Page 58 of Bond of Passion

Chapter 20

Bloodlust flowed through Tavin like an assassin’s poison, scalding his veins and scrambling his thoughts. Now that the doctor was gone, all he could think about was the female in his arms and the way her caress both raised the temperature and cooled the skin she touched. She somehow soothed and excited him. Even his serpent had settled down from the agitated state it had been in when he first woke and sensed two aroused females in another room of the house.

The bastard always stirred to life when Tavin was desperate and in need. When he went longer than he should without a female, the viper got antsy, which made Tavin anxious, which freaked out the serpent…it was a whole cycle of shit.

It had never bitten him during sex, but not for lack of trying, and the fear that it would win the battle of wills someday was always in the back of Tavin’s mind.

Dipping his head, he inhaled Deja’s light, clean scent where her hair curled just below her ear. There was an earthy note too, a vaguely familiar spice that tickled the back of his sex-addled brain. Whatever. Wasn’t important.

He moaned as her palms slid down his shoulders to grip his biceps, her sharp nails digging in. The sting was perfect, just enough to make him feel alive but not so much that it would rouse the serpent again.

As if thinking about the snake was a trigger, he felt it squirm on his skin and then curl up like a contented cat in a warm lap.

Whoa. It had never done that. Not when he’d been with a female. Usually, he fought the thing during sex, doing everything he could to keep it from biting him and sending him into a murderous rage.

He’d thought he had a pretty good handle on who Deja was, but now he was even more intrigued. He’d have to find out more about her.

Later.

Much later.

In a surge of need, he pushed her back against the wall and wedged his thigh between hers.

“Yes,” she whispered, arching and pressing her core against him. Her arousal rose, hot and potent, summoning the sex demon in him. Instinct demanded that he give the female what she desired, and who was he to argue?

His cock strained against his shorts, and he reached down to release it, but she swatted his hand out of the way.

“I want to do it,” she growled, shoving his shorts down. She licked her lips as she straightened, but it was the mischievous quirk of her lips that made his pulse race with anticipation as she closed her warm fingers around his shaft.

Ah, yesss. That was what he’d been craving since the moment he’d laid eyes on Deja in the hospital. He’d wanted her hands on him. Her mouth would be even better, but they could work up to that.

Her soft, delicate fingers slid up and down his cock, her nails scraping the head on every downstroke. Her other hand cupped his balls, pinching and kneading and not sparing them more nail action.

She wasn’t gentle about any of it. He hissed with every pass as she kept him perfectly, expertly balanced on the razor’s edge of pleasure and pain. It was as if she either knew what he liked or had a grudge against him. Maybe both.

“Fuck,” he rasped. “Deja…fuuuuck…”

He let her play for another thirty seconds until the scale tipped to pain. Then it was his time for payback.

Dropping to his knees, he dragged his borrowed shorts to her ankles and closed his mouth over the smooth mound of her sex. He watched her as he speared her with his tongue. Her eyes glazed over, and she moaned, arching into him as he alternately flicked the tip of his tongue over her clit and then licked the length of her.

She was sweet, so sweet, with a female tang that took him to another level of turned on and then back to that dim feeling of familiarity.

And, still, the serpent was quiet. Was something wrong with it? Maybe it had been injured during the Dar’grut activities too.

“Tavin,” she whispered. “More.”

Oh, he’d give her more. He spread her with his thumbs, opening her glistening flesh to his hungry gaze. He was only getting started. But before he could feast, a red streak on the wall behind her froze him in place.

Blood.

All around him, reminders of what had happened here mere hours ago inserted themselves into his thoughts. No, nothing was going to keep him from taking Deja in every way he could think of, but he wasn’t doing it here.

In a single, smooth motion, he stood and lifted her into his arms. She wrapped herself around him and held on as he carried her to the bedroom. He kissed her as he walked, demanding that she open to him. Her mouth. Her sex. Her heart.

Her heart? What the fuck?

He stumbled like it was his first day with feet, barely catching himself before they both took a tumble.