She looked so downcast, so vulnerable, he stepped forward and framed her face with his hands. “I think you are a surprise to everyone you meet. You have more strength of will in you, more power coiled in you, than even you are aware. I see it in you. And I feel it when I am close to you. It would not matter how powerful a mage your grandfather is, I doubt he could wholly manipulate you should he attempt such a thing, because you have too much strength of character.”
Tears glittered in her eyes and tangled on her lashes. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
“It is simply the truth.” He bent forward, his breath warm against her cheek. “You break my heart when you cry, Natalya.”
Natalya’s heart nearly stopped beating when she felt his lips, smooth, firm, velvet soft, brushing away her tears. She hadn’t been touched in years and he was seducing her with tenderness. “I don’t mean to.”
“I know. That is what makes it so appealing.”
He kissed the corners of her mouth. She knew she should stop him, but she didn’t want to. She waited, lungs burning for air, her heart beating too fast. His mouth settled over hers with infinite gentleness. Warmth spread and erupted into flames, searing her from the inside out. His arms enfolded her close, brought her into the heat of his body. Against his heavily muscled chest, his wildly beating heart. His scent enveloped her and she opened her mouth to his, tongue stroking hers with sudden wanton abandon.
Vikirnoff’s kiss went from gentle to rough the moment she responded, the moment she gave herself to him, deepening into a fiery tango of possession and hunger and sheer passion. His hands bunched in her hair to pull her closer still until their mouths fused together in heat and fire.
They devoured one another, Natalya seeking his skin through his clothes. It wasn’t until she felt him wince that she lifted her head and looked into his black eyes. “You are one beautiful man.”
“Men are not beautiful.” He traced her mouth with his fingertip.
She bit at him, drew his finger into her mouth and swirled her tongue around it. “Maybe not to you, but you certainly are to me.” She could see how pale he was. Stark hunger burned in his eyes—both physical and sexual hunger. Her womb coiled tightly. “You need to feed again. The flight and shifting took too much energy.”
Her voice was sultry with invitation. His entire body clenched in reaction, every nerve ending coming alive.
“I need to be deep inside of you.” His lips skimmed down her neck, her throat, lower still, nudging aside the neckline of her shirt so he could flick his tongue over the swell of her breasts. So his teeth could tease sensitive skin. “You have no idea how much I want you.” His hands pushed at her shirt, moving it up to bare her stomach and her enticing navel. “What is this?” He bent her back so that she rested against the slope of a boulder while he inspected the small belly button ring she was wearing. He nibbled at it, played with it with his tongue, flicking small velvet strokes much like a cat against her bare skin.
“I think you like it.” He was making her crazy with desire. Her body was hot and aching and heavy with the need for release. His fingertips rubbed over her skin, pushing her shirt up further until he was touching the undersides of her breasts. She thought she might go out of her mind. Just the simple brush of his fingers on her sensitized skin had her dizzy with need.
“It is the only thing you should wear.” He kissed the sparking gold band and tasted his way up her bare skin to her breast.
Natalya shivered in reaction, her hands tightening on him, pulling him closer to her, urging him on. She had never wanted anything more than she wanted the feel of his hands and mouth moving over bare skin. His teeth scraped erotically and her entire body tightened, heat building until she was nearly crying for relief. His mouth closed over her breast, hot and moist and so unbelievably seductive, she felt her body dissolve into liquid. “Vikirnoff.” She whispered his name, stroked his hair. “I’m not going to make it if you keep this up.” She didn’t want him to stop. She wanted to strip the clothes from her body and wrap herself around him.
We could be in deadly peril here. The reminder was punctuated with flicks of his tongue.
She laughed aloud. “You can’t say deadly peril. In all those late night movies the stupid teens know they are in danger and they take time to kiss and touch just like this . . .” She groaned when his tongue flicked her nipple and sent waves of desire shooting through her bloodstream. “And then Freddie comes and kills them and they deserve it.”
His mouth pulled strongly at her breast until her legs nearly gave out. There are no vampires near so I do not think your Freddie will bother us right now. But if you are worried, we can leave this place.
She groaned at the hopeful note in his voice, that deep husky aching note that tore her apart. Natalya smoothed his long hair. “I cannot leave.” She said it simply, her throat raw, her heart breaking. It was the truth. She couldn’t break the compulsion and leave the cave without entering it. “I’m sorry.”
Vikirnoff nuzzled her breast once more and kissed his way higher until he found the pulse beating strongly right over the swelling curve. Never be sorry for what you cannot change. I have you in my arms and that is enough.
Natalya closed her eyes as his tongue swirled over her pulse. Her body throbbed and burned for him, but at the touch of his tongue, everything in her stilled. Waited, tense with need. His teeth sank deep and she cried out, clinging to him as the white-hot pain flashed through her and gave way to pure erotic pleasure. His hand cupped her breast, thumb sliding gently over her nipple while he fed from her pounding pulse.
He was nearly starved for her. For the essence of life. It all mingled together, his need of both. Hot. Sexual. He fought to stay centered when he wanted to lose himself in the lust and hunger. He heard the warning growl rumbling in his throat as the beast rose, fighting for supremacy, fighting to insist on the right to his lifemate. His body felt hard and painful but gloriously alive. He felt, his emotions and his cravings intense, so strong it shook him. He swept his tongue across the pinpricks at the top of her breast and pressed his lips across the creamy flesh.
They were bound together. Already his mind dwelt within hers. Their soul was shared, a complete bonding. He didn’t want to wait for the joining of her body. Waiting went against every instinct, but he sensed she was not emotionally tied to him. If he lost himself in her body, could she call him back? Would she even try?
What is it? Natalya straightened, not bothering to drag her shirt over her exposed breasts. She felt dreamy, wanton, hungry to touch his skin, to taste him. Centuries old drive took over and she used the palms of her hands to inch his shirt up to bare his chest to her. She ran the pads of her fingers over his chest, traced his muscles, leaned forward to taste his skin. He cupped the back of her head and pressed her closer, his hips moving against her body in a slow seductive rhythm.
“I don’t actually like to take blood. I do it only when necessary,” she confided, her lips feathering against his chest. Her tongue stroked over his hammering pulse. Once. Twice. She heard him groan. “But I can’t resist the way you taste.”
Her Carpathian legacy demanded she survive by occasionally taking blood, but for the most part, she was able to resist the lure. Right now it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but the feel and taste of him. The lure of his body heat, the touch of his hands. She groaned softly and gave into the terrible addiction that seemed to have overtaken her. She craved him. She craved the feel and scent of him. His touch. His kiss. His body. She really wanted his body.
Her teeth sank deep and she felt him shiver with rising hunger. She wanted him. She would have him. She pressed her breasts against his chest, moved in a restless, enticing way, deliberately adding to the painful ache in his body. She felt him thicken, heard his breath leave his body in a rush. He tasted like nothing she’d ever experienced and it wasn’t enough. She wanted it all. She flicked her tongue over the small pinpricks and stepped back, reaching to remove
her shirt.
Behind Vikirnoff, the ground rippled as something raced beneath the dirt toward them. At once her ankles burned and hurt, just as if the creature that had dragged her below the surface had a hold of her again.
7
“Something moved under the ground.” Natalya jumped back and reached down to rub at her suddenly burning ankles. “Do you think it’s that creature, the one that grabbed me?” She shuddered and backed up another step. “The ground did move, Vikirnoff, I saw it. Watch out. It might be after you. We so deserve this for acting like a couple of sex-starved teens in the late night movies.”
Vikirnoff picked her up and settled her on the outcropping that had a half-inch crack zigzagging down the face of it. “I will be fine. You are obsessed with your movies, Natalya. I do not think viewing them has been a good influence on you.”
“Well, I should have known better than to make out when deadly peril surrounded us. Please be careful. The Troll King could burst through the ground any minute now and take you to some disgusting lair. I’d have to rescue you again and . . .”
He shook his head, his faint intriguing smile capturing her attention and wiping out all coherent thought before she could finish. “Your imagination is running away with you. Tell me what you want to do.”
“I want to get the hell out of here, but I can’t. I have to go into the cave and get rid of this compulsion.” She caught at his shirt. “I know you’re thinking of taking me away from here, but I’d just have to come back and I’d search without you. Please don’t do that, Vikirnoff.”
He studied the desperation in her eyes. “I know you have this to do, Natalya. I am with you all the way. If Freddie or Troll King try to bother you, I will keep them off your back until this is finished.”
Natalya let her breath out slowly, leaned forward and brushed a kiss over his lips. “Get up on this rock with me before that thing eats you alive.”
His eyebrow shot up. “One of us has to be on the ground to find the opening. I know it is here, somewhere around this rock. We will have to be wary of traps. The cave does not want us to enter it.”
“Good luck to you then.”
He laughed softly. “I thought you might say that.”
“Yes, well, I’m the practical type.”
Vikirnoff studied the niche and outcropping, pacing back and forth around the front and sides of the boulder several times. Natalya was right, not only was something moving beneath the ground, but it was mimicking his every stride. The ground swelled slightly as if something large searched in serpentine motion just inches below the surface parallel to him each time he took a step. He also noticed, whenever he ceased to move, the creature raced to the boulder where Natalya was perched and remained still, melting back into the earth. The mist thickened around them, rolling in with cold blasts of air, but hovering to blanket the small peak, rather than continuing out in a path over the mountain as it should have. Voices howled and moaned and something dark and shadowy moved in the mist.
“Okay, this has gone way beyond spooky,” Natalya said. “And I am so not putting my feet on the ground if there’s a chance that hairy-armed, ice-pick-for-fingernails creature is anywhere near here.” She looked around her, peered at the ground and rocks. “There has to be an entrance here. Why would it be so well-guarded if we aren’t in the right spot?”
“The entrance is here,” Vikirnoff agreed, keeping his eye on the moving soil. Small plants wiggled like worms as the thing beneath the ground disturbed them in its passing. “Do you see those rocks right there? The small ones? Do they look right to you?”
Natalya almost fell off the boulder as she leaned over the side. Vikirnoff steadied her with one hand at her waist. “They’re set in a pattern, but. . .” Her voice drifted off.
“It’s not quite right,” he finished for her.
“Watch that thing,” she pointed towards the shifting ground. “I think the rocks need to be put in a different order. More like this . . .” She reached down, still balanced on the boulder and nudged a rock out of the lineup to exchange with another three spaces over. She frowned in frustration, shook her head and leapt off the boulder to crouch down beside the smaller rocks. “This is it, Vikirnoff, the way to the entrance. I just have to rearrange the rocks into the right order.”
Vikirnoff hunkered down beside her, close, where his body could shield hers, if necessary. He kept a wary eye on the churning, thickening mist, as well as continually scanning the ground.
“I’ve got it!” Natalya dropped the last rock in place with evident satisfaction.
The ground beside her hand erupted like a small geyser. A foul-smelling eel-like creature with spiked teeth bored straight at her fingers, emitting a high-pitched scream. Vikirnoff caught the serpent by the back of the neck, dragging the struggling body away from Natalya. The teeth snapped repeatedly, the body twisting frantically to get at her.
“Look out!” Vikirnoff warned as the ground around Natalya burst open in half a dozen places, the serpentine heads rocketing out of the holes straight at her from every direction. “Jump!” He flung the snake away from him and lifted his hands toward the sky. Lightning arced through the swirling mist, lighting the edges in fiery red tones.
Natalya didn’t even care that his tone held both compulsion and command. She somersaulted onto the boulder and glared at the writhing creatures. “I detest snakes. Really, really detest them.”
Lightning sizzled and cracked, a great whip slamming to earth, scorching the ground in a small circle. At once a stench rose, the foul creatures turned to ash. The blackened spiked teeth wiggled, as if alive, then disintegrated.
Natalya pressed her hand to her mouth and choked back a cry of alarm. “That was just gross. Totally disgusting. Never let those things near me again.”
Vikirnoff studied her for a moment before realizing she was serious. He caught her in his arms and pulled her off the boulder. “You are shaking.” Holding her close to the warmth of his body, he tightened his arms around her in an effort to bring her comfort. “You were not really afraid of those creatures, were you?”
“I loathe snakes.” Natalya leaned in close, trying to get her knees to stiffen up. “I’ve always had an unreasonable fear of them.”
“You kill vampires and destroy shadow warriors. You never even flinched when you faced either adversary.” He caught her chin in his hand and bent his head to hers. “You are going to intrigue me for all time.”
She put a hand on his chest with the idea of pushing him away. “And drive you to drink. Don’t let’s forget I annoy you.” She couldn’t afford to be distracted. And Vikirnoff was very distracting. “And we’re in deadly peril. I refuse to be a too-stupid-to-live teenager necking while the snakes return.”
He hadn’t budged an inch, his skin touching hers, body heat warming her. “I had forgotten.” His smile was slow and sexy and took her breath somewhere other than her lungs. “Completely.”
She looked up at him with a small frown. “We’re in the middle of a siege here. Those things were going after me this time, not you.”
“I noticed. Why would that be, do you think?” He dropped his hands reluctantly and surveyed the crack in the boulder that was significantly wider. “We will have to do a little maneuvering to slip through.”
Natalya recovered her pack and checked her weapons, avoiding looking at the blackened remains of the serpents. “I’m the one under compulsion. Maybe someone brought me here to kill me.”
“Too much trouble, Natalya. Why not make it easy and kill you when you are asleep somewhere? Why lead you to the mountains, to this particular cave?” Vikirnoff stuck his head in the crack. “This is very narrow, but it widens a bit once past this section.” He thinned his body and crawled inside the jagged crack.
Natalya glanced at the sky as the wind rose in a shriek of rage, of protest. Clouds boiled angrily and inside their depths she could see dark figures moving. Smoky. Gray. Transparent. She closed her eyes briefly and sent up a silent
prayer the clouds were not spawning shadow warriors for her to fight again. She’d been very lucky in sending the warrior back to realm of the dead, but it didn’t mean it would happen again. She knew in the realm of magick spells could be altered easily.
“Hand me your pack.” Vikirnoff reached back for it.
“I’ll carry it. I prefer to have everything I need close.” Natalya followed him into the cave. It was so narrow, the sides scraped her back as she slipped through the opening and made her way into the slightly larger hall. Although the tunnel was wider, she had to stoop, then crawl, as she followed Vikirnoff deeper into the cavern.
Behind them the rocks rolled out of the pattern and scattered around the cave entrance. The jagged crack slammed closed with a grinding of rock, leaving them trapped inside the mountain. Natalya treated Vikirnoff to a litany of curses.
“Can you see?”
“I have excellent vision in the dark,” she replied. The ceiling dropped lower and lower until she had no choice but to move forward on her stomach. “Those snakes had just better stay outside.” She was so thankful he was there with her. Her nerve endings still prickled with awareness of the spiked teeth coming so close to her hand.
“We will be all right,” he assured.
“I didn’t say anything,” she objected.
“Your heart is pounding. Listen to the rhythm of mine and match the beat.”
Natalya did so, allowing her heart to settle into a more natural rhythm. “You didn’t tell me what you found in my memories. I dislike not being in control and I can’t overcome the compulsion to come to this cave. Believe me, I’ve tried. I’m a firm believer in avoiding trouble if at all possible and this place is definitely trouble, but I couldn’t stop myself from coming here. That really disturbs me.”
“I have to agree, I do not like it either, but I feel the need very strong in you. It is why I did not forbid you to do this.”
She ground her teeth together. “If I were you, I’d choose my words very carefully. I’m behind you with a knife in my hand. If you plan on spending any time at all around me, strike words like ‘forbid’ and ‘allow’ from your vocabulary.”