Darkness Possessed (Order of the Blade) Page 21

  Tears were trickling down her cheeks now, too much for her to withhold. She closed her eyes, letting the fullness of Zach’s kiss fill her. She reached inside herself for answers, the kind of answers she had refused to be open to for so long, the kind of answers she could reach only if she broke through the brittle, unyielding walls around her heart and soul. She took a deep breath, giving her trembling body permission to relax and to experience the depths of sensations he was stirring up inside her.

  “That’s my girl,” he whispered against her mouth as his hand slid lower, again tracing her ribs, and then over her belly, dipping lower and lower, each gentle sweep of his hand bringing his fingers closer to the top of her cargo pants. He swept his hand over her hip, and across her butt, and then back to her bare stomach, leaving behind a burning trail of heat everywhere he touched.

  And God, it felt so good. As wonderful as his kisses were, she couldn’t concentrate on them, not with his hand stirring up such incredible sensations. The tips of his fingers slipped beneath the waistband of her pants, and she sucked in her breath. Her entire body was trembling now, not in fear, but in anticipation.

  He deepened the kiss, his tongue asking for more. Not demanding. Asking. Teasing. Seducing. And she wanted to give it to him. Delight leapt through her as she realized how desperately she wanted to kiss him back. She wanted him to touch her and kiss her, but even more, she wanted to touch him herself.

  With rising excitement, she tightened her fingers around the back of his head. Instinctively, they both deepened the kiss, and it suddenly went from a teasing seduction to a new level. It became hot. It became intense. It became about two people wanting everything the other could give them.

  Desire escalated through her, and she was so aware of every touch between them. Of her breasts pressed against his chest, of his hand sweeping lower and lower beneath the waistband of her pants, of the taste of his mouth.

  “Touch me,” he whispered. “If you want to, touch me.”

  His suggestion sent an embarrassing surge of lust through her body, and her thighs clenched in reaction. Touch him? It was one thing to let him touch her, but for her to be the aggressor was so different. It would mean that she took ownership of her need for him.

  Her heart began to pound, and all she could think about were the times José had forced her to touch him. It had been such an insult to make her reach for him, as if she were betraying her soul that was screaming inside in protest. It had been the worst when she’d had to touch him. When he’d assaulted her, she could lie there and pretend it wasn’t him, and take pride in the fact that she was not the aggressor. But when José had realized that, he’d changed the rules and forced her to be the one to initiate. That had been the ultimate humiliation, the final proof to her that she had lost.

  “Hey,” Zach said softly. “You don’t need to touch me. It’s okay.” He pressed his lips to her cheek, and she felt him kiss away the salty dampness from her tears.

  She nodded, and lightly clasped his face in her hands. She searched his dark eyes, and saw only kindness and desire. His hand had stilled on her belly, and his other arm had loosened around her lower back, backing off and giving her space. “No,” she said. “Please don’t stop. Please.” She didn’t know how to put into words how much she needed this from him. She wasn’t even sure she understood it herself. All she knew was that Zach’s kisses and his touch were wiping away memories that had haunted her for so long.

  For a moment, he searched her face, looking for the truth behind her words. As she watched him taking the time to make sure that she truly meant her words, one of the little pieces of the hard shell around her heart cracked the tiniest bit for the man who would not touch her unless he truly knew it was okay with her. “How do you exist? How is it that you are who you are?” She traced her fingertips along his jaw, noticing that as she trailed her fingers downward, his skin was decadently smooth, but as she ran her fingers in the other direction, the pads of her skin caught on the whiskers, as if they were trying to trap her and not let her go. “I never noticed it before.”

  “Noticed what?” His hand resumed its slow, circular path on her lower belly again.

  “That in one direction, a man’s whiskers are smooth. I thought it was always rough.” She moved her fingers back and forth along his jaw, marveling at the difference of how it felt in the two different directions. The shadowy whiskers along his jaw were so dark, a tempting seduction of raw masculinity that should scare her, but didn’t. “But it’s not always rough. I mean, your whiskers are so thick, but they’re like silk in this one direction.” She met his gaze. “It’s as if your whiskers reflect the man who is both a warrior, and the man who can kiss so tenderly that my heart flutters in response.” She leaned forward and lightly pressed her lips to his jaw, trailing them along in the soft direction of his whiskers. “A warrior who is part silk,” she whispered. “Beautiful.”

  He slid two fingers under her jaw and lifted her face to his. “I won’t lie to you, Rhiannon. I’m as far from silk as it’s possible to be,” he said. “But I will never hurt you or take away your choices.” Then he kissed her, a deep, intoxicating kiss that felt like fire unleashed inside her body.

  A soft noise of desire slipped from her as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him as close as she could. His tongue tasted like seduction and primal need, and excitement leapt through her. Suddenly, she didn’t want soft anymore. She wanted a kiss so deep that it plunged into her very soul. Embarrassed to admit it aloud, she told him in the only way she could, with her response.

  He let out a low growl, and eased her onto her back as his hand slid lower beneath her pants. His fingertip brushed over the swollen nub of her desire, and her entire body lurched in response. “Oh, wow,” she gasped, startled by the shock to her system at the intimate touch. “How does that feel so good?”

  He chuckled against her mouth, a deep rumbling that seemed to reverberate from the depths of his chest. “Oh, sweetheart, you have no idea what it can be like when it’s right.”

  He pulled his hand out of her pants, and with one swift move he had unbuttoned them and unzipped them, even as he continued his relentless, incredible assault on her mouth. He spread his hand wide, and swept it across her belly in a touch that was so tempting and yet so unsatisfying because it was no more than a tease for where she really wanted him to touch her. His fingers went over her hipbone, across the top of her pubic bone, to her other hip. Then he cupped her between the legs, as if he were protecting her from all the world, except for his touch, his hand, and his attention.

  She writhed beneath him, wanting more, asking for more with each shift of her hips. But he didn’t give her what she wanted. He kept his hand cupped there, agonizingly still, as he broke the kiss and bent his head to her belly. A kiss on her belly button. Then along her ribs. And then up her sternum. Oh God. He was going to kiss her nipples again. Her entire body clenched in anticipation as his mouth drifted nearer to her breasts. A light kiss on the underside of her breasts, and then his hot, damp mouth closed around her nipple. He bit gently, and she nearly came off the ground as her body lurched in response.

  At that same instant, he pressed his palm against her clitoris, and she gasped at the shock that bolted through her. She arched her back, helpless against the sensations ricocheting through her as he moved his hand again and slipped inside her. She gasped at the feel of the invasion, so tempting and liberating. Another light bite to her nipple, his fingers teasing the folds between her legs, sensations catapulting through her on so many levels. Suddenly, she needed more. She needed to feel him against her, not just the heat through his clothes. She needed to feel his skin. Now.

  With a low cry of desperation, she tugged his shirt out of his jeans. He shifted slightly to help her, and then his shirt was off. He grasped her, and pulled both her shirt and her bra over her head. Another moment, and they were both naked, deliciously, tantalizingly naked.

  He moved back over her, and lowered
himself on top of her, even as he caught her mouth up in another kiss. Intense now. No longer a gentle seduction. It was more desperate and ragged, as if he were struggling for breath as he kissed her. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back just as fiercely, her entire body shaking with need as he pressed his hips between her legs.

  For the second time in less than an hour, they were skin to skin, but this time was different. This time she was so present in the moment. It wasn’t about the high of her power. It was about him and her, and how he made her feel. It was about wiping away the memories of the past with something beautiful, something that was about pleasure, not pain and fear.

  He broke the kiss and lifted his head, his dark eyes boring into hers as his erection pressed against her entrance. “Rhiannon?” he asked, his breathing ragged.

  It was the hesitation in his eyes that took away the last of her doubts. She nodded, unable to keep the smile of anticipation off her face. “Make love to me, Zach. Show me what it’s supposed to be like.”

  His face darkened with fierce resolution that made her body clench in anticipation. “I will never hurt you,” he vowed, and then he buried himself inside her.

  Chapter 18

  Rhiannon gasped as Zach sheathed himself inside her in one easy move. She flinched, preparing for the pain, but there was none. Just the most incredible sensation of connection, electricity, and bliss. Bliss? From being with a man? Oh, yes.

  Her body welcomed him, and she was consumed by intense, searing pleasure cascading through her, as if fireworks were igniting every cell as they ricocheted through her.

  She grinned at Zach, and he smiled back, his fingers playing in her hair. “It feels good,” she said.

  “Of course it feels good. It’s me.” His genuinely pleased smile belied the arrogance of his words, and she actually giggled as he pulled back and then buried himself even deeper.

  “Oh, wow.” She arched her back, drinking in the sensations he was evoking in her. Every nerve in her body felt as if it were on fire, and all of her senses were attuned to his every move, his every touch, and even his every breath. She grasped his shoulders, her attention riveted to his face as he began to build up a rhythm inside her. She had never felt so liberated or free, and yet at the same time, she felt so grounded and connected.

  For the first time in a very long time, she wanted to be fully present in her body, absorbing every single nuance of what was happening to her. All the damage that had clung to her for so long seemed to be splintering away, disappearing into the atmosphere. She felt as though she were standing on the top of the highest cliff in the world with the wind whipping around her, stripping away all the baggage and darkness that had held her captive for so long.

  Their lovemaking grew more frantic, both of them becoming more consumed by the passion building between them. She couldn’t touch him enough, her hands all over his back, his butt, and his shoulders. He was gripping her hips, locking her beneath him as she writhed and bucked, consumed by the desire coiling in her belly. Tighter and tighter the coils twisted, and then it took her, exploding through her. She screamed, basking in the feel of her body twisting out of control, held together only by Zach’s weight and strength.

  “Rhiannon,” he gasped, and then he bucked against her, taken by the same orgasm that was streaking through her body. Together they clung to each other, fighting to hold on in the face of the sensations ripping through them.

  She couldn’t believe how right it felt to be in his arms, to be held so tightly against him, to be cherished so completely on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level. Her entire soul seemed to be singing, glorying in what it felt like to finally be nurtured, elevated, and ignited.

  Happiness.

  A moment of pure happiness.

  With a deep sigh of contentment, she pressed a kiss to the top of his head, smiling at how his face was buried in the crook of her neck, as if all he wanted was to breathe in her very essence. “That was perfection,” she whispered.

  “Yeah, it was.” His voice was muffled against her skin, his warm breath inciting little sparks of response in her.

  God, you’re fucking hot.

  She grinned, almost laughing at the crass words Zach had used, amused that she’d taken him to the point that he’d forgotten to be nurturing. His voice was deeper and raspier than it had been, as if he’d barely survived their lovemaking “Thanks.”

  Zach collapsed on top of her, his muscles limp as the aftershocks of the orgasm continued to rock them both. “No, thank you. That was amazing.”

  I forgot how you fucking scream when you get off. You’ve been holding back on me, you bitch.

  “What?” Rhiannon froze, her heart suddenly hammering. “What did you just say?” He’d called her a bitch? He’d never call her a bitch, would he? What was he doing?

  Zach didn’t move. “I didn’t say anything. I’m too busy trying to catch my breath. Give me a sec, and I’ll wow you with sweet nothings.”

  You fucking whore. You’ll scream like that for me again, I swear it.

  Realization tore through her, along with a deep terror. It wasn’t Zach’s voice she was hearing. It was José‘s voice, in her head. “Oh, my God!” She hit Zach’s shoulders frantically. “Get up! Get up! Get up! He’s here! Oh, my God, he’s here!”

  Zach was off her in an instant. He leapt to his feet and, with a crack and a flash of black light, called out his weapons. He was dressed and armed within a split second, almost moving faster than she could see. His sai slammed into his palms as he spun around, his weight light on the balls of his feet, and every muscle in his body taut with readiness. “Where?”

  Grabbing her clothes, Rhiannon stumbled to her feet and lunged for her dagger. As her fingers closed around the handle, she spun around, frantically searching their campsite. Around them rose the walls of vegetation that she’d spun, and within the enclosure, the light from the torches flickered, making orange shadows dance across them. There was no one in there except for her and Zach.

  Zach shot a look in her direction. “Where?” he demanded. “I don’t see him.”

  Rhiannon shook her head as she searched. “I don’t either.”

  Zach didn’t lower his weapons, and he circled the enclosure carefully, his gaze scanning their surroundings with ruthless intelligence. “He’s outside the walls, isn’t he?”

  Rhiannon’s hands were shaking, and she fought to focus as she quickly pulled her clothes on. The thought of being naked in front of José was terrifying. She needed to be dressed and armed, to have a shield to hide behind. “I don’t know. I heard him in my head. He heard us making love. He has to be nearby.” A shadow passed over the campfire, and she suddenly looked up.

  To her horror, she saw the stars in the night sky above her head. She sucked in her breath, and her fingers went numb around the hilt of her dagger. “I forgot the roof,” she whispered. “Oh, my God. I forgot to put on the roof.”

  Zach looked up. “Can they fly?”

  “No,” she whispered, “but they can climb.”

  She raced over to the wall, and pressed her hand to the plants. The moment she touched it, she felt heavy vibrations as the wall took impact. Fear clenched in her belly, and she looked at Zach, who was watching her. “They’re already climbing it. They’ll be over the top within seconds.”

  ***

  “They’ll be over in seconds?” Zach swore as he looked up. His skin still hurt from the fire that had burned him before. He wasn’t going to stick around and let José finish the job, not when he didn’t have a damn thing to use against him. “If they’re going up, we’re going low. Open us a doorway, Rhiannon!” His sai felt heavy and awkward in his hand as he continued to look upward. A warrior needed his weapons to be an extension of himself, so intertwined with his soul that he could will them to act simply with his mind. As a Calydon, that was supposed to be his relationship with his sai, but they had never felt as comfortable as fire.

  Right now, facing an en
emy more powerful than he was, with the lives of Thano and Rhiannon at stake, the lack of his weapon of choice was a glaring, grim, vulnerability for him. He wanted fire. Jesus, he wanted fire. One well-placed fireball would incinerate them before they could even get over the top.

  “A doorway? What are you talking about?” She spun around, searching the wall that was keeping them alive. “They’re on all sides—”

  “In the ground! Go through the ground!” He grabbed one of the torches she’d lit and shoved his hand directly into the flame. The pain burned through him, but he didn’t pull it out. He just focused on the heat of the fire and tried to draw it into his body like he used to do. He steeled his jaw as he kept his gaze on the top edge, waiting for the enemy to crest it. He felt a flash of heat in his palm, and elation ripped through him. Was it working? Was he absorbing the fire? “Now, Rhiannon. Now! “

  She dropped to her knees and shoved her hands into the dirt. He heard her whispering frantic chants as she asked the plants to clear a path for them.

  His hand was on fucking fire, and he finally tore it out of the flame just as the first warrior crested the top. With a roar, he balled his hand, but no fireball appeared on his palm.

  “Shit!” He hurled his sai straight up. It slammed into the warrior and knocked him back over the edge. He called his weapon back, and it was streaking though the air toward him as another warrior topped the wall. Zach threw his second weapon, and it smashed into the warrior, but another Calydon was already climbing the south ridge before Zach had even gotten his first sai back. “Now!” he shouted to Rhiannon. “We need to get out of here!”

  “I can’t!” she screamed. “I can’t concentrate!”

  “Come on!” Zach sprinted across the campsite to where Rhiannon was on her hands and knees, her fingers digging into the dirt. He hurled his sai again, and took out two more warriors cresting the top, but there were already three others coming over the edge. He stood right next to her, pressing his calf against her hip, trying to connect them the way they’d done before. “Come on, babe, you can do this!” Electricity burned through him at the contact, and he pressed more tightly against her, hurling his sai and calling them back in rapid succession.