Dark Prince by Christine Feehan Page B

heart turn over.
    "I do not want you to leave me, little one. Have the courage to stay with me. Perhaps I am a monster. I do not know anymore, I truly do not, only that I need you to stay with me."
    "You could have made me forget," she pointed out, more for herself than for him, more of a question than a statement. He had been wild, but she couldn't say he'd hurt her. Rather, he had taken her to the very stars.
    "I thought about it," he admitted reluctantly, "but I do not want that between us. I am sorry I was not more careful with your innocence."
    She heard the ache in his voice, felt an answering one in her body. "You know you made sure I felt pleasure." Ecstasy was more like it. A baptism by fire, an exchange of souls. He was wild, and he had swept her up with him in the firestorm. And she wanted him again, craved his touch, the driving strength of his body. But he was dangerous, really, really, dangerous. She knew that now. She knew he was different, that something lived in him, more animal than man.
    "Mikhail." Raven pushed against the solid wall of his chest. She needed to breathe, to think without feeling the heat of his skin and the urgent demands of his body.
    "Do not do this!" His voice was a sharp command. "Do not shut me out."
    "You're talking about a commitment to something so beyond anything I can imagine…" Raven bit at her lip. "My home is so far from here."
    "You have nothing but sorrow there, Raven." He refused the simple out for both of them. "You know you will not survive on your own, and although it is in your mind to deny them your talents when they come to you with another hideous crime, you know in your heart you will be unable to say no. It is not in you to allow a killer to go free when you might save his next victim." His hand bunched in the silken length of her hair, as if that could hold her to him. "They cannot care for you as I can."
    "What of our differences? You have this attitude toward women, as if we're second-class citizens and not too bright. Unfortunately, you have the capability to force your will on anyone who might oppose you. And I would. All the time. I have to be myself, Mikhail."
    He lifted the weight of her hair from the nape of her neck and brushed a kiss, feather light, on her exposed skin. "You know my attitude toward women reflects my need to protect them, not that I think them less than myself. Oppose me all you wish, little one. I love everything about you."
    His thumb was stroking the soft swell of her breast, heating her blood, sending a shiver of excitement down her spine. Raven wanted him wild and untamed, wanted him needing her. He was so in control; it was a powerful aphrodisiac to realize she could make him lose that control.
    Mikhail bent his head to the hardened nipple beckoning him. His tongue touched her gently; he kissed the velvet peak, drew her into the moist, hot cavern of his mouth. Raven made a sound, a soft sigh, closed her eyes. Her body was coming alive, every nerve ending screaming for his touch. She felt boneless, pliant, her body melting into the heat of his.
    She didn't want this. Tears burned in her throat, behind her eyes. She didn't want this, but she needed it. "Don't hurt me, Mikhail." She whispered the words against the heavy muscles of his chest. It was a plea for their future. Raven knew he would never hurt her physically, but their life could be very stormy together.
    He lifted his head, shifted so that his weight pinned her beneath him. His dark eyes moved possessively over her small, fragile face. His hand cupped her face, his thumb stroking across her chin, her full lower lip. "Do not fear me, Raven. Can you not feel the strength of my emotions, my tie to you? I would give my life for you." Because he wanted truth between them, he admitted the inevitable. "It will not be easy, but we will work things out between us." His hand stroked her flat stomach, moved lower to nestle in her midnight-black curls.
    Her hand stilled his. "What