CHAPTER 18
Shaia was improving with the blade, her swipes more precise now, elegant almost as her hand fluidly glided through the air at chest height and forced him to lean back to avoid her blow. She tossed the dagger to her left hand, a move that would have given her an advantage, an opportunity to strike at him again while he was off balance, if she hadn’t broadcasted her intent to him.
Fuery shot his hand out and snatched the blade as it passed in front of her chest, his eyes tracking it as it spun end over end, so he struck at just the right moment to grab the curved hilt. The black leather was warm beneath his palm and fingers, sending a hot shiver through him at the same time as her surprised gasp.
Her amethyst eyes leaped to his and she blinked.
“You were too obvious.” He shrugged, flipped the black dagger in his hand, catching the blade between his fingers, and held it out to her.
She snatched it back and glared at him. “You are too skilled.”
“Too obvious,” he countered, and gods, he had missed their easy playful banter and the way she spoke to him, a little bite in her words that showed him how at ease she was around him.
Her frown knit harder, narrowing her eyes and compressing those lips he wanted to kiss.
When was the last time he had kissed her?
It felt like months ago, but it might have been only a few weeks.
Gaining the rank of commander, and a position serving directly under Prince Loren, had afforded him a little freedom, and he was making damned good use of it. He was free to come and go from the castle as he pleased as long as his duties were done, and he returned each night.
When he had returned four lunar cycles ago to tell Shaia about his promotion, she had been excited for him, and he had seen in her eyes and felt in her that she was also excited about what it meant for her. That alone had brought him back to her most days when he wasn’t on duty, meeting her in secret at a spot near the stream, where hills formed on one side to create a steep cliff that curved with the river, granting them some privacy.
The woods were thick beneath it on their side of the river, and another hill rose up, the trees blanketing it. The carpenters and craftsmen often visited the woods, but never ventured as deep as their secret spot, the density of the trees making it hard for them to haul their lumber out. They stayed close to the fringes of the forest.
Shaia shifted foot to foot, bare feet silent on the sandy bank of the river.
She palmed the dagger.
He had given it to her on his second visit after becoming a commander, a gift to show her that he had thought about her request and was happy to fulfil it.
Her eyes had lit up at the sight of it, and she had kissed him. Hard. Gods, she would have stolen his heart with that kiss, if it hadn’t already been hers.
Every visit since then, he had spent most of it teaching her how to fight.
She wanted to know how to handle herself, and he wanted it too, with a ferocity that had shaken him when he had made his decision.
He needed to teach her, because he needed to know she would be safe when he wasn’t with her, when he was leagues away and unable to protect her.
He stared at her, feeling that need bubbling beneath the surface of his skin, deep in his heart. He wanted to be with her always, to stand at her side and never move from it, but it wasn’t possible. He still had work to do if he was going to achieve the dream they shared—convincing her parents that he was a suitable male for her.
There were days when he didn’t want to wait though, when the call of his instincts was too strong and he found it hard to deny them.
She was his fated one.
The female he loved with all his heart.
He wanted her to be his mate.
She slowly lowered her hand to her sides, so the dagger brushed the layers of her sky-blue dress, and her eyes locked with his, her lips parting.
The dagger fell to the dirt with a thud.
Her mouth claimed his, tearing a moan from his throat.
He tunnelled his left hand beneath her fall of black wavy hair, grasped the back of her neck and kissed her hard. His right hand seized her hip and he slid it to the small of her back and hauled her up against him, so her body pressed against his and he could feel her heart thundering, hammering against his, speaking of the need he could feel running through her.
Need that matched his own.
She moaned, a quiet little sound that stirred his blood into an inferno, and he lifted her from the ground and carried her into the shade of the trees, out of the open. He set her down and she didn’t resist him as he backed her against the broad trunk of one, his lips dancing over hers, her taste flooding him with warmth, heat that had him trembling right down to his soul.
He tugged her close and kissed her deeper, tangling his tongue with hers, tearing another teasing moan from her lips that he swallowed and savoured. She grasped his bare shoulders, her touch sending a hot thrill through him, a bolt that lit him up and had him pressing against her, desperate and wild with a need to feel her soft curves cushioning his body.
Nerves threatened to rise but he pushed them down, managing to subdue them and focus on his task rather than allowing his mind to leap ahead. This wouldn’t be the first time they had touched each other. There was no reason for him to be nervous.
Unless.
Unless it became more than touching.
His heart pounded faster at just the thought, the nerves he had managed to gain control over threatening to burst free and run rampant through him. He broke the kiss and pressed his forehead to hers, breathing hard as he fought the urges rushing through him, need that he had battled more than once in their times together and would quell this time too.
Gods, he wanted to make love to her though.
He wanted to feel her warm body gloving his, and hear her cry his name as he brought her to a shattering climax.
“Fuery,” she breathed, a plea that dragged him back to her and told him that he wasn’t alone.
He could feel her desperation too, could see it in her eyes as he drew back. They were wide, wild, her pupils devouring the amethyst as she gripped his shoulders and pushed forwards, so the metal swirls of her corset pressed against his torso.
She trembled beneath his hands, her breath coming faster, and teased her lower lip with one tiny fang.
She pushed her hips forwards.
Against his.
Too much.
Not enough.
Fuery growled, grasped her waist and pressed forwards, pinning her to the rough trunk of the tree. She moaned as his rigid cock met her soft flesh and kissed him again, her tongue pushing past his lips to tease his fangs. He groaned and shuddered as she teased them, drawing them down, filling his head with wicked, dangerous thoughts.
Ones about biting her.
Her left hand skimmed over his shoulder, up his neck, and his groan became a damned whimper as she stroked the curve of his ear and feathered her fingers up to the pointed tip. Shivers tripped through him, each one hotter than the last, stirring his need to dizzying new heights, and he couldn’t stop himself from moaning and rocking against her, showing her just how mad with need she was making him.
How much he wanted her.
When she caught his jaw, turned his head to his right, and leaned towards him to stroke her tongue from his lobe to the pointed tip of his ear, his restraint shattered. On a low growl, he grabbed her backside with both hands, lifted her and pressed between her thighs. She responded by wrapping her legs around his waist, and he groaned and shuddered as she pressed against him, all heat and temptation.
Her tongue stroked his ear again, flicking the tip, her breathless little sigh of pleasure as he ground his cock against her soft heat tearing a moan from his lips and driving him to obey the need he could feel building inside her.
Need that matched his own.
“Shaia,” he whispered, on the brink of falling and needing to let her know just what she was doing to him, how she was pushing him too close to the edge.
She only moaned in response, and grazed her teeth down the curve of his ear to the lobe. She caught it between her small fangs, ripping another low groan from him as he shuddered against her and couldn’t stop himself from rubbing between her thighs. She trembled and gasped with each one, and surprised him by pressing her hips closer at the same time as she tightened her legs around him.
“Fuery.”
He had never heard his name said in such a passion-drenched and lost way, and gods, he wanted to hear her say it that way again, needed to experience the blast of sheer pleasure that had gone through him on hearing what he did to her.
That she wanted him. Needed him. Only him.
He growled and seized her mouth again, kissing her hard, unable to hold himself back as his mind leaped forwards, his body growing painfully hard at the thought of finally making love to her. She moaned and dropped her hands away from him, and he wanted to growl at her, but when he broke the kiss and looked down, he couldn’t breathe.
She pulled at her sky-blue skirts, parting the layers, exposing her thighs to him.
Sweet gods, the sight of the aching bulge in his black trousers so close to her had his mind emptying and his ears ringing.
She only made the ringing grow louder as she placed a trembling hand over that bulge.
Fuery groaned and pressed against her soft palm, shook all over as she tentatively rubbed him through his trousers. Too much. Not nearly enough. He needed more.
She was way ahead of him.
Her nimble fingers tugged at the lacing on his trousers, and part of him wanted to grin when she loosed a frustrated little noise as her trembling made it hard work. Before he could help her, she had torn the laces from the holes, and cool air washed over his exposed cock.
And then heat.
Incredible heat.
He groaned and pressed his forehead against hers as she touched him, his balls growing tight and his cock feeling as if it might burst. Sweet gods. He felt sure he might die.
She thumbed the tip and he caught her hand and pulled it away, breathing hard as he fought to subdue the pressing need to climax that had swept through him in response to that innocent touch.
“Fuery,” she whispered.
He slowly lifted his head and met her gaze.
It was dark, filled with need that he could sense in her, a hunger that ran through him too, lighting up his blood and pushing him to satisfy it.
She blinked, a flicker of nerves crossing her beautiful face, and worried her lower lip with her fangs.
And then she moved.
Raised the hem of her dress to reveal her cream undergarments.
Ran her fingers over their silky material and upwards, to the cinched waist.
Pushed them down, exposing the soft flat plane of her belly.
Fuery growled, dropped her feet to the leaf litter and fell to his knees before her. She gasped as he placed his hands over hers and moved them with his, drawing her underwear down. His heart pounded in time with hers, a fast beat that drummed in his ears and throbbed in his mind as he tugged the silk down and revealed her dark curls.
Sweet gods, he wanted to kiss her there.
He wanted to taste her on his tongue, wanted her nectar coating it as he drank down her moans.
But more than that, he wanted to sheath himself in her.
He reached her ankles and she stepped out of her underwear, and he glanced up at her face.
No trace of nerves lined her delicate features. There was only determination and need, a hunger that called to him and had his instincts pushing him forwards even as his nerves spiralled out of control.
She reached her hand out to him and brushed her palm across his cheek, her violet eyes telling him she was ready and she wanted to do this.
Too much.
He shot to his feet, claimed her backside and wrapped her legs around his hips again. She shook in his arms, but it wasn’t only nerves that had her trembling. It was need. She pressed forwards, bringing them into contact, and moaned as her body met his, soft heat against hard steel.
He reached between them, caught his aching shaft, and eased it downwards through her slick folds, and groaned as he reached her opening and the blunt head dipped forwards, entering her.
Gods.
She clutched his shoulders, her breathless moan spurring him on, and he shook away the last of his reservations, the voice that told him he wasn’t good enough for her, and pressed forwards.
She wanted him.
She had chosen him.
She believed him good enough for her even if he didn’t.
He inched deeper, his breath catching as she gloved him, so tight and hot around him. She breathed hard as she held on to him, her eyes searing his face as he focused on not hurting her, aware that males did such things to females. He didn’t want to be like them. He wanted his fated one to feel only pleasure.
Her hand caught the back of his neck and she pulled him towards her. Her mouth seized his, stealing his focus, sending pleasure blasting through him again that had him pressing deeper, shuddering as his cock slid into her and her heat encased the full length of him. He didn’t miss the way her breath hitched, and a flicker of her pain reached him, but it was gone in a heartbeat, replaced with the same bliss that rolled through him.
And then she pressed closer.
And he slid deeper still.
Definitely enough.
Gods, it was too much.
He held her backside in his right hand, pressed her against the tree with his body and eased out of her. She moaned, and it only grew louder as he slowly thrust back in. Her lips stilled against his. He breathed against them, hot air puffing back at him as he grew accustomed to being inside her, feeling her gloving him. She was so wet, so warm, so perfect around him.
He dropped his forehead to her shoulder as he thrust, struggling to control himself when an urge to take her, to find release inside her, rose inside him. She moaned each time their hips met, her body fluttering around his, clenching him at times in a way that had him close to the edge. He wanted to tell her not to do it, but gods, it felt good when she did, when she gripped him as if she didn’t want him to leave.
“Fuery,” she murmured, all the pleasure he could sense in her ringing in his name, spurring him on.
She liked the feel of him inside her, stretching her.
Claiming her.
He groaned and grunted when she tightened again, body fisting his shaft, stealing his breath. He clutched her backside harder and thrust deeper, angling his hips so he could drive more of his cock into her. He wanted every inch inside her, wanted to fill her up so she would never want another.
So she would be his forever.
Marked by him.
Wanting only him.
He shuddered and gasped as her tongue stroked up his neck, and pumped her harder, unable to stop himself as primal needs flared inside him, instincts that stole control and had him wavering on the brink of doing something he couldn’t take back or erase.
Something unbreakable.
Eternal.
His fangs punched long from his tingling gums and his senses zeroed in on her thundering heartbeat as he drove into her, her soft moans ringing in his ears together with the sweet rush of her blood.
He grunted and growled against her throat, gripping her harder and pumping her deeper, drinking those moans he elicited as he wrestled with himself, battling the instincts that battered him.
His mouth watered, thoughts of Shaia’s blood making his fangs ache.
He wanted it.
But he couldn’t take it.
Pain seared the left side of his neck, tearing a vicious grunt from his lips, and a thousand sensations bombarded him, throwing his head into a spin as his heart missed a beat and he froze, overloading and lost, struggling to comprehend what was happening.
Pleasure rolled through him, so intense it kept his mind scrambled, a combination of Shaia moving against him and something else.
Something that rocked him to his soul.
Her fangs in his throat.
She pulled them from his flesh, wrapped her lips around the wounds and sucked.
Hard.
It was over for him.
All control he had managed to claw together fled in that instant.
The feel of his blood rushing towards her, the feel of the connection blooming between them, and the emotions that coursed through it from her into him, was too much. His knees weakened beneath him and he had to lean his weight against her, pressing them both into the tree, to avoid collapsing as she drank from his vein.
And drank deep.
Her nails bit into his shoulders as she moaned and sucked harder, as if she couldn’t quench her thirst for him now that she had started, as if she would never get enough of him.
He would never get enough of her.
A bright blinding flash detonated inside him as the bond formed, triggered by her taking his blood, and their hearts fell into unison, his racing to match the beat of hers. She rocked on him, reminding him what they had been doing before she had tipped his entire world off its axis, and he growled as he drove her against the tree and thrust into her, his grip on her hip fierce now as his need to claim her mounted.
She would be his.
He couldn’t leave the bond incomplete, didn’t have the strength to do that when he knew that she wanted it.
He would claim her.
She writhed in his arms, her instincts flaring and need skyrocketing as his blood entered her system and the bond demanded completion. Her lips left his throat and seized his, and he groaned as he tasted his own blood in the kiss. It drove him on, until the need to claim her became a fierce roar in his blood.
He needed to bite her.
He pulled back, his gaze zeroing in on her throat.
He dropped his lips to it. Parted them as he thrust harder into her.
Sense cut through the roaring in his mind, a ray of light that brought with it a flicker of control. As much as he wanted to mark her throat, he couldn’t. Her parents didn’t know about them yet, and he was due to leave with the legion soon. If he bit her throat, they would see it, and he didn’t want to think about what they would do to Shaia while he was away, unable to protect her.
He pressed a kiss to her throat and savoured her sweet moan as he vowed he would bite her there one day.
But for now, her mating mark would have to be somewhere more private.
She growled when he pulled out of her and dropped to his knees before her, but it died on her lips when he pressed his to her left thigh. She gazed down at him, her lips painted sultry red with his blood, and moaned as she pressed her leg forwards, urging him to do it.
“Bite me,” she murmured, a throaty plea that he was all too happy to fulfil.
He closed his eyes, opened his mouth and sank his fangs into her soft flesh.
Her cry echoed around the canyon, rang in his soul.
He growled as the first drop of her blood hit his tongue, as sweet as ambrosia and more addictive than any drug. He withdrew his fangs, wrapped his lips around the wound and sucked, tearing another sweet cry from Shaia. Her blood flooded his mouth, slipped hot down his throat and lit up his veins like wildfire. He groaned and shuddered, hips rocking forwards as his cock grew harder, the air cool against it.
He wanted to be inside her again, needed it with a ferocity that stole his breath.
But he couldn’t tear himself away from her thigh, from her blood.
He knew the moment their bond completed, felt the link between them grow stronger and her emotions grow clearer, and heard her heartbeat fall out of sync with his, pounding faster as she writhed against him. He forced himself to pull away from her thigh and swipe the twin puncture wounds with his tongue to help them heal as he felt her need mounting, and his instincts pushed him to satisfy her.
His female needed.
He delved between her thighs, so swiftly that he stole a gasp from her as she went up on her toes and her hands flew above her head to grip the thick bark of the tree. She moaned as he briefly plundered her with his tongue, stealing a taste of her honey, unable to stop himself as his own needs rose. He needed her. All of her.
He shot to his feet, spearing her with his cock, and swallowed her moan in a kiss.
She grasped his shoulders and cried into his mouth as her body shook against his, her sheath quivering around his rigid length and growing more slick. He groaned and drove into her, his blood on fire with her release as it rolled through her and into him, and the need to give her another rushed through him.
He curled his hips, withdrawing almost all the way out of her before driving back inside, giving her every inch of him. Her moans mingled with his more animalistic grunts as his balls drew up, release rising to the base of his cock, and she kissed him. He focused on the feeling building inside her, the need he could feel spiralling beyond her control again, determined to hold back somehow and bring her to another shattering climax.
Shaia took it out of his hands when her mouth left his and she sank her fangs back into his throat.
Stars winked across his vision as release blasted through him, a thousand tiny bombs that detonated to leave him shaking as he throbbed and pulsed inside her, spilling himself. She moaned and clenched him, sending a fiercer wave of pleasure through him, and he thrust into her, wanting more. Needing to do it all over again.
She tensed in his arms.
Her nails dug into his flesh.
Her cry filled his ears.
His own hoarse shout joined it as she quivered around his cock, milking it as a hot rush of honey scalded him, and pushed him back over the edge. He clutched her to him as he spilled again, throbbing in time with her, hard fast breaths matching hers.
He wasn’t sure how long he clung to her and her to him, both of them frozen in place.
Shaia moved first, pulling her nails from his flesh and sinking against him. She kissed him, freeing him too, and he wrapped his arms around her and held her, mind, heart and soul still struggling to come to grips with what they had done.
She had given herself to him.
He drew back, lifted his left hand and brushed the tangled strands of her black hair from her face as his eyes searched hers. Love shone in them, coloured with a touch of fear.
She feared losing him.
Never.
“I will come back to you, Shaia,” he whispered, his voice hoarse with the raw emotion burning through him, the need to reassure her and to remain with her combining with his love for her. “When I return… I am taking you with me… because… I love you, and I will be yours forever… and you are mine now.”
The colour on her cheeks darkened, and the love that shone in her eyes grew brighter, near-blinding him.
“I was always yours,” she husked, the warmth and love in those words touching his heart. “I always will be.”
She always would be.
Fuery opened his eyes as the dream faded, slipping from his grasp.
Her words echoed in his mind. In his heart. His blackened soul.
She had kept that promise.
He had broken his. He had left her, had travelled with Prince Vail and the legion to Valestrum, and he had never come back.
But she had waited for him.
His eyes slowly widened.
She was still waiting for him.
She was right there for the taking, if only he was brave enough.
His mate. His life. His light. She was still there for him.
The darkness surrounding him, gripping him, parted as that realisation went through him, cutting through it like a shaft of light to drive it back.
The inky tendrils were quick to try to seize him again, but he fought them as he pushed himself up, gritting his teeth against the inferno that swept through him in response.
Cold chased on its heels as he saw the black castle looming over him, obsidian mountains spearing the grey sky of Hell beyond it.
The scent of blood and entrails hung heavily in the stifling air.
He didn’t want to look.
He wanted to go back to that dream, ached to return to a time when the darkness had been only a seed inside him, not the monster it was now. He wanted to be that male again.
Because Shaia had loved him then.
She had given herself to him.
He forced himself to lower his eyes to the carnage that surrounded him.
A ring of bodies formed around him, broken and battered, stretching at least twenty metres in all directions.
The hope that had been building flickered and died like the light inside him, and left a single thought ringing in his mind, one whose answer felt as if it would spell life or death to him.
Could Shaia ever love a monster like him?