Did it matter? She could be his for now and forever, but he still had to let her go. In some part her bravery tonight, her indulgence of her own sexuality, was because subconsciously she’d already made the choice. He was certain of it. He was just too much of a damned coward to dig down and look for it in her mind.

He wished it wasn’t Raithe who’d made her so good at this. But then he realized that tightening of her hand on his base, stroking his testicles with her fingertips, might be technique and skill, but the hungry noises she was making in the back of her throat were for him. She licked him, suckled, even bit him now and again, her hips moving restlessly on her calves, telling him what she wanted.

Thank Allah she’d removed his slacks entirely, otherwise he would have stood up, tripped and fallen right on his damn face. Lyssa would certainly never have let him live that one down. Instead he rose, guiding Jess’s mouth from him, and put her arm around his neck so he could lift her. When she tilted her face back, he took her mouth, tasting himself and her own need.

Moving swiftly, he left behind the beach, their guests, following the shortest route back to his room. He’d meant it, wanting her in his bed by dawn. But he didn’t want to wait for dawn. He wanted time to ravish her beautiful body, several times, before sleep would capture him. He wanted her exhausted enough she’d sleep by him throughout the day, not leaving his side. He’d tether her there if he had to do so.

When they reached his room and he stretched her out on the bed, Jessica saw something stark in his face, drawn with need.

Despite the small amount of time she’d truly spent with him, this side of him made her yearn to say the hell with all of it and stay.

This was Mason without charm or seductive power, just sheer need and loneliness, seeking her to fill him, to help him find himself.

In those moments she desired nothing else in the entire world but to do just that, as if by making him whole, she’d help heal herself as well. The answers would become clearer.

Thoughts of Lyssa, of every woman he’d ever had, disappeared. She lifted her hands to him and wasn’t surprised when he grasped her wrists again, but instead of drawing them up, he held them there between them. In that hovering space of time, she mouthed it.

Let me touch you. Let me love you.

Slowly, he released her. Weaving her fingers into his beautiful mane, she slid her thumbs along the slope of his jaw on either side, down to his strong throat as he curved his powerful arms beneath her bare body, tilted her up and slid into her with no further preamble, making her breath clog and throat arch to him, offer. He nuzzled it, but his hungers lay elsewhere. He closed his mouth on the breast Jacob had suckled and laved her there, then bit. Not a nip, not a scoring. He sank fangs into the breast on either side of the nipple. Jessica cried out at the pain, her hands gripping his shoulders, digging in, startled and yet holding still for him, understanding in some primitive way this was part of being vampire, too. Her punishment and his promise at once. She was his.

And in this suspended space, there was no fear of that in her. No matter what else came.

He began to stroke her inside as he drank, drawing from her breast. His hips moved rhythmically, a clench and withdraw. She let her fingers drift down his back and then over his buttocks, feeling that delicious pump of male movement, the friction of his stomach against hers, the brush of his hair over her face.

Releasing her breast, he licked the abraded skin, then shifted position. He put his elbows on the pillow above her shoulders to make the thrusts vigorous, slapping into her core so hard she could only hold on to him. The climax was no gentle build, but an explosive, tearing agony of pleasure she couldn’t escape, even as she twisted and writhed, screamed and called his name.

He whispered hers in return, holding her down until she’d given out completely, her body quivering. When his release came, flooding her, his seed was so rich and hot she couldn’t help but think what it would have been to have him do it in her mouth, swallowing every drop.

Your thoughts are going to destroy me, habiba . But you will be on your knees, taking me in your mouth before dawn comes.

“I wasn’t going to come to your bed,” she admitted after a while, when it was quiet between them. “You made me angry, with Lyssa.”

“It would not have been wise to defy me. Not as much as I have wanted you all day. I would have found you, taken you wherever I found you.”

“I thought you were going to do that anyway.” She’d seen Jacob and Lyssa in the shadows of the gazebo. Despite their earlier power struggle, what she’d seen on the swing had been a perfect synchronization of desire, Lyssa’s lovely bare back arching as Jacob brought both her breasts together in his hands and teased them with his mouth. She’d been straddled on his lap as Jessica had been on Mason’s earlier, only in this case, it was obvious Jacob was fully penetrating her, the way she rose and fell, her gasps and sighs a match for his groans. Sounds of demand and need while Kane slept peacefully nearby. It had stoked Jessica’s own desire such that when Mason had lifted her she’d been wild to be the same, impaled on that thick shaft, having it filling her deep and hard.

But she liked it best like this, pressed into the pillows with him above her. Despite it all, maybe she was a traditional girl, for she preferred the male she loved surrounding her, holding her down and deep inside of her, so when he at last released, he’d collapse upon her, keeping her pinned yet letting her wind her arms around him, press her cheek against his jaw. Even if he was so heavy she couldn’t breathe. That was when she felt the most needed. Maybe even loved.

Ah, God, Jess. You’re a fool.

He didn’t chastise her for her self-deprecation, though she was certain his mind was linked as closely to hers as their bodies.

Maybe because they were both fools, he didn’t say a word, merely held her closer, and began the welcome process of arousing her again.

29

HE took her twice more. Before that, as he’d promised, he put her on her knees and made her work him in her mouth until he came. Binding her hands behind her back for that, he held her steady, guiding her with his hand on her head, making her dependent on him for balance. It left her wild with need for him again.

When he lifted her back to the bed, he made her take an egg-shaped position, knees folded beneath her, breasts pressed to her thighs, face to the mattress. Her arms stretched forward, fingertips touching. He explored her anus and sex at the edge of the bed with mouth and fingers as she shuddered in the position that allowed no real movement except for involuntary quivering. Then he eased his cock into her wetness, slow, long strokes that built until the climax came the same way, long rolling tide lines that never seemed to end.

The last time was when she came out of the bathroom. She’d taken one step across the threshold before he had her pinned against the wall. He simply hiked her up and took her there, rough and needy, as if he hadn’t already had her twice before. She clung to him, swept away by his rough urgency and yet still as well. A quiet place inside of her wanted to reach into his heart, tell him it was all right. She was here, it was okay. But she wasn’t sure why she thought he needed the reassurance, so she just held him.

When at last he drew her down next to him, right before dawn, she was worn out, but she had a question lingering in her mind.

“Mason?”

He was idly stroking her brow, his arms holding her close in the curve of a very relaxed, obviously sated male body. His grunt almost made her smile.

“They love each other, don’t they?”

His fingers stilled. “Who?”

She tilted her head up to look at his face. “You can read my mind, my lord. You know who. Both of them. I don’t understand Jacob and Lyssa’s relationship, because it’s not very clear-cut, but it’s there. With Danny and Devlin, it’s obvious. They really do love each other.”

His chest rose and fell, a sigh. “Yes, they do, habiba. But what you have seen here, you can never reveal anywhere else, for Danny and Devlin particularly.”

“Why?” She propped herself on an elbow, looked down into his face as he dropped his caressing touch to her upper arm. “I mean, of course, I wouldn’t, but why does it matter?”

“It is a complex world we live in, habiba. Danny’s nature is vampire, so she does exercise a dominant control over Devlin. Though she never truly tames him, because they do love one another. While it is not his nature to submit, it is to protect, and for a male, one can often dovetail into the other. It is a give-and-take, depending on how much you love someone.” He fingered a curl of her hair again. “With Farida, I considered myself her Master, and I was. She also considered me that. But I would have walked on my knees over glass to prevent her from having so much as a tear. Power is a fluid, unclear thing, my love, when you are dealing with hearts and souls. Unfortunately, the minds of our world are somewhat rigid. It is impossible for our current society to believe Danny can hold the authority of a Region Master and love a human the way she loves Dev. True love, the kind that is a circle, with no clear up or down, beginning or end.”

Jessica swallowed, looking at him, and of a sudden, she thought she understood his disturbing urgency outside the bathroom, what lay unspoken between them. But before she could say anything else, he cupped his hand over her temple and pressed her head down on his chest, so his voice rumbled beneath her ear. “This is a safe environment for them, to be as they are to one another.

However, if the vampire overlords or Region Masters thought Devlin had any type of emotional control on Lady Danny, and they convinced the Council of it, they would kill him. Strip her of her Region Master title, probably marry her off to a more powerful vampire who could dominate her, teach her the error of her ways.”

Jessica raised her head and stared at him, horrified. “That’s . . . medieval. You would . . . Would no one help her?”

“You have seen the friends she has, habiba.” He gave her an admonishing look. “And do not be deceived by her disarming appearance. Lady Daniela is relatively young, but a formidable vampire. She did some amazing and rather brutal things to become Region Master.