Frost and Flame

by Showalter, Gena

“Bane, I... This...”

  His name, spoken in her passion-drugged voice, only ratcheted up his need. “I know,” he growled against her lips. A second later, the tempo of the kiss changed. From exploratory to nuclear, becoming a frenzied mating of tongues and teeth.

  A woman possessed by primal desire, Nola kissed him back wildly, hungrily. As if she would die if she didn’t experience complete satisfaction. The pleasure! She clawed at his flesh, rocked against his length, retreated, then rocked again. Every point of contact sizzled.

  Oh, what luscious curves she possessed. Curves forever branded in his brain. Curves he needed to resist.

  Resist. Yes. He must resist her—and this incredible arousal. And he would. Soon. As soon as his needs mattered more than his wants: penetration, coming inside her, branding her with his essence. Other males would scent him on her—the musk of a volatile predator—and be overcome with fear.

  “More,” she gasped, so he happily gave her more. “My breasts.”

  Rumbling growls left him as he cupped and kneaded those pert beauties, her distended nipples teasing his palms.

  Again, she rolled her hips and rocked against his length, lost in the throes. Rolled, rocked. The friction...

  Had any woman ever fit against him so perfectly?

  His wants continued to escalate. Want her desperate for me. Want to devour every inch of her luscious little body. Want to sink to my knees, unfasten her pants, shove her panties aside and suckle on the soaked bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs. Her cries of pleasure would echo through the cave. She would pull his hair, squeeze his head with her thighs and gyrate against his face, giving him every drop of feminine honey. She would demand a climax or five, and he would provide them. For once, a royal’s whim would be his joy to fulfill.

  Perhaps she would return the favor and devour his length...

  The act was forbidden in Adwaeweth. Long ago, a queen before Bane’s time decided no female should “debase” herself in such a way, and females must always top males.

  He’d despised the law while Meredith had revered it. He’d never asked for head, and she’d never offered.

  Now, the desire shamed him. As much as he hated Nola—did he hate her still?—he didn’t wish to debase her. And as big as he was, as small and delicate as she was, he could harm her irreparably. After all, he wasn’t just bigger than this woman; he was infinitely stronger, burning with lust after centuries on ice. When he came, he would be crazed, frenzied and beyond maddened.

  But damn it, the desire remained, and not just for her lips around his shaft. He longed to assert his dominance, to pin her down as he’d never done to another and prove his mastery. To rule her, before she ruled him. To give as much as he took and experience true contentment after centuries of anguish.

  Would he experience contentment? His lust for Nola was so strong—Correction: his lust for sex was so strong, he wasn’t sure it could ever be quelled.

  Nola responded uninhabitably to his every suck, nibble and touch, the most sensitive female he’d ever enjoyed. “You are...” Everything. Necessary. “Driving me insane.”

  “You share blame. You’re driving me wild!” Between panting breaths, she said, “That feels so good. You feel so good.”

  Her voice had a throaty undertone, making it—her—seduction incarnate. His erection grew harder, wider, longer, threatening to bust through his fly. “You want me? Need me?”

  “Yes! Please! I’m dying without you.”

  Mmm, such a delicious entreaty. As delicious as her candy-sweet skin. How could anyone be this delectable? How could he want her this much, despite his past, despite the beast’s protests?

  Wait. The beast no longer protested? Why had he gone silent?

  Bane knew he needed to end the kiss and think. Something more than desire was at play here. But he couldn’t do it in slow degrees; he didn’t have the strength. He had to wrench his head up.

  Nola groaned with disappointment, cupped his nape and yanked his face back to hers.

  He couldn’t not kiss her back. Once he started, he couldn’t bring himself to stop, not again. He nipped the line of her jaw, ran her earlobe between his teeth and kissed his way down the elegant column of her neck. Delectable mewls escaped her, an irresistible siren’s song.

  Where her pulse raced, he sucked, hard, and she moaned in surrender.

  Surrender...

  What he hadn’t known he wanted, needed. The tone of the kiss changed again. Faster, harder. Hotter, rougher. He lifted his head and claimed her mouth. Nola went wild, clawing at him. She hooked a leg around his waist and undulated against his length.

  Sweat beaded on his brow, her desperation a match for his. The rich complexities of her innate fragrance deepened, an intoxicating drug he feared he would forever crave.

  “Your shirt,” he prompted.

  With no hesitation, she ripped the material overhead, revealing a lacy black bra. Her flawless skin was a magnet for his tongue. As he bit the tendon that ran along her shoulder, goose bumps spread over her skin—skin like wildfire. He tracked those bumps with his mouth, grazing her collarbone with his teeth. Inside him, pressure built, a climax beckoning. He rubbed his erection between her legs, his thoughts jumbling.

  Losing control...

  “Bane.” Moaning, she threw back her head, watching him with a heavy-lidded gaze. “I think I’m close.” Her lips were wet and slightly swollen from his kisses. A flush pinkened her skin, her pulse racing ever faster. She had her nails embedded in his shoulders, holding her prey in place.

  Her prey. Her pet.

  Her slave.

  Fool! She was a princess, a royal, a queen in the making, and this was a betrayal to Meredith. He would be with a woman, yes, but not this one.

  With a growl, Bane released Nola and wrenched backward. One step. Two. Ten. He panted, every shallow breath as sharp as a dagger, his blood like fire.

  He remembered the day Aveline summoned him to Hivetta to discuss the Terran All War. He’d hated withdrawing from his wife without finishing, but he’d done it—easily. Here, now, he could walk away from Nola to preserve his sanity just as easily. He could. He would.

  “Kiss me, Bane. Pretty, pretty please.” She leaned against the rocky wall, breathtakingly carnal, and squeezed her pert, lace-clad breasts.

  Seduction incarnate... He’d wanted her lost. Mission accomplished. Magnificently so. Need for her skyrocketed, consuming him. But he would walk away. Any moment now...

  Any. Damn. Moment.

  She slid her fingertips down the flat plane of her stomach and fingered the button on her pants.

  Growling, he stepped forward. To stop her, probably. But probably not. She stepped forward, too, meeting him in the middle, all but launching her body against his, reinvigorating his shock and delight. She pressed her breasts into his chest—how he’d missed them. As she jumped up to wind her legs around his waist, he took her to the ground. Their lips crashed together once again, their tongues dueling. What he felt...

  A mad rush of desire...rapture...homecoming?

  “I want you on your back,” he rasped, the admission scalding his throat.

  “Yes! Please!”

  Though he knew it was wrong, he rolled and pinned her with his weight. He waited for her regret, but she seemed to revel in his dominance, running her hands all over him.

  Magnificent female. He kissed her until he’d stolen her breath, and she needed his to survive. When he fisted the hair at her nape, angling her face to deepen the kiss more than before, she rewarded him, sucking on his tongue. When he gripped her ass, forcing her hips to lift and her core to cradle his length, she whimpered in thanks, and Bane comprehended an undeniable truth. He was seconds away from stripping her bare and sinking inside her. Taking her virginity. Willingly bedding a royal.

  What would happen afterward? Would she choo
se to return to Zion?

  Bane swallowed a roar of denial. Nola could be the hand of his vengeance, or a scorned ex-lover, but she couldn’t be both. Queens were notoriously selfish, greedy and possessive of their property, more so than beasts. He needed her focused. And unharmed.

  Though his shaft throbbed, and Bane was desperate for release, her passion nearly burning him alive, he found the strength to sever contact a third time and shoot to the other side of the cave, putting distance between them. Along the way, he spotted a pair of gauntlets. Feminine, delicate. Exquisite. Reminded him of Nola. He shoved the pieces into his pocket. Foolish. Did he return the metal gloves, though? No.

  “Bane?” She stood and stumbled in his direction. The way she looked at him, as if he epitomized her every secret desire, it did something to him. Made him want ridiculous things. A fresh start. A long-term relationship. Pleasure instead of revenge.

  Obviously, arousal made men stupid.

  Had Nola surprised him today? Yes. She’d resisted the urge to order her new pet to perform ridiculous tricks, faced his anger head-on, refusing to back down, and revealed a heartbreaking past. Her unshakable loyalty to Vale was admirable, and her uninhabited passion would haunt him for the rest of his miserable life. But he’d told her the truth—one day soon, she would cease being this amazing woman and become a living nightmare.

  A living nightmare who held his fate in her dainty hands.

  Although, after the things she’d suffered, hell, she might be the first and only queen to retain her humanity. He doubted it, but the mere possibility made him sweat. If Nola remained sweet and passionate...

  He scrubbed a hand over his face. If he pitted her against Aveline...like a flower petal trying to battle a thorn?

  No, no. She would change. No question.

  “You kissed me, and I didn’t sicken,” she said, awed. “I’m—”

  “The kiss was a mistake.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, hoping to rid himself of her luscious taste. Needing to. Too good.

  She flinched, looking shell-shocked and wounded.

  Something in his chest clenched.

  The beast bellowed commands to finish what they’d started. Bane beat his fists against his temples. Quiet!

  “There will be no more kissing,” he grated. “No more touching.” He couldn’t risk it. His control had too many cracks. He shouldn’t want her this much, anyway. And he damn sure shouldn’t let himself grow to like her.

  “But why?” A crease developed between her furrowed brows, and she frowned.

  If he boiled his thoughts and concerns down to a single sentence...“I don’t want this, don’t want you, not like this.”

  Comprehension dawned, dulling the stars in her dark eyes. “Then you won’t get me.”

  Pale and trembling, she swooped down to grab her shirt. After donning the garment, she wrapped her arms around her middle, an instinctive gesture meant to protect one’s vital organs from harm. Guilt seared him.

  “By the way. Thanks for nothing,” she said. “I didn’t get sick during our kiss, just afterward.”

  Ah. A defensive strike. He’d hurt her, and now she lashed out. His guilt heated anew. “You don’t look sick. You look aroused.”

  She shrugged. Shrugged! The action of an uncaring queen who most assuredly did not consider Bane her exclusive property. “I don’t like you, so I’m pretty disgusted with myself for making out with you. But I’ll get over it, and find your replacement. Clearly, I’m over my kiss-and-puke affliction.”

  Rage propelled him a step closer. “You belong to me. Any male who dares to enjoy you will die by my hand.” He would kill savagely, and without an ounce of mercy.

  Her mouth floundered open and closed. “If I belong to you, you belong to me.”

  He belonged to vengeance. “Sorry, but you aren’t my type.” Truth. Cruel to be kind. “I’ve always preferred warrior women.”

  Though a shadow passed over her features, she smiled with cold calculation. “One day,” she said, sweetly batting her lashes at him, “I’ll make you eat those words. Until then, I see we’ve got ourselves into a troll-under-the-bridge situation here. Meaning, yes, you are the troll, and I want nothing to do with you. Now be a lamb and explain the kiss-sick thing. You were going to tell me earlier, but you got distracted by your insatiable desire for me, the wrong type.”

  Her easy dismissal irritated him. Before, she’d referred to herself as an emotional and mental juggernaut. Now, Bane had to agree. She’d wanted him, but he’d turned her down, so she’d moved on, as simple as that.

  Struggling to maintain his composure, he tightened and released his fists. “Once, there was a queen. Queen Jayne the Incandescent, more violent and savage than Aveline. Upon her death, she was stricken from our history books.” He’d been a boy at the time, and she hadn’t reigned long, but he’d never forgotten her charisma and confidence. She’d awed him.

  “Though she hadn’t yet met her mate, she’d sensed him, causing a bond to form. One that prevented her from being with anyone else. Him, too. They found each other, and their union became the strongest of any other queen and warrior.”

  The fact that Nola hadn’t sickened with him...

  Had she bonded to him?

  She sputtered for a moment. “Are you saying some part of me wants you, and only you, and no one else will do? Like, ever?”

  “Yes, but we both know I’m not your mate. There must be another explanation.” Although... “You sensed me as soon as you reached adulthood.”

  “How do you know?”

  “How else? I sensed you, as well.”

  “Oh.” She looked away, assuring him he’d gotten this right. He—

  A strange noise captured his attention. What was that? When Nola opened her mouth to say more, he held up an index finger, requesting silence. Astonishingly enough, she acquiesced.

  His ears twitched. That noise...

  Tick, tick, tick. A clock? No. Tick, tick, tick. A timer—on a bomb.

  Horror slapped him, the sound suddenly all he could hear. TICK, TICK, TICK. While he would survive an explosion as long as he kept his heart and head, Nola would not.

  Too weak, too fragile. No wonder he’d always hated those qualities. But he hated them more than ever. Might lose Nola when I’ve only just found her.

  Reflexes on point, he opened a portal to an island he’d found on month three of the war, when tailing Zion.

  The scent of coconut and salt wafted into the cave, exotic to someone like Bane. The sound of lapping waves, chirping birds and buzzing insects rang out. A quick scan. Glaring sunlight, crystal water, glistening sands. Behind the beach, an overgrown jungle. No one lurked nearby—that he would see.

  Fast as lightning, Bane gathered his goggles, Valor’s sword and the shards that made up Malaki’s armor. Perhaps they could be used as spear tips. Faster, he swept Nola into his arms.

  “What are we—” she began.

  Keeping her close, Bane launched through the opening. Though he maintained his humanoid form, he experienced a partial transformation again, wings ripping past muscle and skin to spring from his back. A painful process, but highly effective. He wrapped the appendages around Nola to act as a shield and a cushion.

  Tick, tick—boom!

  The bomb detonated. A violent gust of fiery air blasted through the open portal, picked them up and tossed them across a great distance. They landed on the beach, flinging sand. Shrapnel pelted him, and debris rained over them both.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Decoding his inner dragon!

  ONE MINUTE NOLA basked in sublime pleasure, the next she wallowed in anger and resentment as Bane accused her of unconsciously choosing him as a first lover and forever mate—and fear that he might be right. The next minute, she floundered as he picked her up and hurried through a portal, protecting her in the s
helter of his wings as a bomb destroyed his home.

  Nola landed first, impact jarring her lungs. Then two hundred and fifty pounds of beastly warrior slammed on top of her aroused, needy body. Stars sprinkled her line of sight, and her lungs emptied.

  Bane grunted as flames licked over his back.

  The portal closed, the flames vanishing. Keeping a tight grip on a bloodstained sword, he rolled to his side.

  She blundered to an upright position, wincing as she looked him over. Gashes and blood everywhere. Soot-smeared skin and a broken wing, the lower half shredded. Injuries he’d gained by saving her life.

  Heady warmth spread through her, only to cool as realization struck. They’d come close to dying. Just boom—gone forever.

  To never again know his kiss or his touch. To never again hear his husky, sex-rich voice as they verbally sparred. To never ever see his smile. What I wouldn’t give to see his smile. Would his golden eyes sparkle?

  Stop mooning over him! He didn’t matter. He couldn’t matter. To Bane, Nola was merely a sword. An extension of his hatred.

  “Thank you for getting me to safety,” she said between panting breaths.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “Shockingly, I’m good.” But he wasn’t. While the sunlight merely heated her fair skin, it baked his. “You?”

  “Good,” he echoed, his voice strained. He stood, cursing all the while, and limped to a shadowed area protected by a massive black tarp. Once the shadows enveloped him, he breathed a sigh of relief.

  To tell him to heal or not?

  Not. Definitely. No more orders.

  With her heart banging against her ribs and adrenaline burning through her veins, she studied their new location. Beyond the tarp—

  “An island!” Crystal waves lapped at white sands, leaving a layer of sea foam behind. On one side, boulders and cliffs jutted. On the other, a lush jungle teemed with trees and foliage. The scent of salt, coconut and orchids saturated the overly warm air, making her feel as if she inhaled a vacation with every breath. The sound of rippling water and chirping birds soothed her frazzled nerves.