Rogue Within

by Mima

He cupped both of her breasts. “It means Thad sent his first hunting party for me and I didn’t fall for any of his tricks. He’ll up the level of attack or even come himself.”

  She licked her lips. “When?” She whispered, barely heard over the waves washing the beach below. Her scent went deeper into caution, edging with fear and anger, the scent she always wore when they talked about darkmages.

  “Soon. Within the week, certainly. I watched him become more and more unstable in the past year, and the Hawk’s escape pretty much shattered his sanity. He’d been so certain he was untouchable, unstoppable. Then the clans took down his lizard birds. The month after that was tough.” He twisted one nipple, softly stroked the other.

  The time he’d existed in that last month was something he preferred to ignore. Everything in him had been focused on how to kill the last lizard bird and escape without breaking the slave spell he held, so he could get close to Thad again. Every day had lasted a century, full of terror and agony.

  Her hand flattened against his heart. “Will you take more guards out with you?”

  He shrugged. His hands massaged deeply, working her breasts more firmly. “It would be best if I went alone, but they won’t let me.”

  She shook her head. “No crazy sacrifices. You have to plan for the future, Donte. This is going to reach beyond the battle with Thad.”

  She’d told him this over and over and he knew she thought it convincing.

  “We have a lot of clean up to do beyond the leadership.” Her one hand had a death grip on his ball, but the other clamped on his bicep, her form wavering at how deeply he worked her breasts.

  She wobbled, but he didn’t let up. To her, the battle with Thad was a moment, a strike, a small victory in a larger war. To him it was everything. His reason for existing. Here’s where he should warn her again that he was going to use her. Here’s where he needed to tell her it was unlikely either of them would live, and that he didn’t ask anything of her he wasn’t prepared to suffer as well. Here’s where he should make her hate him, so he could go into battle knowing he’d lost her, and wouldn’t have to wait for that moment to happen when Thad owned her spirit and he had to watch her glowing gaze shatter on the battlefield. But last time he’d summoned the strength to try, she’d taken him to the ferns and sucked him off instead.

  A knock came at the door. He pinched her nipples so hard she gasped.

  “Come in.” He was a coward, but he couldn’t bring the warning up now.

  She shot him an incredulous look. He stared at her with hooded eyes.

  “Good morning, My Lord. Is now a good time to complete your appointment?”

  “Yeah. Come on in, Fu-lan.”

  Moriko almost choked. Probably their visitor was somehow related to his mate. The whole family was a workforce, but this guy wasn’t very essential. He was a jeweler with a very particular specialty.

  Donte picked her up and carried her to the bed.

  She put her arms around his thick neck and asked, “Appointment?”

  “Yeah.”

  He sat on the bed and settled her facing out on his lap so her knees were spread to the outside of his. Before she took in more than the fact that Fu-lan was opening a slim black case, he had her wrists tied in the small of her back. He took the ball from her and pushed it under the pillow.

  “Do you remember what you asked for last night?” Donte lapped her earlobe, tugged on it and let it go.

  “The one about tying you down and licking honey off of you until dawn?”

  Fu-lan lifted one brow from where he knelt over his case on the floor. He unrolled a red cloth.

  Donte’s hands covered her out-thrust breasts, squeezing the now-swollen flesh. “You can do that tonight.” Please, Skyfather, let Thad come tomorrow. The prayer slipped out. See, he knew better than to get himself noticed by the elements, but holding his mate’s curves drove him to desperation.

  “Th-th-that sounds good. Why do I feel it’s a reward for something I’m not going to like?”

  “Oh, you’ll like this. Very much.” He used the nails of his fingers to trace light paths across her golden skin. “Eventually.”

  She shivered, shoulders rolling. Her exposed folds grew damp, and his erection filled her valley, folded down with her damp heat leaking across him.

  Fu-lan stood. He held two small things. He walked in a smooth, contained way telling of knife training to where Donte displayed his mate. Donte breathed in slow and deep, reminding himself he’d invited the man to use his skills. His mate was displayed like this for Donte’s pleasure.

  “Hello, Moriko.”

  “Hello, Fu-lan. It’s nice to see you. I’ve heard you’ve been having much success since being named a Curate in the Smith Guild.”

  He nodded. “I’m glad to see this marriage is in more than name only. Many of us wondered.”

  “Oh, I’m very happy. What has Donte scheduled?”

  Donte spoke through his locked jaw. “Enough chatter. This isn’t tea-time.”

  Fu-lan’s face blanked. His uneasy scent spiked with fear, but he hid it well.

  “You invited him here, Donte. No need to growl.”

  “You’re cunt’s dripping all over my aching cock. I feel plenty of need to growl. He’s going to put his hands all over the sweet tits that belong to me and don’t think you’re not going to pay the price for that when he leaves.” He shifted beneath her.

  “Aaaand again, I say you invited him here.”

  Fu-lan stood between Donte’s spread knees. “Here like this?”

  “Yeah. Do it fast. I’m not going to keep it together long watching your hands on her.” He took both hands and wrapped them around one of her breasts, lifting it up, skin drawn taut.

  Moriko watched in fascination as Fu-lan swiped an herbal healing cloth over her nipple. He pinched the tip and Moriko saw the golden needle. She held her breath as Donte growled, triggering his bodycraft. The needle sliced through her nipple and she gasped. It was over in two breaths. She watched the needle leave her skin and the small gold hoop pass through behind it.

  He loved how composed she was.

  Fu-lan angled her breast, studying the piercing.

  He wanted to rip off every one of his fingers. “Stick to business,” Donte snapped.

  Without comment, Moriko watched him do the other nipple. She smiled this time, delighted with her new gift. Donte rubbed his cheek against her sex-and-sleep tousled hair, loving her lax and in his control, loving her body being marked for her pleasure.

  She looked at him with big, serious eyes. “Once you remove the healing spell blocking the pain, will it hurt? And more importantly, will it hurt in a good way?”

  He smiled inside. His insatiable little skinlicker. She was a born lover.

  When Fu-lan sank to his knees, Moriko frowned. “Where are you going?”

  Donte opened Moriko’s closely trimmed labia. Fu-lan set a hat on his head and lit a magelight in the puff of the dome. He swabbed her again with the tingling healing cloth, then pinched her clit, stretching it out.

  Seeing the other man’s hands there made Donte’s claws itch beneath his skin. He was finally truthful with himself that this idea had had a secondary goal as well. Hurting Moriko during sex hadn’t brought Bear. But he hadn’t tried jealousy yet.

  Her face buried in Donte’s throat, her eyes squeezed shut, body rigid, she bucked ineffectively in Donte’s hold. He focused on blocking her pain. Fu-lan’s needle flashed into the fragile flesh above her clit, and her hips tried to buck in his grip. After the shock passed, her lungs drew in air and she screamed full-force.

  “Fuck. My bodycraft just isn’t strong enough.” Maybe if he hadn’t drained himself with all the injuries he sported from being too slow he’d be able to help her.

  Fu-lan worked the little gold ring on with a flick of his wrist and her back bowed. Her throat made noises that sounded like Bear had moved to her.

  “I told you a bodymage should be present.” Fu-lan tilted
his head. “The ring is in place. Make sure to heal it properly yourself, or seek a proper bodymage.”

  Donte knew the man could smell her sweet woman’s scent and wanted to push his nose into his guts. He growled. Moriko looked up at him, her head on his shoulder, outthrust tits swollen and ringed with a shiny yellow metal that couldn’t compete with the luster of her skin. Tears rose in her eyes, so he tried to smile at her. He could feel his lips twisting into some tangled parody.

  “You’ll enjoy that soon enough.” Fu-lan chuckled. He blew softly over Moriko’s folds.

  Donte actually twitched forward, but managed to seize his grip to Moriko’s thigh instead of smashing his fist into the man’s jaw. “Get the fuck out.”

  Fu-lan went to his box and left. Bear stayed still.

  Immediately she struggled with her bonds. “Get these off.”

  “No.”

  She wiggled, lifting her thighs, but he wouldn’t let her close her legs. “Donte!”

  “It will pass. Breathe through it. Deep. In. Blow. Out.”

  She cried, gasping, her whole chest flushed. When he kissed her neck, she swore at him.

  He nipped her nape. “Believe it or not, I’m pleased you whine so much. It tells me you don’t know pain and I’m glad.”

  She swore some more, longer, slower, but he noticed her breathing came easier and in a few more heartbeats, he felt less of a pull on his bodycraft. “Good?”

  “I have a swollen heartbeat in my clit. Not good, no.”

  Donte massaged her thighs, soothing down the muscle. His tongue played with her ear. “Tell me why I did this.”

  “Because you want me to get a splintered stake to drive through the tip of your penis while I force in an even bigger ring than you wore before.”

  His rough huffing laughter took the last of the stiffness from her spine.

  She melted against him. “Twit.”

  He cupped her breasts with both palms.

  “My twit.” Her voice lowered to the husky rasp she got during sex.

  “And you are my princess, stressed out on responsibility, worrying about everyone and everything, aching to disappear into a quick, nasty fuck. Well I’ll give them to you when I can, but when I’m out in the streets, these—” He flicked the rings in the tight nubs and she clenched her ass “—will help you. They’ll help you masturbate and hurt just the way you need to. They’ll help you remember me.” When I’m dead and you’re not. Fuck, he was becoming such an arrogant bastard and an idiot dreamer as well.

  His lips coasted over the curve where her throat met her shoulder, so softly, again and again.

  Draped over his hot, hard body, Moriko stared out at the ocean she strangely enjoyed. “I love them. Thank you.” Her words were pure pout. Her tears sparkled along her lashes but didn’t fall. He was so proud of her.

  “You’re welcome. Wait till you feel that ring rub against you as you walk.”

  “I need to be more satisfied, not more in need.”

  “I disagree. I think you focus more when you’re horny. It’s part of why you use sex as your outlet. You get wound up, you hold your intensity.” His hands dropped to press on her belly. “Fuck, you’re so soft. So smooth.”

  “How do you know me so well?” Her back arched her ass into his lap in a way that told him pain was no longer her primary focus.

  “I’m an expert on watching people, seeing what gets them through, seeing how they control their fear and how they function when it’s bad. I started learning it when I was just an ordinary youngling in training, but I learned a lot more from the Council warriors when I was alpha. Then later, when I was going down the lone alpha path, and of course at the fortress…” His hands slid up her ribs, around the outside of her hardened breasts and rotated over her shoulders. He could almost encompass her arms and he squeezed her biceps with a sensual grip.

  “What about your piercing? You took it out as a rebellion against them. Will this bother you, to see it on me?”

  “Not the same thing at all, fruit pie.” He sent a final healing pulse through her, knowing the warm wave would feel good when her body was so primed from the pain.

  “Take me, Donte, please.”

  Yeah, he’d waited long enough. He picked her up, carried her to the standing mirror in the corner, and put her down. Her knees trembled but held. Going to his knees before this woman was one of his favorite things to do. Every time he did it was like spitting in Thad’s face.

  “Wider.”

  She moved her feet shoulder width apart. Her woman’s scent burst through his body, but he only caught a tiny gleam of her new toy.

  “Wider.”

  She did so, an adorable thoughtful look on her face as she wondered what the ring would be like.

  He opened her folds and twitched the ring.

  “Ah!” Her shocked shout bounced off the mirror, reflecting her astonished face. He kept stroking and wiggling her clit and the orgasm swelled out of nowhere. Head tipped back, he watched her watch herself. Her cheekbones told the story, highlighting her gorgeous exotic eyes, tightening and slackening in two heartbeats.

  Why was he still waiting? He’d been gentle, he’d talked to her, healed her, even let her go first. But he still held back, still wanted more from her despite the throbbing sword hanging off his hips. His fingers worked her heat. Her skin was so wet and pliable it was hypnotic to stroke, like he was creating something. Something beautiful and good. That was new.

  This wasn’t about him. This was about what he could leave her with, what he could gather and thrust into her without his selfish cock. She was treasure beyond what he’d ever dreamed, a woman who taught him pleasure again after all that pain, who let him have all the control he’d been denied without ever fussing about respect and pride.

  His middle finger ringed her opening, his thumb flicking the ring gripping the hood over her clit. Her back arched, her belly out, breasts full and flushed, the twin spikes of her nipples dripping golden light.

  It was going to end soon. He would end soon. She might. And as a woman raised from birth to be a leader, to hold responsibility, she might not even fight him. Grunting, he jammed two fingers deep into her core. Her cunt sucked at his skin, surrounding it tight.

  The morning light swelled in the room. It was time to go, past time to start killing, start cleaning the world, start twisting the clawing, constant pain of the slave spell back on its makers. But he didn’t. His hands were glued to her, unable to let her go. He added another finger, stretching her, watching the ring bounce with his jabs.

  Donte’s spiked hair painted jagged shadows over her belly, similar to the tattoo fencing his face. He thought of the shadow being permanent, of his failures and dangers dragging her down, and the fullness of this moment he couldn’t end was lashed by rage. Almost, he could get his whole hand inside her now, her cream splattering down his arm, her mouth hanging slack, gorgeous slick flesh dancing on his ruined fingers. He worked harder, faster, deeper, massaging, twisting. Her legs gave out when she came again.

  He gripped her ribs, his strength slowly lowering her down to her knees in front of him. Now they knelt face to face. His cock screamed for sex but he wouldn’t give in. “That’s what I’ll be giving you when you yank on this ring.”

  He gathered her face in his huge hands, one sticky, one dry. His thumbs brushed her damp eyelashes. “When you pull and twist it, when you tap it and grind it against that pink clit, you’re sharing yourself with me. It’s my hard fuck with hardly any touching, demanding all of it, staring down your pleasure, drooling over your fucking soft tasty cream.”

  His dark gaze drilled into hers. She sagged into his hold and he slid one hand lower, wrapping his palm across the front of her throat. “I put this ring right over your woman’s spot, and it lies against it. With every step, I stroke you. With every shift of your hips, I prime you.”

  His words came faster, lower, quieter. She shook with whole body tremors now, her pulse frantic. Some horrible feeling st
retched inside him, a monster that could destroy him. “I control your body and I let you use the ring to keep yourself wet. When I walk into the bath tonight, I want you on your back, with your hands above your head and your legs spread.”

  He couldn’t stop. Couldn’t let her go, couldn’t end this. His skin rippled, aching like he was in mid-shift to battleform, but this was all inside, filling the bitter cavern of his tainted spirit. Desperate, she turned her face and captured the thumb still petting her cheek. She sucked it, struggling to hold his gaze. Her hot, wet mouth clamped around his finger, the pressure combining with her glowing bronze gaze, begging for more. His erection was ablaze, burning for attention, but he shut it out.

  He couldn’t deny her. “I’ll get on my knees and slam that ring so hard into your plump clit you’ll cry and I won’t stop. I’ll be covered in the blood of our enemies, and you’ll smell like sun and woman and pride. It will be so tender, so raw, and I’ll stroke deep, smashing it between us, our link, our pain and sex rough the way we need it, so good, so—”

  He choked, pushing his thumb along her tongue, watching the orgasm take her. “Yes. Yes, Moriko. Together.”

  It was her. She was the monster inside him. She was everywhere, roiling, systematically branding every drop of his blood with her claim. Her Bond. He had no desire to escape her. Fuck he’d always been so alone. Always. He’d learned to take strength from it, but here and now her spirit wove around the riddled caverns of his past. She strengthened his foundations, leveled him, turned him from trampled mud to sculpted stone.

  His balls clenched, his hips thrust, ass squeezing, and his cock practically glowed from the lava hot cum that jettisoned from him. It splashed her breasts and torso.

  Her head tipped and he relaxed his wrists, letting her look down. He followed her gaze. Their bodies were both rigid, about a breath separating them. Her breasts were close enough he could feel her heat. The rings shimmered on her heaving chest. Her thighs gleamed with her own cream and his painted her with white diagonals.

  Almost in a daze from the swirling, paralyzing construction happening inside him, he flexed his hand against her throat and she swallowed on his thumb. They were the only places they touched and despite her hands being tied behind her back, he’d never been so destroyed. His scarred, burned, shredded torso churned so close to her flawless golden curves. A third blast of cream seeped over his crown and coated his shaft, dripped off his balls, gnawing ecstasy up his spine.