Dark Fire (Dark Series - book 6) Read online

  She had the audacity to laugh at him, her warn breath adding to the conflagration building in his body Her hand moved up and over him, testing his weight the thickness of him. Then he was shouting hoarsely The silken feel of her mouth on him was incredible. Hot tight, moist. She knew what he liked by the images in his mind, and Darius was lost to the world. Lost in the beauty of what they shared.

  She teased him. Tortured him. Reveled in her power over him. He stood it as long as he was physically able to; then he dragged her head up by a fistful of red-gold hair. No matter if he was brutal, it was the only thing he was capable of doing at that moment. His hands found her waist and pulled her over him.

  With their gazes locked together, Tempest slowly lowered herself over him so that he speared her, inch by inch. Her waiting sheath was so hot and moist, so tight and velvet soft, that Darius’s fingers bit deep into her hips to keep him from exploding. Where was his centuries-old self-control?

  Tempest found it amazing to know exactly what he wanted. She started to ride him slowly, but it fast turned into a frenzied motion, her muscles clenching around him, taking him deep within her. His hands moved over her body, inspecting her small waist, narrow rib cage, and full breasts. Then he was leaning up toward her, a slow, inexorable movement that nearly stopped her heart. She could feel the hunger in him, his need to take her blood—more a sexual urge than a physical hunger. He had done so many times, but she had never seen his teeth other than perfect. Now he made no attempt to hide his lengthening incisors from her as he bent his head to her throat.

  He thrust upward, burying himself deep within her as his teeth sank into her soft throat. He shared the ultimate sensation with her, their bodies and minds joined, sharing the very essence of life together. His body was on fire, the conflagration building and building until there was no controlling it. He swept her along with him until they were both exploding wildly, the very earth shaking beneath them.

  He forced himself to stop taking more of her blood simply to satisfy his insatiable craving for her. Already he had noted the differences in her, her ability to hear and see much more acutely. He was inadvertently enhancing her senses. Altering the humanness he had vowed to preserve. Darius swept his arms protectively around her. Nothing was going to hurt her. Not ever. Not even he.

  Tempest was content to lie upon the hard strength of his body, feeling sheltered and thoroughly loved. He was a perfect lover, careful of her even at his roughest moments. She could hear their hearts beat in perfect rhythm, and she lay there for some time getting her breath back. As she inhaled to slow her breathing, she felt oppressive heat. Her teeth sank into her lower lip as she looked around her.

  They were still in the cave. Humiliation washed over her. She had been so distracted by his lovemaking, she hadn’t even considered where they were. She doubted she would have noticed if they were in the middle of a street. Where was her pride? This man had practically kidnapped her, held her in the center of the earth without the slightest remorse, and then taken shameless advantage of her.

  Tempest lifted her head, her long lashes veiling her eyes before he could read her expression. But Darius became a shadow in her mind, feeling her guilt and anger at herself, her sense of humiliation that she had allowed this when she was so angry with him.

  Immediately he rolled her under him, trapping her slender body with his much larger frame. He tangled a fist in her bright, silky hair and drew it to his mouth. “I must apologize for taking advantage of you while you slept. It was wrong of me when we had unresolved issues between us. But you are so beautiful, Tempest, that I lost control.”

  Her long lashes swept up, revealing green eyes blazing fury at him. She actually shoved him, the palm of her hand hard against his chest. He was so startled by her reaction that he forgot to move, to pretend he felt the push. Heat curled in him, a wave of desire so strong that he nearly kissed her angry mouth.

  “You are so full of it, Darius. Don’t even think you can snow me with a line like that. You didn’t lose control. You knew exactly what you were doing. You wanted to have sex, so you did. And I’m such a ninny, I went along with it, like one of those idiot heroines in a steamy novel.” She realized she hadn’t budged him with her push, and that raised her temper another notch.

  “I wanted to make love to you,” he corrected, his voice black velvet.

  Just the sound of his voice sent a rush of heat coursing through her bloodstream. It required tremendous effort to pull her gaze away from the burning intensity of his eyes. And God would have to save her himself if she looked at his perfect mouth. It all added fuel to the fire. “You think you can get your way by seducing me, Darius, but it won’t work. I don’t much like myself right now, and I know it wasn’t all you, but let me tell you before you get too puffed up with your own ego, I don’t respect you nearly as much right now as I did yesterday.” She paused. “If it was yesterday.”

  “You can bathe in the pool.” He tried not to make it an order. His body seemed to respond to the merest touch of hers. He didn’t dare start anything with her green eyes blazing fire and her red hair sparking flames.

  “Are you giving me your permission?” she asked sarcastically.

  He bent his head to hers because she had made that little moue with her lips he could never pass up. His mouth found hers and tasted the warm honey of her even in her anger, capturing it forever in his heart. “No wonder you are always in trouble,” he murmured, his kiss sliding over the corner of her mouth to her dimple, lower still to find her chin, then her throat. Her pulse beat beneath his mouth, igniting his hunger. It came out of nowhere, rushing at him with the same speed and intensity as his body hardened, urging him to take her again and again.

  Tempest pulled away, her emerald eyes all at once wary. He was so strong, his power overwhelming, when she had no control at all in the situation. She was his captive, hidden beneath the earth, his to keep for a time if he desired. The idea had not occurred to her until that moment, and it leeched the color from her face instantly. “Darius?” His name came out strangled, a plea for reassurance.

  He touched her mind, found her fear easily. His arm encircled her, drew her close to his protection. “As soon as you bathe, we will go to the surface. I need to hunt. You need food.”

  The relief was tremendous, and she believed the purity of his voice. Despite her anger at him, she clung to him for just a moment, waiting for her heart to stop pounding so violently. “Darius,” she confided, “I really am afraid down here.”

  Darius tightened his hold on her, crushing her slender body against his. He had not known the real meaning of fear until she had come into his barren existence. She brought that definition to life for him. He feared he would lose her, feared someone or something would harm her. Fear made him edgy and dangerous, like on of the cats in their most unpredictable, moody states.

  “All of these things are minor differences we can work out, Tempest,” he assured her. “No obstacle between us is insurmountable.”

  She took a deep, steadying breath. “Okay, Darius, I’m all for that. Just don’t be so in control of me. I like my freedom. It’s who I am.”

  “Who you are is my other half, as I am yours,” he said She pulled out of his arms and rose, turning away from him so that she didn’t give in to the urge to kick his shins. He was so arrogant, spouting his Old-World nonsense, that she wanted to push him into the pool and watch him lose his magnificent and oh, so irritating cool Darius hid his smile. He couldn’t help saying things just

  to

  get under her skin. He liked to watch her eyes glitter like gems, the flash of fire that inadvertently exposed her deeply passionate nature as well as her anger.

  Tempest stepped into the pool and found the clear water on her skin more erotic than she would have liked. She knew his black eyes were burning over her as she swam, and something feminine and wild in her seemed to take over. She rinsed her hair out slowly, turning so that her profile was to him, so that the water lapped
at her waist and ran down her exposed breasts. Beckoned to him. Taunted him.

  With her increased hearing, she caught his muffled swearing. A smile curved her soft mouth, all anger disappearing as she caught sight of his body making demand on him, his arousal impossible to hide from either of them. Deliberately she bent over, rinsing her hair a second time, giving him a good view of the curve of her hips and buttocks. He deserved a little suffering. And she was enjoying herself.

  Little red-haired witch. She was deliberately driving him crazy. He knew it. He also knew she was having fun, getting back her feeling of control and power. Darius let out a low, husky groan of frustration. Her answer was a stifled laugh, hastily drowned out by the splashing water. Little minx. A man could take only so much. In any case, hunger was clouding good judgment, and nothing tasted like the rush he got from their erotic encounters. Still, he could not afford to take too much of her blood. Replacing hers with his was a dangerous pastime, altering her in ways he was not completely certain of. The few times over the centuries when he had encountered human women converted, they had become vampire and deranged, feeding on children. He had been forced to destroy them.

  The thought terrified him. What if he was somehow bringing Tempest to that very edge? Their minds were already continually reaching for each other. Could he be placing her in danger? Would Julian have the answer to that? Distasteful as it was, he would have to ask Desari’s lifemate for his knowledge in this matter. Pride meant nothing if Tempest was in harm’s way.

  He turned to look at her again. She was exquisite Everything about her touched him, brought out intense feelings, whether protective, sexual, or emotional. He found himself fascinated by the line of her throat, the span of her waist, the curves of her breasts and rib cage and bottom.

  Tempest wrung out her hair carefully and waded out of the pool. She was within a couple of feet of Darius before she scented the husky call of his body, felt the heat rising from his skin. She grinned at him, teasing challenging, a faint, derisive quirk of her lips at his obvious discomfort. “Having a problem?” she taunted aloud.

  He was magnificent. There was no other word for his body. And it amazed her that she could produce such

  a

  reaction in him, in a creature so powerful and controlled as Darius almost always was. That she could send him so out of control mystified yet excited her. It was exhilarating, like leaping onto the back of a tiger and hanging on for dear life.

  Darius waited until she sashayed past him before reaching out to claim what was his. He merely caught her arms from behind, then moved them forward to place her hands on the flat surface of an accommodating rock. At once his body trapped hers, pushing aggressively against her bottom while his seeking fingers assured him that she was creamy with her own need of him. He caught her hips firmly and surged into her tight, moist sheath. It was slick and hot, waiting for him. Darius allowed himself the natural instinctive domination of the males of his race. His teeth found her shoulder and pinned her in place while he buried himself again and again with hard, long strokes.

  Tempest felt the sweet rush of fire consuming her, the strength in his hands gripping her hips, the hard thickness of him plunging deep within her, only to withdraw and return. She felt his mouth on her skin, the white heat as his teeth pierced deep and he held her in a submissive position. A part of her felt intensely vulnerable, but he was adjusting his position to accommodate the tightness of her feminine sheath, and all the time he was building the fire higher, ever higher. She could feel her body tightening, gripping his, beginning to spiral outward. She didn’t want it over so soon, so fast. She wanted this time with him, afraid it might never happen again once they were back in her world, the world she knew she belonged in. This was too much. Too much of everything. Too much fire and too much feeling.

  “Darius.” She breathed his name in a whisper, somewhere between agony and ecstasy.

  “Only Darius,” he growled against her skin. “You are mine.” Somewhere deep in his heart he knew she still thought of them separately. That he wouldn’t stay with her, that she could walk away,

  would

  walk away at some point. She wanted him yet was terrified to need him, to be part of him, no Darius without Tempest, no Tempest without Darius. He, on the other hand, had accepted that almost from the first moment he laid eyes on her. His body swelled, hot and slick, velvet steel, and still he moved, wanting to prolong the moment, wanting to bring her to a fever pitch.

  He wanted to hear those soft little sounds she made in her throat, the ones that melted his heart and sent arrows piercing his soul. Those sounds drove him crazy. In his mouth was the delicious taste of her, and against his skin was the feel of hers, bare and soft and so vulnerable, all for him. He savored the moment, prolonged it, reaching higher and higher until her body was gripping and clenching around his, wringing his very essence from him, milking an explosion of heat and flame, a firestorm of ecstatic pleasure that consumed them both.

  Her breath was coming in little gasps, and he had to hold her up to prevent her shaky legs from giving way. She turned her head to look at him, her green eyes glittering jewels. “I had no idea it could be like this, Darius. You’re incredible.” She meant it sincerely. She had read books—who hadn’t? She’d lived on the streets, grown up around hookers. Naturally she’d asked a few questions. No one had described anything like the feelings Darius produced in her. The graphic mechanics, perhaps, but not the beauty and passion of what they did together.

  “It is us together,” he explained patiently, wanting her to understand. Tempest was so programmed to be alone, to live her a solitary existence, that her mind refused to comprehend the true meaning of their joining.

  “You don’t feel this way when you make love to other women?” she asked, struggling to believe that a man as virile, a man who made love as often and as vigorously as Darius did, had not needed hundreds of partners in the past. How could any one woman possibly keep up with his demands, possibly satisfy him? She had no real experience. How could she keep him happy?

  He found himself frowning as he read her thoughts. Darius swept her into his arms and waded back into the pool to rinse her

  off

  one more time. “You keep up with my every demand,” he pointed out. “And you satisfy me perfectly. There can be no other woman, Tempest. You can touch my mind with yours. I cannot lie to you. Read my thoughts. I speak the truth. There is only you in my heart. It is only you my body will accept. There will never be another. It is for all time.”

  “I will grow old and die, Darius,” she pointed out. “In another hundred years you will find someone else.” She laughed softly at her own ego. “Notice I gave you plenty of time to grieve for me.”

  “Put your arms around my neck. Look at me.” He commanded it, wanting her complete attention. “I love you, Tempest, not any other woman. It is not the love of humans; it is more encompassing and violent than that, yet more pure and cherishing.”

  She shook her head. “You haven’t known me long enough to feel real love. You’re attracted to me sexually, that’s all.” She sounded desperate even to her own ears.

  “I have been inside your mind countless times, Tempest. I know everything about you. Every childhood memory, good and bad. I know your secret thoughts, thoughts humans never share with anyone else. I know the things you do not like about yourself. I know your strengths and the things you consider weaknesses. I know more about you in the time we have had together than any human male could know in a lifetime. I love you. The entire you.”

  His hand moved to wash the evidence of their love-making from between her legs, his fingers soothing, gentle. “I know you think I am the sexiest man you have ever met. You think I am handsome. You love the sound of my voice. You particularly like my mouth and my eyes and the way I look at you.” His black gaze moved over her face, the faint humor fleeting as he continued. “You fear my powers, yet you accept them and the differences in me with surprising ease. I
make you feel safe and protected, and you fear that feeling because you do not trust such a concept. You do not want to tie yourself to me fully because you do not trust that you could ever hold a man as powerful as myself, and you cannot allow yourself the pain of losing me.”

  She was attempting to pull out of his arms, but he held her tightly to him, so she glared at him instead. “While you were inspecting the inside of my head, did you find out just what I want to do to you half the time?”

  His mouth softened with mocking male amusement. “You mean when you are not wanting my body in yours?”

  Furious, she nodded. “Like now, for instance.”

  His palm stroked back wet strands of hair from her forehead. His eyes burned into hers. “You have an astonishing penchant for feminine-style violence,” he commented drolly.

  “I’m beginning to think violence might be the only way to handle you.” Tempest inserted a hand between herself and the wall of his chest and steadily increased the pressure until she lost her own strength. If he didn’t notice subtle hints to let her go soon, she

  would

  resort to violence, and then he’d be sorry. A serious dunking just might do his inflated male ego some good. She glared at him again, hoping to wither him on the spot. “I don’t believe in love. It’s a myth. People use it to get their way. There isn’t any such thing. It’s mere physical attraction.”

  Darius practically tossed her out of the pool. “You actually believe the nonsense you spout? I am the darkness. You are the light. I am a predator. You hold compassion and goodness within you. Yet I must teach

  you

  about love?”

  “Your ego is showing again,” she declared, a faint haughtiness in her voice. “You know, Darius, it isn’t necessary that we think or believe alike all the time. I don’t have to see everything your way.”

  Something deep and dark and terrifying flickered in the depths of his eyes, and she held her breath. He blinked, and the illusion was gone, leaving her wondering if she had seen only the flames of the candles reflected in his eyes.