quirk of her lips at his obvious discomfort. "having a problem?" she taunted aloud.

he was magnificent. there was no other word for his body. and it amazed her that she could produce such a reaction in him, in a creature so powerful and controlled as darius almost always was. that she could send him so out of control mystified yet excited her. it was exhilarating, like leaping onto the back of a tiger and hanging on for dear life.

darius waited until she sashayed past him before reaching out to claim what was his. he merely caught her arms from behind, then moved them forward to place her hands on the flat surface of an accommodating rock. at once his body trapped hers, pushing aggressively against her bottom while his seeking fingers assured him that she was creamy with her own need of him. he caught her hips firmly and surged into her tight, moist sheath. it was slick and hot, waiting for him. darius allowed himself the natural instinctive domination of the males of his race. his teeth found her shoulder and pinned her in place while he buried himself again and again with hard, long strokes.

tempest felt the sweet rush of fire consuming her, the strength in his hands gripping her hips, the hard thickness of him plunging deep within her, only to withdraw and return. she felt his mouth on her skin, the white heat as his teeth pierced deep and he held her in a submissive position. a part of her felt intensely vulnerable, but he was adjusting his position to accommodate the tightness of her feminine sheath, and all the time he was building the fire higher, ever higher. she could feel her body tightening, gripping his, beginning to spiral outward. she didn't want it over so soon, so fast. she wanted this time with him, afraid it might never happen again once they were back in her world, the world she knew she belonged in. this was too much. too much of everything. too much fire and too much feeling.

"darius." she breathed his name in a whisper, somewhere between agony and ecstasy.

"only darius," he growled against her skin. "you are mine." somewhere deep in his heart he knew she still thought of them separately. that he wouldn't stay with her, that she could walk away, would

walk away at some point. she wanted him yet was terrified to need him, to be part of him, no darius without tempest, no tempest without darius. he, on the other hand, had accepted that almost from the first moment he laid eyes on her. his body swelled, hot and slick, velvet steel, and still he moved, wanting to prolong the moment, wanting to bring her to a fever pitch.

he wanted to hear those soft little sounds she made in her throat, the ones that melted his heart and sent arrows piercing his soul. those sounds drove him crazy. in his mouth was the delicious taste of her, and against his skin was the feel of hers, bare and soft and so vulnerable, all for him. he savored the moment, prolonged it, reaching higher and higher until her body was gripping and clenching around his, wringing his very essence from him, milking an explosion of heat and flame, a firestorm of ecstatic pleasure that consumed them both.

her breath was coming in little gasps, and he had to hold her up to prevent her shaky legs from giving way. she turned her head to look at him, her green eyes glittering jewels. "i had no idea it could be like this, darius. you're incredible." she meant it sincerely. she had read books - who hadn't? she'd lived on the streets, grown up around hookers. naturally she'd asked a few questions. no one had described anything like the feelings darius produced in her. the graphic mechanics, perhaps, but not the beauty and passion of what they did together.

"it is us together," he explained patiently, wanting her to understand. tempest was so programmed to be alone, to live her a solitary existence, that her mind refused to comprehend the true meaning of their joining.

"you don't feel this way when you make love to other women?" she asked, struggling to believe that a man as virile, a man who made love as often and as vigorously as darius did, had not needed hundreds of partners in the past. how could any one woman possibly keep up with his demands, possibly satisfy him? she had no real experience. how could she keep him happy?

he found himself frowning as he read her thoughts. darius swept her into his arms and waded back into the pool to rinse her off one more time. "you keep up with my every demand," he pointed out. "and you satisfy me perfectly. there can be no other woman, tempest. you can touch my mind with yours. i cannot lie to you. read my thoughts. i speak the truth. there is only you in my heart. it is only you my body will accept. there will never be another. it is for all time."

"i will grow old and die, darius," she pointed out. "in another hundred years you will find someone else." she laughed softly at her own ego. "notice i gave you plenty of time to grieve for me."

"put your arms around my neck. look at me." he commanded it, wanting her complete attention. "i love you, tempest, not any other woman. it is not the love of humans; it is more encompassing and violent than that, yet more pure and cherishing."

she shook her head. "you haven't known me long enough to feel real love. you're attracted to me sexually, that's all." she sounded desperate even to her own ears.

"i have been inside your mind countless times, tempest. i know everything about you. every childhood memory, good and bad. i know your secret thoughts, thoughts humans never share with anyone else. i know the things you do not like about yourself. i know your strengths and the things you consider weaknesses. i know more about you in the time we have had together than any human male could know in a lifetime. i love you. the entire you."

his hand moved to wash the evidence of their love-making from between her legs, his fingers soothing, gentle. "i know you think i am the sexiest man you have ever met. you think i am handsome. you love the sound of my voice. you particularly like my mouth and my eyes and the way i look at you." his black gaze moved over her face, the faint humor fleeting as he continued. "you fear my powers, yet you accept them and the differences in me with surprising ease. i make you feel safe and protected, and you fear that feeling because you do not trust such a concept. you do not want to tie yourself to me fully because you do not trust that you could ever hold a man as powerful as myself, and you cannot allow yourself the pain of losing me."

she was attempting to pull out of his arms, but he held her tightly to him, so she glared at him instead. "while you were inspecting the inside of my head, did you find out just what i want to do to you half the time?"

his mouth softened with mocking male amusement. "you mean when you are not wanting my body in yours?"

furious, she nodded. "like now, for instance."

his palm stroked back wet strands of hair from her forehead. his eyes burned into hers. "you have an astonishing penchant for feminine-style violence," he commented drolly.

"i'm beginning to think violence might be the only way to handle you." tempest inserted a hand between herself and the wall of his chest and steadily increased the pressure until she lost her own strength. if he didn't notice subtle hints to let her go soon, she would resort to violence, and then he'd be sorry. a serious dunking just might do his inflated male ego some good. she glared at him again, hoping to wither him on the spot. "i don't believe in love. it's a myth. people use it to get their way. there isn't any such thing. it's mere physical attraction."

darius practically tossed her out of the pool. "you actually believe the nonsense you spout? i am the darkness. you are the light. i am a predator. you hold compassion and goodness within you. yet i must teach you about love?"

"your ego is showing again," she declared, a faint haughtiness in her voice. "you know, darius, it isn't necessary that we think or believe alike all the time. i don't have to see everything your way."

something deep and dark and terrifying flickered in the depths of his eyes, and she held her breath. he blinked, and the illusion was gone, leaving her wondering if she had seen only the flames of the candles reflected in his eyes.

"you have clothes on the sheet. get dressed, tempest. i must feed."

the moment he uttered the words, she became aware of her heart beating strongly. it sounded overly loud to her, like the beat of a drum. worse, she could hear his heartbeat. the water pouring from the walls, too, was nearly deafening, whereas the night before she had hardly noticed it. and she heard something else - a high-pitched, far-off sound ominously like what she imagined a great number of bats might make.

tempest took a deep breath, her teeth biting nervously at her lower lip. she didn't like darius's using the word feed.

she didn't like the fact that her hearing had suddenly become so strangely acute. what did it all mean? he had bitten her several times. could he infect her with whatever made him the creature that he was? slowly she pulled on the clothes he had supplied - something else she didn't want to examine too closely. they weren't her clothes. just where had they come from? "you're in way too deep this time, rusti," she murmured aloud.

darius was beside her, immaculate, elegant, powerful.

he ruffled her hair affectionately. "stop talking to yourself."

"i always talk to myself."

"you are not alone anymore. you have me, so there is no further need to continue this habit. are you ready?" his black eyes flicked over her pale face, settling for a moment on her trembling mouth. it amused him somewhat that periodically she scared herself with her own rousings and anxieties. it amazed him that she wasn't always terrified of him, that she accepted his difference: the same way she accepted differences of skin color or religion. the same way she accepted animals.

tempest unexpectedly reached out and took his hand "even if you are the most arrogant being i've ever encountered, thank you for last night. it was beautiful, darius."

it was the last thing he'd anticipated, and it moved him as nothing else could. he turned his head away from her so that she would not catch the shimmer of tear; that suddenly touched his eyes. that in itself was a small miracle. he had not believed himself capable of tears yet he wanted to weep because she had thanked him despite her anger at him, her fears of his powers am this place, their night had meant enough to her that she had thought to thank him.

as he took her toward the surface of the mountain he realized it was the first time anyone had thanked him for anything. his role as his family's provider and protector had been established long ago and was thus now taken for granted. this small woman, so delicate yet so courageous, made him remember the reason he had chosen the role of provider and protector.