"Black Fire"

Twenty-Seven

 

~*~*~*~

 

 

… and in that one kiss, he utterly devastated her.

 

She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t even
rationally think as he swamped her senses with the taste and sensation of him
stroking inside her mouth so hungrily. Applying a steady force that grew with
its intensity as he delved in further. Tongue scraping sensually against her
own. Suckling lightly, and sending ripples of not only pleasure, but steadily
growing shock as well.

 

He didn’t stop. Not even when she was in danger of fainting
from the deprivation of air. Becoming alarmed, she began to struggle anew. Arms
twisting helplessly from where he had them pinned to the mattress, as she tried
to strain away from him. The sheer curtains trailing down around the bed to
form a canopy brushing against the skin of her flushed forehead like the caress
of butterfly wings.

 

When nothing else she did prompted him to let her come up
for air, she bit down. Nipping him hard enough for the sudden alien taste of
his blood to trickle into her mouth for a brief moment before his healing
abilities erased any damage she might of caused. And damn it, it appeared as if
he actually appreciated her response.

 

Even then, all she got was a rumble of a growl in response.
Even then, he refused to pull away. Even then, his hands tightened bruisingly
on her wrists from the force applied to keep her rooted to the bed. The hard
length of his body pressing her firmly into the softness. Scalding her with the
touch of his skin upon hers.

 

Lungs screaming in unbearable agony and head swirling with
fear and lack or oxygen, she tried to desperately understand what use he would
have for suffocating her. She could feel herself starting to slide into
oblivion and made a small noise of protest. Knowing she couldn’t stop him from
doing this or anything else he wanted to do... And rather humiliated at just
how easy it would be for him to kill her with nothing more than his kiss alone.

 

But what had she expected from him? A tender, considerate
lover? Please, she wasn’t that foolish… Where the hell in all those months she
had spent fighting him and his species would she have come up with that
fantasy? He was the most ruthless, dangerous, lethal alien she
had ever had the misfortune to come across, and this is exactly what she
deserved for willingly giving her body to him in the past. Now that she was,
for lack of a better word, his, he was going to reveal his true
colors, once and for all, and make a mockery out of all the other times her
body had been joined with his.

 

Oh yeah… she’s asked for it. Now she’d pay for it.

 

Suddenly unable to find the strength to fight anymore,
Renee’s eyes fluttered closed as she went limp. Her lungs no longer in agony,
and her entire body growing numb, as she began to lose consciousness.

 

And that was when he breathed for her. Expelling a large
quantity of precious air directly into her mouth and lungs. Bringing her
instantly back to awareness as she inhaled greedily. Her own mouth clinging
desperately to his in an attempt to take as much oxygen into her body as he
would give her. Body trembling with relief.

 

It was then, that he pulled away. Allowing Renee’s head to
fall back as she dragged yet more air into her starved lungs.

 

“Don’t you see, Renee?” His voice rasped erotically over the
words. Causing Renee’s traitorous pulse to leap in response. “And I’ve told you
this before. I could kill you at any time I so desired, and there is nothing
that you could do to stop me...”

 

Renee stared unseeingly into the blackness surrounding her.
Not even able to make out the shape of his outline leaning over her. She
flinched as she felt his lips stroke over the tender skin below her right ear.
The warmth of his breath caressing the shell. Causing a shiver to race across
her flesh, and him to chuckle.

 

“But that is, by far, the last thing I would ever want to do
to you. Not when there are so many other intriguing possibilities presented
before me.”

 

Suddenly shifting his weight, he released her wrists and ran
his hands down her sides, resting momentarily on her hips and then grasping
firmly. Pulling her down a few inches and snug up against him. Causing a moan
to escape from Renee lips even as her now-freed hands pressed in vain against
his chest.

 

Howlyn ignored the pressure she was applying, and dropped his
lips down to run across her collarbone while grinding hard up against her,
sending sparks of pleasure shooting through her body.

 

“And another thing…” he growled pointedly. “Another thing
you need to allow yourself to acknowledge… it isn’t me that you are fighting,
Renee. It’s yourself, and what you feel when you are with me.”

 

Renee wasn’t even aware that she had been shaking her head
in denial until one of his hands left her waist and reached up to bury itself
into the silken mass of her hair. Physically halting its movement as his
fingers clenched into a fist. Holding her unforgivably still.

 

“So fight me, beloved. Fight with everything you have if you
must, I won’t stop you. In fact, I look forward to disarming you bit by bit…
But I won’t stop this either. Your body tells me all that I need to know, and
that gives me all the permission that I require.”

 

Something clicked within Renee. Resounding upon the
frightening reality in his words as if she had been doused with water. It was
like someone had thrown a barred gate wide open and she was staring directly
into the face of truth. The face of what all of her fears and concerns had been
based upon.

 

And it her her own.

 

“No…” The line of Renee’s back arched sharply as she against
tried to push him away. His fist only tightened further in her hair as he
tilted her head back. Exposing the extremely taut curve of her throat to his
hungry gaze. Leaving her completely vulnerable.

 

Her fingers clenched sub-consciously upon his shoulders
where they had fallen after giving up her struggle once more. And for a moment,
she wasn’t sure if she had been trying to push him away or pull him closer. She
wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

 

He pressed his lips again into the taut hollow at the base
of her throat. Reveling in the feel of her throbbing pulse against his mouth.
She shuddered at the contact but didn’t try to move away. But it didn’t stop
her from reaching for her voice.

 

Y-You can’t… It’s not my choice.” Damn, did her voice sound
that breathless to him as it did to her?

 

Great. Just great.

 

Howlyn was quiet for a moment. Continuing his ministrations
almost absent-mindedly. Grip in her hair loosening slightly, as he slowly
stroked his knuckles over her hip. Lips and tongue continuing to caresr
tr
throat and the line of her jaw, but he seemed to be deep in thought. Pondering
something.

 

clasclass=MsoNormal>That should have been enough right there to warn her of what
was about to come.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Chapter Twenty Eight

 

~*~

 

One moment she was lying back on the mattress, and the next,
he had let out a hiss and snatched her upright. Releasing his hold on her hair
and her hip to latch onto her forearms. Twisting them almost viciously behind
her back as he hauled her up against him so fast that it knocked the breath out
of her body as it slammed into his unyielding one. Tossing her forehead into
the curve of where his neck met his shoulder, and her hair fanned out over his
back. Silken strands teasing his bare skin.

 

He was in a kneeling position on the mattress, both legs
tucked under him, with her sitting on top of his strong thighs. Both legs
securely wrapped around his waist, and his erection pressing hard into the
supple expanse of her smooth stomach.

 

And he still had her arms twisted behind her back. His hands
and arms like unforgiving vises as they encircled her and pressed her into his
chest.

 

Renee’s body jerked when she felt the heat of his mouth
suddenly descend upon her breast. Drawing strongly upon the aching flesh.
Crying out at the contact, she rocked her body into his and tossed her head
back as fireworks exploded in her veins. Shooting down to further inflame her
core. The arousal and the driving need to take him deep within her that had
been assaulting her for hours coming together in mind-shattering want.

 

“Your body has made the choice for you.” Howlyn commented
before directing is attention to her other nipple. Renee groaned and subtly
shook her head. Her mental resistance still striving to insert its will upon
her body that was spiraling out of her control.

 

She tried to speak again. “I… I haven’t… chosen yet.”
she finally succeeded to hiss out. Willing him to listen to her. Even though he
was probably beyond that now.

 

He pulled his lips away from her skin, and she knew he was
looking into her face, even though she herself couldn’t see into his. She felt
a few strands of the black silk of his mane brush over her cheek.

 

from stasis. You chose me the moment you allowed your body to join with mine
back at that Spa. You chose me the moment you saved me from my exploding ship…”

 

Renee closed her eyes as she felt his lips gently brush over
her temple, down her jaw, and her lips parted involuntarily he ever so gently
licked the surface of her lips, quickly darting in and back out before she had
the chance to press them back together. The light strokes causing her body to
coil even more tightly in need.

 

“…And you chose me as your mate the moment you allowed our
child to continue to grow within your womb. You could have discarded the life
you and I had created if you had been so inclined. You didn’t.”

 

His head dropped down to her tense shoulder. Gently nipping,
and then laving the sting away. “Quite fighting yourself, Renee. Quit fighting
this.”

 

“I don’t know what you want from me.” Renee finally
admitted. Expressing her uncertainty and nearly strangling on it as she forced
those words out through slightly swollen lips.

 

She felt him smile against the skin of her shoulder, as he
slowly, reluctantly, released her arms to knead her back. The tips of his
talons scrapping over the line of her spine. Causing her to shudder once more
at the unfamiliar sensation. Reminding her once again just who it was that was
holding her.

 

“Then let me show you.” He whispered. Lips descending upon
hers once again, and this time, she didn’t fight. Instead, she tentatively
began to kiss him back. Becoming caught up in the demanding charge coursing
through them both, as he continued to knead and stroke her flesh. Kindling
nerve endings and ing ing off sparks of desire.

 

Running her hands up his shoulders, her short nails gently
scratched the surface of his heated skin as he hissed directly into her mouth.
The vibrations erotic and alien.

 

Finally, she pressed her hands against his shoulder, and to
her surprise, he pulled away. Breathing heavily and chest rumbling with sexual
aggression.

&;

Even though she couldn’t see him, she could sense that she
was staring him directly into the eyes, and he into hers, and her breath
caught. A fine sheen of sweat coating her body and causing her skin to slick up
against his.

 

“How about you tell me?”

 

Howlyn stilled. “Now you want to talk?” he asked. Bemused.

 

Renee nodded. Knowing he could see her. “Absolutely.” If she
didn’t, she was pretty damn certain that she would lose all contact with the
woman she knew herself to be.

 

“Renee…” he warned. “I have grown tired of this constant
verbal sparring with you. The time for that to end has come and gone.”

 

“Tell me, Howlyn.” Renee insisted. Determination rising to
the surface ae moe momentarily gained control over her raging body. Trying as
much as possible to also ignore the intoxicating scent of his personal Atavus
musk. Brought on by his own desire to mate his body with hers. “Explain to me
what I’ve gotten myself into. As mother of your child, and supposedly your
queen, I think I deserve that. Tell me what is happening to me. To us. You
can’t expect me to think that this is normal. Help me to understand.”

 

He contemplated her words carefully. “And what happens after
you know the truth, Renee?”

 

Renee swallowed. Throat and mouth suddenly dry. “Then I
won’t have to fight reality anymore.”

 

He was quiet for a moment, and Renee’s heart rate jumped
again. Knowing she might as well have just offered herself on a silver platter
there and now after what she had just done. Her word was her bond, and she had
just given it. If she knew what to expect, then she wouldn’t fear it anymore.
And if she didn’t fear it, then there wouldn’t be a reason to hide from him or
their connection any longer.

 

She would have to willingly accept her destiny with him.

 

“Very well.” He finally agreed. A hint of pleasure wrapped
up in his tone. Having come to the same conclusions as she had, and realizing
that she had, quite effectively, trapped herself by her own words.

 

“What do you want to know?”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

 

Chapter 29

 

 

At first Renee had tried to move off of him where she still
sat perched on his thighs, but his fingers quickly wrapped tightly around her
wrists. Refusing to allow her to disentangle her body from his. She couldn’t
see his expression, but somehow she knew he was grinning in amusement at her
half-hearted attempts to separate herself from him. She resisted the urge to
glare out at him in the darkness. Instead, she voiced the first question that
came to mind.

 

“How did you manage to survive after having Jaylis feed off
of you without him knowing it?”

 

The twin bands of unmovable strength that encircled her
wrists loosened till his fingers barely brushed up against her skin.
Temporarily distracting her.

 

“There are many tricks that are imprinted upon the members
of the Royal House of my people, Renee. Tricks that only myself and Yulyn now
carry the knowledge of. As primary targets of possible assassination and
treachery, those of my line thought it prudent to keep certain… abilities
to ourselves. One of those being the ability to shutn oun our bio signs to such
a level that not even those of our own kind can sense the difference between
one who is dead, and one who is simply pretending to be so in order to survive
intact against such an assault till the appropriate time comes to retaliate.”

 

Renee’s lips twisted wryly. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise
me. What else can you do?”

Howlyn chuckled. The dark sound sliding like midnight silk
around and through her, and causing her body to clench even tighter.

 

“Next question, Renee.”

 

She objected.

 

“You agreed to answer all of my questions.”

 

“No, I agreed to listen to all of your questions. Not
that I would answer every single one.”

 

Renee frowned. “You’re not going to tell me what else you
can do, are you?”

 

“That is correct. Now I suggest you change topics
immediately and stop pursuing this one.” His voice suddenly dropped to a
dangerous purr. “Unless of course, you would like to put an end to this little
inquisition altogether, and come up with a more… enlightening display of what
it means to be my mate. That is a knowledge that I am more than ready to share
with you.”

 

Renee’s heart thudded painfully in her chest at the
insinuation, and she had a hard time speaking around the knot that had suddenly
formed within her throat. She wasn’t about to touch that one.

 

Deciding then and there to get to the root of her anxiety,
she asked the question that had haunted her ever since that night at the Spa.

 

“Wh>“What have you done to me?”

 

Howlyn was silent for a moment, and Renee listened to the
slow, even sounds of his breath. Waiting tensely for his answer.

 

“I haven’t done anything to you, Renee. Except claim what
was mine from the very beginning.”

 

Renee’s temper flared up, as she tried to pull away. His
grip tightened, holding her still. “And what the hell is that supposed to
mean?”

 

“It means that from the moment I saw you for the first time,
standing so… deliciously defiant in my throne room, I knew that you were the
only one I would ever be satisfied to have as my mate.”

 

“Oh, please,” Renee scoffed. Ignoring the warming growl that
rumbled threateningly in his throat. “You wanted me because I was something
new. Something you hadn’t seen before. A new toy to play with.”

 

“At first I did.” Howlyn admitted. Causing Renee to suddenly
grow still. Surprised by his blunt honesty. “But if I had just wanted you for
my bed, I would have taken you for thus a long time ago. When I watched you
defeahimahima, I finally believed what I had known to be true from the first
moment that I smelled your scent.”

 

Renee swallowed painfully. “Which was?”

 

“That it was indeed possible for you to be my true mate. It
was possible that after all that time I had found something that very few of
our species discover. Our true match. It goes far beyond love or the need to
procreate. It is a true melding of our strengths. Our passions. And it is
something that was once believed impossible to feel with one not of our own.”

 

Renee’s eyes narrowed even in the dark, as his words
suddenly brought back to mind another niggling doubt that she had had for an
even longer time. “The body that was left behind… did you use its genetic
material in your… modifications of prehistoric humans?”

 

“Do not ask questions, Renee, that you are not ready to have
answered.”

 

Her body tensed as a feeling of dread balled down deep in
her stomach. “Did you do it because of me?”

 

Howlyn didn’t respond. He didn’t have to. She finally had
her answer. She finally knew how far he was willing to go to have her.

 

“I told you a long time ago that you were mine, Renee. You
have always known that I would do whatever I had to do to bring you back to
me.”

 

“Except leave Earth on your own terms.” She shot back. Eyes
burning with some indefinable emotion.

 

Howlyn slowly released on of her wrists and brought that
hand up to gently stroke her cheek. Renee’s lids fluttered closed involuntarily
at the surprisingly tender gesture.

 

“Except that.” He admitted softly. Hands continuing to
stroke her bare skin as his words vibrated against her chest where it lay
pressed into his.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Chapter 30

 

~*~

 

“Aren’t you going to
ask me about this?” Howlyn finally asked as his fingers slid down from her jaw
to the side of her neck, to rest on the faint scar. A mark that immediately
began to tingle as he traced its outline in the dark.

 

“I was getting around to it.” Renee replied warily. Speaking
for the first time in a few minutes. She knew what he was doing. He was
purposely changing the subject. Moving their conversation back to steadier,
safer ground than the rockier edge that she felt as if she’d just been standing
on. She was suddenly unsure if she wanted to know any more,
because everything that she had heard so far had done very little to ease her
concerns.

 

But she had put hlf wlf willingly into this mess. She’d damn
well deal with it through to its conclusion.

 

Sensing her emotions, Howlyn chuckled. Causing Renee’s eyes
to narrow even in the dark.

 

“Of course, if you would prefer to just set aside these
pointless questions, as I’ve already offered, I am sure that I can come up with
other ways to… assure you of the authenticity of our union.”

 

“What about it?” She gritted out between clenched teeth.
Purposely ignoring his arrogant innuendo. Somehow she knew he was grinning at
her. And that made her want to hit him.

 

A lot.

 

As if reading her emotions, she felt his lips press gently
against her collarbone. Slowly teasing her skin.

 

“If there had ever been a moment since I had met you where I
had doubted that you and I were bonded in such a way that was unique even for
my species, that doubt was immediately put to rest the moment that I placed
this mark upon you back on Earth several months ago. Someone who was not my
perfect match would not have responded the way that you did.”

 

Doing her best to ignore her body’s reaction to him, she
struggled to gather her wits about her and was quite pleased with herself when
her rather taunting, slightly arrogant words didn’t come out quite as
breathless as she felt.

 

“And what way was that?”

 

Howlyn became completely still as he heard the sarcastic way
she phrased that question. His lips still pressed to her skin, but not moving.
The only movement that Renee could sense was the knowledge of the way his body
was suddenly thrumming with a contained energy just beneath the surface of his
skin.

 

If you could wrap flesh around a thunderstorm, and contain
it within a living, breathing body, it would have felt just like that. It would
have been just like him.

 

Renee tensed. Suddenly more afraid of him than she ever had
been before. And that fear brought something strange and wild to the surface.
Something she hadn’t felt before. Something that she knew had just gotten her
in a whole lot of hot water.

 

“You would try and pretend that you did not experience our
union the way you did within my arms, Renee?”

 

Uh oh.

 

His words were deceptively calm. Mockingly curious. As if he
really wanted to know what her answer was to his question. As if he wasn’t holding
her within his arms with the same contained strength and fury and

heat that a predator held its prey. As if they were still
having a relatively civilized conversation.

 

Renee swallowed, and for once in her life, remained quiet.
Heart thudding painfully in her chest. Knowing he could feel its increased
rhythm in the pulse resting just underneath his lips. Feeling the way she
suddenly flinched when he began to speak. His words vibrating against her skin,
as he nuzzled his face back and forth into the curve of her throat with an
almost feline grace. Bathing in her scent.

 

“You continue to press me like you would one of your own
spe, Re, Renee. You keep forgetting that I am not human, and your verbal
attempts to deny what I am to you, and what you are to me, is a direct
challenge to my nature, and one that I have overlooked for the last time.”

”Howlyn…” Renee started. Trying to jerk away as a cold knot formed in her
stomach.

 

He held onto her firmly. Her struggles falling unnoticed.
His face still pressed almost lovingly into her shoulder in an almost soothing
gesture, yet she knew that that sensation at this moment with him after she had
just pissed him off was as misleading as the purring of a cat with its mouse.

 

“I admit, I had hoped that I could have dealt with your
concerns by using this method. For your sake. But you still persist in fearing
me. Of being with me. Of giving yourself to me completely. I’ve wasted enough
of them now to know that no amount of words will change that.”

 

“Howlyn, don’t.” Renee cautioned. Pressing her
hands to his chest in an attempt to put distance between them. Her resistance
didn’t even so much as faze him. It stunned her to realize how quickly his mood
had shifted. How easily he could switch from one extreme to the other. It was
once again proof that he was right about one thing. He wasn’t human. And she
had no idea what to predict his reaction would be.

 

“You give me no choice, Renee.”

 

When he spoke those words. Heavy with resignation and
something else… something darker, she hit full fight or flight mode as she
panicked.

 

Striking out blindly at him with her fist, she felt it glace
painfully off his bicep as he suddenly shifted his weight. Dumping her off his
lap and tumbling back onto the mattress in a graceless heap. Head and shoulders
smacking into the haphazardly placed pillows at the head of her bed.

 

 

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

Chapter Thirty-One

 

~*~

 

His weight followed her down in the complete darkness.
Settling firmly on top of her, keeping her from pulling her legs up to her
chest instinctively in order to kick out at him. His hands once again caught
her wrists and pinned them down beside her shoulders.

 

Arching her back in one last attempt to get away from him,
Renee gasped as she felt him settle his weight firmly between her thighs at the
same time that his lips covered the faint mark on the curve of where her
shoulder met her neck. A faint groan of denial escaped her lips as her body
suddenly became burningly alive. Heat and need striking sparks against fear and
desire.

 

“This is the way you respond to my touch. To my
body, and no one else’s. This is the way it will always be
between us.”

 

With those words spoken with an almost inhuman growl serving
as his warning, he thrust forward hard. Burying himself deep and unmoving within
her core.

 

Renee cried out hoarsely at the burning sensation of him
filling her. Stretching her. Her body turning to liquid fire around his length
as she instinctively rocked into him. Driving him even deeper into her body.

 

He hissed in part encouragement, part retaliation just
before his teeth sank deep into their mark on her neck. Pinning her in place
and sending a shockwave through her body that tore an unexpected scream from
her throat as her skin felt like it had suddenly caught fire with the burn hun hunger now riding her. Clenching the muscles within her body, and screaming
with the need for the completion that only he could give her.

 

She had only thought she had known what desire was. Had only
thought that she had experienced all that the fire between them could throw at
her. She had been wrong. So completely, foolishly wrong… Nothing came close to
this.

 

None of those sleepless nights when her body had burned with
a need both precious and profane. None of those dreams in which she would awaken
with her body trembling uncontrollably with want and frustration…

 

This was much more real, more dangerous. It was swallowing
her up. Dragging her down. It rushed through her like a second pulse. Pouring
over her body, making her shudder with its effect. Raging. Reaching. Crying out
in sweet agony…

 

It all merged into one overwhelming need. One primitive,
alien hunger that went far and beyond the pale comparison of human desire.

 

And lashing through her was her response to it. To him.

 

And in that moment, she finally began to understand.

 

He had wanted her like this. Not with the lust and need that
she related to as human wants and desires, but with this.

 

His desire had built over the countless years, even those
spent in stasis…

 

It had built over the course of their struggle with one
another on Earth...

 

It had built over the dozens of potential intimacies, and
each resulting harsh denial...

 

It had built until it was a great weight within his body.
His soul. It had burdened him down, filled him up. He could never be free from
it. From her.

 

And he had hated himself for it. Hated her.

 

Just as she had hated herself. Hated him.

 

There was such a fine line between love and hate, desire and
anger, triumph and fear. And they had crossed that line so many times till
there was no chance of going back. Not now, not ever.

 

They’d either live together as one, or they’d kill each
other trying to be apart. Howlyn had already accepted this outcome a long time
ago…

 

Now it was her turn.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

Chapter Thirty-Two

 

~*~

 

He held her like that. Completely still, even while he was
buried so deep within her.

 

He held her as he waited for the assault on her senses to
sink itself deep into her soul. Touching the part of her that she had always
tried to keep hidden from him… and herself. He waited for her to finally
understand…

 

He waited for her to finally believe.

 

And finally… she did.

 

Renee’s breath caught painfully within her throat as her
awareness grew. Her awareness of him. Of herself. Of their connection. She felt
her heart beating in her chest, throbbing in her throat and against his mouth.
Felt the echoing sound of his energy rushing through his body as his naked skin
pressed up so tightly against hers thrummed with its response.

 

He was so close... In her body. Under her skin. His breath,
hers... Her soul, his...

 

He was right. Actions spoke much clearer than wor/p> /p>

 

She grew still. Any remnant of resistance melting away on
the current of passion and desire that curled around them like a precious second
skin. Her body grew pliant as her tension melted away to acceptance, and this
time, when she gently arched her body into him, it was with want. Not fear.

 

Howlyn’s hold on her wrists loosened slightly, as his teeth
slowly released their grip on the side of her neck. She felt the teasing
butterfly brush of his dark mane of hair as it trailed over the side of her
neck and jaw line as he raised himself up. Causing his body to shift slightly
where it was imbedded so deeply within her own. Sending sparks shooting off
throughout her veins as her body coiled even tighter.

 

Even though she couldn’t make out his profile, or see his
features in the darkness surrounding them, she did suddenly see his eyes. They
glittered down at her with their own fire, their own light, as they studied
her. Waiting. Watching.

 

Renee cautiously pulled her wrists out from underneath his
palms. Feeling the slightly cool air hit the heated skin as he let her fingers
slid through his.

 

She found his arms, braced up on either side of her. Her
fingers slid up their length. Taking in the different textures as she moved
from one part to the next. Feeling the way the muscles tensed and moved beneath
the skin like water cascading over stone.

 

She’d never get over the way he felt. So completely different,
yet so incredibly familiar.

 

Her slender but strong hands unerringly found their way up
to his shoulders. They rested there contemplatively for a moment. Teasingly.
Neither pushing him away, nor bringing him any closer. He was so still.
Waiting. Just waiting.

 

Marking the end of one very personal conflict, those hands
decisively left their current location and reached up to encircle the back of
his neck. Pulling him down to her at the same time she rose up to bring his
lips to hers. Coming together in a clash of passion and hunger as elemental and
ancient as time. Filling her mouth with the musky taste of him as she explored
his of her own accord, and with a desire and willingness that was all her own
as she let go of that part of her that still wanted to deny him. Deny herself.

 

She let it all go, and felt the swell of triumph it
replaced. Knowing that, in part, it was a direct reflection of what he was
feeling.

 

Feeling complete... Feeling whole... Feeling one...

 

Those emotions rushing over her suddenly had her flashing
back to one of their sexually-taut meetings on this same Mothership many months
prior…

 

 

 

“You’ve dreamt about me.”

 

“How did you know?”

 

“It’s to be expected. A natural part of our
connection.”

 

“I want no connection to you.”

“Ohhh, but you do. Look inside. It’s your deepest
desire. The part of you that yearns for a mate as powerfully alive as you are.
The feeling that you are… incomplete. Disconnected. I can end that.”

 

“You end lives.”

 

“Not yours. No, I cannot feed on you, nor Join with
you, but I can still kill you. Of that, I am certain. And yet, I desire you.
And, if you looked past your prejudices, you’d realize that you feel the same
way... Admit it.”

 

 

 

She had denied him then, but here she was. All that time
later. Time enough that she would have thought her feelings for him would have
died out long ago. Here she was, doing just that. Admitting her need, her
desire… for him. Giving herself up to it just like he had always wanted her to.
Just as he had demanded that she do…

 

And her senses drowned within it, as her heart came to life,
and a wildness within her soul that bore his mark cried out in reveled ecstasy
to the heavens at having finally been set free.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

Chapter Thirty-Three

 

 

~*~

 

 

Howlyn lifted his face away from hers long enough to let out
an Atavan shriek in triumph and rapture before dropping back down to kiss
possessively the human woman that was his mate. Tongue once again slipping past
her slightly-swollen lips as his arms wrapped around her, gathering her tightly
to him as his hips rocked forward in the cradle of hers. Causing her to moan
into his mouth as her fingers trailed down his spin to dig into the tense
muscles of his back as his lips claimed hers with an almost savage intent.

 

And she met him every step of the way just as fiercely. No
holds barred. No touch or stroke denied as he slowly unleashed more and more of
his feral passions while holding her within his embrace.

 

His hands came up and buried themselves deep into the mass
of her hair. Bunching up the strands tightly into fists and tilting her head
back slightly against the pillow, angling her mouth under his as he explored
her. His forearms resting on either side of her face. He continued to rock
against her as his back curled under slightly against her clinging palms.
Primal lust bursting into a conflagration as the taste and scent of one filled
the mouth of the other.

 

She hissed into his mouth as she felt the heavy thickness of
him moving deep inside her. Friction and intense warmth sent flames of terrible
hunger dancing along her skin and deep inside her body from where they were
joined. She reveled in the sense of him beginning to lose complete control as
his body dominated hers in the most primal and ancient way of all. Knowing that
she was the only one that could make him lose himself in such a fashion.

 

Provocative fire raced through him to her and back again.
Growing with every pass like currents through electricity. Burning so hot, so
fast, they were both spinning out of control.

 

For once she didn’t fear the consequences. Didn’t fear his
nature. His darkness. Instead, she chose to wrap it around herself like a
luxurious, sensual pelt. Become a part of it. A part of him. Of his nature.

 

She could only think of him. His scent, his taste, his
touch.

 

He thrust into her. Hard and wild. Deep and elemental. She
broke her lips away from his to toss her head to the side, back arching
slightly. Breathing harshly as his lips trailed down the twisted curve of her
throat. Teeth testing and tongue tasting as she writhed instinctively against
him. Sounds of encouragement rumbling in his throat as her body responded so
wantonly to his.

 

His tongue laved in the hollow of her collarbone before
trailing a line of dark fire over the swell of her breast.

 

Her nails went deep into his skin, breaking skin as his lips
closed around one of her nipples. Drawing it hard into the heat of his mouth.
Teeth nipping sharply. Shooting off a streak of incredible pleasure edged with
erotic pain ricocheting off inside her as she sunk her own teeth into the skin
of his shoulder. The strange taste of his skin filling her body as she wrapped
her legs tightly around his waist. Slender hips moving up into his forcefully
as she felt the nearing promise of climax begin to tingle along her nerves.

 

He growled hoarsely as he laved away the slight sting of his
love bite. Causing her to shiver.

 

He released his hold on her hair. One hand unerringly sought
out one of hers and threaded his fingers through hers. He took that hand and
pinned it above their heads, and once again the line of his back hunched under
above her as he continued to thrust deeply. Stoking their combining desires
into a euic fic frenzy. Arms still resting most of his weight on the mattress
on either side of her head.

 

Renee mouth came in contact with the tightly bunched skin of
his chest as he continued to rock firmly into her. Lips and teeth and tongue
testing and teasing the expanse. Biting almost hard enough to break skin, but
then licking away the pain.

 

Finding the smooth expanse of flesh just above the center of
his life force, she gathered the skin in her mouth and suckled. Hearing his
hiss reverberate around her as she apparently found one of his erogenous zones.

 

She continued to lave and nip at his chest, working her way
up to the strong column of his throat. He growled appreciatively and tossed his
head and black mass of hair back. Allowing her to feel the muscles and tendons
playing harshly under the surface as she slid up the center-line of his neck,
nipping at his chin demandingly, as he finally dropped his head back down to
hers. Lips locking together as he forced his tongue hard into her willing
mouth. Dominating rather than coaxing as his hand still wrapped up in hers
pressed it harder into the mattress above her head. Causing her back to arch
sharply up and off the mattress. Now scorched and damp with their combined
passions.

 

She echoed his dominant posture with the scrape of her nails
on her still free hand down his side and over his hip. The curved taut line of
her body brushing erotically against his as she spooned her chest to the bow of
his. The burning sensitivity of her breasts rubbing against his slick skin.

 

She grinned wickedly against his mouth just before she slid
that hand between their bodies and down his abdomen, and treaded her fingers
around the base of his arousal still moving in and out of her. Stroking and
squeezing gently.

 

He hissed into her mouth and tried to catch her wayward
hand, but she pointedly evaded him. Temporarily hiding it deep within the mass
of his black mane pouring over the back of his neck and shoulder.

 

Howlyn let her win, and instead grasped her thigh in his
free hand and hauled it up high and hard against his side above his hip.
Hooking his wrist around the back of her knee and wrapping his strong fingers
around the flesh above her knee cap, tips of his talons pressing into her skin.
Providing her leg with a comfortable rest even as he forced it further up the
length of his torso. The new angle driving him even deeper into her body and
touching a part of her that had never been touched quite like this before.

 

Renee heard the release of his cleaves for the first time
and the glow of them wrapped around her thigh cut through the darkness. A
testament to just how close what was left of his control was to shattering
completely.

 

Her wayward hand came out of hiding and immediately reached
down and firmly grasped his hand. Not to push it away but to trap it against
her skin. She could feel the deadly length of his cleaves vibrating against her
wrist.

 

He released her lips and his throat rumbled in a long drawn
out purr like that of a large jungle cat, and Renee slowly opened her eyes.
Gaze un-focused.

 

The white-blue glow from his cleaves provided her with enough
light in which to finally make out his features as he stared down at her. Face
hovering so close to hers. Tendrils of his hair falling down around that
sensual face. Eyes burning with a savage hunger that caused Renee’s breath to
catch in her throat, and her skin to quiver as if boiling from the intense heat
building inside her body.

 

Both of her hands clenched tightly from where they were
being held and were they were holding. Nails digging into his skin as her lids
fluttered closed once more. Unable to stand seeing such stark eroticism painted
so vividly upon his face without the threat of a part of her going just a
little insane.

 

She moaned as he altered his position slightly and thrust,
and her head snapped up off the pillows. Pressing into the curve of his
shoulder as her teeth grazed the side of his jaw and tugged at the skin just
below it.

 

She needed all of him, and she needed it now.

 

“I’m not going to break, Howlyn.” She forced out. Her lips
barely managing to wrap themselves successfully around her words as she
whispered them hoarsely into his ear. Teeth once again finding his shoulder,
but this time she didn’t stop pressing inward till she felt the skin beneath
her begin to give way.

 

He let out a Atavan cry and she answered him with one of her
own as he instinctively slammed hard into her. His control completely
shattering as his pace picked up, and with every thrust his strength increased.

 

Every time he sent striving into her, bringing the bodies
hard together, it rode that fine line between overwhelming pleasure and pain.
And just as the pleasure began to turn to pain, he’d withdraw, leaving her
feeling bereft. Then he’d thrust himself inside her again even harder, and it
would start all over.

 

She could feel sweet release just beneath the surface. Every
time he rocked forcefully into her, she touched upon it. Being withheld just
outside of her reach. Her body cried out uncontrollably for it. Her mind sobbed
for it.

 

When his lips began to trail down her throat, she offered it
to him willingly. Anticipation a living, pulsing entity writhing under her skin
as she waited for him to find his mark.

 

He did, but teasingly, tantalizingly, brushed over it.
Barely touching it. Denying her.

 

Renee began to tremble uncontrollably. Her mind so clouded
by sensation and hunger that at first she couldn’t – or wouldn’t – comprehend
the word that he had growled at her.

 

clasclass=MsoNormal>“Wh-what…?” She panted out. Eyes glazed with the sheen of
fire as a frown knitted in her damp forehead as he tilted his head to the side,
and slide upwards a little bit. Dragging his body against hers, invoking a
shudder to race along her skin. His movement bringing the side of his neck up
and against her parted lips.

 

“Bite.” he growled out again. His voice more animal than
sentient being. “Make… the ritual… complete.” the last word ended in a hiss as
his lips found his mark on her once more. Resting there, waiting for her to
make the first move.

 

The pace of his body suddenly begin to slow when she
hesitated, and Renee didn’t need to be asked twice. An unfamiliar instinct
driving her to bite down hard. Holding the skin firmly between her teeth.

 

Howlyn let out a cry and his mouth latched onto their
target. Dragging her tender and still slightly scarred skin into his mouth and
drawing hard enough to bring blood rushing to the surface as her body suddenly
began to shatter around them.

 

Renee felt a scream echoing in her mind as the rapture
poured over her molten lava. Wrapping her up and running over her as he rammed
forcefully into her body. His thickness going as far into her as it could go,
and then some, as he drove her over the sparkling edge of orgasm. Her body
shuddering and flying apart as she met him thrust for thrust.

 

He held her there. Trapped within the shinning brilliance of
pleasure. Her body shuddering with release after release. One rising up to
replace the last each time it began to abate, like the intense waves upon a
glittering shore in the middle of a hungry storm.

 

Suddenly, she could feel a part of them merge. Become one.
What he was feeling, she was feeling. The intense hunger still beat at him even
as she was lost within the pleasure of her own body. And the need to experience
a completion that only she could give him was paramount in his mind. A
completion that would tie them together for an eternity.

 

Giving into the weight of his desire as it rode her even
harder than her own, she allowed her teeth to sink into the flesh she held in
her mouth, and didn’t stop till she felt them sink deep into skin and muscle.
Bringing their mating ritual full circle.

 

The following response of his body lashed through hers like
a lightening bolt, sending her up in flames, as their souls merged and their
mental barrieell ell away.

 

Later she wouldn’t know if it was his or her scream echoing
so loudly in her ears, or if maybe it was both…

 

…All she would remember was how it felt when it was as if
their skin slid away and they poured into each other’s bodies. Drowning in each
others’ sensations as their entire world shattered around them and through
them. Muscles clenching, tightening, and skin rippling, stretching, pulsing, as
they were cast out into an insubstantial existence.

 

Their only anchor was in each other’s arms. In his body
buried so deeply within hers as everything else fell away… and finally came
back together in one exploding climax that had him pouring liquid heat deep
inside her body, and the immediate response that triggered her being sent over
the edge of reality and into the secret depths of that black fire. A primal cry
of rapture still hovering on her lips as Renee willingly gave herself up to the
losing of consciousness as her body went up like a sacred torch in those
precious flames.

 

Her hands still clung tightly to his body… Holding him close
to her in the blackness that became her world even as she flew so completely
apart.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~