Chapter 17
HEKLA
I tried to jerk my hand back out of instinct, but Belenus kept it firmly against his pec. “Please don’t run from the truth, Hekla. No matter what, we’re still fated, and I’ve proven myself to be a faithful mate,” he said in earnest, swallowing heavily as he stared down at me. His blond brows drew in, and his lips pressed into a thin, worried line. The firelight caressed the elegant curves of his face, outlining his beauty and carving masculine lines along his jaw.
I stared at my hand on his gold-dusted chest, feeling weak under the weight of a hundred thoughts. His request had been a confession on its own, but did I have to love him back right away to accept it?
“Belenus…” I said with a waver in my voice. “Every time I close my eyes, I see… what I saw in your bedroom. I know you’ve proven it, but…”
“But you’re hurt. You’re injured. She attacked you, and she will pay severely for her crimes, Hekla. I want to help you heal. Whenever I close my eyes, I see the grief on your face and the moment your heart broke. I hear your screams at night from when they collared you, and it guts me. These were the injuries I mentioned that we may receive. We have to face them as a united force or they win. That… that wretch… managed to make you run from me,” he said softly. Compassion ran thick in his voice. “Don’t let her win, my female…”
I bit my lip, too exhausted to shed any tears. He was right. If I looked at the entire last week, I could easily imagine the queen and Eislyn pitting us against each other and laughing about it behind our backs. I reminded myself to be furious about it later when I had the energy.
I bit my lip and then spoke the fateful words. “Are you in love with me, Belenus?”
He looked intently at me, like a hawk would a field mouse, and replied, “Yes.”
His answer was truthful.
“I…” I choked on my words, but I didn’t know what to say.
“I love you so much. Completely and with my entire heart… my entire soul.” He paused for a long moment and gazed down at me with tenderness. “Do you want to know the very moment that I fell in love with you?” he asked and palmed my cheek, stroking it softly with a thumb. I closed my eyes and nodded, too overwhelmed to speak. “I’d already felt strongly about you, but I fell in love with you when you ran to my sister after she’d been knocked out and protected her with a set of canines and a pair of clawed hands. You were focused on her survival, demanded doctors, and rebelled against a corrupt queen. Though I was furious and distracted, I still saw everything that was good about you shine in that moment.” He leaned in closer, fanning my cheeks with his breath. “You were brilliant and steadfast like the very stars of the gods you serve.”
My body was slowly becoming a chemical, hormonal mess as he tilted his head down to brush his nose against mine. It was almost wolfish in the way he nudged me, like he was asking me a question. My eyes were glued to his amber ones that darkened the more his face tilted from the firelight, though nothing diminished their gleam .
His other hand palmed my ear and slid through my hair to cup the back of my head. His heart was racing like mine, but he seemed calmer otherwise… resolute in all actions now. Belenus lowered his head farther until his lips nearly brushed mine. “No matter what, my mate, I dedicate my life to you. If you wish me away, I will go, but I will always protect you from afar. If you wish me to stay, all I have is yours, and all you want will be yours, including my body, my heart, and my very soul.”
He closed his eyes, resting his thick, blond lashes on his cheekbones, and slowly touched his soft lips to my trembling ones. My breath caught as he pressed his mouth to mine, moving with agonizing slowness. I was not sure what happened, but the tingles and sparks where our lips touched left me breathless. I felt like his soul was leaning into mine, yearning to push past some invisible threshold to tie itself to me in an everlasting knot. Something was pushing us together, and it was undeniable. It hungered to see destiny fulfilled. I felt it throb in my chest, trying desperately to tug Belenus into me.
His thumb caressed my cheek, and his other hand massaged the back of my head, slowly bobbing my lips into his. He stopped and pulled back a couple inches, opening his eyes to study me. Was he waiting to see if I’d reciprocate?
I was bogged down by a dreamlike trance, unable to believe how quickly he’d raced to right the wrong that’d shattered me. I’d been jolted so immediately out of my heartbreak that I reeled from whiplash. The connection we were made to share lured me back to him, and I leaned forward hesitantly. Terror wrestled with my need to heal, but I tried to break through the fear. Trauma haunted me like a phantom limb, so hard to forget. Still, I fought it and tilted my head up to press my lips to his, like he’d done to me.
His body relaxed further, and he kissed me back, massaging my scalp and running his other hand around to join its brother. Little sparks of excitement peppered inside my belly from our harmonious expression of unity. I slowly opened my mouth when he did, having seen other mates do the same. He sighed into my mouth, obviously relieved that I’d returned the gesture. I took in a quick, deep breath, feeling like I could suddenly pull in the air that I’d forgotten I needed.
A loud clattering, like pots and pans falling, came from the tower next to us, and I started, growing fearful again. I looked over my shoulder and stared at the door that Belenus had locked and barred. Were we safe?
Belenus’s rough hands turned me back to face him, and he stared into my eyes. “Don’t worry about them. You’re safe. Focus on me,” he said softly and stroked my cheek again. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, looking at my body without any shame now. He seemed lighter than he had at the castle, like his decision to take over the throne had somehow removed a massive weight from him… from us.
“Thank you,” I returned quietly, wiping slightly sweaty palms on my knees.
“I wish I could mark you,” he said, stroking my arm now. “But I’ll not risk your life if your name is on that contract.” He leaned down to peer at my neck and sighed. “That looks so painful, my dear. I’m so sorry. The queen threatened to execute you, and I was so scared… I was so scared that even looking at you would mean your death,” he confessed in a thick voice, and I stared at him in shock.
He continued to tell me everything he’d experienced from his perspective as the rain thrashed against the tower, nearly muting the creatures who rambled around the moorland in search of my dissipating heartbreak. I bit my lip at every decision he said he had to weigh, knowing it’d hurt us both but keep me alive.
His story began to have an odd effect on my body, and I found it triggering my heat. Hearing what he’d had to endure for me felt like further proof of his dedication, and my body appreciated that. When he trailed off, done with his story, he cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. I was already feeling excessively stimulated and had tried to hide my readiness from him, not wanting to interrupt his venting. I sighed in frustration; I must be filling the room with my pheromones.
“Hekla… ah… do you need to rest? I can go upstairs and let you sleep for a little while until this storm lets up,” he offered, trying to be polite about my heat. I knew, deep down, it was because I didn’t tell him that I loved him in return. I sensed that he didn’t want to overstep. Maybe he wanted to give me time to sort out my feelings and heal from last night’s shock. When I froze in my answer, he stood up and turned toward the stairs.
“Does my banishment matter anymore? Sending me back before the month is over?” I asked quickly, worrying at my nails and tucking my lips between my teeth. He slowed and swiveled his head around to stare at me.
“Not if I succeed in becoming king, no,” he answered, and I saw several of his rippling back muscles tense from my question. I wiped a bit of sweat from my temples and fanned my face.
“Then we could… you know…” I said in a low, timid voice, “mate?” I bit my lip, anxious for his response.
He cocked his head to one side and crossed his arms. “Do you truly want your first time to be in a grimy, old tower where bloodthirsty goblins used to live?” he asked, looking compassionate but vaguely amused.
I glanced around, grimacing a little at a bucket and a rack of red-stained knives. He did have a point. “I suppose not…”
“How many more days left of your heat?” he asked curiously, not hiding the way he stared at the rest of my naked body.
I furrowed my brows and counted on my fingers, making sure to include the day I was unconscious. “Today should be the last day,” I surmised.
Half his mouth quirked into a smile. “I’m not sure whether I’m disappointed or relieved.”
“Why would you be disappointed?” I asked. I was certainly glad to be rid of it, being without a partner able to mount me.
He leaned against the stone wall, ruffled his damp hair with his hand, and swept it to the side. “Because then I wouldn’t have the perfect excuse to be knuckle-deep inside you,” he said with a casual shrug of his shoulders. He was trying to seem unaffected by his own words, but he couldn’t hide the subtle blush that filled his cheeks and pointed ears. It certainly made my breath catch.
“You don’t need an excuse, but… the perfect one is that you’re my mate…” I said, squirming uncomfortably from the ache between my thighs. I sighed and looked anxiously toward the barred door. “Please, don’t go upstairs. Stay with me. I’ll feel safer…” The creatures of this realm, the unknowns, were scarier than facing a group of lycan rogues.
I turned toward the fire and lay down on my side, not wanting to see the war happening on his face. Steps came closer, and I felt Belenus lie down behind me, scooting his chest to my back. “Don’t get me wrong, Hekla,” he murmured from behind my head. “I’d gladly take you, but I’d honestly rather do it in a cave or forest than in this filthy place. A tower of death is no place to create life.”
I wasn’t necessarily prepared to hear that last sentence and desire rippled through me. The words stoked my instinctive need to mate, and I parted my lips to release a silent moan. A small chunk of the hurt that kept my heart from him broke off and dissolved. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe the wolf in me continued to appreciate the show of his dedication, that he’d wanted me to create his heir.
My own arousal slicked my thighs, and I trembled from my heat. His rough palm landed on the bone of my hip and slid down between my legs to rub against my throbbing sex. “I’ll take care of this for you, though,” he said in a voice that was surprisingly loving. “Then you can rest easy while the storm passes, my sweet female.”
BELENUS
While I rubbed my thumb and forefinger along my mate’s suffering sex, I tilted my head down to stare at the deep burns around her neck. All of the black, charred flesh had finally fallen off, and I could see new skin regrowing in the worst sections. It was incredibly lucky that shifters could heal much faster than others, especially if silver could do this much damage. I cringed to think of what that aconite whip would have done to her body. No… no one would touch her again.
I propped myself up on the arm that wasn’t tending to her ache and pushed her hair away from her injury. Heat rushed through my own body from her slow pants and moans, but I urged myself to focus on my two goals. I leaned down to kiss her neck, just under her ear, and brought my free hand to her burn, finding a mostly healed spot to start my attempt. Some magical injuries couldn’t quite be healed with just a spell, but I supposed I’d find out soon enough. I didn’t even know if I’d categorize this as magical. I had to learn more about wolves…
“Do you like that?” I asked in a low voice, trying to distract her while I slowly spread my magic into her neck. I started rubbing her folds with all my fingers except the middle one, choosing to sink my longest one into her drenched channel. She moaned in response, and I glanced over to find her mouth gaping while I gave her pleasure. I smiled—pleased—and allowed my magic to penetrate deeper so I could start with the inner tissue.
I nibbled on her earlobe. “So what does the word ‘fuck’ mean? We don’t have that one here. I’ve heard it used in so many different ways, though I’m especially curious when you use it in regards to your heat.” I curled my plunging finger to rub against the inside of her wall, digging to find the little rough bump that promised to drive my female wild. I let my healing slowly pulse into her neck with every gesture my sunken finger made, trying to disguise and distract whatever pain it may generate.
“I-It’s… l-like… any... ahhh… swear word. It c-c-can mean a… uh, ah, ah… a-a lot of things, ah! Use it t-to express a-anger or… frustration… ahhh. It’s a-a-also a vulgar w-w-word for s-sex… particularly… oh gods, that’s a-amazing,” she gasped and tilted partially onto me on her back to spread her legs a little more. I smiled into the si de of her head, thrilled I was able to give her a good time while I healed her nasty wound.
“Particularly what?” I asked into her ear, licking it slowly. I glanced down at her neck and found it halfway healed now. I slipped a second finger inside her wet heat and rubbed more firmly into her swollen tissue. She was so hot. Soon… soon I’d have my cock in there, buried and pumping out seed. Tingling pleasure rippled through me at the thought. I couldn’t wait.
“P-p-particularly… Oh gods, Belenus!” She writhed, and I perked to find her hands sliding up to grab her own soft, moldable breasts. I nibbled and sucked mindlessly on her ear while I stared intently at how her roaming hands massaged them. “P-particularly,” she tried again, gasping and making her breasts press into her hands, “referring to a rawer experience… rougher… s-sometimes…”
“Mmm,” I hummed into her cheek, breathing her natural scent in while I could. “Fucking sounds fun. I like how you wolves do things,” I murmured and glanced down to find her neck almost completely healed. At this point, I felt like it was safe to speed up the process without her noticing it. I continued rubbing inside her, making her panting accelerate. That noise was like a caress to my own pants, making me harder just to hear it.
Once her neck was completely healed, I nuzzled my nose against her cheekbone and whispered, “I want to touch your breasts. May I, my female?” She whimpered and nodded zealously. I snuck my now-free arm under her waist and pulled her on top of me, keeping her back to my chest with her neck slung over my shoulder. I turned my head to lap at the most sensitive part of her neck and smiled internally, delighted that she probably hadn’t even realized I’d healed her.
I slid my free hand up her ribs and molded my hand around her warm, round breast. I groaned in exaltation to finally touch what I’d longed to fondle. She’d teased me for far too long with these two luscious, perfect globes. Tendrils of pleasure spiraled down my abdomen to sink into my groin, and my face heated from my roused vessels. My cock had expanded significantly now, fed eagerly by the same pumping blood.
She arched into my massaging hands, panting harder and displaying a most enjoyable view. She tilted her head for me to offer more of her neck, obviously completely lost to all senses but pleasure. I stared at the spot where’d I’d someday bite and inject my magic, my own signature, into her delicious soul. I licked slowly up that spot—where her shoulder met her neck—and nibbled lightly. She gasped and whined like a hungry wolf, which hardened me to stone, but this was all for her right now. She deserved all my attention for what she’d endured.
I slid my fingers up to gently caress her small, hard nipple, making us both erupt into sounds of pleasure. I rolled the button of textured flesh carefully between my fingers, then pulled a little before pushing down on it. I traced a finger around the taut nib and repeated the pattern. She spread her arms wide and bent one to search for my face. Finding my jaw, she idly caressed the side of my head and traced a finger up my sensitive ear, making me groan through clenched teeth. My cock throbbed in response to the sensations she pulled out of those nerves.
I should probably make her climax before she got herself into trouble… got us into trouble. “Come for me, Hekla… uh… ahhh,” I urged into her ear, unable to keep my own guttural sounds of pleasure from my voice. I hissed as she mindlessly rubbed the helix of my ear, and I tried to turn my head away from her roaming digits. “Don’t… Don’t be touching that, she-wolf,” I gritted out and doubled down on my efforts.
“Why?” she gasped faintly as her body began to tense under my ministrations.
“Because it’s going to make a blisterin’ mess everywhere,” I growled and tried to shrug away her hand, but it was now newly inspired. “Damn it, female!”
My hands were already quite busy, and try as I might, I struggled to swat away her free hand that reached up to massage my other ear. I bit my lip and tilted my head back, holding my breath through the pleasurable sensations she stirred along the points of my ears. “Female! Yo—” I growled and moved my other hand to grind against the swollen nub at the apex of her sex.
It felt like a race now. I needed to finish Hekla before I made a damn mess of us. I moved her body up a bit so my knuckles wouldn’t brush against the sensitive head of my cock. Perhaps it was time I invested in pants that went up a bit higher.
Hekla began to hyperventilate, then tensed and screamed through her teeth, arching into a beautiful sight beneath my hands. I rubbed along her pulsing sex and channel, panting and believing I was safe from her mischievous, wandering hands.
At least, I thought I was safe. In the midst of her orgasm, her claws came out and stroked fine lines down the rims of my ears. I shouted and moved to grab her wrists, but it was too late.
I arched up against her writhing body and came explosively, tilting my head farther back and crying out in euphoria. I slid my hands down her arms and grabbed her breasts while I went through the pleasurable motions of spending my seed. My hips jerked with each delivery I made, and I eventually felt my own emission drip and pool on my quivering abdomen.
On my last ejaculation, I collapsed beneath her, lifeless on the blanket like a rag doll. My hands slowly massaged her breasts while I caught my breath and tried to wake from the fog our lust had created. I tilted my head to kiss her ear and slid my arms under her breasts to hug her.
“Hekla… female… you made me… make a mess,” I mumbled when my breathing slowed enough to talk.
“I think… at this point,” I heard her say in between breaths and with a smile in her voice, “I’m allowed to play… by my rules for a while.”
I chuckled and closed my eyes for a moment. “You do. I officially and immediately rescind my complaint.” I cleared my throat and asked, “I’m guessing I got you with my orgasm… is it a ridiculous mess? It’s still raining out, and the creatures seem to be gone. We could rinse off. ”
She struggled to stand and turned to face me. “You tell me,” she said with a laugh, and I grimaced at the sight of my pale seed all over her sex. I wouldn’t admit it out loud, but the sight was incredibly erotic, and I’d be fine with losing control again. Although… that would be a dreadful waste of seed that I’d rather spend into my Hekla.
“Oh… well, I’d apologize, but this”—I gestured to the mess I’d made on her—“was absolutely your fault.” I shucked off the rest of my clothes to prepare for a good, thorough rinsing.
“I know,” she said, sending me a coy look that made my heart flutter. She moved toward the door to listen for movement, and I did the same. I heard no stirring of the soul-stealing sluagh.
“They’re gone,” I said, nodding in satisfaction and unbarring the door. “Probably scared them away with all the fun we were having.” Hekla giggled and pushed past me to run into the pouring rain. “Don’t go too far!” I cautioned and dragged her closer to the tower, still worried about the lightning. “And let’s be quick about it.”
“It’s warm!” she exalted, closing her eyes and smiling as she ran her hands all over her body. It was a good thing I’d just finished because now I was able to soberly enjoy what a pretty sight she was. I smiled and ran my hands over myself while I watched her wash. In this moment, she looked… exactly how she should. She was happy, refreshed, and embracing nature. She opened her arms wide and tilted her head back to catch some of the fresh, clean rainwater in her mouth. Unable to hold back my relief, my joy, my gratitude, I stepped into those open arms and tilted her mouth to mine for a kiss.
We stood there for a while, lost in each other, until I pulled back and gazed down at her. “It’s so good to see you smiling again, my dear Hekla. I had worried I’d never see it again.” My smile faded as my thoughts turned solemn. “Do you think you could ever forgive me? For bringing you here? For not protecting you well enough?”
She rapidly blinked the rain from her eyes as she looked up at me. “If you need to hear it, I forgive you, but I… don’t blame you, not anymore.” She plopped her head into my chest and hugged me while I guided us back inside to dry ourselves.
Upon closing the door, she shrieked, “Oh my Moon Goddess, my neck is better! What?”