by Riley Storm
She spoke more with gasps and moans than with words. Entire verses were exchanged between them, yet no more than half a dozen words were used. They were communicating on a different level now, a deeper level, something she’d never experienced before. It scared her, made her timid, but Klaue was patient, pulling her in slowly, never pushing too hard.
“Jess,” he growled, his voice suddenly taut.
She knew what he was going to say. Slowing her movements, she pulled away from him, realizing that the emptiness she felt at the distance of only a few inches was more than just a physical lack. She needed him near her. Next to her.
“On your back,” she commanded, eager to take control, if only for a few moments.
Klaue obeyed, and she straddled him, reaching behind her and grasping his hard cock with her hand, feeling the slickness of her own wetness down its length. They were both nearing the edge of their limits, ready and waiting for one thing, and one thing only: the other.
Sliding back, she accepted him inside once more, unable to stop from gasping. Somehow, even in just the short time it had been, she somehow forgot just how large he was, how completely he filled her.
“It’s okay,” she whispered when he grabbed her hips and tried to slow her from grinding against him. “I want it. Please. I’m ready, Klaue. I’m so close. Let go.”
She started moving her hips against him once more, back and forth in long, slow strokes. Klaue’s head fell back, his hands draped on her sides as he gently helped her move. Jessica felt him swell, and she snatched his hands up, placing them on her breasts, anxious to feel his touch. They were so warm, so large. It was perfect.
Throwing her head back, she arched, grabbing her hair as Klaue shuddered underneath her, ready to explode. She was so close. Her hips bucked and she rode him in a frenzy as the first rush of warmth filled her inside. That, combined with watching his face and the pressure against her insides, broke the dam. She cried out, clutching his hands and holding tight, gazing down at him.
The timing was perfect, the union of it coming together as one, making the moment more intense than before. She went limp in his arms as the wave finished assaulting her nerves with an ecstasy nothing else in life could recreate, and even Klaue’s massive arms could no longer support her.
She fell forward, draping herself over his broad chest as it rose and fell. Under the skin, his heart was hammering away, trying desperately to escape. Her own was doing the same, blood pumping like crazy while she inhaled deeply, overwhelmed by the glow filling her body as the intensity of the moment faded.
“What just happened?” he asked, finally speaking after a bit. “That was…was…it was…”
“Yeah,” she agreed, too at a loss for words, but knowing exactly what he meant.
She looked up, their eyes met, and they started giggling until they began laughing, at which point both of them stopped, too out of breath. The realization they were both suffering the exact same thing at the same time set them off again, until they could once more no longer breathe.
“Well aren’t we just a pair,” he chuckled as she finally slid off him, collapsing onto her side, accepting a kiss on the nose once she was settled.
“Yeah. We are, aren’t we?” she said, looking into his adoring eyes. There wasn’t much more to say than that, really. Not that she had much breath for it anyway.
“I think I’m going to need a little more time before we go again today,” he confessed a minute later.
“Klaue, I don’t know about you, but I have every intention of having a nap after that. And if you think you aren’t going to put your arms around me and fall asleep with me in them, then you’ve got another think coming.”
“Oh, thank God,” he sighed, somehow sagging even deeper into the bed. “I thought you would never ask.”
She leaned in, kissed him, and then turned over to present herself for proper sleep-spooning cuddling.
They could figure out what to do with her sister after the nap. When they were refreshed, and ready to tackle the problem head on.
House Canis wouldn’t know what hit them, she vowed.
36
Word had gotten out about his foul mood. Shifters of all shapes hurried out of his way as he stalked the hallways, none of them eager to test his temper. Even those who might not normally care what he had to say avoided him. Everyone feared he might snap and attack them next.
Approaching the Grand Hallway, he didn’t notice the sudden absence of people. The only ones remaining were the pair of Queen’s Own. The two guardsmen were flanking the large double doors that led to the Throne Room. Klaue, on the other hand, was halfway down, staring idly at a tapestry stuck to the wall that depicted the short-lived shifter-Ogre alliance. Apparently, Ogres didn’t understand the word ‘alliance’. He snorted in disdain.
Two days had passed since he’d made the promise to Jessica that he would get her sister back. Two days had passed and not a single smart idea had come to him. The fuse on his temper was growing shorter by the second. He was failing his mate with every minute that went by in which he didn’t come up with a plan. It didn’t matter that nobody else had either, because it was his responsibility.
The memorial services for the two men lost on the raid with him had been held yesterday, and he hadn’t emerged from his funk since. Jessica had finally snapped on him and kicked him out of their quarters, banishing him to prowl the hallways for his next victim.
She probably hopes I’ll get my ass kicked out here and stoop brooding.
He was brooding, and there was no denying it. Klaue was aware of how he was acting, but he just didn’t care. Until he could get Jessica’s sister out from the clutches of House Canis, he wouldn’t be satisfied. Not just because it was the right thing to do, but because if he didn’t, then he knew he would never truly have Jessica. Not completely.
Having his mate so close, to share the same bed with her, and yet to know she was still closed off to him was a pain that Klaue was unable to bear. It weighed heavily on his shoulders, and the only thing that could lift it was to rescue Zoe.
“I just need an idea,” he growled, resting one arm on the wall next to the tapestry and bowing his head, willing it to come to him. Something. Anything that didn’t involve a full-fledged assault on Canis.
He’d come up with a dozen plans, but none of them was feasible or realistic. They’d had one shot, and they’d fucked it up.
No, you fucked it up. You didn’t plan well enough for a known variable. By assuming that Kvoss would have the mage on the run, you doomed your raid from the start. You should have worked with Kvoss.
Hindsight had perfect vision, however, and there was nothing Klaue could do about that now. He had to get sneakier. Smarter.
And just then, he felt extremely stupid.
“Klaue.”
He looked up as Kasperi approached.
“The Queen wants to see you. In the Throne Room.”
Waving a hand, he stood up. “Yeah, okay. I’ll be there soon.”
“Immediately,” Kasperi said urgently.
“I’m fucking going,” he snarled, standing up tall.
The other shifter didn’t even flinch. “You might want to go a little faster. There’s a Canis Ambassador in there with her.”
Klaue jerked in surprise. “What?” He turned and started walking down the Grand Hallway toward the entrance.
How the hell did one of them get in there without me noticing? I’m standing between the entrance and the Throne Room.
They must have just missed each other. He glanced at the big thick doors, wooden paneled with steel inlays underneath for security.
“Told you,” Kasperi said, just a bit smugly.
“Since when are you the Queen’s errand boy?” he fired back.
Kasperi fell in step with him, not fazed at all by Klaue or his temper. Respect for him grew quickly. This was a good addition to the House.
“I’m not. I was in there with her and Kvoss. I’m to start traini
ng under him to take down mages.” Kasperi shrugged. “I guess they heard about what I did during the raid with that magic scarf…”
“I told them,” Klaue confirmed. “What of it?”
“Of telling them? Nothing,” Kasperi said. “It was the fact that I almost beat you in our Trial, and then somehow I’m the only one who ends up with a magic scarf, of all the artifacts we took.”
Klaue smiled sweetly. “Whatever are you getting at?”
“Thought so,” Kasperi said with a snort, stopping short of the doors. “Thanks for mentioning it though. I think this might be more up my alley than the House Guard. No offense.”
“None taken. Your skills should be tested, and Kvoss will certainly do that to you.”
Then he stepped through as the guards pushed the door open.
The Queen was sitting on her throne, flanked by Khove and one other guard. The room was otherwise empty, except for the tall slim figure clad in an all-black suit and shirt, with a blood-red tie.
Trying to send us a message? Should have left the manicured and hair-coiffing turd-muncher at home, Laurien, he thought, referencing the Canim King. This guy doesn’t have a menacing bone in his body.
Maybe Laurien was punishing the man by making him an Ambassador. That would be very like the King of House Canis.
“What is the meaning of this?” Klaue growled, interrupting whatever was being said.
The Queen shot him a glance, but he ignored it, circling the Canis Ambassador with slow, deliberate steps. Each time his heel came down, the clomp of his boots echoed through the room. Breathing deeply, he let his growls become audible.
“I am here to discuss the repercussions of the unwarranted and, frankly, disgustingly damaging raid conducted by you against Moonshadow Manor and House Canis,” the Ambassador said in a thin, reedy voice.
Oh you poor thing. You must have really pissed Laurien off something fierce!
“Conducted by me?” he asked menacingly. “Are you formally accusing me of attacking High House Canis?”
The Ambassador sputtered and looked left and right, trying to follow Klaue as he stalked around him. “No, of course not. I simply meant you, as in House Ursa.”
“You’re accusing the entirety of High House Ursa of conducting a raid—of which I assure you we knew nothing and are shocked to hear about—against High House Canis? Is that what I’m hearing?”
The Ambassador cleared his throat, looked straight ahead and spoke to the Queen instead. “As I was saying, your Majesty, we cannot allow this incident to go unchallenged. The damage done to our eastern wall will take months to repair. Not to mention that two motorized machines tore up great swathes of the forest and grounds near there as well. Justice must be served for this.”
“We had nothing to do with that,” Klaue said before his Queen could answer.
He could see her eyebrows lowering, and knew he was getting close to the limit of what he would be allowed to say, but he wasn’t done with this pumped-up pencil-pusher. Nobody came into Ursidae Manor and accused them of something, especially when they had no proof.
“Don’t lie to me Klaue,” the man said, his reedy voice dropping an octave as his head swiveled around to fix him with a glare. “You were there. As was your mate.”
“I was? I seem to recall being here all night.”
“You don’t seem surprised by the news of this attack.”
“The only part of the news that has me surprised, good Ambassador,” he said, his tone as falsely patronizing as he could manage, “is the fact that there was apparently a mage involved in the fight against the mystery attackers. A mage using forbidden magic. On Canis property. To defend Canis, according to my reports. How interesting is that?”
The Ambassador frowned, and Klaue knew he had him. They had fucked up big time with that. How could they not expect him to bring it up?
Because they don’t care, he realized with a start. The mage was there because someone at the highest levels, perhaps even King Laurien himself, was working with him. That was news. They could bring that news to the Court, and unite with the lower Houses and perhaps get Zoe back in exchange for not levelling sanctions. Glancing up at his Queen, Klaue saw the same look on her face. She recognized it too.
The Ambassador turned to face the Queen once again, but before he could speak, a side door opened and Jessica slipped through. Klaue wondered who the hell had shown her the secret passages, until he caught a glimpse of long hair and green eyes in the dark beyond.
Kasperi, you sly devil.
“We are willing to negotiate,” the Ambassador said, ignoring the new arrival.
“Negotiate?” the Queen said, so icily Klaue could see the frost practically flowing out from her to cover the Throne.
“Yes.” The Ambassador no longer seemed shrill and whiny. His voice shifted to become deadly serious, and Klaue realized it had all been an act. The man was a master at this sort of thing.
Not that Klaue wouldn’t still rip him apart in a heartbeat.
“Why, precisely, would we negotiate?” the Queen asked, her voice frigid, her eyes full of jade fire.
“To avoid open hostilities between House Ursa and High House Canis of course,” the Ambassador said with a voice that suggested the Queen should have known that.
Klaue’s eyebrows lifted in surprise at the boldness. The Queen of Canis might be a human, but Kaelyn of Ursa was a full-blooded female shifter, and he wondered if the Ambassador knew that. Treating her like a child was a bad idea.
“Hmm,” Kaelyn said as she stood, taking a step toward the Ambassador. “Klaue, correct me if I’m wrong, but open hostilities means no holds barred, correct?”
“Correct, my Queen,” he growled, watching the Ambassador squirm as the Queen towered over him from her throne, the fingers on one hand lengthening into long claws that would slice the Canim open from belly to throat with one swipe.
The Ambassador swallowed nervously, but—to his credit—he didn’t wilt or back down. “The terms are this,” he said, forced to clear his throat as the Queen shifted more of her entire arm, filling it with muscle and covering it in a layer of sable fur. “If High House Ursa turns over the fugitive, then her sister shall be spared.”
“Absolutely not,” Klaue and his Queen snarled in unison, both taking another step toward the Ambassador.
Klaue very nearly kept going, a scene flashing in his head of his fingers choking the life out of the pompous prick, until his cold corpse rattled its death cry and collapsed to the ground in front of him. The first of many victims he intended to claim in his quest to liberate Zoe for his mate.
Only his Queen’s upraised hand stopped him. Klaue paused in his tracks, quivering with barely-constrained rage as he stared at the Ambassador with a fire burning in his features, a promise in his eyes. You’re going to die at my hands.
“If Canis wants her, come and get her,” he snarled instead, making it clear his position on Jessica. “You won’t touch a hair on her while I still breathe. Is that clear?”
The Ambassador met his gaze and very calmly shrugged, as if he didn’t give a damn. “Very well. I have been instructed, however, to give you forty-eight hours to think about it and come up with your reply. If you choose the wise course, Queen Kaelyn, then meet us with the fugitive at the Cemetery.”
Without waiting for a reply, the Ambassador pivoted on one foot, brushed past Klaue, practically daring him to reach out and strike, and waltzed from the Throne Room like nothing was wrong.
“I’m going to kill him,” Klaue said just before the doors closed, hoping that the Canim would hear him. Then he turned to his Queen. “We can’t give her up.”
“Agreed.” Kaelyn sighed, frustrated. “You know, I’m getting really sick and tired of having to meet people in the Cemetery.”
Klaue growled in understanding, recalling how she’d had to go there with Kincaid to save his mate from a traitorous member of House Ursa who was in league with the Canim. Speaking of…
“My Queen,” he said hesitantly, looking around. “Has there been any luck finding the traitor who sold my team out and told them we were coming?”
“No,” Kaelyn said heavily. “Kincaid has been searching for the traitor for weeks now. Whoever orchestrated the uprising in our ranks has remained hidden and does an excellent job of it. We will find them, and you can rest assured they will pay. But I’m sorry, no leads yet.”
Klaue nodded, then prepared to go, waiting for Jessica to join him. She may have kicked him out, but after what had just happened, the last thing he wanted was to be apart from her.
“Jess?” he called when she didn’t move.
“You guys,” she said thoughtfully in a distracted tone. “I have an idea.”
Klaue lifted his eyebrows, surprised and curious. “What’s that?”
Jessica looked up, an evil smile spreading across her face. “I think we should do exactly what the Canim expect from us.”
37
Klaue freaked out, exactly as she’d expected him to.
“Absolutely not!” he shouted. “No way. We are not giving you up at all. It’s not happening, I’m putting my foot down. They will kill you in a heartbeat, and probably your sister too.”
The Queen came down from her Throne, putting a hand on Jessica’s shoulder. “I’m afraid he’s right, Jessica. They will kill you. Without hesitation or regret either. To give in is suicide.”
She held up a hand, silencing them both, the smile never fading. “Now hold on. I never said we should give in.”
Klaue’s mouth snapped shut for a nanosecond. “I’m not letting them have you. The argument ends there.”
Sighing, she turned her gaze on the Queen, pleading to be allowed to speak.
“Klaue?”
“Yes, my Queen?”
“Shut up and let your mate talk for a minute.” The Queen winked at Jessica as Klaue’s mouth slammed closed.
