Chapter 28
Calypsta
Somewhere in the Jungle
It took a second for Kendra’s vision to clear and return her to the present. Stomach roiling, she crawled on hands and knees towards the closest clump of ferns and retched until there was nothing left.
Reyne. Odin. Reece. Rebels. Mordrick. Torture. Betrayal.
What she had just witnessed stirred a rush of overwhelming emotions—grief, fury, and loathing. So many, she didn’t know which one to latch onto first. But mostly her heart ached for Reyne, whose pain and vulnerability overshadowed everything else.
Witnessing what Mordrick did to him felt like a punch to her gut.
Kendra moved to the edge of the lagoon and rinsed her mouth and splashed cool water on her face with trembling hands. She wanted to block the memories. No, she didn’t. She wanted to embrace them and wrap her arms around Reyne and never let go.
She turned back to camp. The grobet, and the archive, were both gone. Vanished. But Reyne was there, watching her with his mesmerizing eyes.
Her gaze clashed with his.
She swallowed, then launched herself at him.
Reyne wanted to kiss her senseless. He wanted to fuck her into oblivion, but most of all he wanted to throttle her. And kill that little horned creature that had the audacity to sit there, grinning at him while Kendra puked her guts up.
Damn meddling grobet. But knowing Kendra would further hate him if he killed the obnoxious thing, he left it alone. For now.
He had awoken in time to see her reach for the archive. He lunged in a desperate attempt to prevent her from making contact, but he stumbled, and his palm ended up on hers just as she said, “Show me, Reyne.”
His fingertips touched the moonstone at the exact same moment.
Memories mixed with vivid visions of his past flooded his mind, each one more intense and unrelenting than the last. His past was marked by darkness, ugliness, and pain—memories so sickening that he had long wished to bury them forever.
A moment later he was thrust back into the present.
Kendra crawled and retched into the nearest clump of ferns. Kneeling, he stifled the urge to retch himself. Instead, he flinched with shame and embarrassment as he watched Kendra struggle to digest what she had just witnessed.
When Kendra turned to him, she was ashen with tears streaming down her cheeks.
Reyne expected renewed loathing and hatred, but when her emerald gaze latched onto his from across the distance, he was gutted and confused by what he saw in her expression—admiration.
Before he could digest this, her weight thrust against him, almost knocking him backwards. Her arms wrapped around his neck, clutching tightly.
“Why, Kendra?” he demanded, “Why?”
She buried her head against his shoulder and whispered, her voice shaking, “I had to know, and you wouldn’t tell me.”
Damn her.
The desire to shake her until her teeth rattled overwhelmed him.
“Did it ever occur to you that I didn’t tell you about my past with Odin and the rebellion, for a reason?
That it was a part of my life that is better left forgotten.
Buried. I hate myself for the awful things I did.
I’m sorry that creature tempted you.” He glanced around their camp, looking for the treacherous little grobet, but the stealthy little creature and the moonstone were both gone. Vanished, as if they never existed.
“I refuse to be sorry.” Kendra squeezed him tighter.
His chin rested on the top of her head and he breathed into her hair, the musky scent of her sweat-damped tresses was earthy and intoxicating. His arm wrapped around her waist to pull her against him. “Did you see what you wanted?”
“Yes and no,” she admitted with a shaky sob. “Yes, because I saw everything. Odin, Reece, the rebellion. Mordrick. I also saw the real you. I felt your anguish and it tore me apart.”
Wet hot tears burned his chest.
“Shh,” he soothed and stroked her loose locks, wishing he could erase his horrid past from her memory.
“And no, because now I’m fucking angry. I want to kill your uncle. I want to plunge your dagger into his stone-cold heart and watch him slowly bleed to death at my feet.”
“So bloodthirsty,” he chided, even though he’d had similar thoughts more times than he could count. If anyone deserved to kill Mordrick, it was him.
She leaned back, her emerald gaze probing his. “And not because of what he may do to me once we reach Talear, but because of what he forced you to do. He manipulated you. A youth. His own nephew. You were right when you said he was worse than I could ever imagine.”
Warm palms cupped his bearded jaw, then her fingers glided into the damp hair curling his nape. She kissed him with her perfect-yielding lips, her tongue seeking his with slow, sensual strokes.
His cock stirred to life. Reyne took pride in his ability to seduce any woman he wanted, but never had he been seduced before. And by an inexperienced virgin no less. A Valerian virgin. He should be disgusted. Instead, he was entranced, ensnared.
When she nibbled on his bottom lip, his barely restrained control broke like a damn under pressure and he groaned into her mouth.
His lingering anger and the desperate need to bury himself in her warmth steered him, consuming him until the only coherent thought he could latch onto was making her his in every wicked way possible.
“Remove your pants.” He needed to bask in her beauty.
Her expressive green eyes widened in surprise. “What?”
“You heard me. Take them off or I’ll rip them off, and you will walk the rest of the way naked.”
Reyne wasn’t sure if it was fear of his empty threat, or her own innocent desire that motivated her, but she scrambled from his lap and stripped off her pants, leaving her clad in nothing but a ripped shirt and wispy undergarments.
“Those too.” He pointed at the scrap covering the part of her he wanted to dive his tongue into.
The silky material slid down her willowy legs. She kicked them aside and tugged her shirt over her head, letting it drop to the sand.
Bathed in the orange-tinted morning light, Kendra was exquisite with her glorious red-gold hair half covering her nakedness, her emerald eyes simmering with lust and desire. Her tongue moistened her lips as she waited for his next order.
With a feral groan, he yanked her against him and rolled her beneath his length.
He tugged the dagger from his discarded boot and buried the blade deep into the earth above her head.
Her emerald eyes widened.
He met her gaze and grinned with wicked delight. Just looking at her innocent anticipation made his arousal harden. Reyne stretched her arms above her head and forced her to grip the hilt with both hands. “Do not remove your hands from this hilt or I will stop. Understand?”
She moistened her lips again and nodded with a hazy hooded gaze.
Fuck. She was stretched out like a veritable feast for the raging lust pounding in his veins. He wanted to devour every inch of her delectable body. She offered no resistance when he pressed her legs open with a probing knee.
He fisted her wild mane and claimed her mouth in a searing kiss.
His tongue slid across her seam, then dove inside her mouth to mate with hers in a drugging rhythm. He couldn’t remember ever wanting a woman as desperately as he wanted her.
She was both the poison and the cure.
He ripped his mouth from her lips to kiss and suckle her neck, the swell of her perfect breasts. He palmed them both, kneading and caressing while he took each pebbled nipple into his mouth, teasing and licking.
With an aroused moan of pleasure, she thrust her breasts towards his mouth, silently offering him what her body what she sought. He grazed her hardened nipple with his teeth, then lightly bit down.
She whimpered beneath him and tossed her head from side to side. “Reyne… oh my.”
His tongue soothed the nip with a light circular caress. “Don’t let go,” he reminded her with a low growl. If she touched him, dug her nails into him, he would lose what remained of his fragile control and he was determined to prepare her before he buried himself deep inside her tight warmth.
He trailed hot kisses across her navel, over her curved hip and inner thighs. He slid a finger through her silky reddish curls and then into her slick folds.
A breathless gasp escaped her. “Yes…Reyne. Please.”
Unable to wait a moment longer, Reyne anchored one leg over his shoulder, and dove his tongue into her flesh. He licked and sucked her clit in a circular rhythm, alternating from rough pressure to gentle licks. She arched beneath him, instinctively giving him better access to her core.
His rogue tongue skimmed to her entrance, then he slid a long finger deep inside.
She surrendered, her legs parting for him. He groaned in heightened pleasure, letting his husky voice vibrate against her sensitive flesh. “Fuck,” he breathed against her swollen clit. “I could lick you for hours.” His finger stroked a spot deep inside her that he knew would take her to the edge.
“Reyne,” she cried his name and thrashed beneath him with wild abandon.
He slid in a second finger, stretching her, preparing her for the invasion of his rock-hard cock. She was warm, tight and so slick. Her thighs trembled and he could feel her inner-flesh quivering. Her climax would come swiftly if he didn’t stop.
Needing to share her pleasure, he removed his fingers, letting them stretch her folds to edge her swollen clit without directly touching her sensitive needy nub.
“Stop teasing me, Reyne, or I’ll stab you,” she cried out with a breathless plea.
“Trust me, princess, we are going to share this,” he purred as he settled between her legs and covered her, allowing his heavy weight to pin her writhing body in place.
A beat later, he thrust inside her.
“Reyne” She screamed his name again and abandoned the dagger. Her arms wrapped around his neck and fingers dug into his scalp.
Fuck. She felt so damn good. So right.
He kissed her with rough desperation, letting her taste herself on his lips while he pulled out, only to thrust deeper. Then he paused to allow her to accommodate him. A virgin. Had he ever fucked a virgin? He doubted it. He normally preferred his women experienced, but not today.
Kendra’s innocence was an aphrodisiac. An addiction.
“Are you ok?” he rasped, perspiration forming on his brow.
“Oh yes,” she squirmed beneath him using her body to urge him to continue.
Unable to remain still a second longer, he began sliding in and out until his cock was buried to the hilt, then he rocked against her, using his body to give her clit the friction she needed.
“Reyne,” she panted beneath him and met his gaze. “This is…oh my.”
“I feel it too.” His breath came in rapid pants as he thrust deep and rolled his hips, wanting to push her building climax over the edge and beyond. He wanted them to soar together.
Her legs wrapped around him, opening herself further. “Oh my…. Please. Reyne. Do. Not. Stop.”
Stop? Reyne couldn’t stop if his life depended on it. She was so tight. So slick. So fucking perfect.
With a savage groan, he roughly fisted her hair and bit her collarbone.
He couldn’t hold out much longer and his raging lust demanded she climax first. He pulled almost out of her heat, then thrust deep and hard, slamming his pelvic bone against her clit and he rocked against her.
“Come for me,” he commanded. Flesh clenched and shattered around his cock as she screamed his name and painfully dug her nails into his shoulders.
Her uninhibited responsiveness pushed him over the edge and in three quick thrusts he spilled his seed, groaning, while the most intense climax he had ever felt raked his body.
Breathing heavily, Reyne’s weight crushed her, his racing heartbeat mingled with hers. "Is my weight too much?"
"No, I love the feel of you. All of you."
Thank fuck. “I'm sorry I hurt you,” he murmured when his sated mind remembered her virginity. He hadn’t been rough, but neither had he been gentle.
“You didn't…maybe a little, but only for a moment,” she confessed with languid contentment as she stroked his shoulder blades and lower back with her blunt nails. “And then…oh my…I never knew such exquisite pleasure existed, until you.”
A wicked smile of satisfaction lit his features.
Kendra was his in every way.
Branded.
Marked.
His.