Prince of Wolves: Autumn Court #3 (Rosethorn Valley Fae Romance)

by Tasha Black

  The unicorn turned back to Varik, turquoise eyes shining like frozen jewels as it prepared to charge.

  “No,” Ashe moaned, pressing Ronan into Delilah’s arms.

  Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she ran with everything she had, her feet sliding and catching her as she moved across the icy floor.

  The unicorn was headed for the same target. One more shot from it would be the end of Varik. She couldn’t let that happen. She had to get there first.

  Lungs burning from the exertion, ragged breath pluming out in the sub-zero air, Ashe made one final, frantic push. She hit Varik hard enough to make her own head spin, sending them both sprawling across the icy floor and into one of the shelves.

  The unicorn thrust its death blow into the spot Varik had been only an instant before.

  Instead of piercing Varik’s chest, the creature’s impossibly sharp horn pierced the iron bulk of the steam radiator on the wall.

  There was the awful screech of frozen metal, followed by the horrible screams of the beast as it tried to free its horn.

  The touch of iron was terribly painful for the fae, every school child in Faerie knew it. But the unicorn was in more trouble than that.

  Boiling hot water shot from the gash in the iron, engulfing the icy creature as it wailed in agony.

  Its insubstantial form melted in the super-heated water, mane and tail dissipating into nothing, legs and torso splashing into a puddle on the floor, until all that was left was the terrible horn. It shivered in the iron for another second before it fell to the floor and shattered into a thousand tiny slivers of ice.

  Ashe watched them all melt out of existence. The creature was gone for good.

  “Delilah.”

  Ashe turned at the broken cry to see a naked man on the floor behind her.

  It took a moment to piece together that this must be Axel, Delilah’s husband in his human form.

  When she turned back to Varik, he was himself again as well.

  “Ronan?” he asked, craning his neck to look around the battle scene that used to be a library.

  “With Delilah,” she told him, helping him up.

  They went to their friends, arms around each other for support.

  Delilah was holding Noah and the wolf cub.

  “Um, something happened with your baby,” Delilah said politely.

  Noah squealed delightedly, banging the pup on the head with one chubby fist.

  Ronan grinned back at him, tongue lolling from his little mouth, one ear flopped over playfully.

  Varik swept the pup back up in his arms, pressing his lips to one furry cheek.

  Ronan licked his jaw and whined a little.

  Ashe watched, suddenly understanding all the over-the-top references Varik had been making about giving Ronan the life he deserved.

  Ronan wasn’t just a puppy, or even a wolf cub.

  He was fae.

  And Ashe clearly had a lot of catching up to do.

  Varik slid his jacket off and tossed it to Axel. “Here you go, man.”

  “How did you keep your clothes on like that?” the big man asked, sounding impressed.

  After everything they had just witnessed, Ashe was stunned that this was the only thing he had to ask.

  “We’ll catch up over dinner sometime, yes?” Varik said.

  “Oh, we are definitely getting together,” Delilah answered for Axel.

  “But right now we need to figure out what to do about the library,” Axel reminded her.

  Delilah’s face turned horrified so fast it was almost comical.

  “I’m sure we can clean it up quickly,” Ashe said uncertainly.

  “Something tells me we’ll have help momentarily,” Varik said.

  He had barely finished speaking when eight figures appeared in the open wall.

  “What the hell happened here?” one of them yelled.

  “Cullen, it was an ice unicorn from the Winter Queen,” Varik said, striding up to him. “We took it out, barely. It’s not a danger anymore. And we’re going to clean it up.”

  “You defeated the Winter Queen’s unicorn?” the man asked incredulously.

  Varik nodded.

  “I’ll take care of this,” a woman said, stepping inside. “A-are you sure?” Delilah asked.

  The woman touched the whistling radiator, and the hole sealed up, like it was never there.

  “Very sure,” she answered.

  “But you might want to leave first,” the man called Cullen suggested. “You’ll only be in the way.”

  “Call on me when you want the favor returned,” Varik said, shocking Ashe with the easy offer of obligation.

  “This one is on us,” Cullen replied. “But only because you took care of the unicorn.”

  Varik nodded and offered Ashe his hand.

  They walked quietly out the door with Delilah and Axel trailing behind them. The sky outside had cleared. There was no sign of the storm at all, as if it had merely been a byproduct of the unicorn’s nasty disposition.

  “Our car is this way,” Delilah said. “We’ll give you a lift.”

  Varik nodded and they headed over together.

  “We forgot the books,” Ashe realized out loud as she turned back to the ruined library.

  The front window was already back in place, with no sign of any damage, inside or out. And the eight magical strangers were gone.

  “We’ll try again tomorrow,” Delilah suggested.

  “Sounds good,” Ashe told her.

  Varik held open the door for Delilah to strap Noah into his car seat.

  Then Ashe climbed in and slid over to make room for Varik and the pup to join her.

  As they drove, Delilah told Axel all about what had gone on in the library before he showed up. To his credit, he didn’t question any of it.

  Ashe, on the other hand, had a thousand questions, but they would keep until she and Varik got home.

  For now, she was happy to have his arm around her and Ronan snuggled in close between them.

  21

  Varik

  Varik paced the floors of the tiny apartment while Ashe sat cross-legged on the bed.

  He braced himself.

  Questions were coming, and a lot of them.

  The orb of ice he’d given her was gone. Her time to decide was up.

  But she was here. Against all odds, she was here and ready to listen to his answers.

  After some time to collect her thoughts, Ashe began.

  “What’s going on with Ronan?” she asked first.

  Leave it to his darling to jump right to the hardest question.

  “It’s complicated,” he said, knowing she wouldn’t settle for that.

  “We’ve got time,” she told him.

  “His parents were rivals of your mother’s,” he told her carefully.

  Ashe nodded.

  “She asked me to swap their child for a changeling the night he was born,” he said softly. “She hoped that if their child were devoid of magic, it would end their ambitions.”

  She nodded.

  He wasn’t telling her anything about her mother that she didn’t already believe. She had certainly seen it all tonight.

  “I slipped into their rooms and took the boy,” he said, feeling ashamed. “But when it came time to take him across the veil, I couldn’t do it. I already felt such guilt for stealing Willow’s birthright, and yours.”

  Ashe leaned forward, listening intently now.

  “Your mother knew of my betrayal right away, of course,” he said wryly. “She had spies all over the Winter Court in those days. By the time I got back to his parent’s home with him, it was already burning to the ground.”

  Ashe hugged her knees to her chest, her expression unspeakably sad.

  He could hardly blame her. It upset him every time he thought of it.

  “I ran to your mother,” he told her. “I asked her why she did it. And she laughed at me and asked why I still had the baby. She told me to drop him a
t an orphanage or into the moat if I was too afraid to leave him across the veil. It was all the same to her.”

  Ashe’s forehead furrowed.

  “Of course I couldn’t do that,” he told her. “The poor babe had no parents, and what happened to them was my fault. Plus, he seemed to have already bonded to me. So I decided to raise him as my own son.”

  Ashe smiled sadly.

  “When the Queen learned that I hadn’t gotten rid of him, she came to my chambers in the night,” he said. “I woke up to see her standing there, her eyes pure blue fire, glittering snow swirling in the room all around her. I could feel what she was doing, and the pain was incredible. Ronan was in his crib wailing. By the time it was over, his cries had turned to howls.”

  A tear slipped down Ashe’s cheek.

  “She told me that as long as I was in this shape, he would be in that one, and vice versa,” he went on. “We would never get to spend time together in the same form. The curse is strong - it’s royal magic, and it can only be lifted by the Crown of Winter. She thought this was particularly clever because it was a play on his title.”

  “The Prince of Wolves,” Ashe whispered. “Ronan of Winter.”

  “Exactly,” Varik said. “He was to be the Prince of Wolves, before the Queen got involved.”

  “He will be again,” Ashe said in a determined voice.

  “Whether that happens or not, he is loved,” Varik said. He didn’t have the heart to tell her what he needed to do for the curse to be lifted.

  “I know the part you’re not telling me,” she said gently.

  “I’m being honest this time, I promise,” he told her.

  “I mean the part about how to lift the curse,” she told him. “I know you have to bring me back for that to happen. That’s your bounty for me, isn’t it?”

  Varik knelt before her.

  “Ashe,” he said, his voice breaking on her name. “I’ve thought it over, and I won’t sacrifice your freedom for his. I will not force you back to Faerie. And I know you don’t want to go.”

  He felt her soft hand on his cheek, lifting his face so that she could look into his eyes.

  “Varik, I do want to go back to Faerie,” she told him.

  He looked into her dark eyes, searching for signs that it was a compassionate lie.

  But she was smiling at him happily now, tears in her eyes.

  “When did you decide this?” he asked. “And why?”

  “When I was at the library today,” she told him. “I was talking with Delilah about this place, what makes it special. There are people here who want to help others. It’s something that’s missing in Faerie. When I told you before that I didn’t want to be responsible to rule, I was telling the truth. I don’t want to rule. But I do want to help.”

  “Helping individuals,” he said. “The way you helped with the kids yesterday.”

  “Exactly.” Her eyes lit up. “Did you know that library we visited tonight was open to the public? Any person can go there to read and learn for free.”

  He smiled at her excitement.

  “I want to do something like that in Faerie,” she said. “I already have a dozen ideas, and with the help of my friends on this side, I’ll bet I can come up with a hundred more.”

  “So you want to go home?” he asked her.

  “I want to go home,” she said, nodding. “I’m ready to go now.”

  “There’s something else I want to do first,” he told her. “But only if you want it.”

  “What is it?” she asked.

  Suddenly he felt the weight of his position.

  He was a bounty hunter, a rough and uncultured man who made his living fulfilling the ugliest desires of others.

  Why would a princess want to be with him? Even a changeling princess deserved better.

  But he had a funny feeling that no matter what she deserved, what Ashe truly wanted was the same thing he did.

  “I know it is above anything I could hope for,” he said. “But if you would have me as your mate, I would happily spend a lifetime trying to make up for all the wrongs I’ve done.”

  “Yes,” she whispered, pulling him up and onto the bed with her. “Yes, yes, yes…”

  He felt the tears prickling his eyes as she pressed her lips to his forehead, his cheeks, his eyelids with every yes.

  Then he was crawling into the bed with her, filling his arms with her fragrant warmth, kissing her until he was drunk on the sensation of her soft lips under his.

  They struggled with their clothing, racing to bare each other’s bodies as they had already bared their souls.

  At last, they were naked in the soft moonlight.

  He kissed her sweet lips once more, then trailed soft kisses down her jaw, nibbling her neck on his way to her breasts.

  Ashe held perfectly still, moaning lightly as he licked a nipple into his mouth, stroking the other between his thumb and forefinger.

  Varik wanted to take his time, but he was too eager to taste her. After a few minutes of feeding on her breasts, he moved lower, rubbing his rough jaw against her belly to make her giggle, then lower still.

  Ashe let her thighs fall apart for him, releasing her delicious scent.

  He felt the need rising in him, a rough and forceful demand to claim her that took all his self-control to resist.

  He lowered his mouth to her, determined to take it slowly.

  22

  Ashe

  Ashe waited as patiently as she could, her body screaming for Varik’s touch.

  But as soon as his mouth touched her sex, the world inside her mind went silent.

  Visions of the midnight blues and purples of the night sky in Faerie flashed behind her eyes.

  As his clever tongue flicked and fluttered against her, Ashe saw stars glittering in that night sky and light snow swirling in beautiful patterns.

  He lavished her tender sex with slow kisses, teasing her, even as he showed her a forest of snow-covered trees, a cottage at the edge of that forest.

  He eased a finger inside her.

  She moaned and saw the wolves again, just as she had the last time he pleasured her. They frolicked under the moon, chasing snowflakes together.

  Then he was crawling up to her once more, weaving his fingers with hers, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

  “Will you be mine, Ashe?” he asked. “Forever?”

  “Forever,” she agreed.

  When he thrust inside her, she gasped with the pleasure and swore she tasted the cold, crisp air of Faerie swirling in the room around them.

  Varik groaned and thrust again, slowly.

  The pleasure was so intense that she was almost frightened that she would be swept away by it. She clung to Varik as the sensations lifted her higher and higher.

  “Please,” she whispered.

  As if the simple word had demolished his will, Varik let go, giving her the deep, swift thrusts she needed.

  Suddenly, the pleasure crashed over her and she was flying.

  He shouted her name and flew with her, holding her close as they both shivered with ecstasy.

  When the last of their tremors had finally subsided, he rolled onto his back, pulling her onto his chest.

  He twined his fingers in hers, and held their hands up in the moonlight spilling in from the window.

  Inky vines climbed from their wrists up around their ring fingers, a physical reminder that their souls were now bound for all eternity.

  “Ashe, are you ready to go home?” he asked her.

  She nodded. “I want to go right away.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  “We have so much to do,” she told him. “And we can’t let the queen send more monsters here to retrieve me. I don’t want to endanger my new friends anymore.”

  He nodded.

  “Besides,” she whispered. “I’ll bet you can’t wait to hold your son.”

  23

  Ashe

  Ashe squeezed Varik’s hand tighter as the Win
ter Palace came into view.

  Even after such a short time away, the icy brilliance of the scene above them was dazzling. Her eyes were overwhelmed with ice-refracted colors that didn’t even seem to exist in the mortal realm.

  “They’re expecting us,” Varik told her.

  She looked where he was pointing, and saw the guards at the top of the wall gazing down at them.

  There was a bustle of activity in the courtyard below the wall - too much commotion for the late hour. Fairy lights twinkled on tall poles, and as they grew closer, she spotted flowers strung festively along them as well. The atmosphere seemed almost cheerful.

  In fact, it looked like… a wedding.

  The sound of bells approached from a distance, moving faster.

  Ronan wiggled in Ashe’s arms, curious about the source of the noise.

  A horse drawn sleigh drew near, the horses made of misty ice crystals not terribly different from the beast they’d fought at the library, but with more cheerful, pearly-white eyes instead of the unicorn’s unforgiving blue.

  She recognized the riders at once, and her heart lifted at the sight of them.

  “Torsten, Duncan,” Ashe cried, running for the sleigh, dragging Varik along with her.

  Her brothers laughed and yelled for them to get in.

  “What’s this, you have a pet?” Torsten teased her, patting Ronan on the head.

  “This is Ronan,” she said. “He’s more than a pet. And this is Varik.”

  “Torsten and Duncan,” Torsten said.

  He and Duncan clasped Varik’s arm respectfully in turn and Ashe’s heart broke a little at the look of wonder on Varik’s face.

  His hang-ups about royalty were something they needed to work on.

  “Sit, sit,” Torsten said. “We have so much catching up to do.”

  Ashe and Varik sat opposite her brothers, with Ronan between them.

  Duncan waved his hand and the horses set off, bells jingling across the snowy meadow.

  “First of all, we know why you don’t have magic, Ashe,” Torsten began. “And it’s not your fault.”