Page 102 of Dark Destiny: A New Thread in the Tapestry

"Don't." She cupped his cheek. "Don't hide anything from me. Not tonight." Her thumb brushed the corner of his mouth, an invitation and a dare. "I've seen your fangs, and I know that they are not just for decoration. I know about the intense pleasure, and I know that's how you will induce my transition." A small seductive smile lifted her lush lips, and she looked at him from under hooded eyelids. "I'm not afraid of your fangs, Yaaf. I want them. I want the bite, and the bond. I want to become immortal so I can spend eternity with you."

Something in Yaaf's chest cracked open.

"I love you." He exposed his fangs and watched her face for the flinch, but it didn't come.

What came at him was the sudden, intensified scent of her desire, and he could have climaxed just from that intoxicating smell.

Sullha leaned down to kiss him. She licked around the fangs, careful but unafraid. Then she leaned back and reached for the button of his jeans.

"My turn."

Yaaf held his breath as she pulled them down and freed his erection from the confinement of his briefs.

"Oh, my. You are big all over, aren't you?"

There was not a hint of fear in her voice, just admiration, and in response, his shaft swelled and twitched in her hand.

"I won't last," he warned her.

"I won't let you." She squeezed the base with her hand as she dipped her head and took a third of him into her mouth, which was the most she could manage.

It was more than enough, and the groan that escaped his throat could have shaken the walls if the house hadn't been built to the highest standards.

The pleasure was intense, but even more so was the gratitude. She was choosing to give him something that had only ever been stolen from her.

He let her have it for as long as he could, which wasn't long.

"Sullha." He cupped her cheek. "You have to stop."

She released his shaft from her mouth and looked at him. "Why?"

He wondered if she knew about immortal stamina and decided that her one-word questions meant that she did. Whoever had told her about the pleasures of the venom bite must have told her about that as well.

He drew her up, gently, both hands framing her face. "I can climax multiple times, but I can only bite once, and I want to be inside of you when I do."

The understanding in her eyes told him he didn't need to say more.

"I want that too," she said.

He laid her back and got rid of the rest of what covered him before coming over her, and behind his eyes he made sure the door to the seven was firmly shut.

They were there, at the edges of him, as they always were, but tonight he built the walls higher and thicker than ever, sealing every seam until the room in his mind that held only Sullha and him was closed on all sides. The others were only a pressure on the far side of it, music through a wall.

It took effort to hold up the walls, and he set part of himself to the task and did not let it waver. He'd made her a promise, and he was going to keep it no matter how much it took out of him.

The split focus was a blessing of sorts because it allowed him to take his time and kiss and lick every inch of Sullha's skin before positioning himself at her entrance and pushing the tip in.

She was slick from her orgasm and the passion he'd reignited with his kisses and caresses, and as she arched up to meet him, the rest of his shaft slid in until he was fully seated inside of her.

The fit was impossibly perfect.

"I love you." Sullha wrapped her arms around him. "Fangs and all."

He kissed her lips. "Love of my life."

Yaaf went slowly, attuned to every sound she made, every twitch, every shift.

He'd believed the eight of them had risen above carnal pleasures, had left physical desire behind like a snakeskin, but he'd been blissfully wrong.