Free The Burn by K J Morgan Page B

sliding possessively under her hips, lifting their angle against him.
    His cock rubbed upward in this position, intensifying the bright sensation inside her. Miranda strained against him and felt the pleasure crest. It overwhelmed her, the delirious tension blooming into a blinding orgasm. She caught her breath, then sobbed with it, her muscles held tight as the release burned its way through her soul.
    Seth groaned, thrusting so deep she nearly came again. He clenched his teeth, riding out his own orgasm in slow, powerful strokes, his expression transformed by it.
    Miranda raised her hands to cradle his face and he looked down at her, lowering his mouth to hers to impart a lover's kiss, a touch that was achingly sensual. He had given her what she needed. The warmth had returned to her skin, the flush of life flowing strong in her veins.
    She was immortal and still human, still the woman that Seth believed her to be. The reality of it settled with horrified awe. In her hunger and pain, she had placed Seth exactly where the Necromancer wanted him.
    She closed her eyes. "I shouldn't have done this to you."
    He laughed under his breath. "Feel free to repeat your mistake," he replied, smoothing the hair back from her temple with his thumb. "And commit any others that come to mind."
    "Promise me that you'll leave now. You have to."
    "What?"
    "Promise me that you'll leave this desert."
    He stared at her in disbelief. "You just begged me not to let you go. Now you want me to leave?"
    "I needed you."
    "And you still need me, which is why I'm staying."
    "They're after you," she insisted. "They've already got me, can't you see that? I have to be here. I have to fight. But you can still walk away."
    "We can both walk away. I'd like nothing better than to get you out of this place. I'll take you wherever you want to go, wherever you feel safe."
    "It's impossible."
    "No, it's not. Look, if you want to stay with me, in my home or the studio, you can. It doesn't have to be about what's between us. I can give you the time and the space you need to sort out what you want, what you need."
    "I meant that it's physically impossible."
    He stared at her. "I don't understand."
    "I can't leave this desert. I exist here, only here, only for a short time. I only have a few days left to stop him and I have to find a way to do that."
    Alarm surfaced in his gaze. "That's not true, sweetheart, none of it. I know it must seem true, but he's messed with your mind. God only knows what you've endured here. He's convinced you that there's no escape and you can't leave this desert, but you can. I'll drive you out right now and you'll wake up in my arms tomorrow morning, I promise you that."
    "You don't understand."
    "I don't, that's true, but I'd like to."
    She shook her head, clasping onto his arms and gently urging him up. He acquiesced, drawing back to release her from his sheltering hold. She rose to her feet and stepped away from the couch, moving to stand in the red glow filtering through the windshield from the drum circle camp.
    "I remember what happened now," she said, scanning the desert outside, finding it easier to speak if she didn't have to see the disbelief in his eyes.
    "I remember the woman I was. I remember what she came here to do." She paused, lifting her gaze skyward in anguish. "And I remember the exact moment she died."
    * * *
    Seth watched her for a moment, her slender form outlined in the crimson light, the beads of her outfit glittering darkly. His image of her blurred, the dizzying effects of the drug in his system mixing with the chemical bliss of sex. It was difficult to see her, difficult to concentrate.
    He rubbed his hand over his face and sat back on the couch to refasten his clothing. He stayed where he was after he was done, though he wanted to get up and coax her back into his arms. She seemed too slight, too alone, as she stood against the glow from outside.
    "I was like you," she began softly. "I knew he was drugging them,