadn’t knocked herself out. Unconscious and vulnerable. Suffering saints, he didn’t even want to think about it.

It made his hunger burn brighter. Sex reaffirmed life. Making love to her would ease—maybe ease—the knot of need inside him. But she had cried so hard. Finally broke under the pressure of all the bizarre changes life had handed her.

Easing away from her—hell, it would have been easier to stop breathing than stop kissing her. Less painful, at least. But he pulled back, bit by bit. She tried to follow him and he cupped her chin in his hand. “You don’t need this right now, Lee. You need to rest. You need—”

She smiled. When God made women, He shouldn’t have given them the ability to smile like that. It was like glimpsing both heaven and hell. That kind of smile held the promise of paradise and the threat of hell because when a woman smiled like that, it meant she knew. She knew she was driving a man insane, and she could either put her soft hands and mouth on him, put him out of his misery, or she could pull away and leave him suffering.

With that smile on her pretty mouth, she reached down and grasped the bottom of her shirt, pulling it off. That silvery blond hair floated free around her face in a riot of curls. Her eyes glowed like blue fire as she uncurled her body and pulled away, standing up.

At some point, one of the women had cleaned her up and dressed her in something comfortable to sleep in. That didn’t include much more than that thin shirt she’d already peeled away and a plain, simple pair of panties that rode low on her hips. Plain white cotton hadn’t ever looked so erotic as it did hugging her hips.

“I know what I need, Kalen. And it’s not more rest.” She moved toward him, and when she went to straddle his hips again, he cupped her ass in his hands and rocked up against her. Three rough, convulsive thrusts—but it wasn’t enough. He surged upward and turned their bodies, putting her beneath him on the cot, just like he had fantasized. Her blond hair framed her flushed face and she gave him a feline smile, all heat and satisfaction.

“Be certain, Lee. Very certain.” He held himself away from her, bracing his weight on locked arms. Hellfire, he wanted her so bad, he was shaking with it. But he had to make sure, because if this went much further—hell, any further—he wouldn’t be able stop. It didn’t matter if a new gate opened up at his feet and the worst Anqar had to offer came boiling up around him. Any more, even one more touch. Shit, she wouldn’t even have to touch him to push him over. Just keep smiling like that—

A soft, husky laugh fell from her lips and she reached up. The soft pads of her fingers touched his lips and he caught one in his mouth, sucking it gently. “I’m certain. Actually, it’s the only thing I’ve been sure of since . . . well, for a long time.”

“Good.” He covered her body with his and kissed her. He didn’t rush it, though. He wanted to, suffering saints; he wanted to tear that small scrap of underwear off her, rip his clothes out of the way and shove his cock inside her. Hard, fast, until they both came, and then he’d do it again, but slower.

Instead, he traced the outline of her lips with his tongue. She opened for him and he pushed inside, slowly—so slowly that Lee reached up and fisted her hands in his hair, clutching him close as she tried to take the kiss deeper.

“No.” He lifted his head just enough to break contact with her mouth. He nipped her lower lip gently. “I have waited far too long for this—I will not rush it.”

Lee lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist. “I want to rush—I don’t like waiting.”

Her legs tightened, pulling him against her. Kalen let her, rocking against the soft heat between her thighs, but when he kissed her, he kept it teasingly light. He kissed his way over to her ear. She had three silver hoops piercing the lobe. He nuzzled them and then murmured, “Do you know how long I’ve waited, Lee?”

Lee groaned and turned her face, trying to kiss him, but Kalen was content to nuzzle her neck, or press little biting kisses to the soft, sweet-smelling flesh. “Years. I’ve waited years, sweet baby, and I’m not going to hurry this.

“Years,” he muttered again. Her breasts were small, but firm and round, topped with pink, diamond-hard nipples. His mouth watered just looking at them. He flicked a glance up at her and smiled. “I’ve dreamed about this more times than I can count. I’ve made love to you in every way imaginable—in my dreams. But those bloody dreams can’t even compare to the reality.”

A weird look flitted through her eyes. “We never . . . ?”

He bent his head and licked one round little nipple. “No. Never. But we’re going to remedy that, right now.” He bit her gently and she gasped, arching up against his mouth. He took her deeper in his mouth with a gentle suction. With his tongue, he teased and stroked her nipple. Lee groaned. Her hands fisted in his hair, urging him on. He didn’t need the encouragement, though. The woman in his arms was the only one he’d ever really wanted, in all his life.

Lee’s body was an endless delight. Those small, ripe breasts; narrow torso that gave way to round hips. Long, strong legs and the most perfect ass he’d ever seen. She had a woman’s body, sweet curves in all the right places, and under all those curves lay the strength of a warrior. Satin-soft and steel-strong. Her skin was pale and smooth as ivory, but so warm under his mouth. The soft, sleek muscles in her tummy rippled as he pressed a kiss to her navel.

When he pressed his lips to her sex, Lee mewled, a broken, hungry little female sound that twisted him into knots. He slid his tongue through the slick folds and she bucked against his mouth. Kalen lay his arm across her belly, holding her still as he took the intimate kiss even deeper.

Her taste was sweet and spicy, intoxicating and wild. He could do just this, forever. With slow, lazy strokes, he teased the tight bud of her clit. Under his arm, she twisted and squirmed, as though she couldn’t get close enough. He pushed his finger inside her and she clenched around him with a ragged scream. She was still shuddering from the climax when he pushed up on his knees and stared down at her.

Her face was flushed. Her thick, black lashes lay on her cheeks, shielding that dark smoky blue gaze. Ragged breaths had her breasts rising and falling in an erratic rhythm. Her nipples were flushed, swollen and nearly the same shade of pink as her lips.

Kalen stroked a hand up her side and cupped her breast in his hand. With his thumb, he stroked a slow circle around her nipple. Her lashes lifted and she looked up at him. A slow, sexy smile curved her lips and she reached for him. That simple gesture was enough to shatter him. He went into her arms and took her mouth. She brought her legs up, her knees squeezing against his hips as she rocked up against him.

His patience blew apart—she was silky wet. He could feel it through his pants. With a harsh groan, Kalen lifted up just enough to free himself from the too tight confines of his clothing. He was so hard he hurt with it, his skin stretched so tight over his throbbing length, even the brush of air against his cock was torture.

He gritted his teeth and pressed against her. She was slick and warm and so sweet—she slid her arms around his neck, pulling him completely against her. Her breasts flattened against his chest. Her hips lifted to meet his and she turned her face toward his so that their mouths met.

And against his chest, he could feel the rapid, erratic beat of her heart. He dropped his shields and he could sense Lee’s wonder, her staggering pleasure. The same as his own. He groaned against her lips and hooked his arms under hers, holding her so tight. He couldn’t imagine ever letting go of her. Not now.

Her arms wrapped around his neck and she arched up to meet each thrust. It was sweeter than any dream. “I have dreamed of this,” he whispered against her mouth. “So many times.”