Chapter 22 #2
“They… um…” It’s hard to think with his fingers curling against my pleasure point. “We…”
“This part of you belongs to me now.” He drags his thumb over my clit. “If any other man even thinks about touching you here, I will cut off their hands. Do you understand?”
Holding my breath, I nod. I’m so close. When he slides his fingers out, I let out a tortured moan.
“Are you ready to apologise for running away now, sweet princess?” He kneels over me.
My entrance throbs. “Fine. I’m sorry. Just please, please fuck me, Tauren.”
His dark eyes glitter, but the bastard just grins at me.
“Not good enough, sweetheart. I need a real apology, or I’ll leave this cave and go for a walk.
” My stomach dips. “I think compelling you to touch yourself for ten minutes while I’m gone might make you a little more eager to please me,” he purrs.
“Especially if I compelled you to stop yourself every time you’re close to coming. ”
My eyes water at the thought. “No.” I prop myself up onto my elbows. “I’m sorry, Tauren. Please, I won’t run away again. I promise. I’ll be good for you.” His smile widens with every desperate word. I’d hate myself if I didn’t feel so good. “I’m so sorry, Tauren.”
“There she is,” he purrs. I can’t help but smile as he presses a soft kiss to my lips. “Wasn’t so hard now, was it?” He deepens the kiss as my back returns to the bedroll. One of his hands strokes my breast while the other reaches for his belt.
When something warm and velvety nudges my entrance, I gasp.
“Relax for me, Princess.” He lowers his body until his chest is pressed against mine, his cock lined up with my entrance. “If it hurts, just tell me and we’ll go slower.”
Nodding, I shudder. My heart slams against my ribs. What if I don’t like it? What if it—
“Oh Stars,” I moan. Tauren fills me like he’s made for me. Pleasure thrums through me as I grip his broad shoulders
“Shit, Dahlia. You feel like fucking paradise.” He kisses me again, thrusting into me with a deep, satisfied growl.
I can barely think. All I can focus on is the warmth blooming inside my sex.
With every rock of his hips, the pleasure builds until I can’t take it anymore.
I gasp, my walls clenching around him. Stars close in on my vision.
“Dahlia…” he groans. After a few blissful moments, I feel his muscles tense. His thrusts turn urgent. Grabbing my hips, he moves them for me.
My toes curl as a deep satisfaction pools inside of me.
“I love you.”
The satisfaction bursts. “What?” I sputter.
“I love you.” Slowing his thrusts, he lowers himself to kiss me.
“You can’t just say that!”
“Why not? It is the truth, as is the fact that you are my wife,” he breathes. “You are my wife and I love you.”
I blink at him, my heart pounding. It’s so hard to form words when he trails kisses down my neck, but somehow I reply, “You can’t just kidnap someone, force them to marry you, then tell them you love them.”
“Are you going to stop me?” He gnaws at my skin.
I glare at him. “I think it's already been established that I can do nothing about my situation.”
“You’re right.” He smirks. “You can’t. And I meant what I said before.” Withdrawing himself, he gathers me against his chest. “Any other man touches you and I’ll cut off their hands. You’re mine now, wife. Completely. Don’t forget that.”
My lips clamp shut. Tauren might love me, but I feel nothing of the sort for him. The fluttering in my chest is fear. So is the warmth in my belly. Fear. That’s all.
As if sensing my thoughts, Tauren places a hand over my stomach. His thumb strokes my skin, slowing my breathing until a horrible, awful thought takes hold of me.
“Am I going to have a baby now?”
Tauren chuckles. “What?”
Panic grips my chest. “Father said if I lose my virtue, I’ll have a baby. But I don’t want a baby. Not right now. I’m not ready. I can’t—”
“Hush.” He kisses the back of my head. “You will not have a baby unless you decide to have one.”
I shake my head. “But Father said—”
“There is a herb you can take to prevent pregnancy,” he explains. “I’ll have it put in your tea when we return to the castle.”
My racing heart slows a little. “So I won’t have a baby?”
I don’t hate babies, but horses are better, so are dogs, cats, frogs, even wolves.
Then again, Tauren’s babies…
“You will not have a child,” he chuckles as I force all thoughts of cute horned babies away. “Like I said, there will be no children unless you decide the time is right. The choice is yours, sweetheart. Always.”
I try not to think about how warm those words make me feel, focusing instead on the soft glow of the fire. Tauren runs his fingers through my hair, pressing kisses against my head as we lie together. It feels good enough to make me shudder.
Without thinking, I adjust my rear against his hips.
“Careful, wife,” he growls. “Or I may remember I haven’t yet punished you for running away. I wanted to keep things sweet for your first time.”
“Maybe I don’t want you to be sweet.” The words just fall out of me.
He chuckles, and drags his fingers through my hair, massaging my scalp. It feels nice. Like someone taking my hair out after a long—
I smack my hand over my mouth, gasping.
“Dahlia?” Tauren sits up. “What is it?”
I stare up at his blond hair, black horns, dark eyes. Since coming here, I knew there was something familiar about him. More than just from our meeting at the party. Claren, too… I’ve seen their features before.
“What does your sister look like? Does she look like you?”
“She does…” His eyes narrow, the same dark eyes I saw in that strange girl at the inn. “Why?”
“I’ve met your sister.”
His lips part. “What? Where? Are you certain it was her?”
“Yes, it must’ve been.” I drag my hand through my hair. “There was a demon girl at the inn on the way to Lord Elheart’s palace. She was with the guard so he must’ve sent her there to receive me. She was my handmaid. She looked just like you and Claren.”
“How was she?” he stammers. “Was she hurt?”
I shake my head. “She didn’t look injured. She was very quiet, though. I’m pretty sure she couldn’t talk. Could she talk before?”
Tauren looks grave. “Yes. That’ll be Elheart’s doing. I’m certain of it.” His brow dips as he thinks. “You said she was at the inn?”
“Yes, she was. She helped me prepare for bed.”
“That can’t be right.” Tauren shakes his head. “There’s a salt barrier around Elheart’s palace—”
“I’m not lying! She had your hair and your eyes, and she was sweet to me. When I first got out of the carriage I was so scared, but she made me feel better. Even without words.”
“That sounds like Maeve.” His gaze is distant, searching. Then he’s up, gathering up the bedrolls and stamping out the fire.
“Are we leaving?” I reach for my corset. My bloomers are a lost cause. I’ll have to hope my wedding dress is dry.
“Yes.” Tauren drops the bedrolls. Before I can process what’s happening, he’s back on top of me, kissing me until I can’t breathe.
“Thank you,” he says against my lips. “This means more to me than you could ever know.”
“He’s still got her, though,” I say nervously. “She’ll probably be in his palace again by now.”
“She will be.” He nods. “But since you saw her outside of the palace, that tells us one important thing.”
“What?” I breathe.
Tauren grins, and I resist the urge to kiss it. “There’s a way back inside.”