by Alex Lidell
Stars.
One moment, Shade was certain he’d had her as taut as a violin string, his hand rushing through her blazing sex at his will.
And then, as fast as a bloody viper, she’d reversed it all.
Lera’s hands tangled in his hair, her legs wrapping around his bare waist, her breasts full and so close to his mouth that he’d have taken her nipple between his lips if only they weren’t currently occupied with hers. Whatever thoughts Shade’s mind had still managed to hang on to exploded to shreds that little cared for anything but what was before him. Who was before him.
His mate.
12
Lera
My body blazes as I wrap my legs around Shade’s hard waist, my hands twining through his thick black hair. His soft lips and hard hands claim me, my tongue tracing his dangerously elongated canines, my heart pounding against my ribs. The water’s slightly sulfurous taste tangles with Shade’s earthy scent, drowning out the world.
Shade’s calloused hands cup my backside, strong fingers digging into my skin. I can feel him, his hardness bulging against his breeches and pressing against my aching sex. He did this, kindled this flame that now consumes me. This mind-churning need that glazes over my eyes, these jolts of desire that make my thighs quiver, this abyss of frustration. My fingers curl against Shade’s shoulder, my fingernails digging mercilessly into his flesh.
Mine, my body screams. My male. My fire. My time to take.
The only sounds are harsh breathing and trickling water.
It drips from our bare skin, the moist air tickling my face, my neck, the tops of my aching breasts, as Shade walks us to the edge of the pool, never taking his mouth off mine. His pants are heavy with wetness, and I shove my heel into the waistband as he sets me on the pool’s lip, laying my discarded shirt down to soften the smooth stone.
Unwrapping one hand from Shade’s neck, I reach for his hardness, bearing it so roughly that he growls against my mouth. Stars, Shade is large. Hard and wide and so long, I can little understand how the male can even wear pants. The vibrations in his chest race through me, alerting each nerve to the male’s claim. My breath quickens in response, blood rushing to my thighs, my core, my sex.
I bite his lip, rejoicing in his sudden wakeful jolt.
Gripping my sides, Shade shoves my back onto the stone while he remains standing in the bubbling pool. I tighten my legs around his waist, greedily watching water slither down his heaving chest, the grooves of his muscled abdomen, the narrow cut of his hips. He kicks his pants away. His cock rises hungrily, so tan and velvety smooth that a small moan of impatience escapes my throat. His beautiful face is intense with focus, its angles looking carved out of warm stone in the candlelight, his golden eyes glowing. My backside tightens, pressing harder against him as his hard cock brushes my dripping slit.
Shade’s eyes flash, his nostrils flaring with a feral intent that sends another bolt of lightning through me. Bracing his forearms against my knees, Shade breaks my legs’ hold on his waist with one strong pump of his hands and holds my tingling thighs open before him.
The sudden rush of air against my swollen sex is an agony of deprivation, and my body roars, already feeling his phantom fullness. I buck.
Shade bares his teeth. His eyes narrow on my slick opening, the tip of his tongue brushing his teeth hungrily. He pushes my thighs wider, making it impossible to so much as clench the aching lips of my sex. I writhe, my hands and heels digging into the stone, my hips bucking as my body seeks a way to reclaim its grip on his.
I don’t see Shade’s hand move until I feel a sharp slap against my raised backside, the crack of his palm against my wet flesh echoing through the chamber. I cry out as prickles of fire explode over my skin, spider-webbing through my flesh. Before I can close my thighs, Shade has my legs up on his shoulders, his hand rubbing away the lingering sting. The heat radiating from the male makes the hot spring seem chill in comparison.
Shade’s fingers run the length of my slit, the slick, steady pressure making me moan. The fingers stop.
So does my breath.
Locking his eyes on mine, Shade plunges one finger inside me and rotates it leisurely. My eyes widen.
“You,” I demand through gritted teeth. “I want you. All of you, damn it.”
Shade’s teeth flash, and he leans down, his tongue flickering mercilessly against my bud. Once, twice, stars. Each tiny lap of his tongue shoves me an inch closer to the edge of an abyss. His teeth graze the spot his tongue just visited, and I shout, my voice echoing through the chamber.
“Tight,” Shade growls, lifting his head as a second finger enters me. A third. Pulling out, Shade spreads open my sex, positioning his dripping cock at my opening. His eyes grip mine.
My heart speeds in anticipation. An intoxicating mix of fear and need seizes my lungs. I try to grip the stone with slick hands. It will hurt. I know it will. The first time with a man always does, and the sheer size of Shade seems impossible to accept.
“Lera.” My name on Shade’s lips has me pressing into him without thought.
He thrusts, the length of him filling me, striking deep inside.
I gasp at the perfect fullness, even as a ripple of pain pierces my flesh.
Shade stills, his hands suddenly cupping my face, his eyes blazing with a feverish need. He pants but stays motionless. “Did I hurt you, cub?”
“No. Yes.” I shudder. Shade’s hardness inside me fills an emptiness I never knew existed even as it stretches my tender flesh. “I . . .”
His eyes widen, their golden irises flashing in the dim candlelight. “It is your first time,” he whispers. “Stars.”
“Don’t stop,” I say.
“Never.” He rises above me, one hand gripping my backside and lifting me off the stone, his other hand finding my apex and rubbing in a way that chases the soreness into a pulsing need. Pleasure washes over me in slowly growing waves until I ride up against Shade again, urging him back into motion.
His eyes glaze over, his nostrils flaring as he pulls back just enough to thrust obligingly, the great length of him sliding along my slickness. He thrusts again. Again. Harder. Faster. His cock pounding, the wet slap of flesh against flesh echoing through the cavern. His thumb flicks against my bud until I’m panting and moaning so loud, I can’t catch my breath.
Each slam of him ripples through me, each vibration more powerful than the last. His fingers move quickly along my sex at the same time, building my pleasure until I shout. Beg. “Shade . . .” Just saying his name is a struggle. “Please. Shade!”
“Wait for it,” he pants. “Soon.”
“I can’t,” I whimper, waves of pleasure cascading through my core, hot and gripping, tingling down the length of my slick thighs.
“Almost.” He pulses inside me, his cock fuller and harder than moments ago. “Come for me, Lera,” he commands, his thumb skimming across my nub one final time. “Come now.”
Pent-up sensations crash through me like an avalanche, my body tightening in a glorious agony that has me shouting Shade’s name as he shouts mine, his thick warmth spilling into my belly. Gasping, I feel my backside collapse back down onto the shirt-covered stone, echoes of energy still rippling through my body.
“Cub.” Shade breathes harshly as he wraps his arms around me, lowering me back into the tub to cradle me against him. His hands run over my back and thighs. I rest my head on his hard chest, listening to his heart pounding in rhythm with mine, our breath and hearts the only sounds for a long moment.
“Are you very sore?” he asks quietly.
I nuzzle my cheek against his warm skin. “It was exquisitely worth it.”
He places his palm just below my abdomen and a magic as soft as a spider’s silk caresses me, sinking into my body with a soothing sigh. “Better? You need not worry about offspring with a fae and human. There is that too.”
“There are undeniable advantages to having a knowledgeable and experienced healer wolf around.” I grin
up at him, frowning as I catch his jaw tensing at my words.
“There are disadvantages to having one of those around too,” Shade whispers, suddenly avoiding my eyes.
“Like what?”
“We’ll discover soon enough, I’m sure.” He rubs his hand over his face. “Whatever stupid things I do in the next while, just know that I’m sorry.”
13
Lera
I wake to a pleasant soreness, rays of sunlight pricking my eyes. The white sheets of my soft four-poster bed are cool against my cheek, and small puffs of warm, wolfish breath tickle the back of my neck. Last night’s adventures are a warm haze in my core, and I little remember getting back from the baths. As for what we did in that hot spring . . . My body tingles in memory of last night, the corners of my mouth tugging up as I reach to brush the wolf’s fur.
“You know what’s nice about this morning, lass?” Tye drawls from the doorway. Letting himself into my bedchamber, he strides casually to the very same windowsill that Shade vaulted over in yesterday’s escape and perches himself atop it. Tye’s long fingers interlace behind his head, his biceps bulging under a thin white undershirt. His red hair is mussed, his silver earring glinting in the sunlight.
“What?” I say warily.
“That someone is in deep trouble, and for once, it’s not me.”
I sit up in bed, tugging the blanket to cover my bare chest and crossing my arms. Shade, damn him, wisely stays in wolf form. It’s an effort of will to remind myself that Tye can’t read my thoughts. Or my memories. “Have you heard of knocking?”
The smile on Tye’s lips widens, his nostrils flaring delicately. “The door is beside the point.” He drops his voice. “I can smell it on you from out there, Lilac Girl. We all can.”
Flames consume my face, mixing together with a stomach-clenching guilt. My gaze darts around in search of a dark hole to hide in and comes up empty. I stick my chin into the air, in hopes that my mind will catch up with my show of confidence. I asked Tye to bed me after the piranha battle, and he—the male who thinks a bed filled with any fewer than two beings is a criminal waste of space—declined, wanting the whole quint present for our first joining.
Things didn’t turn out that way, clearly.
“Fine. You smell it.” I swallow, making myself meet Tye’s gaze. “My bedding decisions are not a democratic process. And are, therefore, none of your bloody business.”
“What, none at all of my business?” Tye purrs, the glint in his green eyes growing even brighter. “That could be up for debate, though perhaps not this very morning. At any rate, I didn’t really come here to watch you squirm, lass. I came to watch that flea-bitten stray squirm. And to tell him that if he thinks remaining in wolf form is going to save him from River’s wrath, he is very much mistaken.”
“I repeat,” I say, my voice firmer. “My bedding decisions are—”
“It isn’t your bedding decisions that anyone is questioning.” Tye’s voice drops its humor. “It’s Shade’s. And no, he doesn’t get to make certain choices alone.” Hopping down from the windowsill, Tye strides toward the bed and addresses the wolf directly. “Friendly advice, Shade. Get the hell out of here before River decides he’s not going to wait until Lera awakens, and comes in here himself.”
I frown.
A flash of light has Shade sitting in my bed, his broad shoulders shifting with a heavy sigh. “Thank you, Tye.” His eyes dart to me for a moment before finding the floor. “But unlike fine wine, River’s temper isn’t going to improve with time. I might as well get it over with now.”
Tye winces. “I wouldn’t want to be in your place.”
Wrapping a sheet around myself, I slide off the bed and stalk to the door, the stone floor cold and uneven beneath my feet. Instead of making a swipe for me, Tye moves to the other side of the room, which is odd in itself—as is the rest of this morning. Closing the latch, I turn to face both males. “What don’t I know?”
Tye snorts. “A great many things. In this case, however, I imagine it isn’t so much a lack of knowledge as a lack of appreciation that the fleabag on your bed is a predator. Shade’s wolf mated with you last night.”
I press my lips together. “Yes, I was there.”
“Not just bedded, cub.” Shade’s voice is a low rumble. “Mating is more, well, permanent.”
Fire rakes through me as I wheel on the shifter. With me standing and him sitting on the bed, I can for once look him in the eye. “And did you not think I might want a say in the matter?”
“Shade didn’t get a choice—why should you?” Tye says in such a reasonable tone that my fingers curl into fists. Tye’s eyes flick to my clenched hands and he holds up his own, palms facing toward me. “I said Shade’s wolf mated. It’s an instinct, and it asks no one’s opinion. It places no obligation on you.”
I stalk over to the dresser. Clothes. I want clothes. And coffee. And a much better explanation than this charade. “If that were true, Tye, Shade wouldn’t be in trouble, now would he?” I grab a set of undergarments and put them on beneath the cover of my bedsheet, ignoring the males’ amused stares.
“I knew how close the mating bond was.” Shade rises to his feet and rubs his face, his smoothly muscled body sending a familiar—and currently unwanted—need through my core. He slips into his black pants, still damp from last night. “I should have made it a point to stay away from you. At least until we could work out a plan.”
“A plan for what?” I demand, tying the sash around my burgundy uniform tunic and bracing my hands on my hips.
“A plan for this.” With no warning, Tye rushes forward and tackles me smoothly to the floor. His hands cup the back of my head, cushioning my fall, but there isn’t time for more than that before a wolf’s deadly growl pierces the room.
I gasp as Tye is knocked off me with enough force to make the redhead wince at the impact. Sitting up, I find Shade’s wolf pinning Tye to the floor, white, salivating fangs snapping at the male’s jugular.
“Stop!” I scream, my heart pounding. This is not a friendly fight, but a true, fevered assault.
Tye jerks and Shade’s teeth miss his neck, piercing his shoulder instead. Blood soaks through Tye’s tunic at once, dripping to the stone floor.
Fists pound against my latched door, and I sprint to open it, my breath catching as River and Coal burst inside.
River strides to the fighting pair, gray eyes thunderous, command oozing off him like a thick fog. “Leralynn, get out,” he orders without looking at me.
I open my mouth to object, but Coal herds me out into the corridor, shutting the door behind us. Through the thick walls, I hear River command Shade to shift, the order so filled with power that even I shudder from the words’ impact.
Something crashes.
“Move away.” Coal pushes me toward the common room. Unlike me, tousled and still barefoot, the male is already crisply dressed and painfully handsome in his full uniform and black boots, his hair pulled back into a tight bun. He is also his usual, talkative self. “Your scent is little helping.”
“My scent should be my own bloody business,” I mutter. Sitting down on the leather sofa, I flinch at the crashes and grunts echoing from my bedchamber.
A few moments later, Shade—once more in his fae form—storms out of my room and exits the suite altogether, slamming the door in his wake. River and Tye walk out next, Tye bare to the waist and pressing a towel against his shoulder as he settles on the couch beside me.
I reach toward him tentatively, relief flooding my body when he permits me to brush my fingers along his skin. “Was that because of me?” I whisper.
“That was Shade’s wolf protecting his mate,” River says curtly. His face is hard, making me sink further into the couch.
Tye places his good arm on my knee and shifts slightly to break the line of sight between me and River. “I goaded Shade on purpose, River. It was the easiest way to show Lilac Girl what a wolf’s mating means.” He offers me a smile.
“It may seem like I think with nothing but my cock, but occasionally a thought does visit my head.”
“Today was not one of those occasions,” River snaps, pinching the bridge of his nose. His eyes survey the room, coming to rest on me in a long, stony stare. “Tye, wait until Shade cools off and then have him see to your shoulder. Leralynn, if you can manage without breakfast, I’d like us to claim the practice arena while the other trainees are still getting up and about. The senior quints have the authority to make us yield it, but I doubt anyone but Malikai will force the issue.”
“What exactly are we going to the practice arena for?” I ask, already getting up to retrieve my boots.
“To train your magic, of course,” says River.
I trip over my own feet.
14
River
The sun had just risen over the eastern Citadel wall, casting thin golden light across the empty square. A light breeze filled River’s nose with Leralynn’s lilac scent, making their walk from the trainee dormitories to the practice arena an exercise in self-control. She was in uniform, the fitted black trousers clinging to her hips in a sensual way that the tailor had never intended, her wine-red tunic slightly too large and showing the tops of her full breasts through the open V-necked collar. She’d braided her hair on one side, the neatly twisted strands like gleaming fire in the sun.
Just looking at the girl made River hard—which was not conducive to the day’s plans. River tried to take shallow breaths, but it little helped. Leralynn’s scent washed over him again and again. Potent, pulsing—and drenched with Shade.
