Immortal Need (23 page)

“Look, from what I recall, I’m not yours. You are supposed to kill me. How I figure, you’ve got four more days to do it,” she said, counting on her fingers.

“I will repeat for the last time, I am
not
going to kill you,” he urged. “Look, I know I made a mistake. I should have told you what Freya wanted me to do. I could not have known that you would understand.”

“Yeah, maybe at the beginning. You should have told me that after we slept together, though. Here I am thinking I found this amazing man who would do anything for me, and you’re hiding from me the fact that you are supposed to kill me!”

“Are you not listening to me? I didn’t tell you, okay. It doesn’t change the fact that I didn’t do as I was commanded. We’ve been working our asses off the last three days to try to find a way to not have to do that. We’ve even been searching for a way to break Freya’s hold so we can get a chance to live.”

“You all are not going to use me. I’m done.” She moved to walk past him, and something in Sevani snapped. If she wouldn’t listen to reason, then so be it.

He grasped her and, with rough hands, wrenched her bag from her shoulder and tossed it across the room. When she opened her mouth to protest, he covered her lips with his. Everything in him sang. He could taste her again, feel the heat of her body under his hands. He walked them both to her bed, grabbing her hands and pinning them to her back when she tried to push him away. He could taste her tears.

“I’m sorry. Believe me. I would never hurt you. I would die before I would,” he whispered against her mouth. “She may have ordered me to kill you, but I never agreed to. I found this woman, remarkable, beautiful, strong, and stubborn, that I wanted to have for my own. I found someone who gave me my soul back, gave me light in the darkness.”

He kissed her again, feeling her body go pliant in his arms. She moaned, and he released her hands. She wrapped his arms around his neck, and he lifted her in his arms. They fell onto the bed together. He pulled her clothes from her, frantic to have her again. He ripped his shirt from his chest, his pants from his legs, and took off his boots. In minutes they were skin to skin, heat flaming heat, as his tongue laved the insides of her mouth. Her nails, sharp daggers of pleasure, scored down his back as he nipped at her lips. She twisted and turned beneath him until he was resting between her legs. He lifted one of her knees, opening her wider to him. One hand braced to the bed, he lifted himself off her slowly.

“Put me in,” he urged her.

Her cool hands gripped his cock, dancing over the flesh with featherlight strokes. He nearly went cross-eyed. He bit his lip as she stroked him. She didn’t seem in a rush to put him inside of her. Instead, she pumped her hand from root to tip as she scooted down on the bed. The feel of her hot, wet tongue gliding over the crown of his cock had him exhaling roughly. He gripped the bedspread with tight fingers, forcing his palms to take his weight. He looked down his body at her. Full lips circled his cock, her eyes closed, her fingers dancing over what her mouth couldn’t reach. Her mouth was like heaven against his flesh. Her tongue danced on the sensitive underside of his dick, her cheeks hollowing as she sucked.

“Gods,” he cried, knees sinking to the bed.

With her free hand, she gripped his thigh and used it to help her lift up slightly. She engulfed his cock nearly to the base, and he cried out. Over and over her head bobbed, pleasure streaking through him.

“More, oh gods, harder, Ayah.”

She did as he commanded. The edges of her teeth lightly grazed him. Her hand left his thigh to palm his balls. She rolled them against her fingers and then pulled them down from his body when she swallowed him down again. The pleasure spiked through him, but not enough to send him over the edge. His hips moved. He couldn’t help it. He wanted to sink farther down her throat. He wanted to feel her cover him. She moaned against him, the vibration slithering around his cock and hitting his balls.

“Yes!” he roared, moving faster.

She gripped the base of his cock and sucked down hard on the head. His balls tightened, tingling, his climax spiraling up until it shot out. He roared above her, hips jerking helplessly. She sucked him down, swallowing as he came. When he was spent, she flipped over under him and slid back up the bed. It was the sexiest thing he’d ever felt. She made contact from his groin and up with her body, until her ass was fitted over his still-hard arousal. With her back to his stomach and her shoulders to his chest, she rested her head back on his shoulders.

“Take me,” she whispered, and she didn’t have to ask twice. He wrapped his arm around her waist and sank into her. It was like coming home. All of the fear, the stress of not having her, melted away. She was here, in his arms. He’d gotten her back. He’d brought her home. He would never put her in harm’s way again. Each stroke he promised her this. Each nip at her shoulders, he told her he missed her. With his body he tried to tell her what he couldn’t put into words, what he didn’t quite understand himself. He tried to show her that she meant the world to him.

She gripped his hand on the bed and rocked with him. Her lips sipped at his neck as he blanketed her. He turned his head and captured her mouth. He let go of her waist and palmed her breast. She moaned, slamming her body into his harder. She was so wet, so hot. He would go through the very fires of Hel to bring her home, whatever she needed to keep her safe. He could not imagine his life without her. She gave him peace in a way that he never thought he would have.

“Harder,” she urged, and he obliged. He pulled away from her so that he was sitting up on his knees behind her. He pushed her chest to the bed so the angle was deeper, and then gripped her hips. She screamed under him, but he pushed her harder. He jerked her hips back to meet every one of his punishing thrusts. Over and over again, he pushed into her tender inner muscles until she was tightening, holding him like a vise. She froze, body tensing for a moment, and then came apart in his arms. She yelled, fingers twisting into the cover under her, as her core milked him. He lost his breath as he surged, once, twice, a third time and exploded with her, blind, deaf, and dumb to anything but the scent of her sweat-covered skin, her gripping vaginal muscles, and her cries. This was heaven. This was the afterlife he had always wanted. Right here, inside of Ayah. Right here.

They slumped together on the bed, breathing roughly. He rolled to take his weight off her back and pulled her with him. She rested on his shoulder, her back still to him.

“This isn’t over, is it?” she asked quietly after a time.

“No. Freya won’t take defeat well. She will come after us again. Valerie has taken Lei from her as well. She only has Alexander left.”

“That’s good for Lei and Valerie at least.”

“Not really. He’s her servant. And Valerie is not really free yet.”

“What?”

Sevani explained, then, about Valerie being a goddess and what had occurred. He told her about their plans, what Alexander had found out, and the changes in him. He told her everything that he could think of. He never wanted something he hadn’t told her to be used to come between them again. By the time he was finished, she had rolled over and was staring at him, wide-eyed.

“I’ve missed quite a bit.”

“My fault, partially,” he said. “I should have told you everything. I just didn’t want you hurt.”

“I understand now. I don’t think I would have believed half of this before. Poor Valerie. Poor Lei.”

“Yeah. We’ve saved him, but we’ll have to break their bond some sort of way, and we’ll have to learn if breaking it won’t just revert him back to Freya. There’s so much we still just don’t understand.”

“And Alexander?” Ayah asked, snuggling closer to his warmth. He wrapped her in his arms and kissed the top of her head.

“Defeating Freya, at this point, may be all we can do for him. It’s impossible to find the woman he’s supposed to bond with and put them together.”

“Then let’s kill her.”

“Bloodthirsty, aren’t you?”

“She hurt you. She hurt Valerie, Lei, and Alexander. She hurt me. She deserves to be in the ground somewhere.”

“Yes, she does.” Sevani rolled over on top of her. “But for now…” he said, and kissed her.

Chapter Sixteen

Sevani awoke with the sun. He’d never been able to sleep long, but this morning he woke up refreshed. No pounding at the door to warn him of enemies. No Freya screeching to go get her another warrior. No worries about what sin he would commit that day, or cursing the day he killed Nila. No, this morning was peaceful, the sun slipped into the slants of Ayah’s blinds. She lay curled up at his side, her back to his chest and head resting on his arm. She looked so peaceful, at rest. He’d had Valerie heal her wounds as she slept. He knew that Freya wouldn’t give them long to relax. Once the goddess had made a plan for attack, she would come to them. Sevani, and the others, speaking through Valerie, had agreed to let her come to them. The more time they had to heal and regroup, the better. For Sevani and Ayah, that would allow him to convince her, in whatever way he could, that she mattered to him. Seeing Nila’s illusion had nearly devastated him. The fact that he was so enamored of another woman, when he’d lived countless years mourning another, had given him great pause. He wondered if he’d betrayed the memory of Nila, or maybe had been wrong to react as such to Ayah. Yes, in the beginning, it had been the thought that she was Nila, but Ayah had quickly changed that. He loved her quick mind, her determination, her care for others. He loved that she was willing to put others’ safety before her own and that she was angered at the treatment of the Watchers by Freya, even knowing they’d kept the truth from her. Inside and out, Ayah was an amazing woman—one he could not see his life without.

He didn’t exactly know when Ayah had become so necessary to his well-being. The mission, her life, and defeating Freya to save them all had blended, until everything he did was to save Ayah. Everything he did was
for
her. He’d fought harder than he ever thought possible, went to lengths he’d never imagined, all for a little slip of a human female, a human woman who’d stolen his heart. He was not a good man. He’d done too many things, had too much blood on his hands to deserve her, but he didn’t have it inside of him to let her go. He would go to the ends of the earth to keep her at his side.

Part of him, though, worried about Lei, Valerie, and Alexander. He was grateful that he had the chance to be free, to have Ayah. He’d led the others for so long, and he was tired. He wanted to put down the burdens and live life as a normal man. He knew now that if armed, he could invoke some powers of the old gods, and that a normal life may never happen, but he still was happy the possibility was there, that Ayah was with him. He pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. Lei was free from Freya, at least. Later, when they broke away from the goddess, they would find a way to break his bond with Valerie, but, for now, they would focus on finishing this.

“Good morning,” Ayah whispered, and he felt her warm breath slide over his skin.

“Morning,” he said with a smile, bending his head. He captured her mouth in a gentle, exploring kiss, feeling her soft lips slide against his. He pulled away slowly, leaving just a breath between their mouths. “How did you sleep?”

“Better than I have in weeks. My head isn’t hurting anymore,” she commented, lifting one hand to rub the back of her skull. “Valerie?”

“I had her come up while you were sleeping. I thought you would appreciate that. I should have taken care of you before I took you to bed, but…” He trailed off, smiling sheepishly.

“I think you were losing the argument and didn’t know what else to do. Kids do that when they suddenly start crying when they don’t get their way,” Ayah said.

“Are you saying I’m a kid?” he asked, mock horror in his voice.

“If the shoe fits,” she argued, laughing. It sounded like silver bells in the wind. She hadn’t laughed much since he came into her life. He wanted to see her smile, hear her laugh. She deserved it.

“You wouldn’t want to do the things to me that are in your pretty little head if I was a kid. Give me a break.”

“Okay. You’re a full-grown, arrogant male who throws temper tantrums in the form of lurid sexcapades and manhandling. Is that better?”

“You forgot that I’m sexy.”

She laughed again, her whole face lighting up from the inside. He framed her face with his hands, watching her eyes dance with mirth, in awe.

“Right there,” he whispered then. “I want to capture your face like that forever. Happy, carefree, and laughing because of me. I want to give you everything you’ve always wanted: a shoulder to cry on, a rock to lean on, and a partner to stand beside you. I may not be perfect, and I may make mistakes, but I promise you, Ayah, there is no woman in existence who means as much to me as you,” he said, unable to stop the words pouring from his heart.

Ayah’s eyes misted, and she gave a choked laugh before she lifted and pressed her lips to his. It felt like coming home. It may have been fanciful thinking on his part, but he swore he tasted the answering emotion on her tongue as it dueled with his.

He turned her head with his hands, fitting her mouth better to his, and sucked her sweet, moist tongue into his mouth. She tasted of honeysuckle and spice against his taste buds. His hands left her face and trailed over her body. He memorized each crevice, each slope with tantalizing slowness. It felt new, as if he were learning her for the first time. He marked the blush of desire flushing over her skin, the tiny hitch of breath that marked pleasure when he tweaked her nipple. He paid attention to every breath, every flutter of her lashes, every time she bit her lip. His fingers dipped into her folds, and he clenched his teeth as her muscles clamped around his fingers. She was so tight, so ready for him at the barest touch, so responsive to his every move, as if she, too, couldn’t get enough. He didn’t rush. He took his time kissing every part of her skin, learning her with his lips as he had with his hands. Her nipples were plump cherries that were velvet against his tongue. Her stomach was soft and gave slightly under his teeth. The backs of her knees were sensitive and made her giggle. Massaging the arches of her feet made her back arch, her mouth grow slack, and her eyes close. By the time he took her this time, she was weeping with want. He brushed tears from her eyes as he slid home, moaning at her heat.