Broken Heart 09 Only Lycans Need Apply(52)

“Now?” I squeaked, even though I knew it was imperative that we keep moving forward. I mean, time was literally ticking. Drake was appreciating the idea of having sex a little too much. Not that my libido was complaining. Besides, if we didn’t . . . um, do the deed, get the next doorway to unlock . . . then both of us were worm food.

“We cannot go back,” he said, glancing over his shoulder.

I followed his gaze to the doorway and saw that it no longer existed. Whoever created this pyramid wanted to make damn sure the sacrifices kept moving forward. Drake’s slight touch was setting off lust alarms all over my body. I wondered if anyone had attempted to wake Shamhat and Amahté before.

Somehow I doubted it.

“You’ve been looking for a while in the Sudan. Looking for them. Why?”

“To honor a promise made by Ruadan.”

“Maybe he’s the one who created all of this.”

“It’s possible,” said Drake in a distracted voice. His gaze was on mine, and he was getting . . . whew, intense. “He does have a flair for the dramatic. But still . . . I don’t believe he hid Shamhat and Amahté. They never meant to be gone for so long. But the vampires lost them. Or so we thought.”

Drake didn’t seem particularly interested in his words. His eyes were dilating, and I could have sworn they seemed to change entirely, becoming more animal-like.

I swallowed the knot in my throat.

“Moira.”

“Yes?”

Drake’s voice had a sensual quality that made my nerves prickle. The intent gleam in his jade green eyes warned me, but before I could protest, he lowered his head and pressed warm, soft lips against my mouth.

Oh, he’d kissed me before.

But this was more than just a hello kiss. This was an introduction-to-ravishment kiss. My whole body responded to the sensual invitation he offered.

Drake pulled me closer and deepened the kiss. He tasted like mints, and I wondered vaguely if he’d been chewing that gum Patsy had given him.

Damn, it had been a long time since I’d been kissed. And I don’t think I’d ever been kissed like this. His tongue flicked the corner of my mouth and a jolt of electricity zapped my very core.

Then he invaded, his tongue sweeping inside, drawing mine into a sensual mating dance.

Heat coiled in my belly. Arousal liquefied my protests and fogged my mind. Whatever doubts I had about this situation, about what was being asked of us by two vampires we’d never met and yet somehow owed, dissolved under Drake’s sensual onslaught.

On some level I knew that what I’d been searching for in the sands all these years, following in the footsteps of my grandfather, trying to honor his work and his legacy . . . that maybe I’d been looking for the wrong things in the wrong places. I was searching through time and civilizations for this feeling, for this . . . Oh, whoa. This man. I wanted this experience, these feelings.

I wanted Drake.

He stopped kissing me, his breathing erratic as he pulled back and offered me a lazy grin. Oh, if we only had all the time in the world. How tangled the sheets would be, how sweaty our bodies as we . . . He grinned.

I guess my thoughts showed on my face.

I was clinging to Drake’s shoulders, feeling unnerved. My mouth throbbed.

His face was all sharp angles, softened only by the fullness of his mouth. I considered the leather band that held back his wonderful hair. He guessed at my thoughts, I supposed, because he reached back and loosed his hair.

I drew my fingers through the fine raven waves. They were gorgeous and felt like silk.

“Wow,” I murmured.

He clasped the wrist not wrapped in his T-shirt and tugged me forward. “I want to kiss you again,” he said.

“If you insist.”

Desire flared in his eyes, and then he pushed lightly on my shoulders. I took the hint and moved fully onto the furs, lying down.

Drake did not lie down beside me. Instead, he got between my legs and tugged on the button and then the zipper of my khakis.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to kiss you.”

“My lips are up here.”

“There are some down here as well.” He stroked me through the pants, and I gasped.

“Wait a minute. You don’t have to go to all this trouble.” I stared at him. I felt my skin prickle and my heart turn over in my chest. It wasn’t like I was afraid of sex. Or of Drake. Two people engaged in copulation was an act as old as time, and didn’t necessarily bear the hallmarks of love. I couldn’t remember a time when I thought I was in love. Oh, there were the typical high school crushes, but in my adult life . . . nothing. I wanted men. I liked men. But I was easily bored.

I didn’t think Drake would ever bore me.