He shut off the water and reached out of the glass cubicle for a towel wrapping it around her. He rubbed his towel through his hair.
She stepped forward and licked the water off his chest. He froze, his eyes going to half-mast as she continued to kiss the drops of water that clung to his skin. His breathing caught, becoming shallow.
“F-k, Lia,” he whispered as she stroked her hands down his sides to his hips, pulling his skin against hers. “I am not in total control of myself at the moment. I have been operating on adrenaline for too long and my wolf is very near the surface.”
“I want you,” she replied lifting her face to his.
He leaned down, catching her by the lower back and bringing her hard against him as his mouth ravished hers. The towel he held dropped to the floor.
He lifted her without breaking the kiss and carried her into the walk-in-robe before setting her to her feet. “The staircase is too narrow to carry you up, but don’t run, and don’t rush. With my wolf so near to the surface, we don’t want to trigger the prey response.”
“Okay.” She released the hidden door and started up the stairs, keeping the pace deliberate. She heard him close the door behind them.
He had made a bed on the wooden floorboards, between the bookshelves, using blankets to create a mattress. She used her towel to rub dry her hair, and felt his skin come against her back as he stepped closer. He groaned, lowering his face into the curve of her neck and shoulder, kissing his way from the point of her shoulder bone to the sensitive spot beneath her ear.
She shivered.
“Cold?” His voice was barely more than a growl and she knew the Other would be bright in his eyes. “I know how to warm you.”
His hands sculpted up her sides to cup over her breasts and her breath came out as a broken sigh. She dropped the towel, and her head arched back until it rested against his shoulder. He took advantage of the exposed arch of throat, his lips and tongue tasting her skin, as he caressed her breasts.
She turned to face him, and his mouth came down on hers, his tongue stroking against hers as he lowered her onto the blankets. His kisses trailed down over her breasts and down her stomach. He met her eyes over the rises and falls of her body, the Other golden, and then lowered his mouth to his target, and she arched into him.
“Oh, f-k,” she sobbed it out, her body reacting as if he had set off fireworks along her nerve paths.
He brought her to the edge and then lifted over her, sinking into her before his lips met hers, his kiss broken by his groan. She gripped his hips, the feel of him within her bliss. He pushed deeply, and she wrapped her legs around him to bring him nearer, feeling the shift of his muscles beneath her heels.
“Look at me, Lia,” the alpha command was in his voice, and she lifted her eyes to his, held by the golden glow of the Other, as he began to thrust. “Don’t look away from my eyes. Mine.”
“Yes,” it was a moan. “Oh, god, Raiden, don’t stop.”
He laughed, a fractured sound without humor. “Mine, my mate.”
“Oh, yes.”
He ducked in order to kiss her, coming down onto his elbow, the changed of angle, bringing his pelvic bone against hers. She tightened the grip of her legs around him to keep him there, the position bringing her back to the edge of orgasm.
“Raiden,” she begged.
He pushed hard against her, his pace increasing, and a growl deep in his throat. The gold eclipsing the brown in his eyes as they held hers, the light reflective across the surface. She reached up, digging her fingers into the dark overgrown curls of his hair, pulling his lips to hers.
“I love you,” she said, and felt the orgasm take over, stealing the air from her lungs.
“F-k,” it was a cry of desperation as he pushed deep, and she felt him follow, lifting again onto his hands as he did so, breaking the contact of their eyes as he threw back his head, his muscles tensing and standing out against his skin. “F-k, f-k.” He sank down over her, the last shudders still passing through him. “Oh, f-k.”
She stroked her hands up his back, her eyelids heavy.
“That was intense,” he murmured. “I think that was the most intense orgasm I have ever had. Too much adrenaline due to my mate in danger and being separated. The full moon can’t come soon enough. My wolf is getting impatient.”
She felt a sudden wave of despair, bringing tears to her eyes, and felt them roll across her cheeks to fall into her hair. She tried to suppress it, but her body shuddered out a sob and Raiden lifted onto his elbows, kissing away the tears and murmuring her name. She gripped him tight and cried. He held her until she was empty of it.
“So brave, Lia,” he whispered brushing his lips over hers. “So strong. We will get through this. We will find a solution.”
She fell asleep holding him to her, with his assurances in her ears.
She woke to sunlight spilling gem toned light into the room. Raiden was just coming up the tower stairs. He wore his jeans and nothing else, and she felt a surge of lust at all the exposed skin and muscle.
“Hey,” he said. “You have had a good sleep. Tara and Alatar have been by, dropping off some stuff. They just left.”
“Raiden,” she held out her arms and he cross the room, and lowered over her, his mouth coming to hers. She reached between them for the button of his jeans, releasing it and pulling the fly open She pulled him into her, feeling the coarse fabric of the jeans against her legs as she wrapped them around her. “Oh, f-k,” she moaned against his lips.
He pulled back against her grip, his thrusts hard and fast, driving them both up sharply, their kisses frantic with need and desperate desire. He gripped her hips, dragging her down the mattress so that his thrusts were deeper, leaning onto his elbow for better traction, sweat beading with the urgency frenetic mating.
She cried out as she came, clinging to him. He buried his face into her neck, and she felt his teeth graze where shoulder met neck, closing but not breaking the skin as he came. She was shocked at the pleasure of that bite, gasping beneath it. He lowered over her, releasing his teeth, and she felt his tongue stroke over it.
“F-k Lia,” he said ruefully. “My wolf rose for a moment there and wanted to turn you. I am sorry.”
“It felt good,” she replied turning her head so that they were nose to nose and kissing him.
“Doesn’t make it okay,” he replied. “I have to get my wolf under control again.”
“How do you do that?”
“There are three ways, normally,” he replied. “Go for a run, shift and hunt on pack land, until you reach equilibrium with your wolf again. Work out or have a friendly fight with someone, to work up a sweat and exhaust yourself, then sleep. Or f-k, a lot, frequently, until you and your wolf are sated.”
Lia smiled. “I like option three.”
“So do I.” He lifted over her again. “I like that option a lot. Here,” he lifted her and turned her onto her hands and knees. “Let’s try it this way, hey?”
He positioned himself behind her and she moaned as he curled over her, his hips rocking into her. He wrapped an arm around her, and his hand came between her legs intensifying the sensation.
“Lia?” He murmured his lips against her shoulder.
“Good. Very good.”
“Hmm,” it was a hum of satisfaction. “Lower onto your stomach,” he decided, and she did until he lay over her, and he braced his hands on either side of her, increasing pace and force of his thrusts.
“Oh, f-k.” She couldn’t do anything except feel him against her, pinned beneath him in this way.
“Lia,” he took her hand, and directed it beneath her, between her legs. “Yes?”
“Oh,” she hadn’t thought about doing that, and would have been too embarrassed to initiate it herself. He lifted back onto his hands and resumed his forceful movements. With the extra stimulation, she quickly neared orgasm.
“Slow,” he murmured. “Take a deep breath, and hold yourself there, Lia, don’t push yourself over yet.”
She closed her eyes and did as he told her, easing herself away from the cliff of pleasure.
“I will tell you when I am near,” he pressed his lips. “And you push yourself over then, alright?”
“Mmm.” Oh, god, she thought, it was so nice to have him on her.
He changed his angle and pace, and she heard the change in his breathing. “Now, Lia.”
She cried out as the orgasm hit hard, and heard his cry echo hers, until he lowered over her, gasping for breath. She worked her hand out from under her and he caught it in his, threading their fingers.
“I love you,” he pressed his lips to her shoulder. “I am going to make some breakfast.” He lifted from her and reached for his jeans. “I was going to ask you what you wanted, but you distracted me, and now it is going to be bacon and eggs, because I am starving.”
She rolled over. “Bacon and eggs sounds good. I might have a shower,” she said. “And then I have to read the grimoire. I should have read it as a child as my grandmother wanted me to do, perhaps all of this would have been avoidable if I had. If there is a solution to this, the book may be where the answer lies.”
“Good thinking,” he leaned over and brushed his lips over hers. “Alright, I will leave you to shower and read, and make some food. I think we are both short a few good meals. Don’t spend too long in the bathroom. I feel better when you are in the safety of the turret, and it keeps my wolf calmer.”
“Alright.”
She showered quickly and returned to the turret. She opened the book. “Cover to cover,” she decided and turned to the first page.
The family tree meant something different now that she knew that Evelyn had been Wingless, and the eventual diminishing of the line into the one thread was due to her family hunted by other Wingless.
The picture of Evelyn and her father was more poignant.
Raiden brought her up breakfast and ate with her, sitting on the bed and watching her read. Once she had finished eating, he took the plate away, and returned with a bottle of water.
“I think you should drink this.”
She looked up at him surprised by the tone of his voice. “Raiden?”
He laid a pregnancy test onto the book. “It was in with the groceries that Tara and Alatar brought.”
“Oh.” She swallowed. “Raiden…”
“It is okay, Lia,” he put his hand on her shoulder. “I hope you are pregnant.”
“Raiden…” She fought back tears. “I don’t think Lucian used protection.”
He turned her chair and squatted before her, his hands on her knees. “Lia, look at me,” there was alpha command behind the order, and she fought against it, feeling shamed.
“Lia,” he murmured as she finally dragged her eyes to his. “Vampires are different in their nature. Whatever made them, it changed them in a different way to werewolves. I don’t know about the rest of the Others, but I know that vampires are only able to have children with other vampires.
“But more than that, what happened with Lucian, was not your fault. It was not your fault, and if it were his child, we would raise it and love it anyway, because it wouldn’t be its fault either. So, drink your water, go downstairs, and do the test, and let’s find out if we are going to have a baby.” He put the water bottle into her hand.
“What happens if I am?” She turned the bottle between her hands. “Will turning me hurt it? Will it be half werewolf if we wait? What will it be? What if it’s been affected by the blood Lucian fed me? Or everything else that has happened to me?”
“Lia,” he was agonizingly gentle. “I don’t know the answer to all those questions, but I can tell you that you wouldn’t be the first mate turned pregnant, and the baby will be fine. As to the rest, we will work it out if it’s a problem, but were-cubs are tough, and I am pretty sure that it will be okay.”
He opened the lid of the water. “Drink up.”
“It might be too early to tell,” she said. “I don’t know about these things, Raiden. I just haven’t, you know,” she shrugged awkwardly. “Had a period since we…”
“And you were ovulating when we met,” he nodded and stood, taking the box off the book. He opened it, easing the pamphlet out. “I had a read of this whilst I was making breakfast, and it says it can tell pregnancy from five days after conception. If you were ovulating when I met you, you are already a week overdue, so I don’t think that we are too early.”
“You read the pamphlet,” she stared up at him in astonishment. With the jewel tones from the stained-glass window falling over him, he was breathtakingly gorgeous, his dark hair falling in his eyes and his cheeks shadowed by stubble.
“Of course, I read it,” he was amused. “It is my baby, too. I want to know how these things work.”
She lifted the bottle to her lips.
He smiled at her capitulation and opened the pamphlet onto her book. “According to this, you just open the cap, and after you start peeing, you stick the brush end into it,” he was completed unembarrassed talking about bodily functions. “Put the cap on and wait for two minutes. Then it tells you if you are pregnant or not. Alright?” He looked at her expectantly.
“I can’t just pee on demand,” she smiled despite her reservations. He was excited, she realized, and eager to find out. She almost hoped that she was, in order not to disappoint him.
“I might not be,” she cautioned him, trying to manage his expectations. “Other things can disrupt periods, and mine are a bit erratic anyway.”
“I know,” he assured her. “And if you are not, there will be another time, and we will consider this a practice run. Next time, we will be experts with pregnancy tests.”
“I love you,” it was a devastating ache in her chest, a kind of wonderment at the beauty of the man he was, that brought tears to her eyes. “I love you so much, Raiden.”
He caught her up against him, almost spilling the water, and held her tightly, burying his face into her hair. “I love you too, Lia. Desperately. I want to make a life with you, raise a family with you, run under the moon with you, and grow old with you. You are mine. My mate. My life.” He released her, framing her face with his hands, and kissed her lingeringly.
“Now, drink the water, and let me know when you take the test,” he leaned back. “If I stay up here with you, I will drag you back onto the bed and you need to read your book.”
“Bed seems like a good idea,” she smiled. “But I should read the book.”
“After the test.”
“Yes.”
He grinned, a flash of white teeth, and then ran down the stairs. She wondered what he was doing down there, as she drank more of the water and returned to the book, setting the pregnancy test to the side.
About half an hour later she eyed off the pregnancy test. “Alright,” she told it. “Let’s find out.”
He must have been listening for her with his keen hearing, because when she stepped out of the walk-in-robe, he was at the bedroom door. “Time?”
“Talk about pressure to pee,” she laughed, embarrassed. “Go down the hall or something, or you will give me stage fright.”
“Alright,” he grinned, and left.
She followed the directions of the test and watched it develop as she washed her hands. She wasn’t surprised to find him outside the bathroom door waiting, as he would have heard the water from the toilet flushing.
“Well?” He looked at the test, and exclaimed, his lungs emptying as he caught her against him. “Yes,” he said emphatically between his teeth, a growl in his tone and the Other dominating his eyes. “Yes.” He gripped her tightly. “Mine, my mate and my cub.”