Undying Hunger (25 page)

He cupped her face. “Trust me,” he said.

And despite the gnawing demand of his cock standing at full attention between them, he couldn’t move until he had her answer. But he didn’t have to wait long.

“I do,” she replied, and those two simple words sent his heart soaring.

He captured her mouth with his, smothering the urge to howl with joy.

Dammit, he’d never get enough of her taste. He was starved. Couldn’t hold back. She opened, and he drove his tongue inside. Exploring. Sucking. Straining to show her how much he desired every inch of her. He nibbled at her kiss-swollen lower lip, enjoying the sexy way she whimpered each time his fang caught the sensitive flesh.

“Turn around,” he demanded, and Alexandria readily complied, giving him her back. Pressing his palm between her shoulder blades, he added, “Bend over, baby.”

She lowered her torso over the back of the chair, her hair falling over one shoulder. In that position, Alexandria’s bottom lifted, opened, giving him full access to her glistening folds.

“So fucking gorgeous,” he groaned. He couldn’t help but run his hands over the smooth curve of her ass, cupping the weight of her buttocks in his palm. She bucked back into his hold, beckoning him, and his cock jerked in response. The shaft throbbed and pre-cum beaded, covering the sensitized head. His cum churned inside his balls, eager to make its exit. But hell if he was rushing this.

Alexandria glanced back over her shoulder. “How long are you going to keep me waiting, Warrior?”

“Impatient?” Markus quirked a smile her way and bent over her, covering her back with his chest. The angle positioned the head of his cock at her opening. He rocked forward, parting her, teasing her with the tip. She gasped, and her head fell forward. “Like that, baby?”

“Yes.” She moaned and pushed back, slipping more of his shaft inside.

Markus panted. “Earning that nickname, Vixen?”

He opened his palm and brought it down on her right butt cheek with a loud
smack
.

She cried out and looked back, hitting him with a wicked glare. “What was that for?”

“Be still,” he ordered.

“Then don’t torment me.”

He cracked a laugh. “Living around you in a perpetual half-hard state for months? Now that’s torment.” Markus thrust forward, not stopping until he’d filled her with every last inch.

“God, yes! Markus!”

Her core quivered around his cock, shooting sparks of pleasure along his nerve endings. “Fuck, sweetheart.” He couldn’t help but groan as he withdrew before driving back inside. “So damn good.”

“Harder,” she cried out.

“My Vixen.” Markus coiled his fist in her hair and pulled her head gently back, bowing her spine. With one arm wrapped around her waist, stabilizing them, he closed in on her throat. With the tip of his tongue, he traced her bounding pulse. “All mine,” he added, circling his hips, grinding the head of his cock deeper into her core.

The familiar tingle along the base of his spine ramped in intensity. Christ, he was too damn close. He wouldn’t be able to deny his release much longer.

A shiver raced over her body, and she bucked her hips. “I can’t take it.” She panted. “Need you.”

She lifted her chin ever so slightly and tilted her head, exposing more of her throat in offering. His fangs lengthened. Once he had her essence on his taste buds, his cock buried in her pussy, the combination would be his undoing. No coming back. Yet to continue denying himself…? No longer an option.

He struck, sinking his fangs into her artery, and the warmth of her blood rushed over his tongue. Impossible. But damn if she wasn’t hotter, sweeter than he remembered.

“Markus!” Alexandria shook and another spasm seized her core.

His cock erupted under her assault. Markus withdrew his fangs, and her name exited his throat on a hoarse cry. Wave after wave of his seed pulsed from his shaft until he was sure there could be nothing left. Yet her orgasm continued to exquisitely milk him.

“Fuck, Vixen!”

Alexandria had come to him, accepting everything and every way he’d needed her. She’d given herself freely to be marked by him. Yet what he hadn’t expected was the level at which he’d end up altered. Inside, at the deepest level of his core, Markus knew he wasn’t the same male who’d entered the library.

Several minutes later, he dressed and Alexandria gathered her few items of clothing.

“We should get out of here,” he said, lifting her hair from the back of her shirt and allowing it to flow down her back.

She scanned the room, and Markus followed her inspection. Damn, they’d left a trail of destruction. “We’ll need to put the room back together.” She laughed.

“True,” he said. “But for now”—he leaned in, breathing in her vanilla and honey scent. His pulse surged from her fragrance alone—“we should finish this upstairs in a more comfortable location. Like my bed.”

“I like that idea,” she whispered, and slid her palm down his arm until her fingers threaded with his. The sensation surprisingly odd, electrifying, and more than pleasant. When had he ever simply held hands with a woman? Never. But he had a feeling the act would quickly become addictive.

“Let’s get out of here.” Gently, he squeezed her palm, and together they maneuvered around the tumbled furniture.

At the exit, Markus worked the lever, pulled the door wide, and came to a halt. An audience waited for them on the other side: Kenric, Emily, and the rest of the household.
Son of a bitch.
He bit back a groan.

“Oh…” Alexandria tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Hey, you guys.”

“Are you okay?” Elle stepped forward.

“I’m fine,” she said, a hint of pink blooming in her cheeks.

He slipped his hand free to press his palm at her lower back, urging her closer.

“Really?” Her sister gave her mate an inquisitive glimpse, then returned her stare to her.

“Yes.” Alexandria nodded. “Really.”

Meeting the commander’s probing glare, Markus said, “I’ll take care of…
uhm
…the mess in the library,” and moved his lover toward the stairs. She started up, and he stalked close behind. “Alexandria and I…aren’t done talking yet,” he added.

A chuckle burst free from Alexandria right before they bolted toward the second floor.

Chapter Twenty-Six

A slow and steady heartbeat filled Alex’s head. Lifting her eyelashes, a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

It hadn’t been a dream.

The weight of Markus’s large, calloused palm rested on her hip, and his chest warmed her cheek. Blinking, she assessed the shadowy figures of the furnishings around her. She’d been in Markus’s room before, but only in her wildest dreams had she imagined they’d ever be here, together, like this.

Alex inhaled, savoring the sweet, familiar trace of his cinnamon and chocolate scent. Her mouth watered, and her fangs threatened to erupt.
Delicious
. Would she ever get enough of him to satisfy her hunger? She brushed her calf against his thigh, enjoying the way the light dusting of hair covering his leg tickled her flesh.

“Good morning.” The deep bass of his voice rippled through the silence around them.

“Good morning,” she said, even though it was actually the next evening, but morning for a vampire.

“I’m surprised you’re already awake since I kept you quite busy through most of the day.” He stroked her arm.

She grinned to herself at the memory of just how “busy” they’d been. “Did you get any sleep?” She ran her fingers over his breastbone and through the fine chest hair. The dark mass thickened between his pecs then merged to form a narrow trail that traveled down the center of his abs before disappearing beneath the sheet covering his hips.

“Some,” he said.

Alex glanced up. “Did I bother you? Sleeping next to you, I mean.” An empty pit of panic formed in her stomach, threatening to pull her inside. What if he’d realized having her in his bed was more than he’d asked for?

“Hell, no!” He moved so fast that she’d barely processed his reply before she was on her back with Markus’s fiery glare staring down at her. “Never think that I don’t want you here. I couldn’t sleep because I was too damn afraid to close my eyes.”

“Afraid?” Her head buzzed at the concept. “Why?”

“I was afraid that when I reopened them, you wouldn’t be here. That you’d wake and realize what a huge damn mistake you’ve made, and you’d get as far away from me as fast as you could.”

“Markus,” she breathed, her heart splitting in two as she smoothed her palm over the stubble on his cheek.

“How the hell can I be expected to sleep when I could be looking at you?” He rocked into her, and the hard thick presence between his legs pressed into her thigh. Her stomach fluttered, and she captured her lower lip with her teeth.

“Who knew there was such a romantic buried underneath that hard exterior?”

“There wasn’t,” he said, and lowered his head, placing his mouth next to hers. “Until you.”

He stole her lips with his own, tugging hers from the hold she had on it for a gentle kiss. “After everything…after what you remember, Vixen,” he whispered next to her cheek, “you’re here, with me. And it’s so damn surreal.”

“If you’re referring to what Enrique alluded to last night, you did what you had to for
our
survival. It doesn’t change who you are,” she said. “In my mind, it only strengthened my opinion of who I know you to be: a male who would do anything for someone he cares about—no matter the cost.”

Markus blinked as if he were trying to comprehend a foreign language. His mouth opened, and the most beautiful three words she’d ever heard fell from his lips. “I love you.”

And she melted. Her brain misfired, and for a moment, she couldn’t make her throat work.

“You weren’t expecting that,” he said, the tone declaring it as fact, not a question. He rolled onto his back.

“No,” she sputtered. “I mean, yes!” She rolled to her side facing him. “That’s not what I mean.
Gah!
” She was screwing this up royally. “What I’m trying to say, that my head isn’t allowing me to express the way I want…is how could I
not
fall in love with you.” Lightly scratching his chest, she curled her fingers. “I love you so much I don’t know what to do with myself half the time.” She swallowed hard, forcing back the lump of emotions attempting to choke her.

“Vixen,” he breathed right before he grasped her arms and pulled her onto his chest. “My brain stays so damn rattled with need for you. I guess we’re going to have to help each other get through this.”

Straddling his waist, Alex leaned in and traced the full curve of his mouth with her thumb. “So, what is the best course of treatment for this ‘condition’?”

A roguish smile played on his lips. “I think there’s only one thing that can cure what ails us.”

His cock flexed against her backside, and she couldn’t help but grin. “Do tell.”

“Exercise.” A wicked gleam flashed in his eyes and he captured her nape. His fingers threaded into her hair. “Lots and lots of exercise.”

Alex laughed. “I like that plan,” she said, and his mouth claimed hers, stealing her breath.

She’d been beneath him, his body deep within hers, only hours before, but God…she craved him as if it had been years since she’d last tasted him, felt him thick and hard, pulsing inside her. Alex shivered at the thought. Her core tightened, moisture pooling. She broke the seal on their kiss with a gasp. “Need you,” she whispered.

His nostrils flared, and he captured her lower lip with his fang, the sharp edge pricking the sensitive tissue. She jerked, yet the sting went straight to her clit, swelling her folds. Markus soothed the wound with his mouth, sucking gently, and her core clenched.

“Markus…” She sighed and rocked back, pressing her bottom against the hard presence of his erection.

“You can have me, baby,” he murmured and his palms cupped the sides of her breasts. “Come here.”

He tugged her up until her nipples brushed his chin, then his tongue appeared, and he dragged the wide surface across the hardened tip.

A rippling spasm seized her clit, nearly taking her to the edge. Alex cried out. “God, Markus…”

But he didn’t stop there. He proceeded to perform the same maneuver to the other stiff peak.

“Christ,” he said, his voice rough. “I love your breasts. The way they feel in my hands.” He gently squeezed them. “The way your nipples grow even harder and tighter when I blow on them.” A cool puff of air skated over the surface, sending another wave of arousal rushing from her sex.

“Damn.” She moaned. “You love making me squirm, don’t you?”

“Only when you’re on my cock, baby.” The sound of his voice, his words, rolled over her like a warm shot of whiskey: stimulating, intoxicating.

Alex groaned, and her head lolled. God, how she needed him. “Markus, please…”

“Take me,” he demanded, and his hands fell away.

Rolling her head forward, Alex found Markus’s arms above his head, his fingers wrapped round the headboard’s spindles.

“All yours, Vixen,” he said. “Use me.” His gaze narrowed into a storm-filled fury. “Let me watch.” He licked his lips as if the mental image had taken his hunger to a higher plane.

The idea of having his eyes on her as she rode him should have had her cowering with embarrassment. And in the past, that would have definitely been her. But this was Markus, and the way he looked at her made her feel…beautiful and confident. He trusted her.

Instead of awkward, she found herself aroused at the request. Hell, she was damn excited. Her nerve endings alive with anticipation.

“Your pleasure is mine, baby,” he said.

She reached behind and tossed back the sheet covering his shaft. His erection flexed, then stood firm, eager and waiting for her touch. Alex wrapped her fingers around his rigid cock, the flesh hot, rock-hard, yet it glided so smoothly under her palm.

Markus reared his head back, the veins in his neck straining. A groan rumbled in his throat as if he were bracing himself to endure some great discomfort. But that wasn’t the case. It was the exact opposite. Her heart raced, knowing that
her
touch made him crazy with desire.

Alex lifted, positioning the slick head of his erection at her entrance. Markus’s eyelids shot open, and his gaze bored into hers. She pressed down, and his girth stretched her, sweetly burning her muscles. His cock slid deep, and she couldn’t help but groan. The broad head bumped her cervix, filling her, completing her. Magical.

A hard tremor racked her body.

“Oh, God…” Alex planted her palms on his pecs, her hair falling around her face.

“Fuck.” The rails inside his fists released a groan. “You’ve got to move, Vixen.”

Slowly rising back up, the thick length of his cock dragged along her sensitive nerve endings. “God, you feel so good inside me,” she muttered.

“So damn tight.”

She slammed back down, sending his rod deep once more. Alex cried out from the blinding, sweet sensation, then rose, savoring her quickening need. Prolonging the inevitable.

“Vixen…” His eyes squeezed shut. “Got to—”

Markus bucked, forcing his cock back inside. Their bodies met with a slap of skin on skin. The sudden erotic impact arrowed a spark of pleasure so sharp, so sudden, she couldn’t hold back the scream burning from her throat. Her fingertips curled, digging into his chest, needing the contact. Something to hold her down to earth, because she was flying.

More.

More of him.

Stroke for stroke, she matched him. Desire grew, coiled, and tightened inside her core. The world around her narrowed, converging on the constant thrust of his shaft. Every slide of his cock along the cluster of nerves inside. The pounding of her clit against his pelvis. The musky scent of their lovemaking, their mutual arousal, took her higher and higher.

Hunger and lust whirled into a tornado of need inside. Sweat beaded on her flesh and ran a cool trail down her spine. Her fangs throbbed. Her throat burned for the male beneath her, for the taste of his essence. Nothing else would do. No one else could compare.

Dear God, she was a storm on the verge of flying apart. “Markus,” she moaned. “Oh, God. Need you.”

“Take it, Vixen,” he gritted out. “Now, dammit.” He wrenched his head to the side, exposing the large pulsing vein at his neck.

His cock jerked inside her as if urging her on, and a spasm of ecstasy gripped her core. She gasped, squeezed her eyes shut, doing her best to make the moment last. But it was too good. Her orgasm couldn’t be denied.

A ripple—no—a tsunami of pleasure rolled through her, rocking her. Crying out, Alex struck, sinking her fangs into Markus.

A roar tore from her lover’s throat and a wave of heat filled her core.

His essence flowed into her mouth, electrifying her taste buds. She swallowed, taking him into her bloodstream as his cock pulsed below, filling her with his orgasm. No narcotic came close to the rush, the sheer mind-altering bliss.

Being with Markus went beyond making love. He took her to a different plane: a place of color, light, and sensation where only they existed. And she never wanted to return.

Yet all too soon, she was falling, cascading back to reality. The tremors in her arms and legs eased. Inhaling deeply, she reluctantly removed her fangs from his flesh. With her tongue, she sealed his bite wounds and lifted her head.

“Hey, beautiful,” he lazily drawled, his eyelids at half mast.

“Hey.” She smiled.

“That was…” He shook his head. “You’re amazing.”

“You’re pretty damn good yourself.” She leaned in, brushed her lips over his, tugging on his lower one with her teeth.

Markus suddenly pulled back. “Stay right here.”

He eased her onto her side. His shaft slipped free from her core, making her want to cry out in complaint from the loss of their connection.

“Where are you going?”

Unabashed, he padded away naked toward the bathroom. And damn if it wasn’t a gorgeous show watching his firm ass disappear into the other room.

The sound of running water drifted into the bedroom. “Are you taking a shower without me?” She rose onto the side of the bed, tugging the bedsheet up and over her front.

“Not exactly,” he answered.

Not exactly?

A moment later, he appeared in the doorway, and Alex drank in the delicious sight of her warrior. His long black-as-sin hair hung loose over his shoulders, drawing her to the dark patch of hair on his chest. The pads of her fingertips tingled with the memory of how the fine strands felt against her skin. The exotic swirls and coils of the tats wrapping both his arms only added to his dangerous and sexy allure.

He strode toward her, and in spite of her best efforts to stay cool, her perusal fell south to the thick member swaying between his legs. Her midsection flip-flopped, and her mouth watered.

“You like what you see?” he asked, his tone taunting, daring her to deny that she was staring.

She flicked her lashes up, heat crawling up her neck and into her face. But she’d never been a damn shrinking violet. “Very much,” she said.

A smug grin twitched the corner of his mouth. He strode closer, not stopping until he’d wedged himself between her legs and planted his palms beside her. “Good,” he said. “Because I.” He brushed his lips over hers, melting her with his touch. “Definitely.” His mouth glided once more over hers. “Love what I see.”

How had she existed before him?

Then his arms were around her, lifting her up, cradling her. The sudden movement drew a sharp inhale into her lungs.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Trust me.” He placed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“I do,” she breathed. And she meant it. With everything inside her, she trusted him.

Glancing down at her, Markus’s gray eyes darkened. “You’re everything to me, Vixen.”

“You make me feel it,” she said, placing her hand over the heavy
thud
of his heart.

They crossed into the bathroom, and he continued over to the large jetted tub. Kneeling, he lowered her into the water. The warm bath enveloped her, and the delicate scent of jasmine and lavender bath salts filled her nostrils, her senses, relaxing her muscles.