Chapter Thirty
THEA
T hea waited for the weight of him to follow, but it didn’t. Flushing with embarrassment and desire, she gazed up at him as he stalked the length of the room, running his hands through his hair and taking measured breaths.
‘We need to talk,’ he managed through gritted teeth.
‘That wasn’t what it seemed like you wanted to do,’ Thea replied boldly, sitting up, a crease forming between her brows.
‘Want and need are two different things,’ he said.
‘I’m not sure that’s the case when it comes to us.’
The words had flown out of Thea’s mouth before she could stop them, and now, they hung between the pair like grains of sand suspended in an hourglass.
Wilder looked at her then. ‘I always knew you would be the end of me.’
Thea swallowed, hard. She didn’t want to be the end of him, not anymore. She wanted to be the beginning. ‘I…’
‘I am not the first man to break a vow… Nor the first Warsword,’ he ventured, his deep voice suddenly hoarse.
She surveyed him from across the room, not sure she trusted herself to move a step closer to him, not when the air between them crackled like fire, not when the words they’d long suppressed were at last being spoken aloud.
He was magnificent, even in his travel-worn clothes, his dark hair messily tied back, his beard untrimmed.
Every one of his movements seemed to disturb the energy around him, as though he were struggling to contain that Furies-given power.
He took a step towards her, an ocean of turmoil behind those silver eyes.
‘I may have broken my oath to Thezmarr…’ he said roughly, as though it hurt to say the words, his shoulders caving forward, like the weight of the burden was all too much. ‘But I never broke a promise to you. Not one that mattered. I need you to know that.’
‘Wilder…’ Thea breathed.
‘I told you I loved you. That meant something, everything , to me.’
‘I know.’ Thea’s insides were twisting with regret.
Wilder straightened, very slowly, reaching to rub the spot beneath his shirt where the scar from her arrow must still have pained him. He stared at her without speaking. A tremor ran down the strong column of his throat as he swallowed. Still, he said nothing.
Thea could hardly fill her lungs with enough air. Another second and she’d lose her nerve.
The words spilt forth like a tide as she closed the distance between them.
‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, for everything.
I fucked up. I should have trusted you, I should have known that there was more to the story, that you’d never hurt me deliberately, that you had a reason —’ Her voice broke.
‘Forgive me. Please. Forgive me, Wilder.’
‘I already have,’ he murmured, lifting her chin with his index finger so her gaze met his.
‘I understand your reaction. Trust doesn’t come easy, given everything you’ve been through.
I was trying to protect you, trying to safeguard your future in case what I suspected wasn’t true.
But that’s no excuse. I shouldn’t have kept secrets, not from you. Do you forgive me?’
Thea loosed a sharp breath at the contact. ‘There’s nothing to forgive,’ she said.
She waited for one or both of them to pull away, but neither of them did.
Not this time. Never again, if she had any say in the matter.
They stared at one another, Thea’s hand reaching for Wilder’s, curling around his wrist. Each moment that passed was like a strike to an anvil, nailing the unstoppable force between them into place.
Her chest hitched, her fate stone warming against her sternum. ‘I wish we could take back this past year. I robbed us of that time together.’
‘You robbed us of nothing,’ he murmured, eyes scanning her face desperately. ‘I have only cared for you more with each passing day.’
Thea fought back a sob as the realisation hit her hard. ‘But we could have had more…’
Wilder’s eyes darkened, and Thea saw it all: heat, need and the thing they’d never been able to shed – love.
‘If you only have a year left, then live it well, and live it with me at your side.’
He said it as though it were simple. Perhaps it was.
‘Thea… What measure of time is enough to be life-changing?’
Before she could reply, he kissed her.
Wilder’s lips claimed Thea’s with an intensity that nearly shattered her. She kissed him back, matching every stroke of his tongue, every brush of his lips, wrapping her arms around his neck, spearing her fingers through his hair.
He groaned against her mouth, lifting her bodily from the ground, pressing her to him as though he meant for them to meld together. Thea writhed against him, every part of her singing out for his touch, his mouth, his cock.
Wilder didn’t carry her to the bed like she expected.
He took her to the wall. The sconces rattled as her back hit the cool surface hard and she wrapped her legs around him, savouring the friction at her core where his hard length pressed against her.
In a tangle of tongues and teeth, she explored his mouth with hers, relishing every sensation he wrought upon her.
She kissed him like he was her air, losing herself to him.
‘Do you think you can die from this?’ she gasped, as he lowered her until her feet hit the ground, freeing his hands to explore. ‘The need? The wanting?’
‘It’d be a good way to go.’ His voice was husky as he skimmed her curves, its rich tone vibrating through her, fuelling the longing that raged so fiercely within.
Her hands went to the buttons of his shirt, undoing each one with fingers that trembled in anticipation.
Furies, she had missed this, missed him .
A column of golden, scar-flecked skin was revealed as his shirt came undone.
She ran her palms across the impressive breadth of his chest, revelling in the heat of him, in the way his nipples hardened at her touch.
As the shirt came away from him completely, she eyed the scar just above his pectoral.
The first time she’d glimpsed it, it had been with anger and false hatred in her heart.
Now, as her fingers trailed the smooth pink line, she wanted to worship it.
She put her lips to the mark, kissing it, running her tongue along the raised tissue.
Wilder tensed, his hands stilling at her waist, as though he knew she needed to do this. She trailed kisses along his scar, along his collarbone, and finally, at his throat, where she could feel his pulse racing.
She pulled back slightly, just to look at him. He was beautiful. Hard and fierce, but beautiful.
He knew the power he had over her; she could tell. It tempted his lips into a wicked smile.
And then he slipped his hand down the front of her pants, into her undergarments.
Thea gasped as he slid his finger down her centre, tracing exactly where she wanted him. She was already slick for him, already panting.
‘Gods, you’re ready for me,’ he growled against her neck.
She gripped his cock through his pants, squeezing the rock-hard length of him. ‘And you’re not?’
Wilder gave a low, rough laugh. ‘It’s been a fucking year, Princess. I’m always ready for you.’
Any final notions of restraint vanished as Wilder claimed her mouth in a dark frenzy and slid his finger deep inside her.
Thea moaned against him, her hands flying to his belt as he added a second finger, tempting that coil of intoxicating bliss from her body. His swords hit the floor while his pants fell to his knees and his cock sprang free.
Thea broke their feverish kiss to look at him. He was perfect.
She must have said it aloud, because he laughed.
The sound skittered along her bones, sending a delicious lick of pleasure down her spine. Thea couldn’t bear it anymore. She removed Wilder’s hand from her pants and dropped to her knees.
‘Thea…’ he warned.
She glided her tongue across the broad head of him and took him deep into her mouth, until he nudged the back of her throat.
‘Furies – fuck!’ he barked, his fingers threading through her hair.
She smiled around him and moved up and down his length, cupping his balls as she sucked his cock. He was hot and hard and silken in her mouth, and the sounds he was making were nearly the end of her.
He fisted her hair in a punishing grip, and she moaned, her knees spreading beneath her as her own arousal amplified at the way he quivered for her. She swallowed him down, coaxing another carnal groan from his lips.
He moved with her, thrusting into her mouth. ‘I have thought about you every day since we’ve been apart,’ he rasped. ‘I’ve thought about your perfect mouth.’ He thrust again.
‘Your perfect breasts…’ Thrust. ‘How perfectly we fit.’ He ground into her for emphasis before thrusting again. ‘Every. Fucking. Day.’
His coarse words turned her body molten.
Wilder pulled her up from the floor, his cheeks tipped pink, his breath ragged. ‘I’ll be damned if I’m going to rush this.’
He stripped her naked, moaning at the sight of her, worshipping every inch of her skin with kisses and teasing touches, so that she was almost a mere puddle at his feet. His rough palms skimmed across her, as though he didn’t know where he wanted to touch her first. Then he decided.
He cupped her breasts, squeezing until Thea’s back was arching and she could feel her wet arousal pulsing between her legs.
‘Wilder…’ she panted, pushing his pants down the rest of his legs.
He kicked the fabric away and they stood there together, naked, drinking in the sight of each other.
Thea let out a whimper as he pinched her nipple and slipped his hand between her legs again.
‘Let me taste you before I fuck you,’ he said, a pleading note in his voice.
‘Yes,’ she breathed, her legs nearly turning liquid as he lowered himself, kneeling before her.
He hooked one of her legs over his huge shoulder, and spread her open, the cool air kissing the most intimate part of her. She saw the wetness that glistened there as Wilder dragged a single finger down her core with a moan.
‘Gods,’ he murmured. ‘You were made for me, Thea.’
Then his tongue was on her, licking straight up her centre, sucking gently, just where she wanted him. Thea cried out at the sensation, at the million tingling sparks that burst through her body, starting from the base of her spine through to each fingertip.
Wilder devoured her. Every stroke of his wicked tongue against her clit chipped away at what little control she had left, fed the inferno that unfurled inside her.
When one of his hands reached up and rolled her nipple between his deft fingers, her head tipped back against the wall and she moaned, loudly.
‘Fuck…’ Wilder muttered against her core, and she glanced down to see him grasping his cock with his other hand, the tip wet with his own need.
‘Wilder…’ Thea panted. ‘I want —’
There was a flurry of movement as he stood and pinned her to the wall, kissing her savagely. ‘I know,’ he growled. ‘I know exactly what you want.’
He reached between them, dragging the head of his cock through the wet heat of her, pressing it to her entrance, pausing there.
Warmth bloomed in Thea’s chest as he gazed into her eyes.
‘It’s me and you now,’ he told her. ‘Always.’
Thea struggled to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. She nodded. ‘Always.’
And then he sheathed himself inside her.
Thea gave herself over to the force of him, seeing stars in her vision as she clenched around him. She cried out as he moved inside her, one powerful thrust after another, each one more intoxicating than the last. She let go, climbing higher and higher as her love for Wilder drugged her.
He moaned against her neck and she almost climaxed then and there. He reached between them and stroked her clit, nearly reducing her to a million pieces.
She looked down, past the contours of his muscled stomach, past the V of sinew that pointed to where they were joined with those hot, powerful thrusts. Every stroke rendered her mind useless. There was no thinking here, only the feel of him, the feel of them, together.
Over and over he sank into her, both of them trembling at the very precipice of desire, an energy forming around them that sang out to Thea’s heart. She felt it, felt him , in the fabric of her soul.
Her eyes locked with his, that dark silver smoulder like a brand.
‘Come for me,’ he commanded, circling her clit as he fucked her hard and deep.
Thea gave a half-sob as her body did as he demanded. She screamed his name as she came, her whole body shattering with the force of him, her climax unravelling at a blinding speed, wave after wave – a feeling so intense she wasn’t sure she’d ever come back down to reality.
Wilder tensed, his breath hitching as he dragged out the last spirals of her orgasm before he cried out. Her Warsword shuddered against her, spilling himself inside her with a ragged gasp.
They were both shaking, clinging to one another as though they might be swept away.
Thea waited for the current coursing through her to ebb, to leave her feeling sated and dazed. But whatever hummed in her veins didn’t leave her.
Wilder’s sharp intake of breath forced her eyes open.
Thea nearly choked. For at her fingertips danced little bolts of lightning.
Power crackled through her, and that dormant beast within her awoke from its slumber. She stared at her magic.
Wilder’s deep voice rumbled against her, warm and full of pride. ‘There you are, Princess.’