Page 20 of Fallen Star

I give into my own temptations and lift my hand to his waist. The contact sends shivers through us both, and he lowers his own hand from my neck to my chest, tracing the line of my nightgown just above my breasts. My breath shudders and fires light in me.

"Alex," he says, his voice a low rumble. "I don't know what you're doing to me, but if you want to stop, tell me soon."

Logic says I should stop.

But my body laughs at logic.

Instead, I take his hand in mine and lay it on my breast, then glide my own hand down his body until it catches the part of him that is clearly ready for more. "Don't stop," I say, breathless with anticipation.

My words trigger a wave of desire pulsing in both of us. His hand grips my ribs as he lowers his face, his lips finding mine. Our first kiss is an exercise in controlled passion as his tongue explores my mouth and his teeth nibble at my bottom lip.

My fingers dig into his back as he moves his body between my legs, pulling my nightgown up and over my head as he does. He still has silk bottoms on, but I'm now naked as his gaze lingers on my scar-riddled body.

He traces each one he finds, first with his fingers, then his tongue, making trails of lava-like heat all over my skin. "Tell me about these," he says, his voice thick with desire.

And so I tell him the stories of my body, of the tombs I've explored, the monsters I've fought, the times I've nearly died. As he moves down my body, my back arches in need and desire, and then I am gone, consumed by him, by his touch, by his kisses, by his exploration of me as if I am the only thing in his world that has ever mattered.

Words disappear along with his pants, and when we become one, the world around us disappears as well.

The power of our passion is not spent quickly, and the fire has died to embers by the time we fall into each other's arms in exhausted splendor.

For what feels like hours we do not talk, not with words, but we lay and enjoy each other's closeness for as long as we can.

We both know that our next steps will be perilous. That the journey we're on to recover the Fallen Star of Nirandel could be deadly.

And so we savor this moment, knowing it might be our last together.

As the sun rises, Helda comes to the door with food, blood, and juice. I pass on the blood, but am not as repulsed as I would have been seeing Dean drink it.

He explains to me their humane way of acquiring blood, and I'm impressed and humbled by their commitment to not harm humans.

"If time were not our enemy, I would spend an eternity in this room with you, showing you all the ways I desire to pleasure you," he says, once our food is consumed, and it's clear we have to get up.

His words bring promises too tempting to think on right now. There are more urgent matters to discuss, though my unquenchable body disagrees. "I have to tell you something," I say.

He sits up, listening.

"Last night, the woman who stole your piece of the star. That was my mother."

"So she must have been turned the night you thought she was killed," he said, reaching that logical conclusion must faster than my addled brain did last night.

"That's my assumption," I say. "But why would she be doing this? You've shown me being a vampire doesn't inherently make you evil. My mother was a good person. The best I know. Why would she become a monster?" Saying the words brings up a well of emotion, and Dean pulls me in his arms. The warmth, the closeness, comforts me even as it scares me. This has happened so fast. It's insane. And yet, nothing feels more perfect than being with him.

"Power can make anyone mad, even the best of us," he says. "She had the other piece of the Star last night. It gave her power I've never seen. She tore through my men and me. Not a small feet for anyone. Now she has two and will be even more powerful."

I pull away, my heart racing at what I've just realized. "Three. She'll have three soon," I say.

"How so?"

"There's something I haven't told you. Something I didn't know if I could trust you with. I have my own piece of the Star. I always assumed it was what the vampire who killed my parents was after. It's what started me on this quest."

He frowns. "Where is it?"

"In a safe under my house in Malibu," I say.

"Does your mother know this?" he asks.

"She knows we have it. She found it, after all. But I built a new safe for it after a break-in several years ago, and she doesn't know about that."

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