Held In Contempt (Of Magic and Contempt Book 2)

by Jade Thorn

  It quelled the thrumming inside him, that pressure, that urge to put another kind of scent on her. The need to fill her with powerful strokes and mark her skin with his bite.

  Soon, he soothed his fox as it became agitated again. Soon.

  Melody inhaled deeply, letting it hiss out in a prolonged yawn. She stretched and rolled over, snuggling up to his chest.

  Trent froze.

  Was she awake? Did she know what she was doing?

  Ice blue eyes peered up at him, fearful and hesitant. “I’m sorry, I thought … you don’t … I didn’t ask …”

  Crimson crept up her neck, contrasting deeply with the myriad of small scars that she usually kept covered with high neck clothing.

  Before she could pull away, Trent grabbed her, wrapping her in his arms and pulling him against her. He knew what her problem was. It was the same thing his own heart was struggling with.

  The fear of rejection was a powerful force in them both. After all, if your own family couldn’t love you, how could anyone else be expected to?

  For her sake, however, he had to be brave. He had to protect her. Trent needed to put his heart out there first. Maybe then she would understand. Maybe then she would feel safe enough, loved enough, hopeful enough to offer her own.

  “I panicked,” he said. “I thought you weren’t awake, that you didn’t know, wouldn’t want to …”

  “Oh!” Pale pink lips formed a perfect circle, pinched together to the point that he wanted to lick them, to see if his tongue fit in that hole.

  Under the blankets, his cock stirred, slowly thickening and rising. Within seconds it pressed against her, adding to his pleasure and pain all at the same time.

  Melody’s hips moved back, almost breaking his heart as her warmth left him, but he understood. Not all witches wanted a physical relationship with their familiars. Some were happy enough with a working one. A platonic one.

  If that was what Melody wanted, he would accede, but it didn’t mean that he wouldn’t spend the rest of his life pining for more from her.

  “I, uh … sorry. It’s just in the morning … and you’re here …”

  Melody chuckled. “It’s okay, Trent. I grew up around shifters. Around men. I know about morning wood and how there’s nothing you can do, except, well, use it. Or wait for it to subside. I can only imagine having me here might make that worse.”

  At least she hadn’t said harder.

  She laughed again. “I almost said harder. I mean, wow, that would have been a poor choice of words, right?”

  His cock kicked, even more blood rushing into it. Trent groaned, a primal sound that came from his toes.

  “Are you okay?” she asked him, gently, her hand coming up to his shoulder, stroking him.

  Stroking him, fuck. It wasn’t his arm he wanted her hand against.

  In a surge that took him off guard, his fox leapt for control, seizing her hand in his and dragging it to where he wanted her most.

  “If you want to touch me,” he growled through Trent’s mouth. “Touch me there. If you want to help me, then help me finish.”

  Trent was horrified. He tried to push to the surface, but his fox held tight to his control.

  Melody gasped, but when he let her go, her hand didn’t move away. For a moment, two, three, more; she cupped him. Her hand remained there against his rigid length.

  His hips bucked, pressing into her palm, and she gasped. It was like she’d woken from a dream. Slowly, she began to move.

  Trent nearly came on the spot.

  Timid fingers gently grazed the fabric of his boxers, the satin doing little to hide the pressure and heat of her touch, while his need blazed beneath her caress. In fact, the fabric only enhanced the sensation. The only thing better would be if she …

  Another deep moan drew forth as her hand dipped inside his boxers, her calloused palms grazing the softer skin of his length.

  Goddess preserve him. Holding back was going to take every ounce of his strength.

  He opened his eyes—unsure when he’d closed them. She was watching him, her gaze flicking between his eyes and his lips. She licked her own, and it was the final straw.

  Trent wrenched the power from his fox, and then dove for her mouth, pushing her onto her back and trapping her hand beneath him. His tongue dived past her teeth, swirling with her own as she gasped and panted in his mouth.

  Melody made small mewling sounds as he kissed her hungrily, his hips thrusting and grinding his erection against her palm. He’d always thought of women with soft hands, and thought about how that soft skin against his own would be delightful, but there was something about her work-weathered skin that drove him wild.

  He felt every single crease and crevice rubbing against him, grazing him, abrading him, making him hers. He’d let her do anything to him, anything she wanted, all she had to do was want it, but right then, he knew she needed him to lead, so lead he did.

  His right hand came up across her waist, teasing at the hem of her shirt, his fingers dipping underneath but not going further. Unlike him, Melody had been subjected to unimaginable abuse, and he was quite sure that he didn’t know all of it yet. She said her aunt used shifters to breed from with the members of the coven. Had Melody been required to do so? Trent wasn’t sure, and until he could be, until he knew he had a clear go-ahead, he wasn’t going to push her any further than was clearly acceptable.

  It was hard to hold back though. Especially with his fox pushing at him to complete their bond.

  Melody moaned against his mouth, pushing him higher. Unbidden, his hand slid to her waist, holding her there tightly before skimming down to her hips and back up again. Her own hand clamped around his wrist and Trent froze, trying to rein his urges in.

  But instead of pushing him away, hesitantly, she pulled him across her body, driving him towards the apex of her thighs. He couldn’t believe his luck. She was going to let him?

  His fox let out a screaming call inside his head, and Melody startled, hearing it. Damn, they’d forgotten that she could hear him.

  Her body stiffened beneath him.

  “Is he alright with this?” she asked breathily when his mouth withdrew from hers.

  Trent smiled at her. After all she had been through, she was still putting him first.

  “Yes, sweetpea. He’s very alright. That was a happy sound.” His fox yipped in his head, disagreeing and Trent chuckled. “Okay, I take that back. It was a frustrated sound, a ‘get on with it’ sound. He wants more, and it’s all I can do to keep him in check. He’s already slipped past my guard once this morning. I won’t let him do it again, I won’t let him hurt you.”

  She smiled up at him, her eyes already becoming heavy lidded. “So, he wants more?” she asked, huskily, gently squeezing his length.

  He groaned, lowering his forehead to hers as he panted. “No, Mel, he wants it all. All of you, all the way, all the time.”

  Her fingers tightened around his shaft, moving faster and faster. In contrast, her words were fumbling and breathy.

  “I’ve never … I mean, we lived in cages, there were no walls, no privacy. I’ve seen and heard many things. But my cage was apart from theirs, and there were other reasons … but I’ve never …” Her hand grazed his entire length again.

  Trent grunted, thrusting against her movements. She’d never had anyone, never done anything?

  “Not even this?” he asked, slowly moving the final inches and cupping her between her thighs.

  She gasped and her hips jerked against his hand. “Before I came here, I hadn’t even kissed a male,” she told him, her eyes closed as they moved together.

  But Trent froze. “You’ve kissed someone here? Who?” he demanded.

  Melody’s eyes flew open, her body tensing beneath him. “Oh, well, I didn’t mean to. I mean, he kissed me, it was just … it was nice.”

  Something inside him fractured.

  “Who?” he growled again.

  “Dean,” she said in a whispe
r, and then more hesitantly, “Justin.”

  Oh. Well. That was different. He hadn’t realised she was including them. Trent relaxed, moving his hand against her suddenly, making her gasp again. He’d never get tired of that sound, but one day, he wanted to hear it when he was inside of her.

  In return, her own hand resumed moving, driving him wilder.

  “Dean and Justin are exempt,” he told her. “All of the Apex are. You’re destined for them, I can feel it. I cannot and will not stand in the way of that.”

  “All of …?” Melody’s eyes were huge, her breath coming faster, and somehow he knew it wasn’t from what his hand was doing.

  Moving instinctually, he crashed his mouth into hers, distracting her with his tongue, as his fingers slid inside the waistband of her underwear and slipped through her folds.

  “Mmmph,” she moaned against his lips, but she wasn’t pushing him away. No, her other hand was now gripping his shoulder, pulling him even further down onto her so that she was half crushed beneath his weight.

  He kissed across her jaw to her ear. “One day,” he said, “I’m going to do this with my tongue.”

  “Ooh!” she panted, making that sound again.

  Trent’s cock throbbed, his balls beginning to tighten. He wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.

  His fox was urging him to shift his hand into claws and rip the clothing from her, then devour her breasts as he plundered her depths, bringing them both to completion while he left his mark on her flesh, bonding them together forever.

  Her hand moved erratically, alternately stroking and squeezing with no discernable rhythm. It didn’t matter, he was so close that he would come regardless. He dipped a finger between her folds, drawing her slick heat forth and circling her bud.

  “I’m going to do that, while one of your other mates sinks inside you from behind. Your pretty white thighs draped over his strong ones, spreading you wide for us as we all watch. I’ll be the envy of everyone there, tasting your pleasure as I devour your core.”

  Melody moaned, and writhed beneath him. She liked him talking like this. It was good to know, he’d make sure to do it more often.

  Flick, flick, flick.

  His fingers moved back and forth, gently circling her opening before circling her bud, her hips writhing beneath his touch.

  “Tell me, sweetpea; have you ever done this to yourself? Ever brought yourself to completion?” he asked, licking the shell of her ear.

  Melody’s breath came so fast that he almost missed her answer.

  “No, I’ve never … this is … oh Goddess, what’s happening to me?”

  Trent moved faster, both his hips and his hands. She was close, he could feel it through the bond. Just as he knew Dean and Asher could too. He could feel their jealousy, Asher’s anger and Dean’s desire. Would she like that, or would it turn her off?

  “Goddess, if only the others could see you right now,” he whispered, watching for her reaction.

  Melody’s eyes flew wide open again. “What?”

  His fingers moved faster, making her melt again.

  “You’re so beautiful like this, Melody. Relaxed, free, radiant. If I had my way, you would spend all your days this happy. The way you look now, I know every one of them would want to see it.”

  “What..?” she panted.

  “We’re shifters, Melody. The walls and doors are not enough to guarantee your privacy here, pretty one. Even without that, there’s the bond. Believe me, they both know what we’re doing. They want to be here with us.”

  Melody flushed and tensed and he cursed himself. That wasn’t what he was hoping for, he’d forgotten where she’d come from. Inside his head, his fox snarled at him for upsetting her. He needed her to relax again, so Trent pushed a little firmer, starting to grind against her slick folds.

  She bucked, crying out. She hadn’t reached her climax yet, but he knew she was as close as he was.

  He could hear them both, furtive movements as they pleasured themselves, unable to resist. Melody, at least, would hear the beasts.

  “They want to come in?” she gasped.

  “You have three bonded shifters now, Melody. All of us want to share this with you, to bring you joy, to make you happy, to fulfil your every desire. But that also means doing things in your time at your pace. We’ll never push you for more than you’re comfortable with. It’s okay, sweetheart. I know this is all new for you, but shifter society is very different. This is normal for us, just relax and enjoy it. That’s all any of us want for you.”

  He wished the others could see this, to know how innocent she was. It was one thing to hear it whispered from the next room, it was another to look and know it. She was so overwhelmed, so open, so carefree. They needed to see it, because he had a feeling that Melody wouldn’t be open to intimacy again for quite some time. She was still reeling from her third bond, and from everything that happened with her aunt.

  “Oh!” Melody writhed as he slowed his hand again, making the movement more gentle, bringing her back from the edge slowly so that she could think. He gave her a moment or two, but she made no indication of wanting more of them, and he couldn’t wait any longer.

  Trent leaned forward and sucked her nipple into his mouth, the fabric of her sleep shirt coming with it. She cried out, so he suckled a little harder, her hand clenched around his length almost to the point of pain, but Trent and his fox loved it.This was her wild, wanton and unrepentant, and he had brought her to this point.

  Together, they moaned and writhed and touched, but he took it no further than that. Right then, he just wanted to introduce her to pleasure. Something that she’d had far too little experience with, sexual or not. Melody’s life had been stark and full of pain, and Trent wanted to address the imbalance.

  “Oh, Trent, it’s so … Oh Goddess, how can it ...? Ooh!”

  On that last gasp, Melody’s body tensed hard before she began trembling, wide blue eyes staring at him in surprise while her breath caught in her throat and the hand on his arm clawed at him. The one around his cock just about strangled it in her passion, and it was the final straw for him.

  Goddess, she was so beautiful like this, he wanted to remember it for the rest of his life. He wanted to see it too.

  His balls drew up, tensing, and with the next pulsing squeeze of her hand, he came. Hard. His whole body tensed up, pulses of pleasure arcing around his body like electrical shocks.

  Inside his head, Trent’s fox yowled and pushed forward to seize control. He could feel his teeth lengthening and his eyes change, but before his fox could mate mark her without her permission, he wrenched the beast out of the way.

  They would not hurt her. They would not betray her.

  Mate, mate, mate, mate, chanted his fox.

  In the living area, Trent could hear the others also finding release. What had just happened was a huge thing for them all.

  Shifters were touch oriented, it was part of their beastly nature, the most intimate form of communication, whether it was sexual or not. In a good bonding, the shifter beast would usually push to mate with their witch, although it was frowned upon in witching society.

  It was a reality they all faced, especially with the strength of Melody’s magic. No matter what coven she was in, she would be pressured to breed for the witching line, not for her bonded shifters.

  All that wasn’t even taking into consideration her background. From what she’d just described, she would have been exposed to more of their shifting society than most witches. They had no issue sharing their bodies with one another, not only for sexual release, but comfort and even warmth. He suspected that many of the shifters would have been more discreet in their liaisons with her there. She didn’t have their senses, so she would probably have been oblivious to most of it anyway, but given that her aunt had a breeding program for shifters, she had to have seen some fucked up shit.

  It was something they were all going to have to be aware of. Even now, when he should have
been lying beside her in bliss, his mind was churning a thousand miles an hour with worry for her. Fear for them all. Trent knew they’d all bond her regardless if she permitted it, but was this all they had to look forward to? Stolen moments, if she allowed anything at all?

  Trent’s fox growled at the prospect. He’d chosen her, and he expected Trent to do everything he could to convince her to form the mating bond between them.

  He agreed. He might be hers, but she was just as much his.

  23. Justin

  It was getting harder and harder to hold his dragon in check. They’d finally gotten her away from that fucking coven, leaving her free to bond them all, and she’d pushed them away. Justin had barely held his shit together.

  The fact that she’d already bonded the fox only added insult to injury. That should have been him, or at the most Nick. They’d been waiting the longest, had the most difficulty controlling the urges of their beasts and would frankly offer her more protection than any of the other shifters lining up to challenge her.

  Instead, she’d bonded a fucking fox, okay, he was a massive shit, but he also wasn’t part of their group. Not an original member of the Apex. That came with time. Trent had only been at Adolphus for …. Well, fuck. However long it was, it wasn’t long enough. They’d accepted Dean from day one because he was an alpha, that was different. There was no hope for him, but Trent had other options. Foxes didn’t have alphas, so he should have waited his fucking turn.

  He should have fucking challenged her on that first day, the very first time his dragon had caught a hint of her scent and been intrigued. Instead, he’d used her in a stupid game which had ended up getting her bonded to Dean.

  His dragon rumbled grumpily. He’d tried to tell Justin to pay attention, but his human had been too stubborn to listen.

  Then there was Asher. Now that there was no threat to her, they could actually get the bond broken and kick him out on his ass where he belonged.