When Soren’s mood shifted, Anna felt the air in the room tighten with unspoken tension. He was a Romanov wolf. She wasn’t the only one who tapped into the Ether to channel power. The Romanovs had been changed by the Ether’s power. Vasilisa had manipulated their genes so that they became the powerful shape-shifters she needed to fight the Dark Volkhvy.
Soren’s moods could literally rock the world if he chose to shift. And, apparently, he could rock hers even when he chose to stay human.
“This changes nothing. We’re still going to destroy the sword. We have to. We have to keep your family safe from the Dark Volkhvy,” Anna said. “From the ascendance of a new Dark prince...or princess.”
“You’re right and you’re wrong. We’re going to destroy the sword, but this still changes everything,” Soren said. His hands grasped her arms and he lifted her off his chest and onto one of the pillows at the head of her bed. Now he leaned over her. She was trapped between his broad chest and the soft mattress. His eyes, so dark in the absence of light, met hers. She couldn’t read any secrets in their glittering depths. Her only hope was that he also couldn’t read hers. He was right. His kisses changed everything. More than kisses would restructure her world, whether or not he remained in it.
“This changes everything, but I can’t stop. Not if you don’t want me to,” Soren said.
She didn’t want him to stop. Now or ever. She settled for silence when speaking would reveal too much.
Soren kissed her and this time he was in total control of how long, how lingering, how deep and how slow he explored her mouth. Time stopped, but unlike when they dematerialized during the curse, they didn’t disappear. She was more physical than she’d ever been. She was alive under his lips and in his arms. Her pulse throbbed in her veins. Her body throbbed along with it. Anna’s eyes filled again. She was thankful for the darkness. Maybe if he tasted salt on her skin he would blame it on perspiration instead of tears.
She hoped in vain.
He drank the salty emotion from her cheeks with tender licks and kisses. He recognized her pain. He swam in it with her. He softly murmured her name. And then he smoothed a calloused hand over her jaw and tilted her chin as he tenderly kissed down to her neck.
Suddenly, her pain was overwhelmed with need.
She’d grown excited and wet when she’d suckled him. Now lust welled up again between her legs. Yes. This would make losing him harder, but she welcomed that later, greater pain if they could indulge in this connection now.
Soren’s hand caressed down from her jaw to her chest. He cupped the globe of one breast in the palm of his hand. He kissed her again as he gently thumbed her pebbled nipple.
It was Anna’s turn to breathe a yes against his lips.
“Nothing else matters right now. Only this. Only touching you and pleasuring you and the two of us finally coming together,” Soren said.
“Yes,” Anna agreed. But it was more of a plea than an agreement. She lied. Losing him mattered. What she was meant to be mattered. But losing the sword mattered less than having him the only time they could allow.
Soren accepted her encouragement. He stroked his hand down to her trembling stomach, spreading heat all the way. Then he found the wet pulse between her legs. He dropped his hot mouth to capture the nipple he had ripened with his calloused thumb and, at the same time, he parted her intimate folds. He sucked and licked her breast as his fingers slid slickly over the tight bud of flesh that pulsed with her desire.
Anna cried out. Her hips bucked up to meet his touch, and she reached for the back of his neck to hold on. He lifted his lips from her breast to her mouth. He alternated between deep, suckling kisses and murmurs of encouragement. He seemed to savor her sounds of pleasure.
“We can’t be together. But you’re mine tonight. I want every tremble. Every sigh you’ll give me,” Soren said. “I want to carry this memory with me forever.” His breath tickled hotly against her skin. Her tears had dried. His deft fingers owned all her attention. “Let go. Let me give you the ultimate pleasure. Give me your release.”
She was shaking with tension. The salt on her face was no longer caused by sadness. Her body was flushed with heat. Her breasts rose and fell as she panted for breath and struggled for control. Her fingers slipped on his neck from the perspiration her excitement had generated. But she couldn’t let go for him. She was holding the power of the Ether at bay...for him. She couldn’t do both.
* * *
He’d never seen a woman so close to the edge of her climax but still holding on. Anna’s wet heat engulfed his slowly thrusting finger, and her hips rose and fell to match the rhythm of his hand. The heat of her thigh was torture to his hardened cock as she moved, but he was determined to bring her to release before he settled himself between her legs. They’d been kept apart too long. He wouldn’t rush their lovemaking now. He could sense that something was wrong even though she held him and moaned with pleasure. She arched for his hand, but he could tell she was holding back.
“What do you want, Anna? Tell me,” he urged against her lips.
“I can’t... The Ether’s energy is all around us. It’s gathering inside me. If I relax, I won’t be able to control it,” Anna replied. In the darkness of the shadowy room, her eyes had opened. He could tell because her emerald irises sparkled with the light of her power, barely held in check. The flecks of light illuminated her face. Her lashes were damp. Her cheeks were flushed. Her lips were swollen with heat and hunger. In that moment, he almost broke his internal vow to bring her to pleasure first. He wanted to take her, to join with her, to meld their bodies together.
But first, he had to trust her.
He’d paused the movement of his hand as she spoke. Now he gently pressed to claim her with his finger again. At the same time, he leaned close so that her sparkling eyes would illuminate his face. He wanted Anna to see his acceptance of her power. His desire for her to let go of all control.
For tonight. For him.
“I’m the red Romanov wolf. You don’t have to control yourself for me. I was born and bred in the Ether’s power. I want your pleasure. I want to bathe in your light,” Soren said against her lips. He stared into her eyes. He saw them widen. He saw them brighten.
And then an emerald flash that would have sent a lesser man to the floor rocked him backward.
Soren held on to the headboard with his free hand. His muscles bunched and Anna’s hold tightened around his neck. The burst of power didn’t separate them. They stayed together as Anna’s most intimate muscles contracted around his hand. She cried out. She called his name. It was the sweetest sound he’d heard in an age. His body tingled as her power infiltrated every cell. He didn’t fight it. He basked in its glow.
And, finally, he allowed himself to settle between her parted legs.
* * *
Soren covered her with his hard, warm body and Anna gathered him close with her arms and legs. She needed his solid muscled back to anchor her to the earth. As their breathing synchronized, it seemed as if all her molecules reassembled in a slightly better position than they had been before.
She was whole. Somewhere the emerald sword shone. She was sure of it, even though she couldn’t see it. Carnal connection had nothing to do with claiming her partnership with the red wolf. It was Soren’s brief acceptance and pleasure in her power that caused the sword’s glow and her feeling of perfect symmetry.
Then her legendary lover positioned himself so that their bodies could join, and suddenly Anna had a different definition of whole. The momentary pain was nothing compared to the tingling of her power that still pulsed beneath her skin. Replete seconds before, she immediately grew hungry for more when Soren began to slowly rock his hips between her thighs. She was slick to ease his passage.
But he had been her guardian for centuries, so she wasn’t surprised when he softly asked if she was okay.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Soren murmured against her ear.
Pain would come later. For now all she felt was pleasure.
“Nothing hurts. Not at all,” Anna assured him. She lifted her hips to meet his thrusts. She quickened her pace to prove her point. Nothing did hurt. Not now. Pain and tears could wait. For now, she loved a legend and she could no longer wait to take him to the same heights he had taken her.
“Anna...Anna,” Soren said. He claimed her with her true name and with the thrusts of his powerful hips. She held his shoulders and he lifted his hands up to hold her face. He cradled her jaw in both of his hands with impossible gentleness even as his rhythm increased. He was softly illuminated by green light. She saw the reflection of her glow in his eyes. He didn’t close his lids against it. He held her face and looked deeply into her eyes. He’d taken her at her word. His movements grew stronger. He claimed her with his power as she’d claimed him with hers. The bed shook. Her world shook. She pulsed again with another climax. Her muscles contracted around his shaft, and a green aura of the Ether’s energy lit the room as it rose from their entwined bodies.
Soren’s body tensed above her. And still his hands remained gentle on her face. He finally closed his eyes as his climax claimed him, but he still had the presence of mind to pull out as he came. His seed was hot on her stomach. She only minded because she would rather have him inside her. He collapsed against her and she held him close, knowing the closeness wouldn’t last.