Velvet Haven

What did he want with her? What did he mean their futures were entwined? Those were the thoughts she needed to concentrate on, not the thought of falling back on the bed and having him cover her with his tall, strong body.
    She tried to formulate a question in her mind and not allow herself to become distracted by Bran.
    “Is any part of you human?” She closed her eyes, waiting to hear her worst fears confirmed.
    “Not in the sense you mean,” he said, stroking her creased eyelid. “I look like a man, but I am a Sidhe, capable of great magic, and a raven.”
    “Do you . . . feel like a . . . ?” She trailed off, unable to finish her question.
    “Do I feel like a man?” he finished for her. “I don’t know. Why don’t you feel me, Mairi?” He pushed her down on the bed and brushed his long body against hers. He felt like no man she had ever known before. He was incredibly big and strong, and that vibration his body gave off—no man had ever felt like that.
    “Well?” he asked silkily. “Do I feel like a man?”
    She nodded, afraid to say more. Even now she could feel his erection pressing eagerly at the apex of her thighs.
    “Do I have feelings like a man? Do I feel pleasure? Passion? Pain? Yes. Do I feel for you the way a man feels for a lover? Yes. Do I want to part your thighs, sink into you, and crawl up inside you? Yes.”
    She couldn’t breathe. She struggled beneath him, but he caught both her wrists in one of his hands and held them above her head.
    “Do I want to get inside you everywhere I can and come, hot and hard, inside you? Yes.”
    “Stop,” she panted, but he used his strength to hold her, pin her to the bed.
    “Why, Mairi? Do I not feel like a man to you? Do you not want me like you have wanted other men?” Their gazes collided. “Or can you not bear to be with such a creature?” Silence blanketed them. “Truth. You owe me that much.”
    “No,” she said. “I have never wanted a man like I want you. I have never felt what I feel with you. That’s the truth.”
    “Then allow me into your body, Mairi. It’s what I know, how to please, how to pleasure. I want to bring you satisfaction, happiness, but this is the only way I know how. Accept it, accept me.”
    She wanted to. Oh, God, how she wanted that. “First, tell me what I need to know, Bran. Make me understand you, your world, and what is happening in mine.”
    He groaned. “But I need you, Mairi. I need you so much. Your skin is so soft,” he murmured; then he leaned in and kissed her beneath her collarbone. “You taste so good, like honey and spice. I want to bury myself in you and forget what I am, forget what you are. Pretend that our worlds do not exist outside this door.”
    “But they do.”
    “No! There is only one world for us, the one we are creating now.”
    Her entire body liquefied. He was utterly perfect. “We can’t run from the truth, Bran. You are . . .”
    “Immortal.”
    “And I am mortal. What world can there be for us?”
    “One of undying pleasure.”
    This was getting worse. She was ready to forget her questions and open to him. But she couldn’t—not yet.
    “Tell me about Annwyn.”
    He began suckling her skin, marking her. “You read the book. You know of my world already.”
    She pulled in a deep breath as she felt her skin being gently tugged into his mouth. “You’re a . . . a . . .” She sighed, tilting her head to give him better access to her throat. The gown was down to her waist, his fingertips gliding down her throat to the crest of her breast. “You’re a magician?” She managed to get the words out before he traced the outline of her nipple.
    “Yes. In Annwyn,” he said, “my power is unmatched. And here in Velvet Haven, the gateway between our worlds, I am strong. But outside, in the mortal realm, I am easily and quickly drained of my powers.”
    “Really?” The word was a hiss as he cupped her breast. His thumb rubbed the tip of her nipple, in slow, teasing circles.
    “I am king of the Sidhe and coruler of Annwyn,” he said proudly. “There is only one who is my match, and that is Cailleach.”
    “Does Cailleach rule with you?”
    His touch stilled. He looked up into her eyes; then he lowered his mouth to her breast. “Yes. It is the way of our world: The Sidhe and the goddess rule together.”
    He licked her slowly, teasingly. Much too light to satisfy. Her legs shifted, sliding against the comforter. Her foot rubbed his calf up and down.
    “I