A Warrior's Quest (15 page)

Hell yes, she was frightened. How could she not be? He could hurt her so much more than he could ever know.
He already had. “Of course not. I just don’t want
you.
”

“Now you speak drivel. We both know that you want me. As I want you. So come here. We must get this out of the way if we are to plan for our future together.” He feinted left, when Aureliana went right. She spun. If he got his hands on her….Fight him would probably
not
be one of the things she did. 

“Get it out of the way? Some romantic you are!” She hopped over a small footstool. He pushed it out of his way with one foot. So easily. So big. So strong. With him she couldn
’t help feel delicate and feminine, for once. Fragile. Weak.

Unable to resist.

Damn him. Was he using some sort of demon magic on her? Or was it just the natural desire to be with her
Rajni
in spite of the circumstances?

He threw his head back and laughed. “Female, you know that a chase excites me. Perhaps that is your goal? Exciting your male to new heights? I am glad to oblige, if that is so.” He jumped over the end table she
’d darted around. His suite was large, but the places she could go to escape him were limited.

There was always the window. But she doubted she could get through the small opening before he had her. Before he put his hands on her. “You don
’t want me, Ren. You just think you do.”

“Think you that after near two thousand years on this world I do not know my own mind?” He had her, and they both knew it. He
’d backed her neatly in to a corner; one she wasn’t getting out of until he let her. Aureliana pressed herself against the silk wallpaper. He pressed his body against hers. Oh Dear Goddess, help her… “Or that as an Incubus I do not know
yours
? The things I can do to you, pet….I guarantee you will enjoy them.”

Why
was she denying herself the male the goddess had given her? Why was she doing this to herself? Aureliana put her hands against his chest. He was well made, muscled and strong beneath her fingers. Why couldn’t she just enjoy this time they had together, rather than fighting it and herself? Wouldn’t it be better to take what little time she’d been given and experience the bonds that only a
Rajni
pairing could bring? Why
did
she have to fight him?

Why did she always have to fight herself?

“Ren…”

He knew she was weak; she could see that knowledge in the grin on his lips. He tangled a hand in her hair, tilting her head to the side more roughly than she
’d expected. “Kiss me.”

He didn
’t give her a chance, crushing her lips beneath his. Aureliana just clung to him, like she’d wanted from the first. His arms were warm, his body strong, his smell just right. Perfect. She
hummed
in her throat and her own fingers slipped in to the dark hair that just brushed his shoulders. It was soft and silky, a contrast to the strength of his body.
Oh, Ren.
Why did she feel so weak where he was concerned?

How long they stood there, pressed against the wall, lips pressed together, she didn
’t know. When he pulled away she dragged in a breath. “Please…”

“Please what, pet? I
’d like nothing more than to please you. Let me.” He slipped the buttons of her
vestis
free. She let him push the white cotton off her shoulders. He traced the light blue strap of her silk bra with a questing finger. “This, too, sweetling.”

What was she doing? She asked herself that question over and over while still flicking open the fastener to the silk.

She just wanted her
Rajni.
Just once, just for a little while. What would it hurt anyone, other than herself?

He lifted her, and Aureliana wrapped her legs around his waist. He carried her so easily. Had she ever felt this vulnerable with a male before? Was it because it was
him
, the man she’d been waiting for four hundred years to find? That she still wasn’t sure she liked him mattered little—the goddess she’d worshiped for those four hundred years had put them together.

Because they were meant to be together.

So why was she fighting against the goddess’s will?

Ren knew she was still conflicted, but she wasn
’t pushing him away. Her hands were clinging to his shoulders, and she was near naked in his arms. Her skin was pale and soft, so different than that of the Warrior women he had consorted with in the past. Everything about her was softer than those sturdy, strong females.

He would have to be gentle with her. The last thing he ever wanted to do was hurt her. He gentled his touch, spread his fingers on the silk skin of her back. He held her closer as he carried her to his bed.

He laid her carefully in the center of it.

Had he ever felt so awkward with a female? He didn
’t think so. He pulled his own tunic over his head and flung it toward the corner. He wanted nothing between his skin and that of this female he’d spend the next little bit of eternity with. “Aureliana…”

She closed her eyes. “I
’m not sure what we’re doing.”

Was she saying she was virgin? Somehow he had not expected that. “I will not hurt you, if this is your first…”

She laughed at that. “Far from it, but it has been quite a while. You know what I mean.”

There had been other males before him? That had a small rush of anger going through him. Who? Who had captured the girl warrior
’s attention before him? Was the bastard still living? Would she care if he killed him? “Do I?”

“What happens next? After we….I don
’t
want
you for my
Rajni.
You are not what I expected, nor what I wanted. I won’t lie to you about that.”

He would never tell her that her words hurt him. Why had they? She was not his
first
choice, either. “So it will be honesty between us then? Tell me…this does not excite you?” He leaned over her then, brushing his teeth over her neck. She shivered, like he knew she would. “Yes. I thought it would.”

“Bastard.” She turned her mouth toward him and quicker than a snake she sank her fangs into
his
neck. Ren growled. A Warrior Demon was not accustomed to providing for a female in such a way. It galled him to be vulnerable in such a manner. But…this was
her
way. Shouldn’t that supersede his reticence?

If his female needed he would provide. Period.

She pulled away. He looked down at her. Her eyes were hot when they looked back at him. “I don’t want you.”

He cupped a breast, pleased with the instant result of her soft flesh. “Your body says otherwise. I can have you…however I want you.”

“Physically, yes. I can’t deny that. It is out of my power.” She arched in to his hand. He smiled. Yes, she wanted him.
His
female wanted
him.
That was a heady feeling, for a male of any worth.

“That
’s bullshit. Your deity only controls you to the extent that you let her. Forget you not, female, that
I
am just as powerful as she. If I wanted to resist what she has put together I would have done so by now.” He yanked the white trousers down her hips, using one hand to lift her, the other to manipulate the cloth. He wanted his female naked, and by damn, that was what he was going to have. “Know this; I am taking
you
for my own. You cannot get away now. You are
mine.”

She couldn
’t fight any longer. She knew that. She wanted her
Rajni,
and he was right there in front of her, claiming to want her, too.

She
’d be far stronger than she knew herself to be if she was able to resist him now. Aureliana held out her arms to him. He laughed, that arrogance of his so much a part of who he was.

His skin was still blue.

Blue, for the Goddess’s sake. She was paired with a giant blue demon. Or purple. Or red, green, or whatever color he wished. How could it be that way? “I will be no male’s. I make the choice, Ren. Not the goddess, not some arrogant purple incubus halfling. Me. I’m choosing to do this
with
you. And when the time comes I’ll choose to walk away.”

“Maybe you will not be able to walk away.” He pulled the
pardus
from her legs and flung them. He flipped her on her back and smacked her smartly across the most perfect feminine ass he had ever seen. And in two thousand years he’d seen more than plenty.

She squealed, like he knew she would. A strong woman like her—or like she
thought
she was—would not like being put in such a position by a male. Even her mate. Especially her mate. He lowered his body to cover hers, and wrapped his hands around her wrists, spreading her arms out to the sides. He nipped her neck and had her squealing again. “Yes, that does drive you wild, doesn’t it?”

His bite was sharper when he nipped her shoulder. He backed away from her and flipped her over. She was so small; it would be so much fun to dominate…if she was up for it.

Later; now he just wanted to taste her, feast for a bit. There would be time for games—many, many games, and he knew them all—later. He stroked a hand down her side and watched her shiver. Watched her eyes darken with the hunger they both felt. Beautiful. So different than the Warrior females of his past.

He kissed her.

She wrapped her wrists behind his head and locked her legs around his hips. Her hands were not soft; the skin was calloused from her sword work. Why did the contrast between her soft, sweet, feminine body and that excite him so?

Ren didn
’t know. But it did.

She was impatient, his little
gamata
, pulling him closer. Nipping him with her pretty little fangs. Such pretense at fierceness, but did she see herself at all like he saw her? Beautiful. Soft. Vulnerable.

He gentled his hands, so wanting to please. But she didn
’t seem to want that; she seemed to want hard and fast and furious.

She definitely wasn
’t untouched. Her hands in the battle that was sex were just as sure as they were during swordplay.

He knew it was his Warrior blood that made that thought so damned exciting for him.

She reared up, throwing him off balance. Ren laughed. His female would always be a fighter; why wouldn’t that extend to bed play?

She pushed against his chest, and he let her, knowing what she wanted. He fell against the pillows, and dragged his female to straddle him. She was beautiful, more so now that she was naked. Why had he ever thought her lacking when compared to Warrior women? She was curved and soft in all the right female places, but she had strength and the toned body of an athlete.

She was a mix of attractions, and he couldn’t wait to find them all.

She was not the smallest female of her Kind he had ever seen—both his sister-in-law and the blind healer Bronwen were significantly smaller—but compared to females of both Warrior and Succubae ancestry she was
too
small. Was that what had him both intrigued and nervous? He did not want to hurt her…

“I will not break by rough handling. Even in the bedroom.” She used her hands on his chest to balance her weight. “If you think that, then we need to stop this right now. I will not break. I am far stronger than you think.”

His gaze landed on the scar—one of the only ones marring her body. Dardaptoans rarely scarred. Only the gravest wounds left a reminder. Where he had nearly killed her was the worst on her body.

He covered it with one palm. “You will never know how I regret this.”

“
Don’t
. It happened for a reason. It might not have been a good reason, but it was meant to happen.”

He slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her closer. Her chest pressed against his. Soft, warm, perfect. His.

He’d die protecting this female without hesitation. Did she know that? Had he ever told her that? “I will protect you.”

“From? I
’m kind of semi-mortal, you know? Long lived and all that. I don’t
need
you to protect me.” She bit him, sank her teeth deep in to his neck. Pulled from him. “But no babes. Promise me.”

He tightened his arms around her, until she was cradled in his arms. He rolled to cover her again. Kissed her again. Gently this time.

Why did he feel this overwhelming urge to be gentle with her? “No. You terrify me; you are so small…I will not hurt you. You have my vow on this.”

“I never thought you would.” She sank her nails in to his shoulders. Arched her hips in a way designed to torture him. She laughed. “You know, I was expecting more from a son of an Incubi King. Or are you more Warrior in the bedroom?”