The Golden Gryphon and the Bear Prince: An Epic Fantasy Romance (Heirs of Magic Book 1)

by Jeffe Kennedy

  His mouth quirked in a puzzled smile. “Don’t you know?”

  She had to laugh, framing his beloved face in her hands and pressing a lingering kiss to his mouth. “Yes, I know. I’m asking what you want.”

  “I… I want everything at once, and I also want to draw this out, savor crossing each threshold.” He frowned self-consciously. “Does that sound ridiculous?”

  “Not at all.” She kissed him again, gliding her fingers through his silky hair. “I feel the same. And we have the time to go slowly.”

  “I also need a bath,” he admitted.

  “I can help with that,” she purred, lightly scratching the back of his neck, so he shivered, hands vising on her.

  “An offer I can’t refuse,” he replied, then swept her up into his arms, carrying her into the next room where a large tub sat before another cheerful fire.

  “I hope the water is still hot for you,” she noted ruefully.

  “There’s more. Elderhorst is built over a hot spring, keeps the place warm, and there’s enough pressure that it rises up and fills the pipes.” He grinned at her consternation. “You really weren’t listening when the page explained everything.”

  “I was thinking,” she retorted loftily.

  “Yes, I know you well enough to have guessed what you were thinking about.” He set her on her feet, letting her body slide against his. “You don’t have to worry about corrupting me, Zephyr. I want this, too.” Then he hesitated, his hands stilling. “I want to apologize, for my words back at Ordnung. I know I hurt you and—”

  She laid a finger over his lips. “It’s in the past. This is now and it’s good. You can make it up to me by getting naked.”

  Smiling, he shrugged out of his jacket and shirt at once, shaking his golden hair back, and she nearly salivated at the sight. Noticing her stare, he smiled shyly, then gestured at her. “I’d like to undress you. The slow way.”

  In mute reply, she scooped her long fall of hair to the side and turned her back, where the elaborate mossback gown had many fastenings. When she’d refused the page’s offer of a lady’s maid, she’d intended to simply shapeshift the dress into storage again. Once she’d been dressed in it, she could simply return to human form wearing it. That was about the only way she’d have patience with the ridiculous and infuriating styles women of court favored.

  But, as Astar started at the nape of the gown, slowly parting the velvet and caressing her skin as he bared it, her whole body sighed with sensual delight at the deliciously slow build of anticipation. Especially when he followed the light caresses of his callused fingertips with the hot brush of his mouth. He slid kisses down her spine, the gown loosening and sagging away from her. Reaching her hips, he paused, tracing the dimples at the top of her buttocks, pressing a long, lingering kiss exactly at the sensitive small of her back.

  ~ 18 ~

  Skin hot as sunshine under his lips, Zephyr trembled as if the breeze she was named for had shivered through the room, though the bathing chamber was tightly built, none of the winter winds making it into the sweetly humid warmth. Moving under his hands, she slid the rest of the exquisite gown off her arms, letting it fall to the floor—and baring her long, lovely body to his gaze.

  The sight about knocked his heart out of his chest. He’d heard other men talk about women’s asses, their various shapes and which they favored, but his own experience had been limited to accidental glimpses he’d done his best to forget, as he wasn’t supposed to have seen them in the first place.

  Zephyr’s body, of course, was as breathtakingly gorgeous as her face—and all his, at least for now—and he could fill his memory with every aspect of her. He’d been an idiot to resist her offers for so long when he could’ve been storing up images and sensations to last him the rest of his life.

  He framed her bottom in his hands, shaping the fullness, beguiled by the dimples on either side, the sweetly enticing curves. He’d never felt much inclination to worship any of the goddesses—beyond Danu’s governance of the high throne—but kneeling there on the floor, he wanted to offer a prayer of gratitude to Zephyr, his personal goddess. Trickster and siren, friend and lover. The innocent boy in him wanted to shower her pristine skin with kisses, the bear wanting to bite. Clearing his throat, he wrestled back that voracious—and surely inappropriate—desire.

  Zephyr moved a little, and he realized she was looking over her shoulder at him, eyes sapphire dark, expression gravely musing until she smiled slightly—and he realized Zephyr would never judge him for any of his darker impulses. Not only had she offered herself freely, she’d given him the freedom to do as he liked. She must be the only person in his life who didn’t expect him to conform to some standard of behavior. Even Nilly expected him to be good and kind and honorable.

  With Zephyr, he could be and do anything—and she would still feel the same about him. Holding her gaze, he licked the taut globe of her ass, watching her eyes darken further, savoring the tremor of her flesh—then sank his teeth in.

  She gasped, arching in his grip, but didn’t pull away. The scent of her arousal flooded his senses, and he knew she not only allowed it, she loved it. “My, my,” she murmured hoarsely, “look who’s awaking from hibernation.”

  He felt like it, too, like he’d been asleep for years, decades or longer, and at last he’d woken from the drugging, chilly depths. His blood ran hot and vital, his hunger fierce.

  “Turn around,” he told her, not caring that he growled the order.

  Her eyes widened, flushed and plump lips parting. Turning in his grip, she kicked away the puddle of the gown, standing before him naked except for knitted wool stockings tied over her knees and the little pointed ankle boots currently in fashion at court. His mouth went dry, his tongue thick as he slowly raised his gaze from there.

  Her hair fell like a black cloak framing her deliciously delicate figure. Glossy black curls nestled at the juncture of her long, slim thighs, hips curving to nip in at her slender waist. Her full breasts as round as her ass, tipped with tightly pointed nipples the same shade as her deep-red lips. A seductive smile played on her lips, her eyes a new shade of sapphire. Before this, he’d have said he’d seen Zephyr in all her moods, that he knew them as well as his own.

  But this Zephyr was a woman he’d never glimpsed before—and he’d been poorer for it.

  “You are indescribably beautiful,” he told her. “I wish I could tell you what I see.”

  “Sometimes words are unnecessary, my bear,” she murmured, threading her fingers into his hair, her touch cool and arousing. “Your eyes tell me everything.”

  Turning his face into her palm, he kissed it, momentarily overcome by an avalanche of emotions he couldn’t name. “What next?” he asked with a smile, deliberately echoing her words.

  She arched a brow. “You seem to have plenty of ideas so far.”

  “I want to touch you, to taste you, but I’m afraid I’ll spend in my pants,” he admitted. Frankly, he was surprised he hadn’t already, the way his swollen cock throbbed in the tight confines. Probably if he’d done this years ago when the other boys were experimenting—and relating their hilarious failures—he wouldn’t feel so awkward now.

  “That’s easily taken care of,” Zephyr answered, tugging him to his feet, nimble fingers going to his belt.

  He grabbed her hands, stopping her. “What are you doing?”

  She looked up through her lush, curling lashes, a sardonic lift to her mouth. “Astar, love, I know you can’t be that innocent.”

  He flushed, though out of embarrassment or sheer need, he couldn’t say. “I just… I, ah, haven’t bathed yet.”

  “You smell like yourself. I don’t care about such things.”

  “Yes, but…” He gripped her hands in place, not sure what to say.

  “Do you not want this?” she asked, hands still under his.

  He’d never wanted anything more in his entire life. In fact, that was what scared him, how badly he wanted this, her, what
she would do to him… And he was terrified of making a mistake, of losing her good opinion.

  Somehow, she read it in him. “There’s no wrong way to do this, as long as we’re both willing. Forget your rules and however you think you might be judged or found wanting. I want to please you. That’s all this is.”

  “Zephyr…” he said, her name a prayer and a promise, all the things he didn’t dare tell her.

  She smiled, affection and understanding in it. “I know.”

  He released her hands, and she made quick work of his pants, pulling the tight material down his thighs. The sensation of his cock springing out—and engorging even more with the freedom—made him momentarily dizzy, and he groped for the high side of the tub. Revealing weakness was better than actually falling over. A moment later, he forgot even that chagrin, only grateful for the support as Zephyr’s long and clever fingers wrapped around his shaft. It took all the control he had not to spend right then. As it was, every muscle in his body clenched, and his eyes rolled back in his head with the sheer intensity.

  “I’ve wanted to get my hands on this for a long time,” Zephyr purred, “and you exceed even my high expectations.” She glanced up at him, one hand circling the base of his cock in a firm grip, the other stroking up in a long, slow caress.

  He choked out some inarticulate, completely unsexy garble, his body shaking as he gripped the edge of the tub. “Please…” he managed to get out.

  “Yes, love. Let go. I’ve got you.”

  She stroked once more and released her lower grip—and he came like a wave breaking. His whole body convulsed, contracting in an arc as his seed shot from him and into Zephyr’s hands and, oh sweet Moranu, onto her full breasts. With a darkly delighted smile, she milked him with her hands, prolonging the climax until nearly the point of pain—and right when he thought he wouldn’t be able to withstand any more, her touch gentled, going soothing, hands sliding away from his cock to run over his bare chest.

  Slithering up against him, despite the sticky mess—or maybe because of it—she nestled into him, lifting her mouth for a kiss. He obliged—no, he took what she offered like a taste of food offered a starving man—his arms coming around her as he kissed her deeply, drinking her in and needing more. In the back of his mind, he thought he must be crushing her, perhaps bruising her mouth in his desperation to inhale her very essence. High mountain air and tropical flowers, ferocity and delicacy, hot flesh and sweet salvation.

  At last he was able to make himself let her go, but she didn’t tear away. Instead she smiled and reached up to trail her fingers over his cheek. “Better now?” she asked softly.

  “Sorry,” he said, heaving out a breath and forcing himself to gentle his grip.

  She looked surprised. “For what part?” She wriggled against him. His cock, which hadn’t entirely softened, at more than half-mast and stirring again. “The first one is to take the edge off, and you, my darling bear, have a lot of edge to take off at this point.”

  Was he blushing? Fuck it, he didn’t care if he was. “I meant, I’m sorry if I hurt you.” He pressed a thumb to her lower lip, swollen from his kisses. “You’re so… soft and slender.”

  “Silly bear,” she replied, laughter in her voice. “Shapeshifter, remember? You’d have to do a lot more than that to actually hurt me—at least in a way I don’t enjoy,” she added in a darkly sensual murmur.

  “You mean, like plummet out of the sky and hit ground with a massive weight on your back?” he asked pointedly.

  She made a face, releasing him and ticking off the points her fingers. “It was a controlled glide, thank you very much, I hit water not ground, and you’re a deliciously big man, but I wouldn’t call you massive. Where is this hot water I didn’t hear about because I was too busy thinking about tying you to that big four-poster bed?”

  “I’ll get it,” he said, face hot, cock stiffening further—and resigning himself to being in that state pretty much perpetually if he was going to be keeping company with the luscious and mischievous Zephyr. Realizing that his pants were still around his ankles and he’d look like an idiot shuffling to the hot-water tap the page had shown him, he perched his butt against the tub rim, toeing off his boots and finally shedding the rest of his pants. She did likewise, lifting one foot to set the tight little boot with its pointed heel on a table holding a stack of towels, and bending over it to unlace the boot. Her outrageously long hair sifted around her gloriously naked body, veiling and revealing her in a perfect tease.

  She undid the ribbons on her stocking and slid it off—then glanced at him. “How’s that hot water coming along?” she asked silkily, clearly aware of how she affected him.

  “Maybe you should put on a robe,” he muttered, “if you want me to concentrate.”

  A delighted smile lit her face, and she lifted the other foot to the table. “Where’s the fun in that?”

  Amused by her, he crossed to her and cupped her darling bottom in one hand. Without setting her foot down, she straightened enough to kiss him. Her mouth was unlike anything he could’ve imagined, velvet sweet with tensile heat. “You have no idea what you do to me,” he said against her mouth, like a secret confessed.

  She took his hand in hers and slid it up her thigh to cup her mound. Hot and slick, plump and enticing, her sex slid against his fingers with buttery welcome. “This is what you do to me,” she replied, lips moving against his with seductive trembles. “So I do have some idea.”

  He moved his fingers and she sighed with pleasure, undulating against him. “What do I do?” he asked.

  She nipped his bottom lip, a light sting. “Get the hot water. Time enough to teach you mine, which is a bit less straightforward than yours, in more ways than one. I don’t mind a bit of anticipation.”

  “You have a lot less edge,” he agreed and, with reluctance, made himself turn away from her to find that spigot. There it was. He gave it a few turns with the tool hanging on the wall nearby, grunting in satisfaction when the steaming water gushed out.

  “Do you mind that?” she asked, her voice lightly neutral. She’d dispensed with her other boot and stocking and stood fully naked, winding up her long hair to fasten it with some pins.

  “Are you joining me in the tub?” he asked with some surprise.

  “It’s big enough,” she pointed out. “And I did promise to help. Unless you don’t want me to?”

  “No, I was just surprised. I figured you’d shapeshift clean.” He tested the water, decided it was hot enough, and turned off the spigot. “Though it might be overfull now, for both of us. We might spill water on the floor,” he added, eyeing the pretty tiles.

  “What?!” she gasped in such dismay that he spun to look at her. She had her hands clasped to her heart, face a rictus of horror. “Not. Water. On. The. Floor.”

  “Ha ha,” he replied, relaxing. She might kill him before their affair was done. “Get in already.”

  “Nooo…” Now she flung the back of her hand against her forehead, the other braced on the table as she swooned as dramatically as any court lady. “What about the water? What if it splashes? Whatever shall become of us?”

  Yes, she thought she was pretty funny. With a bearish growl, he strode to her, swept her up in his arms, and carried her—shrieking with laughter—and deposited her in the tub, though he was careful not to dunk her head, since she’d gone to pains to keep her hair dry. Ignoring the wave that spilled over the edge, he joined her more gingerly. Substantially more water slopped onto the floor, and he did his best not to wince.

  She moved her legs out of the way, giving him room and relaxing against the sloping back of the tub. “I meant what I told Lena,” she said. “A real hot bath is still a treat in a way that shapeshifting clean will never be. Especially with a gorgeous man.”

  He grunted at that, displeased to find a tickle of jealousy at the image of his beautiful Zephyr bathing like this with anyone else. With her uncanny knack of seeming to read his mind, she eyed him. “You didn’t a
nswer my question before.”

  When he raised a brow, taking up the soap to wash himself, her face smoothed, and she gave him a carefree smile. Ah, that expression was one he knew. The question mattered to her, more than she wanted him to know. He thought back, glad for once that Ursula had so ruthlessly tested him on keeping track of what people had said in a conversation. “No,” he replied, tugging on one slim ankle. “I don’t mind that you have had sex with other people before me.”

  “A lot of people,” she emphasized.

  He bit down internally on that odd, unwelcome flicker of jealousy. The bear in him, no doubt, and something needing exacting control. “I don’t care how many,” he told her honestly. Then thought he’d better be fully honest. “Though I would mind if you were with anyone else while we’re… seeing each other.”

  Amusement blossomed over her face. “Is that what we’re doing?” She extended the leg he held and nudged his chest with her dainty toe. “Seeing each other?”

  He knew she found his values hopelessly quaint and mossback, but he didn’t know any other way to be. So, he lifted her foot and sucked her toe into his mouth, nibbling the meaty pad lightly. “And tasting and touching,” he added, enjoying the way her eyes darkened and her posture went supple. “Hearing, smelling.” He tugged her toward him, gratified at how willingly she came, unfolding herself to drape over him. “Devouring,” he whispered before taking her mouth in a deep and drugging kiss.

  She moved against him, a sensual writhing that had his blood steaming. He ran his hands over her, relishing the velvet glide of her skin, the endlessly fascinating curves that captivated him. Her hand found his rigid length, and she purred in pleasure, a true rumbling sound emanating from deep within. Her gríobhth nature peeking through. She dragged her hand up his shaft, and his hips surged helplessly after.

  “Wait,” he said into her mouth, and she stilled, pulling back to see his face.