Darkness Avenged (Guardians of Eternity) Page 0,37

her legs around his waist. “The time is now,” she informed him.

Pulling back, he regarded her with a rueful smile. “Always so bossy.”

She deliberately rubbed herself against the straining length of his erection. “If you wanted submissive you should have went with Charis.”

His eyes darkened, his fangs long and lethal in the dim lamplight. “What I want is you.” Holding her gaze, he shifted until the tip of his cock pressed against her entrance. “Only you.”

“Then take me.”

“Sí.”

With a low hiss, Santiago tilted his hips forward, sliding into her with a slow, relentless thrust.

Lowering her hands, Nefri clutched at Santiago’s shoulders, moaning in approval at the delicious sense of fullness. In this moment they were joined as deeply as it was possible for two people to be joined.

As lovers . . .

Her mind instantly shied from the implied relationship.

“Nefri,” he whispered close to her ear. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing,” she muttered, burying her face in the curve of his neck to absorb the rich male scent of him. “Nothing at all.”

“Then hang on, querida.”

The words had barely left his lips when he was pulling out and thrusting forward with enough force to bang the bed against the wall. Her eyes squeezed shut. Santiago’s tenderness had been a delightful surprise, but this was . . .

This was the raw, aching sex her body had longed for. This was perfection.

Meeting him thrust for thrust, Nefri scored her nails down his back, digging them into the firm muscles of his butt. He made a choked sound of pleasure, his lips finding hers in a kiss that demanded utter surrender.

“Dios, I’ve waited so long.”

She nipped at his lips, her fangs careful not to break his skin.

Vampires mated by exchanging blood. Not that she thought they were . . . or could . . . or ever would....

Never. The mere thought was ridiculous.

But, no use taking unnecessary risks, right?

Shoving aside the unwelcome distraction, she instead concentrated on Santiago as he stroked deeper, faster, taking her ever closer.

He felt so good as he moved inside her, his hands slipping beneath her hips as he gave a last surge and sent them both skyrocketing to paradise.

She gave a muted cry, her flare of power intertwining with Santiago’s to fill the room with a shimmer of brilliant colors, as if a rainbow had exploded.

“Good . . . lord,” she whispered in shock.

Styx’s lair in Chicago

It was the steady pulse of power that led Roke from the privacy of his rooms to the large library just past nightfall.

There was only one thing that could create the nuclear level energy. Which meant he wasn’t surprised when he stepped into the long room that was lined by ceiling-high bookshelves to discover Styx’s Ravens gathered.

A mocking smile curved his lips as he leaned against the doorjamb and surveyed the collection of massive vampires who were draped on the delicate Louis XIV chairs and sofas. They looked like oversized G.I. Joe action figures stuck in a miniature dollhouse.

“A powwow and you didn’t invite me?” Roke drawled as the vampires turned to regard him with varying degrees of impatience to downright irritation. He hadn’t made any effort to win friends and influence people since being forced to remain in Chicago. “I’m crushed.”

As if sensing that Roke was frustrated enough to pick a fight just to have a reason to hit someone, Styx crossed the room with long strides and stood directly in front of him, blocking his path. “Santiago called just before dawn,” he said.

Ah. Roke had heard the stirrings as he’d lain down to rest for the day, but it had been too late to seek out the cause.

“It must have been a helluva call for you to summon the A-team from their gargoyle duty.” He sent a taunting glance toward the larger-than-usual vampire with a long blond braid and fierce blue eyes. Jagr had recently become the official leader of the Ravens. “Is the world coming to an end?”

The vampire stepped forward, looking every inch the Visigoth warrior he’d once been. “No, but your end can be easily arranged, Tonto,” he growled.

Roke snorted. “Don’t you have a village to plunder, Goth-boy?”

Styx allowed his power to slice through the air with an icy edge. The surrounding vampires flinched in pain.

Clearly the Anasso was in a mood.

“Jagr, I’ll leave it to you to arrange the patrols. Make sure no one goes alone,” he commanded, his dark gaze never wavering from Roke. “You, come with me.”

Not giving Roke an option, Styx grabbed him by the upper