Chapter 11
Fólkvangr, Falls of the Dead – Thule
Desire was ruling them both, and Gefn wanted his hands on her again, his mouth, the hard shaft that bobbed into her stomach.
All of him.
Her gaze trailed over the hard body before her as even the swaying of the water seemed to draw her closer to him, attempting to close the gap between their naked bodies. She sucked in a breath as everything charged around them, the forest, the water. Clouds were moving in again, but she was too caught in his addicting male scent and the sight of his body to notice anything else. She allowed her fingers and palms to slide over the taut muscles of this chest, enjoying the way the warm flesh twitched at her touch.
He growled, and before she knew it, she was lifted up until their naked bodies meshed together through the liquid in the pool. She eagerly welcomed his descending lips, opening hers to his demanding kiss. The tangling of their tongues made her ache for more. She moaned into his lips as her legs wrapped around his waist. She felt the first drops of rain as she clutched his shoulders and dug into his wingless back.
The kiss was wild by the time her fingers came to his jaw, reveling in the way it moved as he kissed her. She tilted her head, accepting the demands of his mouth and savoring his taste all the while he moved her body against the rigid shaft between them. He teased her with each grinding down sweep until she thought she might find release like that. Her ears were ringing in time to the sloshing water flowing over the stone edge of the pool. Evidence of the sheer power of his body tormenting hers.
It wasn’t enough. More. She wasn’t sure the mind speak would work, but the thought of breaking the kiss was not possible.
He groaned into her mouth as his deep voice filled her mind. How much more, thea mou? Tell me.
All of it, she sent and hoped it made it.
You want my cock inside you? He asked the question while controlling her hips until she was gasping for climax.
Yesss. The stuttered emphasis was enough to get him to move. He lifted her to hover over his hardness before slowly lowering her down.
He growled into her mind and she felt the vibrations all the way to her soul, not a spot inside or out of her body wasn’t shuddering with pleasure.
I’m going to teleport and let you see if we can leave. His voice was harsh and getting raspier as he continued, But, Gefn, wherever we end up, you’ll stay as you are. Full of my cock.
She was barely aware of what he was doing. His voice and those dirty words were too much for her mind. Yes, she’d wanted to find out if she could leave, but now? Before the thought was even fully formed, she was broken up into a million pieces. She couldn’t gasp or do anything but feel; every single part of him was combining with her in the same erotic torment as before.
This power was different than being a part of the winds, but that was the closest comparison she could make. This was much faster and seemed so wild and out of control. She couldn’t breathe. The same wall was there, and she felt it pulse, but she couldn’t push past it no matter how she tried. She would have cried out in frustration and panic if she was able to, but she had no body, no lips.
The second they reformed, she did cry out in pleasure so deep it dissipated the panic, pushed it back to the innermost parts of her mind. The need was so intense that her head fell back as she mewled for more. The dizziness from traveling and the panic seemed to be no match against the blinding need.
He was inside her so deep that she thought she’d die if he didn’t move faster. Water ran over the sides of the pool as she fought for some purchase. She used power and strength to gain leverage to meet his thrusts.
He grunted before biting out, “You feel so damned perfect.”
Over and over he slammed her up and down his shaft as they moved through the water toward the steps. Mindlessly, she noted something moving from the corner of her eye. Instead of carrying her out of the pool, her back was pushed into soft padding. In the recesses of her mind she knew he had to have moved the cushion of the lounge into the pool, but she was more intent on his weight on top of her, his shaft pushing inside her as his hips worked harder. It was as if she were in another place, somewhere with no time, where all that existed was pleasure. Her body fused with his in the most primal of ways, his body inside hers, his breath on her skin, those gorgeous eyes blazing with heat.
She wanted that. Wanted him to lose control like she had.
“What would feel better?” she rasped as she lifted up and kissed the straining tendons of his neck.
He groaned and she felt how much he was holding back. Tell me, she said into his mind. Or she hoped she had.
Wrap your legs around my back. I want to feel you all over me, thea mou, he growled.
And my voice in your head… does it do the same things to you that it does to me?
Fuck. Yes. His response in her mind was making her lose her sanity as she continued to kiss his neck while wrapping her legs around his hips. She felt his entire body shudder as she slid her feet over the backs of his wet thighs. His thrusts grew harder until the sound of wet skin slapping against heated flesh was all she could hear.
She licked and then bit his neck, wringing a groan from his lips that affected her just as much. Her touch had done that to him. This big powerful male wanted her hands on him, her lips and tongue. That alone seemed to drive animalistic noises from his lips. His body rocked hers with a force that drove him against her mound, making her moan. Deep inside, he ruthlessly slid over a spot that stole the air from her lungs.
When his big hands moved from her to grip the stone lip of the pool, she knew he was lost. His eyes landed on hers with such intensity that it drew a gasp from her lips. She heard stone cracking as he powered into her, the edge of the pool no match for this male.
She dug her nails into his back as she writhed and fought to feel it all at once. Her eyes closed as her head lolled back and forth on the soft padding. She was spinning out of control into sheer perfect bliss.
“Look at me when you come,” he commanded with a force that rumbled the ground beneath them. Her eyes slit open just as her body started to spasm in pure pleasure. She fought for purchase on his back, digging her fingers in as she crushed her breasts tighter against his chest. Every muscle tensed as she cried out her release while clutching his shaft with a force that made him roar with pleasure.
His head fell back and the elements bellowed for him, rocking and swirling around them in wild abandon. The winds lifted the furniture as the water rose from the pool. She could hear and smell the forest blooming and growing, but nothing was as magical as the way he felt. The way his staff throbbed inside her clenching body, demanding more of the warm seed already filling her up. It seemed to go on forever as he looked back down at her, chest rising and falling with harsh breaths that matched her own. He was incredible.
From the corner of her sight she could see the furniture settle back to the ground, the water from the pool that had lifted to shroud them washed back down.
He set his forehead to hers and she understood. There were no words for what had happened between them. She couldn’t stop touching him; her arms wound around his neck, holding him close as their breathing evened out.
He lifted up a hair to gaze down at her before lowering to kiss her, a soft tasting that eased her jagged nerves.
How do you feel? His voice in her mind was soothing, and she wanted to relax in his arms and let sleep take her again, but there was too much they needed to discuss.
Her thighs moved over his hips in a caress she couldn’t seem to stop. I feel relaxed. His flesh felt too good against hers.
Not sore or hurt? He looked at her then, his eyes assessing her.
She smiled. “I am perfect. I feel strong and warm.” She felt safe and secure as well. So much so that she never wanted him to move. It wasn’t logical, for the time that they’d known one another, but somehow she felt closer to him than she’d ever been to another.
He leaned in to take her lips in a fleeting kiss before agreeing. “You are perfect.”
She ignored the tingles that slid over her skin at his words and instead asked, “Does this mean we have finished the bond you spoke of?”
There was so much power flowing around them, through them.
He didn’t leave the cradle of her body. Instead he stayed there, hovering above her as he spoke. “No. Our souls aren’t connected yet.”
He seemed hesitant, so she asked, “You are certain of this?”
“Yes, thea mou.”
She loved how those words sounded on his lips. She was his Goddess.
*****
Pothos couldn’t force himself to leave her body. He wasn’t even sure she was aware that her hands and thighs kept drifting over his skin, but it felt too damned good to end. He’d been scared for a minute that he’d hurt her. She was so damned tight and he’d lost control, destroying part of the pool in his grip.
Now she was gentling him. He’d never experienced anything like her touch; it lit up every nerve in his body and sent power flooding the forest beyond them.
Her next words pulled him from his thoughts. “When will it happen?” There was concern in her voice, and he wanted to wipe away her worry. She felt trapped, and guilt ate at him. He’d taken her to this place. He hadn’t done it on purpose, and she didn’t seem to blame him, but he blamed himself.
That didn’t mean he looked forward to completing their bond there, where he would be very vulnerable to threats. They both would be, and that wasn’t acceptable to his protective instincts. He rested his forehead on hers. She had a right to know the damned process. “There are several steps we have to go through before the connection is completed.”
Her next words were breathy. “What steps?”
He lifted his head and slipped from her body out of self-preservation. His cock had already started to twitch inside all that warmth, making him groan.
The soft intake of her breath and the way her eyes flashed with disappointment didn’t help. “I can’t talk when I’m inside you. I already want more.”
“You said that was how this would be.” A small frown creased her brow. “You said the lust would only get more intense. Painful until the bond was complete.”
“I did,” he agreed as he stood in front of her, washing the stone from his fingers. The pool now held a permanent mark of his loss of control. Sunlight filtered down from the canopy, flickering over her wet flesh flushed and spread from his possession. Her nipples were still tight little peaks and they begged for his lips. He forced his eyes away; the damned frenzy was killing him. He looked into the forest, to the thousands of flowers dotting the brilliant green around them. He wasn’t sure if it was the combined power they unleashed when they had sex that had caused them, because he’d been too completely lost in her to notice anything else.
The frenzy was out of control. Too damned relentless. It hadn’t been this way for his brothers. They’d had hours between bouts of sex. Why did he want to bury his cock back in her wet little pussy all over again? Fucking hell, he hadn’t wanted to leave her hot cunt in the first place. This couldn’t be normal.
“Pothos?” she asked, and he looked at her again.
Shit, she’d asked him for confirmation that the frenzy would get worse until they completed the bond. “Yes, the mating frenzy gets more demanding until we finish it.” What he didn’t say was that it shouldn’t be this demanding already. Hadn’t his brothers gone hours before the need hit like a truck? He’d come inside her only minutes ago.
Her eyes landed on his cock, and desire flared in her emerald eyes. She shook her head. “I see that.” And then she licked her lips.
Fuck. She was killing him. They needed to talk, but it was getting nearly impossible. He attempted to arrange his own damned thoughts, but at the moment nearly all of them involved having her again.
“What do we do to stop this?” He heard her frustration and looked back down at her. She stood inches from him and he could see her small hands fisted under the water. Her nipples were so damned tight, they begged for his mouth. He moved back a step.
He groaned and ran a wet hand over his head. “In a traditional mating ceremony it begins with vows. After making my vows, you would mark me as your male.” Fuck if he didn’t want that right now.
He telepathically sent her the image of the traditional mating mark, the tattoo of twin dragons interlocked by their tails in the dual shape of infinity. “The symbol represents the everlasting bond of a mated pair.” His voice grew deeper as he continued, “That mark would signify that I am yours for all eternity.”
Her mouth shot open. “I would need to do this to you?”
He smiled. “Yes. If we were in my world, our healer would funnel her power through your hands. Here you would tap into the healing ability I have.”
“Healing ability?”
“I can do some, nothing like our healer, but enough for the mark to be permanently imbedded in my skin.”
“And your females take marks as well?” He swallowed through the desire to mark her soft skin. It was a primal urge that he needed to curb. She’d firmed those pouty lips, and he could tell she was shocked by the traditions.
“It’s tradition only for the male, but my brother Guardians’ females have taken a mark as well. You choose whether you would like one or not.”
Her eyes flashed with something. He felt her pleasure and wondered if it was the opportunity to have some say in all that was happening.
Her gaze went to study the designs on his heated flesh as she murmured thoughtfully, “Some in Thule mark themselves with spells or symbols of battle, but nothing for their female. They are not so detailed as this.” Her palmed slid to his bicep and nerves twitched following her exploration. “Do these markings define you?”
Define him? He supposed they did. When her soft fingers trailed around the back of his arm, his cock twitched in response. It was a simple touch nowhere near his dick, but that didn’t stop his reaction. He’d never felt anything as good as her small hands roving over his skin. Had he been so starved of contact through the centuries, or was it simply that his mate’s touch was like air to a flame? All he knew was that he wanted more. His skin heated to near burning. He flexed the muscles at his back, feeling the flesh at his spine tingle.
He growled when he could finally speak. “The tattoos there represent my family.”
She moved beside him, shaking her head. “But these are beasts?”
He gazed down at her, transfixed by her, wanting so much more. His tone was raspy to his own ears. “Many of my brothers have a beast half.” He wouldn’t get into a history lesson on how Immortals ended up with beast blood; it wasn’t pertinent to explain that Apollo loved a good experiment and he used animal DNA to try to make the perfect Immortal army thousands of years ago.
Her eyes shot to his. “They are able to actually change form?”
“Yes. Some can.” Not all could shift into their beast; some had just enough of the blood to give them an edge with added strength and enhanced senses. He distracted himself by using power to send the soaking lounge cushion through the air, using the winds to dry it before setting it back in its spot under the tree.
Her sexy-as-sin voice brought his gaze back. “There are dragons and wolves…” When she looked up at him, her pouty lips parted invitingly. A beat passed before she asked, “Is there a beast inside you?” That brought a groan to his lips. How could such a beautiful and powerful Goddess be commanding one moment and so damned seductively inquisitive, almost innocent, the next?
*****
Gefn wasn’t entirely certain how she felt about P turning into a beast. His lips curved as he looked down at her; the small change transformed him from beautiful to sinful. There was no mistaking the lust glazing his brilliant blue eyes. Lust she felt in turn. Her body was out of control, but she needed to know more about the male himself. So much had been focused on their worlds, on preventing tensions between their worlds. If she were to be connected to him for eternity, she wanted to know more about him.
“I’m a beast for you, thea mou.”
She sucked in a breath at the sexual undertones and the way his deep voice seemed to whisper over her skin, causing bumps to rise along her arms. He affected her body like nothing she’d ever known. She should move away to try to stave off the lust, but she couldn’t. She needed to touch him like this. She reveled in the intense reaction he had to her simple touch, the way his muscles flexed and moved with the slide of her fingers. His skin had heated as she looked at the images on his arms. So incredibly detailed as if they could come to life beneath her touch.
She felt a little light-headed when he added, “I don’t have an animal half.”
He lifted a hand to gently trace his thumb over her cheek, and she turned into the warmth as her eyes closed for a moment, stifling a sigh, and it eased and enticed all at once. She swallowed and opened her eyes, catching the intensity in how he gazed at her.
She licked her lips and pointed out, “You have wings.”
“I do. From my father.”
His thumb slid from her cheek to the side of her lips before he pulled away.
She felt a wave of disappointment at the loss.
He groaned huskily. “Touching you makes me want your lips, thea mou. Ask your questions while it’s still possible for me to answer.”
She shivered with need and shook it off; he was right. She wanted to know more about him. “The other God did not have wings.”
“My father was the only God born with wings.”
She moved to look at the back of his arm. It was a swirl of colorful beasts mixed with the occasional symbol or face of those he cared about. She noticed a long wing on the back of one arm and moved behind him to see the other arm and stopped.
She gasped at what she saw. The unique lines of the markings ran down his spine, glowing just beneath the surface. She felt the raw beauty of them while a wave of emotion nearly choked her. She drew a hand to her lips, swallowing it back as he turned to face her with concern etching his beautiful face. “What is it?”
She took a breath. “You have magical runes on your back.” Runes that held so much heartbreaking meaning that she wanted to go back in time and kill Tyr. Her evil sibling had been the reason Pothos’ mother had placed the power in his skin.
He gazed down with a fierce look. “What does that mean?”
“They’re protections,” she answered. “If I am correct, these were placed beneath your skin by your mother.”
He growled, “Show me.”
“How?”
“Send the mental images in the same way you can talk in my mind.”
She moved behind him again, feeling his agitation. She looked at the soft glow of the ancient symbols and tried to use the mind power, but she wasn’t certain she was using it properly.
“Do you see them?” she asked when he tensed.
“Yes. I’ve never seen them before. What exactly do they mean?”
“Each of the sharp markings represent a powerful protection spell, but it is also a gift of power.”
His muscles twitched and flexed as he watched her. Another growl slipped from his lips. “Why does it upset you? I can feel it, Gefn. What aren’t you saying?”
Sorrow filled her. “She gave you her power.”
She saw the understanding flicker in his beautiful eyes before it turned to anger. “You’re saying she left me with my father and returned to Thule powerless?”
She swallowed through the lump in her throat before nodding. “I don’t know that for certain.”
“But you think so?” he growled. She felt his inner turmoil as if it were her own. She tried to send him soothing energies.
“A mother will do anything to protect her child,” she whispered. “I’m only sorry she did not come to me or Hroarr before doing something so drastic. We would have done anything in our power to protect the child of a priestess.”
She could feel his emotions spinning. He hadn’t known his mother. Was it worse knowing that his mother had sacrificed everything to protect him? Gefn felt her own raw emotion tearing at her heart. The cats tried to soothe her.
Pothos shook his head, and she felt a surge of anger and so much more as he spat out, “My father would have protected her. She didn’t need to make that sacrifice. Why would she?”
“I do not know.” And she didn’t. “Times were dark. Hroarr was gone a lot, searching for the key to locking our evil siblings away.” Her voice turned hollow in her own ears as she shared her greatest shame. “I had just returned from Hroarr’s palace when all three of my priestesses were slaughtered before my eyes, violently severing the bonds I shared with them.” She breathed out. “Your mother was right to take you from Thule.”
They stayed in silence for a long time with him looking out to the forest. She wanted to go to him, but she wasn’t sure he’d want her comfort.
He growled, “Come to me, Gefn.”
One step through the water and she was in his arms. She leaned her head on his chest. So many memories of that time haunted her dreams. His warmth eased the tension from her shoulders. “I’m sorry.”
He held her tighter and kissed her head. She closed her eyes. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
How could he know that? She had failed as a Goddess. Failed her own people, failed Pothos’ mother without knowing it. If she and Hroarr had been able to contain Tyr earlier, they would have saved so many. Too many sightless eyes looked back at her when she closed her eyes.
He rubbed her back soothingly.
After they’d both calmed, he asked, “Why are the markings only showing now?” It was another question she couldn’t answer with certainty.
“I do not know. It may have begun with your presence in Thule. Or it could be Fólkvangr.” She looked around the sacred place. “This is where our priestesses renew their strength.”
The desire that had been building before her discovery seemed to have only been waiting beneath the surface. She kissed his hard chest and was pleased at the way his muscle jolted under her lips.
He was dragging her up his body when they both felt the air change.
She cursed Reginleif and the others, knowing the trio had returned.