Vengeance Born (The Light Blade #1) (29 page)

His gaze sharpened and she knew she’d moved too late.

“You saw me at my worst, too, Annika. I lied and also almost killed you.” He issued a frustrated sigh and raked a hand through his hair. “As much as this might sound strange, I wouldn’t change what happened out on the trail. It gave us the opportunity to get to know the real Annika and Kalan. An identity would have hidden all that.”

How many times had she wished for anonymity treating the human-slaves in her father’s fortress without the title of
Na’Chi
hanging over her head? As much as she still felt uncomfortable with past events, his words held the truth. She’d never have let herself get to know Kalan the man with a title in the way.

“Hesia was right. The real test of a person is whether they can see past the names and labels.” His gaze was steady. “I’ve seen you. You laugh, you fear, you cry, you love. You’re as
human
as me,
Na’Chi
.”

Her heart jolted so hard she was sure he heard it as they stared at one another across the distance separating them. His words resurrected her midnight dream and breathed life into it. He made her feel like somebody of worth.

He truly was the flame, and she the moth. The soft fabric of the bedcovers brushed against her bare legs as she stepped back into the candlelight.

“I’m tired of being alone, of feeling cold and empty all the time.” Inhaling a deep breath, Annika trusted him to understand. “I’ve always had to stand back and watch others live normal lives, sharing their love and wanting the same, yearning for it so hard that sometimes it felt like a knife in my gut…” She pressed a hand to her stomach, then locked her gaze with him so he would see the truth in her heart. “I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

Annika’s courageous words sucked the breath right out of Kalan and shook him to the core. With the life she’d led, and facing an uncertain future, she forged through situations that would have broken a lesser person.

“My friendship is yours.” An unhurried smile curved his lips. “I haven’t changed my mind about that, Annika.”

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips as her chin lifted. “And if I want more than that?”

Desire slammed through him so fast it took his breath away. He’d never have believed her inner strength could arouse him like that but beneath the covers he was already half hard.

He liked the way her eyes widened as she caught his scent. It was tempting to reach over and pull her onto the bed but he knew how important choice was to her. Slowly, he lay down on his side and propped his head on one hand.

“There’s space here if you don’t want to return to your room,” he said, and patted the vacant half of the bed beside him.

She knelt on the edge of his mattress, her thighs barely covered by the shirt. Her hands clenched on her thighs as she stared down at him with one of the most vulnerable expressions on her face that he’d ever seen.

“I want to make love to you.” Her gaze stayed level with his, the blue flecks in her eyes ringed with green. She wanted him, no doubt, no hesitation. She reached out to touch him, her fingertips brushing his lips. The sensation shot straight to his groin. “Show me how.”

Chapter 20

A
NNIKA’S demand had Kalan unable to breathe. She was surrendering herself to his care in the most intimate of ways and he marveled at the courage and strength it had to have taken to ask that of him. The level of trust it took to do that… something inside him softened, expanded.

“It would be my pleasure.” He caught her fingers in his lips and nibbled them, enjoying the startled look on her face. Encircling her wrist, he turned it over and placed a kiss on the palm of her hand. Her fingers curved over his cheek and her lips parted slightly.

He was going to enjoy showing her the love capable between a man and woman. His thumb stroked the inside of her wrist as he let his gaze move slowly over her. “Anytime you want to stop, just tell me and I will.”

“And give up my dream?” The flecks in her eyes were a solid green.

He tugged at the hem of her shirt, and her lips met his halfway as she bent down to kiss him. He nibbled along her bottom lip then traced it with his tongue. Her mouth parted eagerly, a soft, breathy moan coming from her as his tongue darted between them. He retreated before she could capture it with her own. Her fingers tangled in his hair and he smiled as she took control.

He was more than happy to let her dictate the pace. Over the next few minutes her confidence grew. She deepened the kiss, her tongue flickering against his, teasing, stroking, her lips sliding against his. His body was tight, held in check, when she finally drew back so they both could draw in some much needed air.

Kalan smoothed a hand along her leg, from knee to hip. “As much as I like you in my shirt, I’d rather see it on the floor.” She blinked at his gently delivered statement. Her gaze dipped and she swallowed hard, and for half a heartbeat he thought she wouldn’t do it. Then, slowly, she pulled it over her head and lay on her side facing him.

In the candlelight, her skin took on a tawny hue, her honey colored hair swayed and settled over her curves like a living cloak. Through the long strands, he caught a provocative glimpse of rounded breasts and nipples peaked in the cold then his gaze moved lower, past her lean waist to curved hips and the hairless curves of her feminine mound.

He inhaled deeply and a sweet, musky scent teased his nose. “I’m not
Na’Chi
but I know you’re aroused. I wonder if you taste as good as you smell?”

Her fingers curled into fists, an endearing betrayal of her nervousness. “You make me burn.” Her voice was husky. “You love someone with your words.”

“It heightens the pleasure.” He reached out to smooth her hair back from her face, flicking the silken lengths over her shoulder. Her breasts rose and fell in shallow breaths as his hand roamed from shoulder to hip and back again. “I love the feel of your skin, so smooth and silky. Firm here…” His fingers trailed across her abdomen. “Soft there…” He curled them around her breast, loving the warmth and weight of her flesh in his hand as he caressed her.

“That feels so good…” Annika moaned and her body arched into his touch as if seeking more. Her nipple seemed to burn a brand in the palm of his hand as he rubbed it lightly back and forth.

“It feels good to me, too.” A wicked grin curved his lips as her gaze darted from his face then lower. Even though the blanket covered his hips it did little to hide his arousal. The delicate flush on her cheeks gave him pleasure. “Roll onto your stomach.”

She trembled and closed her eyes. “Kalan… I don’t think—”

“Trust me,” he whispered, disliking the tremor in her voice, hating how such a confident woman had been made to feel ashamed of her body.

Annika hesitated a moment, then complied, pillowing her head on her hands. Her show of faith added to the fire burning in his blood. He sat up and pushed aside the blanket then straddled her hips, tucking his legs in either side of her. She lay tense and stiff beneath him. Something he hoped to remedy shortly.

Holding his weight on his hands, he leant over her, bringing his hips in contact with hers, holding back a groan as his arousal pressed against the gentle swell of her buttocks. His mouth brushed the curve of her ear. “Feel what you do to me,
Na’Chi
.” He moved his hips gently against her. “I’m hard, and hot… just this with only a few kisses.”

“Kalan…” Her head turned.

He tangled a hand in her hair to hold her still and placed light kisses along the side of her face, following the trail of skin markings over the curve of her neck, the muscle of her shoulder then took his time teasing and tasting the dips and hollows of her back, alternating between the two sides, loving her with every nip and caress of his lips.

“You taste so sweet, Annika.” An intriguing dimple at the base of her spine earned his close attention. She squirmed beneath him. “I could spend all night loving you like this.”

He smoothed his hands over her back, felt her muscles ripple with his touch, then stroked the firm flesh of her buttocks and thighs with his hands. The scent of her arousal was stronger, and she moved restlessly, no longer tense.

“More?” he asked, his fingers tracing the outline of each mark high on her thigh in teasing swirls.

“Yes…” The word was a long drawn-out moan.

He continued his gentle seduction, placing more kisses along the spotted trails, working his way down from her hips to her thighs then to the back of her legs. Her moans were louder by the time he reached her ankles where the markings faded.

“Roll over again.” This time there was no hesitation and he sat back on his haunches. He nudged her legs apart with his knees. The sight of her spread out on his bed, her body flushed with arousal, her eyes that incredible blue, made his heart pound harder in his chest. “I have never seen anything so beautiful. You take my breath away.”

Again Kalan took the weight of his body on his hands but this time he gradually lowered himself until he lay on top of her, so that her pebbled nipples pressed into his chest and he fit into the welcoming cradle of her hips. He hissed at the delicious friction of skin sliding on skin. Her hands threaded through his hair and she devoured him in a deep, tongue-thrusting kiss that sent him close to the edge.

Annika delighted in the feel of Kalan lying on top of her. She felt surrounded by him, cherished. Safe. The weight of him, the hard planes of his body pressed flush against her created a delicious ache that centered low in her body. His heavy, spicy scent saturated her lungs and it added to the flames licking her flesh as his hands caressed her. She rocked her hips against him, gasped as his erection rubbed against her core. Her body responded with a rush of delicious heat.

Kalan’s groan came from deep inside his chest, his breath hot on her face as he broke their kiss. “You’re so wet.”

Another deliberate slide. This time she cried out, her fingers digging into the solid muscles of his shoulders. He made her burn, and it wasn’t just physical. Kalan was sharing himself with her, hiding nothing. The look in his eyes, the way he caressed her, the kisses, his tender words. She knew he wanted her and the feeling was mutual. It shook her all the way to her soul.

Kalan’s hand moved between their bodies, his fingers finding and carefully parting her flesh to explore her slick folds. Annika closed her eyes as he stroked her. Anticipation built with the slow slide of his mouth along the column of her throat. As his lips reached her breast and his tongue flickered out to tease her hardened nipple, the tip of his finger grazed her core. She cried out as exquisite pleasure drew tight inside her and threatened to erupt.

Not knowing what to do next, but needing something more than just this agonizing torment of heated kisses and fiery touches, she curved one leg around his flexing hip. “Kalan, please—”

“I don’t want to hurt you.” His voice was a guttural growl against her breast.

Opening her eyes, she placed her hands both sides of his head, liking the fire and need burning in his gaze. “I trust you.”

She moaned as his mouth covered hers. The fierceness of his kiss stole her breath. He gripped her hips and the tip of his erection parted her slick folds. Instinctively, her hips tilted upward. His gaze locked with hers, dark and hungry, then he slid into her in one, deep thrust. She couldn’t look away even as the sharp, burning sensation tore a cry from her, and for a moment it overrode the pleasure she felt being so closely joined with him.

Kalan paused, his arms trembling with the effort to hold still to give her time to get used to him rather than thrust into her again and again as his body was demanding. “
Mother of Mercy
, I’m sorry, Annika.” He shuddered. “You’re so tight and hot.”

Her eyelids flickered, the blue in her gaze almost silver. She smoothed a hand over his cheek. “I’m a healer, Kalan, I knew to expect the pain.”

She shifted beneath him, as if testing the new sensations. Her inner muscles flexed and rippled, gripping him in an intimate caress that he felt right to his bones. He shuddered. A ragged groan tore from his chest.

“Kalan?” She ran her hands up over his taut back and shoulders. “Shouldn’t you be moving, or something?”

His breath left him in a rush and he buried his head against her throat. Her eagerness brought a smile curving his lips. “So much for patience,” he murmured.

“You did this to me.” Her indignant reply held a hint of laughter. She tightened around him again, this time deliberately. He hissed a curse, and her husky laughter broke free. The sound melted into his heart.

“You asked me to love you.” He nipped the soft flesh of her throat with his teeth. She sucked in a harsh breath and he soothed the bite with his tongue. “And that’s what I’ll do for as long as I can make it last.”

Slowly, he rocked against her. Her arms tightened around him and she moaned. As he felt her beginning to move, to meet his gentle thrusts, he gradually increased the pace. He liked her small sounds of wonder and pleasure combined.