Chapter 18
Oh Fates, this was happening. Really, truly happening. Like the epitome of the warrior he embodied, Michael stood next to the bed upon which she lay—his bed, the very one she Watched him sleep in night after night—and slowly unlaced his tunic. With each movement, more and more of his smooth, tan skin was revealed. Michael’s muscles shifted and bunched, each one sinewy and well defined. He was the very picture of masculinity in every way and she couldn’t get enough.
Honor’s gaze slipped from Michael’s burning stare and landed on… Oh! Her jaw dropped and her mouth went dry. That… that thing straining at the fabric of his trousers would never fit inside her. It was enormous! A low chuckle brought Honor’s huge eyes back to Michael’s face and her ears and cheeks burst into flames. Humiliation at being caught ogling his manhood washed over her.
Untroubled by her actions, Michael leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. The kiss sent an electrifying shiver that flicked at every nerve in her body and her life force surged and hissed, tendrils snaking out from the center to seek her other half.
“Worry not, dulcedo. It shall fit.”
She swallowed, too nervous to be embarrassed that Michael clearly knew that she had been thinking about his… size. All Honor could manage was a quick nod. She could admit she was intimidated by Michael’s manhood, but she told the truth, Honor did trust the male explicitly.
“What… what does dulcedo mean?”
Michael’s smile lit up her soul. “It means sweetness. And you are, my love, very, very sweet.” The way Michael’s voice went from silky to raspy made her body ache with need.
Leaving his trousers on, Michael sat on the bed and reached for the robe he lent her. His hand looked so huge and tan next to her small body and pale skin. He took the ends of the sash in his hands and glanced at Honor, waiting for permission.
She was overwhelmed, her senses assaulted from every direction. Michael’s sandalwood scent filled her nostrils, and that empty ache in her sex intensified. His nearness made Honor’s skin tingle, and she found herself desperate for his touch. And to say nothing of her life force, mercy of the Fates, her life force was going mad. The sphere of lilac churned and pulsed and snapped and crackled, sending a myriad of sensations ricocheting around her insides. Her body was tense and needy and frantic for release. Honor was under an erotic assault, and she had yet to take into account the effect of Michael’s own life force. His power pushed across their connection, demanding entry, similar to how his enormous length would demand entry unto her…
Refusing to allow nerves to ruin this moment, Honor blinked away the thought and focused on Michael, who was still waiting patiently, hands on the strip of silk that held the robe closed.
A burst of confidence inspired by the overpowering need to be closer to her mate, had her mouth working before her brain could stop her. “Untie it.” She didn’t recognize the sultry voice that came from her own lips. “I want you to see me, take me, and make me yours.”
Honor watched his blue eyes darken and a wave of lust thundered across their link, awed by the ability she had to affect the powerful Archangel. His response was so intoxicating it amplified Honor’s already raging need. Slowly, he undid the loose knot, the swish of silk the only sound in the room save their heavy breaths. Cool air hit her scalding skin when Michael pushed open the silk to expose her naked body. The manner in which he looked at her, desire, admiration, and possessiveness all shining in the Archangel’s gaze, should have made Honor feel vulnerable, embarrassed even.
It didn’t.
Honor felt powerful. That she could bring the mighty Archangel, Michael Caelum, such pleasure, enough to render the ancient warrior speechless, gave her courage. Honor would, for now and forever, be the only one to see Michael like this, and what a sight it was. The male was enthralled. He literally couldn’t tear his gaze from her blushing skin and feminine curves.
“Now your clothes,” she demanded.
When did I become so bold?
As a human, Honor was the diminutive one. The wallflower. The one nobody paid attention to, especially when her stunning and assertive sister was around. But Michael… he took Honor’s old reality and smashed it to bits. In this second chance, a new life given to her by the Fates, Honor was a gift. A source of pride to one of the most important immortals in existence.
Michael’s gaze leapt to Honor’s and she caught the hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. In a single fluid motion, he stood and undid the tie on his trousers, sliding them off and simultaneously removing his boots. Michael remained motionless for a moment, and Honor appreciated her mate gifting her the opportunity to take in his flawless physique. Fates, he was amazing. The type of male that inspired artists since the beginning of time. And, gulp, part of Michael was pointing directly at her. A very large part.
Having waited long enough, Michael climbed on the bed and kneeled between her legs. Honor froze, unsure what she should do. Their connection served them well, because Michael didn’t hesitate to take charge. He lowered his body until he lay on top of her, skin to skin, body heat mingling, certain… places, rubbing them in a way that shot sparks up Honor’s spine and caused flames to ignite deep within her. Holding the majority of his weight on bent arms so as not to crush her beneath him, Michael dipped his head and claimed Honor’s mouth.
This, she knew how to do, thanks to Michael’s thorough lessons earlier. When he began to gently rock his hips whilst kissing her, his erection slide through the crease of her sex. The resulting pleasure just about shorted out Honor’s brain.
“Oh, Fates,” she cried against his lips. “More.”
Michael smiled and rolled his hips again, pressing down harder this time. Oh my— That felt amazing. Her mate continued the slow, steady rhythm, kissing her mouth while giving the perfect amount of friction right where she needed it.
Until suddenly it wasn’t enough.
Honor squirmed, trying to get… something, though she knew not what it was she required to ease the unbearable ache between her legs. Her slick fluids spread across her upper thighs and all over Michael’s stiff length. The lubrication made the experience ten times more intense, and with the dual assault on her mouth and her sex, she quickly unraveled. Her soul grew frantic, pushing itself outward with such force she feared mayhap it would burst if Michael didn’t do something soon.
Even though Honor silently pleaded for more, Michael stopped the perfect undulations of his hips and pulled his delicious mouth away. She cried out in frustration but she needn’t worry. Those sinful lips simply shifted lower to latch on to the sensitive skin of her throat. With a shout, Honor thrust her head back into the pillow and arched her back off the bed. She babbled incoherently as Michael’s tongue wove a path of wet heat down her throat and over her collarbone. When those talented lips sucked a peaked nipple into his hot mouth, her thoughts fractured and the emptiness in her sex demanded filling.
“Michael… please.”
Michael’s only response was to hum against her breast and continue to tease her by flicking his tongue over the sensitive bud. Her sex clenched around nothing and Honor whined.
“Fates, I can’t take it,” she cried. “I need you.”
Michael released her stiff nipple and she relaxed. Mayhap now he would fill her and ease the torturous ache that burned deep inside her sex. She needed her lover more than she needed her next breath. A breath that caught when instead of his thick manhood pushing at her opening, spreading her wide, a hot tongue slid along the folds of her sex. Shocked, Honor stiffened.
He wasn’t…? He wouldn’t…?
Honor lifted her head and glanced down the length of her body to see the most erotic—and illicit—sight she’d ever laid eyes on. Michael’s broad shoulders nudged her legs apart and his large hands wrapped around her thighs, so dark against her pale skin. But it was his blond head bobbing directly over her sex that had her mesmerized. Michael’s talented tongue laved over and into her body, and by the way he moaned, he loved every single minute of it.
“What are you—?”
Michael’s tongue flicked across some sort of magical spot, because Honor’s teeth clacked together and her body just about levitated off the bed. He did it again and again, sucking and lapping and teasing that tiny bud, his groans vibrating sensually over her sex as he thoroughly took her apart piece by piece. Tension gathered in her groin, a knot of pleasure that grew tighter and more powerful the longer Michael stroked that spot with his velvet tongue, until without warning, Honor shattered. She tried to thrash as wave after wave of unimaginable ecstasy crashed over her, but Michael held her down with his powerful grip, and that wicked mouth wrung every last drop of pleasure from her body.
When it shifted from pleasure to overstimulation, Honor cried, “Fates, please stop!”
Only then did he release her legs and remove his mouth from her pulsating sex. With his expression half smug, half drenched in feral lust, Michael climbed up her body and plundered her mouth. Honor caught a taste of what must be her own slick arousal, and whilst it wasn’t unpleasant, it was nowhere near as intoxicating as Michael’s unique taste.
“Breathe through it, dulcedo.”
Honor wasn’t sure what Michael meant until she felt the hot, blunt pressure at her opening. Fates, this was it. She was still sensitive from what Michael did with his mouth, but also still achingly empty and unsatisfied.
Michael pushed forward and her body gave a valiant attempt to accommodate his girth. She couldn’t escape the burn, however, or the sharp pain of being breached for the first time.
“Love, breathe,” Michael repeated. Honor focused on his face and noticed tension held around his eyes and mouth. She felt her way across the tether and her heart melted. Michael was tense from holding back his own needs, aye, but what she found most prominent in her lover’s mind was his reluctance to hurt her.
Honor loved him so much, she could hardly comprehend it.
She reached up and stroked Michael’s handsome face. Staring into worried eyes, she gave him permission to relax. “Do it, my love. I want this, and I care not about the pain.” She ran one hand through his loose, shoulder-length blond hair. “It is only this one time, and shall hurt but for a second. I need you inside me and this is the price. A price I shall gladly pay to be with you for eternity.”
“Fates, I need you, dulcedo,” Michael said, his voice ragged with emotion.
Honor lowered her hands to grip the hard muscles of his backside. “Now,” she insisted and yanked his hips forward, whilst Michael simultaneously thrust down. Honor clenched her teeth at the intense burn as he tore through her virginity and fully seated his huge length inside her.
“Are you all right?” Michael asked, his temples slick with sweat, chest heaving with restraint.
Honor was about to reassure her mate she was fine, despite the lingering burn, when something in the air shifted. Both Michael and Honor gasped as their souls, which were wildly straining against their boundaries, flared bright as the sun. The two spheres thrummed and vibrated and without warning, burst open, both flinging hundreds of glowing tendrils outward from their cores.
Speechless and still joined as one, Michael and Honor watched as blue and lilac filaments left one body to enter the other’s, the glowing strands headed directly for the swirling life force within. Blue penetrated lilac and lilac penetrated blue, the two colors mingling and twisting and joining the same as their bodies.
As the merging of souls occurred, Michael began to move his hips. He started slowly, pulling out and sliding back in long, decadent strokes. The pain melted away and in no time, Honor begged for more. She scraped her nails over hard edges and deep curves and traced her way down the sides of Michael’s spine. He either took her hint or his own needs overwhelmed his control, because Michael increased his pace until he was pounding hard into Honor, holding back nothing. His beautiful muscles rippled as he thrust deep inside her sex. The way Michael played her body like a finely tuned instrument, along with the indescribable sensation of their souls colliding, had Honor clinging to the edge of climax all too soon.
“I can’t hold on much longer, dulcedo.”
Thank the Fates.
“I’m there,” she gasped, her words breathy as pleasure assaulted her from inside and out, both in flesh and in spirit.
Michael grabbed Honor’s face and crushed his lips upon hers. As his tongue plunged into her mouth, he drove into her sex, once, twice, and then his thick length rubbed directly over a bundle of nerves and Honor’s body sang. She cried his name as her channel gripped his pulsing flesh.
Michael threw his head back and with a roar, spilt his seed deep inside her. At the peak of climax, Honor’s soul flashed blindingly bright before returning to its normal calm state, leaving behind whorls of blue scattered throughout her pale lilac. Michael collapsed atop her for a fraction of a second before rolling to his side. He immediately reached out and maneuvered Honor so that her head rested upon his chest and his arm curled around her shoulders. Their legs intertwined, and in that moment, Honor felt more cherished than she ever believed possible.
“That was… amazing, dulcedo.”
Michael’s voice rumbled deep where her ear pressed against his chest. She drew small circles on his abdomen with her thumb and nodded. “Incredible.”
“Can you see it? The bond?”
Honor paused to focus on the strands which now connected their souls. When she found them, Honor gasped. “They’re so bright.” Instead of the fragile, hair’s width filaments from before, was a thick, brilliant blue and lilac cord, dozens of individual tendrils woven to form an unbreakable chain.
“Strong enough to withstand an eternity,” Michael said, the awe and love in his voice unmistakable. Honor lifted her head to see her mate’s eyes. Met with blatant admiration, a surge of devotion spilt across the tether. She grinned, hoping Michael felt her love and happiness as well. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled. “I love you, dulcedo.”
“As I love you.”
In a heartbeat, Honor was flat on her back, Michael hovering over her like a golden angel sent from above. He ground his stiff length on her thigh and smirked. “Mayhap we need to work on maintaining our bond.”
She laughed, but Michael shifted and his erection slid along her sex and the laugh morphed into a low groan. Now it was his turn to chuckle whilst Honor moaned.
“Ow.” She flinched and he froze.
“Dulcedo? What’s wrong?”
“My arm.” The sharp bite of pain receded and she shook her head. “It’s nothing.” Then the lance of heat on her right bicep returned, this time stronger. Much stronger. In truth, Honor’s skin burned hot, like a branding iron searing its mark. “Ouch!”
Michael shifted and pulled Honor until she sat next to him. “Tell me what hurts.” She rubbed her arm and glanced at her lover. His eyes conveyed the same worry she felt come from him across their union, now sturdy and unbreakable.
“I-It’s under my hand. It burns.” Gently, he shifted her hand to take a look.
“There is nothing here, dulcedo.”
A brilliant flash of fire exploded from within her bicep and Honor thought her skin must needs be burning to ash, smoldering from the inside out. Down to her very bone, anything and everything devoured by an inferno, succumbing to the white-hot flames.
She clutched the site where the pain grew the most intense and cried out. Sweat beaded across her hairline and the back of her neck and a fine sheen slicked her chest as she thrashed from side to side, begging for the suffering to end.
“Honor! You’re scaring me love. What is happening?” She heard Michael’s frantic voice, felt his hands running up and down her body as he searched for an invisible injury, but her mind had gone to another place, one where she couldn’t speak. The flames consumed her flesh in such a way she could naught but sob, her breaths short and fast, as her arm charred.
“That’s it. We’re leaving.” Thoroughly sweat-soaked, Honor watched the room spin as Michael swung her into his arms, and wrapped his robe around her clammy skin.
“Michael…” Her low plea was the last thing she uttered before succumbing to darkness.