Chapter 10 #3
“Are you sick or something?” He hadn’t seemed well ever since their argument at dinner the other day. His gaunt features and haunted eyes had concerned her, but she’d been hesitant to ask since their argument had made him grouchier than a sore-tailed bear. “Jeros, are you sick?”
“What do ye care?” He moved closer to the nearest ward and frowned down at it. “Pegasus kept his word and added his energy to them all. They glow golden now. Even the sluagh should nay be able to breach them.”
His snappishness hurt her heart. It was her fault. He was pushing her away because when she had lost her temper the other night, she had thanked him for helping her decide to leave. “Are you sick?” she repeated quietly. Just because she might be angry with him didn’t mean she didn’t care.
“Restoring the wards temporarily drains my magic.”
“And…”
He shot a hard look at her. “And what?”
“What else is wrong? You have looked like crap ever since our argument at dinner.”
“The denied bond of a fated mate also weakens magical beings. ’Tis like a festering wound that eats us alive from the inside out.”
Alarmed, she moved closer, then almost cried out when he dodged her. “I did not deny our bond per se.”
“Ye said ye were leaving as soon as ye found the way to do so.” He turned and started walking away from the barrier in the direction of Sevenrest Hall. “If that is not a denial of our bond, I dinna ken what it is.”
She fell in step beside him. They were going to talk this out, whether he liked it or not. “You made me angry because you implied I had no worth.”
“I never said that,” he said, barking the words as he plodded along, scowling straight ahead.
“You as much as did when you told me people would die if you left your world, then asked if they would die when I left mine, knowing full well that they wouldn’t. I have worth.” She thumped her chest. “I am the only me in creation, and I have worth.”
He caught her by the shoulders and held her there.
“I never meant ye had no worth. I would never say such a thing to ye. Not ever. Ye have worth, woman. More worth to me than ye could ever imagine. Can ye not understand how much I need ye to stay? Do ye feel nothing for me at all?” Chest heaving as if he was still out of breath, he gently shook her and moved closer.
“I have not had a moment’s peace since discovering ye were the other half of my soul and having ye fight it.
I dinna understand how ye canna feel the same. How can ye deny the bond between us?”
She wanted to sob, to throw herself into his arms and tell him she felt the same.
It was just that she was afraid of so many things.
This situation was not as simple as choosing to risk her heart in a relationship.
This bond, this mating, could cost her everything she had ever known.
She hit him in the chest, failing to shove him away.
“I feel it, damn you, but it scares the living daylights out of me. This relationship, this bond, comes at a high price that I’m afraid to pay. ”
He stared at her for a long moment, barely shaking his head. “Aye, the cost is dear, I grant ye that. But the reward…the contentment…the bliss. Do ye never grow weary of that lonely darkness eating away at yer core?”
“Every. Damn. Day.” She touched her scars.
“You think I don’t know lonely? Think I don’t know darkness?
I could write a fifty-pound book on the subject.
” She hit her chest, then the center of his chest, not quite as hard this time.
“Right there hurts all the time. Aches like someone poured acid into my core, and I’m slowly smoldering until nothing is left but ash.
” Again, she thumped herself, then him. “I can’t imagine a day without you, but I also can’t imagine a day with you.
A year. A lifetime in this strange place.
I can’t fathom never seeing my home or my friends ever again. ”
“Then what do we do, lass?” he asked in a sad, rasping whisper. “What the feckin’ hell do we do?”
She yanked free of his hold and started walking. “I don’t know.”
He caught her by the arm, whirled her about, and crushed his mouth to hers, kissing her with an explosive intensity that shook her to her core.
Melting into him, she struggled to remain standing.
This kiss…she couldn’t form a thought as he increased the pressure of his lips on hers.
It was…so…his desperation crashed into her, his longing, his hopelessness.
It was the hopelessness that finished her.
She couldn’t bear it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him harder, opening her mouth to his and welcoming him inside.
Fingers tangled in his hair, she held on tight to keep from dropping into a boneless pile of oh my goodness at his feet.
This kiss…damn, this kiss was…indescribably perfect.
“I need ye,” he rasped against her mouth. “Stay with me, I beg ye.”
How could she stay? But holy crap, how in the world could she ever leave? This connection that throbbed between them with a beating heart all its own. How could she toss that aside and never look back?
It was simple. She couldn’t.
“I…”
He nibbled across her mouth, then gently sucked on her bottom lip, making it impossible to form a coherent sentence. “Say it, I beg ye,” he said, his whisper rumbling louder.
She clutched him tighter. “I need you too.”
He lifted his head and stared down at her, cradling her face between his hands. “Repeat after me, my love.”
She nodded.
“Heart of my heart.”
“Heart of my heart.”
“Soul of my soul.”
“Soul of my soul.” She pulled in a deep, shuddering breath and swallowed hard against the stirring in the center of her chest where she kept all her emotions neatly boxed away.
“We reunite,” he said, “to never let go.”
She swallowed hard again. “We reunite. To never let go.”
“Blood of my blood,” he said, raising his voice as the storm raged louder. “Bone of my bone.”
“Blood of my blood. Bone of my bone.” She pressed closer, finding comfort in the hard safety of his chest.
“We two are now one,” he continued, then nibbled another kiss across her mouth. “Our halves are now whole.” He nodded. “Say it, love. Repeat the words.”
“We two are now one. Our halves are now whole.” She started trembling, unable to keep from it.
He tightened his arms around her. “For the good of all. With harm to none.”
“For the good of all. With harm to none.”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “So let it be spoken. So let it be done.”
“So let it be spoken. So let it be done.”
“So mote it be,” he shouted.
“So mote it be!”
A blinding flash of lightning lit the land as if thousands of blazing torches exploded in the woods. Thunder shook the ground, making them stumble to one side. It had to be a coincidence, but then again, maybe it wasn’t. The rain pelted them even harder, baptizing their vow.
An electricity, an unmistakably powerful and unexplainable charge, crackled between them, pulling them closer.
Her pounding heart echoed in her ears. Or maybe it was Jeros’s heartbeat that she heard.
He lowered his head and kissed her again, gently at first, then ravaged her mouth with a ferocity in which she reveled.
Yes. This was right. This was as it should be.
She fisted his hair in both hands, determined to never let him go.
She didn’t care if it came a flood and washed them away.
Nothing would ever come between them ever again.
Lightning flashed again, but softer this time. Thunder rumbled like a grumbling old man. The rain lessened to a gentle drizzle, just strong enough to soak through everything it touched..
He groaned into her mouth, then lifted his head again. “Domus,” he whispered, then smiled.
“Domus,” she repeated, as they found themselves in their private sitting room between their bedchambers. “I thought you were too weak to get us all the way back to the Hall?”
“We are bound now, my love. Ye healed me and made me stronger.”
“We are bound now,” she repeated, shivering so hard her teeth chattered. She didn’t know if it was because of the cold or the fact that she had just sold her heart and soul to an irresistible Fae prince. Whatever the reason, she couldn’t stop.
“We need to get closer to the fire.” He swept her up into his arms and carried her to the roaring hearth at the other end of the room. Gently, he set her on her feet. “Time to get out of these clothes, aye?”
A sudden shyness hit her. “Uhm…yes. We’re soaked to the skin.” As she slowly tugged off her jacket, he stopped her.
“We do nothing unless ye will it, Lexi. Do ye ken my meaning?” He wet his lips like a man starving. “I want ye with a fury, but only if ye are ready.”
“I am ready,” she said, but it sounded all squeaky and uncertain. “I’m ready,” she repeated with more certainty. She draped the wet denim jacket on a nearby chair, then struggled to rid herself of her poor, soggy cowboy boots.
“Here, lass. Let me aid ye.” He knelt in front of her. “Hold on to my shoulders.”
She did and barely kept her balance as he yanked the boots off and set them aside.
“Ye’ve stained yer wee stockings red.” He chuckled and peeled off her socks, then flung them away.
“My boots do that whenever I get them wet, but I still love them. They are my lucky boots.”
“They brought us luck tonight,” he said, then he frowned at the front of her jeans. “What the devil is that fastener?”
She undid the brass button and slowly lowered the zipper, trying to continue breathing as she did so. Her pounding heart made that quite the chore. “A zipper. Much faster and more efficient than buttons, but wicked painful if you zip it too quickly and catch any skin in its metal teeth.”
“Aye, well…” He tugged on the wet jeans, working the stubborn things down to her ankles. “I am more efficient still. I dinna wear anything under my kilt. Feckin’ hell, these things dinna wish to come off ye.” He gave her a suggestive look that melted her insides. “I canna say as I blame them.”
“You don’t wear anything under your kilt?” That would make things much easier. If she were clothed in this era’s attire, she would be bare underneath her petticoats, and they could go up against the wall anytime they wanted. The thought made her lick her lips.
“I dinna wear anything but my pride.” He slowly ran his hands up her bare legs, tantalizing her with his touch as he kissed a path higher.
When he reached her panties, he pinned a fierce glare on her favorite pair of black silk lingerie.
“And yet another layer? Do women enjoy making things difficult in yer time?”
She laughed. She couldn’t help it. “Some do. But going panty-less with jeans can sometimes be uncomfortable. Especially when riding.” Riding. What a double entendre for this particular moment.
With a knowing smile, he hooked his thumbs in the narrow waistband and shimmied them off far quicker than the jeans. Still on his knees in front of her, he pulled her closer and tasted her.
“Oh…my…” An involuntary hiss of delight escaped her as she laced her fingers in his hair and held on for dear life. Knees trembling, she prayed she wouldn’t fall.
“Lore a’mighty, woman. Yer nectar drives me mad.
” He pulled her legs out from under her and gently laid her out before him.
“Now,” he said, his voice a deep, raspy caress.
Kneeling between her knees, he hooked her legs over his shoulders and drove his tongue even deeper, tasting and sucking with such delicious urgency that she couldn’t help but cry out.
As he treated her to the indescribable bliss, he laced his fingers through hers, holding both her hands as if in fear she would fly away.
And she very well could at the speed with which her not-so-elusive orgasm was building.
He teased and taunted her, first with his tongue and then his fingers, taking her right to the edge of abandon and stopping with a devilish chuckle as he kissed his way across her stomach—as if that would cool her.
“You are a cruel man.” She tried to pull him up and make him get on with it. “I need you,” she said with a throaty groan. “Now.”
“Do ye now?” He rose, unbelted his kilt, and ripped it out from around him. No wonder the man didn’t wear underpants. Why would anyone try to cover that? “Rid yerself of yer shirt, my love,” he said as he yanked his tunic off over his head. “I want to feel the length of yer silkiness beneath me.”
She hurried to shed her button-up shirt, tee, and bra. All shyness had left, leaving in its place a burning ache dying to be satisfied. As he stretched over her, she reached for him, pulling him closer. “I need you,” she repeated. “Now.”
And so they joined, fitting together with euphoric perfection.
“Lore a’mighty, woman,” he said with a deep, guttural groan. “I fear I’ll nay last long. The first joining is—”
“Animalistic,” she said, finishing for him.
“Faster and harder. Now. Slow and leisurely, later.” She was about to explode into shards of quivering bliss.
She arched and met him thrust for thrust, making the waves hit with more force.
A scream ripped free of her throat as she hit the pinnacle and shattered.
Never had she ever…Never did she think…Never before.
Jeros roared louder than a Fae tiger, drove in hard and deep, then stuck and emptied, shuddering with his release.
Just before collapsing atop her, he gave a long, luxurious groan that epitomized everything perfectly.
Propped on his forearms to keep from crushing her, he nibbled kisses across her mouth.
“We are now truly bonded, my love. Properly melded.”
She agreed. They had indeed melded with a heat hotter than any forge.