Dark Magic

“Sava

“Hmm,” she mused, clearly distracted. Her fingers were working on the buttons of his trousers. “Of course I’ll listen, but I want you in the bath. Do it for me, Gregori, after all the trouble I went to for you.”

Gregori closed his eyes against the flames licking along his skin. His body raged at him, fiercely aroused. Her hands whispered over his hips as she slipped the trousers down his legs, her fingernails lightly raking his thighs. He stepped out of them, all too aware that he could not hide the demands of his body from her.

Sava

Sava

It was easier to say it with her out of his sight, with the comfort of her hands on his scalp. “You are not my true lifemate. I manipulated the outcome with knowledge I had acquired over the centuries.”

“I already know you believe this, Gregori,” she acknowledged softly. “But I also know you are wrong.” There was purity and honesty in her voice.

His throat was raw and burning. “You ca

Her fingertips deepened the massage, never faltering from their purpose. “And you are supposed to be our most learned ancient. My love, you are the one with the illusion of yourself. And, I might add, of me. Yes, I’m young—compared to you, a child—but I am first a Carpathian. And I am your true lifemate.” Her hands fell away, and he was instantly bereft. Warm water took their place, rinsing away the shampoo.

“I remember before I was born, a terrible pain, both my mother’s and my own. You came to me when I would have chosen to free myself from the pain, and you surrounded me with your comfort.”

“Sava

“You gave me your blood to save my life, you healed my wounds, and you talked to me of the wonders of the night, of our world. When I was just begi

“You accept me only because I did these things.”

“That is the illusion, Gregori. I have been in your mind. I see what you are, perhaps better than you do. It took me a little time to put things together, because I was afraid of our bond, how strong it was. I was afraid of losing who and what I was to a stronger personality.” Her hands began to soap his back. She made small, lazy circles with the suds. “I didn’t put it all together at first. My memories from before my birth and my memories of my beautiful wolf, my companion that made me so complete. I didn’t think about how easily and naturally we merged our minds. I didn’t think about why I never needed or wanted anyone else. It didn’t come to me until I realized how completely I merged with you, slipping in and out of your mind. Neither of us noticed it. You didn’t even notice it. You failed to notice that in those years of my childhood, you had a semblance of peace in the time you spent with me. But I felt it. I saw it in your mind. It is there now, for you to examine in your memories. That was why it was so hard for you when I left the Continent and ran away like the child I was. You see colors, Gregori. You have not seen them in centuries. I see how vivid and brilliant they are to you. Only your true lifemate could provide such a thing for you. Your silly guilt is blinding you to reality.”

Warm water streamed down his back. Sava

She poured water over his chest, then rubbed the soap between her palms again. Tilting her head to one side, she gazed lovingly at his harshly set face. “You go perfectly blank when you hunt. I know this not because you tell me, but because I am there with you in your mind. What do you want to feel? Sadness? Remorse? You have hunted for nearly a thousand years. You have been forced to kill friends and relatives. You have been isolated and alone for years, without your lifemate. It was impossible in that barren world to feel anything, at all. Only your code and sense of honor and your loyalty to my father kept you going.”

Sava

His body was raging at him, the beast inside writhing in need. His silver eyes opened wide to look at her. Hot. Hungry. Wild. Untamed. She smiled at him and sat back on her knees, her secret smile turning erotic. Sava

His breath was audible in the stillness of the room. She moved back, her body a sensuous invitation, blue-black hair caressing her creamy skin. Gregori stood up, ignoring the water streaming off him. He wanted her, and she belonged to him. As he stepped from the tub onto the floor, she inched backward. Her eyes were half closed, desire in her mind, her body calling to his. She moved restlessly, one hand pushing at the silky fall of hair sensitizing her nipples into hard peaks.

“Come here,” he growled, his body so heavy with need that he was afraid he would explode into fragments if he took one step.

She shook her head slowly, her tongue deliberately moistening her full lower lip. “I only want my true lifemate. I hunger tonight. My body is hungry.” Her hand drifted slowly, enticingly, over her satin skin, and his eyes followed the graceful movement while his body raged at him.

Gregori covered the distance between them in a sudden surge, catching her up, the momentum taking them to the wall. He held her prisoner there, his mouth fastened on hers, commanding her response, feeding, devouring, his hands claiming her body for his own. “No one else will ever touch you and live,” he snarled, his mouth burning a trail of fire down her throat to her breast. He fed hungrily, his teeth grazing the creamy fullness. “No other, Sava