Immortal Wolf - By Bonnie Vanak Page 0,35

at it as if I were the tree, resigned to the approaching winter, the darkness and the icy cold.”

Raphael wanted to seize her gloved hands, pull her to him. He knew he must tread cautiously this first time she was so open. “We both can find a way, Em. I’m on your side. I am your draicaron.” He went to her, drawn by her delicate beauty, the rose-gold of her hair and the translucence of her fine skin.

“I want to help you, but you must stop running from me. Work with me. Trust me,” he said softly. “I want to help you find the spring again, and stay there.”

“Even if you are the Kallan? The dark winter?” Her voice was sad.

“Not always. Let me be your spring.”

Her breathing deepened as she touched her hair. “What about summer? With all its heat, the burning sun bringing life to the earth, making it grow and flourish. The hot, hot summer. Is there heat inside you enough to chase away the dark winter and warm me?”

His breath caught at the husky teasing in her melodious voice.

“Yes,” he murmured. “I can warm you. Enough to chase away all the coldness and keep you warm in my arms. Come here, and let me show you.”

The deep command in his voice compelled her to turn. Emily started toward him in a sultry walk she’d never before displayed. The walk of a female enticing her mate.

Raphael eyed her with hunger, thinking about lying with her as his body demanded. Pinning her down with his weight, making her feel the same passion he did and coaxing a sigh of surrender from her lovely throat. He felt his blood heat as his gaze caressed the slender column of her throat. He would nuzzle her with tiny kisses, and then nip her, marking her as his own so no other male Draicon would dare draw near her and would know she was his.

Gazing upward, he caught her looking at him. Her rosy lips were parted, a delicate flush tinted her face. Her pupils widened. He caught the musky scent of her arousal.

Raphael stepped closer, his breathing hard and fast. His cock hardened as he studied the way her gaze locked with his, the intense yearning of her expression.

She shuffled forward, and then back, a shy dance. He knew this dance of the female, her natural caution warring with intense passion. Shyness with eager anticipation.

He advanced, his body tensing with aggressive need to dominate and claim. Raphael forced himself to move slowly. Must not scare her. All else was forgotten, but this driving sexual need for her. Emily did not retreat. She remained motionless, her hands in their ugly mustard-yellow casing of gloves now shoved behind her back.

He drew close enough to see a slight sprinkling of ginger freckles on her delicate, upturned nose. Close enough to count the light gold lashes feathering her large eyes, see the swirls of green in the irises shift to blue and then deep violet.

Raphael blinked. Her eyes changed color?

And then she parted her lips and lifted her face to him, like a daisy eager for the sun’s caressing rays, and he forgot about everything but fusing his mouth to hers.

His hand gently caressed her soft cheek. Raphael cupped her face and kissed her, feeling the electric shock between them as their lips touched. Emily sighed into his mouth and closed her eyes. He did as well, tasting her, his blood roaring through his veins, his body humming like a live current. She was of the earth and nature, pure as a crystal stream, and he ached to dive into her, plunder her sweet, innocent depths with his hardened body, let her know a male’s driving passion while awakening her own.

When she did not pull away, he deepened the kiss, coaxing a response with increasing plunges of his tongue, teaching her by advancing and retreating, as if they dueled. Emily followed his lead, the rapid sounds of her breaths and the small sighs of pleasure urging him to take it to the next level.

He ran a hand down her side, ignoring the coarse dress, feeling for the lush body trapped by ugly brown fabric. Her waist was tiny, her hips flared. Raphael’s heart pounded harder as he traced a line back to her breasts.

He cupped one in his hand, gently, so as not to alarm her. She made a small, startled sound, and he soothed her by murmuring into her mouth. Beneath the tender caress