The naughty words in her soft, feminine voice seemed to snap something inside him. Leaning forward, Terex started at the bottom of her well and dragged his tongue upward, giving her inner folds a long, lingering taste. Gods, she tasted so damn good. The flavor of her honey flooded his mouth, making him immediately hungry for more.
Elaina cried out and gripped his hair again.
“Terex!” she moaned, thrusting her hips up imploringly. “Master! Do that again—please!”
“It will be my pleasure, lavana.” The nickname just slipped out—he couldn’t seem to help it. And before he could correct himself, he felt Elaina tugging at his hair restlessly, urging him to pleasure her again.
Terex was more than eager to oblige. Wrapping his arms around her thighs, he split her wide and went back to the well for a second taste, this time swirling his tongue around and around her tender pink bud until Elaina was crying and moaning and bucking up to meet him.
“Gods,” he groaned, and lost himself in her completely. Lost himself in her soft cries and the way she was tugging his hair, begging for more…in her delicious, wild taste and the way she made so much honey for him, her sweet pussy overflowing as he lapped and tasted her again and again.
She was a numala—a female whose pussy made so much honey it was like dipping your face in the ocean to taste her. The sight of her swollen folds overflowing with nectar made Terex so hard he felt like his shaft was going to break off in the confines of his trousers. Not to mention the way Elaina was reacting to his tongue on her open pussy.
“Terex…Master,” she was moaning, thrusting her hips against his mouth. “Oh God, that feels so good! Think I’m going to…going to…”
“Come for me, Elaina,” he ordered, looking up for a moment. “Come, now.”
Suddenly he couldn’t help himself any longer. As he spoke, he rubbed the pad of his thumb over her clit, then bit down hard, sinking his fangs into the tender flesh of her inner thigh just above the place where he had branded her as his own.
* * * * *
Elaina gasped as the big Kindred’s essence flooded her system, pushing her over the edge of orgasm and beyond, just as it had when he’d bitten her in the Nixian Baths.
She wailed his name, her back arching and her nipples turning into tight, hard points of pure desire at the tips of her breasts. As the pleasure arched through her, she heard Sophia’s last parting words of advice as she’d walked out the door of her suite.
“If you can get him to bite you,” the other girl had told her, “You can get him to bond you. The minute a Blood Kindred sinks his fangs into you, it’s like he’s claiming you for his own and he’s going to want to sink, uh, other things into you as well. If you know what I mean.”
Elaina knew exactly what she meant and she wanted it badly—wanted Terex to bond her to him and claim her. Not just to heal him but because she loved him. Loved him so desperately she wanted to be with him whether they had forty more minutes together…or forty years. Either one, it didn’t matter to her—as long as she could say that they belonged to each other, even for a little while.
For a long moment, she enjoyed the pleasure coursing through her system as Terex continued to inject her with his essence. Then he withdrew his fangs and sat back on his heels, watching her.
His lips were shiny with her juices and his eyes were half-lidded with lust in the firelight. His big hands were clenched into fists on his thighs and Elaina knew he was trying to talk himself out of taking her, trying to resist the urge to bond her to him completely.
But it’s my job to be certain he can’t resist, she told herself.
Sitting up, she shed the little red dress she was wearing, leaving herself utterly naked except for the heavy gold weights that tugged at her tight nipples. Then she slipped down from the couch, kneeling beside him.
“Master,” she whispered, reaching for him. “Master, please…I need you.” She unsnapped the magno-tabs that held his trousers in place and peeled them back, revealing the long, hard length of his shaft. The plum-shaped head was red and angry looking—pulsing in her hand like a second heartbeat. His masculine musk was strong—it made her dizzy with desire. Just as she had in the Nixian palace, she ducked her head and ran her tongue lovingly around the broad tip, capturing the droplet of precum that had beaded on the flaring slit.
Terex groaned at the erotic sight and she felt his big body tense but made no move to stop her. “Gods, Elaina…” He shook his head, a pained look on his face. “I…I shouldn’t.”
“Please,” she begged softly. Releasing his shaft, she turned around and got on her hands and knees on the couch. Spreading her thighs, she looked over her shoulder at him. “Please, Master,” she murmured. “I need you inside me.”
“I shouldn’t,” he said again but he was already on his knees behind her on the couch with his cock in his hand.
“Well maybe…maybe you could just put the head of your shaft inside me,” Elaina said, having an idea. “Please, Master—it would give me such pleasure and help me forget all about the brand.”
“I don’t know if I can stop with just the head,” he admitted in a low, growling voice. “If I put any part of myself inside you, I’ll want to bond you. To shove myself balls deep inside your sweet little pussy and fuck you long and hard until I spurt my seed deep in your open cunt. Do you understand?”
If he thought his rough language could put her off, he was wrong—it only turned her on more.
“I’m not afraid.” Elaina lifted her chin defiantly. “I’m not afraid of a little rough sex and I’m not afraid of you, Master.”
“Goddess damn it!” he snarled, glaring at her. “If you push me to do this, we’ll both regret it.”
“I regret nothing.” Elaina gave him a level look and then wiggled her ass again, invitingly. “Come on, Terex—bond me—fuck me. I want you to.”
It was as though her words broke something inside him—some thread of self control he’d barely been hanging on to. With a low roar of pure lust, he pressed the broad head of his cock to the hungry entrance of her pussy and pushed inside her with one, long thrust.
Elaina cried out as the massive club of his cock entered her. God, she’d never been with a guy this big before! Terex wasn’t just long—he was thick too. She could feel her inner walls stretching as she tried to accommodate him. It was painful but a good kind of pain—a pleasure in its own way to be so opened and used by her Master.
“Gods—so tight!” Terex growled as he thrust himself inside her. When he reached the end of her channel and bottomed out inside her, he held still for a moment, as though giving her time to get used to him.
“Master!” Elaina moaned. She could feel him pressing hard and deep inside her—the head of his cock kissing the mouth of her womb and she thought she had never felt so opened…so owned. As a final gesture of submission, she went from her hands and knees to her elbows, pressing her forehead to the cool leather of the couch as she gave herself to him completely. The new position raised her ass higher in the air and opened her pussy even more, making her completely vulnerable to her Master’s cock—completely open to whatever he wanted to do to her.
“Elaina…” His large, warm hands stroked over the bare skin of her back tenderly. “Gods, you’re so lovely…you shouldn’t want me to do this to you.”
“Do it—take me,” Elaina begged softly. Moving her hips, she slid herself a little way off the broad shaft impaling her and then thrust back, filling herself with him again. Then she did it again…and again, fucking herself on his thickness. “Please, Master,” she moaned. “I need you!”
With a low growl, Terex relented. Gripping her hips, he pulled almost all the way out of her pussy before slamming home again, filling her with himself, making her as his.
Elaina moaned at the overwhelming feeling of being so full, so opened by his thick shaft. She tried to push back against him, to catch his rhythm, but Terex’s big hands gripped hard and held her still. The message was clear�
�she was to submit to him completely, to open herself for his fucking and not move until he filled her with his come.
Crying softly with need and desire, Elaina tried to do just that. She spread her thighs wider, giving her Master easier access and accepted his throbbing cock deep in her pussy, opening herself to whatever he wanted to do to her…to whatever way he wanted to take her.
She didn’t know how long it lasted—the harsh push and pull within her, the deep, hard thrusts he used to claim her as his own. She felt his hands at her hips, bruising her, marking her but the pain was all pleasure—nothing seemed to hurt at all—every touch of her Master’s hand was delicious and desired.
It seemed like forever but finally Terex pulled her upright, both of them kneeling on the couch with his shaft still buried to the hilt inside her.
Elaina moaned as the new position made the golden weights clamped around her nipples pull down sharply on her taut peaks. Bolts of pleasure/pain ran from her ripe buds straight down to her clit, enflaming her with desire even more.
“Is this what you want?” Terex’s deep voice sent shivers down her spine and the sharp tips of his fangs traced delicate patterns over the unprotected skin of her throat. He held her tight against him, her legs spread helplessly wide as he impaled her on his shaft. “Is it really?”
“Yes, Master,” Elaina managed to gasp out. “Please, bite me…bond me…make me yours.”
“Gods, lavana when you beg me like that I can’t say no,” he groaned. And then there was a bright, piercing pain that turned immediately to pleasure as his sharp fangs drove into the column of her throat.
At the same time, Elaina felt his cock jerk inside her and then something hot and wet was spurting deep in her core, filling her inner pussy with heat and desire as the big Kindred claimed her completely and bonded her to him forever.
The twin sensations pushed her over the edge and she was coming—coming harder than she ever had before. Her whole body seemed to fill with white light that radiated outward in throbbing bursts of energy and suddenly it was hard to breathe.
Oh God, she thought as brilliant fireworks burst before her eyes. Oh God, it’s too much! I can’t take it…going to…going to faint…
And then everything went gray and wobbly and she felt herself falling.
* * * * *
“Elaina? Gods, Elaina, are you all right? Come on, speak to me, lavana—please!”
Terex patted her cheeks urgently, trying to raise some reaction. Gods, he’d used her too hard—taken her too roughly. What was wrong with him? Why couldn’t he show her tenderness instead of fucking her so harshly?
“It’s all right…I wanted it hard. I wanted you,” whispered a voice in his brain—a voice that sounded soft and feminine and, most of all, familiar.
It had been so long since Terex had heard the mind-voice of a lover that it took him a moment to believe. At last he sent back… “Elaina?”
“It’s me.” Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled at him. “Hey—are we talking without moving our mouths? How cool is that?”
“It’s part of the mental bond a Kindred forms with his mate,” Terex told her. “For as long as we live, we’ll be able to communicate mentally.” He frowned and his fingers went to his throat where he could still feel the curving lines of the soul-poisoning covering his flesh. They weren’t receding—there was no healing from their new bond. “However long that is.”
“I’m sorry,” Elaina said aloud. Reaching up, she tentatively traced her fingers over the side of his neck where the soul poisoning was criss-crossing his skin. “It didn’t work. I…I was so sure it would.”
“I’m the one who’s sorry—I shouldn’t have bound you to me.” Terex sat up, putting some distance between them. “Now when I go, I might take you with me. Forgive me, Elaina.”
“There’s nothing to forgive.” She sat up as well and crawled into his lap, refusing to let him distance himself. To Terex’s surprise, he saw she was still smiling contentedly.
“But…I’m dying. And now you might be too,” he clarified, unsure if she understood the dire consequences of their bonding.
“It doesn’t matter to me.” Elaina looked earnestly into his eyes as she spoke through their new link. “Whether we have forty minutes together or forty years, I just want to be with you. I love you, Terex.”
“I love you too. So much, lavana.” He crushed her to him, wrapping his arms around her tight as emotion filled him—grief that his time with her was so short, joy that she loved him despite his flaws, pleasure in her soft touch and the feel of her curvy body against his own…
Forgive me, Goddess, he thought, sending up a prayer as he hugged his new bride to him. Forgive me for all I have done and thank you for sending me one to love, even if it’s for such a short time…
“There is nothing to forgive, warrior.” This time the strong, feminine voice in his head was new and he was well aware it wasn’t Elaina speaking.
The knowledge was further reinforced when they pulled apart and he saw the wide-eyed wonder on Elaina’s face. A warm, golden presence seemed to fill the room, like sunlight pouring in through an open window.
“Is that…” Elaina began in a whisper but then the voice went on, speaking to them both.
“My children,” the Goddess—for it must be the Goddess—murmured. “Everything that happens is for a reason—even if it is one you cannot see or understand it. Terex, you have had terrible things befall you, my son—and I wept with you at each pain you suffered. Though you could not see me, I grieved for your losses. But I was not punishing you—only testing you.”
“Your tests were harsh indeed,” Terex murmured.
“They had to be, to prove your true worth. And you have passed the tests, especially the last one, most beautifully. You gave away the little healers, even knowing that doing so would mean your own death. Despite your pain and the looming knowledge of your own demise, you kept your honor. My son, I am proud of you.”
The Goddess’s words and the warmth of her approval were like a balm, soothing his soul, easing the pain and guilt he had felt for so many years, ever since his beloved Solange had died.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you, Goddess for making yourself known to me.”
“I am not finished yet, my son. I must speak to your bride as well,” the voice murmured. “Elaina, my dear—though you are not born into my fold, you have been adopted into it as all the Kindred brides are. Your strength and courage in the face of the darkest adversity make me proud to call you daughter.”
“Thank you for sending me a way to heal my sister, Goddess,” Elaina said softly, her eyes shining as she spoke. “Even if I don’t live, I’m glad that she will. Her family is back together again and they’re so happy—thank you for that.”
“As to whether you shall live or not, I will leave that up to you—to both of you, my children,” the Goddess told them. “I will give you a choice. Your deaths may be quick and painless and then you will join me on the other side where there is no more pain or trials or tribulations…or I can heal you. But only one of you.”
“Heal one of us?” Terex asked, frowning. “But…I’m the one with soul poisoning. Unless…has Elaina been infected with it too?”
“She has not,” the Goddess assured him. “But she still has some of the seeds of the Need virus within her. She is not a carrier and cannot pass it on to others, nor will it shorten her life span. But the disease will alter her desires—desires which you must be willing to satiate, Terex, if she is to be kept healthy.”
Finally Terex understood the choice before him. He could either die peacefully and leave this world with its pain and sorrow behind, or he could stay here with Elaina…and indulge in the same practices that had made him feel so guilty with Solange.
“Goddess,” he began. “I don’t know…”
“There is no shame in loving the way you need to love.” The Goddess spoke softly. “I placed those needs inside you, Terex. I do not blame
you for finding ways to satisfy them.”
“Thank you, but…” He looked at Elaina and took her hands. “How do you feel about this, lavana? About…about having, uh, those needs? Those desires?”
“To be honest, I think I already had them—at least to a certain extent,” Elaina answered calmly. “I left my last relationship because there was no love there and because I was looking for more. More what, I didn’t know. But now, well, I think I understand…Master,” she ended in a whisper.
“Lavana,” he murmured and drew her close to him, breathing in the warm, fresh scent of her hair. “Gods, I love you so much!”
“I have my answer then—Terex shall be healed and the two of you shall live on for many years to come,” the Goddess murmured. “I am glad, my children, for the Kindred will need your guidance and strength in the dark days ahead.”
Terex frowned. “What are you saying, Goddess?”
“I am able to tell you only so much, but think back to Two’s last words to you. There is a malevolent force in the Universe—a force that was unaware of the Kindred before is aware of them now. They are very many and very hungry—their appetite destroys all that it touches. See to it that you arm and protect yourselves well and warn Commander Sylvan—he will need your help in the days to come, Terex.”
“Yes, my Goddess.” Terex nodded soberly. “I will tell him of your words and spread your warning.”
“See that you do. But do not despair for you shall have help—one shall come, he who was bound by fate and unbound by love, shall help the cause of the Kindred. For now, long life and love to you both. Goodbye, my children.”
The warm golden presence faded from the room, leaving Terex and Elaina clinging to each other with wide eyes, uncertain of what to say.
Elaina was the first to break the silence.
“Your neck—your throat!” She put a hand wonderingly to the side of his neck, running her fingers over his skin. “The green markings—they’re gone!”