Gates of Rapture(52)

She leaned up and kissed him. “We’re both being called to stand up and fight, Leto. I get that now.”

Her power suddenly rumbled very deep in the earth, then spread upward through her legs once more.

“I can feel that,” he whispered.

She stared into his eyes, nodding in return. A prescience came to her, powerful and frightening. “There is something we must do,” she said.

“I can sense it as well.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Something is on the horizon, something very bad. If we’re to survive—” He let the words hang.

She knew the answer. She felt it in her bones. “We must complete the breh-hedden right now. We have to be connected for what’s coming.”

“Yes.” He put his hands on her face, pushed her hair back. He kissed her hard.

“You feel it, too,” she stated. “The necessity of it.”

“We’re about to go through hell.”

“Greaves is on the move. Everything that’s happened tonight tells us that something terrible is afoot.”

“But are you sure you want to do this?” he asked. “I’ve heard the bonded warriors talk. Completing the breh-hedden always takes place later, when the couple is more attuned or something, I’m not sure.”

“I know,” Grace said. “On one level, we shouldn’t be doing this, but I think the only way we’ll survive the next few days is if we’re bonded. Tell me you understand.”

“I understand.”

“Then you’re willing?”

He drew a deep breath and dipped his chin. “I’m willing.”

Even as he spoke the words, she knew she was asking for trouble of another kind by engaging the breh-hedden before the time was right. On the other hand, her instincts were also shouting at her to do this thing and do it now, that their lives depended on it.

Therein lay the frequent paradox of life: that what was instinctual was often much more important than what could be seen by the eye.



Leto knew that this was both a mistake and a necessity. He felt what she felt, he believed what she believed, that if they didn’t seal this bond, death would follow.

He understood the mechanics of completing the breh-hedden: being joined as they were now with him buried inside her, a simultaneous sharing of blood, then a back-and-forth possession of each other’s minds. Jean-Pierre had given him the details. He shared them now with Grace.

She nodded, smoothing her thumb over his cheek. “I’m ready.”

He kissed her, but this time didn’t draw back. Her lips parted and her sweet-meadow scent quite suddenly perfumed the air between them. He groaned and his hips moved so that he was once more thrusting in and out of her.

The breh-hedden. Now that he had begun the process, his body reacted powerfully.

“Leto,” she whispered against his mouth. He kissed her again. Hard.

Her body writhed beneath his. Take me at my wrist, he sent.

Yes. Her voice was a sweet murmur through his mind, which further ignited his body.

He lifted his arm, and she shifted her head to bring his wrist to her mouth. She didn’t wait, but struck to just the right level, then began to suck. This action alone almost brought him.

But there was more to be done. While she worked his wrist and he pushed into her and felt her hips rise up to meet him, he used his other hand and pushed her hair away from her neck.

She groaned, and again he almost came.

He waited for just a moment, easing back on his thrusts. He closed his eyes and counted out a few innocuous numbers. When he’d calmed down, he leaned forward and began licking her neck above her vein.

He could feel her vein rise for him, asking him to do what he loved to do. A sense of reverence overcame him suddenly, that once he started to take her blood, he was close to making Grace his breh forever.

Take me, Leto.

The words drove his head down and he bit her then began to suck, strong pulls on her neck. The moment her blood flowed down his throat, the demands of his body increased.

We must do this now.

She understood and pushed her mind against his. He lowered his shields and she all but fell in. As she suckled his wrist, she cried out, her voice muffled with her lips pressed to his skin.

He loved her being inside his mind. She was a warm presence, soothing his loneliness. But it was time. He could barely hold back. My turn. Just be prepared when I push past your shields.

Understood.

He sucked her neck and his hips moved swiftly now. He found the edge of her mind and shoved hard so that he was just there.

We’ve done it, he said.

Leto, I can’t wait any longer.

He felt her begin to clench around him, tugging at him.

He released his fangs, she released hers. He rose above her, pounding hard now, staring down into her beautiful gold-green eyes. She held his shoulders and began to cry out, throaty sounds that caused pleasure to begin flowing through his cock. His orgasm was brisk, sharper than earlier because he’d come already.