Blood Flows Deep in the Empire (23 page)

“If they’re not . . . handled, they’ll bounce back out into the Universe and disrupt the balance of power. When that happens, it’s bad. Think gravity failing and galactic-cannibalism-at warp-speed sort of bad.”

Ismini nodded, her face pensive.

Dyletri was intrigued with her. She liked science and was interested in the Universe. What else did she know about? While he’d gotten a peek at a lot of her memories during the mind-meld, he hadn’t gotten it all. There hadn’t been enough time.

He wanted to know it all, damn it.

He couldn’t bring himself to ask, though. He was too busy watching her throat moving while she finished her sandwich.

And that was just the beginning of his agony.

She moved on to the strawberries, and her eyes lit up when she saw that there was melted chocolate.

Cue the screeching tires on his thoughts.

Now, wait a damned second . . .

Melted chocolate? And strawberries? Fucking Sil! Or was it Liz? Did it fucking matter?

Oh, fuck, someone help me.

Ismini dipped a strawberry in and raised it to her lips.
Shit
. Her mouth wrapped around it, and she moaned, the satisfied sound ramming straight into his frontal lobe. The way her eyes rolled into the back of her head shattered him.

Ismini’s eyes popped open. All at once, she stopped chewing and stared at him. He told himself to do
something
. To look fucking normal instead of like the deranged animal he probably resembled. But he was struck stupid as he watched her swallow the last of her strawberry.

“Dyletri?”

“Huh?” was his semicoherent response. Damn it, there was a drop of chocolate right at the corner of her mouth.

Before he could stop himself, he’d raised his hand and rubbed his thumb under the corner of her mouth. She gasped, and it seemed to echo throughout the entire valley. He forced his hand away from her face seeing how badly it was shaking.

“Sorry . . . you had a . . .” He motioned toward his own face.

Ismini swallowed again. Her cheeks bloomed with color. Her eyes flashed, and her expression changed. Moving slowly, she dipped another strawberry into the chocolate
and swirled it around
. Her breaths came faster and faster until she looked up suddenly beneath her lashes.

“Want some?”

The change in her sand blasted through him, freezing him in place as she raised the strawberry up to his lips without waiting for an answer.

Dyletri couldn’t break her stare as he leaned in and took a bite. It was like he was losing all control of himself and becoming a captive, subservient to the call of whatever was coming off her.

He almost choked when he realized her taste still clung to the fruit. His eyes took a trip into the back of his head with the clear intention of staying there. Distantly, he heard Ismini moan. His chest rumbled, and the beginnings of a growl echoed through him until—

Ismini jumped on him.

He grunted as she landed on him, the whisper of her weight taking him by surprise. Suddenly, her hands were in his hair, and his hands were pulling her to him by the back of her neck. They attacked each other’s mouths with raw fury. Her legs slid sinuously over his hips, and a thrill shot through him as he felt her heat.

The girl moaned as he began undulating beneath her and palmed her tight little ass. They both groaned as he ground her down hard against his cock.

“Ismini.” He panted with the effort it took to pull away. His head fell back as he tried to breathe and make sense of what was happening. Why the hell was she so out of control?

Ismini didn’t make it easy for him, though. She attacked his exposed throat with her teeth and tongue. That’s all it took for his cock to slam against his jeans, an orgasm struggling to break free.

“Baby girl. I didn’t bring you here to seduce you.”

She pulled back and rotated her hips sensuously. “And I didn’t plan on this . . . but you want me, right?”

He arched into her, his brain attacked by the image of her naked on top of him. He could literally see his cock inside her while she bounced on it and took him deep.
Oh, fuck . . .

When he answered her, his voice was splitting in two and his psyche along with it. “I fucking need you. You have to know that.”

Ismini moaned and let her head fall back. Her jugular throbbed for him, making his incisors almost jump out of his mouth. Her nails dug deep into his neck, ripping a groan out of him. “I . . . we shouldn’t do this. I shouldn’t tempt you. You’ll hate me.”

“I could never fucking hate you. You hear me?
Never
.” He snarled, bringing her closer and attacking her neck. Her taste seduced his mouth. Made his instincts scream at him, urge him to sink his teeth into her neck and bite.

“Yes, you will. Oh fuck . . . the way you look in this shirt, Dyletri.”

He panted, licking his way up to her ear. Licking around and into it in that way he’d learned drove her wild. “I won’t hate you, baby. I would never. Trust me.”

Ismini exhaled, tearing her ear away from her mouth. “Fuck. Oh, fuck. I can’t . . .” She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him again. Her tongue thrust in between his lips.

A powerful throb surged up his cock, dragging him and leaving him dangling off that edge. Sure he was about to come, he went to pull away so he could warn her.

Ismini groaned, lips wet against his. “I can’t anymore. Take me, Dyletri. I’m in pain,
please
.”

An animalistic, distorted sound left him. He felt his powers break free with a triumphant roar. Dyletri knew he couldn’t take her right there on that blanket even though he wanted to. Wrapped her in his arms, he flashed them to the nearest place with walls, knowing there was no way he would make it all the way to his room.

Chapter 20

-Enzyria, Salicyar’s Temple, Valley of the Gods.

They reappeared in a place Dyletri hadn’t been inside of for a long, long time. At least twenty thousand years. It was his most sacred place—the last one standing—and in all his years, he’d never once thought of bringing anyone here. His temple.

He could imagine no better place to take what was his.

They crashed to the floor of the temple, his back hitting the stairs up to the altar and Ismini on top of him. He didn’t even feel it. All he felt was the tiny body still writhing on him.

She sat up and dug her nails into his shoulders as she rocked her hips into him. He moaned in response, incisors bared, more than ready to sink in and drink until all that ran inside him was
her.

“This is . . . it’s amazing in here,” she breathed, nails tearing at his shoulders. “I can . . . oh fuck. What is that pulsating inside the walls? I can feel it . . . it feels like you.”

To him it was nothing amazing, nothing noteworthy, but considering how she continued grinding on him, even as she looked around the temple, there was only one answer to give her. “It’s my power. Comes from the
Illion.
”

“Uh-huh. Okay,” she said breathlessly. “Keep talking. And the
Illion
is?”

“The . . . the Source. It’s deep past the far reaches of the Universe, so in order for us to exist here, our essence had to be transferred.”

“Dy . . . Dyletri,” she said, moaning and collapsing onto him. “I can feel you everywhere. It’s . . .”

Dyletri let go of the stairs, his fingers cracking from the strain of doing so. He glanced down and saw every hair on her body standing on end. He hissed and ran his fingertips up her arms, feeling the nerves tingle as the soft hairs tickled them.

He couldn’t breathe. Was about to start
begging
, because he needed her and he needed her
now.
“Fuck, baby.”

“God,” Ismini whispered, her lips hot against the corner of his mouth. “Are you going to take me in here?”

He licked the corner of her mouth. “Tell me to. I’ll take every inch on that sexy little body if you tell me to.” He nipped at her skin with one of his incisors.

Ismini thrust her tongue into his mouth, moaning loudly and sounding like something straight out of a violent, sexual fantasy.
His
violent, sexual fantasy.

“Do it,” she said. “I can feel you on every inch of my skin. I want to feel you inside me, too. Take me.”

Dyletri flipped her over, slamming her into the same spot he’d just been on. In a flash, he had her completely naked. He managed to get his shirt off before his concentration was robbed. Her aura flared around her as sunlight poured in from outside and played with the curves of her body.

Ismini opened her legs with a moan, and her scent punched him straight in the nose with the kind of force that could break bones. Dyletri grunted and locked eyes on her wet little pussy.

“Dyletri . . .”

He licked his lips and latched on to her wrists to lift them over her head. His chest heaving, he sent a wave of pure power through the walls and
into
her.

“Fuck!” Her eyes rolled up, her back becoming a beautiful curve. One he was dying to trace with his tongue. Her hips thrust up toward him, seeking. If he lived another ten billion years, he’d never forget the sight.

“So fucking gorgeous. You’re so sexy, girl.”

He bit his lip, manipulating his energy until it flowed from him in light, quick pulses. The walls and floor around them thumped, following the rhythm, and Ismini’s heart hammered in time. He saw and heard every fresh wave of blood as it pumped through her veins.

Her clit swelled. It distended and throbbed as a gush of liquid slid from her tight pussy. He fucking lost it. He let go of her wrists, his voice echoing with his next command. “Keep them there.”

He sounded like a demon, but she seemed to love it. Her eyes locked with his, a shudder snaking through her. A small mewl leaked out of her, her teeth coming down on her lip as she watched him crawl down her body.

“Dyletri . . . it’s . . .”

He sent another wave through her and watched her nipples tighten.

“You like that, don’t you?” he asked, licking her entire left tit.

He purposely avoided her nipple, even though he was so fucking hungry. Ismini’s hands clenched into fists above her head as desperate sounds shot out of her in rapid succession. With every heave of her chest, her moans escalated, until his cock was bouncing with each one.

His face twitched from the need to eat her. It was a need that grabbed the back of his head, tore open his cerebellum, violated the rest of his mind, and had him diving between her legs.

He shook as he wrapped his hands around her thighs, positioning her so she was completely spread before him. His mouth fell open, and he stared at her bare wet lips. More of her scent rushed inside him. He moaned and leaned closer, running his nose up her inner thigh where her femoral artery roared. He’d never wanted to drink someone’s blood until Ismini. If that didn’t reveal how fucked he was, then nothing ever would.

Growling, he licked the spot he’d just caressed. It was soaked. Sticky from what was leaking out of her. Her taste grabbed on to his taste buds and fucked them into oblivion. Then Ismini did the worst thing she could do.

She
begged
him.

“Please.”

He moved so fast he surprised even himself. He wrapped his lips around her clit and got lost, wrecked on every level of his being.

Ismini cried out incoherently, her cries piercing his eardrums.

“Dyletri! Baby, oh God, I . . . fuck, I can’t! It’s too . . . shit!”

He swirled his tongue around her clit, faster and faster as his energy throbbed around them both. Every inch of him shivered with effort. Effort not to bite down into her soft flesh. Effort not to come as he continued fucking her with his mouth.

With rough hands, he forced her trembling thighs to stay open. He held her down even while she thrashed and mewled beneath him. Her clit throbbed against his tongue, every drop leaking from her sliding into him and driving him closer to the edge of insanity.

Nothing outside of her mattered. All he needed in the Universe was to be inside her in any way he could.

But Ismini writhed under him, her chest heaving and her head failing from side to side. Each throb of her sweet fluids brought them higher. They were both close. Energy pooled at the base of his spine, and he knew he was going to come. Now, like this, with her taste in his mouth and her voice in his ears.