Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

in her ears. As his head came down toward hers, the
     ground shifted under her feet. Her lungs burned for air. He was so beautiful, this
     man who was so strong, so fierce, yet protective and gentle with her.
    His lips brushed across hers, featherlight, warm, so familiar now, a maelstrom of
     erotic sensation. She could kiss him forever and it would never be long enough.
    Dax stroked a caress down her face, his fingers lingering on her smooth skin. She
     seemed so young to him. He realized in her world, she was old enough to know what
     she was doing, but he felt very protective toward her.
    “Riley . . .” His heart protested, but he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t
     protect her. “You don’t have to do this.”
    “It’s what I want,” she assured.
    She looked at him with stars in her eyes. His belly clenched hotly. She was such a
     mixture of innocence and temptress.
    His thumb stroked back and forth across her stubborn chin. “Once I bind us together
     there is no going back. It isn’t the same as in your world, Riley. You can’t choose
     to be with me to save me from damnation. You have to want to be with me. You have
     to know what you’re getting into. I’m Carpathian, not human. My rules are not always
     going to be the same as yours. My world is dangerous.”
    When she would have protested, he laid his thumb over her lips, stilling her. “Riley,
     I won’t be able to take it back once we cross this bridge. You won’t be comfortable
     being apart from me. You can’t live in two worlds. Eventually, I’ll have to bring
     you fully into mine with all it entails.”
    She frowned at him. “Gary told me if you don’t claim your lifemate, you’re in danger
     of becoming vampire.”
    He shook his head. “I will not turn. That is not a consideration in your decision.
     I do not want you to give yourself to me because of physical attraction, or a sense
     of duty.”
    Riley reached up to touch his face, tracing the lines there with a feather-light touch
     he felt all the way to his bones.
    “Silly man. How can I not want to be with you? We fit. Can’t you feel it?”
    Dax took her hand and pressed a kiss into the center of her palm. “There is no other
     for me. I know you’re the one. But we’re talking about a different world. You see
     one side of me, sivamet . You don’t look very carefully at anything else. You don’t want to see.”
    “That doesn’t mean I don’t know it’s there. I’m choosing to enter your world slowly,
     but I know it’s right for me. What do I have to hold me? A career I’m no longer enamored
     with? I have no family. I feel alive when I’m with you. I want this, Dax, for myself.
     I hear what everyone says when they sit around the campfire. They’re afraid of you,
     not Gary and Jubal, although even they’re leery, but I’m inside your head. I’m safe
     with you.”
    He tried one more time, but already his heart sang, his blood surged and he allowed
     himself to believe. “It won’t always be easy. I won’t always be easy.”
    “I’ll take one step at a time and as long as you’re patient with me, we’ll get there,”
     Riley assured.
    Dax curled his fingers around the nape of her neck and drew her closer. “You don’t
     lack for courage, do you?”
    “Actually I do,” she corrected. “You seem to make me much braver.”
    “It will take great courage to come fully into my world, Riley,” he cautioned.
    He bent his head to hers because it was impossible to resist her any longer. Every
     cell in his body cried out for her. His mouth found hers. He took his time, resisting
     the urgent need sweeping through him like a tidal wave. He kissed her gently, pouring
     himself into her, his need of her, his love of her, his knowledge that she was his
     world and he would always, always stand for her.
    Her mouth was sinfully delicious. Hot and velvet soft. He could kiss her for an eternity,
     over and over and never come up for air. The wind played a song over his body, fanning
     that relentless fire smoldering in the pit of his belly. Crimson-golden flames rose,
     leaping to race beneath his skin, spreading like a firestorm through him.
    Dax sucked her lower lip into the hot cavern of his mouth, groaning softly with need.
     His teeth tugged her lush lip, biting gently, showing restraint when he wanted to
     devour her. She was trembling, her breath coming in shallow, ragged gasps. Her eyes,
     when he pulled back to look at her face, were