Cloaked in Blood

by T. F. Walsh

  “Maybe you should took take it off.”

  I cut him a side stare, but he held on to his stoic expression, obviously intent on proving me wrong. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

  “You bet.” He couldn’t hold back his smile, and my heart fluttered at the way his lips parted. For those few seconds, my mind danced with the possibility of leaning in and tasting them. Letting myself fall into his arms, demanding he take me, and forgetting the pile of crap waiting for us back at the castle was a brief, but wonderful, thought. In all honestly, all our problems would be solved if we simply ran away now. And hand on heart, if it weren’t for Aisha, I would do it. The temptation swirled in the pit of my stomach, but the real world quickly flattened that dream.

  Marcin patted the damp fabric across my shoulder, gently rubbing the dried blood around the wound. “So, a pack of wolves, you say?”

  I nodded. “Nine of them.”

  He leaned in closer, wiping clean my injury, revealing the bite mark. “Did you get hurt anywhere else?” His voice lowered, and an underlying tone of worry coated his words, even if my first interpretation of his words shifted into flirty gear. The thing was, with him so close, his breaths were a siren’s song, and my own wolf fluttered through me in sex-starvation mode.

  “Thanks for protecting me and finding us a way out.” He set down the blanket and skimmed the back of his fingers across my cheek. “That’s the second time you’ve saved me. You’re giving me a complex.”

  My response wouldn’t come at first. It was jammed inside my libido, too consumed by the temptation to have my way with Marcin. Alone in a cavern. No family nearby. Yet, the truth of the upcoming battle of innocence, and me having to go back home afterward, sat on my mind like an unmovable mountain. I wanted it gone.

  “Well, I hope me saving you doesn’t make you feel emasculated.”

  His hand slipped a strand of hair behind my ear, his touch sending goose bumps down my back. “Never. If anything, I was wondering how I could ever repay you.” A devilish grin split his mouth.

  A tingle spread below my stomach. The kind of repayment I had in mind might make even Marcin blush, though considering the mischievousness behind his eyes, I somehow doubted it. Still, it went against everything I’d been telling myself to do. Keeping my distance from Marcin, not encouraging him, and making it clear I wasn’t interested had been the plan. Sticking to that idea would hurt less when the time came for me to break our mating agreement. With Levin’s threat to attack our family, I had no choice but to return home with my father. Just thinking the words had my chest constricting, my eyes stinging. So, was it so wrong to release those worries for a while?

  Our foreheads touched.

  My voice was barely a whisper. “Can we pretend none of the shit between us has happened, and we’re back in Turkey when the world seemed filled with possibilities? Even only for now?” Because in truth, that was what I’d wanted for so long—to rewind time.

  “For you, anything.” His voice was a whisper, soothing my insides in all the right ways.

  I brushed my lips against his, closing my eyes. He returned the passion threefold, his mouth hungry against mine, our tongues meeting like long-lost lovers. And beneath his kiss, I softened as if I were snow on the first day of spring.

  His hands skipped down my arms, along my waist, and to my hips. He drew me closer and guided me across his lap. A blaze ripped through my body, every nerve sensitive.

  His fingers eased under my shirt, digging into flesh. I pressed closer, desperate for more. We’d never gone beyond heavy petting when we were younger, but now the temptation of finally having sex with Marcin tingled through my body.

  Breaking away, he left a trail of kisses down my chin and along my neck, his voice gravelly and beyond sexy. “I’ve missed you so much.”

  “Me too.” My response came quick, no hesitation because I longed for him terribly; the way trees craved rain, the way earth drank in the sun, the way oxygen gave life. That was Marcin for me. A lifeline I thought I’d lost.

  I pulled off my top and flung it somewhere behind me.

  His lips found my collarbone as he unfastened my bra. It fell between us, and at once, his mouth latched on to a breast, sucking, and his hand on the other, kneading.

  My whole body trembled with ecstasy and anticipation of more.

  I mewled at the way his tongue grazed my nipple, the fire for Marcin flared awake with the intensity of a thunderstorm. Breaths sped up, and my hips rocked back and forth across his hardness. I leaned back slightly, giving him easier access. “Harder.”

  He complied, his teeth gently gnawing on my tight bud.

  His fingers fiddled with the zipper on my pants, pulling the fabric down. Releasing the hold, his eyes opened, and the sexiness behind his gaze made a ripple of euphoria zip through me. He stared at me with the same look I’d craved all these years, the ravenous desire in his parted lips, desperation in his touch.

  Marcin cradled my face in his hands and crushed his mouth against mine, so intense my legs threatened to give out. No man could ever sate the hole that Marcin had left in my heart. Desire surged through me. Damn, Marcin could melt an iceberg with that tongue.

  “Pants off. Now.” He smirked. Goddess, right now I’d do anything he asked of me. Anything.

  I climbed to my feet, as did Marcin.

  The apex between my legs was ready to implode as he took me in fully in with his roaming stare. I shivered as he pulled my pants and panties down. By the time I stepped out of them, his fingers were already on me, gliding along my silkiness. My insides trembled uncontrollably.

  “I adore how your body responds to me.” After licking his fingers and an elated expression captured his gaze, he peeled off his jacket and shirt in one go, toed his boots off, then dropped his pants. Commando. Just how I liked it, but ... goddess. Thick and alert. And all mine.

  “Come here, my little wolf.” He grabbed my hand and drew me against him, his cock scorching hot against my lower stomach. “The first time I fuck you, I want to watch every bit of your pleasure on your face. Then I’m taking you from behind.”

  His husky voice had my insides pulsing, and I struggled to find my words, so I simply nodded.

  He smiled, then placed the blanket and his coat on the ground before lying on his back. His hand reached for me and drew me closer. “First, I’m going to fully taste you because I’ve wanted to tongue fuck you from the first moment I laid eyes on you in Hungary. Take a seat.”

  Kneeling alongside his shoulders, I straddled over him, and he quickly shimmied lower. His hands gripped my hips and drew me lower, his face now buried between my legs. His mouth latched on and sucked, lightly pulling at my inner folds.

  My moan spilled out, loud and wavering with pleasure. I moved in rhythm with his flicking tongue. Faster. Quicker. “Fuck. Oh, fuck.”

  His hands swept around my ass, prying my cheeks apart, and his fingers skimmed the length of my butt, the tantalizing sensation creating a deeper level of excitement, building up by the second. My head was fogged in rapture as Marcin devoured me.

  A scream ripped past my mouth as an orgasm convulsed. Marcin never ceased his tongue fucking. He groaned his approval, and his eyes remained open, studying me.

  Every part of me tingled. I burst into giggles and pulled up, but Marcin wasn’t releasing his grip, holding me down as he licked ferociously.

  Oh, goddess. My giggles morphed into mewls of delight, and his hands caressed up my body, taking hold of my tight nipples, squeezing them as his mouth greedily lapped me up as if I were a slippery peach. And within seconds, I floated through the second round of excitement rapturing all the way through me.

  Marcin finally released me and guided me up on my knees. And while the urge to beg him for more lingered on my mind, a part of me was relieved to catch my breath. He shuffled upward through my legs until his cock hit my fire. He sat in front of me and licked his lips. “If I could, I’d be buried in you forever.”


  “Goddess, yes.” Positioning myself over his cock, I rubbed the slickness across his tip, then lowered myself in slow motion. His girth stretched me wide—hell, he was huge—hurting me in all the right ways and filling me completely. I slid farther down on him, and Marcin’s eyes rolled back, as did his head. A powerful moan rumbled from his chest, echoing in the cavern.

  Then I rode him fast and furious, rodeo style. One hand in the air, the other gripping his shoulder, I pumped up and down, the slapping sound bliss to my ears.

  His eyes opened, and the sexiest grin widened his mouth as his eyes settled on my bouncing breasts.

  “Fuck me, babe, fuck me hard.”

  His hips bucked with each thrust, deepening the sensation, his cock hitting the back of my wall. Our hearts and lungs raced in unison, the purr in the back of my throat deepening. He stroked my inner walls in a way that had me teetering on the edge of cloud nine.

  And Marcin studied me the whole time, his expression lost in euphoria.

  He clasped my hips, bringing me to a halt, sliding himself out, and I already missed him. “Turn over and show me that sexy ass of yours.”

  My thighs trembled, but I did as he asked, flipping over on hands and knees, parting my legs, ready for more. The cool breeze hit my inferno.

  Marcin grasped my butt and squeezed. Then his cock was at my entrance, pushing in ever so slightly, spreading me.

  “Let me know if I hurt you.”

  “Fuck me already.” My words stumbled over one another.

  He rammed into me, and I screamed from the forcefulness of his thrust. Damn his strength was exhilarating. He pulled back out and jackhammered back inside over and over, stretching me, driving me insane, and then he fell into a steady rhythm, rocking back and forth.

  His fingers coasted around my waist and lower and found my sensitive folds, rubbing them in a circular motion. “Come for me,” he moaned, and I felt him tense. “Now.”

  My body responded, fully under his hypnotic sex command, and I shivered with my third orgasm. At the same time, Marcin pumped inside me, groaning so loud it would have scared off the pack of wolves outside.

  “You’re so beautiful.” He pulled out and lay down alongside me, drawing me into his arms, against his chest, one leg curled over mine in a protective manner. “Once the shit with the battle of innocence is over, this is how I plan to spend every second with you.”

  My voice refused to come. All the warmth in my body had drained away. I wasn’t ready to face the hard facts yet—that Levin would attack my family no matter how much Marcin protested—that I had no choice but to help my father and mate with another alpha—or that I didn’t see how a future between Marcin and me could ever exist. I buried my head into his chest, the pain, the tears, everything that reminded me of the shitty life being forced on me.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Marcin

  Long shadows swept across the woods as the sun slipped behind the mountains. When we found no wolves waiting to make a snack of us outside the cave, we made a mad rush for the snowmobile.

  After a speedy fifty minutes on the vehicle, we broke cover and merged onto the flat terrain behind the stone castle—my home, my prison. Grand stone towers crowned with pointy thatched roofs stood like giants overlooking the land. Crenellations ran the length of the walls, keeping enemies at bay. For me, the biggest enemies lay within the walls.

  Flickering lights illuminated several of the rooms in the main building of the castle, but the windows to the great hall remained black. No late night meetings tonight, meaning no panic or problems had arisen.

  Selena’s soft skin still tingled under my fingers, her taste on my tongue, and her sweet smell still dancing in my head. A part of me contemplated dragging her back to the cave and never resurfacing. That could be a problem.

  Her arms were wrapped around my waist as I drove the snowmobile over a slope, gunning the engine. She hadn’t said a word since we left the icy waterfall palace. She snuggled tighter against my back, and I felt her warmth and breasts pressed into me.

  Soon enough, we rounded the castle and pulled up in front of the shed. Selena climbed off, and I killed the engine. Swinging my leg over, I sat on the snowmobile, not ready to leave behind the day I’d spent with her.

  She glanced over her shoulder at the looming castle, then back my way.

  Before she could run away, I reached for her hands and drew her between my legs, embracing her with my body. “There’s no rush to go inside yet.”

  She wrapped her arms around me, tucking her face against the side of my neck, and released a long sigh.

  “What’s worrying you so much?” I rubbed her arms and kissed the top of her head.

  “You’re making this so much harder.”

  I pulled her back from me by the shoulders so I could see her expression. “What are you talking about?”

  She licked her lips, and I couldn’t deny how gorgeous she was with the last remnants of the afternoon golden sun sparkling against her tanned skin and dark hair. I ached to touch her again in a way that filled her expression with desire, to hold her perfect breasts with the ruby nipples, calling me, torturing me.

  “Today was everything I’d wanted for so long,” she said. “Everything our future should have been.”

  “And you’ll have it. We’ll mate, and I’ll give you the world.”

  A slight frown creased her brow. I reached over and smoothed it with a thumb. She kissed my palm, and that simple act had my heart aching to carry her to my room right this moment, to insist on the mating ritual, to be certain she would be mine for good.

  “You can trust me with anything, you know that?”

  “Of course.” Her response shot out a bit too fast, making me question her sincerity.

  What was holding her back? In the cave, the way she cared for my wound, responded to my body ... proved her caring nature. Even the way she now held on to my hand showed I meant something to her.

  Pushing her to open up about her problems wouldn’t work. If she’d intended to tell me, she’d have done so already. I had to show her how trustworthy I was, so I changed topics. “Are you excited about the battle of innocence?”

  Her eyebrow cocked as if deciphering a hidden message behind my words. “I’m going to give it my best attempt and help prove Daciana’s innocence since I’m representing her.” She fell silent and simply watched the snow around us.

  Her simple response had my instincts on high alert for so many reasons—her matter-of-fact voice sounding as if she were convincing herself rather than me, and this was her first mention to me about saving Daciana. Selena was hypercompetitive, yet she made no hint of kicking my butt or getting the boon for herself. And that simple overlook revealed her true intent.

  Then Father’s words came to mind about the sultan intending to claim the Hungarian land for himself. Was that the reason she now looked ready to bolt in the opposite direction?

  But I couldn’t let her win, not when so much was at stake. Winning the boon would not only help me finally deal with my father, but it would protect Selena and her family from certain death.

  Broaching the topic could turn ugly, not to mention Selena pulling further away. Nope. I had to keep her close and make her see why me gaining the boon was best for everyone. But I had to tread carefully.

  “Maybe we can work together during the challenge? Help each other?”

  She shrugged. “Do you know what the battle of innocence will involve?”

  “Not yet, but I’ll ask Father. Though I’m guessing it might be a similar challenge to the venery.”

  “Hunting down another animal? Unlikely. He’ll want to make this one difficult. What if he sends someone to hunt us?” Her breathing grew rapid, and she chewed on her lower lip, worry creasing her perfect brow.

  “I doubt we’ll be hunted. Maybe he’ll have us retrieve a hidden object in the woods? Who knows with Father. The last time he set a challenge for a wulfkin, it involved trekking through the woods in se
arch of an elusive white fox. It’s not always brawn with my father, but stamina and using your head.”

  “Oh.” The worry refused to leave her eyes.

  Before I could stop myself, I leaned in and stole a kiss. “It will be all right. Don’t worry.” The way she responded, her hands gliding through my hair, her mouth mashing against mine, it was obvious she wrestled with her desire too. And her wolf was there again, a shiver rippling through me as mine rumbled, acknowledging we were meant to be one.

  I broke our kiss, our faces remaining inches apart. “Maybe we can continue this in my room?”

  She left a peck on my chin, then pulled free from my arms. “Father’ll be wondering where I’ve been all day. Better return before he calls for a search party.” She retreated, but I refused to release her hand.

  “Thanks for helping me with the blood poisoning. Not many people would do that, especially the one person who was in the same challenge for a boon.” Despite my intention to keep my mouth shut, I couldn’t part ways without first discovering where she stood on the whole prize situation. Too much to risk on a whim.

  Her expression didn’t shift, but the long pause meant I’d caught her off guard. When she did speak, a soft undertone caressed her words as if whispering them made her confession less real. “I couldn’t let you suffer. That would make me a horrible person.”

  My thumb rubbed the back of her hand, coaxing her to continue sharing. “Horrible would never be an adjective used to describe you. But you’re definitely beautiful, strong, and loyal.”

  “Loyal?” She arched a dubious brow.

  “To your family. It’s an attribute I wished more wulfkin in Father’s pack held.”

  She slipped her hand away from mine. “Yeah, well, sometimes loyalty isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

  I studied her downturned mouth, the way the scattering of snowflakes gave her an innocent look. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

  Her gaze lifted to meet mine, her lips parting and desperation behind her eyes, and for those few seconds, I was certain she’d speak up. She pushed her shoulders back and simply said, “Nothing to tell. Anyway, gotta go. See you later.” She spun and took hurried steps around the corner of the stone wall, arms tucked into her pockets, head forward as she vanished from sight.