Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Calista
I’m having a sex dream when I wake up with a start.
My whole body is humming as I sit up on the chair, flushed and breathless with an intense throbbing between my legs.
A spot on my neck is tingling with a demanding vibration like it wants something more than a scratch.
I look over at the star of my steamy dream and am shocked to find him awake, watching me.
“You’re up,” I say, stunned. It’s been two days and two nights since the battle with the Sea Wraiths. He hasn’t so much as opened his eyes once.
But he’s looking good now. Not just good, but alert. He’s not delirious or half-conscious. He’s fully awake and propped up against the headboard looking at me like he’s never seen anything so beautiful in his life.
My cheeks blush as I tear my eyes away from him. It’s like looking at the sun. It’s too much. Best to see in small doses.
“Was I… making noise?” I ask with my cheeks burning. “I was having a dream.”
“It sounded like fun,” he says with a grin. “I wish I was there.”
You were.
“How long was I out?” he asks in a scratchy voice that sends goosebumps popping up along my arms.
“Two days.”
I stared at you the whole time.
I didn’t know how good I had it. I was able to shamelessly stare at his gorgeous face all I wanted.
I spent hours sitting beside his bed, admiring the curve of his nose, the slope of his jaw, the way his Adam’s apple moved whenever he swallowed.
Now, I can barely look at him for two seconds before my cheeks flush and I involuntarily drop my eyes.
He runs his hand through his dark hair and I swallow hard at the sexy sight.
“Your arm,” I say, sitting up when I notice it. He just casually ran his hand through his hair with his bad arm and didn’t wince. “It’s healed?”
He rolls his shoulder and then lifts his arm. “It feels good.”
My eyes dart to his shredded stomach as he pulls the blanket down. The gaping wounds are nothing more than fading pink lines. If his healing continues like that, they’ll be invisible by breakfast.
He sits up and twists his body from side to side. I’m trying to look at him like a doctor might examine a patient, but I doubt I’m hiding the lust in my eyes when I see all those muscles turning and clenching. He’s so hot.
“I think I’m all better,” he says, sliding his legs off the bed. He puts his feet on the floor and stands up, stretching and moving with ease.
“I’m so relieved,” I say. “I didn’t like seeing you like that. I was worried sick.”
“I’m sorry,” he says quietly.
“You don’t have to be sorry,” I tell him. This past week was the best week of my life. Watching over him has given me a sense of purpose I didn’t know I needed.
“Well, I am,” he says with a heavy sigh.
“For what?”
“For hogging your bed,” he says, glancing back at it. “For bleeding on your sheets. For being a burden. But mostly, for not being able to protect you.”
I give him a look. “You saved Isen,” I say. “He would have been shredded to pieces if it wasn’t for you.”
He tilts his head. “Isen?”
“The little guy in the crow’s nest,” I tell him. “You stopped the wraiths from taking him.”
“I just roared,” he says. “The other girl did the saving.”
“We’re a crew and we work as a team,” I say. “If you weren’t there, he’d be at the bottom of the sea, becoming one of them.”
“Alright then,” he reluctantly says. “I’m glad I could help.”
We smile at each other and something warm and easy settles between us, the kind of comfort that shouldn’t be possible between two people who have known each other less than a week, most of which he spent unconscious.
He sits back down on the bed and glances at the water cup on the bedside table. “May I?”
“Of course,” I grab it and hand it to him. When he takes it from me, our fingers touch. His hand is so warm now. So different from when I first found him in the ocean.
His gorgeous green eyes meet mine, holding my gaze for a moment over the rim of the cup before he takes a long sip, draining half of it. He smiles at me—those sexy lips all wet—and then downs the rest of it.
“I’ll get you more,” I say, getting up.
“Wait,” he says, putting his hand on my knee. “Don’t go just yet.”
I didn’t want to go anyway. I slide back into my chair and we just stare at each other with smiles on our faces. I had so many questions to ask him, but now they’re all a blur in my mind. I forgot about all of them entirely. He’s just too hot. He makes my brain stop working.
“So,” I say, pulling myself together. “We were having quite the conversation before we got interrupted. You were saying something about mates...”
“And you weren’t quite believing me,” he says, setting the cup down. “Do you believe me now?”
I reach over without thinking and push a strand of hair off his forehead. My fingers trail along his temple, his cheekbone, the line of his jaw. He goes very still beneath my hand, barely breathing, those eyes fixed on mine with an intensity that makes my heart pound.
“It’s beginning to sink in,” I admit.
“Good,” he says softly.
I sit on the bed next to him, curling my leg under me as I turn toward his body. He’s not wearing anything but the shorts I left him and even those are too much. A naughty part of me wishes I had left him no clothes at all.
“You really think we’re mates?” I whisper.
He slides his hand over mine and it feels so natural I could cry. “I’m certain,” he says in that low raspy voice. “You’re mine, Calista.”
I know it’s true. My whole body is aching, letting me know he’s not lying.
I don’t make a conscious decision to kiss him.
I just do.
One moment, I’m looking at his hand on mine, and the next, my mouth is moving toward his. I touch his soft warm lips with mine, moaning at the taste and the pleasurable feeling of kissing my mate.
His hand comes up and cups the side of my face. His lips part and he kisses me back with a warmth and a sureness that makes every nerve in my body come alive. It’s exciting and intoxicating and feels so right.
I have never been kissed before, but even I know, inexperienced as I am, that this kiss is different. I could kiss a thousand men and not one would be like this. I feel my soul clicking into place, like it’s found its matching puzzle piece. Like I’ve just arrived home after decades away.
My whole body knows intimately that these are the lips I’m meant to kiss.
Lustful heat builds low in my stomach and spreads through my body until it’s all I can think about. More. I want more.
His strong hand slides into my hair and I lean into him with a moan, loving the feeling of his soft tongue sliding into my mouth. I don’t want to ever stop kissing this man.
I place my hand on his warm chest and I can feel his heart beating for me. I slide down to his abs and then lower… lower…
I want to feel if he’s as turned on as I am. If he’s rock hard for me.
But before I reach his shorts, his hand clamps around my wrist with a heavy groan.
“We can’t,” he whispers on my lips.
I pull back just enough to look at him. He’s breathing so hard, that massive chest moving up and down with every powerful breath. His eyes are dark and full of heat. His jaw is clenched tight as his lustful eyes roam down my body.
“We have to stop,” he says, closing his eyes and holding himself back like the restraint is causing him genuine physical pain.
“Why?” I ask, shocked by how raspy and throaty my voice is. I can’t even hide my want and need. “We’re mates. You said it yourself.”
He shakes his head, still not trusting himself to open his eyes. “There are rules.”
“Rules? Whose rules?”
Fuck the rules. I’m a female captain of a ship. I don’t give a shit about rules.
“The Gods,” he says, finally opening his eyes. The look of pain on his face gives me a stabbing sensation in my heart. “We can’t defy them.”
I’m all for defying the Gods if it means I can straddle that sexy body and feel him thrusting deep inside me.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
He squeezes his eyes shut and clenches his jaw.
“Yes,” he gasps. “Sit over there. Please.”
My whole body is aching with lust as I force myself off the bed and slump into the chair.
“Let me explain,” he says in a pained voice. “Please.”
I sit back, folding my arms and trying to get my body to calm down. It is not interested in what I’m asking of it. “Go ahead.”
“Us wolves must wait until the Lunaris Vinculum,” he says as my needy pussy pulses with heat. “It’s the sacred night of the binding and it only takes place when there’s a full moon in the night sky. We mark our mates, which seals the bond, and then we’re free to… you know.”
“So, no mating,” I say, glancing down at the long thick outline in his shorts. My mouth waters when I see how big and ready it is. “What else can we do?”
I can wait until a full moon for the grand finale, but I’m desperate for some sort of relief, and I know he’s feeling the same.
“Nothing,” he says with a heavy breath. “Just kissing.”
My hope drops like a steel trap. Just kissing? I mean, it feels good, but it’s like a tease when my body is craving so much more.
“After the ceremony takes place under a full moon,” he continues, “we’ll be free to engage in anything we desire.”
“What happens if we don’t wait?”
He shakes his head with a sad look on his face. “If we break the sacred law, the Gods can deny the mark entirely. I won’t risk that, Calista. Not for anything.”
I drop my head, willing my arousal to abate, but it only grows stronger and hotter in this tiny room. I feel like I’m going to explode.
“When is the next full moon?” I ask with a swallow.
He looks like he’s calculating the days in his mind. “About a week,” he says.
“A week?” I repeat, wanting to cry. But I need it now…
This can’t be easy on him either. I have to be mature about this. I have to be respectful of his customs, as frustrating and ludicrous as they are.
“Okay,” I say, taking a deep breath. “We’ll wait a week. Until the ceremony.”
He looks at me for a long moment and then runs his hand down his face.
“There’s something I haven’t told you,” he says carefully. “About who I am.”
I’ve been wanting to ask, but I didn’t want to pry. I’ve been so curious to know how he got those injuries and what happened to him.
“I was nearly killed,” he says. “As you know.”
I put my hand on his and gaze into his gorgeous green eyes. “You can tell me, Kieran. I’m your mate. You can trust me.”
He nods. “My father was King Axton of the Stormfur Realm. He died two weeks ago. And I am—”
He pauses, like the words still cost him something. Like they’re too painful to say.
“I am supposed to be his heir.”
“You’re going to be the next Wolf King?”
I stare at him in shock. This man keeps surprising me. What’s he going to say next, that he can fly?
“My father’s wish was for me to be crowned the next Wolf King,” he says after clearing his throat. “It’s my right. At the next full moon.”
My eyes drop to the pink scars on his torso.
“Who tried to take it from you?”
His face hardens as he looks over my shoulder with steely eyes.
“My cousin Lucan. If I’m not there, he will take the throne.
The same cousin who put those knives in my back and left me for dead in the river will rule the realm with a bloody fist. First, he will dominate the wolves, and then he’ll come for your people.
There is hate in his heart. The next century will be one of pain and violence if I’m not back in time. ”
I stand up and start pacing the room, thinking of wolves pouring over the borders—borders that have been secure for generations—and slaughtering my friends and family. I can’t let that happen.
“We’ll get you back in time,” I say, squeezing my hand into a fist. “This is why we found each other. I’ll do this for you.”
He takes a deep breath as he looks up at me. “It’s not all.”
I just wait to see what else he’s going to surprise me with. Nothing can be more shocking than finding out he’s a Wolf King.
“You’re my mate,” he says softly. “Which means, if we do this, you’ll be the next Queen of the Wolves.”
I stand corrected.
I don’t have words. I just stare at him as my mind swirls like a hurricane.
Leave my ship, leave the human realm, become a queen of a people I’ve never met. He doesn’t know what he’s asking me to do.
But when I look into his green eyes and see the worry and pain, I realize that he does know. He knows exactly what he’s asking of me.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I wish there was another way.”
I think back to my father and how he taught me how to handle a crew. How he groomed me to be a leader. How he made sure I was tough and smart and resourceful and could handle anything.
Little did either of us know, he was preparing me for this.
I turn to the door and push it open.
“Calista,” he says, looking sick with worry. “Where are you going?”
“To tell Isen we’re headed for the Stormfur Realm. We have a kingdom to claim.”
His shoulders slump. He looks at me with unspeakable relief.
“Really?” he says with a tired smile. “You’ll come?”
I march up to him, grab his cheeks in my hands, and pull his mouth to mine.
“Of course, I’ll come,” I say, licking my lips. “Someone has to watch your back and make sure you don’t go over any more waterfalls.”
“Thank you,” he whispers.
I nod my head, already fantasizing about what I’m going to do to that cousin of his when I get my hands on him.
“Queen Calista,” he says, savouring every syllable. “I like the sound of that.”
I grin as reality sinks in.
“So do I.”