Really? She would never tire of his praise.
If your goal was to worry me to death, then yes. He was glowering now, his affection morphing into anger. She figured the what-ifs were driving him crazy. You are never going off on your own again. You will chain yourself to my side and like it. Understand?
She would not deign to respond to such a ludicrous statement. Just so you know, you did a good job, too. Maybe if she applauded him, hed stop letting his concern speak for him and remember shed won.
Well, you didnt do a great job, and thats the gods honest truth. You almost died! You didnt scream and I know why. You didnt want to distract me. But guess what? Id rather you had distracted me! I could have raced to the rescue and helped you do that killing.
He also could have burned to death with the Hunters. Wellwellyou didnt do a good job, either!
Nope. You already said I did.
And then I said you didnt.
Sorry, no take-backs. You sucked this up because you let yourself get pinned. Dont do that again. Do you even realize what they could have done to you?
Yep. The what-ifs were definitely driving him. The indignation drained from her. How could she blame him? Had the situation been reversed, she would have done the same thing. I wont do it again.
Strider pushed out a labored breath, visibly relaxing more with each molecule of air that escaped him. So why didnt you want to tell me about the Hunters?
Well, maybe she still possessed a little indignation. Quite primly, she said, Because telling you about my newfound firepower meant Id have to tell you something even worsewe cant have sex anymore. And she meant it. She might have forgotten her resolution upon first awakening, but she recalled it now.
Like hell! he roared.
Strider, we cant. Ill burn you. Badly. Perhaps even kill him.
He softened his voice when he said, You didnt last time. Then he finally, blessedly, turned into her, pressing his cock between her legs, hitting her right where she wanted him most.
Her need exploded back to life and she had to clench her hands in the rug to keep from reaching for him. The heatshe could feel it building again, seething beneath her skin. Liar. You said I blistered you.
I also said I liked it.
Dont you dare soften. Doesnt matter. Last time Id never set anything on fire. Now that I have, the chances are greater that I will again. And when Im with you, I apparently lose all hint of common sense. I wont be able to control myself.
If thats the case, you wont be able to fight in the other two games, either. Your anger most definitely will be ignited and youll erupt, killing everyone around you.
Yeah, but I want to kill my opponents. Not really, but she didnt want to admit he had a point.
Which will endanger your family.
Damn him!
Just pucker up, buttercup, because this is happening. If you can take it, he added thoughtfully. Your injuries
Hed just pricked the hell out of her pride and her chin lifted. I can take anything.
Good. Ive worried about you for too damn long and I need you. More than that, I deserve a reward for taking care of you. Dont I?
Concern for his safety persisted. He was the most important part of her life. Thats your demon talking. I know it. If you would just think this through, youd
Baby doll, I havent thought clearly since I met you. Were having sex. Youre gonna like it, Im gonna like it, and were gonna come out of this alive. He paused, snickered. Get it? Come out of this.
She rolled her eyes, but his complete disregard for her fears did much to help alleviate them.
Strider wasnt done, though. My demon likes to dominate you, yes, and being with you sexually is far more satisfying than anything else because hes also afraid of you, making your surrender all the sweeter. But he hasnt accepted a challenge yet. This is just you and me. And need. Hard, raging need.
She nibbled on her bottom lip. I dont want Defeat to fear me. I want him to like me always.
A slow smile curled his lips. Good. Cause the bastard just purred his approval.
Really? Finally she allowed her arms to wind around his neck. He pressed his shaft against her, rubbed back and forth and pulled a groan of pleasure from deep inside her. But the heat intensified, pulsing from her and he began to sweat. That scared her. Strider.
Im your consort. You cant hurt me.
Another good point. Butthats your arousal talking.
No, thats my trust in you and your strength talking.
You said I did a piss-poor job.
Did not.
Did, too.
Zip it, Kaia, and stop stalling. Look at it this way if you want. Your Harpy is one badass chick and she loves me. Shes not going to hurt me. Deal with it and lets move on.
She tolerates you, Kaia lied.
She obviously needs a vocabulary lesson. She loves me. And, he went on before she could comment, shes stronger than your Phoenix side. She has to be. As he spoke, he thrummed her nipples, giving her more of the sweet, sweet contact shed craved so badly. Otherwise you wouldnt have gone this long without setting people on fire. But. If it makes you feel any better
He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the exit. She felt the drop in temperature the moment Strider stepped outside. Snow poured from the darkened sky, as determined as a rainstorm.
Were alone out here, he said. Everyone else left yesterday and Lysander posted guards on the other side of the mountains. No one will be sneaking up on us.
Good to know. What was embarrassing was that she hadnt given the possibility of a sneak attack a moments thought. Only this man. Only his touch.
Youre going to freeze to death, she warned as he laid her down in the snow. Goose bumps formed over her skin as she cooled.
Make up your mind. Either Ill burn to death or Ill freeze to death. Which is it? He spread her legs as far as they would go and crouched in front of her. So pretty, he said, running a finger through her moist slit.
Her back arched in supplication. So good.
So mine. He teased her clitoris, ramping up her desireand touching everywhere but there. Say it.
Im yours, she breathed. Always.
A kiss and a lick at the center of her need, making her moan, and then he was once again looming over her. The snow fell around him, hauntingly beautiful. He didnt enter her, not yet, but started that slow, hard rub all over again, teasing, teasing. She gave another needy moan.
Strider. Please.
Gods, you taste good. I need another. Back down he went, licking and sucking.
The pleasure slammed through her and her fingers tangled in his hair. The heat blossomed again, despite the chilly winds, spinning through her veins. Though pleasurable dizziness hazed her eyesight, she watched him, determined to stop him at the first sign of danger. Sweat beaded on his temples and dripped onto her thighs. Sweat, but no welts. Good, good, so good.
His tongue never stopped working her, sinking in and out, making love to her, before finally sliding over her clitoris. With one final press, he brought her to a quick orgasm. Satisfaction burst through her, traveling from between her legs into her chest, her arms, her feet, sweeping a tide of sensation through every part of her. Flames erupted from behind her eyelids, but at no time did those flames leave her.
She began to believe. She could never hurt this man. Neither intentionally, nor unintentionally. He was her other half, as indispensable as her heart. Hell, he was her heart. He calmed her Harpy and now, apparently, he tamed the Phoenix.
Open your eyes, baby doll.
She obeyed without question. He was poised over her, hair plastered to his scalp. Sweating still. The tip of his penis brushed her drenched opening and she had to bite her lip as renewed desire sparked.
Confession time, he said. Another brush. You burned away the angel robes. From both of us. Thats why we were naked. And you did set me on fire. Once. But I got over it. He didnt wait for her reply but slammed into her, sinking as deep as he could go.
Automatically she arched to meet him, to take him, to take everything. Youbastard, she managed to gasp out. He was so wide, he stretched her. So long he hit her deeper than any other. But she was so wet, the glide was easy. I couldkill you, doing this. Shed been so sure, after that climax, that she couldnt hurt him. Now, to find out that she had hurt himthat she could again
Accident, he said on a moan. He surged deep again, pulled out, surged.
I wont risk you. Could she push him away? For his own good, for his own good. Strider
You dont have to risk me. And Ill prove it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
STRIDER BROUGHT HIS WOMAN to peak after peak, showing her no mercy, bending her body in every position imaginable. He sucked on her nipples, licked her from head to toe, teased her sex with long, sure rubs, pounded inside her, slow and easy, then sped up, fast, faster, strokes becoming quick, shallow, then deep, piercing.
When she lay on her back, nearly unable to catch her breath, he placed her legs on his shoulders. When she reached another peak, he moved her legs to his waist. When she reached yet another peak, he flipped her around and took her from behind. Through it all, she writhed and moaned and begged for more.
More. Yeah, he could give her more. He thought he could love her like this forever and still another day, despite his own raging need to climax. A need that was building and building, consuming him, but hed never been more determined to brand himself into another being. And he would. Until every cell she possessed wept with knowledge of him, unable to deny him in any way.
That way, she would never forget that she belonged to him, never forget what he would do to her if she scared him again. Not that this would be much of a deterrent. Hell, he was giving her a reason to get her ass kicked every goddamn day. Almost die, and shed get the best sex of her life. No damn ego check required, thank you.
He justhe didnt want this moment to end. He needed this. Needed her.
Keeping him at a distance wasnt an option. Yeah, hed known how she would react when she found out she had burned him. And yeah, hed confessed only when shed been unable to kick up much of a fit about it. Hello. He was smart. But like hed told her, charring him over an open flame had been an accident. What he hadnt told her, but something they would cover later? It had been an accident hed incited.
Shed been dying, gasping that final breath. Hed seen enough people die to know when the Grim Reaper would be called. And hed known Lucien would soon be called. Lucien would have heeded the summons, too, no matter how hotly Strider protested. He would have taken Kaias soul to the afterlife, as his demon, Death, required. Knowing that was about to happen, Strider had fallen straight into bat-shit crazy land and pulled a Gideon.
Hed married his woman.
Hed recalled how Gideon had raved about slicing himself, then slicing Scarlet and combining their blood. The old-school way to get hitched. The action had bound their lives, their souls, and Gideons strength had become Scarlets. So Strider had done it. Sliced himself and then Kaia. The moment the blade had sunk into the sensitive flesh between her breasts, she had erupted, thrashing, the fires starting all over again.
A little of his skin had meltedlike, the top half of his bodybut that had been a small price to pay for her life. Hed already been her consort, but hed added a littlespice to the relationship. Made them equals. Partners. And gods, the knowledge just about felled him.
Mine, he thought now. My wife. Always.
With every climax Kaia had, Defeat became a little more confident in his ability to tame her. A little more possessive of her. Like Strider, the bastard had realized she would never purposely hurt him, that winning hersomething no other man had ever donewas one of the greatest victories of their existence.
Bastard was also pouring pleasure straight into Striders veins and it was almost more than he could bear.
Strider, Kaia moaned, her sweet, curvy ass wiggling as he once again slowed his thrusts. Please.
The snow continued to fall, an exquisite storm he saw but didnt feel. His woman was too hot. A heat he welcomed, adored, cravedhadnt known he needed. Heat now represented Kaia, pleasure and satisfaction. A potent combination. Hed probably sport an erection all through the summer.
Have you learned your lesson? The words were practically ripped from his throat, his need causing his voice box to constrict.
Yes.
Leaning down, he pressed his chest into her searing back, the ridges of her spine creating the most delicious friction against his flesh. She murmured her approval. But much as he, too, fancied this new, deeper contact, he didnt stay that way. He wound his arms around her and lifted them both so that they were on their knees, hers inside of his.
His aching cock never slid free of her and she hit the root of him. Her head fell to his shoulder, the length of her silky hair tickling him between their bodies. He moved one hand to her breast, the beaded pink nipple peaking from between his fingers. He moved his other hand to her wet, wet core.
Damn you, move harder! she commanded, her movements uncoordinated now. Faster.
No. Tell me what youve learned first, he demanded, keeping himself still. He didnt brush her clit, just teased the sensitive, swollen bud with his nearness.
She growled. That I wont hurt you by losing control during sex. FYI, I learned that about five climaxes ago, you bastard.
Hadnt realized you were such a quick study.
So why arent you moving? I will hurt you if you dont finish this! That growl was sharper by the second. Her claws sank into his thighs as she said, I swear, Ill finish myself and leave you to rot.
A rough chuckle left him. So impatient, his woman. Thank the gods. He wouldnt have her any other way.
I love you, Strider told her. Before she could reply, he angled his head and meshed their lips together, his tongue driving against and rolling with hers. He gripped her hips and forced her to ride him, burying his cock as deep as it could go with each downward thrust, impaling her, then almost leaving her with each upward glide.