“It was the memory of feeling deserted.” His thumb brushed over her trembling lips. “Of having no hope, no promises to believe in. And the memory of betraying the vows to yourself.”
She nodded. “I hadn’t kept the promises I made to Him. Why should He keep the promises I read of?
Each time it was over, I swore the next time I’d kill. And I never did.”
But the promises had been made. Another realization she had hid from herself for so many years. The agony had stopped, and eventually, freedom had come. And then, there had been Seth.
“Come here.” He lifted her until she stood between his thighs, shaking, trembling as her body realized how incredibly tired it was.
There was no adrenaline rushing through her, no anger or fury spurring her to fight against the darkness she always felt inside her.
And now she was tired.
The sun was rising; she could feel it in her blood, heating her despite the weariness as Seth slowly undressed her.
He didn’t caress her as a lover would. He caressed her as a mate. Loving, soothing kisses where she was bruised. A murmur of regret at a scratch to her flesh.
He had no idea that this was the least damaged she had ever been in a fight with Stygian. He rarely gave quarter, and he taunted her in the bargain. But it had never drawn free the primal fury that Seth had drawn from her.
Because no other Breed had been allowed to restrain her; Callan forbade it. Seth didn’t kowtow to Callan, and he didn’t fear him. He had staked his claim there in that room, on a mat that dampened with her sweat and her tears. And he had given her the gift of making her whole. Dawn wasn’t a fool, and she knew Seth wasn’t either. There would be other nights when she would cry, because when she awoke from the nightmares, the memory of them would be there. But she knew he would be there to hold her. He would shelter her, and her tears would be welcome.
“I need you,” she finally whispered as he stood and stripped his sweaty shirt from his body.
“You need a shower, then you need to rest.” He finished undressing and turned to lead her to the shower.
“No, Seth. I need you.” She dug her heels in, staring back at him, the confidence of a lover, the woman that belonged in his soul rising within her. “The shower can wait. I need your touch.”
Dawn leaned forward and touched him. She licked over his chest, let her teeth rake over it. His muscles jerked beneath the touch as a hard hiss left his lips. She liked that sound. Male frustration, and male pleasure. Seth’s pleasure. She pulled her wrist free of his fingers and let her fingers rake through the curls that covered his chest. The lighter brown almost blended with the deeply tanned flesh and fascinated her. Breeds didn’t have body hair below their necks. Some Breeds could grow a beard and mustache, but it was extremely rare. Hair grew quickly, and brows and lashes were natural, but there was no crisp, silken chest hair on the males. No covering growth between the thighs. Seth’s body hair continually drew her touch. It was light, sexy, soft and warm. She leaned forward and rubbed her cheek against it, feeling the purr that came to her throat when she meant only to give a whispery moan of pleasure.
Her hands pulled at his belt, the metal buttons of his jeans as she felt him toe his way out of his running shoes. She pushed the denim over his hips, carefully lowered it over the thick length of his cock. The hard flesh stood out from his body, throbbing, flushed, heavy with need.
She dragged the material down his muscular thighs then let him deal with the rest of it. She had what she wanted. That gorgeous cock, full to bursting, a small bead of pr**cum dampening the tip. She went to her knees, ignoring his strangled groan as her lips covered the flushed crest. She needed the taste of him in her mouth. His pleasure racing inside her. She drew his c**k head nearly to her throat, sucked and licked as her hands, both hands, cupped around the shaft and stroked.
The muscles in his abdomen stood out clearly, his thighs bunched powerfully.
“Dawn, I won’t last long with this,” he groaned. “Come here, sweetheart.” He threaded his fingers through her hair and tried to lift her. “Let me love you.”
A growl met the tug on her hair, a light raking of her teeth.
“You’re spanked.” The hard retort was a sound of extreme pleasure. Promises, promises, she thought without lifting her lips to speak the words. Maybe one of these days he would actually get around to making good on it.
She swirled her tongue over the pulsing crest, licked and purred. God, he tasted so good. He tasted like life, like a miracle, like love. And she needed all of it to warm the places in her soul that had been cold for so long. To ease the shock of the revelations inside her and, quite simply, because he made her hot. He made her horny.
He made her want to knead his flesh in pure joy.
Instead she sucked. She sucked and licked and heard his groans, his growls, his muttered oaths and, finally, felt and tasted the hard, deep spurts of his se**n filling her. She eased back, stared up at the glitter of lust gone mad in his gaze and licked her lips slowly. Satisfyingly. Because he tasted so damned good she knew she would need more, often.
“My turn.” He lifted her.
Dawn didn’t protest it; it would have done her no good to, because her body was burning for his touch now. She had erogenous zones where there weren’t supposed to be erogenous zones. As he laid her back against the soft spread, the caress of the material on her back made her arch. But when his hands gripped her thighs and parted them, the pleasure was like a tidal wave, consuming her and sucking her into a vast ocean of sensation.
She was lost within it as his head lowered to the heat of her pu**y and his tongue worked slowly through the ultrasensitive slit.
He set fires in her that she knew would never be completely sated. They could be banked, nothing more. Her hands slid into his hair, she twisted beneath him, arched and cried out in ecstasy as his lips
surrounded her clit and sucked her to climax. Then he pulled her to him as he went to his back, dragging her over him and pulling her head down for his kiss.
His c**k pierced her pu**y as her tongue slid into his mouth. He sucked the hormone gathering in her tongue from her as she sucked him into the heat and snug depths of her sex. They moaned together, moved in a dance as ancient as time, and they loved. Dawn had never felt sensations as she felt them now. As though by confronting the worst that her past had to offer, she could now accept her present with a joy she had never known before. And she did more than accept it now; she demanded it.