Inferno of Darkness (Order of the Blade #8) Read online

  A searing pain ricocheted through her hand as their blood mingled. She yelped and tried to jerk her hand free, but he didn’t let go, his grip tight around hers as he went down on his knees, still gripping her hand. Pain was etched on the lines of his face, and she knew he was feeling the same shock. “Let go!” she demanded, trying to pull free of his grasp. The pain was excruciating, traveling up her arm as if her very blood had been contaminated by his.

  “I can’t,” he gritted out. He pulled on her hand, tugging her down to her knees in front of him. His fist went to her hair and he yanked her close, his face inches from hers. “I have to say it,” he growled. “I can’t stop myself.”

  “Say what?” But even as she asked, she knew. The words were in her head, screaming at her. Words she didn’t recognize, but somehow knew.

  He dragged her up against him, so her breasts were against his chest. “Mine to you. Yours to me. Bonded by blood, by spirit and by soul, we are one. No distance too far, no enemy too powerful, no sacrifice too great. I’ll always find you. I’ll always protect you. No matter what the cost. I am yours as you are mine.” He bit out the words, almost angry, and they hammered at her, assaulting her, like a fierce wind trying to rip her to shreds.

  Rightness filled her, like a great burst of sunlight. Then she heard herself saying the words in her own head, the words she didn’t want, the words she didn’t even know. “Mine to you. Yours to me. Bonded by blood, by spirit and by soul, we are one. No distance too far, no enemy too powerful, no sacrifice too great. I’ll always find you. I’ll always keep you safe. No matter what the cost. I am yours as you are mine.”

  Dante growled with possession and anger, even as he pulled her against him and kissed her. It was a frantic, desperate kiss that exploded through her. Equally desperate, she threw her arms around him and kissed him back, needing his touch, needing to feel his body against hers, needing more. The words they’d pledged continued to echo through her mind, evoking a need for Dante beyond what she’d ever felt before.

  He grabbed her by the hips, and shoved his hands under her dress, even as he kissed her. “God, yes,” she whispered, grappling for the front of his pants. The moment she freed him, he yanked her against him, sheathing himself inside her so fiercely she screamed at the invasion.

  He gripped her hair, holding her at his mercy as he kissed her, ruthless possessive kisses of ownership…and it felt so right. She, the woman who would give herself to no man, burned for the way he was claiming her. He drove deep, one arm locked around her waist, holding her against him as he buried himself in her again and again. Elisha locked her legs around his hips, her body writhing as he drove into her, her gasps of agonized pleasure swallowed by kisses that tore through all her shields, exposing her all the way down to her core.

  It became too much, the lovemaking, the passion, the need, making her ache and writhe for more, for completion. With a roar, Dante staggered to his feet and slammed her against a tree trunk, bracing her against the trunk. She gripped his shoulders, gasping as he drove into her, his hands tight on her hips as he held her relentlessly, holding her where he wanted her, staking his claim on her with every thrust, every kiss, every move. Harder and harder he drove into her, and she screamed as desire built within her, twisting her and tormenting her until it was beyond what she could withstand. “Dante,” she gasped, “I can’t—”

  “We can—” Then he drove again, a final time, and the orgasm exploded through her. Her body went rigid, and colors exploded through her mind. Red, green, violet, yellow, ruthless swirls of energy trying to consume her as fire rushed through her body, igniting every cell.

  Dante shouted her name and then bucked against her, impaling himself so deeply within her that she knew they would never part, that their connection would hold them in its ruthless grasp for all eternity. His body went rigid, his grip on her merciless as he fought to help them both survive the orgasm terrorizing them both. The orgasm was not relief, and it did not end. It grew and grew, consuming them. It was ruthless, devastating, too much, too much… “Stay with me, Elisha,” he shouted, his voice barely penetrating the kaleidoscope of colors and noise that was pressing down upon her.

  He kissed her again, and this time, through the din, she felt him reach for her, not just with his hands, but with his soul. His energy rushed through her, and she lunged for his strength, opening her spirit to him. They connected instantly, and he enfolded her in his spirit, immediately weaving a protective shield around them both. The orgasm hammered at his protections like a predator, streaking through them, rattling everything, fighting to tear them apart. Elisha buried her face in Dante’s shoulder, clinging to him as he pressed his body into her, using his strength to hold them up, to hold them together, locking them in a defensive embrace, just trying to survive the assault, but it was too much, too powerful—

  Elisha. His voice was like a warm flood of strength through her soul, a gasp of air.

  Dante? She thought his name and felt his response instantly.

  Focus on me, Elisha. I’ve got us. Again, his voice seemed to caress her, encircling her mind with power and protection.

  Elisha held tight to that sound, the feel of his spirit, huddling against him as the waves of the orgasm continued to blast them, tearing at them, weakening her until all she could do was focus on the feel of Dante’s body still pinning her against the tree, on the warmth of his spirit, on the sound of his voice still talking to her…until suddenly, abruptly, mercifully, it was over.

  ***

  Every muscle in his body was shaking violently.

  His breath rasped in his chest, as if it were tearing flesh each time he inhaled.

  His blood burned where it flowed through his veins.

  Every part of his body hurt from the orgasm.

  And he could tell from the way Elisha was trembling that he’d failed to protect her from the same fate. He pressed his face into her hair, his arms still locked around her, his cock still deep inside her. Her legs were clamped around his hips as she gripped his shoulders, her face buried in the curve of his neck. Elisha?

  She didn’t respond, and he couldn’t find her in his mind. Had he imagined their mental connection? Shit, he hoped he had. Or hadn’t. He didn’t even know what had just happened between them. He just knew it was dangerous as hell. “Elisha?” This time, he spoke aloud.

  She groaned. “What just happened? And don’t tell me it was simply because you’re a Calydon, because I won’t believe it. Even you guys can’t produce an endless orgasm that sucks all the life out of you before you have a chance to brag to all your friends.”

  He laughed softly at her disbelieving tone. “Maybe it was a warning by the gods never to have sex again?”

  “It worked.” She lifted her head from his shoulder, and he saw pain etched in her eyes. “I thought I was going to burn up from the inside out. It was as if lightning was searing me.”

  “I know. Me, too.” He had to look at her arm. He knew he had to check to see if she was carrying his brand. The blood bond had compelled their intimacy, and that would happen only with a sheva. And the sex…had that been driven by the blood bond, or had it been something else? Because he’d never heard of the blood bond inducing that kind of response. He had to know what he was dealing with and look for the brand that would indicate their fate. But as hell was his witness, he didn’t want to.

  “What were those words we said?” She looked up, so much exhaustion in those violet-blue eyes. She no longer carried the sated look of a woman well-loved. It was the haunted expression of a woman barely hanging on, trying to regain control of the situation, of herself. But there was no blame or recrimination in her eyes, just the need to reach for him for comfort and understanding.

  He ground his jaw at her question, knowing that the blame would appear on her face when he told her the truth. “Those words are the oath from the blood bond stage of the sheva bond.”

  Her eyes went wide, and she jerked her arm from his neck and loo
ked down. He followed her gaze, but his brand was not on her arm. They were still safe. Relief cascaded through him, and he closed his eyes for a long moment, willing strength back into his body. “We’re still good.” Except he knew that they weren’t. Calydons could talk mind-to-mind only with other Calydons, except in the case of their soul mate. “Did you…hear my voice in your head while we were making love?”

  She nodded. “Yes, but I can’t anymore.”

  “Shit.” He didn’t know what was going on, but they both needed space right now. He palmed her hips, supporting her as he withdrew, both of them gasping as he pulled out. The orgasm hit again, and he grimaced, fighting to retain control as Elisha bucked in his arms. He held her tightly, their cheeks pressed together as they clung to each other, their bodies screaming as the orgasm tore through them with even more ferocity than the first time. It was ruthless, merciless, violent, taking them over yet again. He drilled his focus down, fighting to protect them, to somehow shield them from the repeated onslaught. But he couldn’t halt it, and it raked through them again, even though he wasn’t even inside her.

  She screamed, and he caught her mouth in a kiss, desperate to find a way out of the loop. Elisha, we have to ride it. We can’t fight it. It’s stronger than us. Instinctively, he reached for her mind again, and this time, he felt her awareness when he touched her mind.

  I can’t, Dante. It’s too much. It hurts—

  Stop fighting it. Give yourself over to me. Just let me absorb the pain. We have to try it. Come on! He kissed her face, kissed away the tears streaming down her cheeks, even as he tightened his grip on her hips, fighting to hold her against him, struggling to protect her from the bark that was against her back. He tried to back up, to pull her away from the trunk, but he couldn’t do it. The orgasm held them both too ruthlessly, howling through him like a demon possessed. We can’t beat it. We have to go with it.

  He kissed her again, using all his strength and control not to hurt her, when his entire being was screaming at him to take her, to consume her, to tear her very soul from her body. Sweat poured down him as he fought to keep the kiss gentle, seductive, his muscles screaming in agony as he kept his grip gentle. Just let me love you, Elisha. Just let it take you. I’ll protect you. I swear it. He eased inside her again, her body so slick and wet for him.

  Elisha gasped as he entered her, and he felt her body convulsing as the orgasm increased in intensity. He moved slowly, so agonizingly slowly, fighting to seduce, to coax, to be the slow lover who wouldn’t rip his woman to shreds. My sweet Elisha, he whispered as he kissed her, as he drove inside her, a move that made him bellow in response as the orgasm spasmed through him yet again. His seed spilled forth, but he was still hard, still driving into her, still desperate.

  Dante, help me. She was gripping him so tightly, her body convulsing. It won’t stop. It won’t.

  Swearing, Dante drove again, and again, and Elisha writhed on his cock, sending them both into further frenzies. She was as out of control as he was, and he felt her fingernails tear his shoulders. The orgasm was like acid pouring through his body, and he felt her agony, but even within the pain and torment, was pleasure beyond words, beyond comprehension, a pleasure so great it seemed to suck all rationality from his mind.

  It blocked every thought except for how much he wanted her, how much he needed her, how fucking amazing it felt to be making love to her, to feel her mind entangled with his, to feel her wet sheath around him, to make love to her again and again and again, to never stop. He could feel her pleasure, pleasure so intense that it hurt, that it was dragging her down into that same spiral of addiction, creating a need neither of them would ever be able to sate. Ever.

  A cold fear gripped him even as he drove into her. His willpower was fading. His need to stop, and his need to stay in his own mind were being overcome by the orgasm. It was becoming only about physically connecting with Elisha and immersing himself on who she was. About the pleasure spiraling through both of them. About a pleasure that they could have forever if they didn’t fight it.

  Dante. Her whisper was a capitulation, a sudden, sensual breath through his mind, no longer fighting the pain, but riding it, living it, wanting it, sucking it into the marrow of her bones until she couldn’t live without it, just as he was.

  Jesus. It was going to capture them. Forever.

  Intense pleasure and satisfaction tore through him, and he almost crowed with the rightness of never ending this moment, of making love to her every second of every day for eternity—

  Dante. Forever. I love you.

  The words came before he could stop, before he could control them, before he could make himself hold them back. My Elisha. Forever. I’m yours.

  The night suddenly seemed to scream around them, piercing howls of victory punctuated by a spike in the orgasm that made them both scream. Elisha trembled so violently in his arms that he was afraid she would shatter, and he wrapped his arms even more tightly around her, cradling her in the shield of his body, offering what little strength he still had, trying to help her survive it. It went on and on, an endless circle, until he couldn’t hold them up anymore. His legs gave out, and they sank to the ground, still clinging to each other, no longer fighting, no longer screaming, nothing left but each other.

  And then, suddenly, it ended again.

  Dante collapsed to the earth, cradling Elisha against him as they fell, utterly depleted. He kept her beneath him, using his body as a shield, as if he could protect her from another onslaught. His cock was still hard inside her, and he didn’t dare move, not even an inch. They wouldn’t survive another round. He was too drained to lift his head, but he did it anyway, needing to see her face, needing to reassure himself that she was all right.

  Her eyes were closed, her face pale, her hair drenched with sweat. One hand was still on his shoulder, and the other was on her forehead, as if she was trying to stop the pain. “Elisha?”

  Her lashes fluttered, revealing the violet-blue depths. “Dante.”

  “You all right?”

  She shook her head. “No. I’m not all right.”

  Fear gripped his gut. “Did I hurt you?” He’d been so deep inside her, so rough, and so uncontrolled. “Shit—”

  “No, not you. The orgasm is what hurt me.” She touched his mouth, silencing him. “You were beautiful.”

  Her words made something tighten in his chest, something that ached, because he knew she meant it. After what he’d just done to her, she thought he was beautiful. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

  “It’s okay.” She touched his lips again, and this time, it wasn’t to quiet him. It was affection, intimacy, and reassurance. “I’m glad it was you.”

  He pressed his lips to her fingertips. “Sweetheart, it has to be me. It can’t ever be anyone else.”

  A sad smile played at her mouth. “I know.”

  “That makes you sad?” The minute he said it, he felt his cock twitch again. She sucked in her breath and gripped his shoulders.

  “No, no, no, not again,” she whispered. “I can’t—”

  He braced himself over her, sudden resolve flooding him. “If it happens again, we’ll make it through. I have you, Elisha, and I will protect you at all costs. Do you understand? We will be in it together.” Desire was plunging through him, ruthless, cruel desire.

  Elisha nodded, stiffening beneath him. “Always together,” she repeated. “Okay, I’m with you.” Her gaze fixed on his. “It doesn’t make me sad to be with you,” she whispered. “It makes me sad to think that when this is over, when we’re torn apart, I will never be in your arms again.”

  His chest tightened even more, and it became difficult to breathe. “What?” Desire was pounding at him, now, like a relentless din in his head. “Why?” Never in his arms again? Resistance roared through him, a violent rejection of her words.

  Her back bowed, and she gasped as the orgasm began to build again. No foreplay. No seduction. Just straight to another orgasm, an
d he hadn’t even moved inside her. “It wasn’t just the sex,” she gasped. “I meant it. I meant it.”

  “Meant what?” He gritted his teeth as his body convulsed, as all the muscles in his stomach contracted with such agonizing fierceness he couldn’t even move.

  “I meant that I loved you. I meant that it’s you.” She screamed in agony again. “It’s only you, Dante. Only you.”

  He heard her words, he felt them jab his soul. Words that were terrifying, that foretold only terrible things, a fatal future. His brands might not be on her arms, but whatever was between them was even more powerful, consuming, dangerous, and he knew he had to fight it… but he didn’t want to.

  He simply didn’t want to.

  He wanted her forever.

  He just did.

  Somehow, someway, he was going to figure out how to keep her. No matter what.

  The moment he had that thought, renewed resolution flooded him, and he looked down at Elisha. Her head was back, her face contorted in a miasma of bliss and agony that sent the deepest, deepest need rushing through him. This was his woman, and it was time to save her. With fierce resolve, he braced his hand behind her head, lifting her to him. “Elisha.”

  She opened her eyes, and those violet-blue depths fastened onto his. He had no words to explain how he felt. He could not articulate the commitment he’d just made to her, that went deeper than the oath that he’d been compelled to utter by the blood bond. He gave his life to her, right then, forever, but had no words to express the depths of his connection to her. So, he simply smiled at her.

  For a moment, her brow furrowed, and then, in the midst of an orgasm threatening to rip them both apart, she smiled back, sealing the connection between them.

  In that instant, the orgasm released them. And this time, it was truly gone, whooshing away like a spirit on the wind. He slipped easily from her body, his cock finally spent. With a low groan, he collapsed beside her, immediately dragging her into his arms. Despite the fact she’d been trapped in an orgasm with him that had nearly killed her, she came willingly, burying herself against him as he draped his thigh over her hips and locked his arms around her.