“We didn’t even say goodbye,” I quipped.
“You challenged me; you should know by now that I take challenges seriously.”
“Did I challenge you?” I gave him a wicked smile. “I don’t recall it happening like that.” I giggled as he shook his head. His eyes sparkled with a million stars trapped in their amber depths.
“Slowly was the challenge? I can make you beg for me, working this body…slowly, for hours.”
“Shit,” I smiled. “I fear I’m going to like this as much as you, Fairy.”
“Doubt it,” he growled as he leaned over and claimed my lips.
Chapter Thirty-Five
I smiled at him, feeling shy, which didn’t make sense considering I’d watched him strip naked a million times before. I watched as he removed each piece of armor slowly. I was certain he did it for show, but I wanted him now. That beautiful masculine body undid me; it made me feel like every time was the first time. This beast, this mythical creature who I loved, undid me. This man was my life. Somewhere in the midst of fighting him, I’d fallen in love with him so deeply that I no longer cared if there was a bottom to the depths for which I fell for him.
“You’re so beautiful,” he growled, and tears filled my eyes. “What’s wrong?” he hesitated, sensing my unease.
“I love you,” I whispered through the tightening of my throat. “I love you so much that I bit into a nasty, smelly neck and killed a bunch of creatures just to get you back.”
“And that scares you?” he guessed.
“No; I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I’d even drink his icky blood for you,” I winced as I repeated it inside my head.
“Then why the tears?” he asked.
“Because I love you,” I whispered and leaned back against the pillows and looked at him sadly. “You are my world, Ryder. I wanted to kill you and now…now I can’t imagine a world where you don’t exist.” His eyes lit from within. “I thought I lost you and I wanted to destroy everything to get you back. That scares me, because I imagine if I had to, I would have. I don’t think I could have stopped myself, had I wanted to.”
“You did what you had to do,” he said softly, with no blame or chastisement in his tone. “You are fierce, and I couldn’t imagine a world without you in it either. I’m not sure how I did it before I met you. I don’t even want to remember who I was before you. My world was black and white, and then you entered it with those fierce blue eyes that challenged me at every turn, and added color to my world. You are my weakness, but you’re also my greatest strength.” He glanced down and he spread my legs and shifted to sit between them.
He smiled as he took me in, still dressed in my elegant wedding reception attire. I smiled as he pulled me up, forcing me into a sitting position. His mouth lowered, kissing my neck before he stood up and brought me with him. He slowly turned my body until my back was against his chest. His arms wrapped around me, one hand finding my waist as the other slowly explored the curve of my neck. His mouth fanned the back of my shoulder, kissing it gently as he pushed the straps down until my shoulder was naked for his leisurely exploration.
Shivers raced down my spine as the heat of his mouth collided with the chilled evening air. His tongue touched me, but it was his lips that drove me to the brink of crazed anticipation. The dress slowly slid down and pooled at my feet. He slowly moved around me and stood back, looking at the skimpy, almost diaphanous panties and thin, delicate chains with the tiny bells that chimed as I moved.
“Ristan’s gift to you,” I explained, once again feeling shy when I knew I shouldn’t. I couldn’t help it; he made me nervous. His eyes leisurely exploring my exposed curves made me nervous. He went to his knees and did the last thing I expected. He kissed my tummy, and looked up at me with a look of concern.
“We will have more. When you are ready, we can have as many as you want to,” he whispered before he continued kissing my belly as my hands rested in his hair.
“I know I lost it, but it’s like it was taken from us before it was ours, if that makes sense,” I replied thickly, fighting off the unshed tears that threatened to fall.
“I know, but we did,” he whispered as he stood up and looked down at me.
“We can’t have another baby with the Mages out there,” I replied, wondering if I could ever do it again. Having a child wasn’t planned, but we had three already. They were beautiful and growing faster than we could predict.
“So, we will wait until we eliminate them,” he announced.
“Okay,” I agreed.
“I mean, next week should be open for creating our next batch of children, considering my bloodthirsty vixen just goes around ripping out throats and severing knees from giants. Sound good to you?” he asked, sounding more human than ever before.
“You ass,” I laughed. “Never going to live that one down, am I?”
“Never; a woman who would rip throats out and take down members of the Horde like they were mere children, is a keeper,” he said. “My men couldn’t stop telling me about what you did in my absence; I was almost afraid they’d ask me to crown you King,” he laughed playfully, backing me up as he smiled down at me. “When I met you, I knew you were something special,” he admitted. “I couldn’t have ever guessed that you’d be what you have become. I don’t think Destiny played a huge part in bringing me to you, or you to me. I think we were fated in the stars and that no matter what road we took, they would have brought us together.”
“Look at you, being all sweet and shit,” I laughed.
“Now get the fuck on the bed, I have to prove you wrong,” he ordered and pushed me over, catching me off guard.
I landed on the bed and smiled as I felt the thin scrap of fabric disappear with a brief, happy chiming sound. He leaned over my naked body, trapping my chin with his fingers as his mouth descended on mine. He didn’t rush the kiss; instead he let the heat of his mouth comfort me as he nudged my legs apart, and his tongue delved deeper, claiming mine in a gentle kiss.
I moaned as I felt his cock against my flesh, rubbing against it as he moved his hips in the same seductive dance that his tongue was playing in my mouth. I felt his magic as it washed over me, sending a thousand kisses over my exposed skin. I wanted to demand that he enter me. Now. No more waiting; instead, he teased, slowly forcing me to rock against his massive cock for friction.
Each time my body came close to release; he would pull away; only to start again once the edge was pushed away from me. He nipped my lip, pulling it with his teeth and releasing it each time he pulled away from me.
“Slow and easy, Pet,” he warned, and I growled deep in my chest. He slowly lowered his mouth to one breast, suckling it and letting his teeth graze the delicate flesh before he moved to the next one to do the same.
“Ryder, are you trying to kill me?” I asked, only to be answered with a laugh against my tummy as he slowly kissed his way to my heated core. His mouth hovered momentarily, but didn’t touch me where I needed him. Instead, he traced the inside of my thighs with his fingertips, letting his mouth follow their lead. I was wet, so fucking wet—dripping with need.
“I’m making love to you,” he whispered huskily, his eyes glowing with naked hunger as his brands pulsed, and his wings exploded from his back. Ethereal beauty, terrifyingly so, and yet I wasn’t afraid of any of his forms. I loved them all because I accepted everything he was, and even everything he wasn’t. This man was my best friend. He was my other half, even the bad stuff.
Fingers slid through my apex, finding it wet with desire. He moved closer, letting his hot breath fan it until I was writhing against the silk sheets with need as perspiration beaded on the base of my spine.
His mouth inched closer until his tongue darted out, slowly working it from the back to the front, pushing into the heated depths of my pussy until I was crying out
for more. Fingers pushed inside, crooking in a come here motion as he found the spot and worked it until I was begging him to finish it. Tears rolled from my eyes as I exploded into a million tiny pieces.
He moved up until he was looking down at me, kissing away the salty tears with his lips before he claimed my mouth as he finally entered me.
“I am discovering that slow may not be something I’m capable of,” he mused as he leaned back, spreading my legs to give him better depth. He rocked his hips and I lifted to meet his every thrust. I exploded around him, milking his cock with every orgasm that tore through me. “I take it you don’t mind?” He rolled us until I was on top of him.
“Not at all, Fairy,” I giggled, filled with the euphoria only he could give me. I rocked my hips in a circular pattern, adjusting to him as he grew until I had all that I could take.
He surprising me as he lifted me, uncaring that we rocked the little island we were on. The candles flickered; the gentle wind that caressed our bodies did little to cool my ardor. He smiled and I found myself slammed against the bed my legs were held apart and he had full control. I let my head fall back against the pillows, and watched the stars as they shot across the sky as he hammered into my body with a determined need that floored me.
“Hecate’s daughters,” he murmured breathlessly. “They tried to seduce me, they drove me to the brink of release, but I never let them have me. They wanted a child from me,” he admitted and I lifted my head. The noises leaving me were too much; I couldn’t speak, couldn’t think past anything other than the rage that shot through me. I should have killed them, slit their fucking throats. Instead, I’d let them leave. “My child would have created a line they wanted, but my children are yours. Only yours. I withstood their spells, their antics, and even their mirror image of you. They pretended to be you, but I knew it wasn’t you, just as I knew when that Enforcer came in the room; I could feel you, somehow you were there, I could sense you looking at me through his eyes. I sensed you, my Queen. I sense you every time you are near, because I am inside of you and you are inside of me. There’s no one else I want, not now, not ever. It’s only you, it’s always been you,” he murmured as he exploded inside of me. “You are my Queen.”
“And you are my King, forever,” I whispered as my body climaxed, and I dropped my head to his shoulder. I nipped his flesh. “I should have killed those Witches.”
“No, you did the right thing. We will need them; we will need all the help we can get.”
“I know, that’s why I let them live. But I didn’t know then what I know now. I will kill them; you are mine.”
“You won’t, because they can bring Larissa back from the void.”
“What?” I said, pulling my head from his shoulder.
“I heard them talking; they can bring souls back and place them into vessels. I had planned to escape and bring them here. I had hoped to find a vessel for them to bring Larissa’s soul back.”
“We have to tell Adam,” I whispered.
“No, not until we know if it is true.”
“He loves her,” I murmured.
“That won’t change from now until then; a love like that doesn’t die. It is why he is having a difficult time moving on.”
“Opening the void is dangerous,” I mused. “She used everything she had to help us. When we said goodbye, she said something about being reborn. How could we ever be certain it was Larissa we are bringing back?”
“Because you’ll know her; she was your best friend.”
“But what if she doesn’t want to come back?” I pressed, a thousand different questions entering my mind.
“It’s Larissa; I listen to everything you tell me, and from what you told me about her, she wanted to have her own happy ending. She was obsessed with it; shit, if anyone deserves to be saved, to be happy, it’s her.”
“Hannah told me that Larissa was of her line. If any of them would be happy to help us, it would be Hannah. But what about the Light Heir? Adam is supposed to find and marry the Light Heir.” My voice trailed off sadly. It would kill Adam if he had to marry the Light Heir if he even had a remote chance to have the woman he considered his soul mate back.
“If the Gods could find a way to join us, with all the obstacles we faced, who are we to say that fate or destiny won’t find a way for them as well?” Ryder pulled me close and kissed the top of my head.
“Fairy, as much as I want her back, I really want to forget, for at least for a little while, all the problems that are piling up. Just me and you. No wars at the gates, no one trying to kill us, just us acting like two teenagers who discovered that sex is fucking delicious. So bend me over and make me scream.”
“That is one thing I can do, wife.” He flashed a blinding grin as he rolled the word wife around on his tongue.
“Mate—I am your mate. Wife sounds domesticated and shit.”
“And here my brothers said to call you wife to make sure you knew you were mine,” he laughed. “They have you all wrong.”
“Of course they do, because only one of them really knows me,” I admitted as I smiled at him.
“Inside and out, Witch.”
“Inside and out, Fairy.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Ryder’s arms were wrapped around me, holding me against him as we watched the waves rush back out to sea. The crystal blue water rushed back in, hitting us and rocking our bodies as we braced ourselves against the tide. It was calming, the chaos of the ocean that surrounded us. The gentle breeze ruffled my hair, and I let out a happy sigh of contentment as I held on to the man I loved.
We didn’t need words to tell each other our thoughts; somehow, even without the mental connection we’d lost, we knew what each other was thinking without needing words. I felt his turmoil at the impending war, as he felt my turmoil over the loss of Danu, but neither of us spoke.
After some time had passed, I pulled away from him and looked into his golden eyes.
“We need to talk,” I whispered, knowing I had to tell him something about what I was doing, even though I couldn’t tell him everything.
“I know,” he admitted, and I tensed, unsure of what he had to tell me. He sifted us to the sandy white beach and glamoured us into bathing suits; mine was a tiny white bikini that left little to the imagination, while he wore black Bermuda shorts, which made me smirk. Seeing Ryder in them was something to behold, but his cock was already pressing against them as he took in the suit I wore.
“You first,” I said, wondering what he had to say.
“I don’t want you fighting in the war with the Mages,” he admitted. I started to argue, but he held up his hand. “I know you will be there, and I know we need you. It doesn’t change the fact that it scares me. I know you can fight, and I know of no other warrior Goddess who can handle herself as well as you can, but we have to consider our children.”
“They are children,” I whispered, taken aback by what he was saying. “That would make them a target for our enemies.”
“Yes, which is why one of us needs to stay behind the castle walls with them when the war comes,” he whispered against my ear.
“I’m a Goddess; I am needed on the field.”
“I know that too,” he laughed. “And I’m the King of the Horde, and you and I know that the Horde King can die only at the hands of the Heir of the Horde. I am expected to be on the field. It has to be you or I who stays behind to protect them, unless we can appoint someone guardian of the children, as the humans do, to watch over them in our absence.”
“This sucks,” I whispered as I chewed on my lip.
“What did you want to talk to me about?” he asked and I paused, wondering if and what I should tell him. I waved one hand over the other and the necklace Destiny gave me materialized in my hand. The little blue crystal dangling from
the chain seemed to glow a little.
“You found a crystal?”
I laughed nervously as I lifted my eyes to hold his. “I found a cure for Faery.”
“How can one little bauble be the cure for anything?” he teased, and I frowned.
“I can’t tell you everything. I don’t even know all of it, or if it will work. What I do know is that Danu thought it would work. Though, she also said I would have to do a few things before it would work as Destiny foretold it. Hannah, the Witch we found under the Guild, whispered in my ear before she left and told me to trust that Danu and Destiny knew what they were doing. She told me that before I entered the Guild to save you. She knew what would happen before it did. So tell me, Ryder, do I go with what could set this world on a path to healing, do I take the leap and trust that they are correct, or do I wait to see if the stars align and then try it?”
“I don’t know what you are trying,” he whispered, swallowing hard as he watched me.
“I will tell you what I can, but I can’t tell you everything.”
“Will it affect us?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” I murmured as I looked up at him. “Not in a bad way, but it will change our lives. If I don’t, Faery will continue to weaken until it is nothing but an extension of earth. If I do, Faery could start to heal itself at a rapid pace, like how I heal.” I pulled my hair to the side and clasped the necklace around my neck.
“If it can fix Faery.” He watched me as I closed the distance between us and stood on my tiptoes as he leaned down to meet me. My voice barely carried to his ears and my hands trembled as I whispered part of my secrets to him, feeling him tense as I told him what I intended to do. Once I finished, I pulled away and stepped back, giving him room to absorb what I’d told him.
Unraveling Destiny Page 31