Adalasia. Sweet lifemate. His eyes burned into hers so that those red flames leapt. His body moved harder. Deeper. Faster. Feeding the hunger in hers. Driving through her scorching-hot silk as her body suddenly clamped down around his cock like a vise, so hard she swore she could feel his heartbeat, the blood pounding through it like a hammer. She hadn’t known it was possible to love so passionately, so intensely. With everything in her. To give another person everything she was.

The powerful waves seemed never-ending, rushing through her body, throwing her into stars, taking him with her so that she felt the hot wash of his seed on the walls of her channel, triggering even more waves. Instead of collapsing over her, Sandu pulled her up, wrapping his arms around her so she was sitting on his lap, his cock still buried deep inside her, where he could feel every aftershock with her.

Adalasia laid her head against his chest, desperate to catch her breath, feeling dizzy with pleasure. How could his cock still be hard? How could her body still want his? She was still trying to just breathe when he was rocking her gently, and with each movement, her sheath clamped down tight around him.

She became aware of his heartbeat under her ear. She turned her head and pressed her lips over that call, her mouth suddenly salivating. For a moment, she actually felt as if two of her teeth were just a little sharper. All she could think of was his taste. Just the thought of that taste made her hips move restlessly on him. Shamelessly, she rubbed her breasts against him and then kissed his chest and used her lips, tongue and teeth to entice him.

Tell me what you wish, Adalasia.

I need the taste of you in my mouth. I want to ride you while I once more taste what is mine. I want to come fully into your world.

You always please me. His hand slipped down, one fingernail lengthening to open a line for her so his blood would entice her.

His palm pressed the back of her head to his chest as her mouth moved over him, seeking those beckoning dark drops. She felt his body in hers. Swelling more. Needing her the way she needed him. This was hers, too. His body. His blood. His mind.

My heart and soul. They are yours, Adalasia. You are their keeper. Come to me, lifemate. All the way. Come to me.

She didn’t hesitate. Her tongue licked across that line of dark crimson, and the craving was instantaneous. She would forever need this— need him. Her mouth settled over that line, and she drew more from him. His groan was sensual. The way his body moved in hers, slow and languorous, building the fire all over again.

Ride me, Adalasia. His hands went to her hips, guiding her. Keeping her movements slow and measured. Once she had the rhythm, one hand slid between their bodies to one breast, where his finger and thumb found her nipple. He began to tug and pinch and roll in time to the way she sucked at the aphrodisiac pouring into her veins and rushing through her body like a fireball.

The overload was too much. She didn’t want to ever stop. Once again, it was Sandu who gently stopped her feeding and then captured her mouth with his, pouring fire down her throat. That fireball hit her silken sheath, lighting her up, and she began to rise and fall faster and faster, throwing her head back, riding him like a woman possessed. She clutched his shoulders, digging in with her fingernails while he rose up to meet her. The orgasm swept through her and then him, hard and fast.

They toppled over onto the bed, holding each other and laughing together in a tangle of arms and legs. Adalasia felt whole. Complete. She might be breathing heavily, but she was utterly happy. Satisfied. Feeling sexy. Beautiful. Mostly, she felt loved and protected. Sandu lay beside her, and for the first time, she felt tension in him. Real tension. She turned on her side and regarded him carefully.

“Tell me. What happens now? You’re obviously not quite as happy as I am with what we just did.” That was upsetting when sex with him was the best thing she’d ever done. She had envisioned a lot of that. Maybe he was disappointed in her. She believed in getting things out in the open.

Immediately his arm curved around her waist, and he brought her up tight against him. “Never think that for a moment, Adalasia. What we have is perfection. To become Carpathian, your human body must, in a sense, die. It is a painful process. I can, hopefully, make it less so, but I am told by many of those who watched their lifemates go through this that it was not easy. I do not want this for you, especially after the beauty of what we just shared.”