Chapter 35 – Gabriella
There had been times in my life where I didn’t know what to say. They were all pale, silly even, compared to this. Whatever the fuck had happened seemed holier than church, yet the quiet that invaded the stone circle was calmer.
Liam seemed to wait with nature for me to react.
I lifted our joined fingers, gingerly peeling my palm away from his but not unclasping our fingers. Fresh blood leaked from where the cut had scabbed and dried to me.
“Does it hurt?” I whispered.
Liam turned slightly, looking as if it were the first time he’d noticed the mess. “Aches like a bitch.”
I barked a rough laugh. I would have expected a big, bad mobster to not chicken out over a scratch, but the wound did seem pretty deep.
“Here, hold it like this.” I flipped his palm over, letting the blood rain on the stone bench next to his thigh.
Giving his fingers an encouraging squeeze, I let go of his hand.
The rip of the skirt sounded odd in the eerie silence.
But the moment the strip of cloth was free, I bound it tightly over the wound.
“There. That should hold till we can clean you up.”
Liam brought his hand in front of him, staring at it as if it held all the answers.
He didn’t meet my gaze.
He’s frightened.
Something about that realization gave me the courage to act. He knew what his broken body looked like. It had to be a horrendous ordeal. But he was bare to me. No more hiding behind the mask.
And all I wanted to do was make him feel safe. So, I showed him the only way I knew how that what he looked like didn’t bother me.
Stepping in front of him, I fluffed the skirt and dropped to my knees. His dick twitched, and I wanted so badly to smile. If his mind was tormented, at least his body realized I craved him.
Unlike the others, who’d only kissed his left hand, I caught both in mine. I bowed my head and pressed my lips to each, letting them linger a moment longer over the right side.
Tipping my head back, I stared into his face. Finally. He was looking at me.
“Why didn’t you make me kneel and swear the oath?” I breathed, squeezing his fingers. “They would have respected me more.”
Liam tugged his left hand free and traced the mark on my forehead. “You’re my queen. I told them as much.”
“Yes, but since I’m only bound to you by marriage, not history, or blood, they might have respected me more if I kept your traditions,” I countered, wondering if it was too late to call them back so they could witness me make an oath.
“No one else will ever see you on your knees, little bird.”
A warm, wild thrill licked my veins. The sound of his voice sent my heart racing.
“But you just became a king of sorts,” I insisted.
Liam caught my hair, dragging me slowly, carefully forward. His words were gravel. “I am, cailín, and as my queen, it should have been me who bowed before you tonight.”
He pulled me onto his lap. I had to tug at the ridiculous, badass dress so that my bare legs could straddle either side of his. The material bunched, and I let out an unholy Italian curse.
“What was that?” Liam demanded roughly.
I opened my mouth to translate, but something caught the glow of the fire. This close, I could see the golden wisp of chain encircling his throat. It was the plain one, the one I wore when I didn’t feel the need to protect myself against the evil eye.
The chain I thought I’d lost for good.
“Is that my—” I leaned forward, the tip of my finger brushing against the metal.
“I never take it off.”
I jerked back. “Never?”
“It’s mine,” he growled, and gripping my thighs, he lined himself at my entrance.
And drove into me.
With a gasp, I grabbed for his shoulders. Bare flesh rippled under my touch. This devil had been wearing my necklace from the night he tore it from the bloody throat he’d cut at dinner.
His.
The claim was visceral.
Shivering with the intoxicating rush, I dug my thumbs into him and lowered myself further onto his cock. Liam reached around me, clasping me close. His face pressed against my chest, hard, strained breathing filling the spaces between us.
I rocked my pelvis, urging him deeper. Another inch slid inside. Pleasure made me clench him tight, and I had to force myself to relax and adjust to his invasion. His cock was thick and hard, and I needed it—needed it badly.
There was no cure for this want.
I could flee to the corners of the earth and never escape the craving for him. He was part of my existence at this point. His essence coursed through my veins. If I purged him out of me, I might die in the process, never surviving the exorcism.
Liam reached under the dress, cursing at the material, which only made me want to laugh.
I didn’t feel like laughing when his fingers started to massage my clit.
Panting, I ground against him. Whatever hunger fueled us was just the last vestiges of the ritual.
Pulling back, Liam caught the edge of my jaw, fingers splaying in my hair. “Don’t look away. I want to watch while I claim you.”
While in theory, I could have shut my eyes, there was no hiding from this. Liam was a monster, born from a lineage of ancient tribes. I stared at the beast who drove into me, who’s touch I accepted without protest. I glanced at the necklace. All this time…he never took it off.
He’s obsessed.
My pussy clenched at the thought.
Liam groaned and pressed harder against the sensitive bundle of nerves between my legs. Dio sopra, I was insane. The pleasure he doled out was some kind of enchantment, and I willingly fell under his spell.
His touch slid back to my waist. Liam lifted me—with one freaking arm around my middle!
“Breathe, cailín,” he growled.
I obeyed.
He thrust into me while driving me onto his cock. I whimpered as pleasure coiled inside.
“Again.” His fingers stroked my pussy.
There wasn’t a break from where it began and ended. Only peaks and crests, valleys and dips in the sensation.
Liam buried himself inside me, cock pushed to the hilt.
My body shook as he pounded into me from below. If he hadn’t been helping support my weight, I don’t think I could have borne it. Faster and harder, my pussy took everything he gave.
“You’re fucking drenched,” he hissed, voice strained.
I nodded. I could feel it too.
“Does that mean you’re ready for me, little bird?” Liam’s words were granite. Rough and unbreakable like the stone behind him. “Is your pussy ready for my cum?”
I said something. What language it was, whatever it meant, there was no translation.
Liam didn’t need one. “Then fucking show me.”
With a scream, I surrendered to the man who wore my necklace as a bloodstained trophy around his neck. I was his.
And in the same breath, he was mine.
The release, quick and all consuming, swept over me. He pushed me to the brink of pleasure, and together we dove off the cliff. His roar muted against my shoulder as he hauled me against his body, exploding inside me. My pussy convulsed, welcoming his seed into its heat.
There was nothing to do but lay there, spent and trembling. The release was euphoric. I drank in the ragged sounds the monster made, knowing it felt just as good for him. Bathed in firelight, our bodies exchanged a primal vow.
One that I knew would be broken.
***
We didn’t stay for the party. The ruckus spilling from the barn sounded like fun, but Liam skirted us away. Dressed, we wove through the night back to his car.
“Won’t you need stitches?” I protested as his gloved hand opened the passenger door.
“No, I’ll do it myself once I’ve showered.”
The door closed, and I watched him move around the front of the vehicle. A masked man, bathed in moonlight. A phantom. He didn’t seem real.
The throb between my legs begged to differ.
“Do you come here often?” I yawned, turning the heat on low once he started the Jag. “To the country?”
Liam looked in the rearview but then inched the car forward. “As a lad, yes. When we weren’t living in Ireland, we stayed here. Haven’t had much time to visit either place the last few years.”
I pulled the horned pendant between my fingers. It was fitting that I wore the protective talisman, and he wore the pretty necklace. He didn’t need to ward off the malocchio. The evil eye didn’t dare turn his way.
“Pity.” I plucked the pillow and adjusted the seat. The events of the night left me spent. I was going to be asleep before we reached the country road. “It’s so pretty out here.”
“You’ve never been?” There was something guarded in his tone.
I tucked the blanket around my shoulders, wriggling into the seat and wishing like hell I could take off the corseted bodice. “Nope. Never left Boston. Hate to break it to you, but I’m a city slicker through and through.”
Liam’s voice dropped an octave. It was almost lost in the crunch of gravel as the Jag sped along the dirt drive. “But I thought you studied abroad.”
Just like that, my heart started to race. It took every ounce of strength not to shift or move into a defensive posture.
“Oh, yeah, well, Italy is basically my homeland,” I fibbed. “It’s not like leaving home for me.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw him nod to himself. Maybe he bought it. Merda! How could I be so stupid? I walked right into that! Where was my head tonight?
“Where were you in Italy, again?” He sounded casual.
I forced a yawn. “Recanati.”
“How long did you stay?”
He was like a damn hound on a scent. I snuggled deeper into the pillow, suddenly not sleepy at all, but trying like hell to fake it.
“Seven months.”
He hummed. The wheels gripped pavement, and he unleashed the sports car.
“Why come back? I’ve heard Italy is lovely.”
It’s supposed to be. “My place was here. With the famiglia.”
“And now?”
I shifted and stared at him. “And now, what?”
Liam shot me a look, not focusing on the road. My heart leapt to my throat.
“Where is your place…now?”
With you…. I almost said it.
But that was a lie I couldn’t tell, and a truth I couldn’t let myself want.
“Maybe we’ll go sometime,” I said lightly. “Eat gelato, go to Venice, Rome, Verona and leave love notes in the courtyard wall at Casa di Giulietta. Silly stuff. Couples stuff.”
Liam turned back to the road and took a sharp turn. “Get some sleep, cailín. We’ll be home soon.”
I tried. I shut my eyes and really tried. But I couldn’t get the way he looked out of my head. This man, my husband, haunted me.