Where in the fuck had she learned that?
“Gods,” he whispered.
Asherah smirked around him and sucked on him a little harder, working her hands until he moaned and clenched his fists. She let him slide out of her mouth with a pop.
Fuck all of this. He needed to get inside, needed to mark her for eternity.
Heath grasped her roughly by her upper arms and pulled her over him. He met her as she moved, his hands guiding her hips. He met her downward shift with an upward thrust. He slid home and released her hip with one hand, palming her breast as she rode him.
“More, Ash, more,” he called, rolling his hips.
She leaned forward, pushing a breast into his mouth and then arching and flexing her lower back so she bounced on him. The rubbing penetration had him sucking on her with more force. But the harder he sucked, the harder she rode him, searching for that peak that was moments away.
She was going to drive him fucking crazy.
Heath let her set the pace, his hand only guiding her movement, his other hand pushing the nipple farther into his mouth. Because if he didn’t, he was going to fuck her like a wild beast.
Asherah screamed as her climax hit, her body freezing over him, but Heath was too far gone to let her stop. He flipped her, lifting her legs and hooking them in the curves of his arms. He pounded into her, sweat dotting his brow. She screamed again, another climax hitting her before she could catch her breath. He watched himself disappear inside her heat, and the sight was sexy enough to blow his top off.
“So beautiful, Ash. My Ash,” he whispered reverently, pushing deeper.
With her legs held captive, she couldn’t fight his invasion. His Fate had to take him as he ground into her, balls slamming against her.
“Gods!” she screamed.
He sank farther and hiked her legs higher, his face a twisted mask of pleasure as he rose above her.
“More,” he begged, gliding into her until she shook around him, an edge of pain making the pleasure all the stronger.
Heath leaned over, his teeth finding her vein with ease. Between one breath and the next, he struck. There was only a heartbeat before her fangs slid into him too.
They pulled as one.
Explosions.
Need.
Pleasure.
Even as he lost blood, he gained it. It tightened his balls, threatening the climax he’d been waiting for. He fucked her wildly until the headboard slammed against the wall with each thrust. He didn’t give a shit. Let them hear. Let them all know he was claiming her.
Making her his.
As his balls drew closer to his body, the tingle of climax sharpening his focus, he drank deeply.
There, almost there.
Finally, Heath moved one last time and bellowed as he came within her. The climax was as profound and deep as his possession had been, and Asherah held him through it. The thick Tether they’d created before—so much stronger than a Heart Tether between warriors—melted and spread over their skin. Heath hissed as it burned, sliding over his exposed arms and tracing a tribal mark across him.
He fucked her until he couldn’t, until the burn faded and he couldn’t take one last sip of her. And then he looked down.
The spiderweb silver of their Tether glowed across her chest and shoulders and down her arms. They were linked irrevocably.
Fated.
No one, no matter what they ever thought, would take her from him. It would be the death of them both.
“I can feel her!”
“What?”
“Silva.”
He was off the bed, the mating heat fading as he magicked them both clean and into their clothes. He gave Asherah a pretty, blue sundress and clothed himself with his previous outfit. They only had so much time. If she could feel her sister, they were in danger of being run over. Heath needed to make sure he was in a position to take Dominic off his game long enough to give them a chance to speak.
“Kallan, we need a portal!” Heath shouted. “Right fucking now. Bring everyone through it.”
“Where?” Kallan’s voice was muffled by the door.
“Into the fucking hornet’s nest.”
Chapter Sixteen
Dominic was losing his damn mind. That was it. He couldn’t find a single explanation that fit the sequence of events in his life recently. His daughter looked at him, her violet eyes flashing with awareness that still scared the shit out of him even when it made him so damn proud, he couldn’t help smiling.
Zoey said he was only egging Isadora on, and she might be right.
“Are you scared? Is that what it is, Isadora?”
Everything in his daughter stilled. If he didn’t know any better, he’d swear to fuck she wasn’t even breathing. Isadora didn’t blink, didn’t twitch a single muscle. Covered in a bodysuit of black armor—commissioned by her favorite aunt, Silva—his daughter crouched low in the center of the Arena, the green strip of hair a stark contrast to her dark hair slicked back in a ponytail.
This was how he knew he was crazy.
At one time, Dominic had found solace within these walls of sport and entertainment. It wasn’t nearly as inviting as the Moonstone’s Entertainment Ward in south Encantado, mostly used by the shifters of the north to gamble, fight, and be dirty amongst their own kind.
This was no tourist location.
And Dominic had been one of the most feared fighters in the sands against enough wolves who didn’t get the chance to walk out the same way, if at all. It was the only place he could think of to bring his daughter to work off some of her baser instincts.
He no longer thought of her as a sociopath per se, but he recognized her Alpha wolf was too strong in her rapidly growing body. It needed what an older wolf did, despite her age. She was only two years old and looked triple that.
She grows approximately three years to one, a fucked-up dog years thing.
He shook his head, pushing that thought away. He didn’t want to imagine this could also mean she’d only live a third of her life. A shifter may live longer than humans, for sure, but they didn’t survive like Fae.
“You’re afraid.”
Dominic swallowed, and his heart quickened in his chest before he could stop it. For a moment, Isadora didn’t look like a child, but a little fucking demon with glowing violet eyes and thick claws. Her teeth were too big for her mouth and covered in blood that dripped to the sand below. When she tossed back her head and howled, his hands trembled.
“The fuck?”
“Isadora,” Zahara called in warning, but Dominic couldn’t focus on her.
He blinked and the image was gone, but so was Isadora. He spun, sending his senses out to read on her location and barely had time to leap back as she swiped at his throat, claws extended.
Romano rushed into the ring. “What the hell was that?”
Dominic didn’t have time to think about it. Isadora was moving again, leaping from side to side with dizzying speed before she somersaulted into the air, her flexible back letting her spin so she was facing the ground, and she reached for Dominic’s head.
And. Sunk. Her. Claws. Into. His. Neck.
“Isadora, you let your father go right this minute!”
Zoey’s cry fell on deaf ears, and Dominic had to use his own Alpha call to slam into Isadora and rip her away from him before she took his fucking head off.
She hit the ground with a yelp, and Silva made it to her side before he could. “Aw, pup. You have to finish the kill, or it doesn’t count. No points today.”
“But I made him bleed. I at least get ten for that.”
“Okay, I’ll give you ten. But you have to take a chunk next time, or it’s a no-go.”
Romano spun around. “Are you out of your gods damned mind? She could have killed the Alpha and you’re betting points.”
Silva rolled her eyes, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “But did he die?”
“That would have been, like, a thousand points,” I
sadora grumbled.
Zoey stepped forward, reaching a shaking hand toward Dominic’s neck. “I don’t understand what this is.”
Dominic sighed and nodded. Giuliana moved to heal his wounds while Pasquale kept an eye on Isadora.
Smart wolf.
Zahara stood off to the side and watched Isadora closely, but Dominic couldn’t read what was in her gaze. Her fingers danced at her sides, but he didn’t feel magic in the air anymore.
“She’s a wolf, Zoey. A strong one. Without an outlet for her aggression, she’ll be worse off. No other wolves would risk hurting her, and they aren’t strong enough if she decides to use her Alpha call. Hell, she was able to make me feel fear long enough for her to get her close. This is the only way,” Dominic explained.
“She’s just two, Dominic.”
Dominic shook his head. “She may be two, Zoey, but in her development she’s a child of six and a wolf of maybe twelve or thirteen. This is hormone time, when wolves get more vicious and learn to fight. With everyone here, she can fight and work it out of her system.”
“But she hurt you.”
Isadora looked up at her dad, watching Giuliana close the wounds, and her eyes filled with tears. “I’m a freak, aren’t I?”
“Uh, yeah. And that’s awesome!” Silva did a little dance before leaning in for a high-five, but Isadora just curled her knees to her chest and rested her forehead on them.
The sight took Dominic to his knees in front of her. “Baby, look at me.”
Big, watery eyes met his, and Dominic reached out to push tears away with his thumb. “You are a wolf. I can heal from anything quickly. Giuliana helping me right now just makes your mother feel better. You are growing fast, and we’ve never hidden that from you, but being a freak, as you put it, is not a bad thing. One day, you’ll have your pack and no one will ever hurt your people. They will fear your retribution. All you must do is be kind to those under you. Love them. Guide them. Have you practiced what your bisnonna has been teaching you?”
Isadora nodded and looked to Zahara before tucking her face once again. “Yeah, and you’re going to be mad.”
“Why?”
“Tell him, Isadora,” Zahara urged, stepping forward.
“I used it,” she whispered.
“Baby, speak up,” Zoey ordered.
“I used it,” Isadora repeated.
Dominic frowned. “When?”
“When I made you afraid.”
Dominic sucked in a breath. That explained why he hadn’t been able to fight against it. Through the Blood Pact between he and Zoey, Zoey had gained greater power of resilience—more like a wolf—and she could also sense her mate as long as Dominic was alive.
It also unlocked some of the blood within Isadora to help her put shields on her wolf’s cravings as best she could.
But if she used them …
“Your Witch Doctor gift was only to be used to hold your wolf at bay while your grow, young lady. How did you even know how to do … whatever you did?”
“I wanted to stun you and asked the power to show me how to do it. Only way was fear. It whispered you weren’t familiar with the feeling in a battle and it would throw you off, so I used it.”
It whispered to her? She was talking to her gift? She spoke to her Witch Doctor power and it answered?
As a child, she’d used it unknowingly, but now she obviously could control it and was speaking to her gift. It was growing within her just as fast as her wolf. Hell, he’d never heard of mage gifts answering like a wolf could to a shifter.
She was turning all they knew upside down.
“Sonofabitch.”
“Language,” Zoey admonished.
Isadora choked out a laugh. “That’s a bad word, Daddy.”
Dominic glared at his daughter. “You know better.”
She swallowed her smile. “Sorry.”
Dominic sighed. Being a father was one of the hardest things in his damn life. One little frown from the little pint and he wanted to rip out his own heart. “We’ll figure it out. From now on, though, when we battle, Silva is going to put up one of those osraebrin things.”
It was the same orb Heath had used when he battled Silva. The orb allowed for mages to battle it out without hurting anyone else. But it could be tinkered with to set parameters—one being no magic use allowed.
“Aw, no fair,” Isadora argued.
“It will be. That way you can only use your wolf. We don’t need to strengthen all of you just yet, little one. Just give you a chance to use your claws. Deal?”
“But–”
“Or we don’t do this anymore and you can go back to boring gym class at school with the rest of the kids. How about that?”
Dominic happened to know which wolf he’d entrusted with doing the gym class at the school for shifters. One of the only wolves he could trust to help contain his daughter.
Isadora’s gaze traveled over to Pasquale before coming back to her father. “Deal.”
Dominic figured. Pasquale wouldn’t fight Isadora, but his Alpha call was wielded with enough precision to stop the little one from fighting anyone. A feat that pissed Isadora off to no end. Eventually, it wouldn’t be enough, but it worked right now.
Dominic looked to Zahara. “Is this how it is to be a Witch Doctor?”
“She is more t’an I’ve ever known. But … when t’e time comes, I know who t’ reach out to.”
Silva stood, watching the entrance to the Arena. Her change from joking aunt to instant warrior made Dominic stand up.
“What is it, Silva?”
“I-I … Oh my gods. I can feel her.”
As Silva’s wings spread across her back, ready to take flight, Dominic grabbed her hands. “Wait. What is it? You can’t just fly out of here, we’re two stories underground with only one exit.”
“I can feel her.”
“Who?”
“Asherah.”
Dominic looked around, confused. “Anyone know who that is?”
Romano stepped forward, hands up in a sign of non-violence to the Fae Queen as he stepped in front of her. “Kalinda once told me a story about someone lost to you. A sister.”
Everyone in the room took a surprised breath.
“Is Asherah your sister?” Dominic kept his voice low and soothing.
“Yes.”
“Romano,” Dominic ordered.
He didn’t have to explain anything to his second, and he was happy for that. Dominic swung Zoey into his arms as Zahara reached for Isadora. Pasquale grabbed his mate, and Romano took Silva under his arm.
“We head home now. I want every wolf out there searching, and I want them out there fucking yesterday.”
Dominic didn’t have to call a single wolf. The minute they burst through the door of his home, they were met with Heath standing in the living room, flanked by four Unseelie, several wolves already shifted, and a small Fae woman.
“You motherfucker.”
Romano streaked forward, but Silva was faster. She slammed between Romano and Heath as the Unseelie drew their weapons and growls ripped through the room.
“You can’t hurt him!”
Romano growled in Silva’s face. “I’m not going to hurt him. I’m going to kill him.”
“If you do, you’ll kill Asherah. Please.”
Romano vibrated with anger, glaring at Heath.
Silva turned slowly, tears in her eyes. “Sister … merry met.”
The small Fae at Heath’s side was beautiful, colored in varying shades of the ocean—if that was possible—with golden and pearl skin. Across her shoulders and chest, thin silvery lines—almost like a spider’s web—covered her skin. Dominic had never seen anything like it.
“Niamh.” The Fae closed her eyes, tears spilling down her cheeks. “How I have longed to say that name again.”
Silva’s cry was filled with pain and happiness wrapped into a barbed package as she pulled her sister into her arms. The held on tightly, two women breaki
ng down as they sank to the floor on their knees. Heath and the Unseelie hovered protectively around them.
Dominic rolled his neck. “As much as I’m willing to let them have their moment, what the fuck are you doing here?”
Heath looked to Romano before he spoke. “I needed to tell Silva what I found out.”
“Like we could ever trust you,” Romano spat. “My mate nearly died because of you.”
Heath winced. “It was not … I’m sorry.”
Well, not exactly the reaction Dominic expected, but it changed nothing. “State what you have to and leave.”
“Where is Kalinda?”
“I will break your face into so many pieces if you say her name again,” Romano growled.
Heath shifted, his shoulders squaring, dark energy pulsing off his body in waves. The change in him was instant. Gone was the contrite, nearly nervous male who was standing there when Silva had taken Asherah into her arms.
“If you threaten my Foraltae’s life once more, I’ll simple break you.”
“Bring it, bitch.”
“Stop!” Silva cried. “He’s serious. For the Fae, mates are more than they are for the wolves. When one of the pair dies, the other dies with them, at the same time. The mark on my sister’s shoulders is like your bite. You will kill her if you hurt him. Threatening his life, for him, is a threat to hers.”
Romano shook his head. “He didn’t think about that when he took my mate.”
“A mate I didn’t harm during her time with me. I wanted Silva. Pure and simple. I didn’t know she was tied to Kalinda. I swear.”
“I like you. You kill people.”
Dominic groaned. Isadora stood next to a large male, his black eyes swirling with red starbursts. The Unseelie was massive, but his face softened when he looked down at Isadora. “You are a vicious beauty, aye?”
Isadora turned her head. “What is aye?” But she seemed distracted when the male’s twin, save for the eyes, shifted his stance. “And you. Oh, your heartbeat is his. It’s the same.”
Fated to the Traitor (Portal City Protectors Book 4) Page 15