by Anya Bast
"I do, too," Jarek chimed in, "I remember Alisa all too well. I carried her on my back, and then she stabbed it." He glanced at Jessa. "You seem like a great person and I like you...but I liked Alisa too."
Logan stood up. "You don't trust Jessa because she is Magica. So trust me, I am Lycaon." His voice shook with barely contained rage. "You don't know the sacrifices that Jessa has made for you. She has given up her culture, her city, her people, and even her family. She has risked death, she and her rebels, to do this for us."
"We are only righting a wrong on behalf of our people," whispered Jessa. Then her voice grew louder. "But I understand your concern and the question is a smart one to ask. I wish there was a way, other than Logan’s testimonial, to prove our resolve and our loyalty. But let me assure you that once this magick is tripped, there is no reversing it, and there is no way to crush an entire reality out of existence. We can shift and we can separate and we can pull through if the energies are strong enough. We cannot destroy."
"We must take your word for that," said Paige.
"And her name is good!" roared Logan, slamming his fist onto the table.
"I trust Jessa and her judgment regarding her followers," said Torrent, standing up. He held Caroline's gaze. "I think you should too. All of you."
Caroline held his gaze. "I want to trust her, but there is something I hold very dear about to be lost. I don't want it to be for nothing."
Jessa stood, walked over to Caroline and knelt beside her chair. The older woman took her hands in hers and stared into her eyes. "I promise to you on my honor and the lives of my families that what I bring to you is true. If you and Torrent make this sacrifice, it will save the Lycaon. I realize it's a lot to ask—"
"It's everything," whispered Caroline immediately. "You're asking everything of me." A tear rolled her cheek.
Jessa bowed her head for a moment, seeming to reach for composure. Finally, she raised her gaze to hers again. "I know and I'm sorrier than I can say." She paused. "It must be this way."
"Why can't someone else flip the switch?"
"I would not ask anyone else," said Torrent.
Of course he wouldn't.
Jessa stood and walked back to her place, measuring her words before she answered. "It must be Torrent because of his specific genetic makeup. No other Lycaon is linked so intimately with the Lycaons that helped the Magica remove this reality from Earth's so long ago. Torrent's DNA is the key."
Great. So good her soul mate was the chosen one.
They finished up their meeting and made plans about how they would infiltrate the Magica city of Titan and throw the Sifta’s switch. They would need to get past security at the south gate to gain the proper papers and be able to travel the streets freely.
Caroline hardly heard a word. She'd gone numb, a black sensation taking hold in the pit of her stomach and growing tendrils through her veins. She wished time could stop. She wished she and Torrent could run away. She wished she'd never met him...no, she didn't...not really. She just wished everything was different.
Her sisters gave her long, comforting hugs that didn't help and she and Torrent returned home.
Chapter Eight
At home, she and Torrent went about business in near silence. They didn't talk about the upcoming expedition that would leave her a widow a day after she got married. Caroline was too depressed to speak and Torrent seemed to be respecting that. They made something to eat and Torrent built a fire in the living room hearth. She leaned against the wall separating that room from the kitchen and watched him.
He glanced at her, then suddenly threw down the log he held, stood up, walked over her to her and swept her into his arms. "This is ridiculous. We need to spend every last possible moment with my bare skin next to yours."
Not waiting for her response, he carried her upstairs, taking two steps at a time as though she’d try to run away. No way. She could never resist this man. She wound her arms around him and buried her face where his shoulder met his neck, breathing in the scent of him and trying to memorize it, attempting to commit the warm, solid feel of his body to her memory.
“You feel our connection, don’t you, Caroline?” he murmured against her mouth after he’d laid her on the bed. “Right now I feel as though you’re as powerless against me as I am against you. I trust you completely and I think you trust me too.”
“Torrent,” she whispered. “How can you affect me this way?”
He nipped at her lower lip. “I’m glad I affect you at all.”
“You do…so much.” Her breath came out heavy and aroused. “Torrent…I don’t want you to take the herbs.”
“What?”
“The herb you take to prevent pregnancy, please stop taking it.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been more sure about anything, ever.” She smiled. “Stop taking the herb and try to get me pregnant every chance you get.”
“Do you want me to make love to you right now? Torrent pulled back and watched her face.
Caroline’s eyelids were heavy and her lips were plumped and rosy from his kiss. She grinned coyly. “Maybe,” she answered in a breathy voice.
He gave a short laugh.
Her fingers found the buttons of his shirt and undid them one by one. “Let me clarify my answer a little,” she said, fitting the tip of her tongue to the corner of her mouth. After she’d pushed the shirt away, she gazed at the bounty that was hers.
Sliding her fingers over his smooth skin, she explored every glorious well-made inch of him until he shuddered with pleasure and goose bumps erupted over his flesh.
“I want to show you how much you’re mine,” he purred, dropping his mouth to hers for a kiss.
She opened her mouth to tell him that human women didn’t like being owned, but right before he kissed her he whispered, “As I am yours, body and soul,” and she melted into him.
He undid another button and slipped his hand inside her shirt to cup her breast. Caroline drew a careful breath, feeling his touch all through her body as he drew his fingers softly back and forth over the erect nipple.
“I am yours, as you are mine,” he purred again. “I want you to feel that as much as I do.”
He kept one hand on her breast and undid the rest of the buttons with his other hand. Her shirt whispered over her skin as he parted it. He ran both his hands down her body to her thighs, his gaze eating up every inch of her. She felt beautiful under his perusal. Her full breasts were tipped with hard little red nipples and her chest rose and fell with her increased rate of breathing.
“You’re gorgeous,” he murmured as they undressed each other.
Caroline’s entire reality narrowed to his hands on her. Every inch of her skin felt sensitized from his touch. Skimming his hand down her stomach and between her thighs, he slid two fingers within her, stretching her muscles.
She moaned as he brushed his thumb over her clit. Whispering his name, she arched her back as his hot mouth closed over her nipple.
Her body felt hot enough that it might melt into the mattress. She squirmed on the bed. Torrent moved away from her breast and kissed along her throat. She bent her head, offering the sensitive area to him. His tongue touched the skin just under her ear and then trailed lower. She moaned at the sensation of the hot tip of it running over her collarbones and then further down, down between her breasts, over her stomach.
“Torrent,” Caroline begged breathlessly. She was so ready for him. He was tormenting her, teasing her, and soon she’d be past her limits of rational thought.
Torrent leisurely dragged his tongue over her skin, briefly dipping it into her belly button before going further downward. He ran his lips along her skin, leaving heated kisses the whole way.
He continued over her pelvis, to the inside of her thigh. There, he kissed the crease where her inner leg met her body.
Caroline’s aroused clit pulsed with the desire to be caressed and licked. When h
e finally reached her cunt, he licked her labia and then finally twirled his tongue around her needy clit.
She arched her back and closed her eyes. “Oh, yes,” she moaned. “That’s heaven.”
“You taste so good.” He groaned deeply. “I have been dreaming of this for so long.”
“Don’t stop,” she whispered. She would die if he took his mouth away now.
He didn’t disappoint. Torrent licked her with big, lazy swipes of his skillful tongue. She wriggled at the sensation of his hot, slick mouth exploring her. It was almost too much to bear. He pushed his tongue inside her and fucked her with it, drawing a low moan from her throat.
Torrent pinned her thighs apart with his powerful hands, keeping her spread wide open to him as he licked and sucked her.
He slipped a finger inside her cunt, then another, widening her while he laved her clit.
Slowly, he massaged the inner walls of her sex with his fingers while he continued the torment with his mouth. The energy of her orgasm built, rising higher and higher.
He fucked her with his fingers faster and harder, finding a place deep inside that was especially sensitive and rubbing his fingertips over it. His other hand found the entrance to her rear and stroked.
She gasped and opened her eyes. The sensation was foreign to her, but very nice. She tried to object, but it felt so good.
He momentarily lifted his mouth from her clit. “All women who are mated to two know the pleasure of double penetration. I am only one, but you shall know it too.”
Before she had a chance to protest, he lowered his mouth back to her clit and sucked it between his lips. The burst of pleasure stole the words from her throat.
At the same time, his fingertip breached her rear and thrust in and out. She jerked on the mattress, fisting the blankets in her hands. God, help her, it felt so good—a sweet mixture of incredible pleasure and just a hint of pain.
He went a little deeper, matching the thrusts into her cunt. The double penetration was magical, mesmerizing. Never had understood how such stimulation would feel—like one big wave of pure sexual ecstasy overwhelming her. What Torrent did to her was taboo in her world, but she didn’t want him to stop…not ever.
Her climax burst over her body like a bomb, pleasure exploding out and enveloping her. Her back arched and she cried out, scrabbling at the blankets on either side of her as sexual bliss washed through her.
He hovered over her, a needful look in his blue-gray eyes. “I’m going to make you come harder than you ever have before.”
She groaned at his words and panted, “I just did.”
He slid between her thighs and pressed the head of his cock to her entrance. “Harder. I want you to come even harder, Caroline.”
She moaned as the wide crown of his cock pushed all the way into her. He was huge and stretched her muscles so deliciously. Inch by mind-blowing inch, he slid into her. He did it slowly, carefully, as though afraid he’d hurt her.
Caroline met his gaze. “I’m not made of china,” she whispered. “Don’t treat me like I’m fragile. I want you. All of you.”
Holding her hips and her gaze, he thrust forward steadily, all the way to the base of him.
“Yes,” she sighed. She felt completely possessed by him, totally filled up. He was a very big man—in all ways. Every square inch of her seemed touched by him. Slowly, so she could feel every centimeter, he slid out, and then back in. She squirmed beneath him, tears stinging her eyes at how good it felt to have him inside her.
He lowered his head and kissed her as he moved slowly in and out. Her lips parted in wonder at the look of love in his eyes and the intimacy of this act, having him within her and face-to-face. He parted her lips and brushed his tongue against hers. Tightening her hands on his shoulders, she whimpered in the back of her throat at the perfectness of the experience.
He brushed her hair away from her face and held her gaze. “I haven’t been this happy in a long, long time, Caroline. I never want this to end.”
A tear squeezed from the corner of her eye and he kissed it away. His motions became surer and longer and harder with every stroke. A moan ripped from Caroline’s throat as she arched her back. She could barely form a coherent thought. Her entire reality had narrowed to only him and she suspected he likely felt the same—his awareness completely filled by her.
He placed a hand to the back of her knee and hooked one leg over his hip, changing his angle and deepening the penetration. This position caused him to move back and forth over an especially sensitive area deep within her. She braced her other foot on the mattress and thrust her hips up at him, driving him harder and deeper inside her.
“Caroline,” he breathed.
She went to pieces beneath him as an incredibly strong climax washed over her. She moaned out his name, clutching his shoulders as the muscles of her cunt pulsed around his cock.
He answered in kind. Torrent groaned and she felt him spill within her.
Breathing heavy, he rested on top of her, bracing his arms on either side of her. He buried his face in the hollow of her neck and laid a line of kisses to her skin. She wrapped her arms around him and smiled happily, never wanting him to leave her body.
They stayed that way for a long time, basking in the aftermath of their shared pleasure. She kissed his shoulder and inhaled close to his skin, reveling in the musky male smell of him. Caroline hoped the scent of him stayed on her, had worked its way into the pores of her skin. She wanted to be marked as his—completely and totally.
* * * *
"Come on, Caroline, you're going to be late!"
"I know! I'm hurrying!" Caroline called back to Paige as she emerged from the bathroom still trying to get her dress buttoned right. "I had a busy—er—late night, that’s all."
Kaitlyn peeked her head out the door of the bedroom and grinned at her. "Yep. Heard that story before."
Caroline's cheeks were bright pink as she emerged into the room. "In any case, Torrent will wait for me."
Paige came around from behind her and examined the buttoning job Caroline had done. Her sister tsked, then buttoned her up the right away. "Torrent would do anything for you."
She smiled. It was true. Torrent was the best man in the world. All of the worlds.
The previous afternoon she’d been surprised to find all of the items she’d showed interest in at the shop earlier that day arrive on her doorstep. Among the pieces of clothing had been a gorgeous, flowing white dress that Caroline had decided to wear today as her wedding gown. She had no shoes, but that was okay. She intended to go barefoot down the aisle and wear her hair long and loose. It was in keeping with the natural tendencies of the Lycaon, of which she felt more and more a part.
Once Paige finished buttoning her gown correctly, she turned Caroline to face her. “I know it’s hard to set the future aside, Caroline, but today I want you to live in the moment. Know happiness today. Know love. Know the deepest caring from any one person you will ever have. Wrap yourself in it, absorb every moment, and hold the memory close.”
Emotion clogged her throat. She nodded. “I will.”
Paige hugged her. “You know we will always be here for you.”
“I’m very grateful for that.”
“Now,” said Paige, “let’s get your hair done. The carriage will be here any minute.”
“Carriage?”
Paige grinned and tipped her head to the side. “What did you think, we were going to let you shift to dire wolf and run into town? You’re riding in a carriage to your wedding, woman.” Now, come.” She took her sister’s hand and led her into the bathroom to finish her hair.
After she was declared presentable, the three women went downstairs and found a covered carriage drawn by four black horses. They all wore something over their noses to confuse the scent of dire wolf around them. Horses didn’t enjoy wolves—not in any form.
Caroline clapped her hands together and laughed. “This is incredible.”
“Ca
me from Torrent,” Kaitlyn answered.
They all climbed into the carriage and rode to a chapel near the town. The “building” was made from interwoven tree trunks interspersed with huge clear glass windows that gave the impression there was no chapel, only the forest.
She could never imagine a more beautiful place to be married.
Caroline climbed from the carriage, walked through the open doorway of the chapel and looked up. The boughs of the trees made up the ceiling, though something clear—glass?—seemed to seal the places where the tree limbs didn’t touch. Caroline had no idea how such a place could even be possible, how it stayed together during a storm, for example, yet so much about this world seemed magical that she just accepted it as true. The place was lovely. Small crystals hung from the tree limbs far above her head, twinkling and catching in the light.
The church teemed with people she didn’t know, all watching her as she entered. She gawked at everyone. She recognized only her brothers-in-law, Jessa and Logan and a few people she’d met in the village. It looked like Torrent’s wedding was the event of the season. It seemed like everyone in the village had come to watch.
She fidgeted, staring at all the unknown faces. Then, at the front of the chapel, she found a beloved visage that calmed her instantly. She smiled, holding Torrent’s gaze. Torrent watched her with pure love on his face, in a way no one had ever looked at her before. Like she was everything to him.
Low, pretty pipe music began, and Kaitlyn popped a sweet spray of daisies into her hands.
“Walk down the aisle toward him,” her sister whispered, giving her a gentle nudge.
She walked forward; her gaze still riveted on Torrent and no one else. When she reached him and climbed the few steps up onto the elevated platform, Torrent went down on one knee.
“Caroline Susan Gannet, do you consent to join your life to mine in matehood?”
“I do.”
Torrent’s eyes glistened with tears. “Universe, hear my words and make it so.”
