Wild Hearts (Blood & Judgment #1)
Page 22
He closes his eyes and breathes in deeply, a soft smile playing at his lips. “That means more to me than you will ever know, my love. We are partners now, two halves made whole.” He opens his eyes and I lean forward to kiss him.
“What is it?” he asks as I pull back.
“I can’t promise that I won’t kill again,” I say, looking down, suddenly feeling ashamed of my needs. “But, I will try to be the woman you want me to be.”
“Oh, Ember,” he says with a sigh, tilting my face to look at him. “You are the woman that I want you to be. I don’t want you to change, because of me. You won’t be yourself and that is not what I want.”
“I can promise you that I will love you every day for the rest of eternity,” I say, stroking his face. “I can give you my fidelity, my loyalty, my trust and my heart.”
“I can promise you the same, my love,” Draven says, taking my hand and kissing it.
I give him a tired smile. We have just declared our undying love to one another in a way so beautiful I want to cry. “This has been a rough night.”
“Let’s go to bed,” he says. “Tomorrow will be tough and we need our rest.”
“Rest?” I joke. “Oh no, I am not ready for this night to be over yet.”
He chuckles at my salacious smile and all seriousness is gone as he stands up and then sweeps me up into his arms. “This time we do it on the bed,” he says with a gorgeous smile.
I sigh lightly, happy for the first time in my long life, even though the vision headache is still lingering slightly. I ponder it for a moment as Draven carries me to his luxurious bed.
I usually end up a drooling mess, but this time I managed to stay on my feet. Does that mean I am getting stronger? I fucking hope so, because if my visions are in any way accurate, we are all going to need to be as strong as we can be.
I put all that worry aside and concentrate on my love for the man in my arms.
Chapter 25
~Aria~
“Wow,” I breathe, eyeing Cahl as I sit on the bed with my legs dangling over the edge. Cahl is pacing up and down the bedroom in a distressed state.
He frowns at me and comes to a sudden stop. “That is the extent of your reaction to what I have just revealed to you?”
“I…how else did you expect me to react?”
“Your usual way. Intensely with a flurry of curse words and that fierce, fiery look in your eyes.”
“No. I don’t get why you didn’t tell me sooner.”
“I had finally earned your trust. Telling you something like this was the last thing I wanted to do. I did not want to jeopardize what is between us with such a revelation, but I realized it was not fair to keep it from you any longer.”
“Cahl, I’m fine.” I flash him a reassuring smile. “Now, come here,” I say, patting the bed. “You can’t just leave me here like this, half-dressed.”
His eyes roam over me in that strange, studious way of his. I’m sitting in my leather pants and just my red, lacy bra. Moments ago, he’d been in the process of stripping off my clothes. And then he’d suddenly stopped and announced he couldn’t do it until he told me the truth. The truth being that he’s lost his ability to wield his Sword of Judgment. That, in turn, means he’s lost his immortality. All because he’s defected from the Jurisdiction.
He crosses to me and sits down next to me.
I reach for him, but he grabs my hands, holding them between us. “Why are you barely exhibiting a reaction to this?” He eyes the amulet hanging from my neck. “Ah, of course. It is subduing you, Aria.”
I scoff. “How weak do you think I am?”
“It is not about weakness. That is what the amulet does. It blocks the effects of the moon and, thus, the wolf itself.”
“No. I’m not reacting badly, because I know how to fix this.”
He shakes his head. “Aria, it cannot be—”
“Once I complete the ritual with the other two, I’ll be strong enough, like you said. Your immortality was taken by the Jurisdiction, which means they have the power to give it back as well, right?”
“For all intents and purposes, yes, logically, that should be the case. However, no Ambassador who has been stripped of it has ever regained it, Aria.”
“Because the Jurisdiction didn’t want to give it back.” I shift closer to him. “I will give it back to you.”
“What? I am not following you, princess.”
“My mother was Queen. With her gone, the throne should technically be mine, right?”
“Uh…yes…technically. She did not bear any other children. You are her only offspring. However, that being said, Aria, it is not that simple, because of the King’s actions. Two were meant to rule, but he removed your mother. He will not accept your claim to take your rightful place and rule alongside him.”
“Then I will kill him and take the throne by force.”
“Take the power of the kingdom to return my immortality to me,” he realizes aloud.
“Exactly. I can also save all the supernatural creatures they’re imprisoning there.”
“Aria, you cannot just claim the throne to wield its power for those ends. Should you claim the throne, you will have a responsibility to your people. You must take up residence in the Realm. You must rule eternal.”
“Yeah, I figured.”
“You will have to give up your life here in the human world. It is a great sacrifice.”
“What life, Cahl?”
He hesitates.
“I don’t have my pack anymore. My father’s been gone for six months now. I don’t have anyone. Except for you. And now I have someone I trust beside me, I’m not gonna lose that. I…care about you. More than care.”
He lifts my chin gently with his index finger. “You love me.”
It’s not a question. It’s a statement.
“Do you?”
He smiles with amusement. “Do I love you?”
“Yeah. Do you?”
He cups my face in his hands and says softly, “Indeed, I do. My princess, you are all I see.”
I wrap my arms around him and whisper in his ear, “Good, because I do…I…I love you.”
“Is that so?” he whispers back with a chuckle.
I nod against him, hating how shy I am about saying those three words to him. It’s unchartered territory for me. Being vulnerable is really not my thing at all. I hate it with a vengeance. That’s what intimacy and being in a relationship is though, I guess. It’s gonna take a lot of getting used to. One step at a time. Although, this—me telling him I love him—is a major one.
“Will you tell me now?” I ask, eyeing him intensely.
He frowns with confusion. “Tell you what, my love?”
“How she died? How my mom was killed?”
He edges closer to me and says softly, “Of course.”
I brace myself and draw in a deep breath to prepare myself for what I’m about to hear. He wraps his arm around me and it has some of the tension leaving my body.
“Alessandra perished here, in the human realm…in your father’s arms.”
I look up at him, trying to absorb his words. He hesitates off my pained look. “Uh…go on.”
“She had given birth to you a day earlier. It had left her weak as her body fought to heal. Giving birth to a wolf baby with such profound power for someone not built to carry such a creature to term is…destructive and—”
“Destructive?”
“Uh…tearing upon the body…I will leave it at that. Alessandra possessed the ability to heal. If she had not, she would have perished upon your delivery. However, the healing process took its toll and, as I said, weakened her considerably. The birth of such a powerful being was like a beacon to the King and he was able to locate her. She was not strong enough to shield herself with her own magic and your father did not possess any of his own. The next evening, the King sent several of his best Ambassadors to murder her and you.”
“Holy shit,” I breathe.
“What?” I gasp.
“I was sent there as one of his best to carry out the task.”
I slap my hand to my heart. “Oh my God, Cahl.”
He holds up his hand. “As I have told you previously, your mother was a friend to me.” He sighs heavily and then eyes me intensely as he reveals, “I committed treason that night.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I did not go there with the intention to carry out the King’s orders. I was determined to protect Alessandra.” He scrubs his hand over his face. “Unfortunately, I was too late. When I arrived she had already suffered a fatal wound. No amount of magic could save her. However, the same could not be said for you and your father.”
“Shit,” I breathe, shifting my weight and leaning forward, eager to get the full story.
“I diverted my brethren’s attention away from you and your father, facilitating your escape.”
“You—you saved our lives? You were there when I was a baby? You saw me? My father?” I ramble, barely coherent.
“Yes, although, lies were told of your demise a few months thereafter and I believed you had perished.”
“Oh my God. I can’t believe this.”
“I understand that it is a great deal to absorb.”
I grab his hand and squeeze it. “Thank you, Cahl. Thank you for saving us.”
He blushes a little. “Of course, princess. You were mine to protect, gifted to me by your mother.”
I smile back at him, holding his hand tightly.
My thoughts whirl in my head. “Do you know if…Ember said I was just bred for power. But my father….I mean, he—”
“He loved you dearly, as did Alessandra.” He squeezes my hand back. “Your father knew about your duty, Aria.”
“What?”
“He knew and he hid you and kept you from it. He did not want it for you. He was trying to protect you. Even Alessandra had her doubts once she fell pregnant. They both craved a life together, so much in love were they. A life with their child—you. Alas, the King sought to punish them both for Alessandra’s perceived betrayal and the threat that your very existence posed to his position of power.”
“Wow,” I murmur. “Just…wow.”
He smiles kindly. “I know.”
He wraps me up in his arms and holds me tightly to him. We stay that way for a long while, until I lean in and whisper in his ear, “My hero.”
I feel him shiver at my hot breath at his ear. “Aria,” he returns, his voice hoarse with desire. He’s already turned on.
I pull away and lay back on the bed, giving him my most seductive look.
He grins, understanding, and rips off his gray muscle t-shirt. He crawls up my body, looming over me, his hands either side of my shoulders and his knees on either side of my legs. His eyes stray to my amulet and he frowns. “Without it, Aria.”
“Are you serious?”
“I am.”
“Why? What does it matter?”
“I will demonstrate.”
What the hell does that mean?
Before I can ask, he suddenly sits back on his haunches and commands, “Shed your clothing.”
I do it right away, quickly pulling off my pants and then my lace panties. I toss them off the bed and then reach around and unclasp my bra and do the same with it. I lean back on my elbows and eye him expectantly.
“Turn around. On your knees.”
I start to move, but he’s suddenly looming over me again, stopping me. “See?”
“See what?”
“You do not even realize, do you?”
“Cahl, what the hell are you talking about?”
“You are submitting to me, to everything that I command.”
“What? No, I’m—holy shit! I am! Oh my God! I am!”
He grabs my pendant. “It is this.”
“I…it’s okay.”
“Excuse me?”
“I want to do it like this…without the wolf. I’ve never experienced sex without it being a factor, without the wolf’s ferocity. It’ll be different. Calmer. More…loving.”
“It will always be loving between us, Aria. You need not be concerned about that.”
“Yeah, I get that. But you know what I mean. Let’s just do it. I want to know what it feels like.”
“You are sure?”
“Yep,” I tell him with a nod.
“All right. As you wish.”
I watch him pull off his jeans and boxers. Whoa. I’m never gonna get used to the size of him. I rub my legs together with anticipation.
He’s looming over me a moment later, his fingers trailing down to my pussy.
“Open your legs for me, princess.”
I spread my legs wide beneath him and then his fingers are there brushing over my clit lightly.
“Mmm…yes. Touch me, Cahl. Touch me.”
He drags his fingers through my wetness. “You are slick and wanting already.”
I reach up and run my hands over his pecs, down over the wisps of hair in the valley between them and to his carved abs.
As he smiles down at me, a curious expression plays on his face.
“What?” I ask.
He leans over me and slides his hands into my thick, red hair. “I am just not accustomed to you being so sexually passive.”
“You’re not happy about it?”
“How could I be unhappy with such a vision of beauty before me?”
“Aww…that’s so romantic.”
He smiles and leans in. His mouth smothers mine, taking me in a deeply passionate kiss.
I wrap my arms around his neck, holding him to me, as I get lost in our kiss.
He shifts his weight on top of me and, the next thing I know, he’s inside me. He eases in slowly in that gentle way of his and I grunt as I feel his thick length stretching me. Once he’s seated balls deep, he stills for a few moments, to let me adjust, and then he starts pumping in and out of me at a slow, easy pace.
I never imagined that slow could be as satisfying as hard and fast. But with Cahl, it is. It’s beyond satisfying. The way we fit together. The way we move together. It’s earth shattering. Nothing I’ve ever experienced before can compare to it.
“The feel of you is beyond anything I have ever felt…incredible,” Cahl rasps, pulling back from our kiss to gaze down at me.
“I know,” I tell him, sliding my hands down to his back and caressing him softly.
He flinches as I do and stops moving.
“What? What is it?” I ask, wondering what the hell is going on and also how the hell he has the strength of will to stop thrusting so suddenly. Cahl is definitely out of this world. Wow.
He eyes my pendant and frowns. “You are not yourself.”
Before I can answer, he grabs it. “I want all of you,” he tells me. A shimmering black light emanates from his hand for a few seconds and then the amulet disappears.
“Cahl. No, I—”
My words get caught in my throat as an overwhelming sensation surges through me, making me choke from the sheer force of it.
The furor of the wolf.
It takes hold of me so abruptly that I can’t stop it. I can’t take any sort of control over it.
Fucking hell. It’s intense. More intense than I’ve ever felt it.
I lunge forward, slamming into Cahl and propelling the both of us off the bed.
He grunts as his back hits the carpeted floor. He tries to roll to the side, to get back to his feet.
I pounce on him, pinning him down. Before I can stop them, my claws breach the surface. Cahl hisses as they tear into his chest. In the next second, I’m snarling at him and baring my wolf teeth.
“Stop me!” I scream, pulling my claws out and then grabbing his shoulders and slamming him into the carpet over and over again.
“No,” he responds through gritted teeth.
“Give me
back the amulet!”
“Do not hide from me, Aria.”
“I can’t…I can’t control the wolf right now. You won’t be able to either. It’s too extreme, because it was subdued.”
“You do not need to. Unleash.”
“What?”
“Unleash on me.”
I shake my head and jump off him, springing back to my feet.
He rears back and somersaults back to his feet too. He waves his hand over the blood-red indentations in his chest, courtesy of my claws. They disappear instantly. “You cannot harm me.”
“Give it back!” I command, roaring like a wolf, the room reverberating with the force of it. “Now!”
He doesn’t make any move to call it back. Instead, he steps towards me.
Big mistake.
His refusal to give the amulet back has rage ripping through me. I’m too out of control to push it down and I leap at him, slamming him into a dresser. I raise my hand to swipe him again with my claws.
But he reacts quickly, thrusting his hands into my chest. The power behind it propels me across the other side of the room. I wince as my back hits the stone wall, cracking it.
He’s on me a second later, his hands gripping my arms and holding me against the wall.
“We are meant to be together, Aria. I am the one who can take what you are. All of what you are. Do not be afraid.”
He releases my arms and sweeps his hand over himself.
Right away, his scent gravitates towards me. He’s had that scent-concealing spell on for so long now that I’d gotten used to him not having his own scent. It’s jolting, smelling him after all this time, especially with the wolf so sensitive right now. It takes me over. It’s irresistible. He’s irresistible. He smiles when he sees the heat in my eyes.
I reach up and grab his neck, jerking him down to me. Our lips clash. Hard. Viciously, even. It’s beyond passion this time. It’s primal.
I leap at him, wrapping my arms around his neck as I thrust myself down onto his dick. He grunts at my sudden attack and grabs my thighs, supporting my weight as I start to fuck him wildly. Hard and fast. The next thing I know, he’s spinning us and slamming me into the wall, taking out another chunk of stone. Now I can finally feel his full strength. He’s giving me everything.