She set a platter of meat, cheese, and bread down on the small table before turning to study me.
“You are smaller than I thought you would be,” she mused. “You don’t look evil.” I studied her carefully, noting the intensity of her stare and the delicate bone structure of her face. She was a werewolf, and if I had to pick a rank, it was a beta more than an omega. “You could just free him of your curse. He doesn’t deserve this, no one does.”
“No, he doesn’t deserve it. If I could undo it, I’d have done it the moment my mother cursed him. He seems to forget the part where I am cursed too. Not that it is any of your concern,” I snapped irritably. Just who the hell did she think she was?
“I will mate with him. I don’t care that he sees you when we fuck. I will do anything and everything needed for me to protect my pack.”
My stare narrowed as I snorted. “Good, good for you,” I offered, mostly because I couldn’t find anything else to say.
“I could just kill you now,” she offered pointedly.
“You could, but the curse only ends when he takes my life. If anyone else intervenes, we are reborn to repeat it within days of our death. If I kill him, in fifty years, he will find me, and we will repeat this cycle,” I shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “It is a curse on our souls. You kill me, and he won’t forget me. It won’t free him, because he will then become the hunter. But by all means, put me out of my fucking misery.”
“Why curse him in the first place?” she asked, sitting on the bed.
“I didn’t,” I offered in reply before swallowing hard against the memories. “My mother sent me to kill him, but what I found wasn’t a monster. Braydon was supposed to be a murderous beast, but that wasn’t what I found. Instead, I found this warrior tending to sick children who most likely would have drowned to end their suffering. He challenged me, and I found it cute that he thought he stood a chance. Eventually, we fucked and fell in love with one another. My mother discovered my treachery, and she cursed me to murder the only man I have ever loved. Fifty years later, he came back to me, but madness overtook him. He became the monster they said he was, and it forced me to kill him to survive. Braydon is berserker, and when the madness takes him, it is my body he savages. My lesson from my mother that my soulmate was the monster she warned me about. He can’t help it any more than I can. He is the only one who can end this. When he ends my life, he will be free of me.”
“Then why haven’t you let him kill you before now?” she questioned.
“I am a witch, and everything within me demands I stay alive to keep my bloodline thriving. My magic doesn’t allow me to give in easily. I have been cursed with immortality. That means he and he alone can end my life. He is the only weapon on this earth that can end my existence. Don’t worry your pretty little head, blondie. I fully intend for him to end this,” I laughed coldly.
“Enough talking,” Braydon snapped from the doorway where he’d been listening to the conversation. “Moira, my darling, you’re finished in here. Josie needs help with the elderly. Go tend to them with her.”
I watched as her gaze swung to his, filling with a deep tenderness that his didn’t match. Wolves didn’t mate for love; they did it to breed and for protection of the pack or to ally with another pack. She, however, was positively besotted by Braydon, not that I blamed her. I tore my gaze from them and faced the wall, ignoring the food as my stomach churned with unease and jealousy. It was selfish to want him to only want me, but it didn’t change that while he may have been reborn without the love I felt, I never escaped it.
He closed the door, sealing me into the room, and I closed my eyes as I whispered a spell to extinguish the candle and protect Hope through the night, opening them again when I realized nothing had happened. I stood and leaned over, blowing out the candle before settling back into the chair. I winced as my sore backside hit the cushion. Asshole. I should have looked for a weapon to leave my mark on him, and yet exhaustion made me weak. My eyes closed as my mind wandered freely through the memories of another time and place where he’d loved me and not her.
Chapter 5
Someone lifted me without warning. I squirmed to get free, fighting against the hold until arms tightened against me. The smell of alcohol hit me before the scent of male did. I stilled, turning toward his woodsy aroma, and he chuckled huskily. I looked down at my chest, noting the room was dark, making it hard to see, but if I had to guess, I’d say he left my sheet on the chair purposely.
“I can walk, puppy,” I murmured irritably at the disturbance to my sleep.
“You were sleeping in a chair,” he said, dropping me onto the bed. I bounced hard, landing on the floor in a crumpled heap, crying out in shock. “Fucking hell, I thought you weighed more than that, woman.”
“What the hell is your issue with tossing me around?” I grumbled, sitting up, growling as he once again lifted me and sat on the bed with me cradled in his arms.
“You have eaten nothing, my wicked little witch.”
“Not yours, Viking. Now let me go,” I whispered, hating the emotion that flared through me with his endearment. “I’m sure your mate will warm your bed, but I will not. You’re drunk, and I’m exhausted.”
“She isn’t my mate, yet,” he shrugged, which jostled me in his lap. “I wouldn’t curse her with what you did to me. She deserves a man who sees her and not another woman’s face as he takes her. I only see you and crave your cunt when I fuck others.”
“You think I care who you see when you come? At least you can come! I don’t get sex without you; my cunt doesn’t work without you! I’m so sorry it is my face you see when you fuck, but it could be worse. I can’t even get myself off, so your problem seems pretty fucking lame in comparison!” I struggled to get out of his arms, hating his hold as I’d blurted the truth to him.
He chuckled huskily, allowing me to stand up. I turned, looking through the darkened room as my eyes adjusted. The moment I could move without stumbling in the dark, I did. I was almost back to the chair when I sensed him behind me. I slowly turned, continuing my trek backward until something cold touched my back. I searched the darkness, only finding him when his hands landed on the wall, trapping me between them.
His mouth lowered, hovering over mine as my chest rose and fell with both fear and excitement. The moment his hands dropped, and he stepped back, I exhaled. He stared through the darkness, having me at a huge disadvantage without my magic. I leaned my head back, closing my eyes against the hormones and need that rushed through me. I could scent it better than most. The arousal coated my sex, the need to be destroyed by the one man who could do it. I dropped my head against the wall, opening my eyes as the touch of his hand cupping my breast stilled me. I gasped as his roughened thumb traced over the puckered bud before his mouth crushed against mine.
He demanded entrance, pushing his tongue past my lips as his hands abandoned my breasts to grip my chin, holding me there for his hungry mouth. The other hand slipped to my lower back, pulling me against him as we dueled for dominance of the kiss. He sucked my tongue, nipping it before he pulled back, dropping to his knees. My hands found his shoulders, grabbing them as I struggled to pull him back up to my mouth, where I needed him. He chuckled wickedly before his lips clasped against my clit and I cried out as shock raced through me.
Braydon flicked it enticingly with his tongue, playing with my sex as his fingers pushed through my flesh, entering my body slowly. He growled, the sound vibrating through my clit as he released it, peering up through the darkness as I held on to him so I wouldn’t crumble from what he did. My knees weakened, threatening to deposit me upon the floor. Another finger entered me, and I screamed at the fullness it created as the orgasm danced just out of reach. My body moved against him as he watched me, fighting to reach the height that only he could bring me to, but the moment I started to unravel, he withdrew from my body. I open
ed my mouth to beg him to finish, but his cold laughter stopped the plea from leaving my lips. He stood up, pushing his fingers into his mouth as I watched him.
“You’re fucking delicious,” he growled before he turned, giving me his back as he pulled off his shirt and discarded it onto the floor.
I watched him in silence as he stripped naked and then started toward the bed without paying me any heed. Exhaling slowly, I fought my need to plead with him for the release that had been within grasp, only for him to stop. I slid into the chair, pulling the sheet over me, closing my eyes, ignoring the virile male that had just slurped his fingers clean of my arousal.
“Get your ass into this bed,” he ordered.
“Fuck you.” I snarled in frustration.
“It wasn’t a request. Keep in mind, I hold your niece, and I’m not the Viking who saved children on that shore so long ago. Your problem is this; you assume I am the same man. I’m not. You and your curses fucked me. They made me into someone who can be led around blindly by you and your tight pussy. I found a witch of my own before coming for you last time. I’m not the man you loved, not entirely. The runes on my body, they’re mine this time, not yours. Laura, get your sweet tasting cunt into this bed, so I don’t do something you’ll regret later.”
I stood unwillingly and slowly moved to the bed, crawling onto it as he inspected me through hooded eyes. His smile wasn’t friendly, more like a predator stalking its meal as it walked into a well-planned trap. My small breasts caught his gaze, and he watched them as I settled on the bed, glaring at him with unease. Ignoring him, I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep. His hand landed on my hip, and I jolted, opening my eyes wide as he slowly explored my curves with his fingertips.
“You’re too skinny,” he grumbled. “Fucking tiny, all of you is tiny.”
“Sorry to disappoint you,” I muttered crossly. “Go fuck Moira; she has ample curves and assets.”
“You sound jealous,” he whispered huskily. I didn’t respond as my skin rose with the awareness of his slow, leisure examination. He let the tips of his fingers test the globe of my breast, pinching the nipple without warning, which pulled a moan from my lips.
“Do you mind?” I watched him carefully, noting that he didn’t bother even looking at me before he responded to my question.
“No, I don’t. You can touch me if you want to. I will let you molest me,” he murmured, lifting his eyes to lock with mine. He smirked, leaning over to suck one raised peak into his heated mouth. His eyes never left mine as he scraped his teeth over the sensitive flesh. My eyes grew heavy with lust and started to shut, but he bit down harder, stealing a cry from my lungs as pain mingled with pleasure. “Keep your fucking eyes open, little witch.”
“This is torture,” I hissed, arching into his mouth as he sucked against the swollen tip greedily. He laughed around the mouthful he held, and his other hand slipped between my thighs, parting them until they dropped open as he pushed me onto my back, leaning up to look at the swollen flesh of my sex.
“Fifty years and nothing has touched this pretty slit? You didn’t even try to get off, did you?” he questioned.
“What would be the point? I can’t get aroused without you. I feel nothing, and my body responds only to you, not me, and no other man.”
“How many men have known you in this way?” he asked.
“Two,” I replied. “You and the lover I took when you had been gone forty-nine years, and I had one left before you were to be reborn.” His hand paused, tearing his eyes from my swollen flesh to glare into mine. “I allowed a lover to take the blood of my virginity to end the curse before I’d found you again. It didn’t work.”
“You whored yourself out to protect me?” he snapped.
A blush of embarrassment flooded my cheeks. I closed my legs against his damnation of my action. I’d made a deal with a warlock, one who assured me he could break the curse and protect Braydon from it. I’d have sold my soul to protect him from being ensnared in my mother’s curse, and yet he damned me for it.
“There was nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you.” I pushed him away, sitting up to give him my back. “You can think the worst of me if it helps you sleep at night, Braydon. It matters little to me,” I uttered.
His hand pushed the hair away from my neck as his lips touched against it. I shivered from the pure intimacy of the act. His heated kiss sent butterflies into flight in my belly as he pulled me back against the heat of his body. The room filled with shadows as his fingers slipped down my naked stomach to skim over my cunt. I gasped as he moved them through the wetness of my apex, creating a storm of sensation that brought unshed tears to my eyes.
“You want this,” he growled against my shoulder before his teeth skimmed the flesh. His other hand lifted to my throat, holding me prisoner with the light touch alone. “How easy it would be to make you mine, littlest witch,” he murmured. A single digit pushed into my body as a moan escaped past my lips. “It’s a shame that I don’t like you because my body doesn’t seem to care that you’re my enemy.”
“Would you rape me, Viking? Pillage me as you did the innocent maidens of your enemies? If so, do it. My body may crave you, and my soul may weep for your touch, but my mind fucking hates you.” I shivered as he pushed another finger into my body, stretching it as his grip tightened against my throat. He laughed darkly, sucking against the pulse that danced in a steady beat as my body responded to what he did to me.
“I wouldn’t need to rape you, wife. You are mine. The curse you placed on me allowed me to remember what you feel like as you come undone on my cock. The way your eyes grow heavy as my name escapes your pretty pink fuckable lips while you come on my cock. You made it so, and the only reason I can think of so I crave you and only you. I remember the tightness of this flesh, the heat of it wrapped around me so lovingly. I know what you like and what drives you over the edge. I also know that you’re a cold bitch who enjoys pain,” he said huskily as he withdrew his fingers to the knuckles and slowly pushed them in deeper. “I know you, and everything you like, and how being manhandled turns you on, and enjoy when I become rough with you. You beg when I fucking destroy this pretty cunt, demanding I fuck this naughty slit until it is swollen from what you crave. Tell me how to undo this curse, and I’ll make you come for me, pretty girl,” he offered gutturally.
“Kill me,” I replied. “Kill me, and it ends.”
“No,” he snapped as his fingers withdrew and rubbed over the swollen nub of my sex. “I won’t let you make me into a monster like you are. I want to know what magic will end this, and how to ensure that I am through with you and your kind.”
“There is no magic that will undo the mark on your soul, nor mine. I’m sorry for loving you and forcing you into this curse, but once upon a time, Braydon, you loved me too. I warned you that my love came with a cost, and you told me you would pay it to be my husband. You took me to the chapel, and before our gods, we were married. We knew my mother would find out, and you didn’t care as long as I became yours in every way a woman can belong to a man. She did, and she cursed us to this fate together.”
“I’m not the same man who loved you, witch. I am the monster who craves your cunt and nothing else. I don’t remember agreeing to be your husband, and yet I can feel that you are mine and my wife. I loathe you and your kind, selfish bitches who care not about others as long as you get what you want. I know you because I remember you, but you mean less than nothing to me.”
I swallowed as silent tears ran down my face in the darkened room. His grip tightened on my throat, stealing the air to my lungs as his fingers pinched the delicate ball of nerves. I didn’t move or respond to the pain that threatened to escape from my lungs. His teeth nipped the hollow column of my throat, and I did nothing. He chuckled ominously, releasing his hold on my clit, and rubbed his knuckles through the mess of my cunt as stars
burst into my vision. My lungs ached to get air, and yet I didn’t fight him. I didn’t respond.
“No sweet noises for me, bitch?” he asked roughly. His knuckles paused as his fingertips slipped through the folds, pushing into my body, and it took everything within me to hold the moan at bay. The coppery taste of my blood hit my tongue while I held the moan trapped in my throat. He moved deeper, working them to a steady beat that brought me to the edge of release. His hand loosened on my throat, and yet I still made no noise.
“Release me,” I whispered weakly through trembling lips.
“Never,” he promised.
I gasped as he pushed another finger into my body, stretching it until it burned with pain from years of neglect. He threaded his other hand through my hair, pulling my head back until his heated breath fanned my ear. He laughed coldly, using it to stand me up before he bent me over, using his feet to push my legs apart.
“Messy girl, this dirty cunt is weeping to be fucked, isn’t it?” he asked hoarsely. He held control, and he knew it, yet he slowly continued to stretch me, something he’d done often before considering the thickness of his sex. He was too big, and I too small. I was delicate compared to his height of well over six feet, compared to my tiny five feet and one inch.
I was close to unraveling, and yet I fought it. I wouldn’t let him do what he wanted, which was to force the orgasm from me. He wanted to punish me for what he thought I had done to him, fine. But this, this wasn’t something he could do to me. I wouldn’t let him make the one thing we did so well together be ugly. When my body didn’t cave to his demands, he ripped me up by my hair, turning me to look into his eyes. He flinched when he found my eyes wet with tears. My chest heaved with anger as he watched me, holding my hair painfully twisted in his fist.
Wicked Hexes Page 4
