Wiggling around a little as if to test the theory, I nodded, but I knew what he meant. Definitely a bit on the sore side, but otherwise fine, still whole, if somewhat preoccupied with what exactly, I should be feeling, all things considered. I’d accepted the fae king, the deed was done, so what then of it now? Where did I go from here? Was I... different?
“Good,” my mate, completely himself once again, pulled me back to him, resting his chin atop my head. A thick hand came down, spanning my back. “You passed out,” he said after a long moment had passed, as if he’d contemplated my next question.
“Oh,” was all I gave in response, the well of words I’d found consuming me at any given time suddenly gone dry. My fingers worked their way to his chest, absently curling in the thick mat of curls they found there. “Did, uhm, his-erm... my ‘gifts’ come in yet?” I asked neutrally, curious but torn because, did I really want to know?
“Eyes have more gold, lost a lot of their green.” He sounded disappointed by the fact.
Frowning, my fingers brushed the corner of my eye. They didn’t feel any different than they had the first time. “Does it... Is it bad?”
Thick fingers lifted my hand, bringing the tips to his mouth to brush a kiss, tender and butterfly soft, to the tips. “No.” He gave a small shake of his head, not wanting to send his horns swinging this way and that.
Propping himself up on his arm, he bent closer, lifting my hand to his shoulder to place his at my hip. Fingers sliding beneath the blanket, smoothing over bared skin, he gave my flesh, shivering at his touch, a firm squeeze.
He just had that effect on me. That was all it took and I felt myself warming towards him, melting. “Gold, green, you are you, and I find you distracting, no matter how you are presented to me.” Fingers sliding up my waist, over my shoulder, to my face, he took his time, as if memorizing every dip and curve, dimple or scar. When he reached my eyes he leaned in close, fingers feathering over my face.
My lids slowly slid shut and I allowed myself to fall under his spell. Whiskers tickled my face, then his breath, and I knew what was coming next. A press to each lid, mimicking Oberon’s action, made me smile a little. Chest rattling with the building sound, the deep rumble of satisfaction that left his chest had me grinning like a fool. Possessive male wished to claim even the smallest parts of me for himself. He’d never know how much I appreciated it right this moment. With every kiss and gentle touch I felt more grounded, back on my own feet.
“Thank you,” I murmured, my fingers encircling his wrist, my thumb rubbing along his pounding pulse.
He was feeling it too, this need to reclaim. I wanted him to own me, and him alone, not Adelric and a clinger-on. I wanted, needed to know everything was alright and he was still willing, wanting, to be owned by me.
“Do it,” I whispered daringly, smiling when he froze, his thick frame going so still I wondered if I’d erred in my judgement, but then he groaned, his mouth pressing to my forehead in a sweet kiss, thick nose bussing the spot, breathing warm air over my scalp, to hug me so tight I was on the verge of squeaking.
“A lot of... activity has taken place,” he said finally, trying to be as delicate about our recent sexcapades as possible, reluctance clear in his voice. “I do not wish to harm you. Perhaps when you are feeling-”
A loud banging echoed down the corridor outside of our cozy spot, making my eyes pop open to widen.
Bang. Bang. Thud. Thump. A roaring, thunderous noise.
“What is that?!” The sound of glass breaking had my body going rigid, wound up tight. My gaze darted to my mate’s in horror. “How long was I out? Has Ekodar started a revolt? Have they come for me? I- What’s going on?”
With a quick shake of his head, Adelric’s started rubbing my back, skimming along my shoulder blades comfortingly. His cheek rubbed the side of mine, his horn scraping the wall at the funny angle he held it. “Big storm. Rain. Early yet this season, but can’t control the All-father’s will.”
“We will be alright?” I muttered worriedly, fingers twisting in the mat on his chest, skepticism clear in my voice. It sounded as if the terra was shaking out there, windows rattling, the skies shouting the roof down.
I could feel him smile against my skin. “The windows and doors have been boarded up, the sky glass to the arboretum the only vulnerability to the All-father’s temple. We will be fine, vacha. It is early yet, and sure to grow worse before it gets better, but worry not,” he made a funny noise in his throat, clearing it to proclaim grandly, “no harm shall come to my demon-pixie with her big, strong male around.”
When I snorted out a laugh, his lips pulled wider.
That thick chest of his puffed up comically. “The Hells will have to get through me first before they could even think to take you from Tavros.”
Outright laughing now, stunned silly by the sudden humor peeking through that serious mien, my hand lifted, slapping at him weakly. “Har-har.”
His smile was smug, amber-gold orbs twinkling down at me. “You laughed, did you not?”
“Did I?” Wiggling my finger beneath his thick arm, the laugh lines crinkling my face bunched into a scowl. “Do you not worry at that?” I asked suddenly, looking to him worriedly.
“Worry at what?” He was back to sober, somber Adelric, the chief’s bastard son and head guard, a male with far too much on his mind.
“Oh... I dunno... perhaps that I might try this!” Pouncing, I wiggled my fingers, tickling the warm skin beneath all that. For all my effort, fingers gliding over his belly, neck, thighs, any typically sensitive spots I could think of, the male gave a grunt. A grunt!
Finding my endeavor more exhausting than fruitful, I paused.
My mate blinked at me. “Having fun?” he mused, the corners of his eyes crinkling, eyes tipping with gold as he watched me wiggle and squirm.
“Yes,” I muttered, clinging to his chest as he lay on his side.
“I’m to assume this is some human version of...?”
“Torture,” I confirmed, digging my foot onto the thickly stuffed mattress for better footing.
Adelric lay there comfortably, perfectly impassive, allowing me to do as I would. His cock, pressing into my thigh, my leg hooked on his waist, began to harden until he grunted at all my tickle-attempt squirming. “Yes, most, ah, torturous,” he agreed. Glancing over my shoulder, his throat working as he swallowed thickly at the sight of my naked body, my ass jiggling in a way I didn’t care to think about, he made a strained noise. “Most grievously torturous. I am not certain I shall survive.”
“Twice!” I howled with laughter, grinning into his moody mug. “Two times, mate-a-taur! Once more at exposing that funny bone and I fear you may hurt yourself!”
“Har,” he muttered drolly, mouth tugging down, eyes narrowing, head tilting, “har.”
It was at that particular moment my fingers trailed a ticklish path up his flank, right over his ass. A thick, nicely rounded furry cheek flexed and he garbled a shocked groan, then grunted, that sweet cheek clenching as his body locked up tight.
Shock tearing through me, I did it again, much to the same result. “Oh gods,” I got out on a cackle, “your butt is ticklish?” Renewing my assault, I tugged on his tail, making the male yip and jerk. Thick arms banded around me, squashing me to him, rolling us until I was atop him, my legs straddling him, his bum safe from my tickle torture.
The action brought our faces close, so close I could spot the tiniest hints of sunshine yellow at the center of those magnificent irises. “Beautiful,” I murmured, reaching out without thought to smooth my finger along the side of that glowing peeper.
Adelric grunted uncomfortably. “Vacha? Are you trying to seduce me?” He sounded so surprised by the thought it set me aback.
Lifting, wiggling my hips, tilting my pelvis, until I had his erection trapped neatly between my folds, watching as I slid experimentally down his shaft and his thickening member jerked, I smiled.
Dropping my smile, expression per
fectly blanked, I looked to my male. “And if I am? Or maybe I’m in a taking mood...” My hips shifted, allowing his bobbing cock to slip to my already slicked entrance. I was ready for him, needed this now more than ever before after the whole vessel thing with Oberon, maybe more. I have a mate to claim.
I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before. And maybe this was something he needed, to feel how much I needed him, and only him.
“Maybe I’m simply offering the compliment up as a warning?” A slow, sensual smile lifted my lips. “Mine,” I hissed out, sitting up as the tip of his cock breached my welcoming heat and I impaled myself on him.
“Ah...vacha.” Adelric groaned, thick hands cupping my ass gently, allowing me to lead but unwilling to let go. “Say it again.” Steam warmed the air in heavy puffs that matched his panting breaths, his eyes ablaze in gold obvious through the foggy mist.
“You’re mine,” I whispered, lifting up to slide right back down, grinding down as his girth filled me.
“Yesss,” he hissed, groaning, head thrashing as my sex pulsed around him.
The storm raged on, drowned out by the noise we were making, the posts on his bed smashing into the wall, the supports of the bed creaking loudly.
The walls shook the faintest bit, the plaster on the ceiling gathering crack lines, sprinkling the room in a thin sheen of dirty white dust as thunder fit for the gods roared and things crashed loud enough to give one a start. It sounded as if a war raged on right outside our room. We didn’t care. Lost to each other, in the moment, the heavens could be crashing down about our ears and they’d have to wait.
Fluid leaked from the heart of me, his cock jerking anew, his head thrown back in ecstasy as he writhed beneath me. Reduced to sharp, gasping pants and groans, my male had yet again bathed my womb with his release. Feeling overwhelmingly hungry, aroused beyond reason, desperate for a climax that teetered on the edge, just out of reach, I was insatiable, his demon pixie come to life, taking what was rightfully hers. I wanted all he had to give.
“Vacha,” he moaned, thick fingers digging into my hips so hard the prick of pain sent shivers shimmering up my spine. “Come for me, mate.”
Hips pumping, bodies slapping together hard enough and loud enough, stinging my naked flesh, his hands demanding, rough, pounding my pussy down on his cock as he jerked me down to him again and again, I hoped I was left with more than a memory in the morning.
And then it hit me, quick but glorious, the fire burning deep within me, flaring within my core, imploding, until I was a thousand tiny pieces of pure rapture, bursts of orgasmic euphoria wracking my frame in waves.
There was an inhuman roar not so far off in the distance that gave me pause, my hips still moving as I leisurely rode each wave sweeping through me.
Adelric, his hold easing, proved as reluctant as I to end this now.
Something smashed, a tremendous cracking, smashing, thunderous roar of sounds, one rolling over the other. The walls shook hard, the door rattling on its hinges. The likelihood of surviving one of these storms, were one to get stuck mucking about in it, didn’t look good.
More crashing, though the sound changed, even louder, like the storm was inside the temple.
“How well do you think the boards will hold on the windows?” I mused thoughtfully, glancing around as plaster cracked, sending thick chunks crashing to the floor.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think the roaring that began to echo through the many chambered house of Oberon’s “All-father” was a creature trying to muscle its way in, not a storm raging away outside.
The next crash of sound had me popping up, tumbling from Adelric, who’d grown perfectly still beneath me after the first crashing slam, his ears cocked, twitching, jaw ticking as he held perfectly still, on alert.
An inhuman roar rippled throughout the temple.
Pounding, smashing, glass shattering, from within the temple, had me jumping out of my skin. More roaring, louder, closer.
“WHERE?!” an abnormally deep, guttural snarl demanded. More things crashing. “NOW! WHERE?!
Someone screamed. A door slammed.
“WHERE?!”
Glass shattered, something heavy scuffed the ground, then slammed into a wall. More plaster rain. Another heavy item, the sound of something being dragged, lifted, tossed. More screams, meaning more maidens were popping out of their rooms to see what in this world was going on.
“That’s not thunder,” I blurted.
My warrior mate was already up and moving, cursing under his breath.
Looking rather grim, grabbing the dagger he kept on the bedside table, he glanced to me worriedly. “Lock the door behind me,” he whispered, as if to keep his voice low so as not to clue in the beast battering its way around the temple. Lifting his finger to his lips, he motioned for me to stay quiet.
“WHERE. IS. SHEEE!” that resonating, monstrous roar beckoned.
“Kvigor,” I squawked, possibly too loud as then that horrible sound suddenly cut off, the unmistakable stomping of heavy footsteps coming our way sending my heart hammering frantically.
Adelric’s eyes darted about the room, landing on his sword, set up on the wall like a priceless artifact. Grabbing me to him, he pressed a quick kiss to my lips, then a short nuzzle to my forehead. “Hide. He isn’t himself,” he bit out, a snarl in his voice, and leapt onto the bed.
Turning his back on me, he reached for his tarnished sword, starting to work it free.
Stunned, I stood there like a fool. Kvigor was in the house of the All-father. He’d breached the temple. Puck was banned from Oberon’s opulent house of worship. Unless he’d somehow gained his King’s favor in a short time, which I highly doubted, this could only mean one thing.
“He did it,” I breathed, eyeing the door dazedly. My heartbeat sped up even faster. “He did it!”
Gaze swiveling from Adelric as I followed him to the door, I could barely believe it.
The monster in the hall was banging on Adelric’s door now, the wood splintering as meaty fists punched the thick wood.
Rushing the portal separating us without thought, I lifted the latch, the beast at our door’s next punch sending it crashing in two.
“Vacha!” Adelric barked out, rushing me, sending us skidding to the side right as the wood gave.
Where I’d stood just moments before lay two broken halves of the door. It wasn’t the stupidest thing I’d done so far, but certainly topped the list.
“Demon-pixie,” my mate snarled into my ear, his arms banding around me giving me a none-too-gentle squeeze. “You will be the death of me!”
“Or he will,” I gulped, gaping up at the raging Minotaur roaring from the doorway.
Blood shot, blood red eyes, glowing like the fires of Hell lit them from within, spanned the room, nostrils smoking so much thick grey puffs obscured his face. His lips pulled back in a menacing display, muscles bulging as he flexed, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. He was in his beast element, no sign of popping out of it anytime soon.
My heart broke at the sight of my proud bonded and his blackened, broken, cracked horns. They smoked when his nostrils flared, the charred, blackened bits left of his once great horns barely more than jagged stubs. The burns from the fence had left their mark, permanently, gnarling pink scars crisscrossing his body, leaving the scarred skin absent of fur. His horns were crusted with dried blood, I realized, as well as his nose, mouth, ears, and eyes. He looked so much thinner than the big, strong bull I’d met back in the labyrinth. It was still him, though, still my Kvigor.
I hoped...
My hand went to my mouth, eyes already watering. His hands were bloodied, red dripping down his thick fingers, each fingertip sporting the same charred look as his horns. “Oh, Kvigor, what has he done to you?” I choked out tremulously.
Slowly sliding his hand over my mouth, Adelric tucked me beneath him, curling his body over mine protectively.
Head jerking in our direction at the soun
d of my voice, Kvigor, or what should be Kvigor, glared down at us. No, not at us, at the dark-furred bull cradling me to him possessively. Lip curling up high on one side, flashing thick, white teeth, my white bull let out a warning snarl.
“Let go,” I muttered to Adelric through the side of my mouth.
“Lost your mind, female?” My woolly bully grumbled down at me, not taking his eyes off his distressed sibling for a moment.
Prying Adelric’s hand loose, I hissed, “I don’t think he’ll hurt me.” Wiggling in his hold, I was starting to feel hemmed in, not entirely comfortable being forced into small spaces. “Just let me-”
“No,” the stubborn beastman barked down at me, sparing me a quick death glare that dared me to argue. “Stay put and shut your gob.”
At my sharp gasp and the snarl that followed, starting to do a bit of warning growling and dark scowling myself, situation be damned, I stopped when Kvigor’s growl turned nasty.
“MINE.” He spoke in that guttural, menacing rumble that put my teeth on edge, his snarl softening as wild, red eyes fell on my face.
Grunting, grumbling, I peeked up at him from Adelric’s stifling but protective hold as I tried to elbow my way free.
When Adelric didn’t move, the ravaged white bull stiffened, hunching, crouching. “MINE,” the Kvigor creature repeated, louder, as if Adelric might not have heard.
Kvigor stepped closer then, prompting Adelric to tense, his hand going to his dagger, to snarl back. “Halt. Don’t come any closer.”
“I don’t think he’ll hurt me,” I murmured to Adelric, who gave a grunt and a chuff of disbelief in answer. “Think about it,” I went on urgently, “he couldn’t enter the temple if he wasn’t him, you know?”
Adelric took a moment, eyeing his sibling warily. “Could be a trick.”
“Move. Now.” Kvigor was hovering close, thick fingers curling, the tips coming to sharpened points, odd looking on him, scraping the floor.
A glint, brassy gold, caught my eye and hope filled me. The other half of the broken chain of my necklace, it was fastened around his neck, tight against the bulging muscles of his neck. The small pendant attached rested in the middle.
By the Horns Page 48
