Chapter 17
Valarie
I didn’t know where to wait. By the bed? In the bed? In the living area, where I knew he’d come through the window?
Part of me wanted to see him come—to step through out of the shadows, all white-blonde, cool stare. The rest of me was just as scared as I was excited.
I walked to my bedroom door and glanced again across the room at Sophia’s door.
She had been exhausted after the obstacle course, placing second only because Morgan had fallen off her horse.
The Dagger pack’s alpha princess, Edith, had placed first. Even distracted by my run-in with the King, I knew she was one to look out for.
We hadn’t even considered her competition.
After the course, we’d returned to the Kingdom, and I’d helped Sophia wash and dress quickly for a late lunch and celebration. She’d had to play the part of a gracious princess and she did it well, all smiles and nods. Queen Raquel had seemed impressed, the major betas in the Alpha pack charmed.
But she’d been tired, and it was easy to see once we were alone. Her legs were covered in long red lines and scratches from running through low branches. Her thighs were bruised from riding hard—she’d managed to get one of the paints—and her hair was almost as much of a tangled mess as my own.
But we managed it, and as soon as her injuries were tended to, she’d fallen into a deep sleep. Leaving me alone to pace and agonize for hours over saying yes to Gabriel.
How could I have said no with him on his knees before me? It took me back to that first night with him, and heat pooled between my thighs.
“Ugh.” I walked the length of my room, trying to shake off the desire, and then back to the door again to make sure Sophia was still deeply asleep.
The window was open.
I looked around quickly, trying to find him and failing. Everything was it as it been moments ago—the couches, the chairs, the thick rugs on the ground. But there were three footprints sunken into one of those rugs and I tracked them, looking deep into the shadows.
Gabriel emerged, grinning the same grin that had floored me earlier that morning. I couldn’t help blushing as he walked purposefully toward me, almost brushing against me as he passed through the doorway and into my room.
“What are you—” I spun quickly to find him standing only a few feet away, taking in his surroundings. Stepping toward him slowly, I watched his eyes move over everything.
“Your own palace, and you’ve never seen these rooms before?” I asked.
His gaze cut into me. “Well last time I was here, I was a bit distracted, wasn’t I?” he asked with a smirk. Gabriel moved from the end of the bed to the dresser, and then the nightstand. I squirmed as he looked at my meager belongings, remembering his own and how poor mine must seem.
His hand came to rest on the necklace my dad had given me before leaving. Every night I took it off and put it carefully on the table.
“Be careful,” I pleaded, reaching out as he lifted it.
His brow was knit as he glanced at me before bringing it closer to his face and turning it over a few times, looking at the design. He ran his thumb over it and grinned.
“Have you figured out its secret?” he asked.
Staring, I shook my head. I hadn’t even had time to look at the locket more closely since arriving here. But I knew my dad and knew there was a trick to it.
Gabriel put it back down carefully.
“I’ll let you figure it out. Where did you get it?”
He continued to walk the room slowly, taking everything in. I brought my arms up and crossed them over my chest, shivering. Of course. He had left the window open.
“My father gave it to me. Before I came here.”
Gabriel stopped and stared at me.
“He’s a woodworker?”
“Well… not by trade, not technically. But he carves as a hobby. He likes to make things like that.”
For a moment, Gabriel seemed to waver before me. His expressions changed quickly, minutely, and when he finally met my eyes, they were guarded.
“You’ve seen the living area?” he asked.
I gestured behind us, through the doorway.
“Out there? Yes. If he were here, my dad would love it—all the carvings, the chairs, even the wainscoting.”
He stared at me before looking away. “My father did that himself. When he had this wing built. I was eight at the time.”
I fought the urge to step back and look out into that room again. Eyebrows raised, I asked, “Your father? The Alpha?”
Gabriel smiled at my words. “I’m the Alpha. Or did you forget?”
His voice had darkened, and he turned away from the nightstand, moving toward me like a hunter stalking prey. I braced myself unconsciously and circled him until he was backed up against the tall bookcase near the door. But now I had no exit if I needed one.
“Scared, little one?” he asked in a lighter voice.
I shook my head but glanced behind him. “No. But be quiet. Sophia might hear.”
“Might hear what?” he asked in a purposefully louder voice, and I lunged forward, standing on tiptoes to press my hand over his mouth. His lips curved against my palm, and I remembered them elsewhere on my body.
The abrupt movement had jarred him into the bookshelf and knocked a few things over. Luckily, there was another insanely thick rug in here as well.
I turned, pressing a hand to my forehead and missing Gabriel bending to pick the scattered items up.
“What’s this?” he asked.
When he stood, he had a book in his hand—a book I had foolishly left out earlier that afternoon after needing to relieve some stress.
I lunged forward again, trying to grab it, but Gabriel was quicker than me. It was obvious that he wasn’t the pampered, promiscuous Alpha everyone thought he was. Gabriel kept himself in shape and was quick on his feet, maneuvering the book out of my grasp eagerly.
“So, this is something you don’t want me to see?” he asked, eyebrows raised.
My face was already heating, and I thanked whatever makers there were that it would be hard for him to see in the shadows.
He lifted his head, scenting the air, eyes narrowed.
“I smell…desire.”
Absolutely mortified, I jumped again to try and get the book, but he only moved it higher, staring down at me.
“You’re wet,” he noted, and I shut my eyes tight, realizing that just those words had my panties practically drenched. And he was holding that book.
“Just put it back,” I asked, trying to keep quiet. I grabbed onto his bicep and pulled, trying to ignore the taut muscles there. Gabriel shook me loose and I fell back on my ass, gasping.
“Would you defy your Alpha?” he asked in that hard voice I was coming to recognize.
I shook my head, eyes dropping to the ground as Gabriel cracked the book open and began skimming the pages.
***
Gabriel
A surprised laugh caught in my throat as I read a few sentences on the pages that had fallen open in my palm.
A man was behind me, running his hands over my bare ass and thighs. I felt my skin rise in goosebumps and fought the shiver, not wanting him to see the reaction his touch was causing.
“Don’t worry, love,” he said as he stepped around me, hand brushing my rear as he went. He was in front of me now, but I couldn’t see his face. Only his hips and the bulge between his thighs, straining against the jeans.
“Let me take care of you. Give yourself up.”
Mouth still open, I snapped the book and looked down at Valarie, who still sat splayed on the ground before me. She was looking down, her dark hair obscuring her face.
“Is this what you read?” I asked in what I hoped was a neutral voice.
She sighed and swept some of the hair to the side, just enough that I could see her peeking up at me.
“It’s for… when I’m bored,” she answered, clearly embarrassed.
I could feel myself getting hard at the thought of her reading these dirty books, alone, in this room. All this time I’d thought she was nothing but an innocent girl from the north…
I mean, I had taken her virginity. But she had seemed less scared than other virgins I’d had, and had come around quickly, responding enthusiastically to everything I did to her.
Which made me wonder…
“Is this what you want?” I asked in a low voice, reaching back to pull the bedroom door shut as I put the book down on the shelf again.
Valarie looked up at me, her eyes wide, mouth parted.
“Wha-what?”
“Is this what you want?” I asked again, using the voice I used on those who disobeyed. I stepped forward and crouched down, fisting my hand in her hair, and pulling her head back.
“Do you want to be used like this?”
I don’t know what I had expected, but it wasn’t the deliberate nod she gave me after swallowing. I stared at the length of her bare throat.
She wore a night dress again tonight, like the first night I’d seen her in these rooms. It had ridden up her thighs when I’d knocked her over accidentally, and now the skin there was exposed, four freckles leading upward to where I could smell her desire pooling.
For a moment, I had the urge to bury my face in her cunt. But I resisted and stood instead, loosening my hold on her hair, but tugging just enough for her to understand what I wanted.
She rocked forward onto her knees and braced herself with her palms on the ground in the plush carpet.
Unzipping my pants, I watched Valarie look up, slightly shocked. But then she licked her lips, and I knew it was in fact what she wanted.
“Come closer,” I said, putting my hand in my pants and squeezing my hard-on. Valarie crawled forward on her knees and sat up, bottom lip between her teeth.
I released my cock and stroked it twice, slowly, watching her watch me.
Women had watched me before, but it had always been an act.
Valarie, she was genuinely enraptured, her mouth parting as she followed the stroke of my hand over my shaft.
Thumb grazing the tip to send a bolt of electricity up my spine.
I tilted my chin up and looked down at her.
“Open your mouth.”
She did. Just enough.
I leaned forward and bounced the head of my cock against her lower lip, feeling the slick of her spit there. She was almost panting now, her breasts rising, nipples hard under the night dress.
Without warning, her tongue darted out to taste me.
“Mmmng.”
The sound was meaningless, but she responded to it anyway, eyelids dropping as she licked her lips again and opened her mouth, wider this time, tipping her head up to accommodate me.
“You want this?” I asked, gripping the base of my cock so that it thickened and pulsed. She nodded, wetting her lips again.
“Please.”
I grabbed her upper arm and pulled until she was standing before me.
“Take off your underwear.”
Valarie looked confused but obeyed. To reward her, I palmed her left breast and rolled the nipple between my fingers, making her gasp and moan.
I took the underwear—deep red silk, like blood—and stepped behind her, gently pulling her arms back and wrists together. She tried to look over her shoulder to see what I was doing as I used the panties to tie her wrists together.
“Leave that.”
I walked around to the front of her again and nodded, dropping my eyes to the ground. She knew what I wanted immediately and sank down to her knees again, mouth open.
My cock had softened slightly but I pressed it into her mouth anyway, grazing her teeth lightly.
She pressed her tongue up against the underside and I grunted, feeling myself thicken instantly.
I pulled out and thrust in again, carefully, so she could get used to this.
It was clear from the slight frown of concentration she wore that she hadn’t done this before. But she was willing to learn.
A few more thrusts and I slowed, letting my cock bump the back of her throat lightly before resting with her lips pressed against my pelvis.
Valarie stirred, straightened, and her tongue began to explore me. I jerked when she circled it around the tip, sucking lightly, and she repeated the gesture enthusiastically. Then, she pulled back on her own and dipped forward again, choosing a steady pace as I sank back against the bookshelf.
The way her spit was gathering at the base and dripping down my balls had me completely on edge. I was going to cum just from how amateurly and eagerly she was sucking and licking at me.
Feeling that I was close, I reached out and gripped her jaw, guiding her pace. She hummed in satisfaction.
“Goddamn,” I hissed, finally looking down at her. She met my eyes and hers were watering, but still wide with desire as she continued taking all of me, her throat convulsing whenever I bumped too hard against her throat. Did she not have a gag reflex?
She was whimpering now and my grip on her tightened. Why had I bound her hands? I wanted her touching my balls, squeezing them.
Valarie opened her mouth enough to pant around my cock and then took it entirely, to the very base, pulling back slowly as she sucked. Not expecting it, I shuddered and felt myself cumming without warning.
I choked on words to warn her, but she must have felt it coming, because she kept a slow and shallow pace as she lightly sucked everything from me. I fell back against the bookshelf, completely spent, shivering with the aftershocks as I went soft.
She released me with a slurp and sat back on her heels.
“Was that okay?” she asked, eyes still wet and mouth and chin glistening with spit.
She was going to be the death of me.
I nodded and sighed in exhaustion, helping her up and undoing the ties on her wrists. She rubbed them as she turned, the two of us chest to chest while I tucked myself away.
“I liked that,” she said softly, glancing up at me.
My heart was still pounding in my chest and if I’d had it in me, I would’ve taken her again, right there. But there was something rising in me—a sort of fear. I wanted to stay. Talk to her more. I had never wanted that before.
Instead, I turned toward the bookshelf and grabbed the dirty novel, tossing it to her as she adjusted her night dress.
“Here,” I said, grinning. “Keep yourself entertained tonight. I want you wet and ready for the next time I’m here.”