He began to move. Slowly at first, building the burn between them. Moving with deep emotion rather than the lust that stood at the edges of his mind, threatening to overtake him. He felt that dark desire rising in her and his own needs and hunger rose in direct correlation to hers.
He wanted to savor every moment inside her, surrounded by her tight, scorching-hot channel, but she was making unbelievably erotic sounds. Her body kept clamping down on his, increasing the friction that threatened to wipe every sane thought from his head.
Isai held out for a long, beautiful ride beneath the stars, moving in and out of her, increasing his speed until both were right on the verge and then backing off. Again and again until both of them were frantic. He stroked her sides and back, savoring the feeling of her soft skin and female shape, even as he surged forward, knowing the sensations were going to take him. Her body clamped down on his like a vicious vise, strangling his cock, milking his shaft, drawing every last drop so that his seed blasted out of him, coating her walls, producing what seemed like one long, continuous orgasm in her.
Julija collapsed forward on her elbows and then all the way to her chest. Isai held her hips so he could stay inside her, feeling every last sensation, every ripple and quake of her body around his. Her body moved around his, contracting, and then almost strangling his cock. Her channel bit down viciously, sending shocking waves of pleasure/pain swamping his body and taking over his mind. He let himself savor every lasting moment until the euphoria had faded, leaving him with the reality of a wild lifemate.
Very slowly he lowered her hips to the rug and allowed his body to pull out of hers. As he did so, he cleansed both of them. She immediately rolled over to look at him. He couldn’t help but admire her feminine form.
“I am grateful you belong to me, Julija.” He gave her a compliment, feeling her sudden wariness where before, like him, she’d been riding high on the feelings created by their bodies.
“Women aren’t owned.” She glared at him, one hand sweeping through her hair in an exasperated show of pure defiance. She sprang to her feet as if she might attempt to flee.
“I didn’t say I owned you. I said you belonged to me.” He stated it quietly but enunciated each word. “There is a difference.” He gestured for her to sit back down.
“If there is, it eludes me completely,” she said. She sank down onto the rug he’d provided and pulled her sleeping bag around her like a blanket—or a shield.
Isai scowled at her. “Are you cold?”
“Yes. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m naked and the temperature has dropped significantly.” There was sarcasm in her voice.
“It isn’t necessary to use that tone with me when I’m asking after your comfort. I have not had to look after a human in hundreds of years. In truth, I’ve rarely talked to one. Fortunately, I adapt very easily, and I’ll be paying close attention to your care.”
Her scowl matched his. “I don’t need anyone looking after me. Not now. Not ever. You might be the greatest thing in the entire universe when it comes to sex, but it ends there. Right there. You want sex, I’m your girl. Anything else, don’t even think about it.”
He studied her furious little face. She truly was beautiful. Silly, perhaps, but beautiful. He liked her fury. He liked her passion. But she didn’t make any sense.
“You clearly know about Carpathians, Julija. You know what a lifemate is. You knew you were mine, that was why you didn’t speak. I must see to your comfort and care. It is my duty and would be impossible not to carry it out.” He waved his hand and she was fully clothed.
Her outfit was lined with fleece and the material was extremely soft. Breathable. High quality. She couldn’t help but appreciate that he gave her the best. Still, what mattered to him was the reason he’d come after her. She wasn’t losing sight of that for a minute.
“Where is the book you took from the prince?”
She narrowed her gaze, glaring at him. “I took? I didn’t take the stupid book. I was on my way to warn the prince that the book was being targeted. I don’t want anything at all to do with that horrid book. I was doing the right thing and now I’m in this really big mess. It doesn’t pay to do the right thing, let me tell you that right now.”
“Really big mess?” he echoed. What did she know that he didn’t?
“You. You’re the really big mess. I took a huge risk coming here after that idiot Carpathian who stole the book. I thought he was protecting it, but instead of returning it to the prince, he took off with it.”
Isai sat back. She was staring at him and her eyes kept dropping to his lap.
“Do you think you could put some clothes on?” She had a wicked bite in her voice.
“I could if you asked nicer than that.”
She rolled her eyes. He could see their life together wasn’t going to go smoothly.
“Would you please put on some clothes? It’s distracting when I’m trying to talk to you about this and it’s a serious matter.”
He supposed that was as good as it was going to get. She still had the tone. Worse, sarcasm was now a major part of it, but she at least used her manners. It meant she had some. He waved a hand to clothe himself. He could regulate his body temperature, so he hadn’t even realized he wasn’t dressed.
“Tell me what happened.” She could in no way fault his tone. He kept his voice pleasant and calm. Not in the least accusing.
“Do you have to make everything an order?”
So much for keeping calm. He felt a muscle jerk in his jaw. She was going to give him eye ticks fairly soon. “Tell me now.”
“Ask nicely.”
He was on her in half a second, pulling her across his lap and smacking her hard over and over. He knew she wasn’t feeling it with the thick trousers he’d given her so, using mind commands, he removed them. There was satisfaction in seeing his handprint on her bare skin. She screamed when he connected. He wasn’t being gentle. His hands were large, and she was extremely petite. His palm took up one cheek easily. He reddened them both and only stopped when she was crying. He put her from him, back onto the rug, clothing her as he did so.
“That’s twice, you bastard,” she hissed. “I’m not without my own power. Don’t you dare do that to me again.”
“Then don’t talk to your lifemate that way.”
“Screw you and the lifemate crap. I knew you’d be like this. Why do you think I didn’t want anything at all to do with the Carpathian people? I would never have gone near any of you. Not even Elisabeta, and she needed me.”
He remained silent, watching her carefully. She was mage, and at some point she would try to retaliate. Tears streamed down her face, but she was as defiant as ever.
“Men don’t punish their wives anymore. That century is long past. We have equal rights in this world, or in most parts of it. You’re like some archaic dinosaur, trying to impose your will on someone smaller than you through brute force. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Perhaps,” he agreed mildly. “You also should be ashamed of yourself. You knew you were a lifemate to a Carpathian warrior, a man of honor. Instead of seeking him out, you chose to hide. Instead of treating him with respect when he finds you, you refuse to speak or acknowledge that you are his lifemate.”
He pinned her with a steely gaze. “Are you aware that if a lifemate isn’t found, the Carpathian male has no choice but to meet the dawn, meaning suicide, or he turns vampire and can murder hundreds, perhaps thousands of people before he is stopped by—guess who—another Carpathian male risking his life to save others?”
She looked down at the rug, a slow flush creeping up her face. “Yes, I’m aware. Put like that, it sounds far worse than when I was thinking about it.”
“That is our reality. I searched centuries for you and then locked myself away in a monastery to keep those around me safe because I was close to being a demon, something far worse than a vampire. I no longer even heard the whispers of temptation, yet you stubbornly and selfishly refused to come to my aid and save me.”
Her head went up. “Why should a woman have to sacrifice her life for a man?”
“Why should a man have to sacrifice his life to save mankind? To save that selfish woman?”
She leaned toward him. “He doesn’t have to. He can walk away.”
“Live without honor? Without doing his duty? Is that the kind of woman you are, Julija? You have no honor? You would refuse to do your duty because it is difficult?” He kept his voice very low, but there was disappointment.
Isai had searched for this woman for centuries, more years than even most Carpathians could claim life. Throughout that time, he had done everything necessary to protect his people and the growing number of humans vampires fed on. His reward was a woman who didn’t believe in duty or service? She didn’t believe in honor? She had no code? He didn’t let it show on his face, but he felt shattered. Betrayed.
Dismissively, he waved away whatever she might say to back up her argument. “Tell me about the book and your part in its disappearance.”
She pressed her lips tightly together as if to keep from continuing their argument. He had no intentions of continuing. He didn’t want a woman who had no sense of honor. No code. A woman who would let a man become the very thing he had fought against. If she had studied Carpathians, and it was clear she had, then she knew Carpathian women were always happy. Their lifemates saw to that. He might be a dinosaur, but he would have done everything in his power to make his woman happy.
“My family, as you know, is mage. Xavier had a son named Soren. His mother was Rhiannon, of the Dragonseeker family. I know that’s a big deal with Carpathians, but I don’t know why. In any case, Soren was given a woman, a mage. They had a son, but when he was born, they both were told the baby died. Xavier had the woman killed for not properly taking care of herself and allowing the baby to be weak.”
“The baby wasn’t dead.”