She threw her arms around his neck and tugged him closer. A groan rumbled inside his chest as he forced himself to pull back. If he didn’t release her, he’d have her on her knees, legs parted, him thrusting inside her sweet flesh before she’d taken her next breath.
***
“Kiss me, Thereus,” Melita pleaded against his lips. The flames of his passion, his need for her, were great. Her urge to fulfill, stronger.
In the moonlit forest, she’d escaped death. No, he’d rescued her. Torn apart a pack of wolves, his emerald eyes fierce, feral. He’d saved her life.
What mattered was cherishing the breaths he’d given her. Savoring the heat of his body. Soaking in this gift of life.
Fighting off those wolves was the most terrifying experience of her life. The horror of killing the wolf continued to pulse through her. By all accounts, it should have been impossible. Despite the nymph, she’d found the strength within herself. Or perhaps, it was from Thereus, whose strength she’d borrowed?
The Thereus of the past and the one now, they weren’t two different men. He was still the same centaur, only grown into a male who would defend her with his bare hands. True, he was different, and so was she. Yet perhaps her love for him wasn’t extinguished. Mayhap it had changed along with them.
In this moment, his caresses grounded her, keeping her sane.
Her heart had nearly stopped when she’d caught sight of her hero. It had struck her, as surely as a bolt from Zeus, that she refused to die without cherishing his touch again.
Melita wrapped her arms around his neck and refused to release him. She searched deep in her arsenal of nymph abilities, located his desire, and intensified it. He groaned, so she tilted her face up and gazed at him. “You saved me.”
He leaned forward and nuzzled her cheek. “Of course I did. I’d never let anything harm you, Melita.” His voice deep and husky, his breathing labored as he trailed his fingers down her arm. “Kalliste, we should go. Let me tend your wound.” His hand stopped on her forearm, hovering above the three deep gashes he’d bandaged—the result of her trying to fend off a wolf’s claws.
She smiled. “I’ll survive. I promise. See?” She unwrapped the bandage and smoothed a glowing hand over the surface of her wound, closing the flesh until no hint of an injury remained.
He whistled. “You never told me you could do that, nymph. It’s amazing.” Then he frowned. “Who else is aware of your abilities?” His stare pierced her. Regret tugged at the other side of her heart. The portion that didn’t trust him with her secrets.
“Why?” She rubbed her healed arm.
“Because your gifts, in the wrong hands…” He shook his head. “Men and gods alike would kill for such power.”
Relief rushed through her. He was trying to protect her. “I’m careful, I promise. I can’t heal serious injuries, or illnesses. Only minor cuts and such.”
“Come, let’s get you into bed… Uh, back to the castle.” He cleared his throat as he stood and extended his arm to help her to her feet.
She smiled. He endeavored to be a gentleman, to treat her properly. He didn’t have to. She didn’t care that they were in the middle of a forest. Biting her lip, she sensed she’d have to be bolder. Melita placed both of her hands on the ground and called upon her powers once more. The forest floors around her shone with her verdant luminescence as a layer of moss grew, softening the rough ground. “I want you, Thereus. Here, now. I would never tame you. The forest is as much home to me as it is to you.”
He sank to his knees beside her. His heated perusal traveled over her body, coming to rest on her face. She inhaled sharply at the hunger in his eyes.
He gave his head a slight shake. “You don’t know what I want to do to you, what I need from you.” His voice grew rough, his fists clenched. In an attempt not to touch her? Her heart fluttered inside her chest. Foolish centaur. Hadn’t he learned anything? Her lips curved into a seductive smile. She was a nymph. He’d never resist her charms.
Crawling closer to him, she kneeled in front of this massive centaur, his strength surging through her. She truly had brought him to his knees. Although she posed inches from the lion’s mouth, this beast did not frighten her. She placed her palms on his cheeks. “Tell me, for I cannot bear another second without your touch.”
He growled low and pounced on her, pinning her body beneath his. His face next to hers, he searched her expression. “My horse seeks to bond with you. Do you know what that means?”
Bond with me. Hope fluttered through her chest. Dare she cling to it? Yes.
His chest heaved against hers and his jaw clenched as he bit out the words, “I can’t take you without claiming you.”
She squeezed her eyes against the flames of lust lapping through her body. Her sex clenched in aching desire—a remembrance of that night so long ago. The delicious weight of Thereus’s body pressing her into the ground—a foretelling of the ecstasy promised.
She lifted her lashes and met his stare. “Then claim me.”
He was her protector. She feared nothing from Thereus.
At least, not until he reached down and unsheathed a dagger.
***
Thereus grasped the blade in front of her face and she gulped. “Easy, nymph. ’Tis you who must cut me.”
Her brows were drawn in a wary frown. He snarled at his horse to back off. His wife had no idea what the bonding ceremony entailed. This would be no simple bedding.
After he explained everything, he was certain she’d want no part of it. His horse nudged—they should indeed talk.
After he claimed her.
With her lush, willing body beneath him, Thereus possessed no strength to watch her walk away. He seized her hand and brushed her fingertips along the band on his upper left arm. Her soft gasp, combined with her delicate caress, ignited him. His band was ablaze, a ring of fire around his arm. Beads of sweat collected on his forehead and he gritted his teeth against the waves of pain.
“It hurts.” Her simple statement.
“Aye.”
“Why?”
“Security, Melita. The gods wished to ensure we wild centaurs submitted to our taming. Bonding us does that. Why we fight it so hard, I suppose.” He let out a wry laugh. “Myself more than anyone.” Confusion wrinkled her brow, so he added, “I’m done fighting. I’m finished with my wild ways, well, most of them. Though it’s in my nature, it’s also lonely, empty.” He shook his head. Damn. How had those words escaped his lips? He’d never spoken anything like this aloud to anyone, ever. “You, sweet nymph, you make me whole.”
He snorted at himself. What a fool he sounded. He’d jested about how males in love spoke, and now he was one of them. Worse, his words came out wrong. No poetry dripped from his lips to charm this woman. The sole female who deserved such fine prose was the one he couldn’t procure it for.
“Why me?”
He paused, trying to find the right way to tell her. In the end, he told her the truth. “I’d sing your praises until the sun overtakes the moon, but verily, all I know is that when I am with you, there’s nothing more right in the entire world.”
He rolled off her and brushed back a lock of her hair, tucking it behind her ear. “Only the Fates and the gods know why we’re meant to be together,” he whispered. “One thing of which I’m certain. You’re mine.”
Kalliste’s sweet lips parted. He thirsted so desperately to kiss those lips that he held his breath for an eternity, waiting for her reply. Had he pushed her too soon?
“My heart is yours, Thereus.” She smiled at him. “It always has been, though I fought it, though I’ve shed a thousand tears because of you.”
He exhaled, whistling. Bloody hell, that wasn’t the answer he’d expected. Was she taunting him? Surely she was bewitching him. He sniffed the air. Truth? “You hated me,” he accused.
“Perhaps.” She lowered her lashes, then lifted them, revealing bright, shining depths. “But every day I’ve prayed to see you again. Ever
y day, I’ve peered into Lucian’s eyes and been haunted by the memory of you. By what could have been.” She traced his jaw with her fingertips, smoothing her thumb along his lips. He beat down the jolt of hunger her touch speared through him and focused on her words. “Thereus, I was a fool to be so blind. I’m not anymore. I see everything we could have together, and I want it. I see you and I want you.” Her smile shone with sincerity as she caressed his cheek with her hand.
A growl rumbled through his chest. He bent and kissed her. His tongue demanded entry and she parted her lips. He savored her sweet honey taste, the softness of her body. Gods, she was so lush, so willing. Did he dare?
“Take me, centaur,” she whispered against his mouth.
Groaning, he eased back. “Are you certain?”
“Yes.” No hesitation. She was his. At last, he could claim her. “Cut me, nymph,” he warned, “and then I’ll take you, hard and fast. Nothing more than a beast in human form.”
She swallowed hard.
His horse was so eager, he summoned the entirety of his strength to stop from trembling.
He positioned her so they knelt, facing each other. Hands swift, he removed her clothing, purring at the lush curves he uncovered. She was not a frail creature. Not a fragile woman who would break beneath his lust. His focus fixed on the contrast of her firm, rosy nipples against the cream of her flesh. He stroked the back of his hand down her neck and over the orb of her breast. Ample, supple flesh, soft as a flower’s petals. Each full contour meant more to cushion the hardness of his body. More sensuous flesh to explore and devour. She was glorious, nude in the moonlight.
His very own nymph.
He ripped his clothes off. His cock jutted forth from his body. Hard. Proud. Determined.
“Cut me.” He placed the knife in her hand.
Her hand trembled and he bit back a curse. She was frightened, her nature too gentle for this kind of violence, especially after what she’d undergone with the wolves.
Clasping her hand in his, he guided the blade along the band, pressing the tip into his skin and slicing a circle around his arm.
He threw his head back and roared as glorious, sensual ease flooded him. The pressure that had built for the past five years burst. Desire fell upon him hard, naught like he’d ever experienced. Nothing he’d been told about the bonding prepared him for this aching fire. His shaft throbbed in joyous agony as he permitted his beastly side to overcome him.
He caught Kalliste’s gaze before he seized her. Her eyes glistened with awe, darkening in seduction. With a growl, he nudged her onto all fours atop the moss. Kneeling behind her, he clutched her bottom and parting her thighs, twisted his head to give her silken flesh one long, decadent lick. She whimpered as his tongue circled her bud and he placed one teasing kiss on her delicate skin.
Gripping his length in one hand, he guided it to her entrance and mounted her. In one thrust, he buried himself into her core. They both moaned. Gods, she was wet, silky, and so ready for him.
He paused, trying to give her time to adjust to his invasion, grateful at least she wasn’t a virgin. Even so, he didn’t wish to hurt her. She’d not made love in years, and her sheath was stretched tight around him. As he held still, his whole body shook from the effort.
“Don’t hold back, Thereus. Please, don’t stop.” She pushed up at him and he lost control. Placing his hands beside hers, he pounded into her, hard and deep. He roared, his mind lost to ecstasy. Every thrust brought him to the edge, and still it was never enough.
Making love had never consumed him like this, and now he comprehended what he’d been missing. Why males bonded. He nudged her so they were both on their knees, and braced against her, fondling her breasts and rubbing her nipples between his fingertips.
She ground against him, his name a moan amongst her whimpers for more. He skimmed his hands down to her hips and lifted her, crushing her onto his cock. His lusty nymph accepted everything he gave her, demanding he quench every one of her needs.
Never had he dreamed one female could satisfy him. He’d had three, four women at a time before, and his horse had not experienced an ounce of the gratification he did in this moment.
This woman, this female in his arms, she fulfilled him. All of him. His horse at last found his harmony within Thereus. No longer were they at odds.
While she continued to rock against him with abandon, he wasn’t sure which of them passion had overwhelmed more. Him or his nymph.
Had she ever truly refused his lovemaking? He shook his head in disbelief at the vixen before him.
With her tight sex clutching him as though desperate to claim him too, he’d never last another second. “Easy, nymph. Hand me back the reins,” he purred against her neck.
Thereus leaned her forward, onto her hands, her lush bottom in the air, a perfect view for his admiration. With his hands firm on her hips, he slowed their rhythm.
He slid in and out of her with the longing of, hell, his entire life. His horse surged in triumph at the view of her plump pink flesh accepting every inch of his hard length. The urge to place his mark on her, to assure no male would find pleasure like this with her, pulsed through him. Kalliste was his. Now and forevermore. For the rest of their lives, he’d prove it to her.
With every touch, every word, he’d be the male she deserved.
Thereus’s hand dipped to her nub. “Do you like this, Melita?”
“Oh yes,” she whimpered.
He rubbed that small spot of pleasure until her sheath clenched him without mercy and she screamed into the night air.
He didn’t deny his gratification either, and he joined her in blissful release. As his seed flooded her body, she whimpered again, this time collapsing onto the ground. He covered her body with his, and keeping them joined, rolled onto his side. Tucking her body next to his, he wrapped as much of himself around her as possible without crushing her.
She was exquisite, feminine and vulnerable in his arms. He trailed his fingers along her cheek and nuzzled her neck. He wasn’t spent, not even close.
“Wh-what was that?” Panting, she curled against him.
“Ah, the second time? I suppose one might call it the other half of the gods’ security.” He chuckled. “A bonded centaur’s seed brings extreme pleasure to his mate.”
She scoffed. “That’s putting it lightly. I never dreamed my body could explode.” She uttered the words with breathless wonderment.
A wide grin tore at his cheeks, raw masculine pride rushing through his veins. “Nymph, I’ll pleasure you a hundred times more. Starting now.”
She laughed and snuggled against him, pressing her bottom into his hips, sinking him deeper inside her, as though she didn’t wish them to part, either.
“But you’re not…” He detected the blush in her voice. “When you said your horse desired me…”
“That I’d take you as a centaur?” he finished for her, his cheeks close to burning. “Ah, no, Melita. Centaurs are, well, impotent.”
She giggled and squirmed, reaffirming his shaft remained as hard as steel. “Doesn’t feel that way to me,” she teased.
“In centaur form, darling.” Growling, he lifted her leg and rolled her onto her back, thrusting deep to the hilt. He gripped her arms above her head and seized control. “In human form, sweetling,” he grunted as he pushed all the way into her, “I’m more than capable of servicing you.”
With a sly grin, she tilted her head and nipped his nose. “Why not in centaur form?”
Curiosity gleamed in her eyes, and he was more than content to indulge her. Hell, so long as he was inside Kalliste, he’d share any of his race’s secrets with her.
“After the Lapith-Centaur War, the gods were appalled with us.” Thereus shifted his weight to his arms, on either side of her. “The rape of Pirithous’s bride upset everyone. The goddesses claimed their modesty was insulted, the male gods were a little too envious of the centaurs’ virility.
“No one liked the idea of ho
rses and humans mating.” Thereus snorted. “The gods gifted us the ability to change into human form. They’d hoped to temper our lust, but as you can see,” he thrust into her, “it didn’t work.” His wink sent pulses of pleasure cascading through her. Here he was, this beautiful male. All hers.
Melita moaned and pressed her hips into his. His thick shaft was ecstasy, his enveloping weight, Elysium. Far better than even the heated lovemaking of her memories.
Thereus smiled at her, stealing her breath. His eyes brimmed with devotion. For her. At last, someone gazed upon her like she was his world. She examined his bonding mark. No cut, no scar. Instead, a thin swirling black band circled his bicep.
His perusal drifted to the mark as well. Awe flashed in those verdant depths as he trailed his fingers along the band. He closed his eyes for a moment and as he opened them, he smiled at her. “Can you read the inscription?”
“Inscription?”
“Your name, Kalliste. Your name will forever be a part of me.”
She clamped her hand to her throat, the breath strangled out of her.
“What’s wrong?”
She struggled to draw in air. “What do you mean, my name?” Gods, what had she done? Everyone would view the truth. What would he do when he read it? When he discovered he hadn’t bonded with Kalliste, but Melita?
“Tiny scripture.” His fingertips traced the faint lettering. “In the old language, sweetling. What’s wrong?”
“Old language?”
“Aye, no one uses it anymore, not since we switched to Olympian centuries ago.” Olympian was the lingua franca, or common tongue, of the gods and their descendants. Most races, including Lapiths, preferred it. He flashed a devilish grin. “I myself couldn’t sit still long enough to learn the characters.”
A shred of hope lit within her. If he wasn’t able to read the inscription, she was safe.
“Are you all right, my love?”
“Yes, yes of course.” She caressed his cheek. I ought to tell him. To speak the truth when they were so in tune with one another.
Coward. This moment was perfect and her heart begged her not to ruin it. To let her have one moment of happiness, before the darkness of her lies settled in.
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