Embracing Destiny

by Hutchins, Amelia

  He didn’t slow down, violently fucking me until I was one endless orgasm. His power rushed through my body, hitting every nerve ending in my sex and anything attached to it. “Mmm, I enjoy you like this, helpless to do anything but take me as I am,” he growled thickly, pushing his magic into my ass as tears blurred my vision. His hand traced up my spine, dancing over it as if to remember every single vertebra before gripping my hair.

  The beast pulled my head back, his onyx eyes staring into my gaze, searching my soul. Enormous gossamer wings stood proudly behind him, while Ryder’s black brands hummed and glowed like his eyes when he held control.

  “Who do you belong to, little one?” he asked softly.

  “You,” I whispered through tears while his magic continued to fuck me painfully. It was beautiful pain, meant to destroy and claim, but tonight he was more forceful than ever before. He was testing my limits, punishing me for fighting them. It worried me that he wasn’t taking into account that he could rip me open if he wasn’t careful. As if he realized my concern, he pulled some magic back and began fucking me slowly. My ass burned, and he smiled, enjoying the pain.

  “Then why do you fight me?” he snapped, pushing into my body, causing a moan to escape my throat. His hand released my hair and removed the straps from beneath my legs. Carefully he picked me up, turning me around until I was on his lap, facing him as he continued using magic to punish me.

  The beast pushed me down on his cock, filling me as his mouth crushed against mine, demanding I open to him. Arms wrapped around me, claws brushing over my hips as the beast used them to control my body. Pleasure erupted within me, and I exploded around him, glowing with the release that caused a multitude of colors to explode outside of the window, lighting the room with their beauty.

  “I am yours, but I am the Goddess of the Fae. I have a duty to you and my people, beast,” I whispered as he pulled away.

  “You fight me when you fight him. You are ours only.”

  “I am. I belong to both of you forever.” My body trembled as tears swam in my vision. The room began to spin around us in a kaleidoscope of colors as if something else was happening, and I held no control over it.

  “Do it,” the beast growled.

  “I’m afraid.”

  “You were made for this, woman. I tire of sharing a body. Do what you were created to do,” he demanded, and I swallowed the scream as the beast tightened his hold, demanding I obey.

  “Ryder,” I whispered through tears as the room faded to black around me.

  “Pet.” Ryder kissed my forehead as he held me up, cradling my face in his hands. Slowly, he released his magic, watching me as he continued rocking his hips. His hand found mine, clasping on to me through the talons of the beast that had yet to recede. His other hand mirrored the action while holding me on his lap, watching as I lifted my head, staring into his golden eyes.

  “I love you,” I whispered through trembling lips.

  “I love you, too.”

  My body began to glow with power, igniting his brands in a pulsing thrum of magic that filled the room until it became deafening. Ryder thrust into me feverously, watching me with his mouth wide open as I fed him magic, changing him, making him more powerful.

  Blue and violet streams of power pushed through my hands into him, transforming his black brands into a golden color that slithered over his flesh. When he jerked with his release, I whispered his name, igniting more than a blessing of power.

  I pushed a part of my soul into his, binding us closer than we’d ever been.

  He growled, staring into my eyes, unseeing, as I gave the power of his beast to his fae form, just as the beast had commanded. My head rolled back, and he called my name as everything went dark.

  Chapter Twelve

  I awoke to Ryder cradling my body, glaring at me through darkened eyes burning with flecks of gold as his wings concealed us. I touched the back of my head and winced against the pain. Although I could tell he was concerned, he didn’t look happy. I lifted my head, moaning before I rested against his shoulder, continuing to stare at him in confusion. My body trembled violently, hating that I didn’t know what happened because nobody could fall asleep on this man’s dick. My guess was that I’d passed out from too much pain.

  “Your wings are out,” I uttered through chattering teeth.

  “Yeah, about that,” he replied angrily. “What the hell did you do?”

  “What, what do you mean?”

  “You pushed power into me, but then it changed to something else, something violent. I felt like I was on fire and being ripped apart into a million fucking little pieces, and I told you to stop, but you looked right through me and kept fucking pushing more magic into me, Synthia.”

  “I didn’t do that to you.” Confused, I blinked at the dark wings, noting the sharp, pointed talons along the outside edges, resembling serrated teeth. They unfurled, spreading wide, then snapped closed to reveal a room full of men, all glaring at me accusingly. “I didn’t…” My mind replayed the magic at the end of the sex, wanting to do whatever it took to protect Ryder from our enemies. I’d wished him strong enough to live through what was coming, so had I done this to him? “I don’t know what I did. I just remember pushing power into you, willing you to survive the war. I felt something inside of me shift, and then it entered you.”

  “The beast within me has yet to speak, Synthia. Is that what you wanted? For him to no longer be a part of me?” Ryder demanded, tossing me onto the bed, staring at me through narrowed eyes full of hurt and betrayal.

  “No, never,” I whispered carefully. “Ryder, whatever I did, I did to protect you. I would never want to change who and what you are. You’re everything to me, and the beast is a part of you. I love him, too.”

  Cold, angry eyes narrowed on me, surveying the tears that rolled down my cheeks as I sat up, studying him. I wasn’t sure what I’d done, only that I’d been unable to stop it from happening. I may not always enjoy the beast, and yeah, he could hurt me, but he never meant to. He wasn’t of this world, and his thoughts were more focused on fucking, owning, or worse, breeding my womb, but I loved him.

  “Undo it!” Ryder demanded harshly.

  “I don’t even know what I did. I’ll call Destiny.”

  “Call her now!” The harsh tone of his voice wrapped around my heart and squeezed it tightly.

  I whispered Destiny’s name, sensing the moment she entered the room, and turned to see her gaping at Ryder’s form. Her head moved from Ryder to me, and her gaze narrowed. It was as if she sensed the change in him immediately and wasn’t surprised by it at all.

  “I see you finally figured out how to combine them. How did you do it?” Destiny stared at Ryder, examining in his wicked-looking wings before turning to look at the men who growled their disapproval at her words.

  “I don’t want them combined. I don’t even know how it happened!”

  “I’m guessing you were mid-fuck, and you tried to feed him?” I nodded, and she laughed outright at me.

  “Feeding straight from a goddess has consequences, especially if she loves her mate. Your mother always tried to combine the beast to the man and failed. Danu fed Alazander gluttonously, and he took and took from her, and yet he never did become one with the beast he carried. How did you manage it?”

  “I—uh,” I paused, horrified, then looked at Ryder before glancing back to the half-naked goddess. “I wanted to protect him, and then I pushed power into him the same way I do when I feed him. My thoughts were of the war, and that I could lose him. Suddenly, everything changed, and it was as if we were one being, and Ryder was staring through me like he didn’t see me. I felt him fucking me, but I no longer saw him. After a few moments, the room began to spin with a rainbow of colors, and then everything faded to black.”

  “Amazing,” Destiny said,
still looking at Ryder. “You gave him a piece of your soul, Synthia. You combined man and beast by giving him a part of yourself. You love him enough to sacrifice that piece of yourself to protect him. Apparently, that’s the one thing your mother was unwilling to do when she tried to merge the beast with Alazander.”

  “How do I undo it?” She snorted in response, throwing her hands up in the air. “Ryder doesn’t want this, and neither do I.”

  “Are you sure? You’ve succeeded in transforming Ryder into what your mother always meant him to become. As Horde King, Ryder was forced to carry the beast which appeared as the part of him you were created to soothe—you know, so that he wouldn’t go insane like his father. Do you know why Alazander went mad? He wasn’t strong enough to be both beast and man, because no one is.

  “Unfortunately, Danu hadn’t seen that complication of her creation. The beast she created had to choose a host with enough strength and power to hold him. Once inside the host, they would slowly lose control because the beast is an animal, hungering for more without ever fully satisfying that hunger. Your mother searched endlessly for a way to combine man and beast. She even offered herself to Alazander in the guise of his newest concubine and endured his brutality in her efforts to find a way to save him.

  “When Ryder took his beast, Danu created you to quench his hunger. She knew his need to fuck would be insatiable and would drive him mad unless he fucked and fed from a goddess or demi-goddess, and Danu was unwilling to feed another beast herself. She spent thousands of years trying to fix the flaw in her creation and failed. She thought it was impossible, but you succeeded through love. It is truly amazing.” Reaching out, Destiny ran her hand over Ryder’s wings while we all stared at her.

  “Yeah, I don’t think Ryder agrees with you. He’s sorta pissed off, in case you didn’t notice from the glares he is giving us.”

  “He is unused to it, but he’ll get over it in time.”

  “The beast isn’t speaking to me anymore,” Ryder snapped.

  “Of course, he’s not. The beast is no longer a separate part of you. You’ve merged, and now you’re what the Horde King was always supposed to be: the Beast of Men. You no longer hold him; you’ve become one with him. You still have all the abilities of the beast, but you don’t have to fight him for control. He allowed Synthia to merge you into one being. You are the perfect killing machine now, as Danu had always intended. You can’t hear the beast because his thoughts are now yours. Danu created each breed of the horde to house their monster on the outside, Ryder. Yours, however, was flawed until now.”

  Closing his eyes, Ryder growled as he shook his head and lowered it. “I didn’t ask for this.”

  “No, but here’s the reality of what would happen, Ryder,” Destiny shot back at him. “Synthia was created to be your balance, and your anchor to keep the beast sated, but eventually he would’ve wanted more. His sole purpose was to breed and kill, and yours was to survive so that he could live. Why do you think Alazander had thousands of children? It wasn’t because he craved them. It was because his beast would never stop.

  “I’m not saying Alazander wasn’t a murderous bastard, but he also was maddened by the beast within him. So, he killed and he fucked, but now man controls the beast and his urges. Luckily, Alazander died before he could give Danu a child of her own, and she created you instead. It may take you time to come to terms with the changes, Ryder, but consider this: Had your beast not accepted Synthia’s magic or wanted to be one with its host, it wouldn’t have happened, no matter how hard she tried. He’d have torn Synthia apart to prevent the transformation, and she doesn’t have a scratch on her. The beast didn’t fight your wife, so why are you?”

  Ryder looked at Destiny, then to me, his face red with anger as he clenched his jaw. “I’m preparing for war, and I don’t have time to figure out how to control the beast again.”

  “Put your wings away, Ryder. Just like you would the beast,” Destiny instructed, and he glared at me, damning me for something I had little control over. His wings twitched before they vanished, only to reappear again. He did it several times before narrowing his eyes on Destiny. “You are the beast. You have nothing to learn. You’ve spent every moment since he was gifted to you learning to control him. You need to stop thinking that Synthia cursed you, because she didn’t.

  “She anchored your fucking beast to your soul, and by adding a sliver of hers, she gave you what Danu would never give to Alazander. Synthia,” she said, turning to look at me, forcing my gaze away from Ryder’s anger. “Don’t be ashamed of what you did for Ryder. You had no more control over it than he did. Your love for him, pure and untainted, offered him what no one else could. Your soul chose him and found him worthy of housing a piece of you. That type of love is endless.”

  “Like what Erie gave to Callaghan? Because that didn’t work out well for them,” Ryder countered, still glaring at me.

  “Yes, just like that, so if either of you dies, when your souls are reborn, you would find one another again, and love each other. Erie, however, was brought back differently, by force, creating an entirely different situation. I don’t think you should use Erie as an example because she’s psychotic. There’s nothing normal about her.”

  “Thank you,” I said, watching her aura shimmer before she vanished.

  “Out, now!” Ryder snapped, and I stood to leave the room. “Not you, Synthia.”

  I turned, staring at him through pain-filled eyes. He stood from the bed, unfolding his wings and growing taller, power emanating from him with every move he made. The men paused, eyeing Ryder, then me, before leaving the room, deciding I was on my own.

  I sat on the bed, staring up at him through unshed tears. I’d wanted to protect him, and in doing so, I’d changed him into something else. I didn’t blame him for being upset. Hell, I was pissed at myself for what I’d done.

  “Ryder, I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

  “Strip,” he growled, balling his fists up at his sides. “Now, because I need to be inside of you, Pet. You created a monster, and the only thing I can think of at the moment is fucking your warm sheath until I come deep within it.”

  I blinked and nodded. In ways of punishment, I was pretty much on board with this one. “I’m good with that,” I stated, watching a dark, sinful smile spread across his lips.

  “Keep that thought close,” he warned, observing my slow movements as I began to remove the gown he had glamoured onto me. His stare narrowed, observing everything I did with interest as I stood, letting the fabric pool at my feet. “Now, bend over and don’t fucking move.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ryder

  Synthia fucked up, plain and simple. She’d made me insatiable when she combined me with the beast. I already held secrets she didn’t know about. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have secrets of her own lately either—yet she wanted trust. She’d been keeping company with gods and shit that didn’t even belong in my world. Her entire existence was flawed with her need to protect shit on her own, and that didn’t fucking work for me. Synthia was mine by right. I’d claimed her, fucking her until she didn’t want off of my dick. I’d bred her womb, filling it with our babes, and then she’d gone and died to bring them into this world.

  Now she’d started keeping company with the wrong people more and more, and not doing what I needed her to be doing. Did she think I didn’t know who had walked into my home? Synthia did nothing the easy way, stubborn as fuck. She grasped on to everything, holding it close with fear that once it was gone, it could never be gotten back.

  She sunk her claws in, dug her tiny heels deep, and held on with everything she was and had. I couldn’t reach her once she’d dug in, and while I’d supported her half-assed efforts to accept this world, I was done fucking around with her. The war was at our doors, and she was sulking over stupid shit.

  I reach
ed down, running my fingertips over the wet cunt that clenched in fear. Red and swollen, it dripped with arousal from the magic steadily fucking her tight sheath endlessly—and I watched her take it. I was punishing her, and she was aware that it wasn’t ending soon.

  It was make-it or break-it time, and she’d rather break than reach for the world that needed her. She’d run off to her world and the guild, spending time there while I crunched numbers. I made plans and hard decisions that might win or lose this war, and then she bitched about not being included. She hadn’t even been here when I needed her. She’d fled to help rebuild the guild. I couldn’t have her helping me only to leave when I needed her at my side.

  Then she went and changed what I was because she was afraid for me? I was indestructible. I wouldn’t die here, not in this war. I’d go on with her, but my family wouldn’t. I wouldn’t lose them, not after everything I have done to protect them. Not after what I did to myself to be strong enough to murder the bastard who terrorized us, and then hold the beast within me. I evolved, changing myself into the one thing Danu couldn’t sense. I buried that power so fucking deep that not even the gods knew what I was or what I did.

  Synthia thought she had evolved, but she hadn’t fully become what she was born to be, or I’d have felt it. Fuck, the entire world would have sensed it. Synthia thought I needed to change to survive, and yet she was the one unwilling to change. She’d been playing house and hadn’t even unpacked her bags that were still sitting by our bedroom door. Her shit from the guild was in our closet, still packed. When she spoke of home, she referred to that world, and I needed her tight, sexy ass here in Faery, fighting beside me instead of against me.

  Her tender flesh beckoned me to abuse it more, and I leaned over, dragging my tongue through the mess as she whimpered for me. I devoured it, pulling her legs apart until I was sure they burned, sliding my mouth over every inch of her needy cunt until she started quivering and exploded in my mouth.