The Bloodgate Warrior Page 12

  Leaning down so his breath caressed my inner thigh, he murmured, “Do you feel how wet you are?”

  Open and bare, my flesh chilled in the night air. My panties were stuck to me, uncomfortably cold and damp.

  He grazed his cheek against my knee, and I shot up as far as the ropes would allow. The stubble of his jaw abraded my skin in a deliciously rough caress that made my nerve endings scream with delight. Cold steel flirted with the thin material shielding my crotch, the only protection I had left.

  I hovered between panicked bucking and those throaty, hoarse cries that I couldn’t suppress.

  Straightening, he stared down at me, waiting until I looked up into his face. My underwear dangled from his knife. Completely naked and stretched out on an altar, I’d never been more vulnerable and afraid, nor as turned on. My thighs ached and quivered from keeping them open as much as the rope allowed. The heat of his glowing eyes stroked my skin like a caress.

  I watched him slowly stretch out his left hand, palm up, those powerful fingers taunting me. The barest brush of his finger slid between my folds.

  That was all I remembered or knew for an eternity. Spasms shook every muscle of my body so violently my skin burned from the stone rubbing beneath me. I must have screamed, because my throat hurt. I ached all over, my wrists raw from fighting the ropes.

  Gasping for breath, I finally focused on him. Head back, arms open, palms out, he drank in the magical light dancing around us. His arms and shoulders corded, and for a moment, the green and gold light fluttered like feathers around him. When he finally opened his eyes, they glowed even brighter with that otherworldly light.

  “Magic,” he whispered hoarsely. “Your pleasure releases energy, mixed with your own magic. I feed on that energy to become stronger, building my own magic, which I use to give you more pleasure. Back and forth, we strengthen each other with pleasure.”

  Leaning down once more, he gently kissed my knee and then the other, soft lips and a hint of tongue that made me moan and strain at the ropes binding my ankles.

  “I could do this endlessly, noyollotl. Endless pleasure, boundless power.”

  That sounded wonderful…and hellacious at the same time. My muscles already trembled. Another climax like that and I wouldn’t be able to walk. We still had to find a way to get Natalie back, not to mention deal with a monster who’d once terrorized this entire region with his cruelty before he became a demon with unknown powers.

  Técun flicked his tongue to taste the tender skin on the backs of my knees. He kissed and licked my inner thighs, back and forth, tormenting with soft lips and trailing hair.

  I panted like I was running a marathon, twisting against the ropes. If I could free myself, I’d fist my hands in his hair and drag his mouth exactly where I wanted him. My clit throbbed with each agonizing stroke of his tongue. Just the thought of his tongue sinking deep made me moan louder, so close, but so far away from release. By the time he finally made it close enough that his hair stroked my stomach, I was babbling.

  “Please, please, Técun, I can’t stand it. I need you so bad. Please!”

  “Where do you need me, noyollotl? Here?” He kissed my lower stomach and I growled at him, making him chuckle. “I thought to kiss every inch of your sweet skin first before giving you another release. I don’t want to wear you out.”

  I groaned again at the thought of his mouth playing with my breasts, torturing me with those light flicks of his tongue, the velvet heat of his lips. I strained harder against the ropes, arching my back, pushing, so close…

  “Yes,” he breathed against my stomach. “Rise to the pleasure. Give it to me, noyollotl.”

  He nipped delicately at my stomach, lightly pinching skin between his teeth, but the sharpness sent me soaring off the edge of the cliff into another release.

  I couldn’t believe that I’d come like that, so hard, just from a non-intimate love bite on my belly. I was in serious, serious trouble, because we hadn’t even gotten started yet.

  Gasping for air, I pried my eyes open and froze.

  He crouched at the foot of the altar staring down at me. For a moment, all I could think about was the man who’d turned into a jaguar. Técun had that look of predator glinting in his glowing eyes. He looked at me and saw…food.

  He raised his hand, and the knife blade glinted like emeralds in the strange light we’d generated. Eyes heavy with dark intent that made my stomach muscles quiver, he slit the ropes at my ankles and sheathed the blade.

  I immediately stretched my legs out. My muscles were killing me. But I couldn’t relax, not with that silent warrior hovering just a foot or two away. All he did was watch, a hawk laughing at its scurrying dinner. The longer he looked at me in silence, the more nervous I became.

  My mind leaped forward to what he planned next. I hadn’t even had his mouth on me yet and I’d come twice. If he…

  He lunged forward and clamped his lips on my clit. White-hot pleasure exploded through me, scouring my mind, grinding my bones to dust. My ears rang with the aftereffects of my scream. I wasn’t connected to my body any longer, like I was having an out-of-body experience. If I looked down, I’d probably see my poor pleasure-ridden body thrashing on the altar.

  No. All I saw was Técun’s shoulders, my thighs pushed back high and tight to my body. Then I realized his mouth was still on me. His tongue plunged deep inside me. I jolted hard back into my body, sensations swamping me one after another, rapid fire. The stroke of his tongue, the pressure of his lips sucking and nibbling on my flesh, even the sharper press of his teeth.

  I couldn’t stop the constant climax rippling through my body. I couldn’t stop him, not even to catch my breath for just a moment. Bound and helpless, all I could do was let the pleasure pour through me and into him. I could almost see the golden waves rising, flowing into him like warm, thick honey.

  When he finally raised his head, his eyes glowed as brightly as the jaguar’s at Lake Atitlán. My breath caught in my throat at the strangeness. He didn’t look like Técun any longer, but more and more like a legendary warrior hero.

  Or a god.

  Breathing hard, he dismounted from the altar. He didn’t say anything, so I wasn’t sure what he meant to do. Was the ritual not going as he planned? My legs were trembling so badly I’d never be able to walk, let alone make a run for it. His silence unnerved me.

  He rummaged in the pack and pulled out a bottle of water. My throat instantly dried up like parched earth during a drought. He cracked open the bottle and helped me lift my head, holding me steady so I could guzzle water messily like I was dying of thirst. Stroking my cheek, he let me drink as much as I wanted, watching me with those eerie eyes.

  Night lay all around us, but the top of the pyramid still glowed. I hoped that light was veiled from below. Maybe it was just an illusion, my own delirium. My head still echoed hollowly, floating like a balloon. If he untied me, I’d just float away into the clouds.

  His touch jerked my awareness back to him. He ran his hands over my arms, checking the ropes. I’d twisted and fought against the restraints and my wrists burned. Hopefully I hadn’t torn open my skin. He made a low sound of regret, and his tongue stroked over the ragged skin, soothing away the sting.

  With magic singing all about me, I could sense his emotions. Hunger rose in him, the hint of my blood worsening his need into a growing darkness that he barely contained. Suddenly, I understood why he’d chosen to take a break. Not because there was a problem with the ritual…but because he was at the edge of his control.

  His teeth grated my skin. His fingers tightened on my arms, pinning me against the stone, even though I couldn’t have moved much even if I’d wanted. His face and hands were hot, searing my flesh, and I could only imagine how hot the rest of his body would be.

  Twisting my body toward him, I forgot my legs were free. My weight shifted, tipping me over the side of the altar. The rough stone abraded my skin and I cried out.

  Catching me before all
my weight fell on my bound wrists, he turned me around so I sprawled across the altar on my stomach. My toes barely touched the floor, just enough to help balance my weight so I didn’t dangle awkwardly. He ran his tongue over the faint scratches on my back. I thought it would hurt, but the stroke of his tongue only built a slow, slumberous fire within me. Hot, powerful hands seared me, those big palms closing around my arms, sliding down my flanks, kneading my back as he worked his way lower. When my rubbery legs gave out, he shifted me up higher on the altar, and his mouth roamed lower on my body.

  He gripped me harder in his teeth, and I understood his temptation. Even just a hint of blood stirred the Great Feathered Serpent, the source of his magic. Hunger urged him to draw just a bit more, with his teeth, talons, even the knife he’d used on himself. Until my blood pooled on the stone altar and power lit up the night like a beacon.

  He took that temptation and turned it into something else. Denying those darker urges, he pleasured me with his mouth, treasuring my every moan of bliss as much as each drop of blood. I’d thought the sacrifice was brought to the altar to worship the god, but I was wrong. The god was worshipping me.

  And that was somehow…wrong. Wonderful, yes. Incredible, absolutely. But he was withholding that darker hunger from me. He’d been so reluctant to expose me to this ritual, yet he’d been remarkably tender and passionate. Other than when he’d first brought me to the altar, I hadn’t been scared at all.

  Where’s the danger? Where’s the real sacrifice?

  Where’s the blood?

  He’d said it himself. Our magic always involves blood. My blood opened the gate. His blood helped free the spear.

  It wasn’t Luisa’s journal entries I remembered, now, but a line from her daughter’s that she’d attributed to her mother. One drop of blood given willingly had more power than an innocent’s life, and if that blood was given for love, then the power she raised was greater than all the blood darkening Alvarado’s sword.

  That was the kind of power Técun needed now.

  “What—” I had to clear my throat, ignoring the rasping sandpaper sensation, “—will it feel like when Alvarado cuts out my heart?”

  Técun stilled against me, his hands slowly squeezing harder and heavier on my hips. “Why would you ask such a question? Do you doubt that I can protect you?”

  “Yes,” I whispered, blinking back tears. “You won’t be strong enough.”

  Where before his lips had been caressingly soft, now his mouth was a hard, grim slant in the hollow of my back. Yet he didn’t rise up or even attempt to deny my words.

  “You haven’t sacrificed me. Not really. You cut off my clothes, scared me a little, and then blew my mind half a dozen times. But that’s not what you need to defeat Alvarado.”

  Now he did withdraw, leaving my back cold and bare to the night. “It will be enough.”

  Shivering, I pushed harder. “Did you know that love conquered you before?”

  He didn’t respond for so long that I twisted around, trying to see his face. He stood just feet away, his face banked in shadow where before magical lights had danced around him. A night bird made a strange, mournful sound in the distance that made chills creep down my spine. “What do you mean?”

  “From the beginning, Luisa planned to use her magic to cripple Alvarado so you would win. But when it came time to use her magic against him, she couldn’t do it. She loved him too much. You died as a result of her love. Is that what you want this time? Do you want to die because you love me too much to take what you need?”

  He growled out a curse so deep and low that my hair prickled with the underlying menace. “Yes. If that’s what it takes to keep you safe, so be it.”

  “Then you will die again.” I let my voice break with the heartache rending me in two. “And no one will be left to keep me from Alvarado. He’ll put my heart in a cage with Natalie’s and feed off my suffering for all eternity.”

  “Never!” His response came out on a raw howl. He slammed his hands down on the altar on either side of me, and the entire pyramid quivered. “He’ll never have you!”

  “Sacrifice comes to the top of the pyramid.” My body trembled, but I was confident, each word stronger and louder until I shouted. “With all the love in my heart, I offer my blood to you. I’m your sacrifice! Take my blood and revel in the power I give to you!”

  He snapped his teeth close so close to my ear that I jumped as much as the rope would allow. “You don’t know what you offer.”

  “Whatever it is, I give it to you. Take me, Técun.”

  Panting, he hovered behind me, leaning over me without touching me, but his fingertips were white with the force of his grip on the altar. His nails darkened and lengthened, talons shooting free to rend and tear his prey. Yet he quivered, fighting down the hunger that must be roaring in him.

  If I were free, I’d pick up his knife and cut my thumb as he’d done at the fountain. Bound and trapped on his altar, there wasn’t much I could do to lure him into taking what he needed. I twisted my wrists desperately, jerking and fighting the rope, not for my freedom, but for my blood.

  He clamped his hands on my forearms and dropped his weight against me, trying to hold me still, but I only struggled harder. I threw my head back as hard as I could, giving him a glancing blow on his chin that still managed to make him grunt. Automatically, his hands flexed on my arms, and those wicked talons pricked my skin.

  Blood welled with each small puncture, and he trembled against me as violently as if he’d slit my throat.

  My blood glowed in the night, thin rivers of molten rubies down my arms. Even I could smell the copper tang mixed with the tantalizing scent of vanilla, honey and musk.

  My magic smelled like a woman’s desire. My desire.

  “No,” he whispered, pressing his forehead to the stone beside me. “I can’t bear to hurt you, Cassie.”

  I was far from hurt, though. Heat blossomed in my core. It didn’t matter how many times I’d already come tonight, because he hadn’t been inside me yet. I arched my back, lifting my hips in invitation, but a slight shift against him was all I could manage with him pinning me to the altar.

  My blood slowly dropped onto the altar, pooling like a tiny gleaming lake of lava, and I burned with each drop. Pressure built inside me, a volcano threatening to tear me apart. I wanted more blood, more power to pool on the altar.

  His hands clenched on my wrists, fighting to keep his body locked and controlled. He could hear my thoughts as his own, so I deliberately used that against him. I want you wild, howling at the moon, thrusting inside me deep and hard until this pressure explodes and gives you the power you need.

  Sweat trickled into my eyes. So hot, I was burning, fire crisping my flesh and melting my bones, but still he refused me.

  “Please!” I howled, twisting and fighting beneath him. Ropes chafed my wrists and stone gnawed at my skin, adding more of my blood to the sacrifice. Red throbbed and pulsed in my head, my heartbeat slamming behind my eyes in a frantic tempo of thunder. “Técun!”

  He let out a rumbling bass call so deep and low that I couldn’t really hear it, but it vibrated through me, shaking the altar so hard something cracked. The pyramid groaned beneath us. Or maybe that was my own pleading cry. He arched against me, a spasm racking his mighty frame, and something stroked over my back like downy feathers.

  He gripped my chin in a brutal hold with those long wicked talons digging into my throat. “Is this what you want? Is this what you drive me to do?”

  “Yes.” I wasn’t sure if I answered him aloud or not. My ears rang with the relentless pounding of my blood. I couldn’t make my mouth work. Words beat inside my head, trapped and rattled by the thunder of my pulse. “Please. Técun. I love you. Sacrifice me.”

  “You are mine forevermore.”

  He thrust into me so hard my hips ached, bruised against the stone altar. But already my body sang with joy, pleasure pouring out of my throat on a long, high scream that likely
made every animal and person in a ten-mile radius jerk awake. Buried inside me, he pressed a talon to my throat. My skin flexed and finally gave way to the tumult roiling inside me.

  My blood splashed onto the altar, a shining red ribbon that blazed in the night, dimming his golden-green magic. He clamped his mouth over the small puncture and my whole body lit up like I’d touched a million-volt live wire. The sun burned inside me, a blazing star that obliterated everything in its path, and with every swallow of my blood, he drank that power, soaking in my pleasure through his pores.

  Every barrier inside me dissolved. All the walls I’d put up to protect myself over the years. The doubts and insecurities, growing up never knowing my father, dealing with the tragedy of my mother’s suicide. Everything melted away, leaving my heart wide open.

  For him. He raked my hips and flanks with his talons, but there wasn’t pain. Or rather, the stinging in my flesh only blended with the pleasure surging through my veins. He thrashed against me, lost in a frenzy of blood and lust. But my blood anchored him, even as I poured that life into him.

  I am the sun, the sacrifice blazing at the top of the pyramid.

  He roared with release and stone crashed down somewhere close. For all I knew, we were bringing the entire pyramid down with us. My blood blazed higher, a wildfire that raced down the carved serpent railing and shot up into the night sky like fireworks. My blood, my power, and I gave it all to him. Everything. I sank into him, dissolving through skin and feathers until his heart cradled mine. He was inside me, over me, around me. “Now we are one heart, one body, one spirit. Soar with me, noyollotl.”

  Wind rushed against my face as though we were flying. A strong rhythmic beat thumped so deep and low it vibrated my bones. At first, I thought it was his heartbeat, but feathers tumbled about me.

  Wings.

  “Great Feathered Serpent.” I let the thought fill my mind, confident he would hear every word. “There had better not be any scales.”