d her eyes as he bent to take her peaked nipple in his mouth.

at once he lifted his head to pin her with his gaze. "do not look away from me. you have to know that this is not just me taking you, querida. not without your consent." her sorrow was killing him. he ached inside. it was a terrible feeling, claws raking his heart and lungs from the inside out. he touched a tear on her lashes, brought it to his mouth.

even that was sensual. everything about him, his eyes, his mouth, his smoldering expression. he didn't have to touch her to make her body come alive. "you're taking all my pride, rafael," she said.

he despised the sadness in her voice. he heard his own cry, deep in his mind, a cry of pain and sorrow as his despair merged with hers. "you accused me of something vile, meu amor. for me, you are the only woman i will ever have in my life. i thought it was a mutual feeling between us." the shock still rocked him.

all the while he talked, his hands moved possessively over her. large, strong hands that cupped her breasts and teased her nipples. that swirled small circles across her stomach and slid between her thighs. colby gave in because there was no other choice. she was desperate for his body. if he didn't assuage the terrible hunger building inside of her, she didn't know what she was going to do.

"how can you make me feel this way, rafael? i'm so afraid, but it's worse without you."

he kissed her throat, his hair sliding over her sensitized skin making her shudder with pleasure. "you do not ever have to be without me, colby. lifemate is forever. tonight, be in my world with my laws. i can do no other than to see to your every happiness. your health and needs and desires will be forever mine." he kissed his way down the valley between her breasts. "my world was one of darkness until you gave me back life. i know absolutely you are everything to me. you will always be everything. i may command you in bed"-he swirled his tongue around her beloved belly button-"but you command me in all other things."

his voice was a soft seduction in itself. "i can take you places no other man can take you and always i will keep you safe. no man could want you more. no man could ever desire you or need you the way that i do. i am as much a prisoner as you feel you are. the need to be with you is as deep and as elemental as your need to be with me. find a way to love me a little, colby."

his tongue stroked and swirled, moved over her skin, his teeth scraping, adding a small bite of pain that only seemed to enhance her pleasure. his hands shaped her body, the pads of his fingers finding every sensitive spot so that she jumped and writhed beneath him, flaming to life. her blood rushed with a kind of liquid fire. she couldn't find the strength to do more than lie there while he examined every inch of her, tasted every inch, learned a very thorough, intimate knowledge of her body. tears burned in her eyes for the ache in his voice. there was honesty, even purity in his tone. he meant the things he said. his words, his absolute assurance, frightened her, but it drew her to him, closer to the fire. she tried to hold on to thought, to understand, but his hands and his mouth were destroying her so it was impossible to keep a single thought.

heat seared through her body, flames danced over her skin, licking every inch of her until she was crying out again and again. his name. for him. needing him. she crushed his silken hair in her fists, his face a sensual etching above her. he was everywhere. around her, on her, and, god help her, she wanted him in her. she caught at his hips as he pressed tightly against her and she felt his invasion. slow this time. stretching her with incredible fire. he watched her face, watched as she took him into her body, as he pushed through her tight folds, deeper and deeper into her. she was mesmerized by the expression on his face, the harsh sensuality. the raw passion. he sank into her until he was lodged so tightly she felt too full, too stretched.

she couldn't help the way her muscles tightened around him. the action heightened her pleasure, but he gasped and gripped her hips. "you are so tight, colby. feel what i am feeling when i take you like this." he merged his mind with hers, and she felt his raging fire. felt his need for her submission, the need of soft skin sliding against his hard body. the small cries he wrung from her added to what amounted to ecstasy.

he reared back, plunged hard. colby heard his name echoing through her mind. she screamed it, not aloud, but more intimately.

"more. give me more," he commanded and began to drive into her.

she had no choice but to obey. her body had a will of its own, arching her hips, tightening her muscles so that she pulsed around him. his arm caught her hips and held her down while he thrust roughly into her, sending shockwaves through her body. the tension spread, grew, the heat building and building and never relenting. he was merciless, even when she pleaded for release, even when she begged him. every frenzied thrust wound her body tighter and tighter until she felt the strange hazing in her mind. she wouldn't live through this tormented pleasure.

"rafael." he was her only refuge in the storm of lust and hunger. she couldn't take it, couldn't survive it. the sensations took her body over and built a raging inferno in her. her body tightened around his, the orgasm ripping through her, over her, tearing up through her body until she screamed with the release of it. it lasted an eternity, holding her in its thrall, breaking over her like waves as she felt him empty himself, filling her with his hot release.

tears burned behind her eyes. she jammed her fist into her mouth to keep from screaming aloud. it was bad enough that he'd heard her in her mind.

"again, colby, say my name. know who i am. know whose body is buried deep inside your body." he whispered the words against the swell of her breast.

"i know who you are," she said.

"and you know i am not some vile rapist. i belong here, inside you, right here in your heart and mind, in your body. i am not ever going to give you up. look at me, meu amor, know i am telling you the truth. i will never give you up. you have to come to terms with the fact that we belong together."

his eyes burned fiercely, a dark reminder he was a predator she had taken into her home, her body, her life. she sighed, her body rocking over and over, little aftershocks she couldn't control. the things he said didn't make sense, yet she felt their rightness. he believed she felt as he did when he'd entered her room. he was driven to possess her by some law of his people she had no real knowledge of.

"rafael." she murmured his name, her body so exhausted she could barely think. "i don't understand any of this. i don't know why you believe these things or why they feel right to my body. i'll try, though. that's all i can promise. i'll try to understand. but not tonight. i'm so tired." she turned her head away from him, drifting as he slowly allowed their bodies to separate. she felt his mouth at her breast, his hands cupping her bottom. each strong pull as he suckled sent more shock waves dancing through her body, but this time she was too worn out to do more than lay quietly, drifting off to sleep as he kissed his way back up her body before allowing their bodies to separate. strangely, she might have protested had she had the energy. instead she snuggled close to the protection of his body and slept.

rafael lay beside her until the gray light was creeping through the bedroom window and he knew he could wait no longer to hunt prey. reluctantly he slipped from her bed, arranging her exhausted body in a much more comfortable position. he wrapped her protective quilt close around her.

rafael bent once more to her neck, wanting his mark fresh on her, a brand for the rest of the world to see. for her to see. his ancient blood would flow hotly in her veins calling for him, his scent would cling to her. the mind meld between them would be stronger than ever. he would know where she was every moment. there was nowhere she could go that he would not find her.

to prevent dishonoring himself by sealing them together before he had worked out the safety of her brother and sister, rafael left her to hunt prey. he must feed soon if he had any hope of maintaining self-control. he would seek the ground as early as possible to prevent going back to her and forcibly taking her for his own.

the moment he stepped outside and inhaled the night, he felt the disturbance. it was subtle. a small feeding of power into the air. a seeking. it was so light he couldn't get a fix on the direction, but he felt the taint of evil. at once he reached for his brother.

a vampire, nicolas. a powerful, ancient one. it is nearly dawn yet he has not gone to ground and he knows we are near him. his power is subtle, one i cannot get a direction on for the hunt.

your woman draws him. you must turn her and take her back to our home.

there was weariness in nicolas's voice, as if his fight with the darkness was becoming too much, lasting too long, and he was slowly succumbing.

you have been using your strength to keep me from the darkness, rafael guessed.

you are so close. she is not helping by fighting you. take the woman and let us leave this place and go back to where we belong. i will hunt the vampire while you secure the woman.

rafael turned the offer over in his mind. with every kill, the darkness stained their souls, took them over until there was nothing left of who and what they stood for. nicolas was too empty, too long without solace. rafael had an anchor. if he took possession of colby, tied her to him for all eternity, he could safely hunt the vampire and rid the area of the danger. nicolas and he would both be safe from the danger of embracing the life of the undead.

i will hunt this one. nicolas. he is strong and in hiding, but i have his scent and he will not escape the justice of our people. he is not acting normal. there are no kills, no unexplained deaths. the murdered man was killed by a human, not a vampire. and i met a woman of psychic talent, a strong telepath. she knew what i was. something is happening here i do not understand.

i will come if you need me.

rafael wanted nicolas far from the danger of a hunt. i will call should i need assistance. he broke the connection to his brother and moved swiftly away from the ranch, feeling for the vampire, for a blank spot that would give away the lair of the undead. evil was in his nostrils, the stench foul and unclean, but he could not pursue what permeated the air. there was no direction. nothing at all to define a trail. there was only the certain knowledge that a powerful vampire was in the area. everyone was in danger.

he found sustenance in the small town, drinking his fill to replenish his strength. he would need much in the coming days. and he would need all his courage to face colby after he changed her life for all time.