Chapter 20 #2
Another low growl filled his chest. “Good, because you’re mine, Primelle. And I don’t share.”
My stomach flipped, and my core clenched, but at least the turn of subject had alleviated my anxiety. “I better take that bath now before we start doing something that may garner the attention of your fellow warriors.” I inclined my head toward the doors.
Kole’s nostrils flared, and I could only imagine the scent I was releasing.
“I’ll draw the bath for you.”
The lights in my chambers were off by the time I emerged from the bathing room. Damp hair draped down my back. Prior to getting in the tub, I’d burned my ruined gown in a burst of my fire element. Following that, I’d taken the glittering tiara and diamond jewelry off.
Now, clean and pink from the bath’s heat, I wore only a satiny nightgown.
The silky material hung to mid-thigh, and its thin straps draped over my shoulders.
Betsee hadn’t stopped by, as she had most evenings, and I wondered if she’d been sent away by Xaven since he’d stationed himself in the hallway.
Kole stood watch near the wall. In the dark, his form was still and silent. I padded across the floor, and he watched me. Intensely watched me, given the slight glow in his eyes.
A shiver struck me. After a long soak in the tub, despite Kole’s attempts to stop my anxiety beforehand, it’d returned.
Alone in the bathing chambers, memories of the night had pummeled me.
Images of the creatures had kept flashing through my mind, and Lillith’s screams had echoed in my thoughts.
It was all so horrific, and I kept thinking of what would have happened if the outcome had been different.
I took a deep breath. I just wanted to forget it all.
At my bedside, I picked up the covers and slipped under them. Shadows dipped across the mattress, and the crisp sheets felt smooth and cool.
“Are you going to stand in the dark all night?” I asked Kole quietly.
“Yes.”
I turned on my side to face him. Kole tracked every movement. “Won’t you get tired?”
“No. I’ll be fine. Go to sleep, Princess. I’ll stand watch.”
I sighed and settled back. I knew I could start our game.
I could tell him I was aching for him and needed my warrior to comfort me, but the events of the night dimmed any playful, sexual mood I normally would have had.
The truth was that terror kept skating through me.
Dozens and dozens of those monstrous creatures had been sent for me.
The gravity of what I was facing had truly hit me as I lay in the warm bath water with nothing but my thoughts for company.
And if we didn’t catch who was behind it all, who was to say what they would do next.
“Kole?” I whispered into the darkness.
“Yes?” His answer came readily, but for a moment I couldn’t reply. It was stupid. I was a grown female. I wasn’t defenseless, but . . .
“I’m scared.”
In an instant, he was kneeling at my side. His sword clinked against the floor, its sheath so long it hit the floorboards. “Why? I’m here. I won’t let anyone or anything hurt you.”
The darkness dipped his chiseled face into shadows, but the intensity of his eyes cut through it like lightning.
I licked my lips and replied slowly, “I think it hit me, when I was in the bath, how bad this situation truly is. Whoever wants me was able to breach the palace. This place is supposed to be impenetrable, yet they found a way to get through the wards. But why? Why do they want me? And if they get me, what are they going to do to me?”
A thud came from Kole’s sword as he removed it from his back, and then the sheets lifted in a flurry.
In the next instant, Kole was in bed with me, his heavy weight dipping the mattress toward him.
Nothing was elicited from his wrist, likely because the Council’s magic sensed that I needed him. Truly needed him in this moment.
I was shaking by the time his arms were around me.
“Nobody is going to get you.” He growled softly and tucked me against his body, his strong arms encircling me. “You hear me, Primelle? Nobody will get through me.”
I turned in his grip and let him spoon me from behind. His scent clouded around me, his warmth quickly following. Even though he was still fully dressed, his clothing was soft and supple, easy to move in. A warrior’s clothing.
He ran a hand soothingly up and down my side and pressed a soft kiss to my neck. Between his scent, his feel, and the blissful warmth from his huge body, my coiled muscles soon began to loosen.
As though sensing it, a low rumble of pleasure came from his chest. “I got you, Princess. You’re safe. I’m here, and nobody’s going to hurt you. Now go to sleep, beautiful.”
Hearing his deep admission created an aching sense of safety to cocoon around me, and before I knew it, sleep claimed me.
Hazy sunlight penetrated my eyelids, and a warm hard chest pressed against me. Sleepily, I cracked my eyes open to see early morning sunlight peeking around the curtains. Just as fast, I became aware of the huge, solid warrior at my back.
My eyes opened more, and surprise flitted through me. Turning, I gazed at Kole, who was still wide awake with a shadow of a beard gracing his cheeks.
“Morning, Princess,” he said softly.
“You’re still with me?” Surprise filled my tone, and a small smile lifted my lips.
“Of course, I am. You needed me.”
I stretched against him and yawned. “I don’t think I’ve ever slept so well before.”
His lips lifted in a crooked smile. The easy gesture completely took my breath away. “Good.”
I glanced at the doors to the courtyard, but the curtains were drawn, and the doors had already been locked and warded due to what had happened in the maze. We were alone. Completely. Even though two warriors still stood outside these walls.
“Thank you,” I added. “For holding me.”
“I’m glad it helped. I live to serve you, Princess.”
My heartbeat ticked up because the way he said those words was almost as though he truly meant them. Mine. That word again flitted through my thoughts, reminding me of the fierce way he’d declared that to Abel and the shifters.
I shifted again on the soft, warm mattress only to encounter a very hard and very erect shaft near my hip.
Kole chuffed and pulled back slightly. “Sorry. A male can only take so much. Your arse has been rubbing against me all night.”
My cheeks warmed, and a soft laugh bubbled out of me. “Oh dear, how dreadful for you.”
He chuckled. “I’m not complaining. But seeing as you’re awake now, and you’re needing me from last night is now gone, I better get up.” He nodded toward his wrist, toward the magic that would inevitably flare if he didn’t soon put distance between us.
He made a move to lift the sheets, but I latched my hand onto his waist, stopping him. Beneath my grip, his muscles tensed. “Wait. What if I do need you . . . right now?”
He arched a dark eyebrow, and his voice dipped. “Now? Are you feeling scared again, Princess?”
My toes curled as he initiated the game we’d only just started playing.
“I am.” I cleared my throat and released a quick puff of self-cleansing magic to scrub my teeth and freshen my breath, then tilted my chin up.
“I definitely need my warrior to comfort me right now, and if you cast a silencing Shield around us, they won’t hear a thing.
” I nodded toward the courtyard and hall, where Xaven and Callahan were likely still stationed.
Kole’s nostrils flared, and his pupils dilated. An instant flare of air elemental magic came from him, alerting me to his Shield being erected, and the very noticeable bulge in the warrior’s breeches grew.
“In fact, I truly need to do something to feel better. Will you help me feel better, Kole?” I came to my knees, and he rolled onto his back. Dark hair tousled on his head, and his eyes grew hooded.
“I’ll do anything to make you feel good, Princess. Whatever you need, just tell me.”
I cast all of my attention to him and spread my thighs on the mattress to kneel over him. “I really must insist on one thing. Please, Kole. I really do need this. I need it. Will you let me?”
I spread my legs more and allowed my silky slip to rise. Kole’s nostrils flared, and his gaze fixated on my exposed flesh.
I ran my finger along his stomach.
He groaned, the sound part growl of want and part growl of hesitation, and he said, “Tell me what you need, Princess.”
“I’m most hungry.” I began to unbutton his breeches. “It’s been a long night, and I hardly ate anything during the ball. I really must put something in my mouth. Can you help me with that, as my Imperial Warrior?”
I worked his breeches down, and his cock sprang free. I gasped. I’d never seen him naked before, and the size and length of him had my mouth watering. “Stars. You’re even bigger than I thought you’d be.”
Before he could respond, my hand was around him, gripping him tightly. He hissed, but magic didn’t flare on his wrist, our game still fooling it.
“I’m so hungry.” I pumped my hand up and down his length. “I need to taste you.” I lowered myself to him, and when I ran my tongue over his length, his hips bucked.
“Your Highness,” he growled. “If they catch us . . .”
“They won’t because I need you.”
The sincerity of my words seemed to hit him, because his tense abdominal muscles loosened. “Fuck, I’m embarrassed to say this, but it probably won’t take long anyway. I’ve been aching for you all night.”
My lips curved in a genuine smile, and I brought him entirely into my mouth and swallowed his length down my throat, opening as much as I could for him. I concentrated on taking him, feeling him, wanting him.
Guttural sounds came from his chest, but I kept my focus on his hardness and my driving desire to show him how much I wanted him. How much I cared for him. Just as he’d done for me during the night.
I pumped him in my mouth more and more, working up a steady rhythm.
Kole’s fingers tangled in my hair, and he guided me, groaning with each long thrust and swirl of my tongue. “Stars, Princess, you take me so perfectly.”
His buttocks tightened, and my core throbbed. I straddled one of his thighs and rubbed my core on him.
He sucked in another breath and rubbed his thigh against my wetness. “Gods, you turn me on like no other, Princess.” He put more pressure on my clit, and a wave of pleasure shot through me.
Moaning, I sucked and devoured his length, going faster and getting lost in the pure joy of tasting and swallowing him while rubbing myself on him.
His hands fisted more in my hair, and his breaths turned short and panting. “I’m close, Prim. So close.” He groaned and rubbed his thigh on my core even more. “Fuck, I can smell how wet you are.” Another pant escaped him. “I’m going to come in your mouth, Princess, if you don’t stop.”
But I had no intentions of stopping. No intentions of doing anything other than making him see stars while I relished the taste of him.
“Prim,” he growled so low and deep that it reverberated through me. “I’m going to come, sweetheart, all over that pretty mouth of yours if you don’t stop.”
Even though he was trying to spare me from something he likely thought I didn’t want, I made no signs of hesitation. Instead, I moaned around him and increased my tempo, using my hand at the base of his shaft to increase the pressure.
“Fucking galaxy, Princess,” he growled.
I licked and sucked him harder and deeper. Groaning, he thrust into my mouth, and his hips shot forward just as his hands clenched my hair tightly. A guttural roar left his mouth.
“Oh, fuck yes, Princess.” His hot seed violently shot down my throat, and his cock pulsed.
The sticky feel and salty taste of him filled my senses, but even though such an act with other males had always turned me off, with Kole, I felt the opposite. I greedily drank down and sucked every last drop from him while his hips continued to buck.
It was only when his body finally stilled, and his length began to soften, that I pulled back.
I gazed at him, my lips undoubtedly swollen, my core slick, and my body pounding with need.
A look of wonder and savage devotion passed over his face. He pulled me to him and cupped my cheeks, then kissed me soundly, his mouth claiming and possessive.
And when he pulled back, he ran a thumb along my lower lip, as though stamping it . . . claiming it. A truly wild look coated his face.
“You’re mine, Princess. Fully and completely mine. You understand that?”
“Yes, Kole.” I leaned back on the mattress, spreading my thighs and baring myself completely. I was so wet, and my flesh was positively throbbing. “Would you like to continue since I still need you?” I swirled my finger over my flesh, and his eyes dilated even more.
A feral smile twisted his lips. “Fuck, yes.”