There was no need for him to repeat himself again, she wanted him, needed him inside her. Shifting up his body she straddled his cock, exchanging his hand for hers as she rubbed the velvet covered steel of him against her. Alaric groaned and dropped his head back as he ran his hands down the outside of her thighs, the muscles in his stomach straining.
He’s holding himself back.
If there had been a lingering doubt in her mind, his restraint erased it. She lowered herself slowly, reveling in the feeling of him as he stretched her, filling her to the brim and then making her ache as he bottomed out. A low moan echoed out of them both, and his grip tightened on her thighs, his jaw clenched tight. “Look at me,” she whispered, and his eyes snapped open onto hers. His pupils had almost obliterated the mixture of green and brown, but behind all the lust was still him. Her foolish, mortal knight.
“Fuck!” He growled as she started to move, rolling her hips forward and back, not in the mood to ease into it. She wanted to come apart again, wanted to feel him come apart under her. Bracing herself on his shoulders she rocked her hips, twisting until she found the perfect rhythm, the perfect position so that each movement brushed against that place inside her that made her moan and gasp his name. His fingers were probably leaving bruises behind, and she didn’t care a bit as he started to lose some of that rigid self-control, his hips thrusting up to meet hers until the slap of skin and his muttered curses were the only sounds meeting her ears.
“Alaric – Alaric, I…” Tara moaned and gritted her teeth, trying to hold on for him to come with her, but it was a losing battle. As she tried to slow her hips he held on, continuing her movements for her when she tried to stall the next crash.
“Come for me, Tara, I want to watch you come.” It was the mixture of his words, his hard grip on her hips as he thrust up inside her, and the way he met her eyes that brought her to the point of no return.
With his next movement she was lost, fire surging inside her until she felt like every inch of her skin was alight with it. Bliss. Raw bliss, and there was no filter to keep her safe from the intensity of it. The world spun then and his weight pressed her into the bed, and it was perfection.
“You. Are. Incredible.” Alaric groaned against her shoulder, punctuating each word with a hard thrust that made the tremors of the orgasm linger, rebounding inside her as she wrapped her arms around him. Bending his head down, he captured her lips with his and their tongues clashed. Thoughts had fled her, her mind a cacophony of sensation, and she knew he was close as he broke their kiss and his pace increased. Another peak floated in front of her, simultaneously far away and so close that she could already feel the trembles in her thighs as she lifted her hips to meet his. He growled, his hand cupping the back of her head as he pressed his forehead to hers, his fingers tightening in her hair. “Tara…” he whispered her name like a prayer just as he came, his cock kicking deep with a warm rush, and then light slammed into her from the inside out. A torrent of pain and pleasure that stole the air from her lungs and choked off a scream before it could escape.
Light, bright and golden – and then darkness.
Chapter Twenty
“TARA!” Alaric’s voice, full of panic and fear, yanked her out of the black, and she tore air into her lungs with a gasp. He was still between her soaked thighs, but he had propped himself on one elbow and his hand was cupping her cheek, shaking her slightly. Those hazel eyes were intently focused on her, full of concern, and she wanted to wipe it away. Everything had been so perfect, for just a moment it had been perfect.
“It’s okay, it’s -”
“Fuck! Tara, what happened? No…” So much pain in his voice. Why? “Oh, God, what did I do?”
Why is he –
Tara lifted her hand to touch his face, to ease the deep crease between his brows, and then she saw it. His eyes were glued to her wrist where a thick golden band of light floated just above her skin. Her heart stuttered, skipped a beat, and then picked back up at breakneck speed. Alaric threw himself off her, his back slamming into the headboard hard enough to make it smack against the wall as if he was afraid to touch her skin.
“Tara – I –” He looked horrified, both his hands finding their way into his hair to grip it tightly. “Does that mean-? I never – I didn’t mean –”
“Alaric.” She reached towards him but he shook his head, pulling his arm out of her reach, and she sighed because she couldn’t think straight yet. There was a post-orgasmic chemical cocktail still rushing through her head, and the thrumming power of the bands was itching at her skin – because Alaric had claimed her.
He had claimed her.
“I’m sorry, I -” He wasn’t scared of her, or the bands, he was upset that he had put them there.
“Alaric -” She tried to get through to him, but he let out a groan before slamming his head back against the headboard. Just as he pulled his head forward to do it again she lunged for him, thrusting her hand between his skull and the warm-toned wood, and he stopped. His hazel eyes wouldn’t meet her gaze, they were glued to her other wrist where the band glowed vibrant and bright. “Alaric, I need you to listen to me.”
“I didn’t mean to, Tara. You have to believe me. I don’t even know how -”
“Shut up.” Tara tugged his hair, forcing him to look at her, and he did – with wide, panicked eyes. “Listen. It’s okay. You just claimed me, and that’s okay.”
“No! It’s not bloody okay!” Alaric’s voice broke as he shouted, and she could already see the guilt devouring him.
“Stop.” Keeping her voice calm, she moved closer to him even though she could see in the tension of his body that he wanted to bolt from her. Cradling his face in her hands she climbed back onto his lap to keep him still, planting her knees on either side of him, her thighs still shiny and wet. “Take a breath. Ignore the bands. Answer a question for me.”
Tara was a little surprised by the strength in her voice, but she knew it was what Alaric needed to hear. The deep furrow between his brows wasn’t fading, but he jerked his head in a single nod and she smiled a little at him.
“Did you want me?”
“Tara, that’s not -” He tried to turn away from her, but she held his head still.
“Stop. Did you want me?”
“Yes.” Alaric said it with so much guilt that she almost kissed him for it. No one in her entire cursed life had reacted so badly to claiming her. It was… charming.
“Okay. Do you still want me?” She felt the smile tugging at her lips as he tried to turn out of her hands again, but she held on tightly. “Alaric.”
“Yes! Bloody hell, yes. Of course I still want you, you’re absolutely perfect, but I -”
She silenced him with a kiss, holding his face to hers as she parted his lips with her tongue and he met hers. The kiss felt almost reluctant at first, but then his arms wrapped around her and she melted against him, twining her fingers back into his hair to grip and hold him exactly where she wanted him.
Maybe she could get used to having a little bit of control in her life.
When they finally separated he looked a little less panicked, and her heart rate had slowed, although the bands were still vibrantly voicing themselves.
“Alright… do you remember earlier when you said you wanted me? All of me? Including the gods and the goddesses?” She waited for him to nod, and then she lifted a wrist up. “Well, this is a part of me.”
He flinched, but this time he didn’t avoid it. “Yes, I want you, Tara, but I don’t want to own you like some piece of property, like some thing.” Alaric ran his hands up her sides, his fingers pressing against her ribs before he brought his eyes back to hers. “I never wanted to do that, this, to you.”
“Alaric…” She sighed, brushing his hair off his forehead. “All it takes is someone wanting me, really wanting me, and the bands react. It started to happen with that idiot who tried to come for me in the hallway, remember?”
“Exactly! I -”
“It’s just the curse. It doesn’t mean anything, it’s not some kind of judgment on your character, and I’d rather have you on the other end of these bands than anyone else.” The words slipped out, but they rang true, even though she couldn’t quite meet his eyes once she’d said them. A strange silence fell between them, and she knew that had probably been too much, too fast. After their argument, the sex, and now he was face to face with the power of a god? The power of her curse? This was not the time to voice just how much she wanted him to stay with her, how much she needed him to want to be with her.
Alaric didn’t respond for a moment and she contemplated climbing off his lap to go lock herself in the bathroom for a little while, but then he hugged her tightly to him, the strength of his arms making her ribs ache. “I would never hurt you like they did,” he whispered against her hair and Tara had to swallow before she could speak.
“I believe you,” she whispered back, emotion threatening to boil over as every shred of her defensive walls collapsed. It would be easy to sink into him and ignore the world, but they had a group of armed men after them, a master-to-be waiting for delivery, and now Alaric had placed himself directly in their path. “But this is going to cause problems.”
“Problems?” He pulled back, his brow furrowing again.
“They’re going to keep coming for me, Alaric, and now the only way for them to get me is for you to give me to them on your own -”
“Never.”
“- or for them to kill you and take me.” Tara laid her hand on his chest, just above his heart where she could feel the beat of it under his skin. Such a simple thing to be the source of life, and he was so very mortal. Mortals could die of any number of things. There were illnesses, car crashes, and a million other ways that ended their lives every day – and Alaric routinely ran around with guns, and knives, and explosives. He didn’t exactly play it safe. “They’re going to come, and I don’t want to lose you.”
“Let them come.” He grinned, tugging her forward so she was pressed close to his skin. “I’ll kill them all.”
A smile tugged at her lips again. So damn cocky. “Alaric.”
He sighed and laughed a bit. “Alright, no more talk of death. We need to move hotels, but it’s not like we can get you out of the country without the papers. I’ll call Claude.”
“Where do you want to go?” Tara slid off his lap as she asked, her own smile spreading across her lips, because he wasn’t running from her. Not even after knowing the way her selfish behavior had destroyed the only man she’d ever loved before.
Before Alaric? Her mind asked, and she was stunned for a moment. Did she?
“We can go anywhere you want.” He stood up next to her, forcing her to angle her head back to look into his incredible eyes, her heart pounding with the realization, and then he brushed a soft kiss over her lips. “Go on, pack up.”
Fifteen minutes later they were both cleaned up, the clothes she wanted were in his duffel and the bloody linens were stuffed in the other bag with his guns. Standing in the living room with her he felt like he had stepped through the looking glass, like Alice once had. His whole world turned upside down. Tara was incredibly beautiful standing by the coffee table, even more so without the make-up. Her blonde hair fell in a fuzzy halo around her head, pouring over her shoulders, and the fresh top clung to her curves. Just as his cock was starting to twitch to attention again, his eyes landed on those bands on her wrists and it may as well have been a bucket of ice water.
Cursed.
That word had been used so often in his lifetime that he had never really thought about it before – about what it really meant – but now it was staring him straight in the face. Tara had been cursed by an actual god, and she’d suffered for so many years that his brain wouldn’t even wrap around it. Cursed to serve as a slave, to obey, regardless of her will. When she acted like the submissive socialite, it all fit, but he’d seen underneath that mask. He’d seen the wild joy and the fierce determination and the spectacular violence that she was capable of.
“Why would they break my iPod?” Tara’s voice was soft, and that’s when he noticed the tiny black object in her hands.
“Because they’re assholes, but I’ll get you another one. You can fill it with whatever music you like.” He stepped closer to her, running his hand down her arm until his fingers brushed the light and he felt the strange hum against his skin. As if they were almost tangible. “What do we do about these?”
“You tell them to disappear.” Tara dropped the iPod onto the table and held both her wrists out in front of her. Looking at the bands closely, Alaric was still amazed. Real magic, like from some book when he was a kid. He traced his finger through the light again, fascinated by the way he could feel the energy against his skin.
“Do they hurt?”
“Not right now.”
“But they will?” He asked, taking his hand away in case he was hurting her and she was just refusing to tell him.
“Only if I disobey you.” The words were said so softly he almost didn’t catch them, but his stomach twisted once he did.
“You do not have to obey me, Tara.”
A small smile tugged at her lips and she lifted those bright blue eyes to him. “I do, actually, but I’m hoping you won’t take advantage of that.”
Clenching his jaw he had to suppress the surge of anger he felt. He would never hurt her, he would gut any man who tried to hurt her ever again. The urge to protect her felt primal, and he suddenly had no more questions as to why the bands had reacted to him, chosen him.
She was his.
Not his to own, to bend to his will. No. She was his to protect, to care for, to – love.
The word hit him like a punch to the stomach, but when he looked into her eyes again he knew it was true. Hopelessly true. Bloody hell. Alaric cleared his throat before he spoke again, his voice a notch lower than normal, “I’ll never take advantage of you, Tara.”
“I believe you.” She smiled, and then shook her wrists. “Go on! Tell them to go away.”
“How?”
“Just say what you’re thinking. Unless you think it would be better for me to walk around like this?” The smart-ass tone in her voice had him grinning despite their dark circumstances, and he liked this side of her. He wanted to see this side of her more.
“No, you’d attract even more attention if you had these. Your ass is distracting enough. I want the bands gone.” Something strange happened when he spoke the last words, like his voice made the air tremble, and the bands winked out on her wrists like they’d never been there. “Incredible,” he breathed and she smiled up at him just before she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. The feeling of her against him was a gift. That she would even trust him enough after everything he’d done, after knowing what he was, after everything she’d been through in her long life – he was beyond lucky.
“So, you like my ass?” She leaned back, that sly smile appearing on her lips again. He laughed and landed a light spank on the body part in question.
“Oh yes. Now, we really need to go before someone else pays us a visit.”
Instead of a new hotel, Alaric brought them to an apartment that he had tracked down after a series of phone calls in several languages as they had driven around. It was small, but beautiful. A tiny kitchen, a living room, and a bedroom with an adjoining bath that was probably half the size of the one in the hotel.
“Sorry it’s not better, but it’s off everyone’s radar.” Alaric dropped the duffel bag on the floor, and then pulled his gun from the back of his pants to set it on the tiny, square dining table.
“You do realize I’ve spent the majority of my life sleeping on dirt floors, right?” Tara grinned at him, watching as the struggle to comprehend her life span spread over his face. “Try not to think about it.”
“It’s just hard to believe, I mean the things you must have seen in this world. The history you were -”
She cut him off be
fore he went too far, “I didn’t see much at all, trust me.”
“Right.” He cleared his throat and turned away from her, and she silently cursed herself for throwing her past in his face. “Listen, I’m going to call Claude again. Check on your papers.”
“Okay.”
He nodded at her and walked into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him, and she flipped the television on, letting the voices wash over her while she stared at her wrists. All over again she wanted to damn Gormahn for his curse, and part of her wanted to damn Eltera as well. Where was she in all of this? Did she even pay attention to them anymore? Was she aware of even half the horrors her life had been filled with?
She heals you every morning.
Her mind spoke up in Eltera’s defense, but Tara just sighed and leaned back into the couch. The healing could just be a lingering part of how Eltera had made them all. Her Faeoihn. Her perfect warriors. Since that day on the battlefield when they had lost the battle against Gormahn’s army, the Laochra, and Eltera had surrendered herself – there had been nothing. Not a message, not an answered prayer – nothing. The golden shackles that Gormahn had placed on Eltera must remain though, because the echo of them had been on Tara’s wrists that very morning.
So, then where was Eltera? Where was she as her Faeoihn suffered? How many of the others still lived? How many had been killed? How many had given up all hope of freedom and ended their own lives like she had almost done?
Glancing over at the closed door Tara knew that Alaric’s would be the last lifetime she’d see on this earth. Losing Leonidas had broken her in unspeakable ways, had turned her into the mindless doll her masters had always wanted. If she lost Alaric? There was nothing more to give.
Nothing except her life.
However many years her foolish, mortal knight had left – she was going to enjoy them. With him. And if they had to kill an army to enjoy those years, she’d sharpen her knives.
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