Chapter 12
B ranches scratched like talons against the barn in the howling wind. Steady thuds from the doors slammed into the broken boards as the metal hinges groaned. Other than the moonlight that shifted positions beyond the broken roof, there was nothing to suggest how long she’d been asleep.
Alora knew she’d been whimpering the moment her eyes opened. Because those hands that massaged her to sleep were still rubbing. And that wasn’t straw beneath her.
Garrik was an entangled mess of legs and limbs with his carved chest pinned down … beneath her.Cradling her to him.
Heat rushed to her cheeks. Sometime in her sleep, she must’ve rolled onto him. Yet he had allowed her to stay, sleeping soundly in his arms while he no doubt laid awake.
It would’ve been easy to slide off him. Pretend like it never happened. But the rhythm of his chest. How she counted each brush of it against her cheek, coaxing her heartbeat to wrap around his …
Calm. So perfectly calm, she didn’t want to move.
Strong arms tightened around her. Gripping the blanket, Garrik tucked the wool under her shoulders, and she may have nuzzled her face into his solid chest, evoking a pleasant sigh from his throat.
Alora took in a greedy inhale of the blanket—leather and metal.
The scent of him.
She shamelessly grinned, turning her eyes up to look through long lashes at his face.
Those enchanting silvers, even exhausted, glowed down at her before that rare and real smile surfaced. The one that instantly turned her bones molten. His broad hand lifted from her shoulder and stroked a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Please, don’t stop,” Alora blissfully whimpered when he traced idle circles on her arm under the blanket.
Releasing a breathy hum, Garrik’s fingers splayed across her spine. Sliding slowly downward, swirling and kneading into sore muscles.
She could lay there for eternity and never tire of it. Indulging in the delicacy that was his fingertips.
Those heavenly fingers moved, touching her body like it belonged to him. Like he had the entire world in his hands. They trailed sensually along her spine and danced in the dips of her muscles like they knew precisely where the contact would deliver comfort and melt her into him. Adding his other hand, Garrik traveled to her knee, which was bent across his lap. Palming her thigh, he kneaded that, too.
A moan, heavy with pleasure, released between her lips.
Stars. How could this feel so perfect? How could he feel so perfect?
She felt the warmth of his breath before his lips. Garrik smoothly traced them along the curve in that soft spot between her neck and shoulder. Those lips brushed until they reached her ear, pressing tender kisses along the way. A warm wave of breath fluttered across her neck.
Enchanting eyes half-lidded, and Garrik chuckled when her body went taut. “Like that, darling?” Taunting as his lips traced along her jawline.
“ Yes ,” she groaned, unashamed, angling her neck. Begging—a silent plea.
Garrik smirked wickedly and went still as stone.
Alora extended her neck, but the mighty bastard remained unmoving.
“Clever girl,” he taunted, then dropped his teeth right— stars —right where she wanted, grazing along her flesh. Garrik’s hand roamed her body, wrinkling the lace of her underthings in his slow exploration.
A deep moan vibrated across her flesh before a sharp sting bit her neck, and his swirling tongue begged for forgiveness. That tongue could do anything because when Garrik put his mouth on her … nothing else mattered. Not who she was or where she came from or who she’d been with. His tongue licked up the memories that painted her body. It licked away the cruel hands that had once been there, and instead, laid healing touches.
A savage to the world. A ruthless killer whose hands brought death to everyone but her.
Garrik’s hands gripped her bare thighs and lifted effortlessly until she was straddling him. Claiming her like his touch was the only one that belonged there.
She couldn’t deny her desire. It pulsated between her legs.
Each sweep of his tongue had her aching for more.
Garrik threw his head back and growled when she rolled her hips against him, hard as steel beneath her. His thumbs teased the top of her underthings, looping inside and gliding them down so so slowly. And she could have cracked when his dilated silvers watched her as if waiting for her to object.
But when she didn’t, he continued his tease, and she offered him one of her own by rolling her hips.
His cock eased against her, separated by fabric, and pressed against the pulsing wet warmth of her core.
Until now, they had taunted and tormented each other. Catching quick glances in camp or the firesite. Stealing kisses in an annulus or mountain stairs. How he would toy with her and she’d push back. Never going further than their hands or their lips.
But this … when her experiences had always been cruel and uncaring and painful …
This. She wanted this— badly.
Warm fingertips threatening to burst scratched down until she reached the raised ridges of his scars?—
And then she was swept away.
Garrik’s body rippled beneath her and effortlessly flipped them. He pinned her onto her back, pulling her leg around his waist, and crawled up her body, nipping and pecking desperate kisses.
He leaned forward and licked along her collarbone. Rasping so low and so ravenous, she hardly recognized his voice, “I have craved touching you since the stairs.” Lips hovering over her ear. “And how you taunted me inside. If not for that barrier…” He shook his head and cursed.
Breathing was nearly impossible. Her heart threatened to stop entirely.
Alora rolled her lip between her teeth, and Garrik’s thumb glided across it, tracking his exploration with predatory prowess. She released it, parting her lips, contemplating taking his finger inside.
A hunger settled in his eyes. “Stop that,” he growled. “I like to think I have impeccable restraint, but darling, if you bite your lip again…” Gritting his teeth, he stopped his thumb. Those silver eyes, even in the shadows, darkened.
Alora only grinned, daring to do just that.
Garrik cocked his head in challenge and burned his gaze into that lip, waiting.
Instead, her gaze drifted down his body and found his cock straining against the fabric there.
Her body tightened. Flame-like bursts waved over her skin. And she realized her mouth had suddenly dried. Forcing herself to breathe. Forcing herself to follow the hardened planes and raised rigid scars of his abdomen to the dip below his throat, inching across the brutal scar and sharpness of his jaw until at last she found him staring.
With one flick to her lips, those enchanting orbs flashed to her eyes. She didn’t know what he saw … but Garrik lowered his head. A muscle feathered in his cheek as he murmured, “I can hardly think when you look at me like that.”
The Lord of Minds caught thoughtless at her mere stare?
It seemed impossible.
“I need to touch you.” A note of pleading in his voice, Garrik’s eyes traced down and over the curves of her body, stopping at the black lace concealing her aching breasts.
There was enough desperation in his tone that it pushed her to want exactly that, too. Breathing slowly, she brushed her fingertips over the swells until they captured the lace and tugged down.
Primal male desire flooded his eyes at her peaked nipples.
The restraint he must have had?—
Shuddering a breath, Garrik’s voice turned guttural. “I want you so fucking badly…” he paused and raked his eyes to hers, “but I am afraid, should you allow me to continue, I will not have the strength to stop.”
A whimper built in her throat. “What if I wouldn’t want you to stop?”She knew the moment the words escaped she was playing a dangerous game.But she didn’t care.
Garrik’s eyes dilated. The warmth of his breath fell against the shell of her ear, growling in desperation, “Then I would take my precious time. Not stopping until you are breathless beneath me. And then, once you have floated from the sky I sent you to, I would worship you so deeply the stars become jealous and cannot contain themselves to fall on your skin.”
She could’ve sworn the stars glimmered brighter between the broken rafters.
Exploring—gripping—claiming the soft strands between her fingers, Alora dove into his hair. One of his found her face, tilted her chin, and his lips devoured her.
Garrik kissed her as if he’d been starved for eternity. Every bit as consuming as every moment he’d kissed her before. Cursing against her lips at the contact, that voice ripped another tear in her resolve.
His kiss was addicting. Like no other drug in Elysian could ever have her floating to the stars quite like this. Every time he kissed her was like lightning in her veins and fire on her skin. And she wanted that tongue to ruthlessly—hungrily—tame that fire.
Yielding to him, Alora’s lips parted when his tongue traced them.
Garrik plunged into her, claiming every inch in unrushed sweeps and caressing waves. That intoxicating movement of his tongue—there was no mistake with his perfection and sheer skill—how incredible it would feel over every inch of her skin.
Teasing. Licking. Feasting .
She gasped against his mouth at the thought of it between her legs.
Garrik released a growl. The sound reverberated from his chest to her lips. Then, his hands climbed up her sides, gripping the straps at her shoulders while his kisses deepened, desperate and powerful.
Alora lifted herself to him, guiding her arms over her head. An unspoken surrender.
Garrik tore from her lips long enough to slip his hands under the fabric, cupping her breasts before he peeled the lace off completely and tossed them away.
Aided by moonlight, Alora’s body waited on display as Garrik’s chest heaved. He surveyed every inch of pebbled porcelain skin, raking from where he straddled her, gliding from the apex of her thighs, across her underthings, her navel, aching breasts …looking at her as if he’d found Elysian’s most precious jewel, with no intention of letting go.
Awestruck—utterly awestruck—he rasped, “You are starsdamned perfection, Alora.” A hand cupped her cheek as fire threatened to explode in her eyes. “A queen amongst us rabble. And I intend to serve Her Majesty tonight.”
A whimper was her only reply.
Garrik lowered and swirled his tongue on her aching breast, her nipple. Flicking it while warm breath sparked electricity down her spine.
Alora threw her head back, arching into him, unable to stifle the undone moan that had her hands clawing and curling into the blanket.
She was going to explode. Burn the barn down. Going to?—
“Don’t stop,” she mewled at those fingers stroking along the edge of her waistband. That hooked through the fabric at the juncture of her thigh and began tugging them down, down, down?—
“ With pleasure, Your Majesty ,”Garrik erupted with a dark snarl. The lace mercilessly shredded from her body.
Kisses flooded down her neck. His thumb teased her nipple. as?—
Alora gasped.
His hand drifted between her legs and parted her.
She gasped at that too-perfect stroke that emptied her mind entirely until it was only his fingers, his lips, and that next incredible stroke.
Garrik’s voice roughened, wickedly humming at the wetness he had found waiting for him. “Are you always this drenched when you think of me, darling?”
She didn’t have time to answer—not like she could have—because Garrik’s darkened eyes pierced hers as he eased his fingers out.
He brought those cruel fingers to his lips and sucked them inside, licking them clean one by one, sucking on the taste of her. And he emptied any words that came close to stumbling from her tongue.
Alora scraped her nails against the wooden floor, clawing to grab hold of anything to keep her from plummeting over the edge as he gripped her hip. Pinning her to the floor before his fingers stroked up her center and found her swollen bundle of nerves.
She threw her head back.
Strangled moans turned rapturous as her eyes rolled, meeting his strokes with a roll of her hips.
Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop.
“That’s my clever girl,” he praised in a voice so unlike him. So unlike who he was supposed to be. Who they were supposed to be—but it didn’t matter. Not in that barn. Not when his thumb swirled, slow enough to draw out the pleasure. Not when a finger slipped inside her.
Garrik groaned the same time she cried out.
Her entire body threatened to burst into flames, and he glided in and out before he added a second. Curving them and hitting a spot so perfect her vision erupted in darkness.
“I have thought about doing this since the first moment your lips touched mine.” His carved body lowered. Nipping against any bit of flesh his mouth found. Lower and lower and lower, settling his shoulders between her legs before those lips found her inner thigh and nipped. “Of every sound I would cause you to make.”
Alora whimpered, squirming underneath that bite. Her body a mess of raw need and desperate for more — more, more, more .
For him.
“Of how you would taste .” Those sinful lips curled, baring his teeth. Pleasure ripped from his throat. In a painfully slow trail of his tongue, Garrik licked until he reached the apex of her thigh.
Desperate pleading moans tore loose as her blood went molten. She couldn’t think past that touch. The entire realm narrowing on it, on where the next one might fall. Arching just enough, shifting her hips just enough to?—
Garrik roughly chuckled, his hot breath right there —right where she wanted him to?—
He hooked his arm around her thigh, drawing her impossibly closer until she felt his breath flutter across her center. Strong hands claimed her, sinking into her muscle with fierce possessiveness as he growled, “ You’re mine .”
She didn’t have time to shudder at the words.
Like a beast uncaged and ready to devour its kill, wholly ravenous, Garrik plunged his tongue inside. Dragging that addicting tongue so torturously up her center until it danced across her swollen nerves.
He flicked a taunting lick, cursing when her hips bucked, greedily lapping and swirling his tongue against her. She eased her hips with the rhythm, moving with him. Over and over, losing the last thread of her control.
An unbridled moan ripped through her.Rapturous and delirious and begging for more as he feasted like a dying male given the first bite of new life.
“That’s it.” The veins in Garrik’s arms swelled as two fingers sunk deep inside, twisting and hitting the spot that had her chasing oblivion.
And he didn’t stop— by the stars , he didn’t stop. Ruthlessly working that spot until she was certain she’d transcend to the gates of Stars Eternal.
“Come for me, my darling. Let me taste you. ”
It was enough—his addictive voice—his need.
Release built low in her stomach. Her inner walls clenched him tight while her entire world spiraled and shattered and rearranged.
Oblivion was real, and the stars met her there.
Garrik covered her with his mouth as fire exploded down her spine. Stroking her through the waves, carrying her to the stars he’d promised to send her to.
Powerful arms lifted and settled her against his heaving chest. Garrik fell against the bales and cradled her. Nuzzling her in his lap as she panted from a pleasure she’d never truly known.
And in his eyes … she saw a gleam of … something .
The world seemed to still, and her eyes burned, collected tears as she thought?—
“You are safe, darling.” Unease settled in his voice. He caressed her cheek that was covered in warm tears.
No, no. That wasn’t it. And of course she was. He’d never proven himself otherwise. But there was no point hiding her thoughts. He saw it dripping down her face.
Shaking her head, she admitted, “I … I’ve never…” Scarlet flushed her cheeks, evading his eyes. Unable to speak the words that with Kaine … with Kaine, she had never …
By the care, the knowing in his gaze, Garrik understood. “You have never experienced the release of lovemaking.” He said it so plainly and without judgment, she wasn’t embarrassed to nod. “He was a fucking fool to be blessed by such an exquisite star and not worship the air you breathed.”
Liquid lined her eyes. Not because she didn’t believe him, but?—
“You are every-starsdamn-thing , Alora.”
She did believe him.
It didn’t seem to matter what Kaine had done. Because he would never have the chance to right it—not that he ever could. And laying there after what she and Garrik had done. After feeling the truth in Garrik’s words… Feeling what his touch could do…
What her touch could do…
Garrik shifted, making her aware of the unmistakable hardness pressed against her backside.
Heat rushed over her. The aching need built to feel him deep inside her.
Tension rolled through him as she straddled his lap. The fiery warmth of her hands slid down his shoulders, over his mountainous biceps housing his death mark, his chest, carefully tracing the rigid scars until he went taut and stopped breathing.
“Do you want me to stop?” She would. If he needed her to—she would.
In a deliberate movement, Garrik’s fingertips slid up her back. Breathing unevenly, his eyes darkened. “Starsdamn…” he cursed. Then cursed again, unsure until—“No.”
Garrik’s eyes rolled the moment Alora’s hand threaded in his hair.
Stretching his neck, subdued by her hold, desperate growls and whimpers flooded from him as he flexed his hips.
By his silent plea, she traced her tongue over the thick scar on his neck, feeling the quickened pulse while he viciously shivered and his hands claimed her hips.
Alora’s fingers brushed the tip of his ear. Traced down the straight of it and dared to tickle the silken skin and nerves behind.
Garrik’s moan shook the floorboards.“ Alora .”
To hear her name like that again… Stars, she would crawl for it.
“Yes,” she answered so he couldn’t mistake who he was with.
Alora pressed her breasts to his hardened muscles. Licking up the taste of him from the base of his throat to his jaw, she sent a teasing breath into his ear. Knowing her touch was an extreme form of pleasure to a High Fae male, wanting to bring him to completion by as little as a few perfectly placed strokes.
“Fuck,” he cursed.
Tauntingly, Alora stroked again and rolled her hips.
The floor quaked.
Every stroke of her finger, every movement of her hips—of his—drawing him closer and closer and?—
Garrik’s palm clasped her hand, stopping her strokes. “No.” His voice rough, perhaps more than he meant it to be.
Alora began to pull away when his arms captured her retreat, tucking her against him. “You don’t want to…” She shook her head. Finish. Maybe he didn’t want her to bring him there.
Maybe he didn’t want her—apart from anything he had already done.
Garrik released a breathy chuckle despite the shadows she now realized were in his eyes. “You have no idea how badly I want you, maiez amnors .”
That voice like honey drizzled, now speaking the royal language she was working to learn. Flowing over her like an alluring melody, beautiful yet bittersweet. The words whirled off his tongue as warm fingertips brushed a hair from her face.
Then he transitioned into the common tongue. “You deserve much more than a quick fuck from the fractured shards she left of me.” Garrik drew in a deep breath. “The first time”—his voice shook—“I want you to have every part of me. And it will not be in a decrepit barn fighting to keep nightmares from my eyes.”
Carefully, Garrik bent at his side and draped the blanket around her before laying her on the floor. His face turned painful as his arms left her.
She felt his slight tremble. Saw the swirl of night collecting in his eyes.
Despite it all, he shook his head. And that irritating smirk climbed his face as he exhaled a laugh. “That was better than in my dreams.”
No wonder it was irritating. “I hate you.” Alora lightly smacked his chest but grinned, too.
“I know.” Swelling his cheeks, he flashed her that rare smile, and said, “Rest. I will return shortly.”
She watched as he stood and pivoted to the door. “Where are you going?”
“I…” He hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck without turning to her. “To check the storm.”
One more look at her and he would have completely come undone.
Her voice was torturous enough to walk away from, but if her eyes would have captured his one more time …
He needed to escape the barn. Clear his head. Center himself.
Garrik took one greedy scan of the winter sky as snowflakes flurried. Feeling the air warming enough that the chill did not send him rushing inside. To her.
Good.
But if he was entirely honest, he would have frozen out there so he would not do anything reckless. Anything more reckless …
That incredibly exquisite wonder inside was going to drive him to madness.
And he would fall to his knees and beg her to do it. Again and again. Until the madness consumed him and all that remained was her.
At that moment, he would have much preferred jumping in a lake to fight against returning, but it was too far.
One last glance around, Garrik’s eyes locked on the only thing that could keep him from storming inside, ripping the blanket off Alora, and worshiping her as he had promised himself he would do.
Garrik’s chest heaved in uneven breaths as he closed his dilated silver eyes.
And dove headfirst into a snowdrift.