Now she really wanted to find his pride and teach them all a lesson. How dare they punish him for something that evidently hadn’t been his fault?
The darkness in his eyes said it hadn’t ended there.
“My mother tried to defend me, but they punished her for it too. She never tried again. I avoided the young males of the pride after that, keeping to myself and training in the forest. I wanted to spare my mother the pain of seeing me beaten… but it didn’t help.” He looked across at her again, the hurt in his eyes too much for her to bear. She wasn’t sure how he could bear it or how he had survived what had happened to him, but it was a testament to his incredible strength. “The young males in the village realised that they could escape punishment by simply saying I was there with them whenever they ran into trouble. No one ever asked me if I was there… they just dragged me to the post, tied me and lashed me for it.”
She wasn’t sure what she could say to him. There weren’t adequate words to convey the depth of her anger or her pain, or her desire to comfort him and steal away his pain and suffering and somehow show him that the way his pride had treated him had been wrong and they were the ones who deserved punishment.
“Did no one speak out to defend you?” she whispered, stroking his chest and feeling his heart beating hard. “Someone should have protected you. You were a boy. A child. You should have been protected.”
He smiled sorrowfully. “I was a male. Pride males are meant to be strong. We are meant to know our place or fight for a better one.”
“That does not excuse what they did to you, Kyter. It does not make it right. They abused you… they hurt you… and they did it on purpose.” Her blood boiled at the vision of a young sandy-haired boy chained to a post and lashed, no doubt in front of the entire pride, ridiculed and tortured when he had done nothing wrong.
The ones who should have been punished were those who had lied and placed the blame on Kyter’s small shoulders, and those who had carried out the beatings with the knowledge that they were punishing the wrong child.
“I know,” he whispered and took hold of her hand, and she realised she had been digging her claws into his chest. He pressed a kiss to each of her fingers. “I put an end to it.”
“How?” Her eyes darted between his and the darkness in them this time wasn’t born of pain. It was born of violence.
“I had matured and I had grown sick of how the pride treated me. I snapped and refused to take a beating for something I hadn’t done. I took the lash from the elder and turned on him with it.” He toyed with her fingers, his gaze fixed on them. “I wanted to strike him.”
“But you did not.” Because he wasn’t that sort of male.
He wasn’t the kind who would strike someone or fight them without a reason. He had stopped the male from whipping him, and had no doubt frightened the male by turning on him, and that had been enough for Kyter.
He shook his head, released her hand and ran his fingers through his hair again, sighing as he relaxed against the white pillows, his elbow pressing into the wooden headboard of the bed.
“I left the village and took to the rainforest, living among the animals there. Everything the pride had refused to teach me because of my status, I taught myself. I was gone for almost a decade before I returned. Honed. Powerful. Skilful.” He closed his eyes and frowned. “Some of the pride males of my age attacked me and tried to drive me away.”
“You fought them.”
He nodded.
She stroked the deep scars on his chest.
“You won.”
He nodded again, slowly opened his eyes and looked across at her, no trace of pride in his eyes. He had bested the males of his age, proving his strength, but it hadn’t changed things. The pride had still treated him as an outsider, rejecting him even though he had grown strong and capable. He had become a warrior. She could see it in him, in the shadow of darkness in his eyes at times, and the cold and calculating edge that came over him when he readied himself for a battle. He had transformed himself into the epitome of a powerful male.
A male who was slowly working his way under her skin, slipping past her defences.
“I left them shortly afterwards. I roamed the world and then I settled in London, where I opened Underworld.”
His nightclub. He seemed passionate about it and she had upset him earlier when she hadn’t shared that passion. She had only been to a few nightclubs in her life, and all of those had been extremely noisy and none had catered towards fae.
“I would like to see your nightclub,” she said and his eyes grew larger. “I have only been to ones where mortals go. It would be interesting to see one where different species come together.”
“You can visit any time you want, when you’re not in the elf kingdom… if you ever come to London that is.” He smiled that lopsided smile of his, the one that always claimed a direct hit on her heart. She smiled too, aware that he was choosing his words carefully, not wanting to mention anything about mates and bonds, and being together. She didn’t want to spoil the moment either, but she was going to mention it.
“I do not live in the elf kingdom. I left it when I reached my thousandth birthday and had not found my mate.”
His smile faded and his sandy eyebrows dipped low above his golden eyes. “Why? Did you come looking for me? Because I hate to say this and bring it up again, but you were around two thousand years too early.”
She silently thanked him for lightening the mood and shook her head, apologising at the same time because she was going to dampen it again.
“I left because it is elf tradition that if a female has not found her fated mate by the time she reaches her thousandth birthday she must wed a partner of her parents’ choosing.”
“What?” Kyter snapped, all the calm fleeing him as he scowled and tensed beneath her. “Your parents tried to set you up with an arranged marriage?”
Iolanthe walked her fingers across his chest, suddenly finding them fascinating, and whispered, “There was no try… I may have run away on my wedding day.”
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer to him, the swift jerking action tearing a gasp from her and making her look at him. She had never seen such fury in his eyes. They were on fire. Bright gold. Burning.
“Fuckers… remind me to let your parents know exactly what I think about their attempt to palm you off onto a guy when I meet them.” He growled those words, flashing emerging fangs, and fur rippled over his skin, a brief and tantalising flash of gold and black.
Iolanthe made a mental note to never let Kyter meet her parents. He looked as if his chosen method of letting them know what he thought about the marriage they had arranged for her would be fighting them.
“My mate… tossed callously into the arms of some random male… my beautiful female.” He swept the backs of his fingers across her cheek, an earnest look in his eyes that stole her breath. “The thought that you might have married… fuck, that kills me. I never thought I would have a mate, but to think I might have lost you because of a stupid tradition.”
She frowned at what he had said but before she could ask him about it, he was kissing her, chasing away her ability to think with each soft sweep of his lips across hers. She tried to resist him but he waged war on her, his tender kiss melting her defences and leaving her heart wide open.
He broke away to press his nose to hers, their foreheads lightly touching. “What happened? Have you never been back?”
She skimmed her hand over his shoulders, savouring the way his hands clutched her hips, trembling against her, and his heart beat against hers. He was angry and it was beautiful, because it reassured her that he hadn’t lied and he didn’t want to force her into a bond with him.
“My brother hunted me down and he gave me a place to stay until things at home had settled down. I went into the treasure hunting business. My brother lied and told my parents I was looking for my mate.”
She smiled at the memory of how sour her brother had lo
oked when she had asked him to do that for her. He loved their parents just as she did, but he hadn’t been pleased when he had discovered that they had attempted to marry her off to one of the village males when she had never been given the freedom to roam the kingdom and search for her mate. He had been even more upset with them because they had done it while he had been away with his legion of the army.
“Maybe you were looking for your mate,” Kyter said with a wicked smile. “You just took a while to find me.”
She supposed it wasn’t a lie as she had found her mate. What would her mother and father make of that?
What would her brother make of it?
Iolanthe didn’t want to ponder the answer to that question. She had a terrible feeling she would find out one day, and that day would come sooner rather than later.
“What did you mean when you said you did not think you would have a mate?” She wanted to know but she also wanted to direct his attention away from her family, because she feared he would probe into them. She didn’t want to talk about them and spoil the calm between her and Kyter.
“The pride elders told me I would never have a mate because of what I am.” He said it with a straight face devoid of feelings but she felt the emotions that stirred within him, the hurt that began to surface again.
“Do not speak about yourself as if there is something wrong with you.” She pressed her hands to his chest and pleaded him with her eyes. “I see nothing wrong with you.”
She traced the scars on his chest. Marks of battle. Worse were the marks on his back. Those marks had left deep scars on his heart. She wanted to kiss every one of them to ease his pain and wanted to keep kissing them until he accepted that there was nothing wrong with him. She didn’t see a monster before her. She saw only a man, one hurt by his past but one who was trying to stand tall despite it all and everything that had happened to him.
He was beautiful.
Her male.
And he needed her to lighten the mood again, to chase away the shadows in his eyes and the painful memories.
She had never had to do such a thing and wasn’t sure where to begin, but she was determined to try because he needed her to do it. Her male was hurting and needed her to help him escape his past and look towards his future again.
She had teased him before and he had smiled. Perhaps she could tease him again and coax a smile from him.
She stroked his chest. “Do you like having your belly rubbed?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “That’s dogs.”
She frowned and then smiled, undeterred by his gruff tone. “Then perhaps you like having your ears tickled?”
He grinned, hitting her hard with it. “I know you do.”
A blush rose onto her cheeks and some of the storm clouds in his eyes lifted. He liked it when she blushed. She didn’t like it. It made her feel weak when she was used to feeling strong. She had never met a male who affected her as Kyter did. There had never been one who made her feel so feminine or that it was alright to let her guard down and just be herself, without fear of him thinking she was weak or taking advantage of her.
She felt safe with him. Secure. Protected.
Loved?
She wasn’t sure she would go that far.
“If you see a ball rolling or a small fluffy creature running, do you feel a pressing need to chase it?” she said.
“Ha ha… very funny. Any other cat questions?” He mock-scowled at her. “Come on, get them all out now.”
She nodded and her eyes turned hooded as she thought about the only other question she wanted to ask him.
His scowl melted away and he stared at her in silence, the intensity of his gaze sending a shiver through her as the gold in his eyes brightened and his pupils expanded. The hunger that shone in them echoed in her and it only grew as she slowly smoothed her palms across his broad chest, stroking his warm golden skin.
She dropped her eyes to his chest, swept her tongue across her lips, feeling his gaze following it and loving the way his entire body quaked beneath her in response, and slowly lifted her eyes back to his.
She gave him a sultry smile and whispered.
“Could I make you purr?”
He growled, the feral sound sending a thrill through her, rolled her onto her back, pinning her beneath him, and uttered two words before his lips descended on hers.
“Gods, yes!”
CHAPTER 17
Iolanthe threaded her fingers into Kyter’s sandy hair and held him to her as he kissed her, the soft sweeps of his lips across hers far from what she had expected, but everything she had apparently desired. This quietness between them, a sense of harmony and tenderness, awakened a deep feeling of connection in her. She felt linked to him, not only in body as they kissed, but in soul.
She felt it deep in her heart.
This was what she had needed from him. Not the wild and explosive lovemaking they had shared before. This tender and gentle lovemaking was what she needed right now and she knew he needed it too. He had opened up to her, exposing his heart and leaving himself vulnerable, and he needed her to show him that she would take care of the heart she now held in her hands. She wouldn’t crush it as others had. She wouldn’t hurt him. She would treasure what he had dared to give to her without even realising he had given it.
Part of her felt sure that she had exchanged hearts with him even though she hadn’t intended to do such a thing. She had wanted to open up to him, but what they had shared had gone far deeper than simply revealing who they were and sharing pieces of their past. It had touched her and it had made her fall a little for her mate.
Her powerful male.
He was tender and gentle as he kissed her, his weight held off her as he rested on his elbows, her right thigh between his. His hardness pressed into her hip, hot and heavy, twitching at times, as if eager to take things further.
She stroked down Kyter’s neck and he shuddered, a moan escaping him, and then she smiled against his lips as she brought her hands up and teased his ears. She rubbed the spot behind his left one and he groaned, pausing with his lips against hers.
“Stop that,” he whispered and she refused, keeping up her rubbing until he was leaning into the touch, stealing his lips away from hers.
His eyebrows furrowed above his closed eyes, the look of sheer bliss on his face making her smile widen. He definitely liked having his ears tickled.
When she took her hand away, his eyes slowly opened, bright gold and mesmerising. His eyebrows dipped into a frown and he scowled at her. Not a real one. He could pretend to be angry all he wanted but she knew his weak spot now.
He moved quicker than she could evade and she gasped as he ran his tongue up the curve of her ear and flicked it over the pointed tip. The tip flared back, her ears growing pointier as he had his revenge, swirling his tongue over her flesh. She moaned and clutched his shoulders, fighting for control of her body as sensation hijacked it, making her writhe against him, seeking an outlet for the desire spiralling within her. She rubbed her hip against his hard length and he groaned, growled and rocked against her.
The feel of him so close to where she needed him drove her mad and she wriggled, trying to get him to shift his focus away from her ear to his own body. She wanted to drive him mad too. She wanted to make him lose control.
He drew back and gave her a wicked smile, one that had her heart fluttering against her chest even as she groaned. He wasn’t going to give her what she wanted. He was going to deny her, drawing out the moment, until she was begging him. She felt sure of it.
She hooked her arms around his neck and pulled him back down to her, kissing him but somehow managing to keep it light, teasing his lips with soft sweeps of her tongue. He moaned and clutched her, sliding one arm beneath her back to lift her off the bed and press her against his chest. His other hand curled around her shoulder and he ground against her hip.
He didn’t resist her when she rolled with him, pinning him on his back on the soft mattress,
and straddled him. His hands jumped to her hips and he threw his head back and moaned as she rocked against his length, rubbing herself on him. Delicious. She stared down at him as she writhed, tracing her hands over his body, caressing every taut peak of his chest and stomach. He grimaced, flashing his short fangs, and pressed the back of his head into the white pillow. The action only made his muscles more pronounced, delighting her eyes.
Iolanthe made them her target.
She leaned over him and explored his body with her mouth, sweeping her lips across his golden skin as he moved her hips and his, rubbing against her sensitive spot. She pressed kisses to his scars, lavishing them with attention and making sure she didn’t miss any of them.
The ones from his fight against the demon were still pink. She slowed and took her time over those, earning a husky groan from Kyter as she trailed her lips down each diagonal slash that cut from the left side of his chest down his stomach, having to shift off him to reach the point where they began.
Just above the ridge of muscle that arched over his right hip.
Kyter lifted his hips and rubbed himself between her breasts, the blissful look back on his handsome face. She shook her head at the pleasure he took from the act and kissed across his hip, recalling the pleasure he had taken from having her mouth on him.
He stilled right down to his breathing.
She looked up the length of his honed body to his face and slowly ran her tongue along his steel length, from root to tip. He groaned and fisted the sheets, pulling the white material taut beneath his body. She lowered her mouth and kissed up his cock, tasting herself on him and drinking down each breathless moan of pure male satisfaction she wrung from him. When she reached the crown, she took him in her hand and wrapped her lips around him.
He jerked into her mouth, his breath leaving him in a rush. One hand clamped down onto the back of her head and she moaned as he guided her, forcing her to take him into her mouth. She sucked and licked him as he pumped into her, growing thicker and harder. His hand trembled against her head. His breathing quickened.
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