Chapter 3 #2
Five years ago, the adult members of the Durrand pack had been ambushed and killed by a neighboring pack who’d sought to steal their territory and assume the prestigious role of being responsible for guarding the border to The Wilds, the boundary between realms. The pack’s seventeen-year-old lead Alpha had gathered the only members of his pack still alive—teenagers and children—and led them in a series of guerrilla warfare and scorched earth counterattacks.
And they not only kept their territory but expanded it by defeating the pack they brutally annihilated in revenge.
He nods. “They’re mine and I’m theirs,” he says simply, and I wonder what it would be like to know you have a place in the world to belong.
“Were you—” I stop myself, realizing I’ve breached a sensitive subject.
“I fought in the pack wars.” He acknowledges my unfinished question. The gleam goes out of his eyes, and the ever-present smile on his lips flattens, and I realize how much I miss both adorning his face.
“I’m sorry for those you lost,” is all I can think to say.
He’s quiet for a moment. “To those I’ll meet again in the realms beyond knowing.” He raises his glass to the sky and takes a drink.
I mirror his actions and take a sip, once again surprised by its dry sweetness and the way the bubbles pop on my tongue.
Before long, my glass is empty, and Morrigan retrieves the bottle and fills both our glasses to the rim.
I sit back and listen as he steers the conversation to lighter subjects.
I surprise myself by taking an active part, hungrily asking him about the places he’s traveled that I’ve only read about.
As I listen to him paint colorful, vibrant pictures with his words, I feel my muscles loosen.
I don’t think in the nineteen years of my existence, they’ve ever felt this loose.
I take another sip of my champagne and just listen to the poetic cadence of his deep voice coming out of his full lips as his eyes, I swear, rival the stars above us in their brightness.
Will he take my power tonight?
The thought that terrified me earlier now sends a frisson of heat through me that I can’t seem to douse.
As I sit there looking at him, all I can think of is what the touch of his lips on mine felt like.
What would they feel like on my skin as he trailed those soft lips down my neck to my chest and across my nipples, which now, from just the thought of it, both pebble beneath my shirt.
I squirm with the need to soothe their tightness, or better yet, let Morrigan run his tongue—
“What’s wrong?” Morrigan asks, breaking from his story to regard me with concern.
I can’t hold it in any longer. I have to know. “Are you going to take my magic tonight?” I ask, the words breaking out of me in a breathless pant.
At my question—or possibly, my demand—a dangerous light sparks in his eyes. He shifts slightly so he’s facing me. “Is that what you want?”
No words come out of me. How can I be so equally divided between a yes and a no answer to his question?
“Time’s up,” he declares. “Silence is its own answer. There will be no taking of your power tonight.”
Relief and disappointment flood through me. “But our agreement. You get my power in exchange for—”
He puts two fingers over my lips. “I’m well aware of our agreement,” he says with a slight bitterness in his tone that I must be imagining hearing.
His fingers slowly begin to trace the outline of my lips.
“But maybe if you can convince me that it’s not some part of a contractual obligation, I can kiss you goodnight. ”
My response is immediate, and this time, not silent. “Yes,” I say, which comes out of my mouth in a breathy moan.
His eyes flare at my assent, but he makes no move toward me. “Call me by my name first.”
Desperate for his kiss, I do as he orders. “Morrigan,” I whisper.
“No,” he objects. “Not my last name.” He leans in, and he’s so close I can feel the heat of his breath against my cheek. I try to close the distance between our lips, but he pulls back. “Call me by my given name.” His command has a silken roughness to it. “I want to hear you call me Dom.”
I meet his eyes, which are burning with a fiery determination I can’t deny. “Dom,” I say, enjoying calling him by his given name.
His eyes glow with triumph. “Again. Say my name again.”
“Kiss me, Dom,” I plead. “Please kiss me.”
In the next second, his lips meet mine, soft and slow as they brush against mine, again and again, in an agonizingly sweet pace that has me restlessly moving against him.
He groans into my mouth as his strong hands travel down to pin me against him.
The feel of his hard cock causes me to gasp, and he slips his tongue between my lips and begins demandingly thrusting it in and out as his hips mimic the motion.
My hands reach out wildly, clawing at his shirt, needing to hold on to him as I begin to spiral away. “I got you,” he murmurs. “Let yourself go.”
At his words, I explode. My body shatters into a billion bright, beautiful shards that somehow miraculously reassemble to leave me gasping for breath and shaking from aftershocks, while Dom runs his hand soothingly through my hair.
Finally, I recover enough to remember that Dom is still hard. He must think me incredibly selfish. I stir against him. “I need to take care of you.”
Something in my words causes him to tense. He kisses me, almost as if he can’t help himself, but then moves away and stands up. “As absolutely tempting as that sounds, I need to take care of a few things.”
“Things?” I repeat in a small voice. What things could be more important than the magic that just happened between the two of us?
The magic that happened for you, a nasty voice in my head replies. For Dom, not so much.
“Yes. Annoyingly, stealing an ancient orb from bloodthirsty witches requires a bit of preparation.”
Already feeling his absence, I can’t keep the neediness out of my voice. “You’re coming back?”
He reaches down and rubs the back of his hand against my cheek.
“I couldn’t stay away.” Then, giving me the same roguish smile he had the night we first met, he steps out onto the rim of the sunken balcony and lets himself fall backward into the sky.
I rush to the edge of the balcony and look over the rail.
I can’t see anything until a cloud passes over the moon and the night is once again lit by its glow.
In the distance, I see a lone raven flying through the sky.