"I'll need to be sure they will continue to do so when I leave."
Her eyes widened, fresh tears pooling. "You're leaving me?"
He continued gliding his fingers down the center of her breasts, then circled one. Gooseflesh rose under his fingertips, her nipples tightening to peaks. His cock instantly hardened.
"This is what is going to happen, Sienna." His voice dropped low, the sharp edge of aggression filling his words as he spoke slow and steady. "I am going to hunt down Volkov and acquaint him with the true meaning of pain before I cut off his fucking head."
Trailing his fingers lower to her hip, he shifted over so he could caress more of her milky skin along her thigh.
"And then I'm going to Hiddleston to send word to Marius and Arabelle what has transpired in Dale's Peak and the rising armies which that bitch, the queen, is enslaving."
He knew his words were biting, but he kept his hands soothing and gentle, his voice even and steady. He raised up with his weight on one arm, hovering over her, sliding his fingers lower while he held her gaze.
"Then I'll come back here to your cottage. For if this is your home, then it is now mine."
He slid his middle finger into the folds of her sex, still wet and wonderful. She opened her mouth on a gasp. He lowered and hovered close, still not dropping his weight, locking her gaze to his, whispering against her lips.
"Then I'm going to lavish so much pleasure on you, you'll never want to leave this bed."
He stroked deeper. She whimpered.
"Open your legs, Sienna."
She did with a smile.
"I'm going to mark you deep, sweetheart." He slid out his finger, then drove his cock inside to the hilt.
"Nikolai," she breathed.
"That's right." He ground in a circle. "You'll be saying my name a lot. You'll be screaming it as well." He gripped her hip, his thumb pressing on her pubic bone, then slanted his mouth over hers, tasting her deep, stroking his tongue and his cock to the same sensuous rhythm.
Her fingers curled into his shoulders, nails digging in. It felt glorious, pushing him harder. He didn't let her up for air. No. He smothered her with his mouth, his hands, his body, driving into her hard and deep. So deep. He swallowed her long moan when he felt her sex clench around him. Only then did he release her mouth, hovering close as she panted out her sweet little whimpers.
"I claim you for life, Sienna." He rolled in slow, then pounded hard at the end. "My love for you runs deep."
"Oh, Nikolai." She scratched her nails down his back, pulling him closer, her lids half closed. She wrapped her heels to the back of his thighs, tilting her pelvis up.
He came on a violent shudder, filling her for a second time. Not enough. It would never be enough.
Afterward, he rolled to his back and pulled her with him into the crook of his arm and whipped the coverlet over them.
She nuzzled her cheek against his chest and wrapped an arm around his waist. When his breathing had subsided and the fire had burned down to glowing embers on the ceiling, coloring the wood beams orange, she whispered into the sweet darkness. "I love you, too."
He curled her closer, brushing a thumb over her birthmark. It was changed, bigger than before.
"The hartstone marked you, my sweet," he whispered into her hair.
"Really?" Her contented sigh eased his demons for the time being. "What does it look like?"
He stared at the dark scarlet mark, flaring out wildly on her shoulder blade. "Like a flower on fire." He pressed his lips to the crown of her lovely head.
"Mmm," was all she replied.
Nikolai felt her body go limp as she slipped off into dreams. He fell right behind her, sleeping for the first time since they'd left their lovers' bed in Winter Hill.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sienna jolted awake, some sound pulling her from sleep. The room was full dark and steeped in silence. Then she felt Nikolai's body jerk next to her, his body covered in a sheen of sweat. He mumbled something incoherent, twisting his head away, a frown puckering his brow.
She shook him gently. "Nikolai … wake up."
In a blink, he sprang upward. She did, too, pressing a soothing hand to his heated back. "Shhh. It was a nightmare."
Breathing heavily, he thrust both hands into his hair, then collapsed back onto the pillow. Sienna leaned on one arm, staring down at him. Placing a gentle hand upon his chest, she whispered, "It was just a dream."
Finally, he turned his gaze on her, his expression unreadable as he studied every line of her face, lifting a hand to brush his knuckles over her cheek.
"It wasn't a dream, love." He dropped his hand to her thigh, curling his fingers possessively. "It was a memory."