Chapter 22
DAHLIA
Maeve is his sister. I wish he’d told me earlier. If I’d known this back in the throne room, I wouldn’t have hated him so much. I could’ve helped!
Moral or not, I’d kill for my sisters. If Eden or Fern were taken like Maeve was, I’d do anything to get them back.
But that doesn’t explain why Tauren is still so desperate to keep me here, or the fluttering I felt in my chest as he lowered me onto the bedroll before lighting the campfire.
Worse still, the forbidden area between my hips has been pulsing since he mentioned taking my virtue.
I can’t stop thinking about the way he had me bent over that chair in the wedding gown shop, the sharp sting of his palm on my rear.
Would it be so awful to let him do it again?
It certainly didn’t feel awful when his manhood nudged my—
“Can I trust you not to run from this cave while I alert my soldiers that you have been found, or must I compel you to stay seated?” His warning tone makes my breath hitch.
“You can trust me,” I say with a grin. “Besides, I know you’ll just catch me again. What’s the point in running?” His hands pushing me against the forest floor. Kisses on my throat. His knees forcing apart my—
“You will not leave this cave until I return.” His magic washes away my dark thoughts.
“Fine. Don’t trust me then.” I fold my arms, but the scowl he returns me is enough to reduce me to a puddle of need. Damn you, demon.
I watch the flames for a while before Pumpkin wanders inside and settles onto my lap. My corset and bloomers are no longer soaked. I’m not hungry anymore, either. Tauren was smart enough to pack some food in his saddlebags, which I happily feasted on as he stoked the fire.
Narrowing my eyes, I stroke the ball of fluff in my lap. “You can’t really understand me, can you?”
Pumpkin looks up curiously.
“This is so ridiculous,” I laugh. The wolves were probably frightened of Tauren. That’s why they left when they did. Nothing to do with me at all.
But something still feels off, and for some reason, I’m reminded of all the times Angel gave me funny looks, like she understood me. Velvet, too.
“I’m just good with animals, aren’t I, girl?” I tell Pumpkin while she naps. “It’s always been like this.” Except that doesn’t feel right, either.
Screams echo in my mind – my sisters’ screams. Along with a huge, white moon getting bigger and closer. That ended up not being a moon at all.
There was a voice, too. A woman’s voice that circled my heart.
“Dahlia?”
I yelp, startling Pumpkin awake.
Tauren stands in the entrance to the cave. “Are you alright?” Concern tugs at his brow.
“Yes.” I slide Pumpkin off me. “I was just daydreaming.”
“Daydreaming?” He smirks, and the damned need returns. “About?”
“Stabbing you in your sleep,” I turn to watch the fire, “and feeding your bones to Pumpkin.”
She whines. I shoot her a look, and she scurries out of the cave, her tail between her legs.
I feel Tauren’s eyes weighing on me. After a few heavy moments, he enters the cave. “How are your injuries?”
I’m suddenly aware of how small this cave is compared to his looming form. “I’m fine. They look bad but I’m not in pain anymore.”
“Good. There’s pain relief in the saddlebags. You need only ask.” He takes a seat across from me. Firelight catches in his hair, turning his soft waves amber. I resist the urge to run my fingers through it.
“When are we returning to your castle then?” I ask quietly. “If I’m to be stuck with you forever, then I’d at least like to write to my sisters, to let them know that I’m safe.” I wonder if Father would ever let them come and visit. Might be a tall ask…
‘Hello Father, could you please let the girls stay with me and my demon husband for a while. I promise I’ll find a nice tower for them to stay in, and there’ll be space in the dungeon for Blossom.’ I chuckle at the thought.
“You can write to them when we return.” Tauren nods. “As for when we return, well… that depends.”
My stomach flips. “What do you mean, ‘that depends’?”
“It depends, dear wife, on how long it takes you to beg for my forgiveness after what you did at our wedding.”
I snort. “Better get used to living in a cave then.” Lying back on my bedroll, I ignore the way ‘dear wife’ make me feel, the warmth on the back of my neck. “We’re even now anyway. You embarrassed me, so I embarrassed you. No need for any apologising.”
He chuckles darkly, tugging me towards him by my ankle.
“Yes, but then you ran away from me, and worse than that, you were injured.” Sliding his hands up my leg, he gathers me into his lap.
“If I don’t make you understand what you did wrong, you’ll only do it again.
And I can’t have you hurting yourself, sweetheart.
What sort of husband would I be if I let that happen?
” His voice is sinful as he locks my hands behind my back. “So now I have to punish you.”
“You don’t have to do anything.” I squirm on his lap, but he grasps my rear, hard enough to make me squeak.
“Oh, but I think you want me to.” He positions us so my back is on the bedroll and he’s on all fours on top of me. “I think you’ve been desperate for someone to put you in your place since the night you arrived in my castle.”
I force down a whimper.
“I know your secret, Dahlia.” His grins wickedly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about—”
“I think you do.” He pins my hands above my head, drawing close to my ear. “You pretend to be a spoiled princess when in reality you’re a dirty little brat who loves being punished. And you know what, my darling?”
I stop breathing. My cheeks burn hotter than the sun.
“You’ve married someone who knows exactly how to tame you.” He tears my bloomers off, the white fabric fluttering in scraps to the cave floor. Grabbing my hips, he flips me over until my bare arse is exposed to him.
“Tauren!” I gasp.
“Tell me to stop and I’ll stop.” He kneads the soft flesh of my rear. “But I don’t think you want me to.” I gasp as his fingers slide lower, teasing the wetness I’ve been so desperate to hide. “I can feel you don’t want me to. Dirty girl.” He chuckles.
“What are you going to do about it?” I snarl.
He swats me on the rear. “Gentle voices only, sweetheart, or I won’t be so gentle next time I take you.” I hold back a moan as he lifts my hips, propping me onto my knees. “And keep the pressure off those pretty thighs for me. I don’t want your wound opening up again.”
Reluctantly, I keep my lips sealed while he strokes my back.
“You’re so pretty like this,” he murmurs, grabbing my waist. “So ready for me.” When he grinds his hips against my rear, I groan into the bedroll.
“Please,” I stammer. Virtue be damned, I want this for me. “Please, Tauren.”
“Hmm?” He doesn’t stop. “You haven’t earned my cock yet, Dahlia. That’s only for submissive princesses.”
My growl is murderous.
“Shh, greedy girl.” He grinds his hips against me until I moan. “Why don’t you start by apologising for running away? If you beg extra nicely, maybe I’ll give you a taste of it.”
“You’re an arsehole.” I fist the bedroll.
He pauses his hips, and I whimper desperately. “Sweet princess… You just can’t help yourself, can you?” He’s gone before I can stop him. When I lift my head, he’s sitting on the other side of the fire, watching me with a smirk.
Furious, I push myself to a kneeling position and avert my gaze, but I still feel his on my skin.
“Take off your corset.” His voice dances through the fire.
“No.”
“Take off your corset,” he says again. “Do not make me compel you.”
I glare at him. The brat in me wants to ignore his command and pout, but my hands have already betrayed me. Running my fingers through my laces, I strip off my corset and toss it to the side.
The look on Tauren’s face is worth more than a carriage full of gold.
“Fucking perfect,” he breathes. He’s upon me before I can reply, basking me in his addictive scent. Forcing me back against the bedroll, he pushes my thighs apart while teasing the skin of my breasts.
I shudder as his hands brush my nipples.
“I love how sensitive you are here.” He grins, pressing a kiss to my nipple. Dragging his hands away, he stays looming over me, propping his arms either side of my shoulders.
I feel so exposed beneath him, naked while he’s fully clothed. “I want to see you,” I say without thinking. “Please.” My hands lift tentatively to the buttons of his shirt, but he grabs my wrists.
He lowers them to my belly, placing my hands by my throbbing entrance. “Touch yourself for me and maybe I’ll let you see.”
I don’t hesitate. Slipping my fingers between my folds, I let out a soft moan.
“That’s it.” His pupils dilate. “Such a good girl.”
My back arches. I can’t believe it. I’m already so close.
“Careful. Don’t let yourself come. I decide when you finish.”
I bite my lip, suppressing a moan. It’s so hard to keep teasing myself like this. I want to press harder. I need—
Without lifting his gaze from my lips, Tauren unbuttons his shirt and tosses it to one side.
I forget how to breathe. The skin of his chest is golden and toned. Thick muscles ripple over his front and shoulders.
“Satisfied?” He smirks.
My voice comes out all raspy. “It’ll do.”
“It’ll do?” he snorts. “The blush on your face says otherwise, little monster.”
“I’ve seen better,” I lie as Tauren’s smirk falls.
“I’ve kissed palace guards before, and some of them had bodies to die for.
” If they did, I wouldn’t know. Dragging a handsome guard into a private alcove and kissing him is one thing.
Getting undressed with a guard is something else entirely.
Kissing is as far as I’d ever let anything go.
Until I met Tauren.
A possessive growl rumbles through him, and he presses his lips to my ear. “These guards…” His breath is hot. “Did you ever let them touch you?”
“We kissed, so of course they touched me—”
Tauren plunges two fingers into my entrance, and I gasp. “What about here?” he snarls.