Ha'ven's Song (13 page)

A shiver ran though his body as he wrapped
his arms tightly around her. He buried his face in her hair and
breathed deeply until he felt a measure of calm settle over him.
Once again, the moment his power wrapped with hers it settled. He
did not understand what was going on. When they returned to
Ceran-Pax, he would meet with Melek and Salvin to see if they had
found anything in the ancient archives.

Sliding his arm more securely under her
legs, he turned and walked back to the small lift that was on the
opposite wall from the hatch. He issued a short command and the
door slid open. Stepping inside, he turned as the door closed them
in the narrow space.

“I’m sorry,” Emma said quietly. She wrapped
one hand around his while her head rested against his chest. “I
hurt you. I didn’t mean too. I was scared and reacted without
thinking.”

Ha’ven chuckled as the door opened to the
upper level. “You have a very good punch when you want to for
someone so small. I will have to remember that in the future. You
do a good job with your feet as well. That is the second time you
have kicked me,” he said as he stepped into the small sleeping
area.

Emma blushed and turned her face into his
chest. “I’ve never hit anyone in my life,” she admitted.

He walked over and sat down on the edge of
the bed she had been sleeping in only a short time ago. He refused
to let her go. He was shaken by her ability to slip into the shadow
realm. If what she said earlier was true, then she was unaware of
the power she wielded inside her delicate frame. It was imperative
that he teach her how to control it before something bad
happened.

“Then I am honored that I was your first
victim, though I prefer to not be on the receiving end again. The
first time you almost emasculated me and this time you broke my
nose. I can happily attest to the fact you are proficient in
self-defense,” he teased.

Emma raised her head in alarm. “I broke your
nose?” She gasped looking at the long, narrow appendage. “It
doesn’t look broken,” she said, looking confused as she reached up
to gently touch it.

Ha’ven lifted his head enough to brush a
kiss against her fingers. An unfamiliar emotion swelled inside him
and suddenly all he could think about was how close he came to
losing her. Fear choked him. Both emotions were foreign to him and
left him bewildered.

“I healed the damage,” he said gruffly. “You
must promise me to never do what you did again. It was very
dangerous.”

“I told you I didn’t mean to hit you,” Emma
started to say in a small voice.

“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking
about disappearing into the shadow realm,” he said. “If you had
become trapped there you could have been lost.”

Emma shook her head. “I don’t know what you
are talking about. I can’t just disappear into a shadow even if I
wanted. I was just looking for a safe place to hide,” she said with
a hint of exasperation before she laid her head tiredly down
against his chest. “I don’t know why I’m so tired.”

Ha’ven threaded his hand through her hair
and pulled her head back far enough for him to look into her eyes.
He was shocked to realize she really didn’t understand what she had
done. She didn’t have a clue that she had been able to dissolve the
molecules of her body until only her natural energy remained. This
was much more serious than he realized.

“Oh, little one, you are dangerous in more
ways than I ever expected,” he groaned out, sealing his lips over
hers.

*.*.*

Emma froze as Ha’ven’s hot lips sealed over
hers. The same warmth that flooded her when he touched her earlier
in the engine room filled her. There was something about him that
made her feel safe, needed… loved.

She had been so lost until he touched her
and the strange black bands had wound around her. The moment she
felt the dark strands wrap around her wrist, it was as if someone
had shot pure energy into her. She felt invincible. The bands had
drawn her forward from the dark shadows that she had imagined hid
her from everyone. It was as if they were pulling her closer to the
huge male who made impossible promises to her.

She moaned softly, opening her mouth and
drinking him in like a desert rose that was waiting until the first
rains before blossoming. Her arms slid up, her fingers touching him
lightly as she searched for the warmth of his skin. A deep sigh
escaped her as she found what she was looking for. Her fingers
caressed the skin on the sides of his neck before burying in his
thick black hair.

She didn’t protest when he shifted around to
lay her gently back against the soft covers of the bed. A loud
whimper escaped her when she felt his hot palm cover her left
breast. Unable to resist the sensation of pleasure, she pressed up
against it begging for more. Her fingers tightened in his hair as
he kneaded her breast before slipping his hand down and under her
loose shirt to touch her skin.

Emma pulled her mouth away from his and
pressed upwards with a loud hiss. She stared up into his eyes as he
gazed down at her with an intensity that almost hurt to look at.
His hand paused briefly before he moved it slowly up along her
ribcage.

“Tell me to stop and I will,” he bit out
harshly. “Tell me, Emma, and I will but if you do not I will claim
you as mine.”

Emma stared up into his eyes, heat pooling
low inside her at his words. She nervously licked her lips before
biting her lower one. His hand paused again, this time just under
her left breast.

“For how long?” she asked huskily. “For how
long will you claim me?”

Ha’ven’s eyes darkened at her husky
question. “Forever, my Emma. I will claim you forever,” he vowed in
a soft voice filled with determination and possession. “Forever,”
he whispered again leaning until he was a breath away from touching
her lips again.

“If you promise not to leave me again, then
the answer is…,” she paused as she leaned up enough to rest her
lips against his. “… yes.”

Ha’ven’s loud groan filled the small cabin
as he captured her lips in a desperate kiss at the same time as his
hand captured her unbound breast.

Ha’ven swore he would have gone mad if she
had denied him. He would have left her if she had but it would have
come at a great cost. His body throbbed painfully with the need to
claim her. The essence that gave him his power burned to complete
the joining that would bind them together forever.

He had not been just saying the words to
make her feel better. Once he claimed her fully, she would carry
the very essence of him inside her as he would her. Their powers
would combine to make them extremely powerful. That power would be
seen as a threat by those that wanted to destroy him and his
family. Emma would become a target, her life in constant danger, if
he and his brothers did not eliminate the threat.

“Emma,
misha petite
,” Ha’ven groaned
out. “I need you.”

Emma drew in a shaky breath as he pulled
back far enough so he was kneeling over her. Her eyes widened as he
waved his hand over his body and his clothes dissolved. She gasped
loudly when he did the same to her and she found herself lying
under him, nude. Her arms fell to cover her breasts as a bright,
fiery blush rose over her cheeks.

“Ha’ven?” She asked, looking up at him with
wide, startled eyes.

He grinned crookedly down at her. “I never
really appreciated our ability until now. I think I will enjoy
removing your clothes… often,” he growled in a playful tone. “Very,
very often,” he added as he reached down and gently cupped her
hands in his and lifted them to his chest. “Touch me,” he asked
huskily. “Please.”

Emma fought her shyness. She hadn’t been
undressed in front of anyone except her mother her whole life. She
had never even undressed for a doctor since she hit puberty. She
had been mortified when her mom had taken her when she was
seventeen to the doctor and the nurse told her she would have to
undress. Instead, she had bolted from the room and her mom had
taken her home. Shortly afterward, her father had died and her
mother’s dementia had grown worse.

Her fingers trembled as she touched the firm
skin of his stomach. Her lips parted in wonder as she focused on
exploring him. The sensations rushing through her were foreign but
the ageless fire of desire burst to life inside her. She forgot her
own nudity as she ran her fingers over the exquisite form kneeling
over her.

“You are so beautiful,” she whispered as she
slid her fingers along his heated flesh. “So hard but soft as well.
You feel warm, almost hot. Is it natural for you to be this warm?”
She asked, flicking a glance up at him before returning her eyes to
where her fingers were.

“Gods, Emma,” Ha’ven muttered as he closed
his eyes and breathed out heavily. “Your innocence is like a drug
to my system. You have no idea what your touch is doing to me, do
you?” He opened his eyes and gazed down at her flushed face.

Her hair was fanned out around her head
framing the delicate features of her face. Her body glowed with her
aura, changing colors as she touched him. His breath caught as
effervescent colors danced around her and across her skin. Pinks,
soft purples, yellows and oranges swirled across silky pale skin.
His fingers slid across her collarbone and the colors reached up
and clung to him. His own spun around, mixing with it. He started
to pull back when the black strands surged outward.

“I love the way the black swirls when I
touch you,” Emma murmured softly. “It makes me feel safe… warm
inside. When I touch you, different colors stand out against it
before fading and blending into it. Yet, if I touch you they come
back. It is like the black is protecting them, only letting them
out when it is safe or when they want to come out to play against
it,” she explained in a faint voice.

Ha’ven froze as her words sunk in. She was
not afraid of the darkness inside him. He looked down where she was
running her hands along his stomach and up his chest. Just as she
described, her essence danced in a beautiful pattern across his own
before disappearing briefly then coming out again. His breath
caught and he was held mesmerized by both her hands and the joining
between them.

His hands moved to touch hers. She turned
her palms and threaded her fingers through his, looking up at him
with her soul bare for him to see. A soft, tentative smile curved
her lips as she gently pulled him down.

“I like it when you kiss me,” she whispered
huskily. “When you touch me, I don’t feel afraid anymore. I don’t
understand this or why you make me feel safe but I like it.”

“You…” He started to say before his voice
faded.

Ha’ven couldn’t finish his sentence. The
emotions that he had felt earlier rushed back through him again,
this time with an intensity that took his breath away. He didn’t
understand the emotions that she unleashed deep inside him. He
didn’t know what they meant. The only thing he knew was that he
would never, ever let the delicate female he held in his arms be
taken from him. May the Goddess have mercy on anyone who tried
because he wouldn’t. He would unleash every ounce of the power that
Aria had awakened inside him and damn the consequences.

Ha’ven deepened the kiss even as he slowly
lowered his body over her smaller frame. He groaned when her legs
instinctively parted to let him rest between them. There was so
much he wanted to do to her but he honestly didn’t know if he had
the self-discipline this first time. The fear of losing her still
brushed along the edge of his consciousness making the need to
claim her almost unbearable.

He pulled back just far enough to run small
kisses from her swollen lips down along her jaw to the sensitive
spot below her right ear. He nipped at her neck, enjoying the gasp
that echoed from her reaction. He wanted to discover every inch of
her body. He didn’t think a lifetime would ever be enough and
Curizans were known to live a very long time.

“You make me feel things I do not
understand,” he whispered as he pressed a kiss against her
collarbone. “The power inside you calls to my own.”

“You make me feel… things too,” Emma replied
breathlessly as his firm lips teased the tip of her right breast.
“Please, I want… you too.... This feels so good, so….”

“Right,” Ha’ven muttered under his breath
before he covered the taut peak with his hot mouth.

The feel of Emma’s hands tangled in his long
hair, holding him to the tip he greedily sucked on, fired his blood
even hotter. Nothing in all of his other lovers ever prepared him
for this rush of possessiveness. He wanted every part of her; mind,
body and soul. Her fingers tugged on his hair. When his eyes lifted
to her face, they locked with her wide ones. She stared at him with
a hungry desire that poured over him in hot flames.

He released her small breast with a loud pop
and slowly turned his attention to her other one. He loved the way
her eyes followed him and her body tilted trying to hurry him to
the prize. His tongue slowly came out and her breathing became
small pants as her own tongue imitated his. He didn’t think his
cock could get any harder or his sack any fuller but the sight of
her licking her lips as he teased the taut peak made him think of
that beautiful tongue doing the same to his hard shaft.

They groaned in unison, her from his finally
sucking hard on her nipple; him from the imagery of her sucking on
him. He could feel the moisture of pre-cum escape his cock as it
brushed along the inside of her thigh. He closed his eyes when she
moved her leg, rubbing his swollen, aching tip against her silky
skin.

Releasing her nipple with a muttered oath,
he rose up over her. “Goddess be praised, Emma. I will have you now
and pleasure you to madness later,” he swore as he moved back up
her body and gripped her thighs in his large hands.