“No,” lied Tori.

“Have you called her yet?”

“Who?” she asked, just to make him mad.

He stepped out from his hiding place to where she could see him. Excitement made his black eyes sparkle. He smiled as he unlocked the door and stepped inside. “Don’t worry. I can be patient.”

“Wait as long as you want. I’m not calling her.”

“You will.” His words rang with complete confidence. “Before our child is born, you will.”

Chapter 20

Madoc woke up in his own bed. Sunlight filtered through the closed blinds, giving a soft glow to the room. Nika was tucked beside him, curled into his body. Her slender fingers splayed over his waist and her cheek rested over his heart.

He was a bit fuzzy on how he got here. The last thing he remembered was being in Tynan’s room.

He turned to look at the bedside clock to see how much time had passed. Sitting in front of it, obscuring the red numbers, were four bottles of sports drink. A note was taped to the top of one.

Rehydrate. You’re going to need it. T.

Tynan.

So, the attack on Nika and the blood oath hadn’t been a bad dream.

In the space of a heartbeat, he relived the entire event. The panic of knowing something had happened to her, the fear of losing her, the need to make it better and never let anything ever happen to her again. It all slammed into him, robbing him of breath.

Madoc rolled over and wrapped his arm around her, thanking whatever god was listening for her safety.

Nika squirmed in his too-tight embrace, so he relaxed the pressure. Her breasts slid over his bare chest, and he could feel the velvet drag of her nipples against his skin.

She was naked. He could feel it now, all that soft, warm skin sliding against his.

They were both naked.

Madoc couldn’t remember how that happened, but before he had time to ponder it, a wall of lust crashed down on him, making him hard. He gritted his teeth against it, struggling not to crush Nika in his embrace.

Her eyes fluttered open and she gave him a smile so sweet it nearly broke his heart. “You’re awake,” she whispered. “How are you feeling?”

Like shoving his cock into her. He didn’t say that, though. He kept his lips pressed together, knowing that if he opened them, he’d kiss her. And if he kissed her, he wouldn’t stop until he was driving hard and deep inside her.

Nika frowned and rose to her knees, pressing her hand against his head as if checking for fever. “Are you okay? Tynan said you needed to drink a lot.”

He understood her words, but he couldn’t seem to care about responding. Her breasts were beautifully bare, hovering near his head. She reached over him for a plastic bottle, and Madoc couldn’t stop himself from shifting just enough to capture her nipple in his mouth.

Nika gasped and moved closer, flowing over him, lining herself up so he didn’t have to stretch his neck to reach her.

He grabbed her shoulders, holding her steady while he kissed his way to her other breast so he could taste it, too.

“I’m not sure we should be doing this,” she said, breathless. “You’re dehydrated.”

He didn’t give a fuck about that right now. All he cared about was whether she was wet enough to take him.

She pulled away, and he let her go only because he really wanted to get her under him. Before he could manage to move her there, she slipped away and rolled over his body until she was standing on the floor beside the bed. She grabbed one of the bottles and thrust it at him. “Drink. Sanguinar’s orders.”

If that was what it would take to get her to comply, he’d do it. He sat up, ripped the cap off, and guzzled the bottle down, staring at her the whole time. A trickle escaped the corner of his mouth and Nika’s eyes followed it down his chest.

She licked her lips as Madoc tossed the empty bottle to the floor.

Nika knelt on the edge of the bed and leaned forward. Her tongue met his skin, following the path the liquid had taken down his torso.

Madoc’s body clenched. He felt her sliding inside his head, poking around. He didn’t want her to see how raw his need for her was, how consuming and demanding. He wanted to be gentle with her. Go slow. Make up for what he’d done before.

He gripped her arms and pulled her up until he could kiss her. Her mouth was soft and sweet against his. Her lips parted to let his tongue slide in and taste her.

He groaned, knowing no other woman would ever taste half as good or go to his head quite like Nika did. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t resist her. She was his weakness, and, at the same time, everything he’d ever wanted.

This time, he wasn’t going to lose control. This time he was going to treasure her, go slow and give her the kind of pleasure she deserved. Even if it killed him.

Her hands roamed over his chest, making his lifemark shiver in delight. Her fingers were warm and supple as they kneaded him, tugging him closer as her breathing sped up against his mouth.

She pulled her lips away and stared at him with eyes a much darker blue than normal. Her pupils swelled, her irises thinned out, and her eyelids were low and heavy, as if she was having trouble keeping her eyes open. A bright pink flush was spreading out over her neck and chest, so pretty he couldn’t stop himself from kissing it.

He worked his way down her neck, nipping and kissing as he moved down. Nika’s pulse pounded in her neck. He flicked his tongue against the luceria, and it sent a shock of power winging through his body.

Her sharp intake of breath told him she’d felt it, too.

“Like that?” he asked.

An incoherent moan was her only response, but she tilted her head to the side, inviting him to do it again.

He did, and this time, that shock went straight to his groin, making him hiss in a breath against the acute pleasure of it.

The link between them throbbed, and he could feel a frantic kind of need spilling out of her. He recognized it as sexual frustration and wanted nothing more than to ease her, but not until he knew she was ready. He couldn’t stand the thought of hurting her again.

She straddled his stomach, reaching under the sheets behind her to grip his cock in her delicate hand. He knew she intended to shove him inside herself, but it wasn’t time for that. “Not yet. Soon.”

A feral snarl shaped her mouth, making her look like a woman who wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Her white teeth glowed bright, her lips were swollen and red from his kisses, and right now, Madoc couldn’t think of a single thing beyond getting her mouth around his cock.

He knew that wasn’t what he was supposed to be thinking about, but he couldn’t seem to help it.

“Is that what you want?” she asked, staring down at him.

Hell, yes. There was no way he was keeping his rampant thoughts to himself. He didn’t even try. He let her see what he wanted. He let her see her white hair spilling over his thighs as she sucked him into her sweet mouth. He let her see her thighs spread wide as he returned the favor, licking and sucking her until she came against his mouth.

Her body vibrated with fine tremors as she inched her way toward his groin. The sheets covered his erection, but didn’t hide it. She pulled the fabric down, sliding it over his cock in a sensual caress.

Madoc shuddered, clenching his fists to keep from shoving her down where he wanted her. He needed to be gentle. Careful. He couldn’t hurt her again like he did last time.

In fact, he shouldn’t even be doing this at all.

“You’re not going to hurt my mouth,” she told him. Before he could answer her, she flowed down between his thighs with a natural grace that made it look like she’d been doing this for years.

Wet heat closed around his cock as she slid her lips over him. Her tongue swirled over the head, licking away the drops he couldn’t keep from spilling in his excitement. With voracious enthusiasm, she sucked and licked, learned what he liked, dragging a string of searing curses from his lips. He felt her in his head, sliding through his thoughts, and the intimacy served only to make him hotter.

He wasn’t going to last much longer at this rate. All her innocence and excitement were going to kill him, and he’d be damned if he got off again without making her come first. It was a point of pride. His woman would never again go without the screaming kind of pleasure she deserved. And then some.

Before he forgot his good intentions, he pulled her sweet mouth away and pushed her back until her head was hanging off the end of the bed. He lifted her feet, hooked them over his shoulders, and moved up until her thighs were draped over his arms.

Like this, the contrast between his strength and her fragility was startling. His arms were as thick as her legs, reminding him of just how fragile she was.

“I can take whatever you have to give,” she assured him. “You won’t break me.”

Her trust in him was humbling. It tore down walls he didn’t even know he’d built, baring him in ways he’d never been with any other woman.

As big and tough as he was, she could still make him tremble.

Madoc turned his head and kissed the inside of her thigh, right above her knee. His tongue flicked over her skin, leaving a hot, wet trail of feather-soft touches. As he moved up her body, her legs spread wider.

“I’m going to kiss you,” he told her. “Make you wet enough to take all of me.”

She shivered and Madoc felt a spike of lust spear through their link into him. Her lust.

A smile of victory stretched his mouth as he bent to kiss and lick and feast on her.

Nika was dying. She had to be. Nothing but death could feel this intense.

She knew what was happening to her. She’d been inside the minds of other women when they climaxed, but it was nothing like this. She wasn’t sure if it was the mental connection or the physical distance that had muted those feelings, or if she somehow felt things differently from other women, and right now, she couldn’t concentrate enough to figure it out.

Madoc’s mouth and fingers were driving her higher, forcing her toward something blinding and beautiful. She gripped his hair, not sure whether she wanted to push him away or pull him closer. These feelings were almost too bright to bear. Only the knowledge that he wouldn’t hurt her drove her worry away.

She felt the connection between them flare; then his hulking presence was inside her mind, fitting there as if he’d been a part of her all her life. He was warm, strong, demanding. He found her lust and magnified it with his own, letting her see just how much he wanted her.

Images of them together tangled in sensual poses fluttered through her as he showed her all the things he intended to do to her.

Nika’s nerve endings were already on fire as pleasure streaked through her. Those images and the feel of Madoc seated deep in her mind sent her flying, disintegrated her as her body began to spasm. The intensity of it was shocking, almost painful. Only the victorious surge of satisfaction she felt coming from Madoc told her that it was safe to let go.

She flung herself into the pleasure and trusted Madoc to keep her safe as the next wave hit her.

Slowly, her body relaxed as a vibrating kind of warmth settled over her.

Her body shifted on the bed as Madoc moved her. Until then, she hadn’t realized she’d nearly fallen off.