Chapter 94 Body/Soul
❀ Maeve ❀
The sting of salt in my eyes was nothing compared to the wet heat of Nikolai’s tongue.
He kissed me like he was starved for it. Sick for it.
Tongue brushing sensually against mine, fangs nipping my lips, he groaned into it like only this contact could save a dying man.
“Has something happened?” I blurted between pants.
His strong arms held me tightly against him as we bobbed softly in the water.
His throat was thick when he said, “Yes. A grave occurrence.”
My heart thudded. My mind spun the worst scenarios, but in the end, only he could deliver the true blow.
“Are you in danger? What is it?”
His chest moved against mine, his lips curving in a grin. “You didn’t even ask if the danger concerned you.”
I blinked at him. “But it does. Any danger to you is danger to me.”
If Drusilla or Lilith suddenly decided they’d rather have him dead than bound to me, my head would soon follow.
“So what is the grave occurrence?” I squeezed his shoulders impatiently.
“We were almost twenty-four hours apart,” he said, setting his mouth to my neck, tonguing my pulse point. Then he whispered against my skin, “I never want to be apart from you.”
Rolling my eyes, I tried to temper the silly smile building—
I gasped when he fisted my hair backward, exposing more of my neck. He sucked and kissed all over my throat like he wanted to devour me.
Heat gathered in my body like a ticking explosive.
In the water between us, his shaft jutted like a huge mast.
“S-sharks…” I stammered, clutching him tightly as the waves rocked us.
“I’d string the teeth of any that dared,” he growled.
His claws made quick work of my panties. Then he slid his palm up my back, slicing my bra away in one smooth motion.
I shuddered.
Our skins pressed together, trapping heat between our bodies. The ocean lashed us with cold water, but the contrast only sharpened the tension.
My body melted under his seeking hands. Fingers in my hair, kneading my thighs, my ass, my lower back arching so deeply my nipples jutted for attention.
His eyes followed the sway of my breasts, hypnotized.
But my gaze kept snapping to the vastness around us. The stars and moon burned bright, yet the water beneath the surface was dark. Endless.
Anxiety pulled me from our sizzling connection.
“I can’t do this,” I whispered in his ear.
The stream and the underwater cave were one thing. The ocean was another entirely.
He cupped my jaw, forcing me to face him.
“Do you trust me?”
Eyes locked, lost in his glowing Crimson gaze, I nodded slowly, even though I didn’t trust him completely.
He’d failed to protect me more times than I liked. And I’d had to step up for myself each time.
The night could go either way.
He would probably behead a shark for me.
Or I would conquer my fear on my own.
“Relax. I’ve got you,” he said firmly. “Feel the moon on your skin. The emptiness beneath your feet, it’s like flying.”
“Like an extended tracing,” I offered.
His eyes shone. “Exactly.”
My arms wrapped around his neck. His hands clutched my hips, drawing me flush against him. His tip brushed my entrance in a teasing prod.
Muscles stood out in his neck and shoulders.
He was holding back, controlling the bob of the water, pacing himself, refusing to ravage me until I was ready.
My heart softened.
I pressed a kiss to his cheek. Then the corner of his mouth.
“I missed you too,” I murmured.
Impossibly, his body hardened further, shaft lengthening until the prod turned insistent.
My core trembled, clenching around nothing, demanding his thickness.
A whimper slipped free. “I need you.”
His lips parted, hunger blazing.
“Ecstatic to serve.”
He captured my nipple, thrusting at the same time.
I threw my head back with a sigh.
Pulse fluttering. Flesh burning like a beacon in the dark.
His shaft crept in slowly, too slowly, so I rolled my hips, taking him deeper in one decisive motion.
His fangs pressed down with a startled grunt. Pain flared, blending with the blinding spark in my core.
“Harder… please, please…”
Something broke.
He plunged, thrusting powerfully. Wrenching me onto his shaft like a doll, lips never leaving my aching nipples.
“Oh gods… yes, yes...”
One hand left my hip. Before I could whimper, his thumb pressed against my clit.
My spine jerked.
A ragged inhale filled my chest to bursting.
I looked down to find his heated gaze locked on my face, watching every reaction, drinking in my pleasure.
A hot, ember-bright buzz coiled low, milking him, loving his unyielding rod.
He rubbed mind-numbing circles, a constant growl vibrating in his chest.
Just as he stiffened to spill, my own release crashed through me.
I crushed his face against my chest, hugging him tight as my body seized beneath the moon’s silver gaze.
Unable to thrust, unable to speak, trapped in my pulsing heat, he ground out his seed.
Our moans carried... two immortals taking relief with the world as witness.
One moment, water pressed against me.
The next, soft silk brushed my skin.
I opened my eyes to find he’d traced us to his bed.
Our bed.
I groaned, limbs boneless, my center still clinging to his half-hard length.
He kissed my face, his hand sliding back into my hair.
“I just made you see the light,” he murmured. “Am I still your darkness?”
A breathless laugh escaped me. I met his gaze, challenge burning bright.
“You will always be my darkness,” I purred, rising onto my elbows. “And darkness never felt so good.”
He hardened instantly.
With a searing look, he sank deeper, grinding at a punishing pace, holding my gaze with dangerous intensity.
“And I won’t stop,” he growled, “until I pull you so deep under, darkness is all you ever need.”
A threat.
I lifted my hand, claws glinting in the hearthlight, sinking them into his waist.
His scent wrapped around me, intoxicating, heavy. My lids grew heavy.
My legs fell open, my back sinking into the bed, lips parted as I floated on tangible bliss.
When he moved inside me again, I keened.
“How I love the sounds you make,” he murmured. “For me. Only for me.”
Claws drawing blood, my stomach tightened.
Heat built.
Words failed me.
Skin slid against skin. Thighs slapped against powerful muscle.
“Squeeze my cock, milaya,” he grated, voice strangled. “Show me how well I fit you.”
Feverish, stuttering, lightning struck.
My back arched as his hand pressed me closer.
Sweet torture razed me as white heat lashed again and again.
I barely registered his own bellow, his frantic thrusts riding out his release.
For all I knew, he had cleanly torn my body from my soul—