Dark Fire by Christine Feehan. Dark Series – book 6

He found he could smile then. In spite of the urgent, painful demands of his body and the fear she had put him through, even his anger that she had tried to leave him, she could make him smile. She could melt his heart. Here he was, the leader of his people, an ancient, one with enormous strength and tremendous knowledge, his word law, his commands obeyed without question. She was a small, fragile, human female, and he was putty in her hands.

The tunnel led deep within the bowels of the earth itself. It was warm and moist, the sound of water ever present. It seeped from the sides of the tunnel and trickled from the curved ceiling above their heads. Tempest inspected her surroundings warily, not liking the fact that they were in a volcanic range of mountains and it was decidedly warm. “Have you ever been here before?”

He heard the note of nervousness in her voice. “Of course I have, many times. We spend a great deal of our time below ground. The earth speaks to us of its secret places and shares its healing strength and great beauty with us.”

“Did it happen to mention this was a volcano while it was whispering to you?” she asked, her green eyes searching the tunnel frantically for signs of running lava. She could smell sulfur.

“You have a mean mouth on you, woman,” Darius observed, taking a fork to the right that led deeper into the mountain.

At once the faint light creeping in from the cave’s entrance disappeared, plunging them into complete darkness. “I thought you liked my mouth,” Tempest retorted, doing her best not to scream hysterically at being in this dark, sulfurous, underground hole. “In case you haven’t noticed, Darius, it feels as if we’re entering hell. Since I already have this faint notion that you could be the devil tempting me, this isn’t the best choice of hotels.” The humidity was thick, nearly choking her, and she felt as if she couldn’t breathe. The inky black interior pressed down on her, suffocating her.

“It is your fear choking you,” he said softly. “The air is perfectly breathable down here. The mountain is not crushing you. You fear what I will do once we are together.” His thumb was feathering lightly over the pulse in her wrist, back and forth, a gentle stroke but eloquent.

Her green eyes were enormous in her pale face. “What will you do, Darius?” Her heart was pounding in the confined space, the rhythm frantic.

He bent his head to hers, his black eyes burning with possession, with intense hunger, with stark desire. “I will put your life and your happiness above my own. You have no need to fear for your life with me.” His voice was black velvet, turning her heart over with tenderness.

Tempest tightened her hold around his neck, leaning more closely into him, uncertain whether from need or from fear. She was tying herself to a creature whose powers she had no real knowledge of. What precise code did he live by?

Darius’s response was to swing down an even narrower tunnel and emerge at what appeared to be a solid dead end. She knew it was solid because she reached out and touched it with her palm. But Darius waved his hand, and the barrier simply parted. A single strangled sound escaped Tempest’s throat. What couldn’t he do? How could she tie herself to a creature who wielded so much power?

“It is easy, Tempest,” he said softly, reading her mind, her doubts. “Like this, just like this.” His mouth took hers again, hard and commanding, tempting and enticing, whirling her out of the dark cavern and into a world of colors and light. He took away her every sane thought until there was only him. Only Darius, with his blazing eyes and his perfect mouth and mesmerizing voice. His hard body and strong arms.

He lifted his head and once more waved a hand. At once hundreds of flames leapt, lighting candles around the huge underground chamber. “In these last centuries, we have all found our own retreats. This is one of mine. The candles are made from nature’s most healing elements. The earth here is particularly welcoming to our kind.”