Dark Fire by Christine Feehan. Dark Series – book 6

She was so weak, she was grateful Darius was still cradling her in his arms. Her legs felt like rubber. “I think I’m going to be like one of those ridiculous heroines in an old-fashioned novel and faint,” she murmured against his neck.

“No, you are not.” He attempted to feel guilt-he had taken her blood, and she was so small and fragile that any blood loss could make her weak-but Darius was not one to waste time on regrets. How could he regret what was as natural and inevitable as the tide? She was his. Her blood was his. Her heart and soul belonged to him.

Very gently, tenderly, he ran a caressing hand over her silky hair and down her soft cheek to lay his palm against her throat. His fingers curled slowly around her neck, his thumb feathering the delicate line of her jaw. He wanted to touch every inch of her, explore every secret, intriguing shadow and hollow, memorize her luscious curves.

“Darius.” Her green eyes found his black ones. “You can’t just decide you own me. People don’t own one another anymore. I’m not certain what you are, but I gather you weren’t born here or even in this century. I was. I value my independence. It matters to me that I make my own decisions. You don’t have the right to take that from me.” She tried to choose her words carefully, accepting that she was to blame for her own behavior, that this wasn’t all Darius’s fault.

She had wanted to kiss him. She admitted it. She touched her swollen lips, a little awed. No one should be able to kiss like that. It was like falling off the edge of a cliff, soaring through the skies, touching the sun. It was like burning, going up in flames, until there was no more Tempest Trine, no thinking individual, only mindless, impossible passion.

“Darius, did you understand what I said?”

“Did you understand what I said?” he countered softly between his white teeth. “I know it is not an easy thing to accept one such as me, but I have given my eternal allegiance and protection to you, and that is no small thing, Tempest. It is for all time.”

“It isn’t that I can’t accept what you are. I don’t even know what that is yet, really.” She squirmed suddenly. “Put me down. Please. I feel very-” She broke off, not wanting to admit to feeling defenseless, but the word shimmered between them all the same. “Please, Darius. I want to talk about this and not feel at such a disadvantage.”

His hard mouth curved, taking away the almost cruel, implacable edge as if it had never been. Slowly he lowered her feet to the ground. She was half his size and had to tip her chin up to look at him. “Do you feel at more of an advantage now?” he asked softly, amusement in his black-velvet voice.

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Chapter Five

Tempest glared at him, her green eyes flashing like emeralds. “Very funny. We have to get a couple of things straight. Maybe I’d rather take my chances here with you than out in the world right now, but not if you’re going to keep dictating to me. There have to be a few ground rules. None of this… this… whatever you call this.” She waved her hand to encompass everything. Kissing. Taking her blood. Seducing her. Ordering her around. Setting perimeters. All of it.

His black gaze never left her face. His eyes were as still as those of a leopard scenting prey. Avid. Burning. Intense. He took her breath away with his eyes. Hypnotized her. Cast a spell over her. Tempest pulled her gaze from his, from the seductive, black velvet trap. “And stop that, too,” she said decisively, despite the fact that he made her hungry for him.

“Stop what?”

“Stop looking at me that way. It’s definitely out. You can’t look at me that way. It’s cheating.”

“How am I looking at you?” His deep voice dropped even lower, the cadence soft and husky. Mesmerizing.

“Okay, that’s out, too. No talking in that tone of voice,” she declared staunchly. “And you know very well what you’re doing. Act normal.”