He held her hips to him, one arm sliding around her waist as her body grasped and milked his greedily. Her knees would have collapsed, and she had no idea how he was still on his feet. He'd powered into her over and over, until she lost track of time, her mind moving into another place, another realm, but she knew he had spent a long time inside of her. She was deliciously sore.
He moved up onto the bed, guiding her around so that she crawled, still connected to him, around to face the headboard. With every movement she felt her body ripple around his, grip his tightly, reluctant to let him go. He was right, she craved him. She knew she always would.
Still kneeling behind her, he moved in her gently, bringing them both down from that floating space they occupied. His hands urged her to move back into him just as gently so that her body rippled and pulsed around him. He kissed the base of her spine, murmuring to her in his own language, his hands caressing her buttocks and smoothing over her thighs. Then he very gently slipped out of her. Gabrielle couldn't help the small cry of protest at the loss.
He helped her to lie down, keeping his hands on her, tucking her into his side as he turned his body into hers. He kissed her eyes. Her nose. Moved his mouth gently over hers and then kissed her chin.
"Are you all right?"
"That was perfect."
"So you enjoyed your punishment?" he asked, nuzzling her throat. She felt his smile against her pulse. "I certainly did. I liked seeing the way you look with such an intriguing color, my hand caressing all that heat."
"Uh-oh. You're in trouble, Aleksei, if that was my punishment. I'll end up being like the bad girl of the century."
His hand moved over the stretchy lace. Found her nipple and tugged. "This is a beautiful covering. I like to look at your body, but if you have to be covered, this is sexy. You are very sexy, Gabrielle."
She snuggled closer to his heat. "Thank you. I like that you know what you want, Aleksei. I don't have to worry. I'm a worrier. I never think I do anything right, and when you take charge like that, I love it."
He shifted just a little so he could nuzzle her breast. Her body pulsed. She really was hungry for him. He didn't seem to mind that she wanted his body so much.
"I like things a certain way, Gabrielle. You are my lifemate, my other half. It is natural that you would suit my needs and I would suit yours." His tongue lapped at her nipple through the lace as if the stretchy fabric intrigued him. She wished she'd thought to add taste to the texture. Maybe next time.
"I like them your way, then," she said. "If someone had ever told me I would like a spanking, I would have told them they were nuts, that I'm not a child."
He nuzzled her breast again. "O jela sielamak, an erotic spanking is far different than a man slapping the hell out of his woman. If you did not enjoy it, we would not have done it."
"Even to punish me?"
"Of course not. I can think of far more creative ways to make you beg for forgiveness."
The sensual note in his voice made her shiver. She realized the "punishment" wasn't his hand on her bare bottom, but building the need in her until she begged him for mercy. She laughed softly. "You are very creative, Aleksei, and I appreciate that as well."
His mouth moved right over the lace and pulled her breast deep inside where it was hot and moist. She was still ultrasensitive and the feel of his mouth through the lace fabric was sexy, exciting, and it sent streaks of fire straight to her feminine channel. She pulsed and throbbed. Needing. She had to get a handle on her cravings.
She liked how he fit her so close to his body. She loved his mouth suckling at her breast. She loved that she could wrap her arm around his waist and that his thigh was over hers and the other was in between hers. It felt safe. Sensual. Perfect. She suddenly wanted to know everything there was to know about him.
"When you thought about having a lifemate, what kind of world did you want for yourself? Where did you want to live?"
He moved his head slightly, unlatching from her nipple, his tongue broad and flat, stroking caresses there. "I thought only of making my lifemate happy. Of claiming her and being done with darkness. During those times, I imagined I would still hunt the undead. I did not have demons dwelling in me. Or such unrelenting darkness."
She rubbed her hand over his chest, smoothing over his bare skin right down to his flat belly. She liked all the muscle. So much of it. Better than any six-pack she'd ever seen. She liked that he seemed to enjoy snuggling with her. She liked how strong he was. How in a world that seemed to be constantly shifting out from under her, Aleksei was a rock, a steady anchor. More, she just plain loved sex with him.
"What about you, Gabrielle. What do you want?"
She opened her mouth to tell him all about her dream home. The house. The gardens. The white picket fence. The children laughing and the all-important porch swing. She closed her mouth just as fast. Did she even know what she wanted anymore? That had been her human dream. What was her Carpathian dream?
"Kislany."
His word for baby. The soft way he said it turned her heart over. Melted her insides. He was in her mind. She felt him there. Filling her emptiness, those lonely places, just as his cock filled her sheath. Already he was becoming a part of her. In her mind, he was the best part.
"I buried myself in research because it was a way to hide from the world, Aleksei." She wanted to give him truth. To give both of them truth. "I thought if I became a wife and mother I wouldn't want to do that anymore, but the research I'm doing is important and I'm good at it."
"You mean the research you are doing with Gary?"
She winced at the mention of his name and then she realized, it was the first time she'd thought about him since Aleksei had returned. She took in a deep breath and let it out. She'd let her dream go. She'd let go of Gary. She loved him. She would always love him. She would always feel as if she had a connection to him, but Trixie was right. She loved him, but she wasn't in love with him.
She was beginning to believe she had no idea what love was, but she wanted to wrap her life around Aleksei. She wanted to feel just like she did at this very moment. Part of him. Complete with him. Sated. Elated. She loved to see that look on his face. The total focus on her. The approval. The urgent need.
"He lost his emotions and his ability to see in color all at once. I saw his face. His eyes. He is lost to our research and that makes it all the more important that I carry on," she said. "I think he knew, maybe had precognition. I never knew what exactly his psychic abilities were. We never talked about them."
She realized that was true as well. They had discussed research and Carpathians and problems with babies endlessly, but they didn't share details of their personal lives with each other.
"So are you telling me you would like to make your home in the Carpathian Mountains near the prince? Is that where you have set up your laboratory?"
His voice was strictly neutral. She had no idea if he was for or against the idea. She bit her lip, torn between telling him the truth and guessing at what he wanted.
"Gabrielle." This time his voice was commanding. Authoritative.
Her heart nearly exploded out of her chest. She loved that tone. She loved how he could go from looking so gentle, almost loving, to a dark, scary predator. She knew she was safe with him, so that only enhanced the sensual, very sexy attractiveness. His voice thrilled her, sent fingers of desire down her spine, up her thighs and pulsing through her sex.
"The truth is, Aleksei, I don't know. I want to be decisive, but I don't know where I want to live. I know I need to work. I know it's important to make certain our women can conceive, carry a baby, feed the baby naturally, and that we can produce female children who live more than a year. It wasn't just one problem to be fixed. There are many reasons why this happened to the Carpathian species. Xavier attacked from many angles and he was successful. It will take a lot of work to figure out all the various things he did and find a way to reverse them."
"And you can do that?
" There was admiration in his voice. "I have myself a very smart lifemate."
She found herself glowing inside. She loved that he thought she was intelligent.
"I really believe I can help. I don't know about actually figuring out every thread and eradicating it, but I'd like to try."
"Fane told me his woman will need to return to the United States very soon, along with Andre and her granddaughter. I will be needed here until another can take over guarding the gate and the ancients within. If Teagan can actually do as she thinks she can and help those remaining be able to leave this place seeking their lifemates, we will be able to leave."
"That was why Gary was sent here. He was to find out if our healers could do the same for other hunters or if only Teagan could." She didn't realize she had used the term our until after she said the words. More and more she was beginning to accept that she was Carpathian, not human. "Josef, one of the younger Carpathians but very skilled in technology, has a database of psychic women and where they live. Carpathians are trying to get to them to protect them. The vampires as well as the human society of assassins are also hunting them. If Teagan can give them the time, it's possible I can point them in the direction of their lifemates."
"How?" He sounded neutral again.