escape.
The same sense of connection as the night before shimmered between them and she labeled it love, pushing another chunk of pain deep into the recesses of her heart.
He butted her shoulder gently as if asking for something. She smoothed her hand over his muzzle and the top of his head. He stood still, letting her pet him until, with a small smile, she rested her hand against the side of his neck.
'You like to be touched.'
He nodded his big wolf's head and then sat back on his haunches in a single graceful movement.
'I do, too,' she admitted. 'When you are the one doing the touching.'
Did wolves smile? She thought he did because when he bared his teeth, she felt no menace from him. Then he did what he said he'd wanted to, burying his snout in her hair and inhaling deeply. The rumbling in his chest grew louder. She dug her fingers into his fur and massaged down his back. He gave a short bark of approval that made her smile.
They stayed like that a long time, him nuzzling her hair and neck and she petting him and reveling in the incredible miracle of his wolf's body. She told him how beautiful she thought he was and how amazing. The rumbling in his chest got louder until it vibrated through her body as if he was sharing his pleasure with her.
She was not a wolf, but she felt as if she were inside him and he were inside her.
Without warning, he changed again and he was on his knees facing her, his arms around her and his lips trailing a path of burning kisses from her temple to her mouth.
When he reached it, he kissed her with such sweetness, tears pricked her eyes. 'Thank you for accepting my beast, Emily.'
'How could I not?' she asked in genuine bewilderment. 'He's a special and very wonderful part of you.'
He kissed her again, his mouth harder and more insistent until she was melting against him. He pulled his mouth away from hers, but she could still feel his breath on her lips. 'I think you are the wonderful one.'
'But not special enough to bear your children.'
They both went still. She hadn't meant to say that. It was a reality that threatened to crack the fragile shell of fantasy she had surrounded herself with. She could not allow that. She didn't want to give up this taste of joy and pleasure for a reality that could not be changed… for a reality she had known only too well for far too long.
'Please forget I said that.'
'I'm sorry.'
She knew he meant it; she also knew he hadn't changed his mind. 'It's all right. Kiss me again. I want to feel your lips on mine.' She wanted to forget the truth of their relationship and she knew, as she had the night before, that he could give her that forgetfulness.
'Gladly.' And he did, the kiss going from tender to carnal in the space of heartbeats.
Whatever he did not feel for her, he wanted her as much as she wanted him and she reveled in that knowledge, feeding it to her heart in the game she played with herself until the pain was almost completely eclipsed by the pleasure.
He pulled back, breathing hard. 'I want you naked, Emily.'
She had no thought of demurring. They stood together in one accord and then stepped back from each other. She wasted no time taking off her tunic and then her shift, exposing her body to his scorching gaze.
In one of those lightning quick movements that still startled her, he crossed the distance between them, picked her up and carried her to the bed. He pulled the plaid away and laid her back on the furs. The softness felt incredibly good against her skin and she moaned.
He smiled wickedly and started kissing her again. He used his tongue this time and she loved it. His big body rubbed against her, increasing her ardor to a fever pitch and he had not even touched her as he had on the previous occasions.
When she was moaning over and over again and thrashing below him, he began to kiss his way down her face, stopping at the pulse beating frantically in her neck and sucking there.
Liquid heat pooled between her legs. '
'I am marking you,' he said in guttural voice. 'When others see this love bite, they will know you are mine.'
She was so far into her game of make-believe that she was not sure if he actually said those words or if she had made them up in her mind, but she didn't care. He
His mouth traveled to her chest and he licked her where his wolf had kissed her the night before. The feelings his touch elicited were not the same though. This time all she felt was pure sexual pleasure and she whimpered with need.
He kneaded her breasts with knowing movements until her nipples were turgid and aching. His hot mouth closed over one and he began sucking, flicking the tip with his tongue. She cried out and arched toward him. He pinched her other nipple and then began rolling it between his thumb and forefinger with torturous slowness. It felt so good that tears of joy seeped out of her tightly closed eyelids.
Her legs spread of their own volition and she tilted her pelvis up to rub herself against him, but she could not find the relief she sought. She needed his touch
He pulled his mouth from her nipple with a pop and laughed, the sound diabolical. But she felt no frisson of fear at the implied threat, only anticipation of what he would do next.
His hand slid down her body until his fingertip was right above where she most needed it to be. 'I will touch you
His mouth forged a scorching trail down her body until his face was between her thighs. She was beyond embarrassment and could do no more than express her need with guttural cries. He gently separated her tender, swollen flesh with his fingers and then pressed his mouth against her sweetest spot in a kiss of homage before licking her with one long swipe.
She lost all sense of who she was or what he was doing at that moment. It all became sensation upon sensation. The feelings inside her spiraled tighter and tighter as he did things with his lips, teeth and tongue that made her body jerk and shudder. She cried out her love for him as the storm of passion howled inside her, lifting her body into a bow.
All at once, everything inside her clenched in a crystalline moment of excruciating pleasure. Then her body clenched again and again in a series of increasingly strong convulsions until she could not bear it. Yet she could not stop moving against his mouth either.
It was too much. Too wonderful. Too amazing. Too intense. As the indescribable pleasure spiraled to a peak of sheer perfection, she lost the final thread connecting her to this new reality of being a Chrechte warrior's lover.
Chapter 18
When the waves of pleasure receded and she became aware of her surroundings once more, Lachlan was leaning over her, his eyes glowing almost pure gold. He looked very satisfied with himself. 'Good?'
'Unbelievable,' she croaked and realized her throat was raw from screaming.
'Sleep and then I will show you how to pleasure me.'
'I don't want to sleep. I want to pleasure you now.' She needed to see him go wild for her in order for her fantasy to be complete.
'I need time to regain my control.'
'I don't want you in control.'
'Do you hope to tease me into taking you, Emily?' he asked quietly. 'It would probably work. I have never been as out of control with a woman as I am with you.'
The admission touched her deep inside, but the accusation stung, threatening to bring back the pain. 'I don't want to trick you into anything. I want to pleasure you. Please believe me, Lachlan.'
