Destiny knew exactly where she was. Home. And home lay beside her, his body curved protectively around hers. Her bottom fit snugly into the cradle of his hips, and she could feel him, already awake, already aware, his body hard and aggressive, even as he lay so quietly. His hand cupped her breast possessively, yet he was still, savoring just waking up and holding her. Nicolae. Her everything.
He moved then. His mouth on her shoulder, his lips soft as he feathered kisses over her skin.
I thought you would never wake up.
The voice of an angel. Her angel. Nicolae. Destiny smiled as the silk of his hair brushed her bare arm and fanned across her breast.
You should have called to me.
Deliberately she used their private telepathic ability. She loved the intimacy of speaking with him mind to mind. She loved the feel of his hands on her body. At his urging she turned onto her back. Above her head the stars spread across the cave ceiling, sparkling like gems.
She laughed softly. First roses and now stars. He knew she loved the open night sky and had provided her with a blanket of stars, even deep beneath the earth.
“I love the sound of your laughter.” His hands moved over her body possessively, caressing every inch of her. His mouth followed, feathering kisses and teasing nips and lapping at her with a hot, erotic tongue.
His lovemaking was slow and thorough, wickedly designed to bring her to climax over and over. He made love to her as if they had all the time in the world. He took care to inspect every secret place that might bring her more pleasure.
Destiny returned the favor, losing herself in the beauty of his masculine body. Her hands and mouth wandered everywhere, telling him without words what he meant to her. When he entered her, she cried, so that he leaned forward to find out what tears of joy tasted like.
For the first time she wasn’t afraid of exchanging blood and initiated the ritual, driving him into a heated frenzy of desire. They ended up exploding, imploding, flying so high and then free-falling until they could only lie for a long time together, hearts beating wildly, struggling for breath, sated and happy.
Destiny pushed a shaky hand through her hair. “You can do that anytime, Nicolae. You’re very good at it.”
He propped himself up on one elbow. “I am most grateful you think so.”
“Don’t go fishing for compliments, because you aren’t going to get any. How long was I in the ground? I know time has passed. I don’t sense the presence of any of the others close to us.”
“Gregori wanted to start back to our homeland as soon as possible. He felt it important to give the Prince the news of vampires forming some sort of organization. He also thought the blood was an important find. No one has ever analyzed vampire blood. We all knew it was toxic, but no one imagined it created an environment to spawn a separate life-form. Of course, we still do not know for certain. The vampire that took you as a child might have somehow been infected by something else. Or the infection could have been a result of the poison injected into you. Gregori feels it is important to find out. In any case, we know for a fact it is completely different from what was found in Alexandria’s body. Gregori contacted Aidan, who said there was no such damage. Gregori wants to find out the significance of the difference.”
She ducked her head. The thought of the tainted blood still repulsed her. “I’m glad it’s over. I hope they get rid of that blood; it sickens me to think of it inside me... inside you. I had no idea. I saw the lesions and felt the pain of it, but I never once suspected something living.” She shuddered, “They reminded me of maggots.”
“Most were microscopic.” He didn’t share with her the condition in which the healer had found her body, and it was significant to him that she didn’t look at his memories. It had taken the healer two risings to ferret out every trace of the tenacious blood and reshape her organs and tissue. They had nearly lost her on two occasions.
It had been Gregori’s tenacity and Nicolae’s sheer will that had saved Destiny’s life. Gregori had worked a miracle, and Nicolae was forever in his debt. Savannah had lent her considerable strength and blood along with Vikirnoff and Nicolae. Carpathian soil had been packed around Destiny and she had been left in the ground for nearly a week in the hope of renewing her strength and vitality. In the end, both Nicolae and Gregori were in awe of Destiny’s ability to live and function with her body in such condition.
“Where’s Vikirnoff?” Destiny didn’t want to ever think about vampire blood again. She felt as if she’d been granted a miracle. It was enough for her.
“We thought it best that he start his search for the poor woman being hunted by the vampire organization. It took years for me to find you. We are hoping he finds her before the undead does.”