Awai felt something roll over her feet and laughed when she saw Abra playing with her black collar, batting it around and flipping it into the air. “All right you little imp,” she murmured as she bent to scratch the calico cat behind her ears. The cat had her own red collar with white diamonds glistening along the band. Awai straightened and put her hands on her hips. “Just be sure to keep your paws to yourself when it comes to my wedding robe.”
Alice laughed and sprinkled cherry blossoms in Awai’s hair while Annie handed her a bouquet made of cherry blossoms.
“Perfect,” Alice announced. “You make the most beautiful bride.”
Awai smiled, but her insides felt like she was going to explode with nervousness. “Will the children be at the ceremony?”
“Are you kidding?” Alexi rolled her eyes. “Eleven children racing around. I don’t think so.”
“The nannies are taking care of them,” Annie said. “They need to make sure the children get to bed at a decent time.”
“Not to mention they are being heavily guarded.” Alexi’s hands were on her hips. “We are not about to take any chances with our children. The way those bakirs slipped through the guards—it was like they used magic or something.”
“Mikaela is no longer under the King of Malachad’s control,” Annie said with a hopeful note to her voice. “If only she can continue to fight him off, she will remain free.”
Awai nodded. “I hope for her sake and ours that she wins in the war for her soul.”
When they were all ready, Awai told her nieces to go along without her. She needed a moment to herself, and then she would follow to where the ceremony would be held.
Alexi gave a small frown. “You’re not going to run off on us now, and stand up the groom?”
Awai couldn’t help a teasing grin. “Can’t say it hasn’t crossed my mind.” But then her expression grew serious. “I just need a little quiet to collect my thoughts.”
“All right, sugar.” Annie gave Awai a quick kiss on her cheek. “You take all the time you need.”
When everyone had left the bedchamber, Awai clutched her bouquet in one hand as she went to the window to stare out at the beautiful world she now lived in. No San Francisco skyline, no Chinese food from her favorite dim sum restaurant, no trolley, no corporate ladders to climb. Instead she would live in an almost medieval world run by magic and men and women, in a male-dominated society. Yet the women were treated as equals here, for the most part, just not when it came to sex.
Of course the women all seemed to love it, and Awai couldn’t argue.
Awai sighed and touched her fingertips to the pane of glass. The aqua clouds grew a deeper blue as they floated in the sky. It was growing darker and would soon be sunset.
She would miss so much of her former home. Sourdough bread and clam chowder, lobster and crab, the hustle and bustle of the city she loved. The broad mixture of races and cultures.
Could she do this? Could she stay in a foreign world?
All of her family was here. Her nieces—and good lord, all of their children that she had grown to love as much as Annie, Alexi, and Alice.
And Ty. She loved him more than anything.
His warm presence suddenly surrounded her. She saw his reflection in the glass the second before his arms wrapped around her waist and his chin rested on the top of her head. “You miss your world,” he said simply.
Awai closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. “It scares me to think of never experiencing life the way I’ve known it for so long.”
Gently taking her by the shoulders he turned her around in his embrace and she tilted her head to look up at him. “If you wish to live in your world,” he said, “I would go with you.”
“You would—” A prickling sensation at the back of Awai’s eyes started and she bit her lip to keep from crying. “You would,” she finally started again, “leave all that you know and love for me?”
He brushed away the errant tear that slipped down her cheek. “I would do whatever would make you happy. As long as we are together, that is all that matters to me.”
Awai became lost in his blue gaze as she stared up at him. “But your people, your family…”
Ty caught her hands, crushing the bouquet of cherry blossoms between them. “I would miss them, yes. However they would go on without me. They would continue to survive and thrive. But I could no more live without you than my world could live without the sun.” He brought his forehead to hers. “I need you, Awai. You are my other half, my heart, my soul. I will do whatever will make you happy.”
“You big oaf.” Awai threw her arms around him, forgetting she was holding the bouquet and sending it flying across the room. “I love you so much.”
He smiled as they parted, yet his eyes held seriousness. “What is it you desire?”
“I want to stay here with you.” She smiled and wiped away a tear with the back of her hand. “But I would like to visit San Francisco now and again. Can we do that?”
“If it is within my power, I will do whatever I can to grant this wish.” Ty held her chin and gave her a soft kiss. “Now come before everyone has the ceremony without us.”
Awai laughed and Ty helped her gather the bouquet of cherry blossoms. Arm in arm they walked through the palace to the coach waiting outside. The coach was golden with a black club upon its door. It was late evening and growing darker even as the coach pulled away from the palace.
“Where is the ceremony to take place?” she asked as she looked out the coach window.
Ty drew her close, keeping her from leaning out. “You will see.”
In a matter of moments, the coach pulled up to the wharf. Awai gasped in amazement at the sight of the beautiful black yacht that was at least ten times the size of the sailboat they had made love on all those days ago. It had a golden club emblem on the side, and upon the bow Tigress was written in gold.
“Oh, now you’re really going to make me cry,” she said with a sniff. “It’s beautiful, Ty.”
He took her by the arm and led her down the beautiful mahogany landing and then led her up the mahogany gangplank to the yacht’s main deck. Waiting there were all of her nieces and their spouses. Alexi was beaming, Alice was crying, and Annie had Abra gripped tight to her chest.
Awai’s heart swelled in her throat as her future mate brought her to the head of the small crowd. The crew drew up the gangplank and the anchor, and the yacht began its trek across the dark water.
Before them the aurora began to fan the sky in shimmering waves. Like starlight and rainbows blending and spilling into the water surrounding the yacht. The surface of the lake glittered and sparkled, reflecting the brilliance of the aurora. The only sounds were of the yacht making small splashing sounds as it cut through the water and night birds singing their evening song.
A balmy breeze ruffled the hem of Awai’s robe and caressed her nearly bare breasts. Ty’s hair lifted from his shoulders and the club tattoo on his abs flexed as he turned her to face him.
Awai lost all sense of time or place as she looked into the eyes of her man. The bouquet slipped from her fingers, blooms spilling across the deck and scattering in the gentle wind.
“On this day I wish to join with my true mate.” Ty’s voice boomed in the evening silence as he brushed his fingers lightly across Awai’s cheek. “I join with the woman who fills my soul with her strength, my very being with her laughter and intelligence. And the woman who fills my heart with love. Will you take me as your mate, my dear Awai?”
“Yes,” she replied clearly, her voice ringing out through the night. “You are everything to me, Ty. I love you with all my heart and soul.”
And she knew she was telling the truth, that she was finally and truly healed from the wounds of her past, and her heart and soul were fully hers to give once more.
Ty held out his palm and upon it appeared a glittering collar of diamonds with ebony clubs in the midst of the diamonds. “Will you wear my collar?�
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Awai’s voice trembled a little at the importance of the moment. “Yes.” She reached up and held her dark hair away from her neck. “I belong to you.”
A very male smile crossed Ty’s lips as he slid his collar around her throat and fastened it. When he backed away, Awai let her hair slide over her shoulders again. She couldn’t take her eyes off her beautiful man.
He held his hand out again, and in it were two diamond and ebony nipple rings. “Will you wear my insignia, showing all that you belong to me?”
Awai’s heart beat faster. She loved how it had felt to wear the club charms before, and these were gorgeous and most importantly, significant to Ty.
“Yes, I will,” she said.
Ty brought up his hand and pushed aside the silk covering her left breast. Awai gasped and her nipple tightened at once. She was vaguely aware of her family and his brothers watching, but it didn’t embarrass her.
He slid the loop over her nipple and tightened it with the diamond bead so that it ached and caused her pussy to drip with moisture. His eyes still focused on his task, he pushed aside the silk covering her right breast. The air had cooled and her nipple grew even harder. Ty slipped the second ring over her nipple and tightened the loop.
When he was finished, Ty cupped the back of Awai’s head and brought her roughly to him. Her taut nipples and charms brushed against his heavily muscled chest and his erection pressed through his leather breeches against her almost bare belly.
“I claim you as mine,” he said before crushing his mouth to hers.
The sound of cheering broke out, but Awai was lost in the kiss, lost in knowing she had joined with her soul mate. A man she could never have dreamed of finding had found her.
His mouth moved over hers, his tongue delving into her mouth, his taste, his masculine scent seeping into her senses.
When he pulled away, he grasped her chin and smiled. “I love you, Awai.”
She caught her breath at the beauty of the moment, at the beauty of her man. “Any time, any place, any world. I love you, Ty.”
Chapter Sixteen
Awai gasped as Ty swept her up in his embrace and strode away from the bow of the yacht. She flung her arms around his neck, and her gaze was only for him as they passed their family. Awai could hear her nieces sighing and sniffling and the proud rumbles of their spouses.
Ty carried her down an ebony staircase into the depths of the yacht, down a hall lit by glowing golden orbs. He brought her into an enormous stateroom and the moment they were through the doors he used his magic to shut them behind him.
The room was filled with vases and baskets brimming with cherry blossoms. Candles in shades of pink perched upon every surface not covered by blooms, and warm yellow candlelight flickered throughout the room. The bed was enormous and the soft coverlet was covered with the sweetly scented blossoms.
Huge windows faced the northern sky and through them Awai saw the fabulous aurora, its hues of pinks and purples and golds shifting and changing into reds and blues and silvers.
Ty carefully set her down on her feet in front of the windows so that she was looking out at the aurora and her back was to him. “I can hardly believe you are mine,” he murmured as he pushed away her dark hair and kissed her soft shoulder.
She shivered and tilted her head back, baring her throat to him. It felt sensual and so erotic to be standing before the aurora with her breasts naked despite her clothing, and her new nipple rings so tight that her breasts ached.
Awai sighed. “You are more than I could have hoped for.” Her dark hair slid across his chest as he brought her tight against him. He brought his hands up to cup her breasts and squeezed each of her nipples.
A sigh escaped her lips as she let herself feel and experience his callused hands upon her soft skin, his rigid erection pressing through the silk of her robes against her back. She reached up high and slid her fingers into his long blond hair as he kissed her nape. His hands worked lower, moving from her breasts to the star charm at her belly. He passed the fastening at her waist and pulled apart the front of the robe so that he could reach her bare mons.
She gasped as he slid his finger into her slit and her pussy grew even wetter. Slowly he stroked her clit, then slid his wet fingers back up over her mons, to the bare skin above her waist.
“Taste yourself,” he murmured, bringing his fingers to her mouth.
Awai parted her lips and tasted the cream from between her thighs as she lightly sucked his fingers. When he slipped them from her lips she tilted her head up and back so that she could see his eyes reflecting the flickering candlelight.
Ty brought his mouth to Awai’s and slipped his tongue into her depths, tasting her lips, her cream, her woman’s flavor. Joy seared his veins, burned at his soul that this woman belonged to him, and him alone.
He withdrew from the kiss and for a moment gazed into her beautiful eyes. Her lips were parted, swollen, and wet from his kiss. “You are so lovely,” he murmured as he reached around her and found the fastenings at her waist. He took his time, and in a slow, easy movement he released the bonds so that her robe fell open, completely exposing her to his gaze.
In the cabin window he studied her reflection, the creaminess of her skin, the glitter of the nipple charms dangling from her breasts, the light catching the star charm at her navel. Her dark hair flowed around her shoulders in contrast to her fair skin and her quim glistened with moisture.
Ty repressed a roar and the desire to thrust into his mate now. Instead he purred, a low rumble that rose up within his throat and reverberated throughout his being. “My woman,” he murmured as he pushed the robe slowly from her shoulders and arms. He paused partway down so that her hands were bound behind her back and her breasts thrust forward.
He lowered his mouth to her ear and felt her shiver when he whispered, “Do you enjoy being at my mercy, tigress?”
“Yes.” Awai flicked her tongue against her lower lip. “I love it when you take control of me.”
Ty brought his hand to her throat and caressed the diamond and ebony collar. It glittered in the window’s reflection, the candlelight causing it to sparkle like sunlight on water. “You look so beautiful with my sign of ownership. Do you enjoy being owned by me?”
“More than anything.” Her throat moved as she swallowed. “I am yours in every way.”
His smile was so sensual that Awai’s knees nearly buckled. He pushed her robe the rest of the way down her arms and let it drop in a swirl of silk around her feet. Taking her by the shoulders, Ty turned her to face him. She tilted her head up to look into his eyes and saw the love and caring he felt for her. This was not about him owning her, it was about them owning each other, and she knew he felt the same way. But he also knew how much it turned her on when he controlled her, when he dominated her.
It no longer amazed her that she was willing to give up all control to Ty. He was the only man she could ever have given herself to completely.
She reached up and touched the gold earring glinting at his ear and slid her fingers over his stubble roughened cheek to his lips. His long blond hair fell long and loose about his massive shoulders and his muscles rippled as he brought his hands below her ribcage to span her small waist. She braced her hands on his shoulders to steady herself as he explored her body with his gaze and his hands.
In the next moment he roughly cupped her naked buttocks and pressed himself against her. She felt his need, felt the fine rein of control that kept him from releasing the beast that wanted to ravage her. A part of her wanted him to lose control, to take her hard and fast, but another part wanted this slow seduction.
“Let me undress you,” she whispered as she brought her hands between them and to the belt around his breeches.
He rumbled, his expression fierce and filled with desire as she slowly unbuckled the club at his belt and unfastened his leather breeches. But instead of pulling out his cock, she knelt on the floor before him and unlaced one of his knee-high boo
ts. After she unlaced the second boot he kicked them away, but she remained on her knees. She grasped his breeches and eased them down over his hips. His cock sprang free, swollen with need and lust for her.
“Hurry, woman,” he growled, but she heard the love in his voice.
She didn’t hurry. Instead she took her time, running her tongue along the insides of his thighs and lightly biting the skin on his knees as she pushed his breeches down to his feet. She didn’t have time to tease him any further because he stepped out of his breeches and caught a handful of her hair and tilted her head back to look at him.
His eyes glowed with sensual fire. “Do you wish punishment, sweet wench?”
Awai smiled and wrapped her small hand around his large cock. “Please,” she murmured before slipping her lips over the head of his erection.
Ty gave another growl and clenched his hand tighter in her hair. Awai loved the way it felt when he controlled her movements, the feel of his skin over his rigid length, the taste of his come that leaked into her mouth as she sucked his cock. She loved the wiry blond curls at the base of his shaft, loved the smell of him, the way his very presence surrounded her.
Just as she felt him stiffen, he shouted, “Enough!” and dragged her up against his muscled body and kissed her long and hard.
“I must taste you,” he said in a deep rumble.
Ty’s back was to the window, and as he kissed his way down her body she saw the brilliant aurora filling the night sky. His tongue flicked across one nipple to the valley of her breasts and to the other nipple as she watched the fall of glittering light outside the yacht’s window.
He worked lower, flicking his tongue against her shooting star charm before nipping at her mound. The small erotic bite caused her to gasp and more moisture to flow down her leg. Through heavy-lidded eyes she continued to watch the aurora’s light show and marveled at how it danced in tune with the sensations flowing throughout her body.
Wonderland 4: King Of Clubs Page 15
