Hell, who was he kidding? The taking of blood was ritual, deliberate, a holy act and one of healing and strength. It was also the most erotic thing the Fallen were capable of doing, and it had sealed him to her.
God, he thought, shaken. And yet hed known. Known that it would come to this, that they were bound together whether she hated him or not. She knew it too, even if she refused to admit it. He expected shed keep fighting it. And he would let her, up to a point. He would have given her more time if hed had the option, but Uriel was getting too close. Azazel had had no choice but to throw his own doubts and hesitation to the wind. Hed allow her to keep hers for as long as feasible. One more thing he owed her.
His face was in her hair, and it should have tickled. Instead it felt like silk against his skin. He remembered what it was like to feel this way about a woman, the physical connection that never left. And he knew the guilt that had ridden him hard. Guilt that had nothing to do with Sarah and everything to do with him and his own anger. Sarah had let him go, long ago. Now it was time for him to finish releasing her.
Rachel settled deeper into sleep, clearly exhausted. He hadnt taken enough of her blood to make a differencein fact, hed deliberately denied himself as much as he wanted, all that would have been acceptable, in his urgency to protect her. But the power of the first real mating was bone-shattering, and she might sleep all day.
It didnt matter. They had a war to plan. She could sleep, and he would come back to her.
She could sleep.
IT LOOKED LIKE LATE AFTERNOON when I finally woke, alone in the big bed. I was suffused with the strangest feelings: delight and dread, luxurious lassitude and the certainty that I needed to be rushing around, intense physical satisfaction and deep sexual longing. I wanted him again. I wanted him between my legs, leaning over me, sweating, pushing. I wanted his mouth on my neck, drinking what only I could give him.
I forced myself out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. I was in such a fog I could barely appreciate its elegance; but after a few minutes under a shower that felt like a gentle rainfall, I felt much more alive.
I found my discarded clothes neatly folded on a chair, and I wondered who had done it. The thought of Azazel tending to me was too bizarre to contemplate, yet I thought I would have known if someone else had come into the room. It had to have been him.
I dressed quickly, trying not to think about how those clothes had come off me. The one thing I couldnt find was the camisole, and I remembered his disapproval and found a brief smile curving my mouth.
I went through the living room, not even bothering to look for something as civilized as a note, and opened the door to the hall. I could hear the arguments from there. Mens voices, furious and demanding, behind the closed door of the council room. Immediately I turned around and went back in, closing the door behind me. I wasnt interested in their curious eyes. They would know exactly what Azazel and I had done, and how we had done it, and right then it felt agonizingly personal. I didnt want anyone else intruding.
So I was starving to death. Big dealId survive.
The sun was already beginning to set. I opened the French doors and stepped out onto the secluded patio, letting the soft breeze dance around me. The smell of the ocean on the air was soothing, which
was odd, considering that the sight of it terrified me. And thank the gods and goddesses, there was a tray on the low table, with fresh fruit and croissants and iced tea, the ice still fresh.
I glanced around for another entrance to the patio, but I could see none. Whoever had brought the food was a magician, and I didnt care. I sank down into one of the wicker chairs and began to eat.
I could still hear the angry voices, but at a distance, and I closed my eyes, letting myself drift back into the memory of last night. I was immediately wet, and disgusted with myself.
I wasnt going to worry about it. Thats what I felt like; and when he finally returned to these rooms, hed sense my arousal and
What if he didnt return to these rooms? What if the initial bonding was all that was needed? Hed made it clear he didnt want to have feelings about me. I didnt doubt that he didI wasnt that insecurebut I knew he was more than willing to fight them. Just as I was.
Except that I wasnt. I needed him, I needed him now. I leaned back and closed my eyes, letting my fingers drift to my mouth, down to my breasts, then up to the invisible brand on my neck, and I wondered if I could will him to come to me. If I called to him, would he hear me?
A shadow passed between me and the sun, and I opened my eyes in instant, unguarded delight. And then froze, looking up into the cloaked face of a stranger.
Who are you? I croaked. By now I knew every inhabitant of Sheol, by face if not by name, and this was no man I had ever seen before. I looked into his eyes and they were empty, as if there were no one there, and I had seen eyes like that before. When Id been strapped to a table in a dark room in a dark city, out of my mind with pain.