Velvet Haven

tongues swirled and his hands worked her breasts and nipples. He was blind to every thought except that of fulfillment.
    She surprised him by breaking off the kiss and leaning forward, taking the tip of her tongue and circling it around his glans, flicking the metal ball. He groaned, then fisted her hair in his hand, drawing her down lower to fill her mouth. He savored it, the sound and feel of Mairi sucking him off.
    She took him in, his entire length, and he felt the first rush of arousal seep out of his tip.
    “Finish me,” he ground out. One more draw of her lips and he was gone, pulling out of her mouth and spilling himself between the cleft of her breasts.
    He couldn’t catch his breath. He collapsed against her, and she cradled him, brushing her hands over his shoulders as she kissed him tenderly.
    Their combined energy melded, drawing them together, and for a few seconds, he let it. Just enjoyed feeling her invading his blood. But then reality came crashing down.
    She couldn’t be his. And to drop his guard like this could be a lethal mistake.
    “Where are you going?” she asked. He shoved aside the confusion and hurt in her voice. He didn’t say anything; he just left her crouched down on the shower floor, the warm water washing away the sins of what they’d done.
    He didn’t look back, knowing that if he did, he’d never give her up.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

    It had been a long damn time since Mairi had cried herself to sleep, but she’d done just that. The tears she had spilled the first night they had met were nothing like this. She’d balled like a baby after Bran had left her. She’d seen the pain in his eyes and knew what it cost to leave her like that. Why did he need to make her think he didn’t want her when his desire was so blatant in his eyes, in his touch? In that special of hum of his?
    “Because you are a danger to him.”
    Mairi was dreaming. She had to be to hear a voice in her head like that. But she couldn’t wake up. She didn’t like this place in which she suddenly found herself. It was a crypt of sorts, with torches that cast eerie flickering shadows along the stone walls. Drawn on one wall, in red, were the symbols that had been carved on Lauren’s body, along with symbols she had never seen before.
    “Hello?” she called. “Is anyone here?”
    Her voice echoed off the walls and the ceiling. She rubbed her hands down her arms, attempting to ward off the evil she felt wrapping itself around her.
    She walked forward, toward the light that flickered a little way ahead. She heard a quiet sound, like a woman’s voice. Then that of a man. Peeking around the corner, she heard another voice.
    “Bran?” she asked in a hopeful whisper.
    There was no response. She turned, back to the light, to the cavern that was beyond. At an altar of sorts was a hooded figure; on the altar was a man, naked, bound, his head shaved. Black wax dripped from a cup the hooded figure held. The man moaned when the wax hit flesh. Mairi studied the flesh, and saw the familiar vinelike sigils that adorned Bran’s body.
    “Hello, Mairi.”
    A woman with long black hair stepped from the shadows. She wore an opaque white gown that displayed her naked body beneath. She walked with the sensuality of a cat, slinking across the floor with an air of supremacy and confidence. Her smile was cruel. Calculating.
    Mairi glanced over her shoulder, back at the hooded figure. He was picking up a knife—no, a dagger—similar to the one she had dreamed of. Her gaze returned to the woman, and then Mairi took a step back. “Do I know you?”
    The woman’s long fingers caressed the velvet-covered slab of stone that separated them. “I think you do.”
    Mairi glanced down at the altar that lay between them, then back, to the one the man was bound to. They were exactly the same. This is a dream , she reminded herself. She could wake up—at any time. Anytime she wanted. The woman moved forward, smiling as if she knew of Mairi’s thoughts.
    “Do you really think so?” she asked, her gaze flickering down her body.
    “Where am I?”
    The woman laughed. “Do you not know?”
    Mairi glanced around her, trying to look past the symbols and the shadows. Behind the woman’s shoulder, Mairi saw a tunnel. “Does that lead to Annwyn?”
    “Hardly.” With a flick of her hair, the woman considered her with her violet- colored eyes. Was she a Sidhe, too? “This is a Tumulus, and you have, indeed, been here before. This is