Reluctant Partnerships by Ariel Tachna Page A

would touch his heart with the razor-sharp canines. His head spun as his hands dug into the muscles of Jean’s shoulders. He tried to hold back a little longer, but his body had learned too well to associate Jean feeding with the explosive lust between them. Desire built and built, spiraling through him and out across his bond with Jean, only to rush back, augmented by Jean’s need, until nothing existed but that moment in time and space, their bodies as linked as their minds and hearts.
    Jean tasted the moment when Raymond’s control shattered, when anything else ceased to exist, even before he felt the hot splash of the wizard’s release between their bodies. The taste of Raymond’s climax in his blood followed by the sweet rush of satiation set fire to Jean as well, his orgasm spooling through him and out of him to fill his lover’s body with proof of his adoration. He gentled his suckling, his fangs resting in Raymond’s chest as his softening cock rested in Raymond’s passage, letting the moment of communion stretch.
    Finally, though, he had to lift his head, licking quickly at the bite marks to close them.
    “Not that I’m complaining, because you know I’m not, but what brought that on tonight?” Raymond asked. “After last night and this afternoon, I expected it to be a couple of days before you were hungry again.”
    “I’m always hungry for you,” Jean said. “I just usually control it better than I did tonight.”
    “You know I’m perfectly happy with you not controlling it,” Raymond reminded him with a smile. “This has you worried, doesn’t it?”
    Jean nodded. “It could undo all our hard work over the past two years to convince people of vampires’ right to be treated fairly and our ability to live within the confines of the law.”
    “That’s what you have to make people understand,” Raymond said. “That he isn’t living within the confines of the law, human or vampire, and that vampires are as upset about his behavior as mortals will be when they learn about it. It will be an uphill battle, no doubt about it, but that doesn’t mean it’s one we have to lose. I need to sleep a little and then we’ll go see Anne-Marie again and get the legal people at l’ANS started on legislation we can propose. We’ll deal with this the same way we’ve dealt with everything else since the alliance began.”
    Jean smiled, the simple reminder reassuring him. “Together.”
     
     
    A DÈLE let herself into her house in Château-Chinon, resetting the wards and locking the door behind her. She tossed her keys and wand in the basket she kept by the door so she wouldn’t have to search for them in the morning and stretched, her back arching as she reached toward the ceiling. Her whole body hurt from the tension of being in the same room with Pascale and not letting anyone see the turmoil. The stretches helped, but they would not relax her enough for her to sleep.
    Pulling the pins from the chignon that kept her long hair confined during the day, she shook it out, feeling that bit of tension leave her as well. She walked slowly through the small house to the bathroom, turning the hot water on full and closing the door to keep the heat inside. She would soak until she was wrinkled and then go to bed.
    And forget about the woman in Paris who could be her partner if Adèle would let her.
    Stripping down, she climbed in the tub, hissing as the hot water hit her chilled skin. It would be time to turn the heat on soon, and then another long, cold winter. Every winter she swore she would move to Provence, but she never did. No matter how much she cursed the cold weather, this was home in a way no other place had ever been.
    Settling into the water, she closed her eyes and wondered how she had managed to be the one driving along the road from Dommartin to Château-Chinon at exactly the right—or wrong—moment to find Pascale. Any of the wizards associated with the now-defunct Milice de Sorcellerie