Twenty-Five
Surprise
Saber watched Tirah’s chest rise and fall for a very long moment. Yeah, she definitely had too much to drink. Body and head aching, though for two entirely different reasons, Saber sighed. Just the sight of Tirah in his bed did something to him. Made him want what he refused to take. Then he drew in Tirah’s scent and wondered how long she’d be out. He was tired, but there was no way he’d get any sleep in the condition he was in. Finally, he peeled his clothing off, and hoping a cold shower would help, made his way over to the large bathing room.
Turning the taps on cold, he stepped under the spray. The shock helped for a moment. Then he thought about Tirah in his bed. He was getting nowhere. What the fuck was he doing treating her like she was his woman? He should have just let Cass interrogate her. At the idea, a dark pit filled his gut.
Desperate to retrieve Adarias from Hades, Tirah was his last hope. Everyone else from that night had been killed at his hands. Well, claws actually. But first he had delved into their minds and interrogated them until they begged for mercy. What was that she had murmured about someone else being there? He hadn’t caught any other scents. Could he have missed someone?
His skin chilled under the icy onslaught, yet jagged shards continued to pierce his skull like white-hot bolts of lightning. Saber closed his eyes and raised his face to the water. Memories of all he’d done, rushed through his mind. Little by little his soul had begun to disappear and now, the darkness inside had awoken. It was wasting no time in taking over his determination for answers, a solution, anything to get his brother back. Saber leaned his forehead against the water-polished rock wall. No, not now, please.
But it was coming. A dark labyrinth within his fractured mind, and there was nothing he could do about it. Saber only hoped he didn’t hurt the woman in his bed while he blacked out. As he struggled to remain sane, the water began to warm. Part of him noticed and understood that this was odd, while the other part didn’t care. Then a gentle hand landed on his bicep, and fire rose inside of him.
How had she gotten so close without him noticing? His dragon senses should have warned him. It just went to show how far gone he was. That the very abilities keeping him alive were failing.
He really should take her back to civilization and disappear before he did something he’d regret.
Tirah’s touch heated him up, and the torment and confusion in his mind cleared. Surprised, Saber turned and blinked the water out of his eyes. Tirah stood gloriously naked, right in front of him.
“What are you doing here?” His voice was rough as he imagined being inside of her. Fuck, why did he have to react this way around her? He swallowed and fought to keep his eyes on Tirah’s. It was a battle he lost as she moved closer. His aching arousal strained, ready and willing.
“Tirah?” Saber ground his teeth as her eyes slid all over him, widening as she saw how hungry he was for her.
“You are really, uh, big.” She worried her bottom lip as she stared at his cock.
Saber groaned. “Tirah?”
“Huh?” Finally, amber eyes sparkling, she met his gaze. “I heard you in here.”
“How did you change the temperature like that?” Saber asked, trying to buy some time before the inevitable. He hadn’t touched the controls, and neither had she. Nor had he felt any draw of magic or heard her murmur a spell.
Tirah scrunched up her face. “It was too cold.”
As she moved closer, Saber fought for control, not sure how long he could hold off. He was afraid that with the state he was in, he’d hurt her. “Tirah, don’t.”
“I don’t know why, but ever since I first saw you, I’ve wanted you,” she said, eyes luminous as she stared up at him.
Saber groaned again, then his lips found hers. Her mouth opened under his onslaught with a ragged cry, and her arms came around him. Tirah pressed up against him and the heat of her skin against his made Saber’s body tremble. Needing, wanting, his tongue delved deeper, exploring, tasting, consuming. He’d waited ten long years for this, and she tasted every bit as succulent as he’d imagined.
With an iron will, Saber tried to hold still, but the feel of her breasts pressed against his chest, and his cock sandwiched between them, made it a battle. He’d wanted her, dreamed of her for so long, forsaking all other females who no longer interested him. Now that it was happening, the one segment of his mind still sane and aware, screamed at him to go slow. To take it easy or he’d hurt her badly. The other, much darker part hungered to take her until she screamed his name and came in his arms, while he savored her body and slaked his desires.
He pushed her up against the polished wall, held her hands above her head, and ravaged her mouth. Tirah met him, her tongue every bit as eager as his. His senses swirled, lost to desire and longing. Hunger to taste every inch of her took over. Wanting more, Saber nibbled her lips, then her chin. Reveling in the torture it took to go slow, he moved down her neck and gave into the desire to lick, before working his way to her ear. Tirah fought against his grip on her hands with a cry as he suckled her lobe, and Saber felt her pulse race just as fast as his own. Then he made his way down to one large, rosy globe.
Tirah whimpered when he took her breast into his mouth, then he let her go, and moved on to the other. He had wanted to do this for so long.
With a moan, Tirah managed to free one arm and her hand tangled roughly in his hair. “I never imagined it would feel like this,” she cried as his hand moved down her belly and to the V between her legs.
“Oh,” Tirah cried out, suddenly shaking.
Saber sucked in a breath at how wet she was, and inserted a finger inside her, checking to see if she was ready for him. Then he felt a barrier. With a frown, he pulled his finger out and looked at her. “You’re a virgin?”
“Not for long,” she said and giggled as she drew her own finger down his chest.
A breath burst from him, and Saber caught her hand before it could explore lower. “Tirah, no.”
No matter how badly he wanted her, he wasn’t about to take advantage when she was drunk. Oh, so you can kill her, just not fuck her? the voice in his head taunted. Saber growled.
“You are so prickly.” Tirah giggled again and pulled her hand from his grasp and ran her fingers down his side. “Please. I don’t care how we do it, but I just need to have sex once before I die—” She hiccupped and slapped a hand over her lips. “Oops.”
Saber shut the water off and led her out of the shower stall.
“Oh, you want to do it out here?” she asked, staring around the bathing room.
“No,” Saber growled.
“Why n-not?” she asked.
“Because, you’re drunk.” He wanted to kick himself.
“I know. I neber been drunk before.” She giggled.
“I’m not taking advantage of you while you’re like this.” Moving away, Saber grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist.
Tirah pouted. “Why’d you do that? I liked you naked.” Then she attempted to pull the towel away. Without a word, Saber grabbed her hand and led her back into his bedroom.
“Oh!” Tirah let go of his hand and hurried over to flop facedown on his bed. She let out a huge sigh and then looked back at him, fiery eyes full of invitation. “So … you want me like this?”
Saber fought his desire. Though the sight of her backside and the urge to touch, to see if her skin was as smooth as it appeared, drew him forward anyway.
He shook his head. “No, go to sleep.” You are really turning this down? Needles lanced his skull and he winced.
“Sleep is boring, I dreamed of all the ways we would do this. I want you to make sex to me.” Tirah’s words slurred as she flipped over onto her back. “We can do this way firsts.” The sight of her plump, rosy-tipped breasts and her smooth belly, which led to an enticing V, drew a ragged groan from Saber. His breath was coming in gasps as bolts shot into his brain, pelting him, one after the other.
Tirah sat up. “What’s wrong with the head with you?” Then she scowled at her own words. “I mean—I feel lightning.” She patted her own head, and Saber frowned at her. She was feeling his suffering?
Saber strengthened his mental shields as questions raced through his mind. How was she even still awake? And how had she made the water warm in the shower? He never heard her murmuring a spell, and all the Ilyium he’d ever met had to speak aloud any spell they performed. No, there was something different about her, as if she weren’t entirely Human.
“What are you?” he asked gruffly, trying to take his mind off how badly he wanted to be inside of her. Yet, she completely mesmerized him, and he knew he wouldn’t shake the urge to fuck her hard and fast anytime soon.
Tirah shook her head. “I’m Human, that’s all.”
Saber didn’t quite believe her.
“You aren’t going to … ah.” She waved her hand indicating her body and swallowed. “I’d going to die a virgin, aren’t I?” A tear slipped from the corner of her eye.
Saber wanted to groan. Instead, he bit down on his tongue hard—happy when he drew blood—grabbed the blanket from where she had shoved it to the bottom of the bed, and covered her. “Get some sleep.”
But when he attempted to move away, she grabbed his hand. “Please, stay with me?”
Saber stared down at her, wondering what he was getting himself into, yet, she sounded so alone and lost that he couldn’t bring himself to say no.
“Give me a moment,” he said and quickly pulled some sweatpants on, wincing as he tucked his stiff member inside. Then he slid into bed and lay on his back, heart pounding. Tirah inched close and then stopped, as if suddenly aware of how volatile the situation was. Still, her stare as she lay on her side facing him and stirred the fire within, it was all he could do to keep his hands off her.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly, and by her haunted expression, he knew she wasn’t talking about tonight. He took a deep breath and was about to ask her about that night, when her eyes closed, and she fell asleep.
Moments later, she snuggled up against him, then sighed deeply.
Saber lay perfectly still, hard and throbbing for what he wouldn’t allow himself to have. While it might be a different kind of torture, contact with her eased the ache in his head to a dull throb, which was a relief. He thought back on each time she’d touched him and how the torment in his skull would disappear, or at least retreat. Why did he have this reaction to her?
He knew that true soul mates calmed their partner and balanced them. For dragonkind, a male wasn’t complete without his soul mate. He stared at Tirah. There was no way in Hades that she could be his. She was his enemy and being attracted to her didn’t change that. She’d killed Maya and sent his brother to a hell realm. He could never forgive her for that.
Then he thought about her words earlier. She didn’t seem to know what he was talking about. Though she had been drunk and not in her right mind.
Still, something told him things weren’t so black and white, and before he lost more to her, he needed to come up with a plan. Some way to interrogate her and find out what he needed to know, cause sure as shit, getting her drunk hadn’t done what he wanted.