I don’t know what I can teach you, Sandu, but I am willing to learn from you.
That fist in his belly grew tighter. His cock grew thicker, the girth wider, hot blood pounding through it, along with his heartbeat. There was a sultry tone to her voice. He kept his breathing even only through centuries of discipline.
You are deliberately teasing me. Playing with fire, I believe is the term.
His brethren were speaking to one another, and he really should be paying attention, but his attention was really focused on his lifemate. This time her soft laughter was an invitation. A deliberate caress. Fingers stroking over his chest. Lower, along his belly. He swore he felt the brush of her fingers, so light, along his shaft, dancing over the broad, flared head, cupping the velvet sac and sliding along his balls.
When did you learn to do that?
It is working, then? Her voice sounded a little too innocent. You can feel what I am doing to you in my mind? I have tried to work out every detail. I memorized you. Your body is so beautiful to me.
He suppressed a groan. Adalasia was learning how to use her skills as a Carpathian woman, but he hadn’t expected her to practice sexual skills. He should have. She was . . . Adalasia. Unafraid. Demanding. Uninhibited. She liked to tease. To play. She knew he did as well.
“There were no signs of the undead when we were in the village,” Siv announced, “but that doesn’t mean they are not around. We should make certain, Sandu, before we allow Adalasia to move around too freely. Her brightness would be a beacon to a master vampire.”
Sandu had to agree. He touched on the chamber where they had slept. The small fire in the fireplace cast shadows around the chambers, adding to the flickering light the candles gave off in the sconces high up on the walls. The entire chamber was shrouded in a dim, dancing light that played through the room.
A bed was in the center of the room, one positioned at a certain height. His woman knelt in front of the fireplace, her long hair tumbling down her back. She was dressed in a covering of red lace that stretched over her generous breasts and tightened around her rib cage and waist to disappear between her legs. The lace did nothing to hide her body from him, and his breath caught in his throat, his blood thundering in his ears.
“We are going to take some time to patrol the forest, Sandu,” Benedek said. “We cannot afford to allow her enemies or ours to come near her.”
Sandu needed to concentrate on what his brethren said to him, not look at his lifemate waiting so patiently for him. He felt the brushstroke of fingers against his shaft again. Maybe not so patiently. She was practicing in her mind.
I want to get this right, so that when you’re here in front of me, I give you the most pleasure. I saw this in your mind, Sandu. I know I can do this right with a little guidance.
Her voice. Sultry. Sexy. This was definitely a lesson in discipline. After a couple of thousand years, he shouldn’t be having such problems, but then the heat of her velvet tongue stroked up his shaft, and he nearly jumped out of his skin.
Nicu nodded in agreement with Benedek. “We think it best if you allow us to thoroughly search for signs of the undead. Even with Dominic living here, we know they test him. Also, the occasional jaguar returns to this area hunting Solange. There could be unexpected enemies.”
If his enemies came at him right at that moment, Sandu wasn’t certain he could defend himself. His focus was on one part of his anatomy and what his woman might do next. His lungs could barely find enough air to breathe.
He cleared his throat. “I will spend time with my lifemate inside the chamber,” Sandu said to his brethren, his voice a little huskier than he would have liked.
Her mouth felt hot as she slid it over him, engulfing him, enclosing his cock in a tight, scorching tunnel while her tongue did a little dancing foray over the sensitive broad head and then under it. She released him. Does that feel good?
She knew it did. She could feel his shuddering reaction. The way his blood ran hot, as if she lit a match to a stick of dynamite. Before he could answer, she stroked her tongue up his shaft again, over and over, getting him very wet. He had to answer his brethren before he was incapable.
“I will weave safeguards, so if you return, take heed of them. Announce your presence before you attempt to come inside the cave system.”
“We will build additional safeguards,” Petru added. “One of us will always be close should you have need.”
Sandu ordinarily would have considered that his brethren had gotten too old to remember he was in top fighting form, but he didn’t want to battle anything. He wanted to spend time with his woman. His lifemate. Adalasia. He inclined his head graciously, thankful he could feel real affection toward his brothers from the monastery.