by Riley Storm
“Right. So, until then, we don’t know for certain.”
Jennifer nodded unhappily. “Sorry it can’t be instant. It…it takes time. The virus is incredibly resilient.”
“Tell me about it,” Heather muttered. But then she patted the mage on the shoulder. “Thank you, though. If this works, you’ve changed a lot of women’s lives. Forever.”
“That would be nice,” Jennifer admitted. “Now, go out there and fix the rest of your life, and I’ll see you in a week.”
Heather grimaced. “Right. If only it were that easy.”
31
Any hint of a good mood she might have been in because of her newfound stability against the attack of a Loup-Garou outbreak was destroyed the second she opened the doors to the shared set of rooms with her mother. The first sound she heard was Miriam cursing up a storm.
This oughta be good.
“Hello, Miriam,” she said, not bothering to try and extricate herself. It was too late for that.
“Hello, daughter,” Miriam hissed. “Where have you been?”
“Out,” she said, not bothering to elaborate.
“And did you just so conveniently forget to come to the Council meeting this morning? The one I told you about twice. The one you assured me you would be at?”
Heather faked shock. “That was this morning? Oh shoot. Mother, I’m sorry. Did I miss anything important?”
Miriam glowered at her, thunderclouds building on her face as her anger threatened to explode. “As a matter of fact, no, you did not. That stupid jerk of a king made sure of that.”
That gave Heather pause. She’d heard Miriam talk about Logan behind his back of course. She was never polite about it, but they were always insults toward his competency or jokes about how long he would last as King. This…this was different. It held a tune of…frustration?
Just what had Logan done, she wondered, to set Miriam off like this? To make her so upset she would outwardly show her anger? That was a serious feat. Miriam was well known for being extremely composed.
“Made sure of what?” she asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible.
“That I wasn’t able to proceed with my plan, of course!” Miriam snapped, looking at Heather like she was a moron.
“You didn’t seriously think he was going to accept Link on the Council, now, did you?” Heather asked, shocked.
“Of course not. Don’t be stupid. But after Link, I would have presented someone else as a suitable alternative, someone who possessed all the skills the King would say Link doesn’t have. Then he would be forced to take them.”
“I see.” Heather highly doubted it would have gone down like that even if Logan hadn’t done something unexpected. “What, um, what went wrong?”
“That trumped up little weasel treated me like I was his subordinate. He told me that there was no time or place for politics in this House, as if he thinks what I’m doing is wrong!”
Heather almost told her mother that it was wrong, but her attention was more drawn to what she was hearing about Logan.
“He did, did he?” she asked, biting her lip.
“Yes. In front of everyone. It was humiliating!” Miriam gnawed on one fingernail. “He threatened to send me to Rome, to Vatican City, if I kept playing politics. As if that were a thing.”
Heather whistled. “That’s quite a threat. He must be really sick of you.”
She braced herself as Miriam whirled on her, sensing a new outlet for her anger when Heather didn’t immediately leap to her mother’s defense. “You agree with him,” she challenged.
“I’ve told you a thousand times, I hate politics and have no interest in playing it. It’s stupid, and detrimental to the House as a whole. I need to go.”
Hearing that Logan had stood up to her mother and the others, and had put them in her place, it sounded exactly like the advice she had given him.
It sounded like he had listened. Knowing that filled her with an overwhelming need to see him. To talk to him.
Maybe there’s hope for him after all.
Before her mother could launch into another tirade, Heather fled the quarters, walking swiftly through the halls of Moonshadow Manor until she turned the corner to the long approach to the King’s private quarters. It was a solid fifty-foot walk without interruption. A perfect defensive position. The halls even narrowed as they went, meaning any attackers would have to bunch up as they came, making it easier for the guards to stop them.
“Hey!” one of the guards challenged as they saw her approach. “No. Not this time, Heather.”
“I will see him,” she stated.
“We just got the door replaced,” Lester said, stepping forward and putting a hand on the other guard’s shoulder. “At least this time, let me knock and announce you?”
Considering she wasn’t in the middle of a furious rage this time, but was instead more interested in simply seeing Logan, she could afford to do as the guards wished. “Of course,” she said, as if any other option would have been silly.
All the guards sagged with visible relief as she came along peacefully.
A few seconds after Lester announced she was at the door, it opened. Logan was there. Heather frowned as she examined his face. Was that a smile he’d just forced from his face? Was he happy to see her? What’s going on here? she wondered as she entered his working office.
“Heather, very good to see you. What can I do for you today?” he asked.
Was that a twinkle of gold she saw in his eyes, the amber more pronounced today? He was up to something, she could tell.
“I heard about how you handled my mother this morning,” she said, dropping any pretense of why she might actually be there and deciding to just go straight for the heart of the issue.
“You did, did you?”
“Straight from the horse’s mouth, actually. She was quite angry with you. Said you treated her like a subordinate.”
“Technically, she is one,” Logan pointed out.
“I know that. It’s her that you have to convince,” Heather said, not entirely able to stop her face from brightening with humor at the idea.
“I couldn’t do that with a dozen lifetimes,” Logan said, and both of them did laugh this time. Together.
“Um, what I meant to say, why I’m really here,” she went on, “Is because I wanted to know—”
Logan was nodding even as he interrupted her. “I took your advice. Yes. You were the reason behind the way I treated her this morning.”
“You should do that more often.”
He frowned. “What, treat your mother like that?”
Heather stifled a laugh. “I meant take my advice, but that wouldn’t be the worst idea either. Being humbled a few times might do her some good, though I doubt it. Even your strength will be hard pressed to dent her ego.”
But Logan seemed not to have heard her. “You’re right, you know. I should.”
“Should what?”
“Take your advice more often,” he said. “You’re smart, capable. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. I shouldn’t just listen when you speak, but I should actively follow your advice more often. I’m sorry I didn’t do that more often.”
Her jaw slipped open, lips parted in surprise. This was an uncharacteristically deep admission from Logan. Admitting he was wrong, that she knew what she was talking about. It…it was what she’d hoped for, wanted, for so long. But to hear him actually say it? That was something else.
“I’m also sorry for spying on you,” he went on, shocking her further. “The other day, when you were off with Leonen. I…I should have just given you space when I realized you weren’t alone. What you do in your own time, that’s your business. You made your choice, and I have to respect that.”
Heather was full-on gaping now, mouth hanging wide open for the second time that day as her brain tried to process everything that was happening.
“I…I’m also sorry for not listening about the raid,” he said. “You
told me it was a trap, and I ignored it. A lot of people died because of me that day when they didn’t have to. If you’d been given more say, they would be alive. That’s my fault.”
“Logan,” she said, finally finding her words, but he held up a hand, his expression calm, but focused.
“Please, I need to finish this,” he said. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking the last day or so. After I saw you kiss Leonen, it really awakened me to some stuff that I’d been unwilling to confront. Like not listening to you now.” His shoulders rose and fell visibly. “Or in the past.”
Her eyebrows went in the opposite direction of her jaw. All this news was more than she’d ever expected to have happen. What had gotten into him?
“Three years ago, you told me what was going to happen with your mother, what the Tyrant King was going to do. You asked me to intervene on her behalf so she wouldn’t be sent away. I refused to listen. I didn’t do anything, and then she was sent away. And you were too. Because of me. I was the Knight, I could have talked to him, figured out something else. But I didn’t, because I didn’t believe you. I didn’t listen. And I lost something because of it. I accept that now, and realize you’ve made your choice.”
Belatedly, Heather replayed the words he’d said earlier, realizing that Logan had seen things through a twisted perspective. He thought she’d wanted Leonen to kiss her. That she had chosen him.
“Can I give you some other advice?” she asked hoarsely, wandering farther into the room, wondering if she was making the right move—if what she was about to do was the right choice.
“You can always give it,” Logan said softly, watching her as she came closer, turning to constantly face her. “I will listen now. I can’t guarantee I’ll always follow it, but I will give it proper thought.”
“I suggest you follow this,” she said, stopping only when a few feet separated them.
Logan frowned.
“You should know I didn’t kiss Leonen. He kissed me. I wasn’t ready for it. The idiot thought that when I grabbed his shoulder to tell him not to try and oust you from the throne, it would be a good time to make out. The moron.”
Smiling, Logan nodded. “Fair enough. But…I don’t hear any advice there? I was listening, but I couldn’t sense it.”
“Yeah, I know. I just wanted to get that out into the open.”
“Oh,” Logan said. “Why?”
“So that when I tell you my advice, you follow it in full understanding.”
“You’re really confusing me now,” he said. “What do you want me to do?”
Heather tilted her head back, opening herself up to him.
“Kiss me,” she said, and waited.
32
Logan’s self-control evaporated at the orders and he stepped forward with a low growl, lifting Heather from the ground as he did as he was told.
The instant his lips touched hers, searing warmth swept through him. It built and built as her tongue pushed past his lips, exploring his mouth. He growled again, unable to control the primal urges he felt toward this remarkable woman.
But I should.
“This is wrong,” he whispered as they parted for air for a brief second.
Neither of them stopped.
He tore at her clothes with abandon, ignoring the sounds of fabric tearing as he ripped it from her body, shedding shirt and long skirt in rags. Heather gasped, biting her lips, the desire in her eyes driving him onward, pushing him past the barriers that should be stopping him.
“That was expensive,” she mourned, her voice trailing off as he buried his face in her neck, tracing the veins there with his tongue. “Mmm that’s nice.”
Heather’s hand moved between them, palm sliding across his stiff cock, the pressure of her touch fueling his lust.
“I shouldn’t be doing this,” she whispered as she grabbed him through his pants, the contradictory nature of her words and her actions only making him harder.
“Me neither,” he agreed, cupping one breast with his hand, feeling it through her bra.
Just another barrier between us, he thought, pulling her bra down, exposing her nipple to his lips. Heather gasped and moaned softly, back automatically arching into him.
She was the perfect combination of lushness and strength rolled into one, and it drove him wild.
“Shh,” he said, covering her mouth with his hand when her moans grew too loud, his other hand still stroking between her legs.
Heather’s eyes widened, but she didn’t move his hand. Hot breath washed over his skin as she breathed deeply, pupils rolling back into her skull as he pleasured her some more. It was a sight to behold, and the pressure of her hand against his cock had Logan on the edge before he’d even lost a piece of clothing.
Abruptly, he spun her around, bending her at the waist over his desk, pressing his crotch against her as he ran his hands down her sides, feeling every supple curve, line and mound. His teeth found her neck, her shoulder and then, as he crouched, the soft tender skin of her ass.
A slight tremor ran through her as he slipped her underwear off, leaving her completely naked and vulnerable in the middle of his working office, her chest resting against his desk, presenting her back end to him.
Breathing heavily, letting that be the only sensation she felt as he stood back up, Logan hovered over her, almost touching, but not quite, teasing her with the sensation, and then backing away, until she squirmed, begging for his grasp.
“Stop teasing me,” Heather begged. “I need it.”
“Need what?” He wanted to hear the words. Hear her say it.
“You.” She hesitated. “I need you, Logan.”
It wasn’t what he had been expecting to hear, but it worked the same, perhaps even better. His buckle came undone, pants sliding out of the way, finally freeing him from the confines of his clothing.
She watched, her head cranked around as his cock sprang free, fully erect and glistening at the tip. Logan wanted to be inside her. There was nothing more he wanted in that exact moment than to take Heather, to pleasure her the best way he knew how.
As if in full agreement, she pushed her ass back toward him slightly, so her arms were extended in front of her across the desk. It was quite possibly the most arousing sight he’d ever seen in his entire life.
He used saliva to wet the tip of his cock, pushing it up against her opening. She was warm and he could feel her wetness as it coated him as well. “I’ve barely touched you,” he observed, shocked at the visible signs of her desire.
“Uh huh, and your point?” she chided, pushing her hips back some more, trying to capture him inside her.
“Nuh uh,” he teased, pulling away. “I decide that today,” he growled, grabbing her waist and holding her closer to the desk, preventing her from moving. Strong as she was, he was stronger.
“No teasing,” she whimpered as he used the movement of his waist to brush and gently tease her opening. It didn’t take long for his own willpower to cave, his cock pushing inside her ever so slightly.
Heather gasped, falling limp across the table. “More,” she said. “Please.”
Logan’s ability to resist her overt desire and requests was fading fast, carnal lust overwhelming most of his brain. Hands gripping tight, he lifted her clear of the floor so she lined up better, and then pushed deep inside.
Heather tensed and cried out, but she was helpless in his hands, suspended above the floor as he gave her every last inch of his rock-hard cock, burying it deep until his hips pressed into her ass. Then he thrust some more, squishing them together.
“Oh, my God,” Heather said, stifling a cry by shoving her forearm into her mouth and biting down. Whatever she tried to say next he couldn’t understand, but by the way she went limp and her eyes closed to slits, he figured it was a good thing.
The final controls over his own restraint slipped away and Logan could think of one thing, and one thing only. Fuck her. He set her back down, but never let go. His hands fit so perfectly aro
und her waist, why change it?
“Harder,” she gasped as he started to move against her in earnest, ramping up the speed of his thrusts, the impact as he slammed into her ass. The skin there bounced and jiggled and Logan found he couldn’t get enough.
More.
It was the only command his brain understood. He thrust harder. Faster. Heather’s long hair flew everywhere, and even with her arm in her mouth, her cries grew to fill the room. The guards would hear. Rumors would fly.
And Logan didn’t give a shit. It was wrong and he would pay for it, but this was what they both wanted! Neither of them could deny that any longer, even if he wasn’t inside her right then.
Heather abruptly shoved a hand between her legs. It took Logan a moment to realize she wasn’t trying to stop him, but instead she was touching herself.
There was something about that bit of knowledge, about watching a woman pleasure herself even as she was taking him deep, that spoke to a part of his brain. It awoke another level.
Without thinking, he started to thrust harder, pulling back with his hands. His cock, if it was possible at all, seemed like it swelled up even more, threatening to burst.
Heather’s walls tightened around him abruptly and he saw more than felt a burst of wetness explode all over his cock, dripping to the floor as she writhed and cried out his name and all manner of positive things until she collapsed onto the desk, the only thing holding her upright being his hands.
“Heather,” he started to say, his control slipping.
“On me,” she gasped, lying flat on the desk. “On me, please.”
Logan pulled out as the room nearly went white. Her name slipped from his lips again, a long, drawn-out cry as he too came, jet after jet spilling across Heather’s back and ass. He shuddered, his own climax heightened by the sounds of her encouraging him on, telling him how good it was to feel him on her.
Completely spent, he staggered around her, sitting back onto the desk right next to her. Heather lifted her head briefly to smile at him, but then her eyes caught his cock, still hard, coated in both their juices.
