Chapter Twenty-Three

The look on her face made Carwyn feel as if he'd slapped her.

"No." Brigid shook her head. "Carwyn, that's the last thing I could ever think. I know you're not?—"

"Then why the fuck would you leave me when you're hunting one of the most psychotic immortals we've ever come across?"

Anger was still burning in his gut even though she'd apologized. It wasn't a pretty thing, and he knew it. It wasn't one of his finer qualities, but pushed to the edge, he had a very hard time letting go of resentment.

And this time his mate had pushed him.

He could see the sky changing color. The dawn would come soon, and he saw that she was exhausted. He couldn't bear to be parted from her for another day, but he wanted to shout at her and shake her until she realized how reckless she'd been.

"Carwyn," she stammered. "I… I know what I did was hurtful, but I was trying to?—"

"Shut up." He spread his arms, and the ground beneath them opened up, pulling them both in. He caught her in his arms as the earth took them under, then tunneled toward drier ground.

The earth around him was fragrant with moss and organic matter, lush with scent and life. He held Brigid curled into his chest and carried her to the burrow he'd carved out two nights before when sleeping for another night by the crashing water had raked on his nerves.

He tunneled past the shelter he'd created for the elder, sensing the man's amnis as it worked to keep the old one alive and heal him from his burns.

The ground opened before him, emptying into a round chamber he'd lined with rocks and some of the furs he'd taken from the house.

As the earth settled around them and rested, Carwyn tossed Brigid on the pile of furs and blankets he'd made up to use as a bed, then went to light a small lamp in the corner. "You can sleep here."

She lifted her head, and her eyes went wide. "Are you gonna leave me buried in the ground?"

"Of course not, you idiot," he snarled at her. "I mean, yes, but I'll be here with you."

He felt her energy rise, the faint smell of steam as her skin heated up.

"Don't!" He bent down and got in her face. "You are safe here. Stop doubting me and trust your mate."

"I know I'm safe with you." Her voice was small.

"Your fire doesn't." He reached for a wet rag he kept on the table and wiped his face. Then he tossed another one to her. "You can clean up if you want. I don't have any spare clothes for you."

"I have my backpack."

"Good."

She stripped out of her muddy clothes and cleaned her face in silence, running the wet cloth over her head, her hands, and her shoulders. She said not a single word, then folded the washcloth into a square and set it on top of her black backpack.

She looked smaller somehow, more frail than she'd been the last time he saw her. Her hair was trimmed into a short buzz cut that did nothing but enhance the beauty of her stunning eyes and high cheekbones.

Carwyn felt his anger ebb as the fire inside her calmed and the room smelled of moss and green life again. "Are you armed?" he asked. "I don't want a gun under your pillow tonight."

"It's in my backpack." She looked around the dimly lit cavern. "You'll feel something before me down here."

"Yes." He took off his shirt and took a second towel from a pile sitting on a stone. He dunked it in rainwater and wiped the mud from his face and hands. "I know you don't like sleeping underground, but I'm sick of the damn ocean."

"I know the feelin'." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

A little more of Carwyn's anger ebbed as she released her breath. His amnis didn't care about righteous anger. Everything in him ached to reach out for her, join her, embrace her.

The combination of having her within reach and the tumultuous events of the night combined, slamming into him with the force of a freight train, and he leaned against the stone wall of the cave.

His shoulders slumped with exhaustion. "I'm tired, Brigid."

"Then come here." Her voice was soft.

Carwyn turned and saw her with her arms out, her beautiful eyes soft for him and her damp skin shining in the low lamplight. She was wearing nothing but a cropped tank top and a pair of practical black boxer shorts. Her pale skin was milk white on the dark furs he'd brought to the cave.

"My fine man," she whispered. "Come here."

Her softness broke him.

Carwyn stripped off his shirt and crawled into bed beside her, wrapping his arms around her and laying his head on her belly. His amnis settled against hers, and he felt Brigid heat her skin to warm the chill in his.

"Why'd you do it?" He kept his voice low. "Don't you know it would break me if anyone laid a hand on you?"

"And I'd burn the world to keep you safe," Brigid whispered. "I'd burn… everything. Everyone. I was trying to do the least harm, and I hurt you instead."

He lifted his head and looked into her eyes. "Charred whiskey barrels."

She frowned. "What?"

"Your eyes. The first time I saw them after you turned, I thought about charred whiskey barrels. That beautiful brown with grey along the edges." He turned his head and laid his cheek on her belly.

He could hear a smile in her voice. "Did you?"

"And then I thought… I'll protect her from anything." He felt her hands hot on his shoulders. "She's my world now, and I'll protect her. I'd have abandoned all of them for you, Brigid. Every tie, every responsibility. Every obligation was nothing compared to that need to protect you."

She brushed a lock of hair from his forehead. "I learned to protect myself years before I turned vampire."

"And don't you know that it makes me crazy that you had to do that?" He gripped her on either side of her torso, his large hands spanning the delicate rib cage that protected her heart. "I hate that you had to learn that. It makes me want to break things."

"Carwyn—"

"No." He lifted his head. "I have spent my eternity seeking peace, but no one fucks with you, darling girl. This vampire, they aren't only killing and burning and destroying, but they're trying to get in your head. Turn you into someone you are not. Trying to ruin what we are."

She shook her head. "No one can do that. I won't let them."

He opened his mouth and let his fangs grow long. Then, keeping his eyes on Brigid, he slowly sank his fangs into the flesh of her belly, licking up the blood that released and easing the boxers down her hips.

She sucked in a breath and arched into his mouth. "Carwyn."

"I'm going to bite all over your body," he whispered. "I'm going to sink my teeth into your breasts and suck the blood from between your thighs. And you will scream with the pleasure of it."

"That a promise?"

"Yes." He lapped up the blood on her torso, sealing the wounds he'd made before he made more. He licked down her body and between her thighs, holding her in place as her body became engorged with pleasure.

He nicked the tender flesh with the tip of his fangs, sucking the wound into his mouth and hurling Brigid into her first climax.

Carwyn turned his head while she was still coming and sank his teeth into the flesh next to her sex, sliding his hands under her buttocks and lifting her body into his mouth. He feasted on her rich blood, sucking in the amnis that purred for him.

Brigid reached for his hand, grasping for anything as she convulsed in pleasure. Carwyn reached his hand toward her neck and growled when she grabbed it and sank her fangs into the vein at his wrist.

He felt her enter him, the true joining of their kind. Her amnis curled around his like smoke around cedar, and the scent of their joined blood filled the cave.

Carwyn carefully sealed the wounds in her thighs before he moved up her body, kissing and licking along her torso, raking his fangs along her flesh and raising welts.

He tore down the center of her shirt and parted it, revealing the gentle rise of her breasts.

"I'll bite these too." He put his mouth on the right breast. "Mark you, Brigid. Give you a reminder not to leave me again."

"Talk is— Fuck me!" She gasped as his teeth sank into her flesh on either side of her nipple. He bit down and sucked the tip into his mouth, teasing the sensitive flesh with his tongue before he sucked hard, leaving her bloody and engorged before he moved to the left breast and did the same thing.

Her skin was gritty and he didn't care. They were streaked with mud and blood, and the scent of smoke filled the room.

She was gripping a blanket so hard it had started to burn.

Carwyn reached over and smothered the flame with the palm of his left hand before he licked at her wounds, sucking and then sealing them as he slowly worked his way up her body.

She scrambled to shove his pants down his hips. "Please."

"Not yet." He still had a little bit of anger to work out before he trusted himself.

"Carwyn—"

"Kiss me." He braced himself over her, caging her with massive arms, this tiny, lethal predator he'd managed to capture and make his own. "Kiss me, Brigid."

She lifted her hands, and the water that dripped from his hair sizzled when she touched his cheeks.

Brigid framed his cheeks with hands so hot they nearly burned his skin. She lifted tentative lips and pressed a kiss to his mouth.

He softened a little bit, but his fangs were still down.

She licked up the length of one, then the other. She ran her tongue along the edge of his lower lip, sucking it into his mouth.

Carwyn closed his eyes at the pleasure of her kiss.

She nibbled softly along his jaw, and he grew harder, his erection straining against the heavy canvas pants he'd worn on the boat.

She lifted one leg, wrapping it around his waist and drawing him down to her body.

"I want your weight," she whispered. "Please."

He jerked his head from her ministering lips and gazed at her, blood marking the border of his kiss. He looked down at her red-smeared breasts, which were still swollen with pleasure, and her body, bare and wet. He could smell her arousal as heavy as her blood.

"Never leave me again."

She shook her head. "Wherever we go, we go together."

"Never use yourself as a shield for me."

She blinked. "Carwyn?—"

"Promise me." He bared his fangs. "Promise. Me."

She lifted her chin. "I'll shield you, and you'll shield me. Try to make me promise otherwise and you'll be disappointed."

"Fucking stubborn woman." He pushed away from her, stood, and shoved his pants down his legs, stepping out of them as he fell on her. "You infuriating, stubborn woman."

"Infuriating." She wrapped an arm around his neck. "Stubborn." Threw a leg around his waist. "Man." She arched up, and Carwyn drove into her body, sinking to the hilt as she wrapped her other leg around his hips and pulled him in.

The earth around them shuddered as he made furious love to her. She kept her arm around his neck and sank her fangs into his shoulder. Carwyn erupted in pleasure, and she wrung him dry, holding him to her body as his chest heaved and he paused, waiting to grow hard again.

"I love you." She kissed his neck and whispered, "I missed you every day. I wanted to cry every time I went to sleep without you."

"Damn you, woman." His body grew hard at her tender words. He closed his eyes, rolled them over, and pulled her on top of him. "Ride me."

Putting his hands on her hips, he slowly lifted her up and down his body, stroking her clitoris as she arched back in pleasure.

"I'm going to make you come again," he said, "then I'm turning you over and biting your sweet arse, Brigid Connor."

"Is this how you teach me a lesson?" She closed her eyes and let out a soft moan. "Because if it is, you can teach me every night."

He spread his hand and smacked her backside as she rode him. "Every night and every day."

"Yes please."

For the first time in weeks, he felt like laughing. "What you do to me, Brigid."

"Likewise." She bent down and placed a gentle kiss on his swollen lips, tapping his fangs with her own. "I love you, you infuriating giant."

"I love you too… you unholy imp."