by Lexi Blake
Kaja had almost liked it better when they’d been silent, prowling through the forest to get away from the men who had captured them. Dante had ordered her to return to her wolf form after he’d kissed her. That was a moment she’d loved. His mouth had played across hers, lighting up her skin. He’d needed her in that moment.
He did not need her anymore.
They seemed to be safe in this part of the forest. Perhaps the time had come to explore on her own. These woods were deep, she sensed. She could lose herself here and never be found.
“Kaja.” Dante’s voice had adopted that slightly hard tone he used when he was taking control. That deep tone had Kaja turning her head to focus on him. He was knee-deep in the water. He held his hand out. “Come with me. Take off the shirt, and we’ll get you clean before we bed down.”
That was not a good idea. Though her heart raced at the sight of him waiting for her, it would be smarter to leave. He was playing some sort of game with her. He wanted to be with her, but not forever. Wolves mated for life. She never expected she would get a true mate, but even a mistress had a role in the pack. She wasn’t sure what Dante believed her place to be. He had signed the important things called papers that made her his, but then talked about where he would put her when their mating was done.
She wasn’t sure of anything.
She shook her head. “I do not like the water. I am clean enough.”
When they bedded down for the night, she would sneak away. He would not hear her. He would not look for her. She would watch over both Dante and Meg. She would stay in wolf form, and they would never know that she followed them. When she was sure they were safe, she would disappear. She would stay in these woods and never leave her wolf form. Her two-legged nature would fade, and the wolf would be all that was left. It would be easier. The wolf felt, but not as much as her woman self. The wolf never cried.
She turned to aid Meg in her preparations. Meg was creating a small nest in which to rest. She had gathered leaves and vines to make a bed. Kaja didn’t need it. She would change and be perfectly fine, but Meg obviously wanted a bit of comfort. After the day she’d had, she deserved it.
Kaja was about to lean over and gather leaves from the ground of the forest when a damp hand reached out and grabbed her elbow. She turned and looked up into stern eyes that were the color of the forest. Dante’s jaw was set in a firm line as he towered over her. He was so beautiful it hurt her heart to look at him.
“It wasn’t a question, Kaja.”
She tried to pull her arm away, but he held tight. “I’m tired. I wish to rest.”
It would be easy to refuse, to run, if he didn’t move her in a way she’d never felt before. She’d been sure he wouldn’t come after her when she’d gone to save her gnome captor. She’d stared up at the ogre and realized that death had come for her. She would have gone down fighting, but she would have gone down.
And then he’d been there, yelling at her. His face had been contorted in rage and some strange worry. For her. He was so much smaller than the creature, and he’d only had Kaja to distract the ogre, yet Dante had triumphed. The ogre had fallen.
It had taken a piece of magic to force Dante to his knees.
That was the moment—when Dante had been struck with the nightmare magic that caused his big, beautiful body to shake—when Kaja had known she should leave. She’d felt the howl in her throat. It stuck there because she’d forced her jaw to stay closed, but the mating howl was inside her, and it was only for this man.
She could howl all she liked. He would not answer. He would not even understand what it meant, and if she explained it to him, his eyes would get that soft haze that told her she was an object of pity.
“Please, Kaja.” His gaze was soft on her. “I’ll take care of you. We’ll bed down close to Meg, but I want to spend time with my consort. This is our bonding time. I don’t care that we’re not alone. Meg can ignore it if she doesn’t like it.”
“There aren’t enough earplugs in the world,” Meg complained. Her hands went to her hips as she looked at Dante, obviously trying to keep her eyes on his face. “Now isn’t the time to bond. Like I don’t know what that means. Just lay your ass down and get some sleep. Beck and Cian will be here soon. Then you can paw the poor girl.”
The growl that came from Dante’s throat did all kinds of things to her woman’s parts. Pussy. Dante wanted her to call it a pussy. His fangs grew long. He moved toward Meg, never letting go of Kaja’s arm.
“And when your husbands return, I will have a long discussion with the warrior half about the way his wife places herself between me and my consort. We will discuss why you think you have rights over my consort and your definition of respect.”
Meg’s mouth dropped open, and Kaja didn’t miss the way Meg’s eyes slid away. “Wow, way to Dom a girl, Dante.”
Dante relaxed slightly, his arm curling around Kaja’s waist. He pulled her into the hard plane of his body. He brushed her hair with his nose, breathing deeply as though her scent brought him comfort. “Vampires get possessive of their consorts. Rather like Fae warriors and their bondmates. You should get used to me being a bit more dominant than I was before. And I’m hungry.”
A thrill of fear went through Kaja. Dante was hungry. He needed blood. Her blood.
“Dante, I didn’t even think about that,” Meg said. “Kaja and I ate, but you don’t have any meal pills.”
Kaja didn’t miss the way his chest hitched or the feel of his cock against her thigh. He’d covered the lower portion of his body with hers when he’d begun to talk to Meg. Now his cock lengthened and hardened and caressed her backside.
“I have a consort. That’s all I need.” His nose ran along her hair. He spoke to Meg, but all of his attention seemed to be on Kaja. She’d never felt so attended to, so fixated upon. It was like she was his prey, but he wasn’t going to kill her. That was not his intent. He didn’t want her dead, merely willing to feed his hunger.
He’d saved her life. She did owe him a bit of blood. Without his intervention, she would have stayed in her cage and died when the ogre came. She would never have known what it felt like to be pressed against another body, scents mingling until she couldn’t tell where she ended and Dante began.
“I will feed you,” Kaja said quietly. She was going back on what she knew was right, but she seemed to take every opportunity to stay close to him. She couldn’t seem to help herself. She would pay for this intimacy, but she would have it.
Meg nodded. “There’s some space behind the waterfall. It’s nice, and the moon filters in so you can see. The grass is soft. I found it when I bathed earlier. I’ll stay out here and get some sleep.”
“Come, Kaja.” The command was still there in Dante’s voice, but there was a smoothness now as well.
Still, she hesitated. The pond was so much bigger than the tub. “I can feed you here on land.”
“That’s not what I want, Kaja,” he growled. He placed his forehead to hers and took a long breath. “I’m on edge, sweetheart. Please forgive me. It’s been a long day. I’ll try to explain it to you. This first time is important. I’ve never fed from a woman before. I want it to be special.”
Special. She understood the word, but now she felt it. He’d never fed from a woman before. She’d never been so close to a man before. He’d given her that. He’d been the one to make her feel included. When he commanded her, it made her feel safe and wanted. He seemed to know all of her weaknesses.
Now he said a word that tugged at her.
“Please, Kaja. Come with me. Trust me. I’ll take care of you.”
No one had ever said please to her before. Kaja placed her hand in his.
“I don’t understand your preoccupation with water,” Kaja said, her hand shaking as she pulled the shirt over her head and let it fall to the ground. She hadn’t drowned in the tub, but she still would prefer to not go into the pond. Her feet hit the water. It was slightly cool. The ground under her was a soft sand
. Yes. She sought that magic memory Dante had given her. Sand was the word for this ground. She sank slightly, her toes wiggling around in the soft stuff. It felt nice.
“The water feels good.” Dante drew her out, taking both of her hands in his. “I’ll hire the best swimming coach we can find once we get back to my plane. When you’re comfy, we’ll go to Hawaii. It’s beautiful there, Kaj. We’ll swim and drink and fuck to our hearts’ content. I can show you so many things.”
Tears pricked at her eyes. She wanted so badly to believe him, but he said two different things. There was a part of her that was still waiting for him to hurt her. He could pull her out into the deep part of the water and hold her down. He could kill her.
She might let him, because she didn’t want to live in a world where no one could love her.
“Kaja.” He said her name on a sigh and pulled her close. His hands came up to wipe away her tears. “Don’t cry, Kaj. Please. It kills me. If you don’t want me, I’ll let you go to sleep. I can go hungry for one night. I’ll find something to eat, I promise.”
She wrapped her arms around him, reveling in his feel and his scent. He was a magician. He always knew what to say to her. She sighed and gave up any thought of leaving him. She didn’t really want to. She was stupid. What the pack had said about her was true. She knew her heart would be broken in the end, and she couldn’t walk away. She simply opened herself and practically begged him to love her.
But how could he say yes if she said no?
“I want you, Dante.”
The smile that broke over his face showed off his delicious fangs. They were beautiful, like the rest of the man.
“Oh, baby, you have no idea how glad I am to hear that.” His face turned to granite. “But we have a few things to discuss first. I’ve thought a lot about this, Kaja. Beck is right. I need to put this marriage on a firm footing. You need to understand that you cannot do what you did today.”
“Save you? You do not wish me to save you when…assholes take you and bind you down?” She was proud of herself. Anuses were very important to the Vampire plane. They seemed to speak of them often.
His head shook even as he pulled her close. “That’s not what I mean, love, and you know it. I’m talking about the way you ran away from me when the ogre was attacking. You didn’t bother to tell me what you were doing.”
“I was in my four-legged form,” Kaja said, enjoying deeply the way his flesh slid against hers. “Would you have understood growls and barks? Does your magic cover that?”
She was beginning to understand that magic was created by smart people, but it still seemed to be the right word. Dante had called it technology, but it was magical. Dante’s people were magical.
His hand buried itself in her hair. “You know you could have spoken to me before you changed. You made a choice to put yourself in danger. You made a choice to leave me. It is not acceptable.”
She frowned. She’d known he might be upset, but she’d had her reasons. “Cara was in danger.”
“So were you.” He kept pulling her further in. The water covered her hips now. It was nice and cool. It felt like silk gliding against her skin. “You’re my primary concern. You can’t run off on your own. That’s not the way this marriage is going to work.”
She hadn’t been certain the marriage was going to work at all. “I do not understand what you require of me.”
“I intend to make that clear, love. Put your legs around my waist. Don’t let go.” Dante began to walk with purpose toward the waterfall. Kaja wound her arms around Dante’s neck and her legs found his waist, locking her ankles behind his back. Her heart trilled in her chest as the water hit her hair. The sound filled her ears, a roar that couldn’t be denied.
In an instant, it was over. She was on the other side. The moonlight filtered through the fall of water. She found herself in a silvery alcove with only Dante for companionship. It seemed utterly perfect.
“Do you understand what punishment means, Kaja?” Dante asked, his face perfectly serious.
Yes, she knew that word. She did not particularly like that word. “You will punish me because I tried to save my friend?”
He didn’t seem interested in hurting her. He seemed far more interested in inhaling her. She didn’t move to get away from him because his hands held her tenderly and his nose ran all along her neck. If this was his version of punishment, she might have to be bad more often. He kept one hand around her waist, and the other gripped her backside. She liked the way he cupped her rear. It made her pussy feel achy and wanting. Oh, he worked some magic on her.
“Not for saving your friend, love,” Dante murmured into the flesh of her neck. His tongue came out and licked a line from her collarbone to her earlobe. “I’m going to punish you for not discussing it with me. But first, I’m going to explain how this relationship is going to work. You’re going to obey me in the important things, Kaja. I’m not going to tell you what to do every minute of the day, but when your life is on the line, you will mind me, or this will happen.”
Dante picked her up, his arms going under her knees and around her back, and began walking to the shore. Kaja held on and shivered as the cool night air hit her skin. She wasn’t sure what was happening, but he’d been nothing but tender so far. She was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
And she liked the way he carried her. She felt small and light when he held her in his strong arms. She let her head drift to his shoulder. His skin was on the cool side, but still felt smooth and comforting to her.
The small cave seemed intimate and a bit romantic to Kaja. It was like the rest of the world had fallen away and left behind only her and Dante. They were the only ones in this small world.
Dante walked with purpose toward a large rock that jutted from the side of the cave. He sat down and tipped her face up to look at his. His eyes had taken on a glow. He looked alien in the silvery light. She was beginning to understand that he was two-natured as well. There was the happy, funny Dante, and this man, the powerful First. The First lay buried until he showed himself with fangs and claws and these eyes. The color bled, leaving no white behind. His eyes glowed a bit and threatened to pull her in. Kaja felt herself get caught by his stare.
“I won’t allow you to put yourself in danger.” His voice had taken on that deep tone she associated with the First. “Place yourself across my lap with your ass in the air.”
Now she hesitated. “I do not understand.”
“Then let me explain, sweetheart.” He picked her up, his hands circling her waist. He proved his strength and agility by neatly flipping her over.
Kaja found the world upended. She was staring at the ground, her naked ass high in the air. She felt vulnerable, her body completely under his control. She shivered in the slight chill. And then she was howling because something sharp slapped the tender flesh of her backside. It lit her ass like lightning. Kaja kicked, trying to get away.
Dante used one big hand to hold her down. “No. You’re not getting away from me. You’re going to accept your punishment.”
She did not like this punishment at all. Dante’s hand rained down on her. Over and over he smacked at her flesh. Tears pricked at Kaja’s eyes. She thought about changing. If she changed forms, he would not be able to hold her. She thought about running, but something was happening to her. Her flesh sparked when he struck her, but then he slowed his slaps. In between, Kaja began to feel a sweet heat invading her flesh, as though the very cessation of pain turned into a sharp, aching pleasure.
It was not so bad. It was starting to feel like something good.
“That’s right, love.” Dante’s voice was rich like the honey that sometimes dripped from beehives in summertime. “Relax. Take what I give you.”
His hand came down again, slapping a fleshy part of her ass. This time his hand stayed there, smoothing the hurt. The pain sank in, and she felt a different ache begin.
“Shit, Kaja, baby, I can smell you. You’re getting w
et.” His fingers delved into the crease of her ass. Kaja moaned at the touch. “You’re getting wet and ready to get fucked.”
It did seem that way. She couldn’t control her response.
Dante slapped at her ass, harder this time. “You’re not getting it right now. Not until you apologize sweetly and promise to never do it again.”
His fingers ran down the seam of her ass, and she felt a gentle touch to her pussy. It made her wiggle and writhe.
Another smack. This one echoed through the small cave. “No moving. This is my time.”
His time? It felt like her time. She struggled to breathe as he played with her. His fingers burrowed into her pussy, first one, and then two. He traced all of her female parts. Kaja could feel herself getting wet. The juice seemed to come from somewhere deep inside. That place inside was demanding more, but Kaja held still. The First wanted her to remain still, to let him…play.
She liked to play.
“Fuck, you’re so creamy and ready.” Dante groaned as he slid a finger inside her. Fucking. He’d called it fucking. He was doing it with his finger, but she could feel the hard line of his cock poking at her belly. It throbbed beneath her, yet still he played. “Tell me you want this, Kaj.”
She liked when he called her Kaj. It seemed so sweet and familiar. It was something no one else had ever called her. No one had ever said her name, much less given her a sweet, secret name. “I want this.”
She wasn’t sure she wanted to want it, though. It would only make things harder, but she couldn’t deny herself this pleasure. Her heart, it seemed, was as foolish as the pack had said she herself was. Her heart simply wanted. Her mind could see the ache coming, but her heart demanded what would surely hurt her in the end.
But at least, just once, she would pretend to be loved.
Dante spread his knees apart and moved her between his legs. She found herself kneeling on the sand beneath him, looking up into his eyes. She held on to his knees to find her balance.
