by Anya Bast
“I’d feel like I’d taken advantage of you for my selfish needs.”
“Aren’t you noble?” She wiggled up against him and pressed her pelvis to his. The long, hard length of him pushed against her temptingly. “I’m a grown woman, not a child. Trust me, you’re not taking advantage of me. I want this too.”
Chapter Five
Torrent pounced, his mouth coming down on hers and his fingers roving her heated skin, pushing her nightgown up her body and over her head. She slid her palms over his upper arms, feeling the bunch of his muscles as he moved, and enjoying the warmth of his strong shoulders and back.
Dropping his head to her breast, he covered one of her nipples with his hot mouth. She let out a gasp of pleasure as his lips closed around it and his flicked the sensitive peak with his hot tongue. Her fingers tightened in his hair as he teased one nipple to a hard point and then moved to the next, pleasure shivering through her body.
Mind clouded with lust, she watched his head move lower as he kissed her belly button and then dropped further down. She parted her legs for him and he made a hungry sound in the back of his throat, skimming his lips over the sensitive skin of her inner thighs.
She moved restlessly on the mattress, rational thought slipping away. Her skin felt on fire from his touch and she wanted to burn. His fingers found her cunt and stroked, making her moan low in her throat and close her eyes.
Yes, she wanted this so much.
For a man who probably hadn’t had much sex in his life, Torrent knew what to do. He found her clit and petted it until her back arched and her toes curled. Then he slipped a finger inside her and she moaned his name.
“I’m going to make you come,” he murmured, his voice a low, dark rasp against her skin.
Then he dropped his mouth between her legs and her tongue went dry. Ecstasy tingled throughout every part of her body, radiating from where he touched her. He added a second finger to the first and she gasped as he eased them slowly inside her, widening her and stretching her muscles.
Caroline imagined what it would be like to have his cock inside her instead of his fingers, thrusting, his chest pressed against hers, his mouth on hers—his gorgeous buttocks flexing as he pumped between her spread legs. She could sense already that she’d never known sex like she would know it with Torrent.
His fingers eased in and out of her, gathering speed, as his tongue slipped back and forth over her swollen, sensitive clit. He pushed her hard and fast, bringing her to a place of pure ecstasy.
"Torrent," she gasped, her back arching. The gathering storm of pleasure swelled, stealing her breath. Her fingers dug into the mattress on either side of her.
Intense pleasure ripped open, making her cry out. It washed over her and she stiffened against the waves of it crashing over her body. Torrent pushed her past the initial burst, extending her climax. It stuttered, almost stopped, but he pushed her straight into another. The ecstasy seemed to go on and on until it slowly receded, leaving her relaxed, drained, and panting.
Torrent crawled up her body tucked himself against her, looking down into her face. Feeling drugged, she could barely open her eyes. "That was quick," he said with a grin.
She reached up, caught his nape with her hand pulled his lips down to meet hers. Their tongues tangled and he shuddered against her with lust. She could taste herself faintly on his mouth.
Breaking the kiss, she smiled, pleased at his reaction to her. “I bet I could make you come pretty quick too.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I doubt it, but I like the challenge. I’d love to see you try.”
"I have an idea. Let's do it together," she murmured.
He gave her a lingering kiss. "All in good time. You’re exhausted yet from our ordeal."
Sadly, he was right. Her eyelids were growing heavier by the moment. Content as a kitten in cream, she curled up against his chest and he tucked her protectively against him. Morning sunlight poured into the room via the window, but she couldn’t find the slightest reason to move from his warm embrace. If the world let her, she’d stay just like this forever.
Both of them must have drifted off because they jerked awake sometime later to the sound of someone pounding on the door.
Torrent extricated himself from her and leapt out of the bed as though concerned it might be trouble. He stumbled sleepily toward the door and raced downstairs to answer the door.
Pushing up into a sitting position, she strained to hear the conversation. Someone laughed and it sounded just like Paige.
She pushed the covers aside and hurried to get dressed in a pair of loose pants and a knitted sweater. Finding a pair of soft socks and boots, she shoved her feet into them and raced downstairs, combing her unruly hair with her fingers.
At the bottom of the stairs, she met her sisters. They all hugged for what seemed like forever until they could all get it together enough to calm down and talk. Her throat clogged with emotion, she could barely form words. She couldn’t remember ever in her life being this happy—she was with her family.
Because of their shared experience with their stepmother, they were especially close. It also helped that they were only a year apart apiece. When she’d been on the flip side of the veil, Caroline had not coped well with the disappearance of her sisters and she was beyond happy to have found them again. She was so happy they’d both found love.
Once she was able to pull herself away from her sisters, she made a point of chatting a little with each of their spouses. All of them—Kaitlyn’s and Paige’s—men were incredibly gorgeous and seemed smart and very caring. In Caroline’s eyes, however, they didn’t hold a candle to Torrent in any way. Sad wistfulness descended on her as she watched him talk and laugh with the other men.
Could it truly be that he was her soul mate?
If so, was she truly destined to know him for such a short time and then lose him? It was possible. She didn’t have to ask if life could be so cruel…she knew it could.
* * * *
Caroline curled up at the end of the couch, resting her head on the armrest. In front of her a strong fire burned in the hearth. She smiled and sighed, savoring the luxury of being warm, safe and well fed. Since her ordeal, she’d never take those things for granted again.
She was also savoring the memories of the day, which had been filled with her sisters and her new brothers-in-law…all four of them. She was still getting used to that.
Torrent sank down next to her and pulled her against him. “What are you thinking about?”
“That I haven’t been this happy in a long time.”
He tipped her chin to look into her eyes. “Me either.”
She smiled. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m still weirded out by this whole situation. Sometimes I think I must have suffered some kind of psychotic break and my body is in a straightjacket somewhere. Maybe all this is just a figment of my imagination—”
“Really? Is this a figment of your imagination, then?” he murmured, then tilted his head to capture her lips with his. His lips skated lightly across hers, then his tongue asked for entry into her mouth and she granted it, melting into his arms as he kissed her breathless.
As they broke the kiss, she peered up at him suspiciously. “Considering you have so few women here, how did you learn to kiss like that?”
“Natural talent.” His teeth flashed in a hungry grin. “Want to go upstairs so I can show you where my other talents lie?”
A shiver of anticipation ran up her spine. “That sounds lovely.” She closed her eyes for a moment and shivered. “So very lovely, but you and I need to have a talk first.”
“About what?”
“About babies. What do you do about birth control here?”
“Babies….” He let out a slow, careful breath. “I understand that in your world, women and men control for births. Here they are so hard to achieve that it’s not usual for families to want to discourage them.” He paused and his eyes became haunted. “In some cases, however…like
ours, there are ways. I have already taken this precaution.”
“How?”
“It’s a herb. It’s one reason I didn’t want to take things further this morning. Since then I have ingested this plant and we don’t need to worry about making a baby.” He looked so sad uttering this sentence that Caroline regretted bringing the subject up at all.
She reached up and cupped his cheek, and he covered her hand with his. “I wish we didn’t have this fate hanging over our heads for so many reasons,” he murmured. “I would love to have a child with you.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but someone pounded on the door. She jerked with surprise.
Torrent’s face went alert. “It’s late.” His expression went grim. “This can’t be anything good.”
Pulling away from her, he rose, walked over and opened the door. Still sitting on the couch, she peered around Torrent’s form in the doorway and glimpsed a tall, thin man who appeared bedraggled and dirty. Blood marked his cheek and upper arm. “Logan! Come in.”
“I can’t stay long, but I have news.”
“Can’t stay long…Logan, you’ve been missing for a fortnight.” Torrent ushered him to sit on a kitchen chair. “You’re injured and half starved. Where have you been?”
Caroline rose from her place on the couch and entered the kitchen. The man looked up at her and surprise spread over his face. He looked between her and Torrent.
“Logan, meet Caroline.” Torrent’s voice sounded clipped, but she didn’t know if it was because of concern over Logan’s condition or the fact the man had just reminded him that their relationship was doomed to tragedy.
“Hi,” she said to the man. “I’ll get some food ready.”
A smile spread over Logan’s face and she saw that under the dirt, blood and apparent weight loss, he was a very good-looking guy. “I can’t stay long, but thank you. I need some food.”
She nodded and smiled, then moved to heat up some leftover stew.
“Obviously,” snapped Torrent. “Why didn’t you take dire wolf form and hunt? You shouldn’t abuse yourself this way.”
“I couldn’t.” Logan grabbed Torrent’s arm. “Listen. You’ve got to come with me. There’s someone waiting in the woods. I didn’t want to bring her here until I knew it was safe.” He paused. “It’s Jessa.”
Torrent went still and silent for a moment. “What’s she doing here?” he asked sharply.
“She left the Magica, Torrent. She had to. She was found out. I helped her escape and we were running and hiding in the woods for days. She has important information for us. Information that could change everything.”
Torrent leaned on the table and bowed his head. His voice was heavy when he spoke. “It’s starting. The prophecy. Now it’s beginning.”
“You don’t know that,” said Caroline softly from the stove.
He sighed heavily. “I will get Jessa. You stay here, Logan. Eat. Rest.”
He nodded. “She’s in the fruit orchard on the north end of town.”
Torrent nodded. “Caroline, I’ll be right back.”
“We’ll be fine.” She gave Torrent a heartening smile as she ladled the stew into a bowl for Logan.
Torrent lingered in the doorway, his worried expression softening as he gazed at her. “If I could spend the rest of my life here in this house, with only you, I’d be a happy man.”
Her smile widened as she returned his gaze. How could words from a man she barely knew make her chest warm with so much love?
“Uh,” said Logan. “You’re dripping on me.”
Blinking away from Torrent’s face, she saw she’d dribbled stew all over Logan’s lap. “Oh, my God, I’m so sorry!” She ran for a dishcloth and when she returned to the table, Torrent was gone.
Chapter Six
Torrent shed his clothes as he ran across the front yard and leaped into dire wolf form. Paws pounding on the forest floor he made his way to the orchard. Jessa was one of their top informants in the Magica, one of the few in a secret Magica organization that disagreed with their people’s treatment of the Lycaon. Every day she risked her life for the Lycaon and they owed her a debt beyond reckoning.
He reached the orchard and lifted his nose to the wind, searching for her scent. There.
Following the distinctive smell of Magica, which had a touch more metal than earth, he found Jessa cowering in the low branches of an apple tree. Her dark eyes peered down at him with mistrust.
Shifting back, he reached up and touched her hand. “Jessa, I’m Torrent. We met many years ago. Do you remember me?”
Her eyes searched his face. She’d aged since he’d first met her. Her long, tangled hair hung around her dirty face and just beginning to get a touch of gray. Laugh lines creased the edges of her dark brown eyes. “Torrent. Yes, I remember you.”
“I came to take you to my home. Logan is already there. We have food waiting, a bath—”
“How do you know it’s safe?” she whispered, her gaze darting around her.
That question alarmed him. The Lycaon stayed concealed from the Magica by a joint magickal boundary maintained by Magica. These Magica sympathizers had an organization called the Sifta. “Jessa, are the boundaries still up?” His voice was sharp with concern.
“At the time I fled, yes. Torrent, the Magica found us. They raided my house, arrested two of the members of my group of Sifta.” She shook her head and gasped as though about to burst into tears. “I don’t know if they discovered only my group or all the groups. Right now, I’d trust nothing.”
Well, that was not good news.
He reached up to her. “Come with me now. My home would be very hard to find even if all the boundaries were down.” But the town wouldn’t be hard to find. He would need to mentally communicate with Rafian and Lucus to have scouts sent out immediately. If the boundaries were down, the town would need to be evacuated as soon as possible.
She took his hand and jumped out of the tree.
“I’m going to shift and you climb onto my back. It’s the fastest way to get home.”
Shaking, she nodded, still glancing around. Her clothes were like rags on her and she was about as thin as Logan. “I’m freezing.” Her teeth chattered.
“I know you’ve had a hard time. We’ll get you food, a bath, medical treatment and sleep. Only then will we talk about what’s happened. All right?”
She nodded.
He shifted and she climbed onto his back, held on, and he took off for home.
* * * *
Caroline watched Logan finish off his third bowl of stew. She thought she should probably tell him to take it easy, he’d get sick, but she didn’t have the heart. He was even hungrier than she and Torrent had been.
Glancing up at her, he sopped up the remnants of the stew with a bit of bread. “You came through the veil, didn’t you?”
“Yes, a little over a week ago.”
“Apart from the war, you’ll like it here. All the mates do.”
“Well, war, yes, there is that.” She gave a little laugh. “I spent the first week in a Magica jail, so I haven’t seen much of your Lycaon part of the world yet. But my sisters are here and they seem to love it.”
His expression illuminated. “You’re Kaitlyn and Paige’s sister!”
“Yes.”
His eyes grew serious and his voice lowered. “And Torrent’s mate.”
“Yes.” She paused “Everyone seems to know about this prophecy thing.”
“And he’s your only mate. You only have one.”
All this talk of mates, especially multiple ones, still put her on edge. “So they tell me.”
“That’s very strange, to have only one mate.”
“They tell me that, too.”
“You’re famous around here. I mean, because you’re Torrent’s.”
She opened her mouth to snap that she wasn’t anyone’s, but the poor guy had been through too much to deserve the sharp side of her tongue. She let it slide.
He pushed the perfectly cleaned bowl away, glanced at the pot, but didn’t ask for more. Thank goodness, since they’d soon have another person to feed. “You and Torrent were in the prison together? That explains a lot. The chaos you and he created in your escape was the only reason I was able to get Jessa out of the city.”
“Well…I’m glad we could help out?”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Gods of the Veil, it’s good to be home.”
The door opened and Torrent walked in, dressed once again in the clothes he’d been wearing. A middle-aged woman, looking hungry, dirty, and bedraggled followed him.
Caroline rose and went to her. She looked exhausted. “You must be Jessa.”
“Yes, Torrent told me your name is Caroline.”
“Yes. Come and sit. I heated some stew for you.”
“Oh, thank the deities. I haven’t eaten for days.” Her pale, drawn face and the way her gaze seized on the stove was testament to that.
Caroline rushed over and spooned up a large serving into a bowl. Behind her Logan and Jessa were hugging and speaking in low tones. She brought the bowl to Jessa, who thanked her, sank into a chair and began eating like a starved animal.
“I apologize,” Jessa whispered with shame once she came up for air. Her cheeks had colored under the dirt.
Torrent leaned against the kitchen wall. “Never apologize. It was just a couple days ago that Caroline and I were doing the same thing.”
While Jessa finished her meal, they talked about what each of the couples had been through in the last couple of weeks. Logan and Jessa’s story surpassed theirs in danger and deprivation. They’d been hiding in the woods from pursuing Magica for over two weeks.
Finally Jessa finished eating and sighed. Leaning back in her chair, she touched her stomach. “That’s so much better.”
“What will be truly better is getting cleaned up and sleeping for a couple days,” answered Caroline. “That was pretty much heaven for me.”