“I do. But I hated it. I couldn’t stand not getting to say good-bye…” My voice caught in my throat and I had to stop myself. I pulled away and looked at him. His wolf was alive inside him, his eyes dancing with light. “Krane…he…” I said.
“Saved my ass, yeah,” Tristan said, running a hand through his hair. “I’m not sure how to repay him for that.”
“I’d say you’re even. He was the one who told Elodie, wasn’t he? It’s his fault, all of it. He nearly destroyed us both, all because he was loyal to those assholes.”
Tristan shook his head, an expression of pure sadness in his eyes. “No. I wish it had been him, but it wasn’t,” he said. “Believe it or not.”
“What? Then who was it? Trick was the only other person who knew we were there, and he would never—” But before I could finish, I remembered that there’d been one other person at our wedding.
Tristan took hold of my hands as if he was trying to steady me while the realization sank into my bones. “Oh, God, no,” I breathed. “He couldn’t have. Marcus wouldn’t do that to us…would he?”
He pressed his lips to my forehead. “I’m afraid he did, lover. But it was my fault. I held Marcus off for too long; I kept him from moving forward. I only wanted to be sure of his loyalty to me, to you. But the Marquis must have gotten to him when he came to New Orleans. I suppose he made a better offer than I ever did. I tested Marcus for too long, and he couldn’t take it anymore. He surrendered to temptation because he was broken.”
“You’re saying the Marquis manipulated him into betraying us?” I asked. “But Marcus wouldn’t do that to me, even if…” The tears began to flow again, and Tristan went blurry, disappearing from view. I almost felt like I was losing him all over again.
Only it wasn’t Tristan that I was losing this time. It was Marcus, one of my best friends in the world.
“How could he do that?” I asked weakly.
Tristan escorted me over to the mattress in the far corner and sat me down, his fingers pushing my hair behind my ears. “Lessers are called that for a reason,” he said. “They’re easily corruptible. They follow whatever leader dangles the freshest carrot in front of them. I had a bad feeling about Marcus from the start, which is why I wanted to wait and see him fulfil his promises to me before letting him out into the world. He was a conflicted man who’d served a cruel master.”
“But I’ve always trusted him with my life,” I said. “He’s been so kind to me…so protective…”
“I know. He’s not evil, Ariana. But he’s now joined some evil men. Maybe someday he can find his way back, but for now we can’t afford to worry about him. There are larger problems to deal with.”
“Will he be okay?” I asked, wiping my cheeks.
“That’s up to him. He’ll have to choose his own fate.”
My heart had broken so many times today that I didn’t even know what to do, how to breathe. I put my hands on Tristan’s cheeks and kissed him hard, my tongue searching for his. I needed to taste him, to prove to myself that he was real. It was now all that mattered in this awful world.
A few seconds later, the door creaked open. I spun around to see that Krane was making his way towards us.
“I’m sorry this place isn’t exactly the luxury penthouse you two are used to,” he said, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck in an almost sheepish gesture, “but it’s all I had that wouldn’t attract the Seven. They don’t know about it, and the scent of the lake will mask any trace of the two of you.”
“It’s fine,” Tristan growled. Even though his brother had saved him, there was still a note of hatred in his voice.
“I’ll leave you here, then,” Krane said. “I’ll be back to check up on you in the morning.” With that he turned on his heel and made his way back to the door.
“Krane, wait!” I called after him. I got up and headed to the door, nodding to him to go outside. After I’d ushered us both through the door and closed it behind me, I reached out to grab his arm, recoiling when I remembered the effect he’d had on me at the Midsummer Ball. Touching him seemed like a seriously bad idea.
“What is it?” he asked in a slightly hostile tone.
“I wanted…to thank you,” I said, daring to make eye contact with him for only a second. He was an astonishingly beautiful man, like his brother, but for once he didn’t seem to be trying to manipulate my thoughts into inappropriate erotic fantasies. The scent that normally worked its way over my tastebuds and mind had retreated, as if he was deliberately controlling his allure in my presence.
Whatever the case, I was grateful for it.
“Don’t thank me. I was only doing what I was put on this earth to do,” he said, turning to walk away.
“Wait…” I said. This time I did reach for him, my fingers circling his thick wrist. He took my hand and pulled me close, his eyes burning bright with golden lines crossing through the blue of his irises.
“Careful,” he growled. “You know what I am, Ariana. You know I can’t help myself.”
“I know,” I replied, going weak for a second as his touch sent a shiver of something forbidden through me. But I fought it back, pushing his spell away. I knew by now that my love for Tristan was too strong to fall for any dragon shifter’s dirty tricks. “Why did you do it?” I asked.
“Save him?”
I nodded.
“Like I said, it’s my duty.”
“But you’ve been so awful to each other,” I protested. “You always seemed to hate him.”
He shook his head. “If I hated Tristan, I wouldn’t have asked, many years ago, to be turned into the creature you now see before you. Everything I am is a result of my attempts to save my brother. But it never mattered, none of it. I was too late back then to save him. I only ended up corrupting myself, too.”
“What do you mean?”
He smiled and stroked a finger down the side of my neck. “This beastly bastard who’s standing in front of you, touching you like he wants to devour you whole—he only exists because I wanted to help my brother two hundred years ago. I wanted to fix him. To make his life better.”
“I don’t understand, Krane…” I said, pulling myself back and free of his fingers.
“Like I said, it doesn’t matter anymore. I was too late,” he said with a look I hadn’t seen in his eyes before. Could it be that the mighty Krane was feeling sad? “Now, if you don’t mind, I need to go.”
He pulled his hand away, releasing me from my momentary paralysis, and walked in the other direction, towards the thick woods.
I spun around and headed back inside to my lover.
Chapter 23
Tristan and I were alone now, though I couldn’t help but suspect Krane was spending the night close by to keep watch over us.
I stepped over to sit down next to my husband again, draping an arm around him and burying my face in his neck.
“You know what’s weird?” I asked with a chuckle that was more than a little tinged with regret.
“What’s that?”
“I keep wondering if maybe this all happened because we forgot to buy wedding rings. Maybe we cursed ourselves, somehow.”
“Maybe we did,” he replied, reaching for my left hand. He stroked a finger over my engagement ring. “You still have this, at least.”
“I do.” I pulled my face up to look at him. “But that wasn’t quite the wedding I’d imagined for us, and this definitely wasn’t the honeymoon I thought we’d be on by now.”
“I know. Me neither. I’d planned something quite different.”
“Where were you going to take us?”
“To heaven,” he said, his tone soft and filled with sadness. “Maybe we’ll still get there some day.”
“That sounds nice. Maybe we can go there when all this is over.”
He nodded but pulled his eyes away. “Maybe.”
I leaned on his shoulder. “Elodie wants a war. I heard her talking to the others after you and Krane took off. She w
ants to make an example of you, of the Valkyries, of everyone.”
I felt him nod. “I know. It’s what she’s wanted for a long time. I’m afraid that thanks to Krane, I’ve now given her the perfect opportunity to start it.”
“You thought you could avoid all this by sacrificing yourself, didn’t you?” I pulled my face up again to look at him. “You weren’t just giving your life to save mine—it was to save everyone else, too.”
He nodded again. “I failed, though.”
I kissed his cheek, but the gesture felt inadequate. What Tristan had done was more generous, more noble than anything I’d ever known anyone to do in this world. He’d been prepared to destroy himself for the sake of those he cared most about. “I love you so much,” I whispered. “You’re the best man I’ve ever met.”
“You’re the best woman I’ve ever met, so I guess that makes us even,” he replied. “Just so you know, I’ve summoned the Valkyries. By now, Trick will probably be on his way to muster all the wolves he can gather by morning. Since we’ll be going into battle tomorrow…”
“Yes?”
“I have a suggestion.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“You and I could use a shower,” he said. “But since there isn’t one here, I think we should go for a quiet, peaceful swim together. Just you and me, lover.” As he spoke, a smile curled its way across his lips. A beautiful sight for sore eyes.
I nodded. “That sounds amazing,” I told him. Tomorrow might end us both, but tonight we would be together, moving towards the dawn with our eyes wide open.
He stood up and offered me his hand. I slid my own into his palm and we made our way outside to the edge of the lake, kicking off our shoes and yanking off our socks to feel the water lap gently at our feet.
“This is beautiful, isn’t it?” I asked, looking up at the moon above, the clouds flitting over its brightness. “It’s so quiet. You’d hardly know…”
“You’d hardly know the world will be on fire tomorrow,” he replied, pulling himself close and stroking the backs of his fingers over my neck. “Ariana, I hope you understand what’s about to happen. There will be casualties. It’s inevitable at this point.”
“I understand,” I said, my voice tight. “I understand that your people are willing to fight for what’s right. But I also understand that the Seven are tyrants who want to control every aspect of shifters’ lives, and someone needs to do something about it.”
He nodded. “I’ll give everything I have to take them down. The Marquis, too.”
“The Marquis,” I growled. “Why didn’t Trick take him down when he had the chance?”
“I’ve already told you, a leader doesn’t resort to cruel tactics. A leader shows others what he’s made of, and sometimes that means letting others live with their own cruelty.”
“You’re right,” I replied. “It’s why you’re such an amazing leader, Tristan. I’ve only ever known you to be fair and kind. Well, except when you were being a shit to me.”
A laugh surged up in his chest. “I deserve that. For the record, I’m really sorry that I left you like I did. But I’m also not sorry, because I know perfectly well that you would never have let me go willingly.”
“I know. Just don’t do it again. Don’t leave me behind, ever.”
He pressed his lips to the tip of my nose. “I won’t. Not ever. Now let’s get naked and forget about all the horrible people in the world for a few minutes, okay?”
“Okay.”
As Tristan backed away to pull off his shirt and jeans, my core tightened immediately. For a second I pulled my eyes to the woods in the distance, wary that Krane might be out there somewhere, his glowing eyes fixed on us.
“If anyone’s around, it’s only Trick’s wolves,” Tristan said, “and they’re loyal to us. I’m not worried.”
I nodded and yanked my shirt off over my head. Instantly my lover advanced on me, impatient and hungry, slipping his hands behind my back to unhook my bra, drawing it away from my body and tossing it aside. A second later he was down on his knees, cupping my swollen breasts as he fluttered his perfect tongue over their sensitive peaks.
“I thought we’d never do this again,” I said as I watched him, my voice torn between a sob and a moan of pleasure. “I thought I’d lost you forever.”
“I did too,” he responded, undoing my jeans and sliding them down over my hips. “Which is why I’m so fucking filled with desire for you now, and why I needed you so badly last night.”
“You knew,” I said breathlessly. “You knew you were going to give yourself to them before you even stepped into the house after the ceremony.”
He looked up into my eyes. “I knew, yes. But thanks to a certain estranged pain-in-the-ass brother of mine, I can now do this to you.” With those words he buried his face between my legs, taking a deep breath before sliding my jeans and panties the rest of the way to the ground. I stepped out of them and reached down, taking Tristan’s hands to pull him to his feet. Together we walked into the warm lake until I was waist-deep and could watch the water lapping at his thighs and against his heavy, exquisite erection. I pulled to a stop, reaching again for his hand.
I eased towards him, my fingers wrapping around his massive shaft as I pushed myself up on my toes and wrapped my free arm around his neck. He sealed his mouth over mine as I stroked my hand over his length, pulling it upwards and cupping the velvet head for a moment.
“Your cock is so beautiful,” I whispered, stroking a finger over the droplets of pre-cum that had formed at its tip, then fisting him gently, my hand running over the marbled shaft until I reached its base.
A moan escaped my lover, then he was lifting me, my legs splitting apart eagerly to wrap themselves around his waist. When fisted his cock and jammed it inside me I let out a purr of pleasure, tangling my arms hard around his neck and savoring his heat against my body. It was the most wonderful sensation in the world…to be with him again, after those desperate moments fraught with terror.
Tristan cupped his hands around my backside, lifting me and lowering me onto his beautiful dick in a slow rhythm as he kissed me deeply, the lapping waves matching our pace.
“I love you, wife,” he murmured against my lips.
“I love you, too, husband,” I replied. Pulling free and slipping down to plant my feet in the soft cushion at the lake’s bottom, I guided him back to shore. I stared into his eyes, turning around to lower myself until I was on my back, parting my legs for him. The ebbing lake water caressed me, slipping over my sensitive nerves, teasing my clit like a warm, velvet tongue. I watched as Tristan eased down to take over the job, thrusting his hands under me to lift my hips as his mouth took me possessively.
“I love how much you thrive on my pleasure,” I told him, fingers raking through his hair. “I love how generous you are to my body.”
“If we survive this madness, I’ll make it my life’s mission to see that you come all the time, lover,” he replied, kissing my thigh before sliding the tip of his tongue over my swollen clit. “I’ll live for it, I promise you.”
He pressed his fingers into my folds, splitting me open, and jammed his tongue inside me. Then he stroked my bud with his fingertips, watching as I cupped my breasts in my hands, my fingers teasing their tips over my nipples, sending fiercely erotic tremors through my body.
“Fuck, I can’t quite believe I was ever willing to give this up,” he said, sliding over me to tease his silken cock head into my opening.
“Neither can I. I’m still mad at you,” I growled. “You put me through hell today.”
“Then I’ll have to do whatever I can to make it up to you.” He rammed hard, his dick driving deep inside me, my pussy clenching tight around his impossibly swollen length.
“Not enough,” I moaned. “I need more.” He pulled out again and repeated the feral thrust.
“Again.”
He began to drive himself into me hard and fast, his eyes glowing bright, his inner w
olf riled up, ready to do battle with the entire world. I raked my fingernails over his back, feeling the jagged lines of his cruel scars with my fingertips—reminders of what we were fighting for. Silently, I begged him to go harder. To destroy me. To let me feel every inch of him, over and over again until I couldn’t take any more. If I was going to die with him, let it be here, like this, under the moon, the water caressing our bodies.
“Ariana…I’m going to come so hard for you, lover…” A hot burst of semen burned its way through my core, my insides searing with his exquisite seed. I pulled him close, my arms tight around his back, hands cupping his head to my neck as a sob escaped my throat. I held him there as long as I could, feeling his weight on top of me, letting the damp earth consume me from below.
“You haven’t come yet, lover,” he murmured after a time. “I want you to, for me.” He pulled up and looked down into my eyes, his beautiful, muscular arms holding his torso over me.
“So make me come,” I said. “I’ll do anything for you, as long as you promise me you’ll stay alive.”
“I promise.”
With a sexy smile he reached down and massaged me with his expert thumb, destroying me all over again. He was still inside me, and I could feel his beautiful dick swelling again, even as his touch—that erotic, delicious touch—swiftly carried me right to the edge. Feeling my body tighten under him, Tristan bent down and took my left nipple between his teeth, driving me to distraction as he teased me with his tongue.
“Suck on them,” I begged. “I need to feel your lips tight around my nipples. I need to know you’re as hungry for me as I am for you.”
He did as I commanded, drawing my nipple tight into his mouth, then moving to the other one, pulling a sigh of relief from my tense body.
“Come for me, sweet thing,” he said, pressing his thumb into me as lashed his tongue over my flesh, urging my body towards pure ecstasy.
I rolled my hips under him, relishing the sensation of his fingers working me, his cock delving into my depths, and let the orgasm overtake me slowly…my mind spinning with thoughts of everything that had happened. Our past, our present.
Alpha’s Hunger Box Set: Books 1-3 Page 49
