Her hand smoothed over the worst wound. Her body swayed toward him. “I’m fully Carpathian, right?”
His gaze burned over her. She felt it, even though she didn’t lift her eyes to his. Hot. He was so hot. Her fingers caressed the edges of the hole there. She instantly felt the reaction in her own body, her cells rushing to the surface to build flesh and take away pain. As if she could share her own skin.
She leaned into him and used her tongue as he had, closing her eyes so she wouldn’t see what she was doing, so much as feel. He tasted like she remembered in her dreams. Hot. Masculine. Addictive. More, she knew she had that same healing agent in her saliva and she could do what he had done. She could heal his terrible wounds. She loved being a healer. It was her purpose. It had always been the one thing that made her feel she was worth something.
She’d chosen to study geology because she wanted to study rocks, gems and crystals, know their origins and feel how each could be used. This method was just as instinctive, a tuning of her body to his, just as she had done all her life, but closer. More intimate. She loved this.
Andre’s hands came up to her hair. She felt the bite as he fisted bunches of silk in his large hands, but nothing could stop her. She lapped at the wound, taking every care to make certain the healing agent spread and did its work. Her fingers smoothed over the edges, as if she could push her own cells into his skin to build a bridge of tissue. She took her time, even when she heard him groan.
You have to stop. I am as hard as a rock.
I can’t stop. Not until I have every single scratch on you healed.
He lifted her into his arms. She didn’t stop, not even when she felt the wind in her hair, flowing across her body, and heard it whistling in her ears. She knew he was taking them back to their cave.
Teagan slipped her arms around his neck, using her tongue along his now bare chest, following the worst of the lacerations. Then they were in the dark of the cave and her body was as bare as his. His fingers were between her legs doing all sorts of distracting and delicious things to her body.
She decided she might like being Carpathian after all.
19
Teagan knew she was caught in the middle of a nightmare. The terrible dream couldn’t be anything else, because Andre’s human family surrounded her. They lay broken and dying all around her. The ground beneath her feet was saturated with blood. A vampire gripped her with bony claws, digging his talons into the side of her neck all the while turning his head to one side, looking away from her, laughing hideously.
She followed his gaze and saw Andre. The look on his face broke her heart. He was on the wall, his body bloody from the four stakes holding him pinned there. No matter how hard he struggled, there was no way for him to gain his freedom. He looked so young, so broken. She couldn’t stand that look on his face, the mixture of sorrow, agony, guilt and hatred for the undead. She had to do something.
Teagan reached up with both hands and ripped at the vampire’s face. He screamed and screamed. She heard the echo of it resounding through her mind. She realized it was Andre’s scream, not the vampire, because Ciprian, Andre’s uncle, had twisted his head and sunk his teeth deep into her neck.
She gasped and for one horrible moment realized she had no air. She was buried alive. Panic rushed over her and she dug at the heavy soil, trying not to suffocate, her heart pounding so hard she was afraid it would explode. She kept her eyes closed, terrified of seeing the dirt surrounding her, knowing she had only moments to figure out what to do to save herself.
She was aware of her every frantic heartbeat. Of Andre’s body lying still and lifeless, wrapped around her own. Of the feeling of the soil on her skin and the tiny hairs of roots brushing over her. She thought about the open air. How it felt. How she could breathe it in. She wanted the soil gone and both of them out of the earth and onto the bed, totally clean. She built the picture in her mind, putting every ounce of fear, determination, will and strength she had into it.
Just like that, the weight was gone from her and she felt the blessed fresh air on her face and body. Gasping with relief, she dragged air into her lungs, still keeping her eyes closed tightly. She actually felt the refreshing wash on her skin, much like the sensation of a shower, yet without the water. Even her mouth felt clean.
She became aware of the mattress on her back and Andre’s body curled tightly around hers. Her lashes lifted and she stared at the ceiling of the cave, triumph rushing through her. She’d done it. She’d managed to open the earth and get not only herself out, but Andre as well.
Instantly she became aware of hunger beating at her. Dark hunger clawing at her insides until every cell in her body was desperate. At the same time, the burning between her legs started. Not gentle. Not a little. Desperate. Needy. That same dark hunger but in an entirely different way.
Teagan turned her head and looked at the man lying curled around her. In his sleep, he didn’t look any younger. If anything, he showed the many battles in the lines of his face. That didn’t make him any less attractive. In fact, she thought he was all the more handsome. Her gaze drifted possessively over his long, thick lashes, the hair spilling around him, his straight nose and strong jaw to his wide shoulders.
Andre was a big man physically. Everything about him was big. He seemed to take up an entire room when he walked into it. His chest was thick and heavily muscled. She smoothed her hand over the places where he had been injured. She didn’t see so much as a line there. Still, she sent healing warmth along the spots where each wound had been.