Savage Legacy

by Lora Leigh

  He glanced behind his shoulder, stilling the smile that wanted to cross his lips, instead holding onto the anger he knew he needed to do what must be done. She was stubborn as she had ever been and in as many ways, just as close-minded.

  “I’ve a right to do whatever it takes to protect your ass, Ariel,” he snapped in response. “Do you think Jonar takes breaks? That somehow you can flit from safety and remain unscathed?”

  “I won the last battle, didn’t I?” she sneered in response, and he could hear the triumph echoing in her voice.

  “By luck alone.” It enraged him, infuriated him that she would think she could defeat Jonar alone. That her confidence was so heady, so overwhelming that she would actually believe that she could face such evil without his presence and be victorious.

  He threw the door to their room open, pulling her inside as she kicked at him, struggling against his grip. When she was clear, he slammed the panel furiously, ignoring the shuddering of the doorframe as he swung her around to face him, releasing her and preparing for the battle to come.

  He ducked the first blow, more from fear of her breaking her hand against his jaw than any fear of damage she could wring. Her hands were delicate, her fingers slender and easily damaged while the bones in his body were like steel, reinforced by the alien technology and nearly indestructible.

  “Bastard, stand still!” She came at him again, swinging furiously as he extended his arm, pressing against her chest and holding back easily.

  “You won’t win this battle, Ariel,” he informed her harshly as her eyes narrowed, her body tensing.

  He knew that look well, though he had never seen it aimed at him. It was a look reserved for enemies, a glitter of retaliation, a gleam of hunger, a need for blood.

  “And you think you will?” she snarled, moving back, obviously searching for a position that would afford her the ability to deliver the most damage.

  “Do not ever doubt I won’t.” He smiled, knowing the arrogance would make her livid. “I am by far stronger than you, woman. As well as more experienced. I won’t allow you to win.”

  Her jaw tightened, rage glittering in her eyes. The veil of cool defiance was being stripped away; the woman she had been and the woman she was now began to merge in perfect balance, in harmony. And despite the pain that ripped through him for what he was forced to do, he had to admit that this new Ariel aroused him as she never had before.

  He knew her. He had helped train her for months after their marriage, teaching her what she hadn’t already known, learning the knowledge she had already gathered in fighting. That knowledge had survived rebirth, instinct guided her movements, making her a lethal fighting machine.

  He sidestepped quickly as she went into a crouch, one leg sweeping out to trip him, instantly she countermoved, coming to her feet in a blinding rush as one little foot kicked out toward a most vulnerable area. A hard, swollen area that would have been highly displeased had she managed to follow through with the blow.

  “Do you not cease this instant, then I’ll paddle your rear,” he snarled, deliberately pushing back his need to play with her, to turn the battle into a love match.

  His heart clenched, a raw wound ripping into it as he countered her next blow as well before gripping her wrists, twisting her around and anchoring them behind her back.

  She stilled immediately.

  “Let me go!” The harsh order was filled with rage. “Now!”

  “Not in this lifetime, wife.” He wanted to shake her, wanted to rage at her for her stubbornness, for her inability to see past her own fears. “You will not battle me. Not now, not ever. And I’ll be damned if I’ll allow you to endanger yourself alone.”

  “Allow me?” She struggled against his grip then, a fierce snarl of fury escaping her lips as she attempted to kick back at his spread legs. “You allow me nothing, Savage. I don’t need your permission for a damned thing.”

  “Wrong.” He lowered his voice, allowing the harsh, gravelly tone to deepen into a sneer. “Until you can defeat me, wench, then you will obey me. And we both know you have no hope of defeating me.” At least not until she realized the full potential of her power and her heart.

  His soul bled as he heard the pain in her fierce growls, the tears she refused to shed as she cursed him.

  “You’re mine, Ariel.” His teeth gripped the lobe of her ear, tugging at it gently as she strained away from him. “And I will prove it now.”

  He felt her still, tensing against him as she felt his erection pressing against her lower back, hard and demanding, forceful.

  “Don’t even think about it.” She bucked in his hold, more determined to be free than ever before.

  “I will do more than think about it, wife,” he assured her coolly. “You’ll learn how easily your body can control you. How much you belong to me. There is a very, very old custom, a practice of complete submission that has conquered more than one unwilling maiden through the centuries. One you will learn this night.”

  He punctuated his words by hooking his fingers into the neckline of her T-shirt and ripping it from her body. He heard her gasp, a sound of part excitement, and yet, part fear. That fear pierced his soul like the sharpest dagger.

  He hid his face against her hair, grimacing, holding back his own pain as he gripped her wrists in one hand, allowing the other to smooth up her abdomen to the thrusting curves of her breasts.

  “Shane…” her voice quivered as he gripped a hardened nipple between his thumb and forefinger. “Are you going to hurt me?”

  A silent scream echoed through his mind. It was her scream, a remnant of nightmares she had once endured in the past. The memories of Jonar raping her, taking her innocence, her very will.

  “Such trust you show me,” he forced the sneer past his lips.

  “You aren’t doing much to gain my trust.” She was breathing roughly, her body responding to his touch, though he felt her mind fighting to distance itself, to examine this new situation before she allowed herself to give into it.

  “I do not ask for your response, Ariel. I demand it. I will not plead for your submission, I will enforce it.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question.” Her voice was rough now, her nipples hard, proud little points as his fingers tormented each in turn.

  “There is a pain so sharp, so intense, it is the greatest pleasure,” he whispered at her neck then. “A submission that comes only when forced to endure the pleasure and the pain. You will realize this night, wife, that I alone hold the power to bring you that pleasure and that pain. And you will remember it. I will ensure it.”

  He lifted her easily then, carrying her to the bed despite her fierce struggles. Her cursing, her rage was a tangible thing, yet so was her arousal. The very air itself was tinged with her heightened lust, her tension, her fear of the unknown. Yet, it was also scented with her pain. No amount of pleasure would still the fact that in this, he was forcing her response, taking her despite her fury, bringing her slowly closer to the demonic nightmares of the past.

  He threw her to the bed, facing her with his own surging emotions and the anger growing inside him.

  “Coward,” he bit out, his voice a rough growl as she moved to jump from the bed.

  Just as he anticipated, she paused, staring back at him with narrowed eyes, her hands braced behind her on the mattress as she held herself up.

  “I have never been a coward,” she snapped back.

  “You were always a coward,” he accused her then. “In one way or another, you were never courageous enough to awaken to who and what you were. That has not changed.”

  It wasn’t entirely fair. He knew the reasons why she had been unable to awaken in that first life and he didn’t blame her. No one could have blamed her. But he would not accept it in this life. Her life meant too much to him.

  “And you think fucking you now, letting you dominate me will make me courageous?” she sneered as he placed his knee on the bed.

  “There is no lett
ing me do anything, Ariel,” he informed her with mocking amusement. “I will fuck you. I will dominate you. Better yet, I will do it in a way that will prove to us both, once and for all, that you belong to me. Completely.”

  Heart and soul. There was only one act that would prove her unconscious trust of him and the bond he knew existed between them. One that would demand her complete willingness and sow the seeds within her own mind, of the emotions they shared.

  “What are you going to do?” Her eyes were wide, suspicion shadowing them.

  “Why, my Lady.” He smiled. “I’m going to fuck that sweet, tight little ass of yours. I’m going to take the last of your resistance, the last of your denials and impale them with every inch of my dick until you know, heart and soul, Ariel, exactly who you belong to, and why. When this night is finished, you will beg me for more. Scream for me to fuck your ass deeper, harder, to spill myself inside you and brand you forever.” Anger seared each word, his own desperation roughening his voice further. “By God, you will admit you are mine.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Ariel stared back at him in shock, at first, unaware of the fact that his hands had moved to the clasp of her jeans until they snapped free.

  “You’re crazy.” She tried to jerk away from him, to smack his hands, to force him to stop just long enough for her to think, to consider the underlying emotion she heard echoing in his voice.

  He was relentless though. Before she could do more than attempt to claw at his face, his shoulders, he was jerking her pants down her legs before pausing only long enough to unlace her moccasin boots and jerk them free of her as well.

  Within seconds, she was completely naked before him, staring back at him in surprise an instant before her own rage boiled over. She launched herself at him, fists flying, the dark emotions that whipped between them refusing to allow her to submit so easily.

  Though she knew she would submit. Her blood pumped, rich and hot with arousal, the juices spilling from her cunt at the thought of Shane taking her in such a primitive, dominant fashion. Would she open for him? Would she scream in pain, or in pleasure?

  His cock was like living steel, thick and long, a sword proportioned to the massive frame of his body. As she fought him, pushing, shoving, her nails raking the tough skin of his shoulders and chest, she knew the battle would end only one way. Exactly as he predicted.

  “Wildcat!” he snarled as she managed to slam her knee into his thigh as he took her down to the bed.

  He kicked her legs apart, her struggles useless as he came between her thighs, the wide, flared head of his cock nudging into the folds of her pussy as she stilled immediately.

  His expression was forbidding, his gaze resigned; he finally shook his head wearily. Then slowly, as he watched her, she saw the flames of passion begin to burn brighter.

  “I won’t submit to you.” She fought to smother her own arousal as she attempted to push away from him and the heat that beckoned to her.

  “I know so, wife,” he growled as her hands pressed against his chest. “I warned you, this night is mine. You will not defy me again in such a way, Ariel. I will make certain of it.”

  He meant it. She shivered at the threat, both sensual and physical. He meant to push her past her limits, and she wasn’t certain she was ready to face them. Pride goes before a fall, she reminded herself as she stared into his implacable expression.

  “I’ll be good,” she gasped as his head lowered, his lips smoothing over a nipple that became instantly hard at his touch. “I promise.”

  “Hmm. I can attest to the fact that you are good,” he praised her then in a voice husky with desire. “Very, very good. Nice and tight and hot as you grip my cock. But you are a willful woman. Stubborn. That stubbornness will endanger you no longer.”

  The naughty words had her face flushing, her pussy heating. She could feel the moisture easing from her vagina, preparing her as ripples of remembered pleasure washed over her.

  “Stop it, Shane,” she gasped. “This won’t prove anything. This isn’t submission, it’s a damned perverted game.”

  He chuckled at that. “It makes you hot. I see the heat building in your face, in your eyes. I bet it’s making your cunt all soft and wet for me, your juices thick and sweet. I want to taste the delicacy your desire creates. I could make a meal of your sweet pussy.”

  Oh God. She was going to come just listening to him talk dirty to her. It was perverted. Depraved. She should hate it, should hate him for it, but it was burning her alive with hunger.

  “Ask me to do it,” he growled, the stark order rasping over her nerve endings, sending her mind spinning with the dark promise in his voice.

  She blinked back at him in confusion. “Ask you to do what?”

  “Ask me to eat your pussy,” he whispered, his expression turning carnal, hungry. “Tell me what you want.”

  Shock had her eyes widening as she stared back at him for long, silent minutes. He didn’t appear to be joking. Neither did he appear to be in the mood for a refusal. Would he force her? Would he have to force her? She could feel her cunt growing wetter, creamier, soaking her thighs with the sudden excitement building inside her.

  “Are you crazy?” she gasped.

  “You can ask me to fuck you in the heat of the moment, but you can’t ask me to lick your pussy?” He snapped, his eyes darkening. “Wrong, baby. You will beg me to eat that little cunt of yours. To shove my tongue inside you and fuck you with it.”

  She stared up at him, aware of the long, thick strands of his hair that fell around them creating a curtain of sensual intimacy. She could feel the heat rising in both their bodies, the need to do just as he asked, to be carnal and wild and as free in her hunger as he was in his. To allow the darkness raging in his eyes freedom.

  This was the Viking. Wild. Untamed. Unrelenting.

  “It’s different then,” she gasped as his lips parted, the moist warmth caressing her nipple a second before he looked up at her.

  His teeth rasped her nipple in retaliation, causing her breath to catch, her cunt to flame in eager anticipation. The dark vision of the gentle warrior she had first met was gone now, in his place was a warrior unwilling to give any quarter.

  “You will say the words,” he snarled. “Do it, Ariel. Ask me. Beg me to lick your pussy.” His teeth scraped her neck, his need smothering her with an answering response that overwhelmed her senses.

  She moaned hoarsely. She could feel the need growing inside her, the heat and the madness he built consuming her. How was she supposed to deny him? All he had to do was touch her and something inside her responded with a wildness, a craving she couldn’t explain.

  The bond between them confused her. It pulled at her, left her defenseless before him, unable, unwilling to fight his passion. Her soul ached when he looked at her as he was now, his eyes so dark, that almost imperceptible glimmer of pain in them wounding something deep within her spirit. What hold was this? How did he do this to her?

  “Why are you doing this?” She watched him with an edge of desperation now, fighting herself as much as she fought him, as his mouth lingered only a breath from the hard tip of her breast.

  “Because I want to.” His breath was like a flame, lashing at the sensitive flesh of her neck, her chest, then the swollen peaks of her breasts.

  Her nipples were so sensitive that the brush of his lips sent spasms of need convulsing in her womb.

  “That’s a horrible reason, Shane,” she gasped, straining against him as she felt her pussy weeping against the head of his cock.

  “Do as I say, Ariel. Whisper the words to me.” Pure steel ran through his voice, determination that she would obey him, that in this, she would give him what he needed.

  She swallowed tightly, bit her lip, then whimpered in growing hunger.

  “Shane…” She shook beneath him. “Why?”

  “Because they are your desires too. I would hear them from your lips the same as I taste them on your body. You will say
them, or we will lie here with my lips merely teasing you, testing your limits. But in the end, you will do it.”

  She could see the hunger in him the same as she felt it in herself. But there was more there as well. A growing darkness, a determination she wasn’t certain how to fight.

  “Suck my breast.” Surprise shot through her as the words whispered from her lips.

  The effect on Shane was greater. He groaned, a low sound of tortured pleasure as he opened his lips and consumed her.

  “Oh God. Yes. Like that.” She arched closer to him, her hands gripping handfuls of his hair, holding him to her as his tongue lashed at the tender nipple that his mouth sucked at so desperately.

  She was twisting beneath him, her hips rising to meet the hard, flat plane of his stomach where it pressed against her mound, grinding her clit against him, held suspended in an agony of pleasure as his mouth drew on her.

  “What else?” He was breathing fast. Hard.

  His face was flushed, his eyes almost black as his hands framed both full mounds, pressing them together to make it easier to suckle at first one, then the other.

  “Tell me.” He pressed harder against the wet flesh that pressed against his stomach. “Tell me what else you want, Ariel.”

  “Eat me,” she snarled, so wet, so hot for him now that she could barely think, let alone deny him whatever he wanted. “Lick my pussy, Shane. I want to feel your tongue on me, inside me…” Her breath caught at such a thought. “Fuck me with your tongue, Shane. Fuck me with your tongue…”

  The growl that broke from his lips was almost animalistic. Before she could draw breath, before she could whimper in anticipation he had moved. His hands gripped her knees, pushing them back, opening her wide for him before his head lowered and his tongue plunged deep inside her melting vagina.

  Ariel heard her scream echo around her. The pleasure was agony. The feel of his tongue parting her tight muscles, licking inside her. He was licking her.

  She bucked against his hold, her hands locked into the blankets at her side as he ate her with decadent hunger. His tongue thrust in and out in hard, driving strokes. His lips suckled at the juices that ran freely from her, his hand held her legs wide, making certain there was no touch he couldn’t freely make.