Chapter 31
She is panicking, pulling away from me. I don’t need to be an empath to see the walls slamming down in front of her right now.
Despite her anger, she is beautiful. Maybe even more beautiful like this. Raw, sweat-laced skin, flushed cheeks, and fury in her eyes.
“You should have told me.”
“How could I?” I slide my hand around to her back and gently caress the fabric that hides imprints left by the sting of my wings. “I would have lost you.” I slot my other hand into hers and lace our fingers together. I stare into her eyes, trying to make her see the sincerity in my words. “It’s because of me that you’re here. How could I tell you that?”
Alana lets go of my hand and paces away from me. She shakes her head, her auburn hair falling over her shoulders, and her wings flutter so hard they whip air across my face. She is so beautiful I want to devour her.
Even more beautiful when her face is etched with anger, power, fury.
Without breaking eye contact, I drop to my knees in front of her.
She presses her lips together, and her eyes widen. She loves it when I kneel like this.
“That’s why you’ve given yourself to me the way you have,” she says, her voice strong instead of quiet. “To ease your guilt?”
I hang my head, bracing my hands on my knees. “I wanted to help you see what I see. I wanted to help you take control.” In a whisper, I add, “It was the least I could do.”
There is a long, quivering pause, and then she pads softly towards me. Bending down, she grabs hold of my hair and roughly jerks my face up towards her. Without breaking eye contact, she takes hold of my mask, rips it from my face and tosses it across the room. Then she strides to the chest at the bottom of the bed and takes out the rope.
Anticipation burns inside me, and my cock hardens.
Watching her stroll towards me, rope in her hands, and that look in her eyes – like she wants to completely destroy me – brings saliva to my mouth and tension to my balls.
Her movements are fluid, her hands deftly working the rope as she binds my hands and feet. The fibres are rough against my skin as she fastens my hands tightly behind my back.
I expect her to straddle my face and make me lick her pussy. Instead, she grabs my head, jerks my hair back, gives my cheek a light slap, then pushes me forward so I’m bent double, chest pressed against the floor.
“Should I retract my wings?” I stutter.
She doesn’t answer, just walks over to the table next to the bed and picks up my water jug. “I have something to show you,” she says. “I’m still practicing but...” Waving one hand over the jug, her eyes shimmer as the water levitates into the air and starts to swirl – a beautiful, suspended whirlpool flickering in the candlelight.
I start to sit up, but she shakes her head at me.
“Would you like to see it?”
I nod. She can do magic? The pieces immediately slot into place. Water magic. Kayan’s magic. Her grief must have –
“I asked if you’d like to see?” she snaps.
“Yes. Show me.”
She smiles, puts the jug back down, then blows across her palms. As her breath meets the whirlpool, it changes shape, crackles, and solidifies into a large, rounded icicle. Hanging in the air. Brilliant white, so cold I can almost feel it from here.
Walking slowly back to me, she holds the icicle in her hands. The look in her eyes tells me to stay exactly where I am.
Crouching down, spreading her legs so I can see her cunt, she slips a finger into my mouth, opens it, then inserts the icicle. “Suck,” she whispers.
A jolt of pure, molten arousal goes straight to my cock as I do as she commands. She smiles at me, then dips a hand between her thighs and closes her eyes while she touches herself.
When she opens them again, she stands up, freeing my mouth, then walks slowly around me. Dragging the shaft of ice down my spine, she blows warm air on the trail it leaves, sending sparks of arousal cascading through me.
When she reaches the top of my ass, I tense.
Without speaking, she parts my legs, and the stretch of my thighs jerks a sigh from my lips.
Another breath of warm air, and then she begins to tease my tight hole with the tip of the shaft. I flinch at the sensation – cold and unexpected, and the more I tense, the more I’m aware I need to untense.
But then a small fizz of anticipation begins to build, and I realise I am leaning back towards her, searching for more pressure. She senses it too – of course, she does. She knows exactly what I want because, at this moment, I am not trying to hide anything from her.
She takes hold of my hip, biting into it with her fingernails. She starts to ease in the shaft. Then, with a suddenness that steals my breath, she presses it inside me, slowly but inexorably filling me with a pleasure so intense it borders on pain.
I gasp as my body tries to adjust to what is happening, and Alana sighs loudly.
I crane my head, desperate to see the look on her face, but she snaps at me to keep looking at the floor. The timbre of her voice – sharp and commanding – makes me moan.
For a moment, she just holds me still and waits for my body to adjust to the fullness. Then, slowly, she starts to move it.
My eyes roll back and I scrape the concrete floor with my nails. “Fuck, Alana...”
She hesitates, worried she’s hurting me, but I shake my head and plead with her.
“Don’t stop . . . Fuck me harder.”
I can almost feel her smiling as she does as I ask, and while she starts to thrust, I strain against the ties on my wrists, desperate to wrap my hand around my cock.
Sensing what I need, Alana reaches between my spread-open legs and curls her firm fingers around my length. Her movements are rhythmic and deliberate, and my body feels like it’s being burned alive from the inside out. Pleasure and pain collide, my thoughts disappear, everything is dark and loud, and there is nothing but feeling.
Just when I think I can’t bear anymore, she quickens the pace.
She lets go of my cock and the sound she makes tells me she’s started to fuck herself while she fucks me. I arch my back, unable to resist the force of her movements. Her wings flutter above us, casting dark shadows on the walls. She is moaning loudly. I can feel her power flowing through me. It surges through my veins, filling every fibre of my being. And it feels like... magic.
Until this second, magic has existed as only a flicker inside me. Deep in the shadowy basement of my soul. Forgotten, repressed, contained.
But it’s not my magic I’m feeling. This is different. It’s pure, and big, and powerful. So fucking powerful.
My eyes spring open.
Alana cries out. She thrusts deeper, harder, and the magic is drowned out by the sound of my orgasm. It reverberates in my chest, vibrating through my bones. I can feel it in every cell, every atom of my body. The force of her power, the intensity of her control, coalesces into a single, overwhelming sensation.
It builds deep inside me and then explodes in waves.
When she unties me and slips her hands under my arms, helping me to my feet, she stares into my eyes and smiles.
“Did you feel that?” I breathe, panting.
“Did I hurt you?” she replies.
I shake my head, trying to read her face. She didn’t feel what I felt. She didn’t feel her magic seeping into my bones. She has no idea what just happened, and I have no idea how it happened.
All I know is that I want to feel it again.
I need to feel it again.
I need her.
All of her.
“Doyou think it was Kayan’s magic?” I ask gently, arm draped around her shoulders.
“I don’t know.” Her reply is tight and restrained. She doesn’t trust me anymore. I broke it, which means I need to fix it and fast.
“Alana, I’m sorry I lied. I will do anything to make it up to you.”
I stroke her shoulder and kiss her forehead. Despite what just happened between us, I still feel as if she is turning away from me.
And now more than ever, I know I need to bring her back.
“You can’t make it up to me, Finn. You can hammer nails into a fence but when you take the nails out, the holes are still there.”
I think about her words and the meaning solidifies like iron in my gut. “If I broke us, I’ll never forgive myself.”
Sitting up, she reaches for a glass of water, takes a sip and then pinches the bridge of her nose as if she’s trying to think. “I still want to free the others,” she says. “If you want to make it up to me, if you want to start making it up to me, you’ll help me figure out how to do that.”
I inhale sharply and accept the glass from her, taking a long drink of my own. “Alana, I know exactly how,” I say, my voice filled with conviction. “But you have to trust me.”
She frowns at me. “What do you mean?”
I stand up and extend my hand to her. “Get dressed. There’s something I need to show you.”
Alana dresses in silence.She is lost in thought, but I know as soon as she sees the whole picture, she will forget what Eldrion told her. She’ll forget my lies, and understand why I had to do it.
I lead her out of the room and we navigate through the castle’s winding corridors until we reach the kitchens.
The sights and noises, Shadowkind still clearing up after the banquet, are overwhelming. Alana blinks at the clattering of pots and pans, but I keep hold of her hand and lead her towards the back.
When we reach the pantry, I usher her inside and close the door behind us. It is cool in here, and dark. In the corner, there is a pile of old grain sacks. I tug them aside to reveal a concealed hatch in the floor.
“What is that?” Alana tilts her head.
I tap on the hatch with my foot, three times, quick succession. Then I lift it open.
Alana peers down into the darkness of the opening.
“Ladies first.” I hold out my hand. Alana hesitates, but then visibly pushes back her shoulders, swipes her hair back and ties it at the base of her neck. Swinging herself down onto the top rail of the dark staircase, she disappears.
This is it.
The moment Alana Leafborne joins the fight.