She glanced away, gritting her teeth. Finally, between panting breaths, she said, "If we do this, Sebastian, there's no making love. There's no claiming me, like I'm lost luggage. This isn't a promise of any kind. Just meaningless sex." Surely he'd balk at that?
Instead, he grated, "Agreed."
"Wh-what? You're agreeing to meaningless sex?"
"Any kind with you, Bride." The dark look he gave her made her shiver, even before he growled, "I'm due."
"So you think you're just going to take the reins?" If he does, I'm lost.
In answer, Sebastian knelt between her legs, shoving them apart with his knees.
Kaderin was so beautiful, her br**sts lush beneath his hands, her ni**les stiff against his palms. Her sex was visibly wet, waiting to be filled, and his c**k throbbed to be buried inside it.
"Sebastian, we can't just do this! I'm not ready - " Her words died in her throat when he slipped his finger inside her.
"You feel ready." He pressed a second finger in.
When her knees fell wide in surrender, he knew he was about to have her, at last, and nothing would stop him. Not after what she'd just been doing to him - and to herself. His Bride desired him, had moaned around his shaft as she licked it desperately. Her kiss had maddened him, but the idea of her aching for what he could give her was too much to take.
He didn't want to hurt her, though, and he knew he'd never been this hard. He could hold on a little longer and make sure her body was ready for him.
His fingers thrust in and out, slowly, as he played with her ni**les, and soon she was as frenzied as he was. "Bastian," she cried. "I'm ready!"
When she tried to draw him down to her, claws biting into his shoulders, he caught her wrists above her head with one hand.
She went wild. Cries burst from her as she arched her back sharply. He'd known taking her would be furious...
With his other hand, he grasped his shaft to guide it in. When the tip met her heat, he bit out an agonized curse, and ran the head up and down her slick sex.
"Please... "
He worked just the head in, and groaned in anguish. The urge to buck between her legs or fall into her was overwhelming. He choked out the words, "You're so tight." As tight as he suspected a virgin would be.
She was panting, her soft br**sts pressed against his chest as she rolled her h*ps on his c**k head to work more of it inside her. He had to release her wrists so he could clamp his hands on her h*ps and pin her down to the mattress.
He was desperate for release, for her release. He would follow her if it killed him. As he drove his length into her, inch by inch, he gritted his teeth. When he flexed his hips, plunging deeper, she cried out, and he froze. "Ah, God, I've hurt you."
As soon as he'd said it, he felt the real reason she'd cried out, and threw his head back at the shock of pleasure. She was coming - her sex contracting frantically around his shaft, gripping it like a hot fist, her body demanding what he had to give it.
Her orgasm continued on and on, pulling him deeper inside her. He'd never imagined...
After that, there was no denying her wet, hungry sheath. Unable to stop himself, he sank into her as far as he could go, grinding against her, yelling out, about to lose his seed right then.
He'd never known...
Her head thrashed on the pillow, and her sleek body twisted beneath him. Her legs tightened around his waist, locking his c**k deep as she writhed, as untamed as he'd known she would be.
The pressure... her tight heat.
No fighting this. Pinning her down hard, he bucked uncontrollably. He gave a brutal yell as his seed came. He groaned out with each shot, over and over, relentless, as she delivered the most violent pleasure he'd ever imagined.
Chapter 20
33
Kaderin strode down the street, barely after dawn, having just left the beautiful passed-out vampire - and the box - behind.
She'd vacillated for an hour about whether to claim the points or not. In the end she couldn't do it, though she'd gotten as far as lifting the box to just below her heart. She supposed that part of her anatomy had been as affected as all the rest of her after last night.
Although she needed to get to the jetport to be ready for the next update of the scroll, she kept hesitating, distracted, replaying scenes from last night.
After he'd reached his end, he had continued to thrust so gently, rocking over her in the dark, brushing his lips over her face. She'd known he wanted to have her again, but he'd been very pale. When his body had begun shaking, she'd suspected he hadn't been drinking regularly. He had finally rolled over to his back, drawing her to his chest with the crook of his arm.
Now that she and Sebastian had made love, everything felt different to her. This morning, she was seeing things in ways she couldn't remember. Spring always imbued London with miraculous colors and scents, but she couldn't recall the last time she'd noticed.
She'd watched this city grow from a soggy camp to a grand metropolis. The thought made her pause. She was old. And last night also had brought into glaring relief how dissatisfied she was with her life overall. Of course, she missed her sisters, but she fully expected to retrieve them, even if she died.
Kaderin believed that sacrifice could bring them back. How many fables - which were ninety-nine percent true - told of a warrior given a chance to make up for a grievous lack of judgment? Atonement had to be Kaderin's ultimate fate. If she was to die, surely it wouldn't be for nothing? Sacrifice could restore her sisters to life, and as far as destinies went, she was honored by hers.
And besides, did she want to live forever? She had!
Before last night, she couldn't bestir herself truly to dread her upcoming death. Now, she wondered if it would be painful, and if Sebastian would be near.
She'd called Nïx on her jimmied non-traceable phone to get a premonition-of-doom update. She had imagined what she would say: "Hey, Nïxie! Uh, I remember you telling me that I, uh, was going to die and all that." Nervous laugh. "Well, did you see anything about a remarkably virile and sexy vampire coming with me for moral support?" But it had been late at night in New Orleans, and Nïx had most likely been out roaming the streets. Without answers, Kaderin could only speculate.
There were only so many ways a Valkyrie could die - beheading, sorrow, immolation, or some kind of mystical assassination. Beheading seemed likeliest.
A violent death. Kaderin had contemplated cheerier scenarios...
As she smelled the cherry blossoms, she thought of the violence she had meted out over her long life, culminating in the minefield carnage last night. She recalled Bowen yearning for his lost mate, half of his head blown off and still crawling for the box. She thought Cindey had mumbled something about a baby.