He didn’t stop until he felt his thighs hit hers. She closed around him, tight as a fist, and her gasp of pleasure as he forced the last few centimeters inside made his hips buck.
Sucking in a deep breath and holding it, he froze, soaking in the sensation, feeling her inner muscles contract around him, tugging at him, milking him. He could’ve come just from that alone so he froze, forcing back the orgasm. Not ready. Not nearly ready.
Her broken sigh pushed him even closer. “You feel so good, Cal. Please. Move.”
“Your wish is my command, Lady.”
He pulled back and thrust. Hard. He didn’t worry about hurting her. He knew he wouldn’t. She could take whatever he dished out. And she liked it.
The pace was just this side of brutal—a rough, hard ride that neither of them wanted to stop. She backed into him every time he pushed into her, seemingly taking more of him each time. The drag of flesh against flesh stoked his desire until his blood felt like it was boiling in his veins and heat covered him in a fine sheen of moisture.
Sweat. He’d never felt heated sweat coat his body before. Never felt it drip down his back and off his balls. He’d never felt the actual heat of a woman’s pussy as it surrounded him, not before Tessa.
His cock shuttled into her body in a wicked rush, his fingers gripping her hips like talons. Tessa’s soft sighs of pleasure increased to husky groans, and his gaze once again slipped to her ass. He had to have her there. Had to have her completely beneath him.
Pulling out, startling a cry from her, he grabbed a pillow and stuffed it beneath her hips, pulling her legs out flat. He leaned down so his mouth was right at her ear. “I want your ass, Tessa. Can I have you there?”
Her breathy moan was answer enough but her head bobbed in agreement. It lit a match to his already flaming desire.
Coating his cock in the moisture flowing between her legs, he made sure he was slick before he pressed the tip to the small puckered entrance. Coming down on his hands, he covered her with his body as he began to invade that tight space.
Her muscles tried to reject him even as she pushed back against him. Turning his head, he sank his teeth into her shoulder. The taste of her sweat made his hips plow forward.
Gods damn. His cock pushed through that first tight ring of muscle and he continued forward, wanting more. Wanting everything.
With his body over hers, she could barely move. He controlled her, yet she still owned him. Every inch he gained, she claimed more of him. Until there was nothing more for him to give her.
Then he pulled out, not enough to slip free but far enough to make his forward thrust worth every second of the torture of her tight passage. And it was wonderful torture. She milked him with each motion, every breath. He wasn’t going to last long but she hadn’t come yet.
And that was priority one.
With his chest plastered to her back, he slid one hand beneath her hips, arrowing straight to her clit. Her gasp let him know he’d hit the right spot. He stroked her, teased her, and flicked that little nerve bundle between his fingers until she writhed.
She couldn’t go anywhere, not with his bulk surrounding her, but she bucked against him, making him sink deeper.
“Cal, make me come.”
“Absolutely, baby. You’ll get to come. But when I say so.”
Then he moved his fingers, pulling back until he could thrust them into her pussy. He fucked her with two fingers, her sheath so damn tight because his cock in her ass stretched her to the limits.
She moaned when he began to work her in both passages.
“I’m gonna get a dildo made just for you, Tess,” he rasped in her ear. “A big one. And I’m gonna take you like this again.”
Shuddering beneath him, she could only gasp out his name. And that was all it took.
Her pussy clenched around his fingers as she came, a tight grip that was matched by the contraction of her back passage around his cock. Heat blasted him like a furnace, though he wasn’t sure if it was hers or his. He only knew he felt lit up from the inside.
He came, pouring his seed into her in devastatingly slow pulses that he swore went on for hours. He barely felt the wave of power that coursed through her, he was so blown away by his own orgasm.
Still, he had enough sense to realize what was going on. And enough pride to smile.
After several minutes—or it could have been an hour, he wasn’t really sure—he rolled to his side, drawing her with him so he could wrap his arms around her and hold her tight against him.
He felt each of her shuddering breaths mirroring his own as he tried to calm his racing heart. Her hands had wrapped around his arms when he’d shifted, as if she was afraid he was going to move away. And even when it became clear he wasn’t moving, she let them rest there. Returning some of that amazing energy.
It only took a few minutes for him to feel completely renewed. Refreshed. And for the anxiety to kick in again.
Double-edged sword.
Her power had saved her. And would also condemn her.
She turned in his arms, staring into his eyes. He knew she was thinking exactly the same thing. “Now what?”
He shook his head. “Hell if I know, babe. But I’ll think of something.”
Chapter 11
Tessa sat by Flavia’s bed, holding the baby girl yet to be named.
Like all gianes, this little sweetie had river-blue eyes that would not change color and pale brown hair that would eventually darken into a beautiful golden brown with green highlights.
That distinctive trait was one of the reasons gianes rarely ventured into the more populated areas of the world. Besides, the major waterways of the so-called civilized world were largely polluted, and Etruscan wood elfs needed clean, fresh water coming straight out of the earth to live.
Luckily for Flavia, a group of Fata had built an enclave not far from there in a thickly wooded area of the Oley Valley. The land was private, a clean stream ran through it, and the protective wards ringing the property had been erected by Selvans, the God of the Woods himself.
Flavia and the babies would be safe there, and they’d have the support of the other Fata who lived there.
From the next room, she heard the low rumble of Cal and X talking, though she couldn’t make out what they were saying.
In the bed, Flavia sighed in her sleep, her arms cradling her son, who also slept. The little girl, however, was blinking up at Tessa, though her eyes were shut more than they were open.
“As much as I love holding you, baby girl, I think it’s time for you to get some more rest.” Tessa stood, laying the baby in the bassinet attached to the side of the bed. Flavia would be able to see the baby immediately when she woke up.
Instead of leaving, Tessa sat back in a chair. This new little family brought a smile to her face.
Tessa had never had children, though not for lack of trying. Many centuries ago, she’d been almost frantic in her pursuit of a child. She’d had sex with gods, demigods, humans, Fata, men of all races. She’d begged, pleaded, and bespelled. Nothing had worked.
Her sister, Lusna, Goddess of the Moon, had conceived her son, Tivr, many centuries ago and under circumstances she’d never spoken off. Not even when Tessa had begged her to tell her the secret.
Tessa had heard something in Lucy’s voice as she refused that made it clear she’d never speak of it. That the experience had been traumatic, though she never treated Ty with anything other than a mother’s complete and occasionally overbearing love.
Tessa had wanted to share that connection with another being. But she’d had to give up that dream. She’d made certain never to want anything that badly, to never ache with desire until she couldn’t see straight, to never weep with the knowledge that she’d always be alone.
Until Cal.
Just the sound of his voice soothed her and made her want him at the same time.
Leaning her head against the chair back, she let her gaze wander to the wall that separated her
from Cal. The paint color was a soothing blue-green, reminding her of the waters of the Mediterranean. Of home.
She hadn’t returned to Etruria in years. America was her home now, but that didn’t mean she still didn’t long for the hills, the forests, the ancient and deep-seated power in the land. Not that America didn’t have power. The ley line running beneath this part of the country had been pure and largely untapped when the Etruscans had decided to settle here more than two centuries earlier.
The green forests, the Schuylkill River, the fertile fields… all these things had drawn them. Still, maybe when this was all over, she would return.
She longed to let her hands run along the bark of centuries-old oaks and her feet sink into the soil that nurtured the greatest vineyards on the planet. If she closed her eyes, she saw the villa she owned outside of San Gimignano. If she breathed in, she could smell the rich scent of the earth and the tang of ripe grapes on her tongue.
The vineyards would be gearing up for harvest in September. It was a joyous time.
“You miss it, don’t you?”
She knew that voice, knew it should terrify her. And somewhere inside, deep in her gut, she was terrified.
But not for the reasons she had been before.
She knew she shouldn’t engage him, shouldn’t answer, but something in the tone of his voice made her pause.
“Of course I do. It’s home.”
“True. And yet you’ve wandered. You’ve traveled the world. You’ve seen so much more than I have ever dreamed while I rot here.”
She was dreaming and she knew it, caught in that place between awake and full sleep. And trapped with the god who hunted her.
She needed to snap out of this, to wake. But she was so tired. And so damn curious.
“You rule an entire plane of existence, Charun. Here… now… we are obsolete.”
“We wouldn’t have to be.”
Yearning hit her square in the gut at his softly spoken words.
“We could rule again,” he continued. “The humans are clueless. They understand so little of how the world works. They don’t believe in magic, even though it’s all around them. They’re petty and greedy and small-minded. It would take so little to have them under our thumbs again. Worshipping us. We only need to work together.”
She shook her head. “It would be chaos.”
“It would be wonderful. We would rule not just a small part of the world but the entire world. When I open the gate and leave Aitás—”
“After you consume my powers and leave me to rot there.”
Charun paused. Though she couldn’t see him, could only hear him in her mind, she knew he was considering his response carefully.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d actually seen Charun face to face. It’d been well before the Involuti had sealed Charun in Aitás then hidden Invol away as well.
She wasn’t even sure what had prompted the Involuti to lock Charun in his realm. She only knew she couldn’t blame him for being pissed off about it. She just didn’t want to be his sacrificial lamb. And this conversation was leading him right to her.
Wake up. Now.
Her heart pounding, she tried to rip herself out of the dream. Only she couldn’t quite manage it.
“Oh, come now, Thesan. You know you’re not strong enough to fight me.” Charun chuckled. “You’ve managed to hide yourself well enough, but you always knew—”
“Tessa! Tessa, wake up!”
Gasping for air, her eyes flew open and she looked up into Cal’s sharp gray gaze. His hands tightened on her shoulders as he shook her, her head snapping back and forth painfully before he pulled her tight against his chest.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Tessa. What the fuck happened?”
She blinked a few times, trying to catch her breath, but the anxiety, the fear she sensed from Cal made it almost impossible. Staring into his eyes, she forced herself to focus on breathing, on bringing down her heart rate. But she needed him to help her.
“Cal.” She lifted her hands to cup his cheeks in her hands, feeling his anxiety like a swarm of angry bees against her skin. “We need to get out of here. Now. I can’t put Flavia and the babies or Eric at risk.”
Cal stiffened and glanced behind her. Tessa realized he was holding her in his arms in the hallway. He must have gotten her out of Flavia’s room while she’d been asleep.
Good. The last thing she wanted to do was terrify Flavia.
“Fine.” He set her on her feet, grabbed her hand, and pulled her toward the stairs to the upper floor. “Let me tell X where we’re going, and then we’re getting the hell out of here.”
***
“You’re going to do what?”
Cal wasn’t about to repeat himself. They didn’t have much time, and he wasn’t sure he could force the words out of his mouth again. The first time had been bad enough. And if X didn’t get out of his way, Cal was going to have to move him. Forcefully.
“You heard me, X. Now move your ass.”
His brother stood in front of the door leading to the outside, his mouth open, speechless. Cal would have to remember that when he needed to shut X up, all he had to do was shock the shit out of him.
Cal decided that was a good thing. If he’d shocked X, maybe he’d get the same reaction when he went to grovel for help from the only man he thought had the power to help him and Tessa now.
X started to shake his head and then couldn’t seem to stop. “And you actually think Dad’s gonna go for this? After what you said to him the last time you saw him?”
Cal winced. That had been a bad scene.
All right, maybe bad wasn’t harsh enough.
The last time he’d seen their dad, Cal had said some truly unforgiveable things and his dad had responded in kind. Since then, neither of them had said anything to the other.
For Tessa, Cal would talk to his dad.
She stood behind him, her hand wrapped around his like a vise. She hadn’t said a word since he’d grabbed their stuff and practically dragged her up the stairs to the first floor and toward the front door. Her skin held a sickly pale hue, but it wasn’t because she was drained. She was scared. Maybe terrified was the better word.
He needed to find a way to get Charun off her back permanently. So far, he hadn’t come up with one damn idea. Taking her to Cimmeria should buy them some time.
He’d wanted to make a clean getaway, but X had caught up to them before they could.
“I think going to Cimmeria is the only option we have left until I can find a way to get Charun off her back.”
“But… you know…” X started shaking his head again, flashing a look at Tessa. Cal knew exactly what X was thinking.
There’d be no sun in Cimmeria.
Tessa’s hand tightened convulsively on Cal’s and he turned to look into her eyes. They were round, her pupils dilated, and he swore she’d turned a lighter shade of pale.
Yes, he knew exactly what he was asking her to give up. But only for a short time. A year, maybe two. He wanted her safe. Wanted her where he could best protect her. This was the best he could come up with. It would have to be enough because nothing else had worked up to this point.
“I understand what going to Cimmeria means,” she said. “And I’m ready.”
Damn, she made him want to wrap her in his arms and not let go. To put his mouth over hers and kiss her until he couldn’t breathe anymore.
“I won’t let anything happen to you, Tessa. You know that, right?”
“Yes.” She nodded, a slight smile curving her lips. “I know you will do whatever you can to protect me. But right now, we need to get out of here before Charun sends one of his demons. The sun is setting. We don’t have much time. Once we’re gone, Eric can shut the wards tight.”
There was that trust again. Shining in her eyes. But he had to be sure she knew what she was getting into. “You know what that means, right? There’s no sun in Cimmeria, Tessa. You’ll be weakened. You—”
“I’ll have you.”
The ferocity of emotion that shot through him made him ache to kiss her, to lay his claim to her. Right here and now, in front of his brother. Hell, he wouldn’t care who was watching.
The strength of that emotion didn’t scare him as much as it would have only a few days ago. And if he had the time, he’d even admit to knowing exactly what he felt. But they didn’t have time. He knew in his gut they were running out of it.
And really, it was what he should have done when she’d first come to him. He’d just been too damn arrogant and stubborn to do it. If he had to go crawling back to his father for help, he would.
“Yes. You’ll have me.”
“And me. I’ll go with you.”
X started away from the door, but Cal caught his arm to stop him.
“You need to stay here. Help Frentani with security. I don’t think—”
“I’m not helpless, Cimmerian.” The doctor stepped out of the stairwell from the basement, not looking at all happy. “This place was warded by one of the strongest streghe I’ve ever known. Tessa, are you really sure this is the right course of action?”
Tessa nodded. “Absolutely. If Cal says this is what we do, then this is what we do.”
Frentani sighed, his mouth flattening into a line as he looked back at Cal, a warning in every taut muscle.
Cal didn’t have time for a pissing match. “X is staying. I don’t doubt your wards, Doc, but what if? What if a demon gets in here? Do you really want to be the only one protecting Flavia and the babies? X is a damn good fighter. Together, you two can hold this place. I don’t think there’ll be an attack because I think the demon will follow Tessa. But… wouldn’t you rather have the extra pair of hands?”
Cal didn’t wait around for either X or Frentani to answer. They’d wasted enough time as it was. He headed for the door, Tessa following behind him. After a brief hesitation, X moved away but laid his hand on Cal’s shoulder.
“Be safe, Cal.” Then he shifted his gaze to Tessa and smiled. “I’ll see you soon, Lady.”
Her answering smile wobbled a little but it was there. “I look forward to it, Extasis.” Then she turned to Frentani. “I’m sorry for bringing this to your door, Eric. I didn’t—”
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