Chapter Fifteen
Alexandra
“Love is a strange emotion. It is ever evolving. Lust is transient. With time, one realizes that love and togetherness are two different things. Very few people are lucky enough to experience the two emotions simultaneously.”
- Randeep Hooda
I peeled off my jacket, turtleneck, boots, and then my jeans. I was really not a fan of getting naked when any minute someone could bust through that door to kill me. However, Xander insisted that it would make me feel better.
Two minutes into my hot shower with a jet flow that would make any upscale hotel jealous, I did start to feel much better. Invigorated even. And then Xander stepped into the shower. Naked. Spectacularly, gloriously naked.
Holy shit that man is gorgeous!
Only when I started choking on the water filling my mouth and stinging my eyes did I realize that I was staring at him as though I’d never seen a naked man in my life. I had seen naked men before. I was a doctor for God’s sake. But Xander was more beautiful than I ever expected a man could be.
Over six and a half feet of pure golden skin and a sinewy, corded, muscled frame with a ripped, chiseled stomach, taut masculine buttocks, and strong thick thighs. Even his damn feet were big and beautiful. My gaze took in his thick, veiny cock, which even semi-hard was as impressive and magnificent as the rest of him. The man was stunning.
“You are pure perfection, Dr. Alexandra Gauthier.”
His sexy gravelly voice pierced through my stunned senses and forced my gaze from his fascinating naked form to his sea-green eyes. His gaze was a molten caress, roaming over every inch of my skin. Belatedly, I realized too late that he was giving my naked body the same unobstructed perusal. Our link pulsed with how much he loved what he saw.
His desire powered through our link and only ratcheted up my own. My breasts were taut, their aroused tips straining for his touch in response.
And then his gaze locked with mine.
Short, shallow pants passed through my lips.
“Krasivaia,” he mumbled.
Alexi had insisted that I learn Russian, and right now, I appreciated that. Xander’s lapse into Russian at the drop of a hat would have been frustrating. I’m glad that he thought me beautiful because I found him drop-dead gorgeous.
He closed the space between us and snaked an arm around my waist, pulling my unresisting body against his.
Oh God! My soft skin melded into his hard contours! His warm masculinity engulfed me. Overwhelmed me. Every feminine sensory nerve in my body awakened and clamored for him.
“What are you doing?” My voice was a mere whisper.
“Conserving water,” he said drily before moving into the full jets and wetting his face, hair, and then his entire frame, even as his grip tightened around me, aligning our bodies more fully. My breasts nestled against his massive chest, my belly cradled to his rock-hard stomach, and my hips snugged against his lean flank.
A frisson of electric desire ricocheted through me. “Xander,” I husked out. His name came from a dark, lusty need in me that I never knew existed.
And then he bent his head and captured my lips with his. His kiss was primal and feral with hunger.
His need fed mine, and I returned his kiss with equal fervor, helplessly rubbing my sensitive flesh against him. Pleasure ballooned low in my belly and then deep within my pelvis. I wanted him with a desperation that I couldn’t hope to deny. Not even the possibility of Malachi and the men he had sent after us walking in on us at any moment came close to a deterrent. I wanted and needed him like I needed air to breathe.
With our lips fused, languidly sliding, nibbling, and tasting each other, Xander roamed soapy hands over my shoulders and my back and then slid his hands over my aching breasts. He kneaded the soft pillows of my throbbing breasts even as he pinched the beaded tips between his fingers.
Our lips still locked in passionate kisses, and his skillful hands playing havoc with my senses, I writhed and moaned as blistering sensations knifed through me, both his and mine, until an orgasm slammed through me so hard, so intense, and then another. This time, it was his climax that toppled me. It was too much. I had no more strength in my knees.
I fell back against the cool tiled wall, and he leaned heavily into me. My release slid down my inner thighs, and his coated my stomach.
With my breathing fractured and unsteady, I trembled uncontrollably in the aftermath.
He was breathing just as hard, and his big body shuddered against me.
He released my lips but ensnared my gaze, and every bit of what I was feeling was reflected in his smoldering regard.
Xander moved us from under the powerful jets and then slowly, sensually, rubbed his essence into my skin.
“Moiai,” he grunted, and his eyes glowed with a new level of possessiveness as his scent perfumed my skin.
I wanted to insist that he was mine too, but I still couldn’t catch my breath.
And then it didn’t matter what I thought because he lifted me and stepped out of the shower. With a fluffy towel, he dabbed at the excess water, being careful not to remove his essence from my skin.
His gentle touch and scent bombarded my senses, and searing need ricocheted through me. He lifted me again, his hands under my thighs as he anchored my legs around his waist. Every step he took toward the massive bed grounded my aching apex against the hard ridge of his arousal. My damp, sensitive flesh slipped and slid along the thick column of his cock. I felt so damn empty. I was wet, throbbing, and desperately wanted him to assuage my ache.
He climbed onto the bed, covered me with his big body, and wedged his hips between my thighs. I clawed at him, my nails digging into the naked flesh of his lower back as I pulled him toward me.
He stroked inside of me in primal, passionate ownership. He took my innocence in one sensual, hard thrust.
I gasped, stunned by the sharp pain initially, and then his and my unadulterated pleasure had me breathing out. I couldn’t decide which sensation, pain or pleasure, to focus on, as both fought for supremacy.
He stilled. He held my gaze, and our connection became deeper somehow. It was more than physical, more than psychological. It was a soul-deep connection.
“Spasibo,” he rasped out.
Russian again. Thank you, he had said. Although he wouldn’t say it, wouldn’t let me see it, this was as profound for him as it was for me.
I reached for him and kissed him gently, tenderly, letting him feel that I was filled with gratitude for him too.
He returned my kiss as he rocked slowly in and out of me. His tongue tangled with mine, his fingers in my hair and palm on my bottom, holding me close as if I was the most precious thing to him and he would never let me go. He glided his palm over my skin with a reverence that seemed so poignant it brought tears to my eyes.
I shivered violently as the pleasure intensified and enflamed every nerve in my body.
And then his kisses became more passionately ravenous as his thrusts became heavier, deeper.
Undiluted pleasure seared me. Mine and his. I whimpered. I cried. I screamed. I was utterly incoherent with ecstasy.
In a sensual haze, I felt void of any physical existence. I was only vaguely aware of Xander’s fangs descending. And even in his altered human features to a more feral being, he was beautiful. I arched my spine and tilted my neck to expose the smooth column to him. I wanted his fangs in me. I wanted it so badly that I whimpered for his possession.
And then his sharp fangs sank into my skin.
I moaned long and loud at the pleasure-pain that jolted me. It was the first time in my life that anyone had ever drank from me.
With fangs and lips locked on my neck and my blood flowing on his tongue, Xander swiveled his hips in a wicked snaking roll to drive deeply into me. The dual erotic stimulation amplified my pleasure through the stratosphere.
Xander groaned gutturally as embers of his release licked from his spine, his belly, and then burst into a blazing fire as his and my orgasms coalesced, combined, and combusted. Sensations crashed through me like a tsunami, wave after wave of searing, intense pleasure. Boneless, I blacked out in the sensory overload.
When I woke up, I was still trembling in the aftermath. I have no idea how long I was out for, but it must not have been long. Xander was hard and pulsing again deep inside of me.
“How are you?” he asked softly, trying to gingerly lift his hips from mine.
“I…I…” I took deep breaths, trying to gather my thoughts. Instead of answering him, I reached for him, wrapped my arms around his broad shoulders, and pulled him down on top of me. My inner muscles kept his cock locked in my weeping walls.
He let me.
I reveled in his crushing weight and his masculine scent and heat. “Amazing,” I murmured, which came out more like a purr. “Was it good for you?”
“Da.”
Okay, so we were back to Russian again. It was so endearing when he did that. I pressed my face against his neck, nuzzled him, and pressed kisses to his fragrant male skin lovingly. I explored the hard contours of his massive body and savored every sensation being with him brought.
Even as his cock pulsed and flexed inside of me, he allowed my slow, leisurely exploration as though he was a sultan basking in his subject’s unconditional admiration.
An inexplicable compulsion to feed again had me pushing him to his back. Unfortunately, I had to release his addictive cock from my depths when I flipped him. Within seconds, I climbed over him, straddled his muscular thighs, and I lowered my fangs into the warm cavity of his neck as I eagerly retook his hard length deep inside me in one urgent downward thrust. With provocative grinds of my hips, I rode him with an innate sexual expertise that I never knew I had.
This time the orgasms between us seemed endless with sensation upon sensation rolling one on top of the other and one intense orgasm rolling seamlessly into another and then another.
When next I regained consciousness, Xander was standing next to the bed, dressed, and clearly waiting for me to wake up.
“We have to move.”
I should have expected his words, but somehow, I was still disappointed that he wasn’t in the bed beside me.
“It’s been three hours. I can’t give Mick any more time to renege on our deal.”
I couldn’t focus on his words, only on the fact that he was no longer speaking in Russian and that he was talking to me telepathically again. My connection with him seemed sharper, our link stronger. Hell, it was as if I could feel his heart beating, and mine beat in sync with his. Same rhythm. The same strength. And the same life-blood flow.
“How are you speaking to me telepathically in this place when before you couldn’t? And why can I taste your aura? You taste incredible, by the way. Like bourbon and key lime pie.” I was confused, but I also spoke telepathically to him.
“Because our mate’s bond has been fully formed. And I can also taste you. You taste like chocolate and red wine.”
I continued getting dressed as fast as I could.
“Our mate’s bond? How?”
“My seed and blood are in you, and your blood is in me. It completes our bond.”
“What? Did you know this would happen?”
“We don’t have time, krasivaia. We need to get out of here.”
I sighed, but I quickly pulled on my boots. “Ithought that after I fed, I would regain my dhampir strength, but I still don’t feel it. Yes, I can read your mind and speak to you telepathically, but I still don’t feel like me. I don’t feel my strength. I don’t feel my other abilities either.”
“It is this place. It strips immortals of immortal abilities and makes us as vulnerable as a human.”
I frowned. “So, how the hell are we getting out of here if Malachi has set a trap for us?”
“Do you know how to use a gun?”
“Yes. Alexi made it part of my basic defense training. But I’ve never had to use a gun outside of a gun range.”
“You stay at my back and shoot anything moving. I will do the rest.”
He turned then, reached into a duffel at his feet, and handed me a sleek Glock.
“Are you serious right now? We just made love for a few hours and you’re acting as though nothing happened.”
“Obviously, something happened since we’re mated. Now pay attention.”
He didn’t even look at me. The man was like a damn machine as he demonstrated how to load and reload my Glock. Still, I was getting pissed at his demeanor, even though what he was showing me was so damn critical.
“Let’s move.”Xander’s voice sounded stark in my mind after the silence of the last few minutes.
I had no further time to think, only time to react as I followed in Xander’s wake.
For the first mile, we ran, ducking and weaving in and out of alcoves between tunnels. Anyone we encountered simply slinked away and didn’t approach us.
“They’re probably allowing us to pass through because they’re planning a big party up ahead.”
I was too out of breath from running to even answer him. As a dhampir, I would have been able to run a mile within a second without even breaking a sweat. Human speed and strength were a bitch. Unfortunately, Xander proved to be right. We were bombarded by what seemed like an army of men.
“Stay on my ass and don’t move an inch away from me.”
I didn’t bother answering him because we were under relentless attack. I emptied my Glock into anything moving as Xander had instructed, reloaded, and emptied the sucker again within seconds. I lost count of how many times I loaded and reloaded my Glock. I could have sworn that I was shot a few times. I even felt the sting of the bullets hitting me, my chest, my belly and even my legs, but somehow none pierced me.
I couldn’t help being impressed by Xander. He was fast, coldly efficient, and deadly. By some miracle, we made it to the entrance. Despite the number of men we had already killed, it seemed that there were even more men at the entrance.
“There are just too many of them,”I told Xander. Now that I’d found my mate, I was terrified of losing him.
Xander’s only response was to continue plowing through the men around us.
Fearing Xander being hurt, I was determined to keep up and protect him. Although I was tired and could barely catch my breath, I kept firing my Glock. And just when I thought we were about to be overrun, the most welcomed sight appeared a few feet in front of us.
Xander’s brothers, Tristan, and at least six wolves that usually guarded them were clearing our path. Even Owen, looking totally unscathed by the bullet he’d taken a few hours ago, was helping in the rescue. As usual, Malachi had underestimated how relentless and powerful the Petrovs were in getting through his forces. Before I could even process what was happening, Xander’s brothers flanked me and effectively formed a shield around me with Xander at my back.
I was so grateful that Xander had better re-enforcements at his back and front that moisture filled my eyes. Moving within the wall that my mate and brothers-in-law formed with their bodies, I was barely aware of reaching the surface. I was too stunned at what I’d just realized about myself.
Despite all my denials to the contrary, I loved him. I had lusted after him, and I accepted that, but somehow, that had morphed into something that made my heart sing. This stubborn, cold, virile, beautiful man… I loved him. Unapologetically and unconditionally. I loved him.
Before I knew it, and while I was still shocked by my discovery, I was being teleported.