Chapter 35
VINCULA
Caius stood in the middle of the arrowball field with nothing but his pajama pants on. The wildflowers covering the turf made him smile. Their soulscape.
He searched for his mate, and panic set in when he didn’t see her. “Rory?”
A giggle sounded from somewhere down the field, and he smiled as he followed it.
An arm shot up from the tall flowers. “Here I am!”
When he approached, he smiled at the sight of her sprawled out like a child making snow Angels. “What are you doing?” She giggled again, and he crouched down. Rory didn’t giggle. “Are you all right?”
Blindly reaching for his hand, she pulled him down beside her. “My friends and I had a few drinks tonight.”
He chuckled lightly. “Are you drunk, Miss Raven?”
She held her hand up and flipped it side to side. “Tipsy.”
Leaning forward, he placed a chaste kiss on her lips. “I’ve missed you.”
“Mmm, I missed you, too.” She threw her leg over his lap and straddled him. “A lot.”
When she twined her arms around his neck, her breasts pushed against his chest, and she pressed her mouth to his, running her tongue across his bottom lip. He deepened their kiss as a hunger that would never be satisfied took over.
Fisting her short, brown locks, he tilted her head back and moved his lips down her neck. She moaned and rocked forward. His want was all-consuming, but she was drunk, and he reluctantly stopped his descent.
“You’re drunk,” he murmured.
Her wide eyes blinked at him. “And I would still fuck you if I were sober. You promised you would finish what you started last night.” Grinding against him, she whispered, “You’re my mate.” The shine in her eyes almost did him in. “Please, Caius. I need to feel you.”
He returned his mouth to her neck, licking and sucking, unable to get enough of her taste.
“Fuck me,” she pleaded.
They flipped over, and he stared down at her. When their eyes met, she nodded slightly. “I’m only tipsy, I swear. We passed out hours ago.”
Looking down at the tight jeans and low-cut shirt she wore, he bit his lower lip. She was a fucking wet dream. He needed her naked. In the blink of an eye, both of their clothes disappeared. He’d forgotten this was only a dream.
Hovering his mouth above one of her nipples, he blew until it pebbled. She arched her back with a moan when he flicked his tongue over the tip. “No time,” she panted. “Fuck me before we wake up.”
The reminder stirred the anger he’d become familiar with, and a quick glance at his arm confirmed his suspicion. The veins, which still had not faded, moved past his elbows.
Her eyes followed his, and she gasped. “What is that?”
Straightening, he grabbed her hips and pulled them closer. “It’s nothing.” Before she could ask again, he lined up his cock and slid into her, almost yelling from the sensation.
“Caius,” she breathed and immediately squeezed around him.
It felt like she was actually here. His dick dragging against her smooth muscles was too much, and he didn’t know how long he could last. “Are you okay?” he breathed, praying she said yes.
Her hips lifted. “If you don’t move faster, I might die,” she groaned.
He grinned, pushed deeper, and watched as she threw her head back. “Fuck, you’re beautiful.”
With one hand under her thigh, he leaned forward and kissed her as he thrust into her warm body. “I will fuck you every night if you’ll let me.” Moving faster, he dropped his forehead to her shoulder, and she clawed at his back, writhing beneath him.
“I love you, Caius,” she breathed.
Lifting his head, he kissed her again. “I love you, too.” His movements came harder and faster, the slapping of their bodies filling the air.
Without thinking, he bit her neck with an animalistic need to mark her as his.
The sounds she made were driving him over the edge, and he wished he had his shadows to move against her clit so his hands could touch her everywhere else.
He couldn’t control them here, so he propped himself up and moved his fingers between them.
She got louder, and satisfaction made his body buzz. He sat on his knees and removed his thumb, making her groan. “I need to come.”
“You will,” he drawled as he slowed his strokes. As she palmed her breasts, he pushed deep and slow, wanting to savor the feel of her. His thumb ran around the soft skin of her pussy, teasing everything but her clit.
It took everything in him not to pull out and replace his fingers with his tongue. The refusal to touch her clit made her squirm, and he coasted his thumb across the sensitive spot, giving her what she craved.
“Fuck, Caius, touch it again,” she begged.
“Mmm.” He grinned. “I love every part of your cunt, Miss Raven, and it is not to be ignored.” Adding more pressure, he continued to slide his fingers along the slick area as he fucked her slowly, brushing over her clit again.
When she tried to lift her hips, he flipped his hand palm side up to slide his middle finger inside of her with his next stroke. His digit moved in and out with his body, and he curled it forward.
Pushing as deep as he could, he moaned when her panting came faster as he flicked the tip of his finger. Her cries were a symphony he would recall in his darkest hours, and he watched where their bodies connected.
“I wish you could see your pussy swallow every inch of me,” he told her as he slowed to enjoy the sight. Again and again, his cock and finger disappeared inside of her, and on the next outstroke, he paused to add another finger, groaning at how she tightened around him.
She squirmed and made incoherent noises, and when he curled both fingers, she came undone.
He moved faster, grunting as she convulsed, and once her muscles relaxed, he removed his hand and felt his balls grow tight. “Fuck, baby,” he breathed when her glazed-over eyes looked into his.
She grinned and flipped them over. “It’s my turn to take a ride,” she said in a sultry tone as she lifted her body. He hissed, and when she sheathed him with her cunt, his hips slammed skyward.
With her hands braced on his chest, she rolled her hips, and it was too much. He wanted to see her come again, and holding off his own release would be a challenge.
He ran his hands up her sides and over her breasts to massage them as she rode his cock. “Caius,” she breathed and rocked faster, grinding her clit against his pelvis.
“Come,” he commanded, and her hooded eyes flashed wide. His hips swiveled beneath her, and she bounced up and down, throwing her head back with a long moan.
Her pussy clenched around him, and she cried out, making his dick throb right before he came, filling her completely. Their movements slowed, and their chests heaved as their surroundings shimmered.
“Shit,” he breathed, and she leaned forward to kiss him. “Time to wake up.”
Caius stood in the kitchens with a bowl of ice cream just before dawn. Their soulscape ended earlier than usual, and he didn’t know why. Did someone intentionally wake Rory?
He shoveled another spoonful into his mouth and licked his lips after he swallowed. Sugar de-stressed him, always had since he was a child. His mother would catch him hiding in the kitchen cupboards with a piece of cake clutched in his hands and crumbs covering his shirt.
“Did you leave any for the rest of us?” a teasing voice asked from the doorway.
He glanced behind him, surprised to see Lenora up this early. “I don’t mind sharing,” he said, holding up his bowl.
Rory’s mother scurried around the island and into the other kitchen.
She popped back into the room with her own bowl and sidled up next to him.
Peeking at his snack, she tsked. “I didn’t take you as someone who ate plain vanilla.
” Her gaze lingered on his hands. “What is this?” She reached out and poked the black veins.
He twisted toward her and glanced at her bowl, grinning at the chocolate syrup and nuts sprinkled on top. “They’re tattoos,” he lied. “And I didn’t picture you as someone who ate ice cream for breakfast.”
Her eyes ticked to his hands one last time before she popped a bite of ice cream into her mouth. “It’s no different from syrup on waffles or jelly on toast. Sugar is sugar.”
“I like the way you think.” He licked the back of his spoon and set his bowl on the counter. “Why are you wandering the palace this early?”
Mixing the contents of her morning dessert, she avoided his gaze. “Pieces of visions are coming back with clarity but no context. I am painfully aware I hold the key to saving my daughter with no way to access it at will.”
“What did you see?” Caius couldn’t comprehend receiving visions and not understanding what they meant. Wasn’t it like watching a movie?
Her eyes glazed over, staring at nothing.
“Maybe I shouldn’t call them visions because it’s not always visuals.
It can be anything from whispers to feelings to pictures, and if I only have one or the other regarding a specific event, the meaning is unclear.
At least that’s how it’s been since arriving here.
” She set her bowl down. “I have seen you grab Gedeon away from Rory and snap his neck, just as I have seen him drive his power into her chest while she lay lifeless on the ground. I can feel what those visuals mean. I know if you don’t break free in time, she will die, but… ”
Her hesitation made him nervous, and he struggled to steady his voice. “But what?”
“But I suspect the prophecy of the golden child differs from the visions of you saving her.” She shook her head, frustrated.
“I can’t see that part of the prophecy. I only hear it over and over.
It’s connected, but not the same. ‘Only the golden child can save you.’ I know those words are true.
” Her tired eyes lifted. “This ‘golden child’ is her only hope.”
An unfamiliar sensation filled Caius’ veins: fear. “Is it possible I am also the golden child, and I must protect her from more than my brother?”