Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
A Night That Frights
And Delights
Kaelan lay awake staring at the ceiling. The bed finally warmed and he expected his wife to be in it with him by now. She had promised she would only be a moment. That moment had stretched far too long.
He wasn’t one to dismiss his concern when it came to his wife and the passion he had seen sparking in her eyes, he knew she would not dally. With his unease growing, he threw the covers aside and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
The chill of the room barely registered as he hurried to slip his shirt over his head, the garment hanging to his thighs.
He crossed quickly to the door, and the moment he stepped outside, his concern sharpened.
Heavy mist drifted between the cottages and trees, swallowing the night.
“Bria?” he called out.
No answer came.
His pulse quickened as he called out again, “Bria!”
Still nothing.
He stepped farther from the cottage, his gaze sweeping the area. He sniffed the air trying to pick up her scent, but the heavy mist made that impossible. Then he heard it. A strange sound. He hurried to follow it, worried it might be his wife moaning, hurt from a fall.
Thankfully, the mist shifted around him as he crossed the clearing. Gradually, it began to thin, the moonlight filtering through in pale ribbons. It allowed him to follow the sound more easily and he soon came upon Fiora passed out and snoring louder than he expected from one so tiny.
She was covered in leaves and pine needles, and his first thought was his wife. Only Bria would stop in the middle of the night to make certain a drunken fairy did not freeze.
But where was Bria? He grew more worried, not spotting her as his gaze swept the clearing.
He sniffed the air again and thought he caught a whiff of her.
The mist continued to dissipate and that was when he saw her. His heart nearly stopped.
“Bria!”
She lay motionless several yards away. Kaelan reached her in moments. He dropped to one knee beside her and glanced over her. No wounds, no blood, and no other scent on her. And she was breathing. Relief struck first, but fear remained.
He gathered her in his arms. “Bria.”
He got no response.
Without another thought, he lifted her, keeping her tight against his chest to chase the chill from her and carried her swiftly back toward the cottage.
The door burst open beneath the force of his shoulder, and he crossed the room in three strides after he kicked the door closed. He laid her gently on the bed, then pulled her boots off, tossing them aside.
His heart pounded as his hands moved over her quickly, searching for an injury he may have missed. Finding none, only deepened his concern, and he hurried the warm blankets over her, then sat on the bed beside her.
“Bria, wake up,” he ordered sharply as if it were enough to wake her.
It wasn’t.
He tapped her cheek with the flat of his hand. “Wake up, wife.”
She did not respond.
“Bloody hell, Bria, wake up!” he all but shouted, but it did no good.
She did not wake nor move.
He couldn’t lose her, he couldn’t. He could not live a life without her.
He took her limp, cool hand between his two and began rubbing it. “You will not leave me. I will not permit it. You will wake up or else.”
He had no idea of what or else might be.
Kaelan never felt so helpless as he did now, then he recalled where he was… Driochmor, the place of magic. He would go for help, though he did not want to leave her alone, but he had no choice.
“Help, Bria. I am going for help.”
He was about to stand when he thought he felt something brush his hand and was never so relieved to see her fingers reaching out to him.
He took hold of her hand. “I am here. I am not going anywhere.”
Kaelan kept talking to her, encouraging her to wake up and open her eyes. It took longer than he liked but she finally opened her eyes and her fingers began to grip his hand.
“You frightened the bloody hell out of me,” he said once her eyes fully opened. Then he lowered his head and rested his cheek next to hers, his breath a warm whisper in her ear. “You will not die before me. I cannot survive without you.”
Her voice was but a whisper. “Then it is good the Wise live long lives.”
He raised his head smiling. “So do the Thornek, which means we will have endless years together.”
“I look forward to every one of them,” Bria said, a bit breathless.
“As do I,” Kaelan said and kissed her brow.
She struggled to say, “I must tell you—”
“When you have your breath about you.”
Bria lay there keeping hold of her husband’s hand, regaining her strength, her breath, eager to tell her husband all that had happened.
And she did when she finally regained her strength, explaining it all to him in detail as he sat quietly, listening.
When Bria finished, she realized it sounded more like a tale then truth, and she asked, “Do you believe me?”
“Every word,” he said without hesitation.
Bria sighed, heavily relieved.
“So, this ethereal figure wants you to protect the pendant until the one comes to claim it. Did she happen to mention who the one is?”
“If only it were that easy,” Bria said.
“The question is, do we trust this being? We do not know who she is or where she comes from or if she is good or evil.”
A single tear slipped from Bria’s eye and more pooled behind it ready to fall.
Kaelan felt her distress and it upset him. “What’s wrong? You hurt. I can feel it.”
Tears followed the single tear cascading down her cheeks as she tightened her hand around his.
“I have felt much heartache, help eased it, known my own with the loss of my parents, but never have I felt the overwhelming heartbreak this woman suffered. It was horrible and I do not know how she lives with it day after day.”
“Does she live? She is in ethereal form, a spirit, perhaps her pain comes from that.”
Bria stared at her husband, thinking of how it might feel to lose him, never to feel his arms around her, or to share a kiss, or see him smile, and a horrible ache stung her chest and twisted in her stomach.
She struggled in her rush to sit up, and Kaelan slipped his arm under her back to help her. Her arms went around his neck as soon as she was up, holding on to him as if she would never let him go.
“I do not want to waste a single moment we have together.” She kissed him with strength and purpose, flaring her desire and welcoming it. She needed him now more than ever.
Kaelan understood that she needed to feel love after feeling such heartbreak. He felt the same after fearing he might have lost her. They needed to join as one, solidifying their commitment to each other.
“Aye, wife, no more wasted time,” he agreed.
His lips met hers in a powerful kiss, but it was not so much the kiss, but what it meant to them. A commitment they would never break, a promise to love no matter what the circumstances, and hearts forever united.
He forced himself to pull his lips away from hers, not ready to end the kiss, simply wanting more.
“Let’s get you naked,” he said.
Bria agreed and hurried off the bed to shed her garments with her husband’s help after he pulled his shirt off.
Once she stood naked in front of him, Kaelan glanced over her slowly. “You are beautiful, Bria.” Then he lifted her into his arms.
His words brought a blush to her cheeks, and she welcomed it and the compliment, seeing the truth of his words in his eyes, and she felt it as soon as he scooped her up in his arms.
What amazed her was how she felt what he felt when she had not offered comfort. His touch alone opened her ability to feel what he felt. But she did have an obligation to let him know that she was privy to his feelings.
“I feel you,” she said as he placed her down on the bed.
His smile came slowly. “You are going to feel a lot more of me soon.”
“Nay,” she said and pressed her hand to his chest. “I feel what is within you without trying.”
“Then I envy you, for you will get to double your pleasure.” He grinned at the thought and when she went to say more, he stopped her with a quick kiss. “We are husband and wife. You need no permission from me to do what comes natural to you. It is who you are, and it is who I love.”
“And I love you—all of you,” she said to let him know she felt the same about him, all of him.
“It feels so good to finally touch you, feel your skin against mine,” Kaelan said, running his hand lightly over her. “Soft. So very soft,” he whispered near her lips before kissing her again.
Her hands eagerly, though more greedily, ran over him. It was as if she wanted to mark every inch of him with her touch before she realized his feelings were mixing with hers.
His touch, his kisses now trailing along her neck were his way of leaving his scent on her as the large beast in him would do. He was claiming her as his and she intended to do the same.
She gasped lightly as his lips settled over her nipple, his teeth nipping at it gently before his tongue teased it. It was as though her body suddenly came to life, like it had been lying dormant and had finally fully woken up.
She felt alive but more so she felt his love for her and that made all the difference.
It burned deep inside along with his hunger for her and she felt it in his eager touches like he could not get enough of her.
And truthfully, she was just as eager for him to touch her, explore all of her, know her like no other.
Some of his touches were feather-like and others demanding as if he commanded her body to respond and it did, each and every time. Wherever he touched, he left a sensation that rippled through her body with the most intense pleasure. And the more intimate places, the more intense the pleasure.
When his fingers found their way inside her, she gasped loudly.
“So wet and ready,” he whispered in her ear, then kissed her.
But whether ready or not, he was not ready to see it end and neither was she.