16. Chara

Chapter 16

Chara

Everything about the vampire master ignites my desire, his dark, knowing eyes, the way he fights to the death for me, even the fact that he comes coated with blood to claim me for his very own. I should feel repulsed by the sight of it, yet something draws me to my protector even more, knowing the blood was drawn in an effort to protect me, the one he chose as his mate.

My body heats as he closes the door, and the shower turns on, knowing before walking through that door that I'll find him naked and wanting, but holding himself back to clean for me. He's the dominant, yet everything said I have the power in our exchange. Surely it can't be wrong to want to calm him and to care for him after whatever battle he went through.

He glances up, sensing me, mid-stroke, washing the blood from his muscled arm. I slide my top over my head, urged on by the heat in his eyes, then step out of my pants and panties as they slide to the floor. "I'm new to the dominant/submissive roles. I'm sure you'll teach me if I'm doing this wrong," I whisper, walking toward the open entry of the stone shower.

Bistrita's eyes darken, glowing red embers around the periphery. He holds out a hand, and I place my palm in his, immediately energized by our connection. My chest beats harder as the desire between us mingles and floats through the air. He pulls me toward him, cradling the back of my neck, before taking my breath away with his kiss. When he finally draws away from my lips, my center is thrumming with unleashed desire. My finger traces the tear to his skin that was just there moments ago, and I look up at him, questioning.

"We heal ourselves. It does not usually take long."

My fingers wander over his broad shoulders and along the corded veins of his neck, until his hands stop me from moving to his hair. "Turn and face the wall."

I inhale a deep breath and do as he's asked, turning away from him and placing my hands on the coolness of the stone, with blind and unwavering trust. I stand there for at least five minutes, my chest heaving with desire as his gaze heats the skin of the back of my legs, buttocks, and the curve of my spine. He nuzzles the sensitive shell of my ear with the stubble from his face, sending a shiver right to my core. "You are the most beautiful creature I've ever seen, love. Turn to face me now," he commands.

I do as he asks without hesitation, already fully comprehending the appeal of letting someone else take the reins, doling out a mind-numbing sensual experience without touching me at all. Because just his voice sends shards of desire everywhere, right down to the very tips of my toes.

Bistrita's gaze is a brilliant red as he appraises my breasts, the inward concave of my belly and thighs, right down to my suds-covered feet. His eyes draw mine to his as the heat of his passion soars right along with my own. But still, he commands me to stay right where I am, without so much as a word. He has not told me to move, so I don't.

There is no way to avoid watching him wash himself with that cloth. He lathers it up with a fresh-scented soap and begins stroking his skin along the corded muscles of his forearms, upper arms, and shoulders, watching me intently as he moves to his rock-hard abdomen leaving a trail of soap as he heads below.

My center tingles with unleashed desire, but my mind reels, taking in the length of his rod as he slides the soap-covered cloth from groin to end, before putting the cloth aside to stroke it with a firm hand. My breath comes faster, and I find it more and more difficult to stay in the spot he's placed me. I take a step forward in the soapy water of the shower floor.

He smirks and tsks. "No, love. You have to stay where I put you for as long as I want you to stay there, or you'll force me to restrain you."

Oh my lord, I cannot stand another minute of this desire teasing game. "I'm so…" I search desperately for the word that won't make me sound like the desperate woman in heat that I am. "In need."

My mate takes my hand, pulling me gently to him and rinsing the soap from his body. Bistrita turns me away from him, and the sensual scent of flowers fills my nostrils as he caresses my hair and scalp with a creamy shampoo. He runs those fingers through my hair so seductively and over the sensitive area of my nape all while rubbing his enlarged cock against my ass.

He can't want that; it will never fit.

He rinses me thoroughly, applying a conditioner and massaging it in before turning me to face him again. He leans down and kisses my lips, gently and firmly at first, but with increasing desire, rekindling the embers of fire he's already caused, stoking them with a caress over my nipple before making me moan as he takes the heated flesh into his mouth for the very first time.

My thighs tremble. If anyone had told me I could come just from having the tips of my breasts caressed and sucked, I would not have believed it, but if he hadn't stopped the very second he did, that is exactly what would have happened. "I was so close," I whisper.

He strokes a sensitive finger down the length of my cheek. "I know, love. That's why I stopped. And I do want your ass, make no mistake about that, but it will take training for me to fit."

Bistrita doesn't wait for a response, too absorbed in the slow and languid trail he's scorching with his tongue, lips, and kisses, as he caresses my breasts, belly, and below. He looks up from his spot between my knees. "Hands up, hold onto the shower," he instructs.

I do what the asks immediately, mesmerized as his head nuzzles against the insides of my thighs, and he parts them to explore. He does not make this fast; instead, he takes it slow, watching me as he parts my swollen lips with two fingers. "I've been dreaming of how you would taste, the sweetness that I would find in the center of your heat."

I swallow through the emotions, all swirling at the very same time. He dips a finger into my center, using my desire to slicken his finger. My head lulls back when he runs the pad of his thumb over my clit, my body screaming for a release that is both close and then so far away as the next stroke falls right off the mark.

The redness of his eyes draws me to him, watching as he watches me. I don't need him to tell me now that the pleasure for him is in giving me pleasure, making me wait so my climax will grow, but I'm not sure if I can do this, continue to be on edge, time and time again, so close but yet so far away. His tongue strokes in just the right place while his fingers stroke my front wall.

I might die if he strokes off center, leaving me on the edge just one more time, but instead, he pulls away completely, lifting my hips with him as he rises from the shower floor. "Don't let go, just wrap your legs around me and trust that I will fit."

He doesn't give my body a chance to come down from the edge, still pulsing with need, screaming for a release it's been promised but denied, and when he thrusts all the way to the end of me, I gasp with the burn and intensity of it all.

He pulls out and drives back in again, and again, and again…

Come for me now, Chara.

I can barely breathe, taking every single inch of him to the very end of me, over and over, until I am screaming his name as I come all over his rod. He pistons forth, holding back, and making me come for a mind-splintering second time before allowing his own release.

Shattered into little pieces and so damn sated.

He removes my hands from the bar above. I slink them around his neck as he walks me to the marble counter by the sink and sits me atop it. He washes me gently with a cashmere-like washcloth, before stroking a finger over my sensitive slit. "You'll be a little sore tomorrow, love." He pulls a towel from the warming station and dries every inch of me and fluffs my hair before he is finished.

He carries me to the safe room bed and lies down beside me, cradling me in his arms before exhaustion draws me under and into a deep and much needed sleep.

When I wake, he's already dressed, ready to go, and moving around the bedroom. "Good morning. How did you sleep?"

I smile shyly because the truth is I haven't slept that well in forever. "Pure heaven."

He walks out of the bedroom and carries a tray back in with him. I sit up in bed, leaning against the headboard, pulling the sheet with me to cover my breasts. He brings the tray to me and places it over my lap, then he peels the sheet down to my lap. "You have beautiful breasts, Chara. I prefer that you not cover them from me."

I suck in a breath. So, it begins… I nod, because these things I can do, as long as we go slow. I see that gleam of desire and the pleasure it brings to my future mate. I can do these things. These submissive and kinky things.

There's a reservation about him, a shadow in his eyes of uncertainty I did not feel before. It drags the energy in the air around us down, shifts the center of our magnetism ever so slightly, and even though faint, it casts a sliver of his doubt.

Maybe it's my tremulous relationships and baggage that came with having two boyfriends break up with me. No matter how many people tell you it's not your fault, you just picked the losers, it doesn't help get over the fact that they chose to walk away, when your heart was completely invested in making it work. I push the thought away, though, as he begins to caress my breasts and feeds me a bite of eggs with the silver spoon.

Just my overactive imagination, always at play. I need to learn to relax and trust. Not see an ulterior motive in every act, or this will never work.

He kisses my lips. "Calm your mind, Chara. The angst you're feeling is because I'm concerned about capturing the rogues and making certain you and the others are safe. You are already starting to feel things through me, much sooner than I anticipated. I want you to stay put, here where it's safe, while we are gone."

I swallow hard. "I will, but is there something, anything I can do from here to help? I feel so unworthy, unable to help my friends, you."

He kisses me gently. "Stay put. There's a book called the Vade Mecum in the living room on a side table. Read some of it while I'm gone. It will give you a greater understanding of the life the vampires have lived and what the future holds."

Something in the way he says that makes me wonder how much about my conversation with Taylen he already knows. How close does a vampire, a future mate, need to be in order to read your mind? So many questions and so much to learn. "I never really believed in fated mates until you."

He smirks. "You know more than you should for a human. Now do as I ask, and when I return, I'll show you the meaning of a reward. And if it helps, I've always believed in fated mates, but just never thought destiny would pair me with mine."

I grin. "Because you're so dominant?"

He taps my nose. "Depraved was the word I was thinking of. But if that's the word you like... Now do as I ask, and do not get dressed."

My forehead crinkles. "For how long?"

"Until I return."

"That could be days."

He grins. "Then it will be a good time for you to get comfortable in your delectably creamy skin because that's often the only thing you'll be wearing, love."

I point to the door. "Goodbye, sir."