Tarnished Knight: Grimm's Circle, Book 4

by Shiloh Walker

  Blood pounded in my ears.

  He tugged on one nipple restlessly, teased it while he kissed and nipped a stinging trail over to the other. When he caught it between his teeth and bit down, the pleasure blistered through me.

  I wanted to tell him to slow down—I needed him to. I needed a second…just five seconds to breathe…

  Then he shifted his focus lower. He tore my panties off and dropped the shredded silk to the floor. When he caught me behind one leg, I started to wobble. I would have fallen if he hadn’t braced me. Would have fallen all over him and I still might, because then he pressed his mouth against me and licked me. One long slow lick that opened me.

  Harsh, panting breaths exploded out of me. He curled his tongue around my clit and sucked it into his mouth. Then he slid his hand up my inner thigh and pushed two fingers inside me. Still suckling on my clit, he started to fuck two fingers in and out of my pussy, and I shattered.

  I keened out his name and my other knee buckled.

  “Again,” Jack snarled, surging to his feet and fisting a hand in her hair. He jerked her head back, covered her mouth with his and swallowed her groan.

  Even though he’d driven her to shattering climax only hours ago—not that long ago, truly—it seemed like he’d been waiting years, decades, an eternity, to hold her. The hours they’d spent together earlier hadn’t even taken the edge off.

  He needed her so much it blew his mind.

  He needed more. So much more.

  “Damn it, I want to see that again…fuck, you’re so beautiful.”

  She shuddered in his arms, that long, willowy body arching against his, and he felt the press of her belly against his cock. He cupped her ass and lifted her up. Through the thin, worn cotton of his workout shorts, he could feel how hot she was and he was dying to be inside her, to feel her coming around him this time.

  He put her down and had a moment’s satisfaction as she wobbled and slammed her hands against the wall to balance herself. Then he was too busy dealing with his shorts and the aching burn in his cock. Long, agonizing seconds later, he reached for her, only to freeze and swear, long, viciously and raggedly.

  “Fuck. Condoms. In the house…forgot them earlier, but…”

  Perci’s lashes lifted and she gave him a slow smile. “You don’t need them. You’re healthy. I’d know if you weren’t. And you have no need to use them with me.”

  It should have cooled the fire in his veins. He knew who she was—what she was. Part of him still wanted to rage at her…why in the hell couldn’t she just be normal?

  Normal? You mean like you are?

  And even as he held still, he saw the flicker of her lashes, saw the minute tensing of her shoulders as she braced herself. Almost as though she’d been following his train of thought, but could she do that?

  Shit. He couldn’t walk away from her. It just wasn’t possible. For some reason, fate had put her in his life and right now, he needed her. Right now…always.

  Swearing, he curled one arm around her waist and lifted her. She was so slender, so slim but strong. Her legs came around his hips, gripped him as he pressed the head of his cock against the slick, swollen entrance of her pussy.

  “This is insane,” he muttered against her mouth. “You know that? Insane…”

  “Yes. Shut up. Just shut the hell up and fuck me,” she panted.

  It should have sounded so wrong listening to that pretty mouth making that demand. To his surprise, he managed a painful laugh and bit her lip. “Is that any way for an angel to talk?”

  She bit his lip. “Jack…”

  “Impatient.” He leaned into her, pressed his brow against hers. “Damn it, you’re hot.”

  “And you’re too slow…” She wiggled against him, arched her back and tried to rock against him.

  Deliberately, he pulled back. “Don’t women like it slow?”

  Perci swore and slammed her head back against the concrete wall.

  Jack winced, but it didn’t even faze her. A devious look crept into her eyes.

  Instinctively, Jack shifted his hold, hooked her knees over his arms, taking her leverage away. “Don’t rush me,” he whispered against her lips. And then he started to sink inside. This time, damn it, this time he was going to enjoy it. Enjoy her.

  “Watch,” he muttered, tearing his mouth away from hers and lowering his gaze, watching as he slowly, oh-so-slowly sank inside her. She stretched tight around him, and the sight of it was so damn hot he could feel his balls drawing tight, could feel the burn, the need to climax already starting to build.

  Perci’s breath sobbed out of her and he shifted his gaze upward, saw that she’d been watching too. “Fucking hot, yeah?” he muttered, watching her face.

  “Hmm.” Her lashes, thick and black but tipped with golden-red, fluttered over her eyes and she lifted her head up. Her face was flushed, her mouth swollen from his. Her dark brown eyes glowed with heat…and she stared at him as though mesmerized.

  A rush of tenderness swamped him and he released her legs, drew her close, cradled her close. “Damn it, you’re doing things to me, Perci. What in the hell are you doing to me?”

  “Nothing more than what you’re doing to me. Kiss me, Jack.” She turned her face to his, teased his lips with her tongue.

  Groaning, he opened his mouth as he slid one hand down her side and cupped her ass.

  She clenched around him, hot, tight—slick.

  Her fingers trailed up his back, dipped in his hair, tangled there. The other hand curled into his shoulder, and as he stroked deep and hard, her nails tore into his flesh, a sweet, burning pain.

  “Harder,” she begged against his mouth. “Please…”

  Jack shuddered. “Fuck, I don’t wanna hurt you.”

  “You won’t.” She arched closer, ground her hips against his and his eyes damn near crossed.

  Too fucking hot—too much. Damn it, damn it, damn it. His muscles bunched, his body ached with the need to drive hard…deep.

  “Please…”

  Aw, hell.

  Control disintegrated, and with a savage growl, Jack slammed into her. Perci cried out. He froze—

  “Are you okay?”

  She curled an arm around his neck and jerked him close, sinking her teeth into his lower lip. “Don’t you fucking stop,” she snarled at him. “Don’t you…”

  The next words died in her throat as he drove into her again and again, slamming into her hard, fast, driving into her with a force he’d never dared use with a lover before.

  Perci sobbed out his name and begged for more, pleaded with him not to stop. Her nails tore up the flesh on his arms and back, her mouth sought out his, hungry, avid and desperate.

  She came once, twice—so hard, so fucking tight, he had to fight just to get back inside her, and it was bliss. Nirvana and perfection and torment, because when she walked away, he knew he’d never touch a woman without feeling her, tasting her, wanting her.

  As she shuddered around him, he felt the warning burn race down his spine, knew he couldn’t fight it any longer. “Damn it, Perci.”

  She plunged her tongue into his mouth and he bit her. As she bucked against him, he started to come, hard, vicious…unending.

  “All my life,” he muttered blindly against her mouth. “I feel like I’ve been waiting all my life for you…longer.”

  It was insanity, he knew it. And he’d never meant anything more.

  Chapter Ten

  We finally did make it to the shower. Jack insisted on washing me, and I was fine with that. As long as I got to return the favor. He had the most amazing body. Those wide shoulders, that deep, muscled chest…why in the hell was I so hot over him? Guys like him had never done it for me before…

  Of course, guys like him weren’t him.

  And there really weren’t guys like him. Jack was one of a kind, and his body was only the beginning, I suspected. But it was such a nice beginning. I could have spent hours, days, longer enjoying it. And I would, I
decided. Wasn’t like we wouldn’t have time together. We had plenty of time—

  Time.

  Oh, my dear one. You have plenty of time.

  Those words echoed through Persinette’s head as she paced her prison. Locked away in the tower, sick in both body and soul, each day, she prayed that Luc would return.

  Even as she feared it.

  What would happen if he returned and found Cosette mad?

  Mad.

  Mad didn’t describe her. The woman’s grief had driven her insane, and it was pushing her to grievous sins. Like Jacques—

  Persinette wanted to weep as she recalled what had been done to him. He had been so focused on her—yet another sin Persinette must bear. His death was at her feet and his blood was on her soul.

  He had tried to help her.

  Tried to take the healing from her, and somehow, Persinette knew that Cosette had planned that. The child had been so hurt though.

  So grievously hurt…

  Persinette hadn’t been able to turn her back on that battered, broken body. So small. The boy had been so small, and the pain had wracked Persinette, screamed through and torn into her with angry claws. Yet she had known, in the depths of her soul, she could save the child.

  Despite the baby she carried, she hadn’t been able to walk away. But the healing had taken a terrible toll.

  When Jacques had come to her, rested his hands on her shoulders and told her, “Push the pain into me, madam. Release the pain into me.”

  She hadn’t wanted to do it—hadn’t thought she could.

  “You can…take my hand, release the pain. It will flow into me. You cannot bear this pain without risking your health, the health of your child.”

  And so she had tried. With tears in her eyes, she had taken his big, scarred hand and she had tried…tried to release the pain. It had been so simple. So very simple.

  For a few, brief moments, then his body, strong and powerful, had crumpled.

  Persinette had been rising from her sickbed, had watched in horror as four of Cosette’s men had come in and held Jacques’s helpless body in place. Another had welded an ax. She hadn’t moved with enough haste to stop them. Two more men had emerged, catching her as she screamed, heedless of the child she carried.

  And Cosette had stood there, laughing, as Persinette stared in shock at Jacques’s lifeless, beheaded body.

  No…

  “My dear one. You have plenty of time now. And no protector to keep you from me while you think about what you have cost me. When my son returns, perhaps he’ll suffer the same fate. Perhaps he will not.”

  Then her gaze dropped to the ripening swell of Persinette’s belly. “I have not yet decided what I shall do about the child you carry. Something I must think on…”

  Persinette stared at Cosette. “You cannot do this.”

  “Yes. I can.” And then she glanced at her men.

  Persinette was dragged kicking and screaming out of the room, and when she landed one solid blow on one of her captors, she was struck in the belly.

  Cringing inward, she went still.

  The child…she had to protect the child.

  Jacques was no longer there to protect her. And Luc…Luc was still away. She was alone—

  I was crying, I realized. Lying in Jack’s arms and crying.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked me softly.

  I shuddered and blew out a breath. “Memories.”

  Old, old memories…where had they come from?

  Poison…

  Will had spoken of releasing the poison. But I didn’t want to release this poison.

  Shaking it off, I sat up and wiped the tears from my face. Over my shoulder, I looked at Jack’s face. He was in shadow, all but those misty gray eyes. So familiar, those eyes.

  “Bad memories,” I murmured.

  He sat up and curled his big body around mine, rested his hands on my thighs, a sheltering, warm cave. “I imagine you got a lot of those.”

  “Bad memories?” I didn’t have to think about it. “Not as many as some. I’ve never let myself get close to many people. All these come from…well, before.”

  “When you were still human.”

  I sighed and covered his hands with mine. “Jack, how do you know so much about us?”

  “I already told you. I just know.”

  Resting my head against his shoulder, I stared off into the darkened room. He didn’t feel like he was lying. If he was lying, I think I’d glimpse something of that—I was good at that. All of us were. But nothing on him tasted of a lie, felt of it.

  It felt like truth.

  “How can you just know?”

  I felt his shrug. He reached up, toyed with my pendant. “I just do.”

  He sighed and I felt it against my back. Although my gift had never been keyed into emotions, I felt a weight in his chest when asked, “How come you’re in my life right now, Perci? How much longer until Will pulls you away?”

  Closing my eyes, I searched inside myself for the answer.

  How did I tell him this?

  Gently, I eased out of his arms and then turned and knelt across his thighs. I slid my hand through his black hair, once, twice, fisted in it. Then I let go and smoothed it back from his face. “You know what I am. And you know I was human once. Right?”

  “Yeah.” He shrugged, a restless move of wide shoulders. “I gotta admit, I’m kind of wracking my brain trying to figure out just who you might be too.”

  I narrowed my eyes, studying his face. Interesting… “Damn, you really do know a lot.”

  “Don’t ask me how.” He slanted a grin at me. “I just know. I don’t know how.” He stroked a hand up my back, one of those absent, gentle touches that said, I’m touching you just because I need to.

  It made me melt inside. It also made it damn hard to concentrate on what he saying.

  “I was going to get online and figure it out, but you keep showing up.”

  “Figure it out?” I echoed. Then I snorted. “Shit, you think you’ll find a bio of me online?”

  Jack’s eyes came back to me. “Will called you by your name. Your real name. I think I’d find something if I looked around some…Persinette.”

  Shit.

  Interesting? Hell. That didn’t even touch it. How did he know so much?

  Tired, I snuggled against him and rested my head against one wide shoulder. I’d figure that out later, I guess. I didn’t really have to know—I wanted to, but it wasn’t crucial.

  However, the talk we needed to have, that was crucial, and it would be easier if he would trust me. Maybe the best way to establish some level of trust would be to give him…something.

  I reached up and stroked my finger down a scar he had over his chest—all too close to his mortal heart, I thought. Too, too close.

  “So you want to know who I am, huh?”

  “I’m curious, yeah.”

  I remembered a few days earlier when I’d gotten my hair cut. I don’t remember when I’d started doing that—growing it out just to get it whacked off. There was something weirdly satisfying about it, although I don’t know what.

  Cosette hadn’t let me bathe, hadn’t allowed me clean clothes, or even bath water. By the time Luc found me I was barely a step away from an animal. After, when I became a Grimm, the first thing I did was cut my hair. Short, as short as I could. For years after, that was how I kept it. Sometime in the past hundred years or so was when I’d started growing it out just to cut it off.

  And Luc teased me, just to see me smile a little.

  The similarities between the tale of Rapunzel, and the earlier adaption of Persinette and my own story weren’t really all that similar. But they didn’t need to be, not really. The point of the fairy tales had always been to draw attention away from the real events.

  And Sina had been quite clever spinning the tale of Persinette the way she had. It had been written just a few years before my entire life went straight to hell, but I’d much rather people
think my mother had some cravings and that’s what led to me being locked up in a tower than the truth. I didn’t want anybody knowing the truth.

  I didn’t even want to know the truth.

  But I’d have to share some of it with Jack.

  Sighing, I said, “You ever heard the story about Rapunzel?”

  Jack lifted a brow. Then he combed a hand through my shorn locks.

  “As in Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair?”

  “Yeah.” I smirked. “I bet you’re thinking, what hair? Although, really, Jack. People can get haircuts, you know.” I continued to trace the scar on his chest.

  “There was an older story before that one. Rapunzel was based on that story. It was called Persinette.”

  Persinette…

  Her voice, soft and low, reverberated through him. Her accent had thickened, but Jack had no trouble understanding her.

  Persinette…

  Blood roared in his ears. His heart raced. Every muscle in his body tensed and he squeezed his eyes closed, tried to focus, because Perci was speaking.

  But he couldn’t hear a damn word she said.

  Suddenly, he was seeing her on a bed, her body wracked with pain and face tight and contorted…

  Push the pain into me, madam. Release the pain into me. You can…take my hand, release the pain. It will flow into me. You cannot bear this pain without risking your health, the health of your child.

  And she had gripped his hand.

  Pain gripped him, shuddered through him…and her face eased.

  Then abruptly, horror flooded her eyes and pain tore through him again. Then everything ceased—

  “Jack?”

  Swearing, he shook his head and made himself focus on her face, stare into her eyes. They were dark, dark with worry, with regret and fear… Fear of what? That he’d walk? Yeah. He suspected that was exactly what she feared. But how in the hell could he walk away from her?

  “Rapunzel, huh?”

  It was the only thing he could come up with, and once more, he found himself staring at her close-cropped, red-gold hair. And thinking that he knew exactly how she would look if that hair hung past her slender hips.