Allegiance Sworn (25 page)

Chapter 29

I
MHARA’S
husky question set Arek’s pulse skipping faster through his veins and a surge of blood rushing south. Just the thought of her exploring him, in whatever way she pleased, had his body humming with awareness. Sweat prickled his skin and he knew it wasn’t because of the heat in the room.

Imhara Kaal disturbed him; the things she said, the actions she took, the way she made him feel. She challenged him. She confused him. She shook him to the core.

She’d taken his world, made him question everything about it, and continued to strip him bare inside and out, bit by bit. And to add madness to the mix, he found himself wanting her more, with no idea why.

Take Yrenna. She’d absolved him of blame, shifted some of it to herself, and reassured him, all in one breath. And, with a reference to one kiss, reignited the hunger he’d felt that night for her.

Distract. Deflect. Adapt. Engage.

She’d used each strategy on him so far. With devastating effect. It didn’t matter if he resisted. She just found another way to breach his defenses.

“Why spoil your fun?” A wry response, probably more sullen in tone than he’d intended, yet her chuckle grazed his ears.

“Ahh, an invitation.” Her violet eyes sparkled. Her lips were only a breath from his. “I bet I can find a better use for that clever mouth before the night is over.”

It didn’t take much to conjure up a dozen ways he could use his mouth, either, all involving her. With her hips locked over his, he couldn’t hide the instant reaction her suggestion had on him.

“You like that idea.” Imhara canted her hips against him, sliding slowly along his length. The surge of heat generated by the rough caress of the fabric hardened him in less than a heartbeat. He bit back a groan. A wicked smile curved her lips. “A lot.”

Another gentle rock stole his breath.

“I like it, too.” Her breathless admission set his heart pounding. High spots of color flushed her cheeks. “More?”

He couldn’t help the shudder that rippled through him. Reaching up, he gripped her arms but couldn’t push her away.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” She leaned forward and put her lips to his ear. “Do you like your pleasure soft and slow? Or hard and fast?”

The image in his mind, of her body working him over the edge, charged every nerve, tightened every muscle, and made him tremble like he’d spent three hours in a grueling training session.

Distract, deflect, engage.

She was good.

“Neither!” he growled.

He couldn’t believe how quickly she’d stripped away his control. Nor could he decide whether he admired or resented her tactics.

“Liar. Desiring a demon terrifies you.” Each whispered word escalated the beat of his heart. “You’re just afraid you might enjoy it too much.”

The raw truth in her words was too hot. Too real.

“No!” He surged upward, intending to push her off him.

Her hands slammed against his chest, pinned him to the cushions.

Na’Reish
strength.

“What are you afraid of, Arek? Besides it being so good between us?” Her demand was hard, but the way she undulated against him was gentle. Like waves licking at the shores of a lake, but with heat of a fire. “You want me.”

He shuddered. “I don’t want this.”

“You don’t want to lose control. There’s a difference.”

A slight shift of her weight accompanied her words. Another slide, this one harder, faster, had his body bowing, arching up against her, every muscle straining.

Lady’s Breath
, she was killing him.

“Imhara . . .” A plea and curse all in one.

“Your body tells me you want this. Your scent tells me you want this.”

And
Light
help him, he wanted more.

Much, much more.

Imhara stilled on top of him, the most exquisite of pained expressions frozen on her face. He shuddered at the cessation of movement and knew the awful combination of agony and need she was feeling.

“Trust me or hate me, Arek. Which will it be? Only then can this pleasure truly be ours.” The heat in her violet gaze was as fierce as the one consuming him. “The choice is yours.” Her fingers trembled as they traced his brow, the side of his face, his lips. “It always has been.”

Her words made him freeze along with everything else. He dragged in a breath, fighting the bands squeezing his chest, listened to the air rasp into his lungs then rush out.

The choice is yours. It always has been.

Time stretched out as he stared up at her. Resisting what lay between them wasn’t working, but giving in to it felt like jumping from a cliff blindfolded. Yet running from his fear wouldn’t solve a thing.

The heart will know what the mind and soul desires.
Scripture etched into the prayer room at the Light Blade compound.

His faith and his heart. The only two things he had left to rely upon . . . could rely upon . . . with any certainty.

To follow his heart would require a leap of faith.

Arek swallowed hard. “You.” The hoarse declaration didn’t sound like his voice. Hot and cold chills rippled through him. He met her gaze. “I choose you.”

Imhara’s eyes widened and her mouth parted in shock. Her fingers dug into his chest, a sweet pinch of pain. The wide smile she gave him helped him breathe again.

He waited for the rush of panic and doubt to accompany his decision, but a sense of acceptance washed over him instead.

Imhara’s mouth brushed against his, the softest press of her lips on his. Holding his gaze, she moved forward then back, sliding against him with the lightest touch. His nerves still fired, building his need for release.

“Your pleasure is mine, Arek.” Her husky voice ran shivers up his spine.

Bracing her weight on one hand, she reached down between them. Her fingers found him, ran the length of his shaft, then pressed him hard against her swollen center. The lightning shock of her touch wrenched another groan from deep in his throat. Seed leaked from him. She pushed upward again, a slow torturous slide, the searing sensation so extreme it had him teetering on the edge of orgasm.

“I can smell your need. It makes my mouth water.” Imhara’s voice was as strained and tight as he felt. “I wager you’d taste as rich as grazer-cream.”

The thought of her going down on him, her lips wrapped around his length, cheeks hollowed, her clever tongue teasing him, her expression taut with pleasure squeezed the last coherent thought from his head.

Arek bucked against her. Her fingers tightened around him and he surged up again, the heat of her scorching him on one side, her fingers a slick pressure anchoring him there on the other. The rhythm she set, the heavy scent of their pleasure, her small cries descended into sensory overload.

“Mother of Light . . .”
He gripped her hips, his fingers flexing then digging as fire licked then ignited every nerve.

“Don’t fight it. I want to see your pleasure.”

Her breathless plea, the vibrant ache of need in her voice, sent him over the edge. His whole body surrendered, imploding in a furious rush of light and heat, and sensation.

Lady’s Breath
, how he wished he could feel her raw heat against him instead of moist fabric, but it was too late.

Fire burned through his bloodstream. His lungs seized, breathing ceased. Every muscle locked tight. His seed jetted forth. Each spasm wrenched a cry from him, blinding him with a rush so incredible, so intense it bordered on pain.

He hadn’t spent this quickly since his earlier years when he’d first begun experimenting with willing partners, but then the encounters had never matched what he was experiencing now.

When his orgasm finally subsided and his muscles weakened, he collapsed back onto the cushions, utterly spent, his breathing uneven and choppy. Imhara’s touch became featherlight, still stroking, still drawing out the last of his pleasure. He shuddered and caught her hand, twining her slick fingers with his.

Merciful Mother
, he’d leapt from the cliff, but instead of experiencing the sudden, sickening rush to the ground below, he’d soared like a wind-drifter. A euphoric detonation of pleasure like nothing he’d ever felt before.

Blinking the blurriness from his sight, he found Imhara watching him with a very satisfied smile, yet the heat of high arousal still burned in her cheeks and her gaze. Her hand still trembled in his.

Arek swallowed twice to get his voice to work. “You denied yourself? Why?”

Her soft laughter was strained but warm. “I was distracted.” Her knuckles grazed one side of his face. “I couldn’t look away or focus on anything but you. Didn’t want to.”

Her admission caught him off guard. He mightn’t understand everything she did, but the more he thought about it, her selflessness embodied the Imhara Kaal he’d come to know. She hadn’t found physical pleasure, but contentment and satisfaction radiated from her anyway. It was there reflected in her expression and smile.

Unable to resist, he cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand and trailed his thumb over her skin to the corner of her mouth. Her eyes widened. When he traced her bottom lip, her breath hitched. Her astonishment turned to anticipation.

A little awed, Arek shook his head. “You keep surprising me.”

In one smooth movement, he rolled until Imhara lay on her back, and pinned her there with one leg thrown over hers. Her eyebrows rose but she made no attempt to free herself even though she could have easily done so.

Instead her hands smoothed over his chest then curled around his ribs to slide down the length of his back, following the line of his spine, stopping at the swell of his buttocks.

Such a simple caress yet one that woke the nerves beneath his skin and hardened him within a heartbeat, again a reaction he couldn’t hide from her. Her fingers lingered, kneading his muscles, her gaze turning smoky and dark.

He smoothed a thumb over her brow. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m not sure either of us are ready to go there.” Her husky tone stroked him as deftly as her hand had moments ago. Her lips twitched. “Yet.”

Threading his fingers in her hair, Arek lowered his head and pressed his mouth against hers, teasing her, tempted to show her how quickly that slow burn inside him could escalate to an inferno but resisted.

He kissed her in soft increments, working his way from one side of her mouth to the other, then on the backward trek flicked his tongue against her lips, in slow, tiny strokes.

Their first kiss had been an impulsive act, driven by a whole gamut of emotions, explosive, an assault on all their senses. This one he was determined not to rush.

“Arek . . .” His name, barely audible, at the tail end of a breathy moan.

What would it be like to hear her cry out in unrestrained passion? Sliding his hand to her waist, he tugged her shirt free of her breeches, undid the top button, then the next two. Her body undulated, an unconscious shift that made him grin.

Her hand clasped then pressed his flat to the bare skin of her abdomen. “I don’t expect you to do this. There’s no obligation, Arek.”

“There’s none felt. My decision. My choice, Imhara,” he replied, and nudged his hard length against her thigh. He watched her pupils dilate, then leaned closer, his lips next to her ear. “Do you like your pleasure soft and slow? Or hard and fast?”

Her nails dug into the back of his hand as he taunted her with her own words.

“Don’t know that I’ll last long either way,” she admitted with a half chuckle, half groan.

Arek kissed her again, pleased when her mouth opened under his. Her lips fused to his with a pressure that betrayed her hunger. He worked his hand beneath the waistband, his fingertips grazing the swell of flesh above her pubic bone before veeing over her bare folds in a teasing caress.

Drawing back, he watched her eyelids flutter shut. He curled his fingers into her soft flesh, sliding then pressing against her moist inner folds with enough pressure to elicit a gasp from her.

“You’re as hot as molten steel.” His voice grated out the words. “And wet. Very wet.”

He eased a finger into her, a slow caress dictated by her sudden clenching around him, then drew it back, making sure he pressed against her core. Her whole body spasmed.

“
Mother
, that’s so good . . . a little faster.” She bit her bottom lip. “Don’t stop.”

Her plea vibrated with raw need that fed his own.
Light
, if he had the time, he’d strip her bare and replace his fingers with his mouth to give her the pleasure she craved, to taste and savor it as she came. This time though, with a twist of his wrist, several rapid strokes took her over the edge.

Imhara cried out, an uninhibited, guttural sound of pleasure and shock. He smothered it, fitting his mouth over hers, sealing the sound in, feeling it vibrate against his tongue as he tasted her. A short foray and retreat as her whole body trembled.

She rocked against him, her muscles tensing and releasing in rolling waves. One arm flung out and her fingers clawed into a cushion, as if to anchor herself against the powerful explosion of pleasure. Pleasure he knew well. Her lips parted but there was no hard inhalation of breath, just another startled, deep throated cry. She convulsed once, twice, and a third time.