Chapter 22
CHAPTER 22
B y the time the pastries reached the last and least of the dinner guests, the nobles were already dancing, and the servers were returning to the kitchen two at a time. Rafe and Asus reached the large room, staffed by a literal army of Farras’s cooks, just as the next dish was being plated. An array of spicy curries—red, green, and yellow—steamed in brightly decorated ceramic dishes. The complex scent wafted toward Rafe on a gust of the kitchen’s stifling heat. He sneezed, the peppery fragrance teasing and tormenting at once. It smelled good, but not exactly satisfying.
“Vegetarian again?” he muttered. “When do the meat courses start?”
“The light fae do not eat flesh,” Asus said primly.
“Dark fae do,” Rafe replied.
“They have more in common with beasts.”
“Hurray, Team Gravy.”
Asus gave him a narrow look, and they both let the matter drop. There was too much commotion to talk, anyway. The kitchen was a hive of frantic activity, forcing the servers into a disordered crowd near the double swing doors that led to the banquet area. Rafe inched his way to the edge of the group, hoping for a wash of cooler air from inside the hall. The uniform he’d been given was beautifully made but clearly designed for less heat.
The door swung open, and he glanced into the hall, turning his face toward the fresher air. The diners were drifting between tables and sharing a few last words before returning to their seats for the next course. Lila was across the room by one of the ivy-covered pillars. She was unmistakable in that sparkling cloud of gauze that passed for a dress. As Rafe watched, she cast a cautious glance over her shoulder and slipped outside.
Rafe stiffened. Why was she leaving now, in the middle of the event? Had something gone wrong?
He rejoined the huddle of servers who were waiting to pick up the next round of platters. In one smooth movement, he slid backward and picked up a clear glass decanter of ruby wine from the table to the left of the double doors. Stealing into the banquet hall, he made his way through the hall as if he meant to deliver the drink to one of the far tables. No one gave him a second glance.
Still, he had to be careful. He thought about taking a knife, but without joints of meat to cut, there weren’t any in sight that would serve as a weapon. He was taking a risk as it was.
Instead of following Lila out the same door she had used, he delivered the wine to a table in the far back corner of the hall. His return route took him past another exit that led almost directly into the woods. It was a mark of the fae’s confidence in their superior strength that there were no sentries posted at the exits. Magic would keep a prisoner like him from making an escape from the surrounding trees.
He circled through the woods until he could see the long porch where Lila stood, her hands on the rail and her face lifted to the night breeze. Rafe froze, transfixed by the graceful lines of her posture. He had seen her dancing with Farras, and she had been breathtaking then, but alone and unguarded she was even more lovely. There was no display, no artfulness, only her. It took all his willpower to shake off the spell and keep moving.
When she saw him, Lila ducked under the handrail and jumped to the grass, heedless of the three-foot drop. With a sudden burst of speed, she ran to where he stood in the trees. She grabbed his arm to break her momentum and stood close, panting hard.
“How did you know I was here?” she asked.
He shrugged. The alternative was to say something stalkerish—that he couldn’t stop looking for her, that he was always aware of where she was. There was no way to say that without sounding, well, like the big bad wolf of human tales.
“Why did you leave?” he asked instead.
She looked back toward the house, as if expecting trouble. “I am to dazzle Lord Farras into treating my family as favorites of his court.”
“That should be easy. The dazzling part, at least.” He was dazzled just standing beside her, breathing in the intoxicating perfume of her skin. It acted on him like a happy-making drug. He shouldn’t feel that way about a fae, but he couldn’t help it.
She turned back to him, her gray eyes the shade of smoldering ash. “He might have magic and power enough to seduce half the light fae this side of the Summerlands, but I would rather he forgot my existence.”
Lila started down a path that led deeper into the trees, her arms swinging with determined energy. Rafe followed, not sure what was coming next.
“I take it you disagree with your mother and brother about the value of his favor?” he asked tentatively.
She shrugged. “I question whether someone like Farras would truly value an ally who bought their place in his court by hurling their daughter at his feet. ”
“That’s not an uncommon way of striking a bargain, from what I hear,” Rafe replied. “Not just among the fae.”
She stopped, turning to face him. “It’s ridiculous. Regardless of my feelings, there’s no guarantee he would keep a promise, dance and smile as I may. I don’t want to know him, much less accept his gifts.”
Lila pulled out the gem-studded combs that held her hair and tossed them to the ground with a gesture of disgust. The long, pale mass of braids and curls tumbled free.Rafe’s fingers twitched, aching to touch it, to bury his nose in the silk and drink in her essence.
“That’s why I asked you to meet me,” she went on. “Mother wants me to court him and spy on him at the same time.”
“What?” Rafe’s chin jerked up, as if she’d hit him. “What parent does that?”
“She has her reasons,” Lila said quickly. “He’s made threats. But I can’t stay. I tried to play the game like she asked, but it’s not in me. I need to leave. Find help. Somewhere. Somehow.”
Leave. The word hit Rafe like a punch to his chest. She’d believed his story and shielded him from the other fae. She’d even become a partner in his quest for the truth of what happened to his pack. But now he realized there was so much more—she’d become the reason he’d endured this captivity. A bottomless void opened up inside him, even as he admitted she was wise to run.
“I will find help for you and your wolves,” Lila said softly. “Fae of good conscience won’t stand for what’s going on here.”
She drew a long chain from around her neck—so long that most of it hid beneath the neckline of her gown. It was fine, the angles of the links designed to catch the light. Now Rafe saw it held a tiny key. She unlocked the silver cuffs from his wrists, letting them fall to the ground beside the combs Farras had given her.
The surge of his natural power warmed Rafe like a shot of strong liquor. Light-headed, he planted his feet wider on the forest loam. Even rubbing his wrists to chase away the ghost of the chains challenged his balance.
Lila grasped his hands in hers. “I know you can’t leave the forest, but maybe you can hide until I bring help.”
Now he could hide, he could shift, and he could fight. He’d survived missions with less on his side. “Thank you.”
He studied her for a long moment, seeing only Lila, only the woman trying to be true to herself. She’d freed him because she couldn’t ignore what was right. Like him, she wasn’t an easy pack member, always challenging the rules, however much she loved her kin. She deserved his understanding, and whatever help he could give.
“You need to go.” He squeezed her hands. “If what you say is true, Farras won’t appreciate being abandoned in the middle of dinner.”
“I couldn’t sit there and watch him preen. Your vampire friend gave me the inspiration to try a different path.” Her jaw took on a stubborn angle. “And I haven’t forgotten what you said about rescue.”
“Let me give you some contacts,” Rafe said. “Use my name and they’ll send whatever help you need. You don’t have to do this alone.”
“I’m not alone,” she said. “You’ve been with me all along.”
Lila’s stomach tightened with apprehension as Rafe listed names and places where she could look for help. He was opening the door to his world, giving her permission to call in allies and favors. It was an enormous act of trust.
Had she earned it? Rafe’s kin had been murdered. He’d been chained. If anyone had the right to bite back, it was her wolf. And yet he had her back. Even by meeting her here, he was taking a monumental risk.
They had stopped in a small clearing where the ancient cedars soared overhead, watchful and whispering. Moonlight filtered through the trees, just bright enough for fae sight to make out Rafe’s features. She stepped closer, feeling his warmth like a beacon against the cool night air.
Why was he taking this risk for her? Yes, he’d given his reasons when they’d bargained as mistress and slave, but that conversation had crumbled away like so much dry leather. A new pact had formed in its place, one based on their shared need for answers. But this moment held something else, too. Something earthy, honest, and simple. He wanted her—not for her family or position or magic, but because she was Lila.
The knowledge slid through her veins like sun-warmed honey. She’d done nothing to earn his regard beyond following her own conscience, and that made it all the sweeter. All that lay between them was truth and raw attraction.
She cupped his cheek with her palm, meeting his eyes. A giddy sensation swooped low in her belly, making her catch her breath.
“What?” he asked, sliding one hand to the small of her back.
“Every female should know what it is to be desired by a wolf.”
A crooked smile twisted his mouth. “Maybe, maybe not. We’re an acquired taste.”
She should be running, not standing and talking. Certainly not kissing.
And yet she was, wholeheartedly. He tasted wild, as if the night wind sang in his blood. His rough cheeks burned against her skin, an arousing counterpoint to the softness of his lips. The giddy feeling in her belly settled into a molten heat.
Barely breaking the kiss, Lila found the buttons of his uniform jacket and unfastened them, then set to work on the shirt beneath. She’d sensed his body heat before, but now her fingers brushed the warm skin of his chest. It made her suddenly aware of how flimsy her gown was, how unsuited to the cold woods—and how welcoming his warmth would be along every inch of her flesh.
Lila ran her hands beneath his shirt, stroking the hard muscle. His heart beneath her fingers, a drumbeat of desire that caught her own pulse in its thrall. Her gown was no barrier to the hard thrust of his arousal against her. She sank into the thrumming heat of his caress, leaving no air between them. No space. No distance to bridge.
She pressed her lips to the hollow of his throat, leaving a trail of kisses and tasting salty flesh. Rafe made a noise low in his throat. She felt the vibration beneath her tongue and understood, for an instant, the Undead’s erotic need to bite. All at once she wanted—no needed —to be one with him, his flesh and hers united.
He slid the frothy outer gown from her shoulders, letting the fine fabric drift to the forest floor like an exotic bird coming to roost. Rafe murmured something too low and soft to be words. An exclamation or a curse—it was all the same. Lila didn’t need words to understand his meaning. Beneath the gown was nothing more than a sleeveless shift of moonlight silk, a whisper of modesty. Beneath that was all her.
Rafe swept her from her feet with careless strength, carrying her deep into the trees. A gust of wind sent the branches rustling, as if the night itself inhaled with anticipation. When Rafe set her down, Lila realized her shoes were gone. She’d lost them but couldn’t recall where or when and didn’t much care. Her toes dug into the soft loam, sensing the dance of roots beneath. Branches dipped around them, so huge they swept the forest floor. It was private here, thick moss and needles drifted inches deep.
Rafe pulled her close, his hands finding the hem of her shift and inching it upward. Lila rose on her tiptoes pressing her body tight to his .
“Are you sure you want this?” he asked, voice as hushed as the forest around them.
“Yes.” She said it without thinking, without hesitation. There would be no hiding this from other fae—not without the subtlest of magics—but she didn’t care. She wanted the world to know the choices she’d made. Choices were all she had, and this one came from deep inside her.
With the practiced efficiency of shifters, Rafe had shed his clothes. She slid the straps of her shift from her shoulders and let it drop. Her nipples immediately hardened against the cold. He took her left breast in his mouth, gently laving the tip with his tongue. The shock of heat jolted her, drawing a breathy cry from her throat. The sound turned to a moan as he sucked harder, turning the warmth to exquisite pressure. When he finally released her, she barely noticed the cold again. The beat of her enflamed pulse threatened to ignite her core.
He tasted the other breast, the sensation spearing through her until her legs were weak and trembling. Nothing he did was by halves. His scent, musky and wild, grew stronger as they touched. He nipped her neck, the sharp pain mixing so close to pleasure it nearly pushed her over the brink.
He’s marked me . She should have been affronted, but just then it seemed sexy as hell.
Lila pulled him down to the soft, mossy ground. Both of them were growing impatient. But then Rafe paused, pushing the hair from her face and studying her, amber wolf-light sparking in his eyes.
“You’re impossibly beautiful,” he whispered. “Your hair is the color of the moonlight. Your skin shines like you’ve bathed in the stars.”
And when you think I’m not looking, you let down your shield. Right then, your eyes were the saddest I’ve ever known . But she didn’t say it. Her kind were responsible for much of that sorrow, and yet he had let her past his defenses. If only half her tribe had that much spirit.
He bent to kiss the mark he’d made on her neck, running his tongue over the wound. She moaned, her neck arching to expose her throat. A low rumble sounded in his chest, responding to the primal gesture of surrender.
With new urgency, he worked his way over her body. She responded in kind, rising to meet the hard swell of his chest, raking her nails over the breadth of his shoulders and down the narrowing flare to his hips. Every angle of his form was hard and hot and thickly muscled. If she was a creature of the forest, he was the untamed life that dwelled inside it.
Her thighs parted in invitation. Rafe explored the soft inner flesh, nipping, tasting, coaxing a cry from her.
“Please,” she gasped.
He entered, her body straining to accept his size. She was ready, but this was—unexpected. She’d heard rumors of the generously made beast-men, whispered tales among women both human and fae. They were true. She gasped, her eyes wide and staring into his. His frank satisfaction at her astonishment was clear.
Then he began to slowly move. She gripped his shoulders, riding the earthquake with a wonderment that quickly melted to elation. Suddenly she was an elemental force, part of a vortex winding tighter and tighter. The movements increased in speed and force, and then she was responding with equal strength, a dancer adding her own steps. She cried out, losing control, every nerve dazzled. Suddenly the glade seemed filled with light, but whether it was magic or simply madness, she could not tell. It went on and on, driving her up and over again before Rafe made a final, long thrust and gave himself to her utterly.
She rolled on top of him, not willing to let him go just yet. His arms folded around her as if she had always belonged just there, her head tucked under his chin, her hair spilling over them like a cloak. She kissed him, tasting the sweat on his skin. He was still breathing heavily, the rise and fall of his strong chest making her burn for him all over again.
This —this unconditional acceptance, this equality, this partnership—was the emotional ballast she’d never had. It took nothing and gave everything, unlike games of power. And even if this moment never came again, it would not fade. Lila closed her eyes. She wasn’t ready for this to be just a memory. If only time would stop.
But she couldn’t pretend forever.