Unending Desire

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Unending Desire

Copyright 2019 by Tina Donahue

ISBN: 978-1-68361-345-9

Smashwords Edition

Cover art by Fantasia Frog Designs

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden

without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC

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His hunger for one woman will make him a traitor to his world….

From a portal in his lab on E2, one of the five dimensions of Earth, quantum physicist Nikoli Zorr gazes on everything forbidden to him. Passion. Desire. The exquisite pleasure of running his hands over the lush curves of a young woman he should have stopped watching weeks ago.

His duty is to close the portals that keep the monsters out of E2—and never interfere with the inevitable fate of those on the other side. Yet he can’t bring himself to abandon the woman who has captured his soul.

Psychologist Regina Page is trying to keep her focus on her client and off the mysterious, unbearable sexual cravings that consume her when she’s alone in her bedroom. The next moment she’s attacked by vampires then swept into another realm by Nikoli, a stranger whose touch awakens that same raw desire. Whose eyes are already filled with farewell.

Yet beneath their undeniable carnal lust, something else stirs. The beginnings of illicit love. The unexpected need to protect him. Even if it means risking body, blood, and soul to defeat the merciless horde…for a future that was never meant to be.

Unending Desire

Outlawed Realm - Book 1

By

Tina Donahue

Dedication

To my awesome PA Pamela Leonhardt and the wonderful ladies on my street team. You guys rock!

Chapter One

Undetected, Nikoli Zorr watched the woman sleep.

His pulse quickened. Warmth poured through him.

He spoke her name. Regina Page.

At the sound, pleasure weakened him, awakening desire controlled for too long, giving him a taste of what it was like to be nothing more than a man. A creature surrendering to touch, taste, sight, sound, and passion. Heat built within him. Cravings flooded his thoughts.

Behind him and to each side, monitors hummed in his lab on E2, their lights blinking in response, reminders of his duty.

Too easily, he ignored his responsibility and dared to whisper her first name again, testing how it felt on his lips. Embracing the sound, he remained riveted to the scene the portal between their dimensions revealed.

Pearly morning light seeped past the filmy curtains in her bedroom. Steady rain greeted another Seattle day, the water flowing in uneven ridges down the windowpanes.

Regina’s dark lashes rested on her smooth cheeks. Her plush lips, tinted a soft rose, parted slightly, her lovely features untroubled.

If she dreamed, the images must have been pleasant.

She had no idea the danger she faced tonight.

His chest tightened at the horror today would bring her if he didn’t intervene. Events Sazaar had put into motion weeks before when she’d crossed over to Regina’s side—a realm forbidden to all on E2. Searching for passion…for love…Sazaar had found Andris and a lingering death instead.

Before fear and anger made him lose control, Nikoli suppressed his emotions as he’d been trained to do throughout his life. Only yearning for Regina remained. He couldn’t help himself. He didn’t want to.

Her lush mouth and delicate features captivated him. Her auburn hair spilled over her snowy pillow.

His lids slid down. Breathing grew difficult. He craved her as he had nothing else in his life. No. It hadn’t been a life but an existence. He now realized what he’d missed, wanting her more than food, water, safety, or honor. Needing her close, straddling his legs, draping herself over him, her nipples brushing his chest, her reddish locks sweeping past his shoulders. Her face above his, her smile welcoming, seductive, her passion free and reckless as she brushed her lips on his and speared her tongue into his mouth, filling it, exploring.

A sound rushed from him, one he’d never made before. He could almost feel her intense heat, her cunt’s slick depths hugging his cock, offering it a home, promising delight and refuge where he could—

Screeeeeeee.

The sudden, steady wail cut through the space between their dimensions. Her alarm clock shrieked, the portal barrier subduing the noise on this side.

Eyes closed, she flung out her arm and fumbled blindly to shut off the noise. Unable to, she swore.

He smiled at her uncensored oath.

She threw back the covers and left the bed. On tiptoes, she stretched, supple and sinuous.

He tried to swallow but couldn’t. Her dark-green nightgown fluttered above her satiny thighs. Raindrops zigzagged down the windows and created faint shadows on her pale skin. Her hair dangled past her shoulders.

Instinctively, he reached out, seeking the glossy strands, but touched nothing except sterile air on his side.

His frustration mounted.

She slipped the narrow straps past her shoulders. The lightweight fabric slid over her breasts and caught on her nipples before drifting to her waist.

She glanced at the dreary weather.

Nikoli should have turned away, but couldn’t. He feasted on her lush breasts and hips.

Her nightgown glided past her thighs and pooled at her feet. She stepped away from the garment and twisted her hair, lifting it.

His mouth went dry at the curls between her legs, slightly darker than her other hair. Each time she inhaled deeply, her belly rippled. After a brief yawn, she padded toward the bath.

Unwilling to bear even more separation between them, he stepped closer to the gateway.

Regina stopped and stared at the window. Ashy light caressed her features, revealing her sudden confusion.

She’d felt him. She still did.

He waited for her next move.

Seconds ticked by.

She lowered her face.

Again, he stepped closer.

She stilled then faced the portal he knew was invisible from her side. There, she’d see nothing more than her bedroom wall and the pictures she’d hung.

Here, the gateway resembled glass, allowing him to watch her without restriction. To see what he should not and want what he wasn’t allowed to have. Didn’t matter. No rule could stop the longing coursing through him, followed by insatiable lust, both stealing his control.

Color rose to her cheeks. Desire transformed her features.

He came alive as he never had. I feel you, too.

Her lids fluttered, as though she’d heard him. An impossible matter. She padded closer and looked to his right then left.

No. His disappointment and need flared. I’m right in front of you.

His words drew her nearer.

Loneliness as great as his sparked in her green eyes. Behind the emotion lay hope for something more that would thrill and comfort: her touch, the promise in her glance, solace in her caress.

Her emotions didn’t last. Her confused frown deepened.

He slumped. This isn’t what I want. I— Unable to continue, he squeezed his fists. You’ll know me tonight. A pledge he’d keep no matter the consequences.

She hurried toward the bath, pausing to peer over her shoulder, her lips parting on a brief sigh.

He treasured the gentle sound and imagined her sweet breath skipping across his cheek and her fragrant musk surrounding him as he held her close.

Tonight. The word reverberated in his thoughts.

She disappeared into the bath.

The portal adjusted immediately, like a camera lens, and zoomed in on the new room.

Antique light fixtures above the sink bathed the snug space in a gauzy golden glow. The illumination transformed her ivory skin into a shade resembling ripe wheat. Her cheeks grew rosier.

She bypassed the claw-footed tub and entered the more modern glass-enclosed shower, her front then back turned to the pulsing water. The spray hardened her nipples. Moisture beaded on her chest and ran in unruly streams down her torso.

Delight jolted him, quickening his pulse.

Silvery beads journeyed to her navel, circled the small depression, then glided lower, trapped in the curls between her legs.

Sagged against the shower wall, she squeezed her breasts, her palms massaging the nipples, then she dipped her hand to her cunt…her clit.

Words he’d heard in her dimension, ones unknown on E2, the same as impetuous desire and unrestrained passion. Helpless to stop himself, he drank her in.

She stroked her nub, her face strained with arousal, eyebrows drawn together in concentration.

Steam billowed around her. Water licked her flesh.

She concentrated on her pleasure. Her thighs tensed first then she splayed and curled her toes. Briskly, repeatedly, she stroked her clit. Her mouth hung open on a delighted cry.

Pleasure he wanted to give her.

Finished, she draped her arms over her head and gulped the misty air.

Nikoli fought his unending desire before it forced him to do something foolish.

Footfalls hurried down the hall on his side and approached his lab door. Possibly a colleague come to discuss an important matter. Worry cramped his belly. Still, he resisted closing the portal and losing Regina for even a moment.

The individual coughed.

Caution won out. Nikoli swept his hand at the monitor nearest him. Characters flashed on its screen.

Footfalls stopped outside his door.

The transparent gateway turned opaque. The window into Regina’s realm morphed into a blank wall.

His yearning mounted. Tonight I’ll see you. He’d cross over as Sazaar had done, though not through a spontaneous portal as she had, but one he’d create, using a device he’d built. An instrument outlawed on E2.

His treacherous actions should have troubled Nikoli, but didn’t. Already he’d lied to his people, explaining Sazaar’s absence as a retreat she’d planned to take so she could clear her mind for future work.

Only he knew what she’d become after Andris had turned her. How she threatened Regina and E2’s existence.

Light rapping sounded on his lab door.

He rested his fingertips on the barrier to open it.

His father stood in the hall, a scientist, the same as him. He was elegant in appearance, his hair a silvery gray. His face showed complete trust in his son.

Shame battered Nikoli at the lies he would soon tell his father. How he would betray everything he was supposed to believe in so he could save Regina.

A woman forbidden to him. One for whom he prepared to risk treason. One for whom he planned to die.

Chapter Two

Regina faced her patient, Tim McIntyre. A twentysomething with generalized anxiety and panic disorder, her specialty. At thirty-one, she’d been a licensed psychologist for seven years, witnessing fear and anguish on a daily basis.

She liked to think she was involved, caring, determined to bring her patients relief.

Today, she couldn’t focus. Impatience ate at her. Anticipation hummed in her blood.

For what?

She had no idea.

The sensations she’d experienced this morning returned without warning—the feeling that someone watched her in her bedroom. What should have been unpleasant or frightening hadn’t been. A welcomed thrill had raced through her, making her skin tingle and her body want. Oh God, how she’d wanted. Never before had she masturbated in her shower. Somehow, doing so seemed needed and necessary.

Tim cleared his throat.

Brought back to the moment, she suppressed a frown. She wanted him to leave so she could be alone and think this through. Wait. She didn’t want to think, she wanted to feel, to relive the pleasure from this morning.

I’m sorry, but I still can’t go out. Fear rasped his words. It’s too overwhelming.

With his mournful admission, she forced herself to actually see him. Painstakingly groomed, he wore an expensive camel-hair jacket, tawny cashmere sweater, and designer jeans.

When she’d been a child living in poverty, his clothing would have represented several months’ salary for her mother. For him, the garments and his job as a successful software engineer didn’t provide a sense of power or freedom from his doubts. He gnawed his thumb, peeked at her, and glanced away in embarrassment.

Last week, empathy had welled in her for him, as it did for all her patients. Now, she struggled to maintain composure, to bury her annoyance as she explained the obvious. You said you can’t go out, yet you came here. You were able to leave your condo, drive several miles, come through the crowded building, and arrive at my office. That’s a remarkable feat.

Hope raced across his youthful features, replaced by quick doom. He wrapped his arms around himself and rocked. Why is this so fucking hard for me? Why can’t I be like everyone else and work in an office with other people rather than hiding in my room all day? If it wasn’t for my boss letting me program from home, I wouldn’t even have a job.

We all have our fears. Together, we’ll work through yours.

He remained unconvinced. For the remaining hour, he detailed each defeat he’d endured during the last seven days. Repeatedly, she pointed out his small victories, then fell silent as he did, her thoughts drifting as she hungered for what she’d experienced this morning.

The feeling that somehow she wasn’t alone any longer. A sense of being wanted and loved that she’d never known with any man. There had been too few in her life, none memorable or cherished enough to touch her soul.

Dr. Page?

She started.

Tim stood near his chair, shifting his weight from foot to foot, anxiety not allowing him a moment’s rest. He looked ready to bolt from this room. Regina hoped she hadn’t spoken her thoughts aloud and caused him more distress.

She didn’t want to ask but couldn’t ignore him forever. What?

My hour’s up…isn’t it?

His hesitation made her ashamed for her previous irritation and inattention. She offered a gentle smile. Yes, it is. She walked him to the door leading to the reception area. Work on those exercises we talked about. Record each victory, no matter how small you believe it to be. Remember, every panic attack has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It will be over.

He sagged. Not soon enough. It’s never soon enough.

I know it doesn’t seem like it, but you are making progress. She opened the door. See you next week.

On a heavy sigh, he plodded toward the exit and offered a farewell nod to Carly, Regina’s receptionist.

Carly waited until the outer door swung shut then pointed at her computer screen. Your next appointment cancelled a few minutes ago. Claimed to have a flat tire. I told her she’d be charged for the hour. Didn’t faze her at all. She shrugged but tapped her heels against the hardwood floor. Rat-a-tat-tat.

A sure sign she wanted to get out of here as badly as Regina did, though for different reasons. Having recently given birth, Carly couldn’t wait to get home to her new baby and husband—what many would have considered an ordinary life, perhaps even dull. Compared to Regina’s, it was Las Vegas on steroids. Every evening, she returned to an empty house, ate a solitary meal, then read patient files before exhaustion drove her to sleep.

Maybe she should start prowling chat rooms for singles then take the ultimate leap to an Internet dating service.

Or get a cat. Maybe a dog. Possibly both.

Carly pushed back her chair. Looks like you have an hour to kill before your last appointment.

Regina had an overwhelming urge to cancel her final patient.

Hey, you okay? Carly leaned forward, her blue eyes narrowed in scrutiny.

Uncertain how to answer, Regina opted for a lie. Sure.

Carly regarded her for a long moment then sucked her bottom lip.

Her body language was a dead giveaway to a psychologist. How about you? Everything all right?

Guilt flashed across her face. Given her short black hair and pretty features, she resembled a young Demi Moore in the old movie Ghost. Even her voice was Demi husky. Can I take off a little early? The sitter called. She said Emma’s been fussy all day. I think she’s getting a cold. Poor little thing. The sitter took her temperature three times. It’s a bit elevated, and I—

Go. Regina shooed her away. Take care of your daughter.

Carly’s grin deepened