CHAPTER TEN
The limousine pulled up in front of a huge lodge, bustling with people coming in for the long weekend. A valet opened the limo door and Raze stepped out. The scent of fresh air made his saber quake with the need to run. It'd been too long since Raze had allowed his saber out, and one way or another, in the next forty-eight hours his saber was going to force his way out.
"Welcome to the Hudson," said the valet.
"Thank you." Raze buttoned his jacket.
A second valet reached for Affina's door, but Raze hustled to the other side.
"I've got that."
The valet stared at him for a moment and then nodded. "Of course, sir."
Raze pulled open Affina's door and held his hand out to her. She slipped her palm into his and he pulled her to him. He shifted his hips away from her to keep her from being bombarded by his erection. Damn he needed to keep his growing mating instincts in check. This was more than embarrassing, it was down right distracting.
"Mr. Edge?" A woman hurried down the front steps, her arms full of papers. She rushed forward and held out her hand. "I'm Amelia, Mr. Jenkin's assistant. He's sorry he wasn't here to meet you personally but he got stuck in a meeting. He should be back to the lodge tonight."
Raze shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. This is my... Affina."
Amelia shook Affina's hand. "Pleasure."
"I can show you to your room and then I can show you around, if you'd like."
"That would be great," said Raze.
Amelia motioned for the valets to grab the bags and Raze escorted Affina to the lodge.
"I like the structure," Affina said. "It blends into the surroundings well."
"Mr. Jenkins was insistent that the lodge not interfere with the natural habitat," said Amelia. "The entire place runs on solar and wind energies. The pool is geothermal. We compost and recycle everything we use. All of the cleansers and detergents are biodegradable and all-natural so as not to upset the soil. We even have a large garden that we use to grow our own food."
"That's amazing," said Raze. And exactly what he was looking for.
"It's quite remarkable what Mr. Jenkins has accomplished. This has been his baby for the last fifteen years. I'm surprised he even entertained the idea of selling, to be honest." She looked back at Raze and smiled.
Raze flashed her his best smile. "I can be quite persuasive."
Her cheeks flushed with heat and a sweet scent of desire wafted off her. "I'm sure you can."
A noise sounded to Raze's right and he could swear Affina had growled, but she stared straight ahead making it impossible to know.
Amelia grabbed a keycard from the front desk and motioned them to follow. Affina stopped in the middle of the lobby and stared up at an enormous chandelier made of antlers.
"What a waste," she hissed. "Did they even eat the meat?"
Raze put his hand on the small of her back. "You can redecorate any way you see fit."
She grumbled and shook her head.
Raze pulled her forward and they headed past the dozens of lodge patrons to the elevator.
Amelia pushed the button for the third floor and they squished in with half a dozen other people. Affina's body pressed up against his as she squeezed in. Her hand rested on his hip as she steadied herself between a family of five and himself. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. The rise and fall of her breasts brushed against his chest making his blood warm considerably.
The family got out on the second floor and Raze sighed when Affina stepped away from him. He didn't know how much more he could take. Being so close to her used to be moments he'd lived for. Now they were an unimaginable torture. However, he couldn't imagine not being near her ever again either. He was so screwed.
Amelia opened the door to their room and Raze showed Affina inside. A small front room with a couch and table with a gift basket greeted them.
"I'm afraid we are completely booked right now and so this was the only room we had, due to someone cancelling at the last minute. By the end of the weekend though Mr. Jenkins will be moved out of the owner's suite and you will be set to move in."
Raze scanned the room. "This will be fine."
Affina looked around before heading to the room beyond.
"I can give you a few minutes to clean up if you'd like," said Amelia.
"How about I call the front desk when we are ready to take the tour."
Amelia nodded. "Sounds great. If you need anything please let us know."
Raze nodded and the valet entered with the bags as Amelia walked out.
"You can just leave those there." Raze pulled twenty dollars from his pocket and handed it to the valet. He closed the door and headed for the bedroom. Affina stood in the doorway staring inward.
"There's only one bed," she said.
"I'll sleep on the floor," he said.
Affina turned to him. "That's not fair. I can take the floor. I'm used to sleeping on the ground."
"There is no way I'm going to let you sleep on the floor. If it bothers you that much I'll sleep on the couch."
"Razor-"
He squeezed her arm. "I've slept on worse."
"But-"
"No arguing. You get the bed."
She gave him a small smile and nodded.
"Do you want a nap before the tour?" he asked.
She walked to the bed and slipped out of her sweater and tossed it on the bed. "I think I might go for a walk actually. You go on the tour."
The tour would be close to an hour and who knew how long she'd walk. He didn't like the idea of her being out there alone.
"I'll take the tour and then come back and we can go on a walk together."
She nodded. "All right."
Raze called the desk to say he was coming down to meet Amelia and then headed for the door. "I'll be back shortly."
"Take your time," Affina called.
"This is the spa," said Amelia. "As you can see it's heated by the spring outside."
"And we own the water rights to it?"
"Yes, sir you do."
Raze walked over to the edge of the pool and dipped his fingers in the water.
"Would you like to go for a swim?" Amelia asked.
Raze straightened and brushed his fingers on his pants. "Maybe later, thank you."
Amelia stared at him for a moment and her fingers went to her throat. "Can I ask you something?"
Raze nodded and headed toward the atrium. "Of course."
They walked out the atrium door and the heady scent of blooming flowers tickled his nose.
"Are you going to need a personal assistant by chance?"
Raze looked back at Amelia. Moving. He had to keep moving. He scanned the room, looking for the exit. He spotted it at the far end and headed for it.
"Uhm... probably not. I think I'll be good with the staff I have."
"Oh." She followed him silently for a moment and as they hit the exit he breathed in the fresh cool air. "Is Affina your assistant?"
"No she's my-" He stopped short of saying "mate". The look in Amelia's eyes was all too clear – he needed to get out of there, quick. Raze headed for the front of the lodge.
"So, as you can see, there are tennis courts off to the left." Amelia fought to keep up with him. "And down there we have archery and the aviary."
Raze took the front steps two at a time. Before Affina had arrived he would have taken Amelia into a dark corner and screwed her until she couldn't walk. Now her attention grated on him like road rash and he couldn't get away from her fast enough.
"Would you like to see the kitchen?" she asked. "I can have the cook prepare us-"
Raze stopped and blew out a breath. He put on his most patient smile and turned to Amelia.
"Thank you so much for the tour. I've seen as much as I need to today. I think it best if I go and check on Affina."
Amelia's expression drooped, but all he could manage was a tight smile before striding down the hallway to the elevator. People dove out of his way as he passed, but he didn't care. In a week there would be no guests at the lodge at all, and he would be all the happier for it.
He hurried to his room and slid the key card over the lock. He pushed the door inward and then slammed it shut, leaning on it. He couldn't do this anymore. He couldn't go from woman to woman in hopes of sating his appetite. He needed her. Affina. His Affina. He needed to taste her, feel her, hear her cries of pleasure as he brought her to the edge of ecstasy.
"Is something wrong?"
Raze turned to see Affina in the bedroom doorway.
Concern crossed her features. "Did something happen? Are you unhappy with the lodge?"
"No." He waved her off and headed to the minibar. "The lodge is perfect, just as I knew it would be."
"Then what is it?" She joined him as he pulled out two small bottles and downed the first one.
How did he tell her? How could he explain what it was like living on Earth? Day in and day out. Women constantly throwing themselves at him. How could he tell her he'd been weak and a fool and he was sorry? So very sorry and he would never betray her if she became his mate. He'd not even look at another for as long as they both lived. And even after.
Affina stared at him for a moment and his resolve broke. In an instant he was in front of her, hands tangled in her hair, his lips on hers. He breathed her in, pressing his lips into her soft warm ones. She stiffened but he continued to kiss her. He used his tongue to try and coax her lips apart but suddenly she stepped away.
His heart sank.
"Razor I-"
"It's all right," he said. "I understand. You will always see me as that boy in your father's palace."
"No... Razor it isn't that."
He ripped open the second bottle and guzzled it down. His saber clawed at his chest wanting to be let out.
"Don't," he said. "Just... don't." He flung the door open and raced down the hallway toward the stairwell.
"Razor!" Affina called. "Razor, wait!"
He burst into the stairwell and jumped to the bottom floor as his nails and teeth lengthened. He rushed through the exit and out into the trees, stripping his clothes from his body.
He needed to get out. To let go. To run. He needed to not feel.
****
Affina stared down the hallway. People looked from her to the closed stairwell door and then hurried to their rooms. Her saber paced. He'd kissed her. Not a friendly familiar kiss but a real kiss. One she'd felt all the way to her toes. She'd pulled away from him in confusion but as soon as she had she'd wished she hadn't. He wanted her. Her. Not the humans. Her heart thundered.
Outside an ear splitting roar shook the windows and her saber lurched to action. Affina raced down the hallway before she could stop herself. Inside the stairwell she jumped to the first floor and ran out the exit.
Instinct took over as she rushed into the trees. She breathed deeply and followed the trail of shoes, pants and shirt. She dropped her own blouse as she raced over plants and rocks, her saber directing her on which way to go.
She hit an incline and lost her shoes as she headed for it. At the top she stopped and slid out of her slacks. She lifted her nose in the air and breathed deep. Short agitated roars sounded from up ahead. Affina continued toward the familiar sound determined to find Razor.
She walked into a small clearing with grass almost up to her waist. In the middle Razor sat, staring up at the sky. His giant striped body over five feet tall. His body an immense visage of power that almost had Affina cowering at his feet. Her saber clawed to be let out but Affina fought her back. Not yet.
Razor sniffed the air and then swung his head her direction. Their eyes connected and he chuffed at her. Affina strode forward slowly, taking in his foot long fangs and sharp eyes.
He stood and shifted from foot to foot as she drew closer.
Affina stopped directly in front of him. She'd only seen him in saber form once before, but it had been from afar when he swam in the pool one night without her. He'd only been half the size he was now. She'd never told him she'd seen him.
She reached out tentatively. Any form of physical contact between shifted sabers was reserved for fighting or for only the closest of bonds. Her hand hovered inches above his fur. If she did this now, there was no going back. If he let her touch him, their relationship would never be the same. He stared up at her, waiting. She dropped her palm and stroked his soft mane.
The air around him snapped and crackled and in an instant he was human again. Up on his feet, he pulled her into his powerful arms and kissed her hard. Affina threw her arms around him and kissed him back. Her skin tingled as it rubbed against his. His tongue plunged into her mouth and she fought to catch her breath.
His large rough hands ran over her back and expertly undid the clasp of her bra in one smooth flick.
He eased it off her and then kissed down her throat to her breasts, running his tongue over each in turn making her grab onto his hair and fight to stay on her feet.
"Razor." She tried to think straight. They needed to talk. She needed to make sure.
He stood again and stopped all coherent though with his mouth. His arms wrapped around her and he guided her to the ground.
He ran his palm down the flat of her stomach to her underwear. Hooking his fingers under them he pulled them down. His nipping down her breasts to her naval made feelings race through her that she'd never experienced before. A pulsing started at her core and thrummed through her body. She needed him. She needed to feel him inside her.
****
He kissed over her hipbone and down her thigh as he slid her underwear off and then kissed back up her body again. Her scent invaded him and he wanted to taste every inch of her. He swirled his tongue over the tendon by her thigh and savored the scent of her body, musky and ready for his plucking.
"Fina, you have no idea how long I've wanted to touch you. To kiss you. To make love to you. Even when it was forbidden. Even when you looked at me as no more than a friend. Not a day went by that I didn't want to feel you in my arms."
He poised over her and leaned in to kiss her again but she stopped him.
"Then why?" she asked. "Why have you been with so many women here? If you've wanted me that long. Why?"
Sadness tinged her voice.
Now was the time to put it all on the table. He owed her the truth.
"I was a slave, and you the princess. I knew you could never be mine no matter how much I dreamt of it. Every woman here was to try and fill the hole left by your absence. Year after year I tried to lessen the ache of not being able to see you. To talk to you. Getting you here is why I did all of this. Even though I was sure you would have found a mate. Just to be near you again... it's all I wanted. I've loved you since the first moment when you stopped Incus' whip from opening my back."
He kissed her again and a rumble sounded in his chest. He rubbed his cheek against hers. "I've never loved another."
"You know that for years my father has tried to mate me with someone else. The other royal blooded sabers that came to the castle to meet me. But never once did my saber take notice of them. No one had so much as made my saber lift her head. No one but you."
She pulled his mouth to hers and claimed him. Spreading her thighs she grasped his thick length in her hand. Even as large as her hands were, she couldn't get her fist all the way around him. She stroked him long and tight and he broke their kiss and his head dropped to her shoulder. His body trembled as his fangs lengthened and dug into her skin. A ripple rolled through him hard and fast. To feel her hands on his body had him so close to the edge he had to fight to keep from exploding.
She guided him toward her and he pressed against her entrance wanting to be inside her more than anything. She moaned and whispered his name.
He looked down at her. Her eyes glowed in the fading light.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "I don't want to rush you."
"We've waited long enough," she said. "My saber has spoken, you are mine."
He kissed her and rocked his hips toward hers. "I always have been."
He entered her slowly and her nails lengthened and dug into his back making him quake with the desire to take her hard and fast. He kissed her deep and slow punctuating every smooth thrust of his hips with a sweep of his tongue, easing into her soft velvety folds.
She pushed her hips up to meet his and within seconds he was inside her completely.
He shook with strain and he stopped moving, dropping his forehead to hers.
****
"What's wrong?" Affina asked. "Am I doing it incorrectly? "
He chuckled and kissed her softly. "No. I'm trying to stay in control. I don't want to hurt you."
"Hurt me?" She laughed. His gaze connected with hers and she lifted her chin. "I can take whatever you have to give."
His eyes flashed and he cocked a beautiful crooked smile. Before she could speak again he withdrew and drove into her hard. Affina growled as a shudder of pleasure and pain shot through her body. She spread her legs wider to take him in more fully.
"Again," she said.
Again he rocked his hips into her hard. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him furiously. "Faster," she whispered.
He didn't need to be asked more. Bracing himself on the ground he lifted one of her legs over his shoulder. Kissing down the inside of her thigh he drove into her again. Affina arched toward him as she fought to keep from shifting.
He pulled her hips into his and Affina dug her nails into the ground over her head, tangling her fingers in the tall grass, trying to hold on.
Deeper and harder he drove into her making her body shake from the power of him. His breathing grew shorter and he lifted her hips off the ground, pulling her into him, deeper and faster.
Affina closed her eyes and all thought drifted from her mind as he pushed faster and harder, making the pulsing thrum between her legs grow deeper and stronger. Finally her body exploded. She came hard, her entire body arching to the sky as all air squeezed from her lungs and her body bore down on his. Razor roared into the air making every part of her pebble with goosebumps. He continued to take her as his body strained and their fluids mixed together. A musky scent floated on the air making her saber even more agitated to be let out.
After a minute Razor set her back on the ground and covered her body with his. He kissed her long and slow, running his hands through her hair. He kissed up over her eyelids and down her cheek before wrapping her in his arms and cradled her close. They stared up at the sky tangled naked together.
"It's peculiar looking up at this sky with you again. You feel so familiar and yet everything up there is a stranger to me."
"It will take time but together, under the stars we will build a life here. One that you will eventually call home."
She nuzzled into his chest and kissed his nipple. "No matter where I am, with you I am home."
He kissed the top of her head and breathed in deep. "I love the smell of you. The taste. The shape," he said. "Soft and curvy. Just right for hanging on to."
She smiled. "Your shape isn't so bad either. I like a man who has enough muscle to throw me around. I used to be gentle on you for fear of hurting you. Now it is you who are afraid of hurting me."
He raised an eyebrow. "You want me to toss you around huh?"
She kissed him again. "Maybe. But somewhere softer please. Like possibly a bed?"
Razor nipped at her neck and then licked down her chest to her stomach. She raked her fingers through his hair as her body pulsed once more.
He jumped to his feet and then helped her up as well. He picked grass from her hair and brushed dirt off her rear. "I think bed is exactly what we need. But first-" He kissed her on the tip of the nose. "We run."
He took off into the trees, his body shifting as he ran. Affina's saber burst through her and in an instant she was on all fours chasing after him.