Knights of Stone: Mason (Highland Gargoyles Book 1)

by Lisa Carlisle

  A glimpse of movement passed through the trees. It was her. It had to be. Either that or an animal, maybe a deer. He hurried closer and sniffed the air. Her delicate scent reached him, one fragrant with wildflowers. When he spotted her silhouette through the darkness, warmth spread through him.

  He stepped into the cover of trees, entering an earthly paradise. With a tree witch. A month ago, he would’ve hurled curses at the idea, never knowing how enraptured he’d become.

  He stepped behind her and held her around the waist. He stood too tall near her, towering over her petite frame like a statue mounted on a pedestal.

  Leaning in to smell her hair, he asked, “honeysuckle?”

  “Aye,” she answered. “You’re good. I was trimming the tendrils wrapping around a nearby rosebush.”

  Her smell alone quickened the flow of his blood.

  “My sweet Kayla.” He kissed her smooth neck, nuzzling the warm skin. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since last night.”

  She tipped her head to grant him more access, and the beast within him roared to life. He raised his hands to cup her breasts, letting the weight fill his palms. He had to touch more of her, all of her. Never had he craved a woman so much. Each hour spent with her solidified how mad he was about her, but since they’d made love, he was done for. She could wrap around him like a serpentine, and he’d die happy.

  He brushed her sensitive nipples with his thumbs, her gentle sighs encouraging his erotic exploration. Reaching under her peasant shirt, he found her satiny-soft breasts. He relished how she didn’t wear a bra like human women did. Her breasts bounced free as they walked, the way they should be, not bound to her body in some cage. Natural as the gods had intended, an invitation for him to touch.

  Kissing her soft cheek, he sought her tempting mouth. Turning her toward him, he found her pink lips slightly parted and moist, as if she’d just licked them. So damn tempting. She peered up at him, sensuality burning in the sea-blue depths of her eyes.

  He couldn’t wait another moment to taste her; the hunger for her grew too intense. He covered her sweet mouth with his own, teasing and biting her full lower lip, and probing between them with his eager tongue. She softened against his hard chest in the way he loved, appealing to his protective nature as a gargoyle and his lustful nature as a man.

  His fingers traveled up her arm and down again, her skin had a magical effect on him. Being near her, touching her, calmed him in a way hours as stone never did. It brought something deeper to his soul. Brought him closer to peace. Happiness. Completeness.

  He pulled her shirt over her head and removed her skirt and sandals until she stood before him naked, her smooth skin glowing radiant under the sliver of moon piercing through the trees and starlit sky. Her firm breasts rose and fell with her breath. His eyes traveled over her feminine shape, memorizing the way her waist tapered in and curved out with her luscious hips. A gentle breeze brought the scent of her arousal to his sensitive nostrils, and he stiffened, ready to pounce on her. It took all his self-control not to throw her onto the ground and bury himself deep within her.

  Her fingers tapped a nervous rhythm on her belly.

  “You’re beautiful. Such a bonny sight.” He stepped forward and took that hand, kissing her slim fingers, before placing them on his chest. Her gaze traveled down, watching her fingers trace the indentations on his torso. He puffed his chest out under her admiration.

  When he lifted her in his arms, cupping her rounded buttocks, she yelped in surprise. “I’ve got you,” he assured her before lowering onto the soft moss carpet.

  He tasted her mouth again while his hands wandered over her skin. Her flesh was as smooth as rose petals. He nibbled and kissed her shoulders, licking over the mounds of her delicious breasts. Her hard nipples pointed straight to the stars, a tempting invitation. He took one of the delicate morsels in his mouth, feasting on it. Kayla arched upward and sighed. He claimed the other nipple while his hands moved down her body, over the flatness of her belly to the super soft area between her thighs. Heat radiated from her, driving his need even higher. He managed to hold on to a shred of control as he moved down the length of her body, to her glistening pink folds, letting his heated breath signal what he meant to do.

  Wetting his fingers in her slick heat, he stroked her sensitive flesh before dropping his head to taste her. She moaned in pleasure, running her fingers through his hair. Another bolt of energy shot straight to his cock, urging him to take her. He licked every savory inch, a sensual exploration of her most secret spots. Slow licks turned into increased pressure on her sensitive nub. She arched beneath him, coaxing him for more. He slid his fingers into her channel, probing her while sucking the bundle of nerves until she cried out his name, covering his tongue with her honey.

  Mason rose to his knees, watching her beautiful face with awe, before kissing her. She quivered beneath him when he teased her entry with the head of his cock. Although she was so wet, he still met with resistance as he penetrated her heat. She was so tight, wrapped around him like the most pleasurable vice. She grabbed his shoulder blades and bit her lip as her walls relaxed, granting him deeper access.

  He lifted her rear off the ground and gave her everything he had. As heavenly as this sensation was, he wanted more of her. All of her. He wouldn’t stop until their bodies connected on the deepest level possible. She gasped with each thrust, her breasts bouncing. Her nails scraped from his shoulder blades down his back until they settled at the top of his buttocks. The sweet pain excited him, quickening the fiery heat coursing through his veins right to his shaft.

  Kayla rose higher off the ground, meeting his thrusts with an increasing tempo while grasping on to him. Her muscles clamped tighter on his swollen cock, the blood flow furiously pounding through it. Her moans grew louder, her grip tightened, and she turned her face onto the mossy groundcover. Her contractions pulsed around him, and she cried out as she covered him with her delicious fluids.

  He paused, savoring the moment still swollen deep inside her as her contractions slowed. If he kept fucking her like that, he would come and he didn’t want their time together to end, yet.

  “Wow,” she said with a heavenly sigh. “That was brilliant.”

  He beamed under her appraisal. “Turn around.”

  She raised her eyebrow with a smoldering gaze, before turning over onto all fours. Her tempting round cheeks were visible in the candle-like glow from the night sky. He swatted one playfully and she turned to cast him a surprised look.

  “Ouch!”

  “You like it,” he retorted. “I know you do.” And smacked the other cheek. “Don’t you?”

  She yelped and then said, “Maybe a wee bit.”

  He leaned over her and reached between her legs to touch her glistening pussy, easily slipping his finger into her wet heat. “Maybe a lot.”

  The beast inside him roared louder, leaving him with only a shard of control. Making love to her on the forest floor was one thing, exquisite, but fucking her like an animal in the cool night air was a different sensation that threatened to rock his being from the inside out. He wanted to taste her again, touch every inch of her, pound into her slick heat until she was begging for mercy.

  “Aye,” she agreed in a rasping voice.

  She leaned forward, her breasts hanging low. He had to touch them.

  He coated the head of his dick with her slick fluids before sliding into her wet channel. She gripped him again with her tight muscles in the way he loved and then relaxed, easing his entry. The deeper he went, the louder the beast inside him roared. When fully in, he moved in and out, pumping her harder with each stroke.

  Her head dropped closer to the grass as he drove into her, pants and moans escaping her each time he drove in. The beast had fully woken, this was what he wanted, and he couldn’t be denied this exquisite pleasure.

  Her moans turned into cries with each frantic thrust. She grasped the grass, pulling at it as her head thrashed fro
m one side and then the other as he pounded into her without restraint.

  “No,” she uttered. “I can’t take it.”

  He paused. “No?”

  After a few exhales, she said, “No, don’t stop,” More panting. “It’s so much. But please don’t stop.”

  Her pleasure through pain excited him. Each time they’d gotten together, he pushed the boundaries a little further. Discovering anything she liked while they made love gave him a thrill. Only he knew this about her, only he could please her this way. He wondered if there were others before him, knew there had been, and a sharp poke seemed to stab him inside his ribcage. No, he wouldn’t think about them. She was his. A wee thing under him, he feared he might break her, yet she wanted all that he gave.

  “You want me to keep fucking you like this?” He grabbed her hair and pulled. “Do you like it when I do this?”

  “Aye!” she cried out.

  He kissed her shoulder and gently bit it. When he reached around to find her swollen clit, she cried out at first, but then relaxed under his strokes. He increased the pressure and her inner walls tensed. A sheen of perspiration covered her back and shoulder blades. He had to be ten thousand degrees himself. She pressed against his fingers, riding his hand and taking control of the pace, raising it to a feverish pitch.

  She yelled out, calling “Oh, Mason. Oh, goddesses.” She collapsed forward, coating his fingers in her sticky-sweet fluids.

  The tightness around him was too much. The pulsing around his muscle too intense. He gripped her hips and drove in deeper. And harder still. The beast wanted all of her. Pleasure raced through him at an uncontrollable speed, pumping through his veins straight to his cock. He exploded, dropping his head when he came, unleashing an animalistic growl as he shot hot jets of fluid deep into her.

  His mouth fell open as he panted for air. His heart must have beat a thousand times a minute. She was covered in a light layer of sweat. He traced his fingers through the glistening wetness, leaving patterns on her skin. Where he had grabbed her had left white marks on her. Hell, he’d been too rough with her.

  “Are you all right?”

  She turned to him and smiled. “Fantastic. Only I doubt I’ll be able to move for a week.”

  The color returned to her skin, but guilt still rushed through him as quick as the blood had rushed to his cock moments before. “Did I hurt you?”

  She rolled onto her back, and dropped a hand to her belly. “In a good way.”

  He closed his eyes. He never should have let the beast in him loose.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I hurt you. That’s the last thing I want to do.”

  “Come here,” she said, raising her arms to him.

  He laid his head against the crook of her neck, careful of his weight pressed on her. Their hearts pounded at a higher rate than normal, still recovering from their session.

  “You didn’t hurt me,” she said, rubbing the back of his neck. “It was somewhat painful, but in a good way. Know what I mean?”

  “I do.” Relief lifted the twinges of regret that were settling on him. He rose onto his forearms and kissed her lips.

  “In case you couldn’t tell, I liked it. I liked it a lot. And if you take it easy on me from here on out, I will be greatly disappointed.” She peered at him with a straight face and then broke into a grin.

  Her smile lit up her face, danced through her eyes, and he couldn’t resist smiling in return. “I’ll take note of that.” Gods, he was falling for her, falling as deeply as into a chasm with no end. “Because I want to be the one to make you happy.”

  “You do, Mason.” She stroked from his cheek to shoulder with such slow deliberation, it left him speechless. “More than you know.”

  After several languid moments where he savored Kayla wrapped in his arms and their legs entangled, she brought him back to the reality they had to face.

  “Have you talked to the others about the wolves?” She propped herself on her forearm and faced him.

  His muscles tensed, their stolen moment in each other’s arms ending. She’d asked him a couple of times when they’d met, but he’d find a way to distract her with more carnal pursuits. “I haven’t,” he admitted. “I wasn’t sure where to begin.”

  “You need to, Mason.” She peered at him with her wide blue eyes. “It’s important. Not only to them. To all of us.”

  “Did you talk to your coven?”

  “I spoke to my mother.”

  “And?”

  “She wasn’t happy at first. I had to leave the part about you out. But she said she’d talk to the elders. She hasn’t as of yet.”

  “I’ll talk to my brothers,” he promised.

  Kayla ran her fingers along a lacy fern and her brows tightened.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Each time I’m with you, I worry it may be the last time.”

  An icy chill ran up his spine. “Why?”

  “All this sneaking around. I don’t know how long we can keep doing it.”

  Her words got him right in the gut. The time he’d actually been jostled by a caber, a tree trunk twenty feet long, during the Highland Games paled in comparison. “What do you mean?”

  “I can’t keep coming up with diversions or sneaking out of gatherings. They’re bound to catch me sooner or later.”

  His insides clenched, churning painfully. If she was ending it—no, he wouldn’t even contemplate it. “We’ll have to find another way to get together.”

  She arched her brows. “How? Neither your clan nor my coven would accept it. It’s impossible.”

  “No, Kayla. We can’t let them keep us apart. You know how I feel about you. I can’t let you go.”

  Her head tilted. “I don’t, actually. How?”

  A burning sensation built through him as he tried to sum up his feelings, which he didn’t even understand himself. It was a good question. He lusted after her like no woman he’d ever met, craved being around her with a compulsion that almost bordered on obsession. But was it love?

  No, he wouldn’t think that way. If she rejected him… He’d sulk away a good and bloody fool and rightly so. Maybe to her he was just a diversion, sexual recreation. And now she was trying to end it.

  “Well?” she prodded.

  “Oh, come on. You already know. I come to meet you every night.”

  She arched a brow. “So you like having sex with me, I gather.”

  He ran his hand over his head. “It’s more than that.”

  “Like?”

  She wouldn’t let it rest, would she? She was going to make him say something. “I’m fond of you.”

  She nodded and said, “Uh huh.” Then she rose to her feet. “How lovely.”

  Anger radiated from her. The quick, snappish way she dressed confirmed it.

  “Don’t be like that,” he added and stood up. “You know what I mean. I’m very fond of you.” He quickly donned his kilt.

  “Well, that’s good,” she said in a flippant tone. “I’d hate for us to risk the ire of our clans if we weren’t fond of each other.”

  “Damn it, Kayla, what do you want me to say? I care about you? You know that already.”

  “How would I know that?” She narrowed her eyes. “I come to you night after night, sneaking away from the coven. It’s not as difficult for you. You have more freedom.”

  “And yet, I still can’t get over to you. There are so many damn spells keeping me out.”

  “You’ve tried?”

  “When I was young.”

  “And what happened?”

  He inhaled. “I got blown onto my arse and felt like a bloody fool, that’s what happened.” When Kayla giggled, he said, “Oh you think that’s funny, do you?” He grabbed her and tickled her sides, and laid her back on the ground.

  “No, Mason,” she pleaded through her laughter. “Don’t.

  “Ticklish?” He straddled her and his hands moved down her body, over her thighs. “Let’s see where e
lse you’re ticklish.”

  “Stop,” she protested, while thrashing around to avoid his probing fingers. “You’re trying to avoid the question.”

  He stopped and pinned her wrists above her head. “And what question was that again?”

  “Don’t play.” She pouted.

  He took a deep breath and exhaled. “What do you want me to say?” He searched her blue eyes. “I’m crazy about you. I think about you all the time.” Releasing her wrists, he leaned on his heels. “I know this whole thing is supposed to be wrong and I wonder what I’m doing. But it doesn’t feel wrong at all. Now that I’ve found you, I don’t want to give you up.”

  She stared at him for a long moment. “I don’t want you to.”

  “What can we do?”

  She shook her head before raising her hands and dropping them. “I don’t know.”

  “We can run off together,” he suggested.

  Her eyes widened before she sat up. “And go where?” She searched the horizon, spreading her arms wide.

  “Anywhere. Leave this isle. Go to the Highlands or the cities. Find someplace where we can blend in.”

  She cast her eyes to the ground. “I know nothing of other lands other than a few hours with you in the Highlands. I’m a witch with a knack for herbal potions. Where will that get me in the modern world?”

  “You’d be skilled in a number of ways. You could work in gardens or in a position helping people with herbal remedies if you wanted a human job. Or we would find a way to live off the land as we have here. Whatever it is, we’ll find a way to adapt.”

  “But what about your brothers? You’ll miss them.”

  “If they won’t accept you, then…”

  Her smile lit up her face. “You’d leave your home, your family for me?”

  “It doesn’t matter where we go as long as I’m with you.”

  “Does this mean you really care about me? This isn’t just some fling?”

  “Of course. It’s real to me. Very real.”

  “Do you love me?” Her voice was just above a whisper.

  His body burned again. Love. Words he’d never said to a female before. Was it possible that these overpowering compulsions to be near and protect her were more than lustful stirrings? Could he be falling in love?