Chapter 17 Helping Us Both Relax
Helping Us Both Relax
Cora
I stood by a small window, framed in a beige-colored wood, and stared out into the night that was slowly dissipating into day. The glass pane had a small spiderweb-shaped crack in the bottom pane, a light coating of grime covered the outside, but I was grateful because the interior was clean.
With my arms wrapped tightly around myself, I tried to ignore the scratchy gossamer fabric setting against my skin and the thick leather collar around my throat. I didn’t want to think about it right now, or feel anything for that matter.
Keres's words tumbled over and over in my mind, a troubling scene on repeat.
The door behind me clicked open, but I didn’t move from my current vigil. Maybe the sun would rise soon and I’d just—
“Don’t worry, Princess, shutters will close a few moments before the sun breaks through the mountains, so you don’t have to worry about crisping up today.
I ensured we were in a vampire-friendly room, unlike our rooms in the lovely Court of Ice.
” I could hear him walking around the small space, moving things about if I had to guess.
“I was able to find you a change of clothes as well. Assuming, of course, that you wanted to change out of your current… attire.”
He didn’t sound snide or controlling. He sounded almost worried, but still I didn’t respond.
Not because I didn’t want to, I just wasn’t sure what to say.
However, as if the Fates themselves were tired of my silence, thick dark shutters closed over the window, leaving the only light in the room a few well-placed candles.
I began to turn around, but froze as I felt the heat of his body behind me. His hand slid along my shoulder and something cold slid along the back of my throat. My mouth opened to say something—do something—but before I could, the collar around my throat fell onto the floor.
His hands disappeared from my body and another moment of silence passed as I tried to calm my heart.
“Well, okay then. I vote we get some sleep. Tonight will be a long evening of riding, or in my case, flying.” I spun around before I could think better of it, only to be faced with a fully naked Cedar.
Only this time he was clean and… “Enjoying the view, Princess?” he asked, his tone low and gravelly, fully interrupting any of the thoughts thrumming through my mind.
“Powerful,” I found myself whispering. How did he look this good after being stuck in the dark, tortured, and starved for months? I cleared my throat. “Why are you naked in my room?”
He smirked, the expression lighting up his eyes in a way I hadn’t witnessed before. “Only two available rooms. So it’s with me or your sister’s mate.” He shrugged as if the choice was obvious.
It was, but he didn’t need to act as if it was.
“I feel as if I’m under lock and key,” I whispered more to myself than to my… companion.
He heard me, of course, my comment eliciting a soft chuckle from his side of the room. Staring down at the pile of clothing he brought me, I didn’t notice his closeness until the heat of his body reached my own.
“As someone who recently left lock and key, you’re free to go wherever you wish, Princess.” Biting my bottom lip to keep the uptick in my breathing under control as his words dusted along my neck. “Just know I’ll be close behind,” he whispered.
I shifted away slightly to escape the overwhelming urge to touch him.
“Of course. Guard duty. Anyway.” I snatched up the pile of clothes, not bothering to look at them as I turned away and took off his shirt and the gold court gown. Staring down at the shimmering fabric, the image of it in flames came to mind. I wouldn’t mind finding time to burn it if possible.
I slid on a pair of black underwear and matching tights.
They were thick and Silvana came to mind.
She’d been wearing something similar when she arrived in Whitbourne all those months ago.
They were tight, but soft, forming around my legs and waist with perfect precision.
Keres didn’t allow the females in his home to wear anything but dresses—femininity was to be shown off at all times.
Looking around I realized that was the only clothing he’d brought.
With an arm around my chest, I looked at him over my shoulder.
He was sprawled across the bed, one arm folded beneath his head, his dark eyes intent on me, and a thin sheet doing nothing to hide the evidence that he had indeed been watching me the entire time.
I rolled my eyes at the sight.
“You forgot a shirt.” I sounded ungrateful, but standing here in the middle of this room, with only my arm covering my breasts was making me testy.
“I didn’t,” he replied without moving a muscle to show me evidence of his statement.
I looked around the floor and back to the bed. “Funny, Cedar, because there isn’t one.”
His eyes fell to the pile of clothes I’d taken off and then back to me. “Perfectly good one right there, Princess. Put it on and get in bed.”
I released a breath as my eyes bounced between him and the dirty clothes I’d left on the floor. Unsure of the game he was attempting to play with me, I only had two options. Put the damn shirt on and get into bed, or play his game.
My arm fell back to my side as I shimmied out of the leggings and underwear I’d just put on, tossing them with the other clothing, and then climbed into the bed next to him.
Fluffing my pillow, I did my best to get comfortable.
The bed was nothing like my bed back in Whitbourne.
The mattress was well-worn and small when stuck next to someone as large as Cedar, but I wouldn’t be one to complain aloud about such frivolous things.
“Don’t touch me,” I muttered as I closed my eyes.
He chuckled and my body stiffened as the bed moved slightly with his movements.
His fingertips found their way to my shoulder, and I shivered as they ran down my side and along my hip, leaving a trail of warmth behind them.
His lips pressed against my back and his fangs grazed against my shoulder.
I couldn’t hold back the gasp that left my lips.
“Relax, Princess,” he whispered as his tongue met my bare skin. I couldn’t tell what way was up as his fingers found their way across my hips and between the thighs I didn’t recall spreading. His fingers grazed over my clit and through the wetness already pooling there.
My head fell back against his chest. “What are you doing?” The voice that came from between my lips didn’t sound like my own. It was quiet and filled with a lust I’d only ever experienced once before.
“Helping us both relax. I promise not to try to kill you—at least, not this time.” His lips found the column of my throat again. “Now, quiet. Unless it’s words of encouragement I hear.”
The pressure of his teeth clamped down at the base of my throat, almost hard enough to break the skin, and the sudden intrusion of two of his fingers buried in my cunt produced a breathy moan from my mouth.
His lips and tongue replaced his teeth then and he licked away any amount of discomfort that lingered.
“Do you like that, Princess?” he asked in between thrusts of his fingers. The sounds coming from my cunt as his fingers fucked me were lewd and foreign, but I couldn’t tell him to stop—I didn’t want him to.
I found myself shaking my head, as if I couldn’t help but bruise his ego, and he just chuckled.
He shifted behind me slightly, his fingers never leaving between my thighs, as his opposite arm wrapped just beneath my neck.
His arm bent, locking me in a sort of headlock as he pulled back against me, blocking off my oxygen.
My hands flew up to his arm, and my nails dug into his skin.
“Ah, relax, Princess. You’ll enjoy this.
” He chuckled as his arm tightened and his thumb found my clit.
I felt my orgasm rising and I wanted to tell him, but as black spots started to enter my vision, and I found myself fully unable to breathe, the words wouldn’t come out.
I felt my cunt squeeze his fingers and he smiled against my throat.
“That’s my good little slut.” I heard the words as the world went dark for what could’ve been moments or somehow longer.
My eyes slowly blinked, moans coming from my lips consistently as I tried to take inventory of my body. My head felt light, my pussy was sore and even more full than moments ago.
“There she is. Welcome back,” Cedar mumbled as he kissed and ran the tips of his fangs along my throat, as if he was just waiting for the prime opportunity to sink back into me in as many ways as he could manage at once.
His arm was wrapped around my chest now, his fingers pinching and massaging my nipples, while his other hand was wrapped around my thigh, pulling them farther apart as he slowly thrust into my pussy.
“Do you see that, Princess? How your tight little cunt wraps around me, squeezing like it can’t get enough?
” he growled. “Watch, Cora. Watch how I stretch you and how well you take me. The perfect little whore he gave me.” His words were coming out choppy and deep, and I knew this was affecting him just as much as it was me.
I looked down to watch as he slowly entered me, only to pull out even slower, and then do it all over again.
I couldn’t help myself as my free hand dipped down, my fingers spread, settling on either side of his cock as he entered me and pulled away.
“Fuck, Princess. Do you like that? Do you like feeling me stretch you? How wet you’re leaving my cock?” His fingers pinched my nipple and I gasped, the sharp sting going all the way to my clit.