“Kara’s not Estella,” I protested. “She’s more serious. More…mature.” I knew it was a strange thing to say, given how much older Estella must have been.
Anyhow, I couldn’t help but think that Kara’s reasons for being single seemed to have less to do with a desire for independence than with some hidden wall built around her heart. Something had hurt her, made her wary of love.
“You know what I mean,” Tristan said, renewing his grip on my hand and leading me down the stone steps towards the garden. The cool breeze seemed to flow right down the front of my dress, flitting over my skin, raising goosebumps on my flesh, and reminding me of the sensation of my lover’s touch. It was getting hard to have a serious conversation when my body insisted on going straight to Horny-ville.
“Besides, if you want to worry about anyone, worry about your friend Marcus,” Tristan said as he turned towards me and backed into the entrance to the hedge maze, guiding me backwards as his eyes caressed me from head to toe.
The mention of Marcus jolted me out of the beginnings of my erotic fantasy. “Wait—what do you mean?” I asked. “Why should I worry about him?”
“Because his time is coming,” Tristan said. “He’s going to have to free his inner wolf soon. His need will begin to outweigh his loyalty, which means he’ll become dangerous to everyone around him.”
“Dangerous? Marcus?” I replied. “I can’t imagine it. He’s always looked after me so well.”
“Trust me,” Tristan said. “A Lesser whose inner animal is in need of liberating isn’t generally very good at looking after anyone. Marcus has two desires: to find a mate, and to find the animal that lives deep inside him. If he doesn’t succeed at one, he’ll fail at the other, and the process will be painful.”
“Then you need to set him free,” I said, my tone laced with desperation. “You need to help him.”
“I’ll do it when the time is right.”
We headed down a narrow pathway between two tall, well manicured rows of high shrubberies that concealed us from the house and its guests.
“You said it would be painful for him….” I murmured, my heart aching. I couldn’t bear the thought of Marcus in pain.
“Beyond imagining,” Tristan said, “which is why he could grow dangerous.”
“You really think Marcus—my Marcus—could possibly be a danger to anyone?”
“A man with nothing to lose is always a danger,” he said. “But don’t worry. He’s not there yet. He has a little time. He needs to find his own way, to choose his own path. But I’ll help him if I can. Once I’m convinced of his loyalty, I promise you I’ll set him free.”
I wanted to protest, to insist that Marcus was already loyal. But the fact was that until very recently, he’d been under the employ of the enemy. Tristan couldn’t afford to welcome him into the fold, to let him in on his secrets, if there was any risk that Marcus was acting as some sort of double-agent.
“Thank you, Tristan,” I said. “You’ve been really kind to him. Just promise me you won’t let him suffer.”
“I promise,” he said, his eyes flashing bright behind his mask. “In the meantime, all I really want is to be good to you.” He took my hand and spun me around to reveal a tall stone bench tucked away in one of the garden’s hidden corners. Its back rose up to shoulder-height, engravings of Celtic designs covering its surface.
“Good, you say?” I asked, allowing myself a laugh. “What exactly does good mean, in this context?”
He pulled himself close to my back, lifted his mask so that it sat on top of his head and nipped at my right earlobe gently. “Lean forward,” he commanded. “Grab the bench. You know what I want.”
I shot him a coy smile over my shoulder before bending over to reach for the upper ridge of the stone bench, cold under my touch. I pressed my spine downward, arching my back, and spread my legs wide. All worries about Marcus and Rourke vanished as my selfish body began to ache for what was coming.
When Tristan yanked the layers of silk up and away, the cool air slammed into me in a sudden, arousing gust.
A delighted groan met my ears from the man behind me. “Stunning,” he moaned before sliding a hand over my backside until his fingers found the very wet place between my legs. The moment he touched me, a heavy sigh of pleasure escaped from between my own lips.
“I want you,” Tristan said softly. “I need this so much right now.” When he thrust three fingers inside me, I held back a yelp, my channel tightening around him.
“So take me,” I replied, grateful that my mouth wasn’t covered by my own mask. “I’m yours. Take me hard. Now.”
The quiet swish of his zipper met my ears, then in one hard thrust he was deep inside me. His fingers dug into my hips, his cock ramming hard and fast, his movements feral, desperate, almost beyond his control. I could feel his strength—that of the beast that lived inside him, always lurking somewhere below the surface—as he took full possession of my body. A greedy, wild being, succumbing to an addiction that drove him to near-madness.
“It’s torture standing next to you when you’re wearing this dress,” he snarled, his tone treading the line between anger and lust. “Torture to run my eyes over your curves and not be able to get my hands, my mouth on you. I needed to possess you. You have no idea, Ariana. You’re the most delicious, sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
I was grateful for his long arms when he bent forward, one hand peeling back the top of my dress’s bodice to tease my nipple, the other reaching around to lift my skirt and finger my clit in needful, desperate spirals, sending jolts of searing heat racing through me.
“Oh, fuck, yes…keep doing that…” I breathed, my body already surrendering to his touch.
It was no time before the first blast of my orgasm hit, my tightening channel grabbing hold of him, milking his stone-hard shaft for everything he had. When he felt me come he drove into me, slamming hard one final time and filling me with an explosion of scorching heat.
I had no idea if there were people around, or if we could be seen from the house. No idea if we had an audience.
I didn’t care.
All I cared about was how I felt about the man who’d now wrapped his arms around me, breathing hard into my back as we became one.
All I wanted was to find a way to preserve the perfection that was this moment forever.
Chapter 10
As we made our way back to the house across a narrow field of soft, dew-coated grass, Tristan pulled his mask back down over his features and adjusted his jacket in an attempt to make himself presentable once again.
“I think I’m going to have to find the very big boys’ room and wash my hands,” he said. When we’d neared the French doors that led into the kitchen, he pressed his face close to mine and whispered, “But not my cock. I want to keep your scent on me for as long as possible.”
I smiled, a surge of arousal slamming into me all over again. “I should find a bathroom myself,” I replied, working hard to keep my voice steady. “I’ll go one way, you go the other, then we’ll meet each other somewhere in between.”
“I don’t like to split us up, you know.”
I reached for his hand and drew it to my chest, pressing his palm into the roundness of my exposed flesh. When his thumb slipped over the bare surface of my left breast I inhaled deep, taking a mental snapshot of the sensation. “Maybe we can take another moonlit stroll later,” I murmured, “but this time, I think I’d like to take you in my mouth. I want to taste you.”
“Damn, woman. You’ll be the death of me.”
I shrugged coyly. “It’s a pretty good way to die, you have to admit.”
“I admit it.” Tristan lifted his mask again and kissed me, stroking my tongue with his in deep, sensual licks. “Such a good way to die,” he said when he’d backed away
I followed him into the kitchen, and he made his way towards the masses shifters in the living room while I opted to head towards a corridor at the other end of the
house.
My plan was to clean myself up just enough to keep an intoxicating touch of his scent on my skin. I wanted to inhale him for the rest of the evening. His aroma was a reassuring drug, a reminder that he and I were one. However awkward I might feel, however out of place, the fact was that I was at home when he was near. I didn’t want to forget it for a second.
On my way down the long hall that led to the house’s east wing, I all but ran face-first into Kara, who’d apparently just left the powder room herself. She was dressed in a subdued but elegant white dress that fit her slim body like a glove, a high neckline giving her the appearance of a long, sleek hourglass. In her right hand she carried a light blue mask made of what looked like papier mâché.
“Hey there,” I said with a smile. “It’s nice to see you.”
“And you,” she replied, her often serious face melting into a friendly grin. “How are you doing, Ariana?”
“Really well, thanks to you,” I said. There was no need to explain why I was giving her credit for my current state; she knew full well that she was the entire reason I was alive, let alone why I was feeling so healthy.
“Good,” she said. “So, um…this party’s a little bit much, isn’t it?”
I laughed, glad that she seemed to feel as out of place as I did. As beautiful as Kara was, I’d always gotten the distinct impression that she was something of an introvert. “Yeah,” I said. “I’m feeling pretty out of my element. I think I might actually be the only full-fledged human here.”
“Don’t forget, you’re not entirely human, not anymore. You have Valkyrie blood in your veins, which means you fit in here as well as anyone.” She reached for my hand and squeezed, which settled me a little. “But I get it. Walking into a gathering like this is like stepping into another world. As you can imagine, shifters feel out of place in all-human parties.”
“I have to admit,” I replied, “I’m sort of curious to see how Tristan does at my best friend’s wedding in a couple of weeks. I’m starting to wonder if I should bring a few shifters with us, if only to give him someone to talk to.”
Kara made a dismissive gesture with her left hand. “He’ll be fine. He adores you. The alpha doesn’t care about anything else when you’re around.”
Her words warmed my insides for a moment. It was nice to hear some kind of confirmation that I’d become more to Tristan than a simple sexual distraction, though I still wished I could hear the words from his own lips.
“I’d like to believe that,” I said. “But to be honest, sometimes I’m not sure I’m enough for him.”
“Well, you should be sure, because it’s true. I know Tristan can be difficult, but it’s clear how much he cares about you.”
“Thanks.” I smiled. I couldn’t believe that I’d once looked at Kara with so much suspicion, convinced that she and Tristan would eventually end up in bed together. In the end, she’d proven the kindest, most loyal ally imaginable. “Oh, hey,” I added, “speaking of adoration, what’s up with our hostess Estella? She seems super into Tristan. Then again, she seems pretty into me, too. I get the impression that she’d have sex with a floor lamp if it flickered its bulb at her suggestively.”
Kara let out a laugh. “Oh, man,” she said. “You’ve summed her up pretty well. She’d probably have sex with every single person at this party if someone suggested it. Let’s just say she’s very…free…with her body.” The way Kara said it, I got the distinct impression that she didn’t entirely approve.
“Yeah, I noticed that,” I replied. “I can’t decide if I hate her or envy her.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, she’s very respectful in her own way. She may touch Tristan, or any other man—or woman, for that matter. But she’ll never, ever, go over the line with someone else’s mate. The shifter code is too deeply set in her blood.”
“Shifter code? But I thought she was a Valkyrie.”
Kara shook her head. “Half Valkyrie. The other half is shifter. She’s one of the few half-breeds on earth.”
“Was one of her parents a shifter, then?” I’d assumed that her other half was human. Now I was intrigued.
Kara shook her head. “No, she was changed when she was twenty—which was a very long time ago. It was a dragon shifter who did it, at her request.”
When the D-word hit me I tensed up, a feeling of horror slipping through my body to remember the sight of Krane flying at me through the thick of night. As much as shifters intrigued and quietly thrilled me, I wasn’t crazy about the reminder that dragons existed. The beast that I’d seen outside Tristan’s window had been so enormous, so powerful.
I couldn’t imagine how anyone ever confronted a monster like that and came out alive.
“So, she’s half dragon,” I breathed, my mind roving to all sorts of terrifying places. Strange to think of Estella turning into a giant scaly creature. She was a lot of things, but scary wasn’t one of them.
“Don’t worry,” Kara said, no doubt sensing my sudden fear. “She’s harmless. Besides, she’s long since retired from her old life. She spent enough time fighting the good fight when she was younger, but she’s not into shifting these days.”
“Retired? How old is she?”
“About five hundred years.”
My jaw dropped. At a little over two hundred, Tristan seemed like a teenager by comparison. “Holy shit. Well, whatever skin cream she’s using, it’s working,” I laughed.
“You don’t know the half of it. She’s powerful, all but immortal. She’ll live the long life of a shifter, not to mention the fact that she’s got a Valkyrie’s gifts to keep her strong.”
“What exactly are a Valkyrie’s gifts?” I asked. No one had ever explained to me what it is that made Kara’s kind so mysteriously powerful. Though I was grateful to have it, I’d never fully understood the blood that pulsed through my veins, mingling with my human cells.
“There are too many to list,” Kara said, crossing her arms like she was pondering the question. “But one benefit, as Estella could tell you, is that when a Valkyrie is changed by a shifter, she recovers much more quickly than a human does.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“For humans, the change can hit like a poison consuming them from the outside. The bite of a shifter is severe, like no other pain known to humans. I’ve heard that it’s an agony that lasts for days, sometimes even months, like one’s body has been taken over by a force so powerful that it’s impossible to fight it off. They crave death, but their animal won’t allow them to die. It’s torture.”
I swallowed hard, my mind venturing to thoughts of Tristan. My heart hurt to think what he must have gone through two centuries ago when someone had inflicted the change on him.
“You’re saying that for a Valkyrie it’s not like that?”
Kara shook her head. “For us, they say it’s almost natural. Like our bodies were meant for the change.”
“But I’m confused,” I told her, my fingers toying with the red folds on my gown’s skirt, “you said there aren’t many half-breeds. I would have thought there’d be a ton.”
Kara let out a chuckle that seemed colored by cynicism. “That’s mostly because no shifter would dare to change any of us without our express consent. Shifters know better than to do anything to us without asking first. The truth is, most Valkyries prefer to remain pure-blooded. Half-breeds are looked at unfavorably by most of our kind.”
“But you’re telling me Estella was changed with her blessing. She wanted it?”
“Yes. Apparently she was wrapped up in a pretty intense love affair at the time with a certain dragon shifter. I don’t know the details, though. I’ve never asked her who it was.” She threw me a sly smile. “Anyhow, none of this should matter much to you. You aren’t a full Valkyrie, of course. But you do have my blood coursing through your veins, so you’ve probably found that you feel different from before.”
I nodded. “I do feel stronger,” I said, “though it’s not like
I go around picking up buildings or anything. I don’t feel like I could take on the world just yet.”
“Well, if you had the blood of a shifter, you probably could,” Kara said, her eyes moving towards the room in the distance where the festivities were still raging. “Any shifter would tell you, Estella is the most powerful person at this party. She may seem a bit ridiculous, but she’s stronger, even, than Tristan. Her dragon is a force to be reckoned with. Then again, so is the alpha’s wolf.”
“I don’t suppose I’ll ever know how strong Tristan really is,” I replied. “But I have to admit, now you’ve got me curious.”
“Well, you have plenty of time to learn everything about him,” Kara said. “For now, just try to enjoy yourself. Tristan’s not a man who’s going to divulge all his secrets at once. You need to let him offer you morsels.”
“You’re right about that,” I sighed. “But I don’t really appreciate morsels when I’m craving a feast.”
“I hear you. Well, I should get back to the party…”
“Yes, and I should use the powder room.” As I took a step forward, though, I stopped and turned back to the Valkyrie. “Oh, listen, I ran into Rourke earlier.”
“Oh?” she asked, her cheeks flushing red.
“I got the impression that he wouldn’t be adverse to running into you tonight.”
Kara tightened, her already tall body straightening to an impossible height. “He should stay a thousand miles away from me,” she said with a sudden coldness.
Then she walked away.
If Estella preferred love to war, I got the distinct impression that Kara would have taken war over love any day.
I was beginning to think she had as many secrets as my lover did.
Chapter 11
When I’d finished up in the powder room I headed back towards the makeshift ballroom. I scanned the vast space for Tristan only to find that he was nowhere to be seen among the hordes of half drunk party-goers.
Alpha’s Hunger Box Set: Books 1-3 Page 23
