He swept the cloth upward and over her abdomen, the sensation leaving a trail of shivers. Her breasts puckered and he leaned down and half-sucked, half-kissed each in turn.
She cupped his face in her hand and turned him toward her. This was Malik, the man who had chased her, whom she’d spurned. Now he was here.
Her heart labored in her chest as though anxious to feed him. She wanted him to bite her and she wanted to use her fangs. Something she’d never done before. But Malik’s blood called to her.
He set the cloth and the basin aside and kissed her, moving between her legs. “Your fangs are beautiful.”
Her tongue emerged between them and he groaned, his forest scent permeating the air.
The next moment, in response to her growing need, the vines at the open window began to move down the white, cast iron frame behind her.
He lifted up, his eyes widening. “The vines are moving now.”
She slid her hands over his shoulders. “They’re responding to me. They’ll be part of what we’ll do together, if that’s all right with you?”
He glanced down as one of the vines touched his arm and slid over him, caressing him. He closed his eyes. “Sweet Goddess, that feels good and no, I don’t mind, because this feels like you. But what exactly are you doing?”
“Needing you to make love to me, that’s all. I’m connected to the vines on my land. I can’t explain it. They hide me and they protect the wraith families. They respond to my thoughts and desires, and they would even protect me at my command.”
Another vine now moved across his back and he moaned. “I’ve never experienced anything like this.”
“Is it too strange, Malik? If I concentrate, I can make them leave.”
“No,” he answered quickly. “I want them to stay.”
She smiled, because she could feel how much he was enjoying the sensation. “You probably should be inside me.”
He gave her an answering smile. “I could come so easily right now.”
“I know. Me, too.” She shifted her hips, letting him know that she needed him filling her. The foreplay had lasted two years and she was ready.
The moment she felt his cock at her entrance, a heavy moan left her throat. The physical connection soared through her, a vibration all its own, and small cries left her mouth at the exquisite feel of what was so hard and began moving inside her.
He pushed, and her whole body writhed. The vines stroked her hair and her face and she watched one slide across his neck, where she wanted her hand to be. When she moved her hand, the vine gave way and covered hers adding the smallest pressure so that she caressed Malik with the vine aiding her.
Inelegant yet erotic guttural sounds left his throat. “Never been like this … the vines.”
“I know. This is new to me as well.”
“It is?”
She met his gaze. “Yes. All new. Oh, Malik.”
Passion rose to a dizzying height as he kissed her hard. Because of the vines, she could feel what they felt like to him, as though the realm itself, which he loved with all his heart, was caressing him. What a strange mystery this had become, this sharing with Malik, full of the heights and depths of all of life experience. She’d never felt more connected to the earth on which she lived, to the frequencies beating deep in her land, to the vines that helped her to protect the colony.
His tongue penetrated her mouth, and moved in rhythm to his thrusts between her legs. Several vines slid beneath her and she felt them wrapping tenderly around Malik as well.
He continued to kiss her, their bodies moving in such an exquisite motion and in sync with her heart.
He drew back slightly and presented his wrist. “Take my blood, Willow. I offer it for the way you’ve laid down your life to protect the innocent.”
She lifted her hand and the vines gave way just enough to allow for her movements. She pressed his wrist to her small fangs and with the memories given to her by all the wraiths in her maternal family line, she struck quickly, then began to suck.
The first hit of his blood caused her to clench deep and in response, Malik groaned.
She held his gaze as the erotic flavor of his blood poured over her tongue. Power moved through her and the vines tightened and released in response. Everything was so sensual and erotic that she could hardly control herself.
When she began pulling on him low, deep in her well, she forced herself to stop or he would come. They both would. And she knew exactly