You are becoming more wolf by the moment, she hissed, her mind chaotic with the building pleasure. His hands seemed to be everywhere, bringing her body to life when the sun had drained her of all strength. He had magic in him, a beast bringing mind-numbing pleasure bent on her destruction. And she was more than willing to give herself up to him, to allow them both to burn in her fire.

His thrusts were strong and the rhythm a fierce pace, a machine driving through her soft folds, feeling like a steel piston covered in velvet. She knew the meaning of velvet over steel now. The friction turned her body into a firestorm, hot and needy and seeking the wind to fan the flames. She felt him swelling more, an amazing feat. It seemed impossible to accommodate him and yet, there was always more pleasure, a never-ending coiling of tension building in her until fear skittered down her spine and she feared he might tip them both over the edge to insanity.

A good way to go, he observed, leaning down to bite at her breast and then suckle strongly. I could just eat you up. I’ve thought about it enough times. I could spend hours devouring you and all that cinnamon-honey that really belongs to me.

She squirmed at that thought, her sheath flooding him with scorching hot liquid. I’m not arguing with you. You get anything you want, you know I’m crazy mad about you.

He laughed softly. You’re crazy mad about what my body can do to yours.

Okay, that was the truth as well. And right now, she desperately needed him to give her release, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t bring her hips to his. He was using his arms now, bracing himself as he pounded into her. She could almost hear the flames crackling around them. The glow in the soil deepened.

Zev. Just his name. Her miracle. The man who could remove every ugly bit of her past and replace it with such blissful experiences and memories. I need . . .

I know what you need, amoureux, I’ll always know. He moved in her, against her, filled her, the friction building over her most sensitive spot until her body seemed to go up in flames, the orgasm tearing through her like a crown fire, leaping from her groin to her belly, up to her breasts and bursting down her thighs.

Zev threw back his head and howled like the wolf he was as her body took his with it on that fiery ride of sheer bliss. He stayed locked with her a long time, sharing one body, one skin, complete in each other.

Kiss me and let me go back to sleep.

All over again, she sounded drowsy and sensual, enough that his cock jerked and thought about coming to life. She opened one eye and managed a small laugh. You’re insatiable. You’re lucky I love you that way.

He thought about all the things he could do with her. She was sleepy and needed to rest and rejuvenate in the soil. And there was that strange nagging feeling he couldn’t quite put to rest, but still, the temptation of her body . . .

••

“Does it ever bother you that you’re not Carpathian and everyone else is?” Travis Amiras asked Paul Chevez as they tossed a ball back and forth in the front yard of the house where the Carpathian children were housed together to better protect them while the adults slept.

Paul was twenty, a man already filled out with wide shoulders and defined muscles. He was already battle-scarred at his young age. He’d fought vampires, helped to run a massive cattle ranch, had been shot and recently helped to save Dimitri from death by silver. Travis hero-worshipped him.

“I’m not quite ready for that yet,” Paul said. “Carpathians age at a much slower rate than we do. My friend Josef is in his twenties, but is considered a kid. I work hard on the ranch and take care of my little sister. It would annoy me to be treated that way. Besides, I take looking after Ginny seriously. I wouldn’t want to be in the ground while she was above it.”

Travis nodded. “I can understand that. You’ve only got one sister to look out for. I’ve got seven brothers and sisters, now that Sara has had the new baby, little Isabella.” His voice went soft when he mentioned the baby. “It’s hard for Sara and Falcon to go to ground and leave us all. They rely on me.”

Paul nodded. “Falcon talks about you all the time. He was upset that Gary was no longer able to be with you during the day.”

Travis shrugged. “I have to admit, I don’t like it, either. Gary is cool. He teaches us the most interesting things. Marie, the nanny for the kids, can be a little boring. She looks after the little ones and sometimes tries to boss me around. It drives me crazy.”

“But Slavica and Mirko, the innkeepers, have that beautiful daughter, Angelina. I’ve noticed you like spending time with her,” Paul observed with a faint grin.

Travis tried to look innocent and then broke out laughing. “She’s really cool, too. She doesn’t treat me like I’m a kid.”

“I noticed her coolness,” Paul said. He caught the ball and looked uneasily toward the west. “Travis, let’s go inside.”

The smile faded from the younger boy’s face. His eyes turned old and he took a long look around him. “You feel something, don’t you? Something is wrong.”

It was still a good couple of hours before any of the adult Carpathians would be rising, and he was a little uneasy as well. He had no idea why. He was eleven, closer to twelve and already he had taken on the ways of his Carpathian adopted father, Falcon. He walked like him and wore his hair long like him. “Do you feel uneasy?”

Paul walked up the steps to the small house. There were only two other adults with them to protect the children and he felt the responsibility heavily. He had fought vampires and Lycans, but this felt different. He wasn’t certain if it was his imagination or not until he glimpsed Travis’s eyes. The boy was psychic and very sensitive.

“I have no idea if we’re both a little tense and our imaginations are getting away from us because of all that’s happened,” Paul admitted, “but it’s better to be safe. Let’s get the children in the sealed room Mikhail and Gregori provided. We can come back up here and scout around a little. I’ll call in Jubal.”

“It’s weird not to have Gary with us anymore,” Travis admitted. “During the day, he always stayed close to protect us and I felt as if he could stop anything.”

“It’s probably nothing at all,” Paul said again, although his gut was beginning to churn and he was certain there was cause for alarm. He just didn’t want the kid to panic. “Let’s get the others down below.”

“Falcon’s trained me to fight. Peter and Lucas are way better than anyone gives them credit for,” Travis told him. “They like to pull pranks, but they’ll fight if they need to.”