Chapter 19 #2
But there was no mention of my father’s lands. I assumed that was intact and still under the Nightblade care because Wolfe bound it to his family, not just himself.
I was certain they’d find a way around that, though, and my family would suffer.
What should I do?
What could I do?
I was needed here. Everything relied on me being here.
“I can’t think of anything worse.” Arielle grimaced. “And at this time. We need all hands on deck. Zyrra is at large and probably waiting for this opening. Only gods know what will happen next.”
“I’m sure she had a hand in this, too. And she’s using Thayden as a puppet.” That’s what happened last time, except Thayden got me back illegally. Now he had the law on his side.
“I feel like this is above us.”
“Because it is. If I go back, I can’t do anything to help.
I can’t practice or train to master my powers.
I’m flying blind. And who knows what Thayden will do to me.
” I wasn’t worried as such about his cruelty or his fists.
I didn’t know how far his treachery ran.
How deeply mixed he’d been with the dark forces.
“He’ll think you lost your memories. The new moon rises in two days.”
I was about to answer when a thought struck me.
No one knew.
No one outside my family knew I broke the memory curse. And they didn’t know I knew where the ring was, either. Zyrra didn’t know the details of my dragon and still thought I needed to just track the ring. She had no idea of the ring’s intricate plan to keep itself out of the wrong hands.
I stood, another bad idea forming.
Arielle gazed up at me. “What is it, Elariya?"
“Um…” I thought for a moment before voicing the madness that was stirring in my mind.
I’d been pushing to play my part for a long time, unsure where I fit and what I could actually do because there were so many limits on me. So many others in control or holding us to their will.
But… I might have just thought of something I could do to help. Something bigger and way more outlandish than breaking Wolfe out of the Citadel.
“I need to talk to everyone. Together.”
She rose, too. “What’s going on?”
“I have an idea. Another one.”
It was me who summoned Wolfe back. The seriousness in my command to return home brokered no argument.
Arielle gathered everyone else, including Kaem, who had gone to speak to someone at the Citadel about the decree.
We’d gathered in the living room. They all stood before me, eager. Just like days ago.
I was no leader. The real leader was back. But I was his wife and I’d found a way I could take control. Even for a while.
Wolfe stared at me, probably hating whatever was about to come out of my mouth before I’d even said it. I’d placed extra guards around my thoughts so he couldn’t read them. It helped that he’d been too occupied with his own.
“I think I should go back,” I declared.
When I suggested I freeze time and break Wolfe out of a heavily guarded fortress, no one had looked at me like I’d lost my mind. But they did now.
And the look Wolfe gave me…
I was perhaps lucky I was his wife.
“What did you just say?” he demanded.
I’d realized during my time here that sometimes, the person I loved most would also be the thorn in my side.
I’d learned that when it came to Wolfe Nightblade, sometimes I’d be forced to fight him just as fiercely as I loved him. So, I lifted my chin and met his potent stare.
“I said I should go back.” I spoke with more firmness.
“Thayden is mixed up somehow with the dark forces. We don’t know who they are.
This is obviously a power play on their part.
No one knows I broke my curse. As far as we know, Zyrra doesn’t even know it exists.
The new moon rises in two days. Thayden will think I lost my memories.
He’ll believe I won’t remember the wedding, being here, being married. I’d make the perfect spy.”
Everyone looked away from me and exchanged curious glances. Everyone except Wolfe. He didn’t take his eyes off me. Not even for a second.
“We don’t know what Zyrra is or who these dark forces are,” I continued, staring back at him as if he were the only other person in the room besides me. “We know nothing about them. This could be the opportunity to find out.”
At least my words had the chance to settle before Wolfe said, “No.”
His voice was a resounding boom in the room, like thunder. And just as harrowing as his stare.
I knew he’d respond like that. Just like last time when I needed to go home to protect my family.
Wolfe was my Hades. Of course, I wouldn’t be going anywhere until he agreed. And that’s what I needed to do. Get him to agree.
He marched up to me and took my hand, not bothering to acknowledge the lingering stares from the others. Before we headed through the door, I looked back at Alaric.
My idea went right back to the suggestion he’d made weeks ago.
That I should go to the mortal realm and play the game with Thayden.
He never voiced his opinions to me, but I knew the heart of that suggestion had come from wanting to keep an eye on Thayden.
Now we had that chance again, and Alaric knew I was right.
Once again, he agreed with my very bad idea. But he wouldn’t say so. Not yet.
Wolfe got me into the passage, then he portaled us the rest of the way to our room.
He released my hand and whirled around to face me.
“Ziyka—”
“No. Stop right there. You know I’m right.” I glared at him, not willing to back down.
He bared his teeth at me, his canines elongated and sharp. There were only two instances when I’d seen his teeth like that. When he was aroused and when he was enraged. I wasn’t as familiar with the latter, but I was seeing it now.
“You want them to annul our marriage?”
“Of course not.”
“You want to be with Thayden?”
“Wolfe, stop asking me shit. You know I loathe him. I despise this entire situation and just want to be with you.”
“Then stay and let me fight for you.” He threw a hard fist into the side of his leg, and his shadows flicked out in response. “Fuck! You’re mine. My wife. I can’t let them take you from me. I’d sooner take you and run to the edge of the earth than let them dissolve our marriage.”
His words gripped me, each one weaving through my core. I closed the distance between us and cradled his jaw. “You and I both know you would never run. That’s not who you are. That’s why we left the Interstice and came back here.”
“That was different.”
“It’s not.”
“Fuck.” Something fractured behind his eyes. Something raw.
His hand came up and closed around my jaw, not hard enough to hurt but firm enough to stop me from looking away.
For a breath, he simply stared at me, then whatever restraint he had left shattered and he crushed his mouth to mine.
The kiss stole every coherent thought from my mind. I was already barely composing myself. The kiss ignited every emotion I’d been burying and dragged them through my body.
Wolfe Nightblade had always been intense, but I was unprepared for the raw desperation in his need.
In one move, he had me pinned down on the bed, beneath his massive, hard body.
Kneeling over me, he ripped open my shirt, then the rest of my clothes dissolved in shadows—along with his. All that while he devoured my mouth.
The sound of our clothes fizzling into the air was just as loud as our ragged breathing. Then he moved down my neck to my breast and latched on to one of my nipples. Greedily, he sucked it into his mouth, sinking his teeth into the tender flesh around my nipple.
I moaned, writhing underneath him. Every touch felt incredible and waves of pleasure surged through my body.
Viciously, he grabbed my hips and spread my legs wide. I just about caught a glimpse of his massive erection jutting from his hand as he guided his cock to my entrance. Then Wolfe slammed right into me, stretching me around his huge, hard cock.
A thrill shot through my veins, spreading heat across my arms and legs. My heartbeat went wild in response, and the moment he started to fuck me, I came.
I came right there as he hammered into me.
The sudden orgasm sent an explosion of pleasure through me, cracking my mind wide open, and all I could do was scream his name.
“You are mine,” he grated out through gritted teeth, thrusting deeper and harder. “Not his. Mine. My wife. He can’t have you.”
Thayden.
He was talking about Thayden. Trapped in his ruthless grip, I didn’t have the power to tell him Thayden never had me. And he never would.
No one would ever hold my heart or claim my soul the way Wolfe did.
No one.
He fucked me harder, thrusting wildly into me like his life depended on this moment. I hooked my ankles behind his back and held on, arching against his chest as he drove into me again and again.
Then, against the sound of my ecstatic cries and his grunts of pleasure, I came once more.
My entire body went rigid with the force of it.
He picked up the pace while he watched me climax, and he came, too
While our bodies shared pleasure and breath, I gazed up at him through the blissful haze we’d created.
He straightened and stared down at me, his long hair falling over his eye, a mangled mess of beauty. His otherworldly eyes burned hot while sweat dripped down the hard planes of his chest.
Wolfe looked at me as if I were his entire world, then his brow furrowed with intensity as if I’d done something wrong.
I had.
His thoughts brushed against mine, though he suppressed them. It was getting harder to do it. The feeling was mutual.
One single thought pulsed harder against the rest.
You made me love you.
He knew I heard him. The frown deepened. His shadows appeared, thick and swirling like mist on a wintry night, then he faded into them.
Leaving.
Leaving me.