Carpathian 18 - Dark Possesion

spine.
    She couldn't imagine never wanting him like this. The ache was so strong she thought she might die from the mixture of need, want and love. His body was firm and hot, hard and aching for her. She read it in his mind, felt it in the way his body was so thick and hard already, pressing against her thigh.
    "You aren't going to distract me, Manolito," she whispered. "Don't you see how important it is that I make this decision for myself? It has to be my decision."

    He nuzzled her throat, inhaled her warm, feminine scent, was pleased that his scent lingered over her skin.
    His tongue touched her pulse, swirled over the small, inviting dip before he pressed his lips to the temptation.
    MaryAnn closed her eyes. Maybe he was going to distract her. Her heart beat in time to his. Her body should have been thoroughly sated, but, no, she was hungry for him all over again. He touched her and she was lost.
    He looked at her and she was lost. She gave a little groan and reached up to wrap her arm around his head and hold him to her. "I'm so pathetic when it comes to you."
    His lips brushed her shoulder when he smiled, sending little darts of fire streaking over her skin to the swell of her breasts. At once she felt achy and tight.
    "No more than I am with you," he murmured and shifted closer so that his mouth could wander across the soft, firm mound.
    His tongue touched the small spot where his mark had lingered for so long, and at once she felt it burn and throb. Her body answered between her legs with that same burning and throbbing sensation, only a thousand times more powerful, so that she shifted restlessly.
    "Does it matter to you that I want this?" Was that her voice, so breathy with anticipation she could barely recognize herself?
    "You and what you want always matters," he replied, lifting his head, his black eyes searching hers.
    "I need this, Manolito. Like you need my body and heart. I need the same from you. You have to trust me enough to know my own mind."
    "It isn't a matter of trust, MaryAnn." He rolled over, away from her, but not before she caught a flash of uneasiness in him. Of wariness. Of something pushing close to desperation.
    She didn't understand his mixed feelings. It was simple enough. Riordan had brought Juliette into his life.
    Manolito had brought Luiz. Now that she knew what her wolf was, now that she understood the protection and strength that it gave her, she loved it, but she loved Manolito more. She wanted a full life with him. She'd caught glimpses in his mind of what the reality would be if she did not become Carpathian. She would not be able to go to ground with him, and he would often need to rejuvenate. She would be aboveground, suffering the effects. There would be no days for him, few nights for her.
    "We can't live like that, not and be happy the way we were meant," she said.
    He turned back to her, his palm cupping the back of her head. "I can make you happy, MaryAnn. Through it all, I can do that."
    "But I couldn't make you happy. I want this for myself, not for you. Because for the first time I know what life can be like sharing it with someone else. I feel as if I've been handed a miracle."
    A smile softened the hard edge of his mouth. "That is the way I feel, MaryAnn. You are that miracle, and to chance losing you…"
    "Why would you lose me? Juliette made it through."
    His fingers raked through his hair. "It is different."
    "How? Explain to me how it is different."

    Exasperated, he sighed. "I see what you meant when you told me you were stubborn." He sat up and ran both hands through his hair again, shoving the long hair behind his shoulders and then abruptly leaning over to kiss her. "This is something you are absolutely certain you want to do?"
    She curled her fingers around his nape and drew his head down to hers for another kiss. His mouth was like a heated furnace, ready to catch fire at the least provocation. "I want to spend every moment I can with you in the best way possible."
    He let his breath out. "Do not think you will get your way in all things, sivamet ."
    She rolled onto her back, her hair spread across the pillow, and smiled up at him. "Of course I will."
    He leapt out of bed and was gone. He simply dissolved to vapor in front of her eyes, streaming down the narrow tunnel toward the entrance. MaryAnn's heart slammed hard against her chest.
    What are you doing ? She sprang up and dashed after him, running barefoot, forgetting all about bugs and anything