was that he was changed. Later, he told himself again. He would reason it out later, when their mutual passion was sated. 'If you want me to beg, I will beg.'
She looked away from him, as if his gaze was too much to endure. 'All I have ever wanted was you. Everything I did, I did for you. Learning to fight, so that I could be close to you and so you would know I could take care of myself.'
'That, you will stop doing immediately.'
One of her delicate brows arched. 'Trying to please you?'
'Fighting.' He wanted her safe. In his bed. Away from the war-torn life she lived. He liked the thought of protecting her.
She traced his navel with her tongue. A tear ran down her cheek and splashed onto his pelvic bone, glistening. The sight nearly undid him. 'Alyssa…'
'I should not have placed you above my own needs and desires. Silly of me.'
'You are not silly. But your happiness is more important than mine,' he said. 'Always. Soon, I will prove it.'
Another tear.
'What else have you done for me?' he asked gently.
Her fangs elongated with an angry hiss. 'Will that stroke your male pride, hearing what poor little Alyssa, hopelessly in love with you, did to make you notice her?'
'No. In the telling, I will begin to understand what I must now do for you in return and how I might make up for my negligence. Equal ground, as you said.'
Shock flashed over her expression. Her mouth fell open, but she quickly closed it with a snap. Eyes gleaming fury, she snarled, 'You want to know? Fine. You refused me time and time again. After a while, I lost hope. I took another lover. And another. And another. Can you make that up to me? Return me to my untouched state?'
Oh, now that he did not like hearing. He did not like the thought of this lovely woman in the arms of any man save himself. 'No,' he admitted softly. 'All I can do is try and make you forget. Brand you with my touch, for though I did not have the privilege of being your first, I promise I will be your last.'
'You courted thousands of women,' she said bitterly, 'enjoying yourself, laughing. I cried every time I saw you with another, every time I gave myself to a man. Can you make that up to me?'
His stomach twisted so painfully he would have sworn knives were slashed through every knot. 'I am sorry, so very sorry. I wish I could go back.' She would never have reason to cry again. Whatever he had to do, this woman would know only joy and laughter from this moment on.
What if, tomorrow, the blood and screams are no longer dulled?
That no longer mattered. They could storm through him, lightning and thunder, but he would not leave her. She was too important to him. He would endure anything for her. Hadn't she endured all but death for him? 'Somehow, some way, I will make you forget those experiences. I swear it.'
'The lovers I took,' she continued as if he hadn't spoken, 'I had hoped they could teach me how best to please a man. I thought if I only knew how to pleasure you, you would want me.' She laughed bitterly again, a tear-filled choking. 'But that didn't work, did it? You finally took me to bed and you hated every moment of it.'
'Alyssa,' he began, then stopped himself. How could he explain that she had always reminded him of the worst day of his life without hurting her further? 'That night I spent with you…I was in a dark and dangerous mood. No one would have been able to please me.'
'Your mate would have.'
An hour ago, he would have agreed. 'I followed you for days afterward,' he admitted.
Eyes widening, she shook her head. 'No, you didn't.'
He nodded. 'I did. I couldn't understand why I had been unable to respond to so beautiful a woman. So I watched you, more intently than ever, trying to reason it out.'
Again, she shook her head in denial, though there was a gleam of hope in her eyes.
That hope spurred him on. 'I'm responding to you now,' he reminded her. 'I want you, Alyssa. Let me have you. Please. Your pleasure will be my own.'
Her features hardened as though she'd stared at a gorgon a little too long and had been turned to stone. 'Oh, you'll have pleasure.'
'That's not enough. I want you to have pleasure, as well.'
'Like I said, I already had my turn, didn't I?'
He never should have told her the truth. 'I promise you I will find greater pleasure if I know you are enjoying this, too.'
'The same was true of me. Once.' She didn't give him a chance to say anything else. Her mouth once again lowered to his cock, taking him all the way inside, sucking…sucking…Her tongue swirled around the swollen head with an ever-upward glide. He tried to resist the headiness, wanting to see to her climax before he took his own.
'Let me lick. Between your legs,' he worked past his constricting throat. 'Need to taste you.'
Up and down she sucked him, her teeth scraping, ignoring his plea. Her fingers bit into his hips, released him, then wrapped around his testicles. His body was tensing, readying. Power was surging through his bloodstream, un-stoppable and inexorable. He'd never wanted anything as much as he wanted her. Couldn't stand the thought of leaving her unsatisfied.
'Alyssa. Please.'
She increased her speed, and his passion spiked. Consumed him. He roared loud and long, his hips pumping his cock down her throat. He couldn't stop the motions, couldn't stop the momentum of his release.
'Drink from me,' he commanded. 'Take my blood.'
'Already did.'
'Do it again. Let me feed you.'
'No!'
The hot spike of her tongue swirled over the head of his shaft, and he lost control completely. His muscles clamped down on his bones, endlessly spasming.
The pleasure…Oh, gods, the pleasure. More intense than anything he'd ever experienced. He couldn't speak, could only gasp, groan and pant like an animal.
When he got inside this woman again, he might not survive. The thought almost made him smile. But as he shuddered and calmed—would his erratic heartbeat ever slow?—Alyssa straightened, pulling away from him. She refastened her robe, shielding her nipples from his view. Her color was high; she, too, was panting.
'Now you have found release with me. You can't deny it this time.'
'Alyssa.'
She moved swiftly to his wrists, gave a tug, and the chains fell away. She followed suit with his ankles.
Free, he sat up, already reaching for her, needing her in his arms. He could smell her sweet desire, had to sate her, had to…now. Forever. But she backed away from him, shaking her head.
'Come here, Alyssa.' He gave a gentle swipe of his fingers. 'Please.'
'Return home. Tell your king what I did. Send the entire nymph army to kill me. I don't care.'
'This is between us. No one else. I will go nowhere without you.' He pushed to shaky legs. Gods, where was his strength? He should be completely energized now. All he wanted to do, however, was lie down with his woman.
'Very well,' she said, and stopped, studying him bleakly. The jagged walls of the cave were at her back, a harsh frame for her fragile beauty. 'It is I who will go. This is goodbye, then.'
He frowned. 'No. Never goodbye. Come—'
She disappeared.
A roar rushed past his throat and he stumbled from the cave, searching for her. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he found himself in the Forest of Dragons, fat trees towering all around him. What he didn't find was Alyssa.
She was gone as if she'd never been.
