Dark Heat

by Leigh Wyndfield

  "No,” she gasped, but part of her thought maybe she was a liar.

  "Then I'll be gentle.” He released her immediately, stepping away, leaving her feeling as if she just missed something that she might regret for the rest of her life. After all, she only had until morning, and she'd be gone.

  "May I unbutton your dress?” In a flash, the aggression was gone, the purr in his voice returning.

  "Yes.” She realized she was still pressed against the wall, her body wanting his so badly, she couldn't seem to gather the energy to turn to him.

  At her back, gentle hands slid buttons from their eyes, the action so slow and methodical, she had to stretch to release some of the tension. The motion screamed of her need, but she was too far gone to stop it. It has to be the magic, his power matching mine. That can be the only explanation for this.

  When he had enough buttons undone, he pushed the fabric of her dress off her shoulders to pool around her waist and ran powerful hands in a long stroke down her bare back. His shirt rustled as he shrugged out of it, then his naked chest pressed against her skin, dragging a whimper from her.

  "Oh yes. Perfect. I knew you were perfect the first time you touched me.” His voice lapped against her naked skin, edgy and rough.

  The words swirled inside her, lifting her higher, filling her with confidence the likes of which she'd never had before. This man, unlike any other man she'd ever met, wanted her badly. His huge hands shook as he caressed her skin. Maybe it was only the moment, or their power match, or just the surreal situation, but she knew she could do or say or be anyone she'd ever wanted to be here in the darkness.

  Turning, she slid the dress all the way to the ground, standing unashamed in the half-light in only her underwear and shoes. “Am I perfect, Garron?"

  He drank her in, stepping to the side so the slim light could touch her body. “Oh yes,” he said with enough reverence that she believed him.

  Her whole life she'd been happy to be a mouse beside Brianna's angelic face, fading into the background, but she wasn't going to be a mouse now. Not when this could be her only chance to be powerful.

  Trailing a hand along his naked chest, she circled him. He stood perfectly still, the only motion the opening and closing of his hands as they hung by his side. Energy radiated from his body, as if she'd chained a tiger using spiderwebs, and it was only the tiger who kept himself from eating her alive.

  When she stood behind him, she lowered her mouth to taste his skin, feeling as if she were queen and temptress all rolled into one.

  Chapter Four

  Garron felt her lips brush his skin like the lightest kiss of velvet. With discipline he hadn't known he possessed, he let her set the pace, her hands skimming along his arms with hesitant boldness, as if this was the first time she'd been given free rein to explore a man's body. The thought helped him to stand still when he wanted to dominate and consume her.

  In the dark half light, he closed his eyes, letting the feel of her open palms against his bare chest tingle through him.

  She was small, a full head smaller and then some from him, and little, but he'd tasted her magic and knew she was powerful. And he didn't doubt she'd given him the boost he needed to Battle Shout as he had. He'd been fading since he'd come here, unable to spend the proper time in meditation it took to gather the power he needed to Shout. His soul had been withering and with it, his abilities.

  When she circled him into the dim light, he slid the simple ribbon from her hair, spilling rich sable tresses down her back, covering high, firm breasts.

  She studied him with a dazed look, as if she fought through a fog to find her sanity.

  "Sharing power has made us need,” he whispered, knowing he couldn't let her find her reason, or they'd both regret it. Or at least he would. He hadn't realized until this moment how much he'd missed by becoming a Protector.

  Always traveling the back roads and shorelines, looking for thieves, cut-throats and pirates. Escorting mail caravans, keeping the peace in border towns. The Protectors functioned as a town sheriff, only over a wider territory. Who would ever want to marry a man who would be gone most of the time? He'd thought it didn't matter, that he didn't need a wife to be happy. But the notion of coming home every night to a woman like this, running his tongue over dusky nipples, feeling her power fill his body, had him reconsidering for the first time.

  Dropping to his knees, he circled her ankles with his fingers, then trailed his hands up the side of her body. Over rounded hips, past her tiny waist, skimming his fingertips along her arms, he let himself enjoy the soft skin, making sure he didn't push too far, too fast.

  She grabbed his shoulders as if she needed to steady herself, her hands spasming as his palms passed over her buttocks.

  He gathered her closer so he could press his lips into her flat belly, licking the taste of woman off her skin to hold inside of him.

  She still wore shoes and thin, cotton underwear. Unable to control himself, he nuzzled his face into her sex through the fabric, wringing a gasp of surprise or pleasure from her, he didn't know which.

  He'd said he'd bring her pleasure over and over again, and he'd meant it. For some reason he couldn't understand, it was vitally important that when she looked back on their time together, the memory alone would have her shaking in need for him. It made no sense, but it was true.

  He could smell her desire, taste her on the air around them. A fine tremor ran through her, bringing him immense satisfaction.

  Holding her hips to keep her still, he buried his tongue between the lips of her sex, tasting her immediately through the fabric of her underclothes. Pure woman and lust exploded in his mouth, and, beneath that, her power swirled, teasing him into wanting more.

  "Garron,” she whimpered, running her hands into his hair.

  "Come for me, fast and hard,” he hummed into her sex, enjoying her jump of surprise as the echo of his voice teased her clitoris.

  Her underwear was soaked through, so wet now, it was as if she stood naked before him. He wanted to give her a relief that would only spin her higher. So he licked her clitoris at a pleasure-bending pace, keeping the pressure hard and fast.

  She bowed in his arms, arching into his hands.

  Pausing, he stripped her bare, the delicate fabric ripping in his too-strong hands. He didn't care, and she didn't notice.

  The moment his tongue touched her naked clitoris, she came, her moan filling the small space and his own body.

  He didn't let her recover, climbing to his feet and picking her up easily as she crumpled. “You're not done yet,” he informed her as she snuggled into him.

  Setting her gently on his sparse bed, he stripped the rest of his clothes and stretched out beside her.

  Before she could protest, he had her straddling him. “Ride me."

  Confusion passed over her features. “I'm not sure..."

  "I am,” he said, not caring that he pushed her to a place she obviously hadn't been before. “Hold the base of my cock and work me inside you,” he whispered, wanting her to do it on her own, but knowing if she didn't, he'd do whatever he had to do to be inside her.

  * * * *

  Things had spiraled out of control, and she wasn't sure how it had happened. Her underclothes were gone, her sex soaking with spent desire, and she straddled a man she'd only met a few minutes ago. A man she'd shared magic with, a man whose mouth had been on her sex, giving her the orgasm she'd only heard about in whispers.

  Meeting his intense gaze, she had a moment of doubt. Or clarity. She'd lost her mind when they'd thrown her down here. That had to be it.

  He growled, the low noise stirring something inside her, then he reversed their positions, tumbling her below him. “No regrets,” he ordered, and in one push, entered her.

  Her mind fell away, filled only by the intense pressure inside her. He was huge, all over, and he wasn't stopping. “Garron,” she whimpered, trying to back away, but she was pinned against the bed.

  "Shhh,”
he whispered. “You can take me. Relax into it. Want it. We were made to match each other.” His voice and power trickled over her, twisting her stomach with need.

  Then he hilted, the tip of his cock tight and hard against her womb, the pain a strange kind of pleasure.

  He brushed her hair from her face. “There we go. See? I told you we'd fit."

  After his earlier command, his slow kiss confused her. He toyed with her lips, nipping and licking, touching his tongue to hers, encouraging her to participate with soft murmurs.

  He was still huge inside her, but as they kissed, her body adjusted to him, the pressure turning from the edge of pain into pleasure.

  She ran her hands across his short-cropped hair, enjoying the sensation of his scalp against her fingertips while her lips dueled with his.

  Without warning, he pulled back and thrust into her, the motion small but sending a maelstrom of desire through her body. Pleasure exploded deep inside her core, had her mindless and arching.

  Then it was just his cock and her desire, building, building. Everything else narrowed into this one thing.

  "Come,” he ordered from somewhere far away, the single word driving her higher.

  Then his finger pinned her clitoris as he thrust and release exploded over her, lights sparking behind her tightly closed lids, her body jerking in time to his release.

  * * * *

  He'd passed out, and it took him a long moment of fighting to come back to the living world. Something had awoken him, he knew, but the hyper-instincts that had never once deserted him were locked away, put to sleep by the most intense sex he'd ever experienced.

  Caelan lay half tucked below him, one leg between his, her flat belly beneath one of his hands, her cheek cuddled into shoulder. Her hair wrapped around them both, twining them together like gossamer chains.

  "Garron,” Danner whispered from the darkness, his voice more nervous than usual.

  "I'm here,” he murmured, pulling Caelan tighter into him, hoping they didn't wake her.

  "Is somebody else here?” Danner's voice quavered, the last word breaking as if he was a boy turning into a man, instead of Garron's age of twenty-six.

  Caelan stirred, coming awake below him. She stretched and let out a feminine sigh that was part satisfied woman, part protest.

  "Yes.” The thought of Danner seeing her naked body had Garron tugging a blanket over her. She curled into him in response.

  "Well.” Danner came forward in a crouch, his too-thin body shaking with a continuous shudder that never ceased. Garron had found him beaten and bloody the first day he'd arrived in the dungeons. From that time on, he'd protected Danner. In return, Danner procured items that shouldn't even be found in The Abyss. He was a master thief, laying his hands on just about anything they needed to tunnel out.

  "I'd heard some whisperings that you'd stolen Rolf's woman.” The censure in Danner's voice told how worried he was. He'd never come so close to questioning Garron before.

  Caelan's eyes blinked open. “What time is it?” She sat up with a start, staring at the light streaming in from the ceiling, the blanket pooling to her waist. “Morning already? I have to go!"

  He rolled her under him as fast as he could. “We have company, love,” he warned, then pulled up far enough to slide a finger along the outside of her breast to remind her of her state of undress.

  Her mouth formed an O, and she dragged the blanket up as far as the pin of his body allowed.

  "Danner, this is Caelan. Caelan, my right hand man, Danner."

  "She's not coming with us, is she?” Danner asked, his voice saying he hoped it wasn't true.

  Garron studied the woman below him, watching her stare at the dim light filtering in from the ceiling. He'd spent his life making snap decisions. He was good at it, having an instinctive feel for when to trust people and when to be on guard. With her magic humming inside him, he wasn't convinced his thinking was as clear as it should be, but his gut said she belonged with them—with him. He sure as hell wasn't leaving her in the dungeons. The thought of Rolf's hands on her perfect skin made up his mind. “She's coming with us."

  "Coming where?” she asked, her gaze meeting his. He wondered what color her eyes were. Something dark, maybe a deep blue.

  By saying the words, he'd commit himself to them. He knew that, just as he knew he shouldn't trust her completely. He shouldn't trust anyone. “We're tunneling out."

  "What?"

  "And you're coming with us."

  She shook her head, her eyes widening in panic. “No, no. I'm getting out of here. I have to go to the grate, and they'll haul me up."

  "She can't leave, Garron. She knows our plans now!” Danner's panic filled the room. “She can't leave!"

  Garron stared at her through narrowed eyes, wondering how someone could leave after only one night in The Abyss. It didn't make sense, yet he could tell she believed it. He couldn't let her go anywhere. Framing her face between his hands, he let his voice drop into a purr. “Hear me, Caelan. You're not going to the grate. You know our secret now."

  Chapter Five

  Caelan gathered the blanket closer and tried to think, only half watching Garron shimmy into a tight set of breeches, the sight of his naked buttocks sending a spark through her that she ignored.

  All her life she'd done the right thing. She'd played by the rules, taking the path of least resistance. But Brianna had embroiled her in something that risked her life and catapulted her from her safe world.

  Yesterday she would have betrayed her friend and caused Radley's death. She would have done anything to get out of here. Had, in fact, done something she'd have never considered doing before when she'd traded sex for safety.

  Resting her head back against the rough cave wall, she stared at the dim light filtering from two holes in the ceiling.

  But Garron had changed all that.

  Inside, she felt changed, stronger, more of a woman than she ever had before.

  Garron was giving her options. He thought he could force her into going with him, but she was somehow certain that he would never physically hurt her. Whether he knew it or not, when she did things at his order it would only be because she wanted to do them.

  The thought was so foreign that on some level, she blinked at herself in surprise, but for all the shock of it, she knew it was true.

  In the middle of her intense pleasure last night, something inside had broken free. A piece of her had finally realized that she was more than a healer. She was a woman men would kill each other for, a woman who could make a giant, powerful man fall to his knees and worship her. The confidence that realization inspired left her reeling.

  So what was she going to do now? She could make her way back to the grate and beg to be hauled up. If she did, she'd have to reveal where Radley was hidden.

  Anger flashed through her. Why had Brianna taken a lover to begin with? Why hadn't she been content with her life and left things alone? Their lives had been destroyed for a man Brianna had only known for a few months.

  Caelan had devoted her life to healing people, to preserving life. If telling Useph where Radley had gone would lead to Radley's death, then she couldn't tell.

  And now she had options.

  Garron prowled the room like a caged beast, a growl vibrating low in his chest. “You aren't leaving."

  She studied his body, loving the way it flowed as he walked. As big as he was, he shouldn't have been able to move so gracefully.

  "She can't leave, Garron. She'll give us away!” The squirrelly little man in the shadows finally drew Caelan's notice. His hands shook in sharp spasms, the huge cut of his clothes making him appear smaller than he really was. He stood hunched over, as if he tried to shrink into the darkest space.

  "I thought it was impossible to break out of The Abyss?” Yet even as she asked the question, she realized Garron was a man who could achieve the impossible. He had the aura about him of someone who could accomplish anything.

  "By Mabon,
we'll be gone."

  Their gazes met, and her stomach twisted with the thought of two more nights with their bodies joined.

  She shook her head to clear it of his spell.

  What would she do after she tunneled out? She couldn't show up at the front door of the castle and resume her Speaking duties there.

  That stopped her for a second. What would she do? What could she do?

  I'm still a Speaker. I can go to the farthest edges of the kingdom and become a healer in a small town there. How many times have I wished for that kind of obscurity? Stop being so afraid all the time and seize your destiny.

  Squaring her shoulders, she made the hardest decision of her life. She wasn't going to take the easy way this time. “If you're tunneling out, I'll go with you."

  Garron stopped, dropping his hands on his hips. “You will, will you?"

  She nodded. “Yes."

  * * * *

  Danner paused for the tenth time and leaned close to whisper, “I don't like it, Garron. Something's fishy. She didn't even bat an eye when you said we were tunneling our way out."

  They'd put Caelan in charge of hauling the rock back into Garron's quarters, where it was rapidly stacking up against one wall. A month before, the hole to the outside was only the size of Garron's fist. Now it was almost wide enough for Danner or Caelan to slip out.

  "She said she could get out through the grate if you remember. Why would she stay with us if she could leave?” Danner's hands shook as he wielded a small pick.

  Garron had no answer. In fact, the more he dug, the more suspicious he became. She was beautiful. All that petal-soft skin might have clouded his judgment. “Take her place hauling then, and we'll keep her here where I can watch her."

  Danner nodded. “Good plan.” He slipped away.

  If Caelan was a Speaker, she couldn't lie without poisoning her healing talent, just as he could not lie without diminishing his Battle Shout. He should just ask her about her change of heart. But what if she isn't even a Speaker? What if somehow Sneed planted her here to trap me?

  It would be easy enough to prove if she was a Speaker. He'd have her heal his leg after they'd finished digging for the day.