Bound By Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #8)(78)

Even prepared, she was staggered by the sheer intimacy of their connection.

She could actually feel what he was feeling. The pleasure of their lovemaking, the possessive male need to protect her, and, overriding everything, the fierce love that beat in his heart.

A shimmering, golden love for her alone.

Dazzled by the glorious sensations, Jaelyn carefully withdrew her fangs and licked shut the pinprick wounds on his neck.

Ariyal growled softly, shifting so he could run his lips down the length of my throat.

“My turn,” he muttered, abruptly biting her hard enough to break through her skin.

There was a momentary pain, but Jaelyn barely noticed as she felt him suck at the wound, causing her orgasm to crash through her with dizzying force.

“Holy ... shit,” she muttered, feeling as he thrust to his own climax.

She wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders, clinging to him as the last of the powerful convulsions wracked her body. Sex with Ariyal had always been a combustible event.

But this went beyond all fantasies.

Ariyal was hers.

Completely, utterly, and for all eternity.

Slowly relaxing beneath him, Jaelyn was floating on a warm sea of contentment when Ariyal slowly slid off her, ignoring her sleepy protests as he regarded her with a mysterious smile.

“We’re not done yet.”

She lifted her brows. Again? Well, hell, why not?

“If you insist,” she murmured with a small smile of invitation.

“I do.” Without warning he was off the bed and holding out a commanding hand. “Come with me.”

She frowned. “Come where?”

He arched a brow. “Do you trust me?”

She did, of course. This was the one person in the entire world who would never, ever hurt or betray her.

Placing her fingers in his hand, she allowed herself to be pulled out of the bed and coaxed out of the farmhouse to stand in the center of the backyard.

Ariyal turned to face her, his expression somber, but before she could ask why they were standing buck naked in the middle of nowhere, a shimmering mist began to form around them.

Jaelyn’s eyes widened as the mist thickened, the color flickering from the palest silver to the deepest crimson as it surrounded them.

“What is it?” she asked, her voice low with reverent wonder.

He lifted her hand to the center of his chest, his eyes reflecting the various colors of the mist.

“The Sylvermyst mating ceremony.”

“It’s beautiful.” Almost as beautiful as the man standing before her, she silently acknowledged. “What will it do?”

“The sharing of our blood has united our souls,” he explained softly. “The aurora will unite our hearts.”

She trembled as the mists brushed her bare skin, bringing with it the scent of herbs.

Suddenly she could sense the beats of Ariyal’s heart. And more than that ... the basic essence that made him the man that she loved.

His ruthless loyalty, his strength, and his ability to love without conditions or judgment.

“Yes,” she said, pressing against him as the mist wrapped them in a shimmer of light. “Mine.”

He wrapped his arms around her, his face buried in her hair.

“Mine.”

Behind the Veil

It was like a building out of ancient Greece.

Lots of fluted columns, arched windows, and carved friezes.

Not that Santiago was in the mood to appreciate the vaulted marble chamber that surrounded him, or the mosaic tiled floors, or even the thick hush that filled the ancient air, stirred only by rush of scurrying servants.

His entire body quivered from the unpleasant experience of being pulled through the Veil.

Dios.

For a few seconds he’d feared he might actually be ripped in two as he’d briefly hovered between two separate worlds. And then there had been the painful prickles of electricity that had nearly flayed the skin from his body.

It had lasted less than a few seconds, but it had been enough to convince him that it couldn’t be the normal passage. Who the hell would ever travel to this place if it threatened to eviscerate them?

Pushing away from the gold-veined marble wall that had been keeping him upright, he glared at the female who stood in the center of the corridor.

“You did that on purpose,” he growled, as annoyed by the sight of her perfection as by the lingering weakness in his knees.

The raven hair flowed smoothly down her back, framing her exquisite, icily composed face. Her robes were unwrinkled, without a speck of dust. And her slender hand was infuriatingly steady as it stroked over the large medallion lying just over her unbeating heart.

Worse, he suspected there was a hint of amusement in the dark eyes as she regarded him with a faux air of innocence.

“Did what?”

“Yanking me through the Veil like I was a barnacle you were hoping to scrape off,” he snapped, his hand instinctively reaching to make sure his sword was safely stowed in the scabbard angled down his back.

She shrugged. “You were in no danger, I assure you.”

“No danger? I was nearly fried.”

Her dark brows lifted as his words bounced eerily among the forest of columns.

“Is anything hurt beyond your pride?”

“Do you care?”

“I will take that as a no.”