Chapter 8 #2
As he gazed at me, giving me that piercing, assessing stare again, I suddenly felt too exposed, like he could see straight through to my soul.
“You don't even know me,” I whispered, my words barely more than a hollow breath.
Wolfe inched closer, closing the space between us until I could feel the warmth radiating from his skin.
“I know enough.” His voice was velvet and smoke, and those eyes darkened to the color of a storm-tossed sea, no longer bright in the moon's light.
“I know exactly what you sound like when your heart skips because you're scared, sad, or distressed. Like you were earlier when you first entered the hall with your so called betrothed.” He spoke softly, eyes burning into mine.
“I know the way your mouth parts when you want to say no but you're already thinking yes. Like now.”
His fingers grazed mine, a touch so light it barely existed, yet I felt it everywhere. Like a whisper of fire racing through my veins.
“I knew you needed to be saved, and breathing and focusing would do you no good.” His voice turned husky, dropping to a register that made my belly flutter. “I knew you wanted me at the tavern, and you want me now, so you're not going to stop me if I try to kiss you.”
The air between us crackled with electricity, humming with something inevitable and intoxicating.
My lips parted, but no sound came. What was there to say? My pulse thundered in my ears, drowning out rational thought. I didn't want to say no. So, yes, he was right again. I wouldn't stop him.
Wolfe lifted his hand slowly, letting his knuckles skim my cheek like a reverent caress, as if memorizing me through touch alone. His skin was warm, slightly rough, and utterly mesmerizing.
“Still think I'm not real, Ziyka?” he murmured, his breath ghosting across my lips.
My answer never came out. Because in the next second, Wolfe leaned in. And pressed his lips to mine.
At the contact fire and ice clashed inside me. Life and death collided as one. All consumed me.
His mouth moved against mine with practiced precision, drawing sensations from my body I never knew existed. He tasted of wild honey, power, and sin.
The kiss wasn’t gentle. The kiss wasn’t soft.
The kiss was a claim.
He kissed me as if he wanted to take everything and taste my soul while he was at it. And I let him.
I leaned into it, into him, like a flower seeking the sun, fingers curling into the leather of his cloak like I needed something to hold on to before I fell apart.
Maybe I already had.
I gripped tighter, anchoring myself against the storm raging through me. The world fell away, replaced by a hunger that clawed at my insides, begging for everything he could give me.
Just as I surrendered to the feeling, he backed me into the alcove under the cover of more darkness and privacy. No one would see us here.
We crashed against the wall, his body pressing against mine with desperate need. The cool stone bit into my back, a sharp contrast to the heat radiating from his skin.
His hands found my waist, fingers splaying wide and searching as if he wanted to feel every part of me.
I did the same. My palms explored the hard planes of his chest, feeling the defined muscles beneath his shirt and the rapid beat of his heart that matched the wild rhythm of my own.
When I traced the powerful lines of his shoulders and arms, he tensed under my touch, a low sound rumbling from his throat.
His lips moved to trace the column of my throat and a soft gasp escaped me, and I felt him smile against my skin.
The strength in his frame was invigorating, all lean muscle and controlled power that made me feel both delicate and scarily safe.
His mouth found mine again and heat spiralled through my entire body. Then his hands became desperate and as hungry as his lips, as they roamed my curves with reverent urgency.
When his fingers found the laces of my bodice, he tugged at them with barely restrained need, his knuckles brushing against my skin, making me arch into his touch.
He groaned against the sensitive spot where my neck met my shoulder. The fabric loosened under his skilled fingers, and cool air kissed my skin.
Wolfe stopped kissing me and caught my throat, forcing me to stare right into his eyes. “So you accept my offer, little mage? You want me to fuck you?” The wicked smile that danced across his lips burned through my skin.
This was madness. I knew it was.
It was complete and utter madness. I was supposed to be downstairs at my engagement party, smiling prettily while Thayden paraded me around like a prize he'd already won.
I was supposed to be the dutiful daughter, accepting my fate in a forced marriage with grace.
Instead, I was out here, in the shadows with a man whose name I'd only learned tonight, letting him unravel me with his touch.
But for the first time in years, something was mine to choose. Not anybody else’s. Just mine. Emabelle’s words rang through my mind. I should get to choose, so I decided Wolfe could have me. He could be my first.
This wild, reckless moment belonged to me alone. And I was just a woman who wanted to be touched, to be desired, to feel alive. If this beautiful stranger could give me that, even for one night, then I would take it. I would take everything he offered and make it mine.
“Yes,” I told him.
“Good.” He gave me a maddening smile then he claimed my lips again. This time with that dominant vibe that told me there was no turning back.
This was it. I was going to give myself to him. Right here.
His tongue swept across mine before he drew it into his mouth, the gentle suction making me feel like I might dissolve completely.
He continued working at my clothes, his touch growing bolder as his hands traveled downward.
His fingers traced along my curves before gathering the fabric of my skirt, bunching it higher up my thighs.
Before I could gather my scattered thoughts, his hand slipped beneath the delicate silk of my undergarments, his fingers finding the sensitive flesh between my legs.
Lightning blazed through my core, white-hot and consuming. I moaned as he felt past my folds and pressed a thick finger to the hard nub of my clit, then he massaged it, his finger teasing before sliding deeper into my entrance.
Graceful Gods, I was on fire.
Wolfe pumped into me slowly at first, then faster.
What would his cock feel like inside me? My mouth watered at the thought like a hungry dog.
He kissed me harder, while his fingers worked me. My breath hitched as waves of sensation crashed over me, leaving me trembling and desperate for more. Every nerve came alive under his touch, my body singing with a pleasure so intense it bordered on overwhelming.
Then… something wicked tore through me.
Calling it an orgasm didn’t feel like it was enough. This felt beyond that and better than anything I’d ever experienced.
I moaned against his lips, writhing between his hard body and the wall. He held me there until the waves of pleasure had me in its grip and I was little more than a mindless puppet.
I came on his hand, hidden in shadows and starlight, where nothing else existed but this. Him.
Gods, I didn’t even feel ashamed or guilty. I felt alive. So damn alive my skin was tingling.
I couldn’t imagine how much better I’d feel after he took me. I didn’t care about anything or anyone else.
Let them search for me downstairs. Let Thayden wonder where his obedient bride-to-be had gone. Right now, in this stolen slice of time, I wasn't the Elariya Grayson who was being traded like a commodity. I belonged to myself.
Wolfe pulled his fingers out of me and inched out of the kiss. He held up his fingers to the small sliver of moonlight washing over us and I saw my juices coating his skin.
With his gaze still trained on me he placed his fingers in his mouth and licked them off, shocking the hells out of me.
My eyes widened as his closed for a heartbeat, the look on his handsome face twisted into that of someone tasting something truly exquisite.
“You taste like the heavens, Ziyka.”
My lips parted with a pant that was swallowed by another deep kiss. I was just getting lost in him again when he suddenly pulled away, leaving me breathless and trembling.
He pressed his forehead to mine and inhaled deeply. “Gods… what a fucking shame,” he whispered, his voice laced with desire yet somehow cold and uncaring.
“What do you mean?” I stuttered. “What’s a shame?”
His thumb traced my lower lip, his touch tender as he studied me with those ancient eyes. “I could have had fun with you, Ziyka.”
“Why... can't you?” The words trembled out breathless and unsteady.
My heart hammered against my ribs, caught between the ache of wanting him and something else I couldn't name.
Heat still pulsed through my veins from his touch, but now it warred with a cold knot forming in my stomach.
My fingers trembled where they gripped his shirt, unsure whether to pull him closer or push him away.
“Because… I’ve come to collect you.” He ran a finger down the side of my face. “My little thief.”
The world stopped dead in its tracks.
Little thief.
The wraith's words echoed in my mind, and suddenly, the night air wasn't just cold, it was arctic and suffocating.
“No,” I rasped.
“Yes, Ziyka.”
I glared up at him as everything inside me seized, and then I realized I actually couldn’t move. Not because I was in shock, but because my body was paralyzed.
Gods, he’d put a spell on me. Now that the sexual fog of desire had cleared, I could feel it sinking into my blood like poison.
“You bastard. Let me go,” I muttered, but the words came out strangled. As if they were being starved of air.
“Oh no, no, no.” Wolfe shook his head. “You belong to me now.”
“Please, no. You can’t have me.” The words were barely there now. In panic I looked around for someone. Anyone. “Help. Somebody he…lp me.”
The bastard had the audacity to press his lips to my ear. “Sorry, Ziyka, but no one can save you from me.”
My soul sank, falling into an abyss of desolation. He’d tricked me. Lured me into a trap.
I tried to reach for the necklace to call for my grandmother, but my hands…they clung to his shirt, my fingers as frozen as the dead.
With his gaze still locked on mine, Wolfe raised one finger, swiped it across my neck and the chain loosened.
“Sleep.” He’d barely uttered the words before my body turned to stone, my lids fluttering, fighting to stay awake. I couldn’t.
I was powerless.
Shadows engulfed us, wrapping around us like endless night.
Mother, Grandmother, Emabelle. Help me…
The last thing I heard before the shadows swallowed me was the necklace clattering against the ground.
My last hope, falling away.
Lost to the dark.
Just like me.