The Sleeper and the Silverblood
The Match That Lights the Fire

Before Storm parted ways with his friends, Zayne hesitated. “You’re really into her, huh.”

“Is it that obvious?” the silverblood replied.

Zayne chuckled. “Only to anyone with eyes and a pulse, man.”

“Yeah, you’re a goner,” Declan chimed in, stretching his arms over his head with a self-satisfied sigh. “My work here is done. You want her. Finally.”

“My love life still doesn’t need your help, Dec.”

His friend snorted. “Hey, who was the one who nearly arrested her today?” He jabbed his thumb into his chest. “This guy. Now you’re all defensive and growly and shit. You’re welcome.”

Storm shook his head, trying to hide his smile. “’Defensive and growly?’ Concerned, maybe.”

“Dude, you threatened to fry me. I don’t think you’ve ever done that before. You really don’t like someone threatening what’s yours.”

Storm shot him a sharp look. “She’s not a possession.”

“Doesn’t mean you don’t want to have her.” The Guardian waggled his eyebrows.

Zayne nudged Declan with an elbow, chuckling. “Let him be, man. Go burn off steam, or whatever. Take it easy though. We need the most elite fighters we have left, with so much of the military compromised.”

“Yeah yeah.” Declan waved him off, then looked back at Storm. “Go take care of your girl.”

With a knowing smile, Zayne also withdrew. Storm remained, standing outside his room contemplating how he wanted to care for the Sleeper who wasn’t a possession, but completely possessed him in every way.

Her aura caressed his, and he turned as Kitara rounded the corner into the hall. Storm couldn’t help his smile or the warmth that resounded through him at her appearance.

“How did it go?” he asked as she approached.

“Voicemail,” she answered, chagrined. “I’m sure he’ll call me back sooner or later.”

“Hopefully he’ll have some insight when he does,” Storm muttered.

As he moved to admit them into his quarters, Kitara hesitated. “I was going to ask Kenric to assign me new rooms,” she said, running a hand over the top of her head. “But, given the circumstances…I’m sure no one remembered. I should message ’Dair—”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Storm said. “My rooms are plenty big for two people—more than, really. If you want the room to yourself, just say the word. I’ve fallen asleep on my couch many times. It’s very comfortable.”

Kitara blushed. “I don’t—that’s not…necessary.”

After a long, loaded moment, Storm stepped closer to her. Her heart began to race. The warmth of his aura radiated around her; the smoldering silver of his eyes threatened to consume her.

Storm brushed a strand of hair away from her face, his fingers lingering on her cheek. Kitara’s breath caught in her throat as she looked up at him, her eyes meeting his with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a low voice. “Saoirse…”

She shook her head and swallowed hard. “I knew it was inevitable,” she whispered, her voice ragged. “It always is. She survived longer than most of us. It just…caught me off guard. On top of everything else…”

“I’m so sorry, Kit.”

She leaned into him, and he wrapped his arms around her. “What if—what if she was compromised because she emerged to help me transfer to headquarters?”

“You can’t think that way. It’s not your fault.”

She let out a bitter laugh. “I told you; it was dangerous and unorthodox for her to do so. What else could it have been?”

Storm stood back to gaze down at her. “Any number of things, and you know that.”

She shook her head. “This is why we don’t form attachments, especially with other Sleepers.”

His grip on her tightened. “I hope you’re not second-guessing our…attachment.”

Kitara managed a weak chuckle. “You and Devika are the reason I’m still alive right now. I wouldn’t have survived this long without my…attachments.”

He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Whatever it takes, Kit,” he murmured. “I will keep you safe.”

“I believe you.” Kitara met his eyes, drowning in quicksilver. “Is it wrong?” she whispered. “To feel like this, to want you, even when the world has gone to hell?”

Storm grasped her chin with gentle fingers. “Nothing about this is wrong,” he said fervently. “The world could be burning to the ground around us, and this…this would be right. You’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop your whole life, Kit. So let me impart something I’ve learned from mine: even eternity is uncertain. Even immortality isn’t guaranteed. Death may very well come for us all by the end. I’m not willing to give up a single, stolen moment. Are you?”

She shook her head, touching a tentative hand to his chest. “There’s no coming back from this, is there?” she rasped.

“No; at least, not for me, there isn’t.”

Kitara stretched up to meet him, and he bent his head to claim her mouth with his. A tingling wave of adrenaline originated low in her belly and spread, a wildfire she didn’t want to tame. Her lips parted, and his tongue gently probed before meeting hers. That subtle, evocative invasion of her mouth made butterflies explode in her stomach. The taste of him was as alluring as the rest of him. She traced the coarse stubble along his jaw with her fingers.

“I told you,” he murmured in a husky voice, “I’m ruined for anything but you.”

Refusing to release her, Storm fumbled for the palm scanner on the wall, admitting them into his room. They nearly fell through the doorway. The door had barely closed again when Storm had her pushed up against it, his mouth slanted hard across hers.

When they finally came up for air, gasping, Storm drew back to meet her unfocused gaze. “Tell me,” he breathed into her ear. “Tell me you’re mine.”

“I’m yours,” she whispered.

He growled again, this time in approval, and scooped her up into his arms.

Kitara wrapped her legs around Storm’s waist as he carried her into the adjoining bedroom and set her down beside the bed.

“If I do anything you don’t want, tell me to stop,” he murmured.

“I don’t want you to stop.”

He shot her a rakish smile and leaned forward to kiss her again, cupping her jaw with one hand while the other found the hem of her cropped tee and tugged it up and over her head. Kitara shivered as the cool air brushed over her skin, and his eyes darkened with desire.

Storm reached behind his head and pulled his own shirt off, revealing his glorious torso. Kitara put her hands to his chest. Every line of him was carved as if from stone. It was all she could do not to trace each chiseled plane with her fingers, memorizing the shape of him, from the contours of his broad shoulders to the enticing lines of his hips and beyond. All she wanted now was to succumb to him.

Piece by piece, clothing fluttered to the floor. Storm’s hands roamed over her skin as she put a hand to the back of his neck and pulled him closer.

When their gazes met once more, something unspoken passed between them. Storm’s expression gentled, and he pressed his lips to hers, guiding her backward to the bed.

“Do you trust me?” he murmured again.

Kitara nodded as she sank to sit on the edge of the mattress.

“I want to hear you say it.”

The command sent desire lancing through her. “I trust you, Storm.”

Storm leaned forward, his voice low and blistering against her neck. “Say the word, and I’ll stop. But until then, you’re mine, and I want to learn every inch of you.”

“Stars…” Heat flared in her belly at his words.

He chuckled, the hum of his voice an erotic melody against her skin, then sank to his knees.

He sat back on his heels as his eyes roamed over her naked body. She bit her lip, a blush suffusing her face. He kissed the supple skin of her inner thigh and she shivered. His lips curled in a roguish smile. “The things I plan to do to you…”

Kitara gasped when his hand slipped between her legs. Then his mouth found her heat, and all rational thought fled her mind. She fisted the sheets in her hands, panting as he explored, flicking his tongue over the most sensitive parts of her, tasting her desire.

He slipped a finger inside her, and she clenched around him as he stroked her in time with the movements of his sinful tongue.

A whimper of arousal escaped her lips. «It’s not enough—»

«It will be.»

She threaded her fingers through his dark hair, a soft cry escaping her lips. A flutter built low in her belly. The ache built, and her legs shook; he wound her tighter and tighter until she couldn’t stand it anymore, crying out a plea.

«Let go, baby.»

Kitara came apart with panting cries, clenching around him as she jackknifed. He pinned her with one arm to prevent her escaping from the overwhelming sensation his fingers and mouth aroused, until pleasure bordered on delirium and she was seeing stars.

Kitara’s chest rose and fell with ragged breaths, sweat dampening her skin.

With a smile that suggested he was very pleased with himself, Storm withdrew. He climbed up onto the bed with her, lowering his mouth to hers. She grasped the nape of his neck with one hand, tasting herself on his lips. Lust and heat coursed through her all over again.

«I want you,» Kitara insisted. «Please…»

Hunger flamed in his eyes at her words, and he bowed over her, claiming her mouth with a hungry kiss. In one slow delicious movement, he sank into her.

Kitara closed her eyes with a vocal sigh. As her warmth enveloped him and she adjusted to the feeling of him, she wrapped her legs around his waist, drawing him deeper within. The sensation of overwhelming fullness sent electric goosebumps racing over her skin.

More than that, the overwhelming sense of rightness nearly undid her all over again. Like two halves of one whole, like coming home.

He touched his forehead to her shoulder with a groan. “Blessed stars, Kit…”

He began to move slowly, stroking in and out of her with deliberate, languid rhythm, pausing each time he pulled back.

Kitara’s fingers twisted in the blankets. “Storm, you’re driving me mad…”

His answering smile was wicked and full of promise.

Gripping her hips, he drove deep within her. She threw her head back, crying out as cascades of sparkling warmth resonated through her with each powerful thrust.

Their pace increased.

Kitara rose up to meet him now, stroke for stroke as tingling sensation built in her again. She tightened her grip on the back of his neck while he took her hard, sheathing himself to the hilt as he breathed in short, uneven gasps.

Their passion overwhelmed her, and she crested on the edge.

With a ragged cry bordering on a sob, she came hard around him. Storm planted his hands on either side of her head. The muscle in his jaw jumped as he ground his teeth, fighting against losing control while she splintered. His need for release echoed across the connection between their minds.

Kitara took his face in her hands and pressed her forehead to his. “Let go, baby,” she echoed him in a gasping whisper. “I want to feel you.”

Storm tensed, gripping her hip tightly enough to bruise while his other hand fisted in the sheets. He came with a low groan, gasping between clenched teeth.

Kitara shuddered at the feeling of his release, her spasms reverberating with diminishing intensity until finally, Storm sagged onto his elbows and they both went still.

Bodies slick with sweat, chests heaving, they stayed that way for a long moment. Kitara reveled in Storm’s weight as he sank into her embrace, pleased to see him shiver when she nipped at the tender skin just below his ear.

Storm brushed his lips over hers and murmured something about cleaning up. With a sated groan, he withdrew and rose from the bed.

Completely spent, Kitara closed her eyes with a satisfied sigh. After a moment, the mattress shifted beneath Storm’s weight as he joined her again, settling behind her.

She turned toward him, and Storm pulled her into his chest. She inhaled the scent of his soap and musk, heady with contentment. She curled up against him, and he proceeded to caress her from shoulder to hip, kneading gentle circles against her skin.

“If someone told me six months ago where I’d be at this moment,” she murmured, “I’d have sent them to the Healers for a psych eval.”

His deep laugh rumbled through his chest, the sound rich and lazy. “Same.” He paused a moment. “But I’m glad it’s you.”

She met his gaze, her green eyes luminous. “Me too.”

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