Kerrick tried to shut down his olfactory system but all the hard training of the past several hours had every part of his body humming. His nostrils flared and he drank in Alison’s heady scent like he was dying of thirst. His groin ached. No, it burned.

Her hand climbed his chest, drifted up his throat, then slid over his cheek.

He turned and caught a finger in his mouth. He suckled the lavender flavor off her skin. The moans, which drifted toward him, carried on her equally lavender-scented breath, brought him shifting toward her. She drew the finger out of his mouth, and the sensual slide made him hard as a rock.

He slid his hand up her arm. “You work out,” he said. He arched his body over her. He could feel a possessive need building in him. He should stop this right now. He should take every second possible just to train her.

Still, he didn’t move except to rub his hand up and down her arm.

“Yes. Every day because when I don’t, I go crazy.”

“I know what you mean.”

He thought of his basement, of the tight isolated nature of his life on Second, of how he punished his muscles every afternoon just for a little relief. He pushed her thick, damp blond hair away from her face.

The battle training had pinked up her complexion and turned her lips a dark rose. Or maybe it was because she’d just been kissing him. Her blue eyes gazed at him as though she didn’t believe he was real.

She slid her fingers into his damp hair. She didn’t seem to mind he was slick with sweat. She rolled ever so slightly onto her back and tugged at the back of his neck, drawing him in her direction.

The invitation did him in.

He followed as though connected to her by a short heavy leading rope. He slung a leg over her hips. He planted a hand on the floor beside her head. God, she was beneath him, just where he’d wanted her from the moment he first caught her scent, the moment at the medical complex when she had folded in front of him.

Her lips parted.

Now would be the time to pull back, to remember the futility of what he was doing, but what harm could there be if he got inside her? Sex alone wouldn’t complete the breh-hedden.

She leaned up and caught his lips, her tongue dipping inside. The kiss settled everything.

He crashed down on her hard, kissing her fiercely, letting the roar of the breh-hedden flood his veins.

He lost track of his actions. He stripped her shirt and pants off her then kissed her, or maybe it was the other way around. He got rid of her bra, somehow, although it involved a lot of giggling on her part. He palmed her breasts yet managed to work himself out of his jeans. He groaned as she stroked the length of his cock.

Things evened out when she was perfectly naked and his clothes were piled … somewhere. The full wet length of her body, her fingers intertwined with both his hands, her legs spread and wrapped around his hips, his cock poised at her core came into sharp erotic focus.

He kissed her again and began to push inside. She let out one long deep moan and stroked him with tight internal muscles. He groaned and dammit, almost came. He’d been so ready for this from the second her trail of lavender had assaulted him, all those painful hours ago at the medical complex. Too ready. He suckled her neck and rubbed the thick base of his fangs over her skin, avoiding puncture at the tips.

“Hey,” she murmured hoarsely, panting. “If you snack on me while we’re doing this and you’ve already been in my head, won’t that cause a big problem—you know the breh thing you talked about?”

“We’re good,” he said, struggling to breathe. “It all has to happen at the same time. Separate events don’t count. But don’t worry.” He pushed at her neck with the sides of his fangs. “I won’t be drinking your blood.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will in a minute.” He thrust into her hard.

She arched against him. She threw her head back, moaned, and cried out, “You’re so perfect. Oh, God. And you’re sure I won’t hurt you if we’re joined like this?”

He laughed. “Not a chance.”

He was deep inside now, his cock surging and pulling back, driving in and out, teasing all the sensitive nerves. He was where he belonged. She made delicate mewling sounds and panted in between. Her muscles clenched around him. He was so damn hard and she was a fist pulling at him.

He shuddered with the effort it took to keep from spilling inside her. He wanted to wait. He wanted to wring every drop of pleasure from this time with her. He wanted to watch her come at least half a dozen times before he spent himself.

He drifted his lips down her chest and kissed the swell of her breasts, his fangs thick in his mouth. He knew what he wanted to do but he didn’t want to lose contact.

She seemed to understand because as he angled over her chest, she tightened her legs around his buttocks and kept his hips seated against her. He thrust slowly as he licked her breast then set the sharp tips of his fangs over the swell of her skin.

He overlaid her mind. May I taste you?

So polite for a vampire.

He cupped her breast and felt it swell in his hand. She groaned and whimpered.

May I? he asked again, avoiding puncture. He ground his hips into her.

“Please,” she whispered aloud, her voice hoarse.

He lowered his mouth to her nipple and ran his tongue in a circle several times until her hips bucked beneath him. He slowed his thrusting, holding back, spinning the moment out as long as he could.

He positioned his fangs just above the pink areola. In a swift jab he sank the razor-sharp tips deep, exuding a chemical to keep the blood from flowing. With her blood held at bay, he slowly started releasing a potion designed to heighten sensation.

* * *

Alison cried out. Pain and pleasure merged in a driving duet of incredible sensation. She looked up into the twig ceiling and slid her fingers once more into his hair. She panted and gasped, unable to believe that this wonderful thing had happened. Her warrior-vampire was inside her, at last. And she wasn’t hurting him. Not at all. At least not yet. Never, she hoped. Oh, God, please never.

Her breast tingled where his fangs had penetrated her skin. His tongue lapped low, stroking the tight bud. Her internal muscles clenched rhythmically around his driving cock. Her hips shoved back into him while her legs locked him in place.

She gasped and clutched at the nape of his neck, encouraging him.

A strange sensation began spreading at the place of puncture. She felt a hot sting, then a steady rise of pleasure, which diffused like lightning through her breast as though he touched her from within and without in quick pulses. Her nipple drew up further into a taut hard bead. She moaned loudly. Her back arched.

Oh, God, Kerrick, what have you done to me?

This is only the beginning.

I may pass out.

He chuckled against her skin as he laved the aching nipple, his fangs still deep within her, his hips a slow steady rhythm.

Do you want me to suckle you?

Hard. Now. Please.

He removed his fangs and drew his hand firmly around her breast, forcing the nipple to rise up into his mouth. He took a generous portion and pulled with a deep sucking motion. At the same moment, he slid an arm under her waist and drove into her hard.

Alison knew the moment had come. She wanted to warn him but couldn’t. She was locked inside the orgasm as it carried her on a heavy wave. At the same time, she felt power gathering deep inside. He left her breast and rose up over her, pumping hard now as if he understood her need. She moaned, trying to form the words to warn him but failing. As the intense ecstasy caught her, the power released and the climax took her in a sharp beautiful agonizing grip of pleasure that went on and on. She heard Kerrick grunt then chuckle then groan loudly.

He leaned down to her. “Oh, my God,” he whispered against her ear as he continued stroking her, wringing the last bit of sensation. “That was incredible. My God.”

“You’re not hurt?” she asked, still breathing hard. She planted a hand on his chest. She had to know.

“I’m beyond aroused. I didn’t know it would feel like that when I was inside you. Alison, do it again.”

Relief flooded her. Tears poured from her eyes. She was so happy. And still he was hard as a rock and continued to pump into her. If he kept going, she’d come again.

Now, however, she became aware of a different sensation, a kind of pleasurable burning. Her breast, where he had driven his fangs, now felt on fire in the best way. You put something in my breast.

He smiled down at her. “A potion. One of the best gifts of ascended life.”

She rolled her head back and forth as another orgasm began to build. The potion wasn’t remaining at her breast, either, but had spread and now seeped low into her abdomen.

She moaned and rocked her hips into him.

That’s it, Alison. Did I tell you I love it when you’re in my head? So damn sexy.

She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. He thrust heavily into her once more.

The vampire had staying power.

Desire bolted through her all over again as the potion continued to descend. She didn’t know how much more she could take.

She whimpered as she slid her hands down to caress his buttocks. He was so thick-muscled, so physically powerful, a man, a vampire, a warrior. Her hands moved over him, riding the dips and swells of his beautifully contoured flesh. He was flat-out gorgeous in every possible way, not less so in the honed muscles of his warrior’s body.

She worked her hands up to his waist then over the ripples of his back. She fingered the ridges from which his wings would emerge.

His hips jerked and he moaned. “Better stop that now,” he whispered, his body twisting. “Wing-locks are very sensitive.”

Her fingers couldn’t stop. She loved the way his body moved when she touched him there.

“No, really,” he gasped, rising up to look at her. “Stop or I’ll come and I don’t want to. Not yet. I want to feel you come again. I want to watch you come.”

She slid her hands down to his waist.

More, she whispered in his head.

He rose up over her and growled. His fangs emerged, his green eyes dark, fierce, as he met her gaze. She reached up and stroked his fangs, avoiding the tips. He moaned then rolled his hips into her. She arched and whimpered. She touched his lips, his chin, and stroked his neck with her hand. He was beautiful everywhere. Her chest hurt looking at him.