Chapter 16 - Zephyr
“Adalyn, I found more entrances,” I called out to her, having shifted from my wolf form. I explored, finding higher and wider caves, and was able to home my other form. Being cooped up in here hadn’t been good for my muscles, but as soon as I’d found those other caves, I had run like hell.
Not that I had wanted to escape. No, I just wanted to run , to move. My human body had better abilities at staying still than my wolf form, but I still had that urge to move. It was driving me insane not being able to have any of that.
Past the pool, I had found another tunnel that wound outwards, hidden among a rabbit hole entrance that had barred me from moving. From what I could see, I guessed it led to the Green Trail. I had tried to emerge, finding only solid resistance. But it was something. I knew we weren’t trapped here, but knowing I had found another entrance where we might be able to escape if we were found down here was comforting.
“How deep do these caves go?” I asked.
When I rounded the corner into the main room, Adalyn wasn’t there. But when I found her in the cavern I usually spent my days in, slowly translating the words on the wall, I hung back.
Even just being parted from her for my exploration in the caves had tugged at me, as if she was a magnetic force calling me back with each yard away from her as I went. But why? I thought about it as my body moved through the tunnels, sniffing out an entrance.
Her back was to me. A black silk robe pooled at her feet, and a hazy shimmer around her.
“What happens if I cross the shimmering line?” I asked.
“I would trust you won’t be stupid enough to consider it.” Her voice was sharp and flat, surprising me. “Stay back, Zephyr. Don’t interrupt this.”
There was a tone in her voice that made me listen.
“In fact, leave,” she ordered. “Leave this space. Go somewhere I can’t hear you, smell you, see you. Give me space , Zephyr.”
I didn’t understand why she sounded so angry at me, but I had already given her space while she talked to her grandmother. Was her change in mood something to do with that? It seemed like every time we found a truce of sorts then she pulled back once again, leaving me guessing her next move.
I didn’t leave. Instead, I hovered, more out of curiosity, out of admiration of wanting to still look at her.
The shimmering died down, and she looked over her shoulder at me. Dark freckles dotted along her back and shoulders; for a second, I could only think about sinking my teeth into her pale skin. Not to tear or hurt her but in passion that couldn’t be contained. Pouring every inch of my desire into her to see how much she could handle.
“I have defied my entire bloodline bringing you here, Zephyr,” she told me, her voice cold. Her eyes bore into me, black and endless. There were no stars in them now, like there had been in the pool. She stood up and walked towards me, her hips swaying. I forcefully kept my eyes on her face, although I was acutely aware of how naked she was.
“You have already interrupted me when I asked you not to. The least you can do is respect me when I need space in a particular room.”
But how could she ask me for space when, since yesterday, what had shifted between us in the pool, had changed everything?
As soon as she came near me, I grasped her hips, a growl rising in me at her challenge. A current of electricity snapped over her body, but I stayed holding her, gritting my teeth against her little spell.
“Don’t tell me to leave,” I growled. “I can’t protect you when we’re apart, little witch.”
Surprise flickered over her face. “Protect me? We’re not under threat.”
“You heard Alex,” I said. “Demons are swarming, getting braver. I found more ways in and out of these caves. Demons could infiltrate if they’re powerful enough. Neither of us knows what awaits around the corner.”
Adalyn let out a laugh. “Zephyr, I have this place sealed. It’s why you can’t leave without me removing it. Here, I am at the height of my power, calling both earth and water to help me. Even a stronger demon can’t break those seals.”
“Even a strong demon overlord?” I challenged. I pulled her closer to me, so close that her bare breasts brushed my chest. I still hadn’t clothed myself since my shift. “Don’t you feel it, Adalyn? This… tether between us? It grows taut whenever we’re apart. The further I ran through these tunnels, the more I felt the pull to come right back to you.”
I knew she did despite her not giving me any sort of verbal answer. But I saw it: that hesitation in her face, the questions that I had. Where had this incessant need to never leave her side come from when I had lived with such a deep hatred of her for so long? Why now did I feel like I needed to protect her more than I needed to kill her?
“Let me keep you safe,” I told her, lowering my voice. Her eyelashes fluttered at the soft but commanding tone I used.
“No,” she whispered, but it sounded more like a whimper. “No, you can stand with me while I keep myself safe.”
But there was something there, keeping me in her circle. Keeping me magnetized to her.
“I need to do this, Zephyr. I need the space to do it.”
“I can’t,” I told her desperately. “You can’t ask me to leave you.”
My thumbs rubbed circles into her hipbones, and she swayed with the motion, her head tipping back. I took the chance to press my lips to her throat, gentle with her there when I had been rough other times.
I kissed her softly, touching a line right down her neck. She let out another whimper even as her hands pressed to my chest. But I just wanted my mouth on her. I needed that contact, that chance to worship her not only with my hands that had once brought pain to her but with my mouth, too.
I wanted to show her that my tongue wasn’t only capable of forming words that hurt. But they could murmur admiration and praise and tell her every word that would have her melting.
I sucked a soft patch of skin between my lips, my teeth catching it hard enough to make her gasp. Between us, her hips tried to grind down against my leg, but I stopped her. That wasn’t what this part was about.
I kissed over her neck and collarbones, mapping across her shoulders but never venturing further. Her hair spilled into my palm, and I knew that even if we were trapped down there for another ten years, this was how I wanted to spend every second.
With Adalyn in my arms.
“I need to… I need to do this,” she whispered.
I growled as she pulled away, trying to keep her flush against me, trying to keep what was mine . That possessiveness reared its head, even if I didn’t know where it came from.
“Please let me do this,” she murmured. “I need you to wait outside the barrier.”
Her eyes mine, adding to her pleas. In the end, I nodded and released her hips.
She walked back to the circle she had been in, incanted a few words, and that shimmering barrier went back up, blocking me out. My eyes tracked her. I watched every movement she made as I paced around the room. I needed to be close to her.
As her chorus of cleansing and apologies rose into the cavern, I watched her. I noticed how the muscles on her back moved with how she beseeched her bloodline for forgiveness.
Forgiveness for me .
She had betrayed her kin to keep us safe.
My desire for her only grew.
I paced and paced. I didn’t know how long I did that, but I had received plenty of patience training in the military but this was nothing like that. Watching her so close yet so far out of reach drove me insane.
And all the time, I couldn’t help but question: why ?
I didn’t dare let myself think of my own bloodline, the Brents, who had come to Azure Cove years ago with his witch mate, starting their united bloodline, witch and wolf coming together to reckon against the demons.
I couldn’t let myself think of that word: mate .
I knew it had happened for a shifter outside of another shifter before, hence my ancestor, but…
I gazed at Adalyn. I had hated her. I had…
Brought up short, I tried to recall when I had thought of hating her as being in the past and not something I still felt. Clenching my fists, I paced again. The urge to be near her rang through me.
Go to her, go to her . My blood pounded, my heart racing, as I fought my instincts to simply pounce on her. Especially when so much skin was on show, and her legs were tucked together as she did what she needed to do. She looked breakable, and I wanted to break her simply because I knew her looks defied her. With no makeup on, her hair was soft and free, and she had no dark clothing or angry curl to her lips. Adalyn was far softer.
I craved that softness yielding beneath my hands.
The fact that I couldn’t have her beneath me, writhing, only drove me more insane.
I didn’t know how much time passed until Adalyn stood up and turned around. Her smirk was all I needed to do. I snarled, stalking over to her, and she snapped out the candles a second before I pushed her against the wall, falling to my knees before her.
Never go to your knees for a witch , I thought.
But to hell with anything I had ever thought before.
I would bow to her, kneel for her, any day.
I didn’t care about the questions or this new desire that burned me inside out. All I knew was that I needed my mouth on her.
“Open your legs,” I rasped, desperately. My arousal piqued, but I didn’t care. This wasn’t about me getting relief. It was about me wanting to show her what worship felt like. What a damn altar and candles and forgiveness could be like when done properly.
Adalyn’s fingers snagged in my hair.
“Poor dog ,” she cooed. “Couldn’t stay still long enough to heel.”
“Call me that again, and I’ll show you how hard I truly bite,” I warned. I hoisted her legs around my shoulders, driven to her core by her scent. It was heady, strong, and I couldn’t ignore how she had me panting with desire. There was a dark triangle of neat hair above her core, and her entrance glistened with arousal that had been pooling there.
I kept my eyes on her as I lowered my face between her legs. Her nails scratched my head, almost tenderly. I muffled a groan of pleasure as she scratched roughly, tugging on the longer strands of my hair. Her nails grazed the tattoos on my scalp, and I shuddered.
Then I pressed the flat of my tongue to her aching heat, lapping at her arousal. I moaned softly at the first taste of her. Adalyn loosed a gasp as her thighs tensed around my head. I would welcome her clamping them around my head.
I closed my eyes as I held her against the wall, tracking my tongue around her folds.
The little noises she made were heavenly, aborted little gasps as I held her thighs open, her back arching as she pressed closer to my face. Her hips canted into circles against my mouth. My name coated her lips in a gorgeous chorus.
“Moan for me, Adalyn,” I murmured against her heat. “Let this whole island know who is pleasuring you.” I met her gaze. “Let them all know who this pussy belongs to.”
I spread her folds and delved my tongue deep into her core.
Adalyn let out a cry, her hips jerking against me. “You!” she cried. “It belongs to you!”
I smacked her thigh. “Again.”
“I belong to you,” she moaned, her voice cracking. “My pussy belongs to you, Zephyr!”
“Good,” I purred. “Good, good girl.”
Her cheeks were dusted pink with humiliation, but she was even more soaked, giving me more to lick up. I shuddered as her taste spread over my tongue.
“More,” she moaned. “More, please, Zephyr— more .”
I laughed into her, loving how she unraveled beneath my hands. There she is , I thought.
“Please,” she begged. “I need more.”
My tongue sped up, as I placed my thumb on her clit and massaged it with enough pressure to her toes curling, her heels digging into my back. Behind me, I heard the pool bubbling away, and I wondered if that was Adalyn.
Hot , I couldn’t help but think.
I hoisted her up by her ass, bringing her spread legs closer to me. I ate her out like a man starved, breathing through my nose as I feasted on everything she offered up to me.
When my tongue retracted, and I suckled my lips around her clit, she screamed. Her fingers scrabbed at my shoulders, clawing to keep me closer.
“Zephyr!” she moaned, her voice cracking. “Oh, God, Zephyr, there .”
I sucked harshly, closing my eyes, moaning as I fought the urge to take myself in hand. This was about her .
“I’m going to come,” she groaned. “Fuck, Zephyr, please don’t stop.” Her moans turned into choked sobs as I kept on stimulating her. God, I could never get enough of her moans, her body, her orgasm, as it coursed through her.
Adalyn cried out my name, her nails digging into my head. I smiled as I lapped at her heat until I felt a rush of arousal soaking her entrance. Her taste was delicious and addictive, and I couldn’t pull myself away from her until I had made sure she was fully cleaned of any further essence.
Even as I pulled away, I couldn’t help but grin at her, knowing full well my mouth would glisten with her release.
“I want to show you what I found,” I told her, catching her off-guard.
She blinked at me, as if she hadn’t quite floated her way back down yet after her orgasm. “What?”
“In the caves,” I told her. “You haven’t been here before, right?”
She only blinked again. “How did you know?”
“You looked too surprised when we came here.” I shrugged. “You know it in your bones and soul because of who the sanctuary belongs to, but you don’t know it.”
She hesitated before nodding.
I stood up and picked up the robe she had shed before I had entered this cavern. “Follow me?”
I didn’t expect her to trust me when I held out my hand. But she took my hand, somewhat tentatively, and let me lead her from the room.