Chapter 37
Delphi woke slowly, the sounds of birds and the soft, rustling noise of curtains in a gentle breeze trickled through her groggy mind. She opened her eyes slowly and focused on the dark red brocade decorated with black lions hanging above her.
Tenebrys's bed. She rubbed at her face, trying to remember how she got there. She sat up, her limbs heavy. A bandage was wrapped around her palm.
It all came rushing back. Kaelis, the fae, Narcisse…and fire. So much fire.
Delphi stumbled to the bathroom to relieve herself and wash her face. She scrubbed her teeth, her mouth tasting like blood and flowers. She studied her reflection carefully. No flames were burning in her eyes. They were her normal blue.
The same as Lord of Plagues.
Delphi took some deep steadying breaths. She was used to despising Narcisse in so many ways. What did it matter if she hated her real father? It was a familiar emotion. Her lineage did not define her. It never had.
Delphi wasn't the same woman she had been before she had run into the Mistwood.
She would never be her again. She wasn't afraid of her magic, of her red hair, and all that made her who she was.
She had someone who loved and accepted all of her for the first time in her life. Her powerful, gorgeous mate.
Delphi's body thrummed at the thought of Tenebrys. She wanted him so badly her skin ached. She needed to see him unharmed and feel him inside of her, moving and alive.
Delphi closed her eyes and rested a hand over her heart. Magic flared at her call, and in her inner eye, the world came alive around her.
Tenebrys was downstairs, stalking the halls and worrying that she hadn't woken up. Eiran and Syn were with him. Trying to reassure him and keep him calm, no doubt.
Delphi moved out of the bathroom, pulled off the long shirt she was dressed in, and lay down on the bed. Grinning like a fiend, she opened the mating bond between her and Tenebrys. He stopped pacing, freezing in place as he realized she was awake.
Delphi stroked her pussy with one hand and cupped a breast with the other.
My mate, I need you and your big cock, she whispered, teasing him and bombarding him with the tingling sensation of her already building desire.
Tenebrys bolted. Delphi was tempted to hide somewhere just to tease him further, but she was already too eager to meet him naked and needy.
The chambers' doors crashed open. "Where is my naughty mate?" Tenebrys roared, making Delphi giggle in the depths of the bed. He took two large steps into the room and pounced, landing on all fours with her under him. His eyes glowed as he took her in.
"Hey, baby, you seem tense. Anything the matter?" she asked sweetly.
Tenebrys kissed her, hot and hard. All of Delphi's sass melted away as she sank her hands into his mane, stroking his soft ears before holding onto his horns.
"Are you okay? You were stabbed," she whispered against his lips.
Tenebrys pulled back, and she let out a protest. He cupped her cheek with his huge hand. "Your witch fire healed me. You…You don't remember?"
"Parts? I know the magic came out of me and killed the fae," she replied, frowning. "Kaelis… He hit Narcisse with a dagger. Is he dead?"
"Yes," Tenebrys said, stroking her hair.
Delphi only nodded. She didn't know how she felt about all the lies Narcisse had told and the things Kaelis had revealed.
"Are the others okay? They weren't too badly hurt?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Nothing that they won't recover from. They are all in awe of you, even grumpy Nahir." Tenebrys grinned. "You cleansed the original plague out of the land, love. It bubbled out of the earth and turned to ash."
"I did?" Delphi put a hand to her forehead. "Oh, gods, I'm going to have to test some more samples and see if…"
Tenebrys growled, his chest rumbling deeply. "It can wait."
"For what?"
"I need to finish what you started." Tenebrys licked up her neck to her ear, making her shiver. "I haven't been inside my mate for three days, and there is nothing more important than her right now."
Delphi reached down between them and pulled on the laces in front of his pants. "You had better hurry up and take these off then."
"I will when I'm ready," he said, grabbing her by the wrists and pinning them above her head.
Delphi sighed with delight as he began to lick and kiss his way down her body, his rough tongue and fangs leaving little marks on her.
He teased her breasts, taking his time to drive her crazy and make her nipples so hard they hurt.
Through their bond, she could feel how much he loved her body with an almost worshipful obsession. He loved pleasuring and teasing her.
By the time Tenebrys made it between her thighs, Delphi was soaked and trying not to beg for release.
"Still so needy, my little flower," he purred, spreading her wide.
"Please, Ten."
"Please, what? Please make you come?" he teased and blew on her clit.
"Oh, fuck, yes, make me come," she begged.
Tenebrys gripped her thighs, his expression darkening. "Promise me you will never burn out your magic like that."
"I… What if I need to protect you?" Delphi tried to reason through the haze of lust.
"Wrong answer." Tenebrys gave her pussy a lick, making her jump. "I need my mate to be safe and to be in control of her magic. Not putting herself in danger."
"I wasn't going to let him kill you," Delphi snarled, wriggling in his grip.
"You are more important than me, Delphi!" he said, flashing his fangs. "If I had died, Plagues wouldn't have killed you. You are too valuable. You are smart. You would have found a way to survive and escape him even if I had died."
She grabbed his horns and pulled him down so they were nose to nose.
"Don't you ever say that again, Kesari Tenebrys.
Get it through your thick head. I will never let anyone hurt you.
I don't care how much you don't like it.
I will learn to control my power, but I won't, for a single second, regret what I did to protect what belongs to me. "
The anger in Tenebrys's eyes melted. He whispered, "I don't deserve you, Delphi."
"I don't deserve you either, but we beasts belong to each other regardless." Delphi bit his bottom lip, hard enough to make him hiss. "And don't you forget it."
"Just for that, you get to do all the work," he said and rolled them so she was on top of him. He slapped her ass and then squeezed the burn. "Get on with it, my queen. Show me how much you want this old monster."
"My queen now, is it?" Delphi said, dragging her nails over his abs.
Tenebrys's big hands went to her hips, and he lifted her up to line up her pussy with his cock. "You were always my queen."
Delphi pressed herself down onto him, gasping as his tip stretched her. He held her steady, letting her control how much she took of him at once. "Fuck, Ten, I'm never going to get enough of this," she admitted, breathlessly. "Of you."
"That's right, my little mate. No matter what, you and that sassy mouth of yours are going to be mine forever," Tenebrys growled, one of his big hands wrapping around her throat and collarbone. Possessive and protective at once. He pressed two thick fingers into her mouth with his other hand.
Delphi licked and sucked them as he worked them in and out of her mouth like he was fucking it. Her fingers were twisting in his fur on his massive shoulders. She was already feeling drugged on his scent, his heat, the feel of him stretching her, dominating her.
Tenebrys pulled his fingers out of her mouth and licked the drool off her chin. "You can be so obedient when you want to be."
"Hmm, don't get used to it outside of the bed chambers," she replied.
"I wouldn't dream of it," Tenebrys said and kissed her.
His tongue plunged into her mouth as his soaked fingers teased her ass.
Delphi's whimpers were smothered against him as his fingers moved away to be replaced by the tip of his spur.
Their lips broke apart, both of them moaning as she sank further down onto him.
"That's it, my queen, my Delphi," Tenebrys groaned, fisting her hair.
"Take all of me. My knot has been swollen for days, yearning for release.
This sweet cunt of yours is going to be fucked until it's inside of you, and I'm filling you so full of my come that it will be leaking out of you for hours. "
"P-Prove it," Delphi said, rocking her hips.
His dirty mouth and promises made her wild for him like they always did.
His eyes flared, unable to resist a challenge.
He flipped her onto her back and tossed her legs over his massive shoulders.
He thrust harder and faster into her, making her cling to his horns and cry out with every deep stroke of his cock.
"I love you so much, Delphi," Tenebrys said, desperation and yearning in every word.
Delphi's body lit up as she came hard, clinging to him. She pushed all her burning emotions through their mating bond so he couldn't ever doubt what she felt for him. "I love you too, my beautiful beast."
Tenebrys kissed her cheeks tenderly before his smile turned mischievous. "Then catch your breath, my love, because we are just getting started."
Delphi laughed with pure happiness, and the magic inside her heart burned even brighter.