by Donna Grant
His eyes traveled over her luscious body. From her full breasts tipped with pink nipples straining for his touch, to her trim waist and flared hips, to the red curls nestled between her long, lean legs, she was perfect.
In every way.
Her lips, swollen from his kisses, parted for more. He smoothed her wet locks away from her face before he buried his hand in her hair and jerked her body against his. He took her lips in a slow, sensuous kiss that told her just how much he had hungered for her, dreamed of her. He craved her so desperately that he shook with the force of his desire.
His cock jumped, eager to bury in her moist heat, to plunge into her and thrust deep again and again until she screamed his name as her body clenched around him. Only then would he allow himself to climax.
He knew he shouldn’t be kissing her, much less touching her. He tempted the darkness to rise up in him, but Francesca was an allure he couldn’t resist. His mouth slanted over hers again and again, drinking in her taste and her passion. Her hands clung to him, and her breathy moans would be his undoing.
When her fingers trailed down his chest to stop at the waist of his breeches, he forgot to breath. Then her hand grazed his throbbing cock, and he broke the kiss in an effort not to take her right then.
“Cade.”
His name whispered on her lips only drove his desire higher. His balls tightened, and his hands shook as he cupped her breasts once again.
“By the saints, how I’ve wanted you,” he confessed.
She smiled, then groaned when he circled a nipple with his finger.
Cade had no doubt she was untouched. She deserved better than him, better than her first time on the floor of a cave. But despite knowing that, he couldn’t let her go. It wasn’t just because somehow she drove the darkness away, or the way her magic made his body tingle and crave more of her touch.
It was simply because of her. The seductive tilt of her lips when she smiled, the knowledge in her tawny eyes and the call of her body to his.
Nay, Cade didn’t deserve her, but he was going to take her.
Her finger unlaced his breeches, and he caught her hands in his.
“Nay,” he ground out. “It’s the only thing preventing me from taking you right now.”
“But I want you to take me. Right now.”
Cade groaned. He lifted her in his arms and walked to the fire. As soon as he set her on her feet, she retrieved one of the blankets and spread it. With a smile, she lay down on the blanket and looked at him.
If he had ever thought to turn away from her, he couldn’t now. He was caught in her gaze, captured by the decadence of her body, and lulled by the taste of her lips.
Cade removed his breeches and lay down next to her. Her hand cupped his face while her thumb traced his lip, much like he had hers a day ago. He placed his hands on her stomach and felt it quiver. He couldn’t remember the last time he took a woman face to face, but it was how he planned to take Francesca.
His hand caressed her hips and down her leg as he bent and kissed her neck. He worked his way down her chest until he captured a nipple in his mouth. She moaned his name, her hands threading through his hair. Her back arched as she gave him more of her breast. Cade rolled on top of her and moved to her other breasts, swirling his tongue around her nipple until she was gasping for breath, her hips grinding against him.
Her moans turned to soft cries as he continued to lave her nipples, pinching and suckling them until she was mindless with need. Only then did he kiss down her stomach to her sex. The smell of her arousal made his cock jump, and he couldn’t wait to taste her. He smiled as her hands fisted in the blanket, and she watched him settle between her legs. She swallowed nervously, and he bent toward her sex.
Cade opened her women’s lips with his fingers and licked her from her slit to her pearl. She cried out, her body going rigid. His tongue circled her pearl as he slid a finger inside her. She was already so wet, so hot that he didn’t need to prepare her. She was ready for him.
“Cade,” she cried as he sucked her pearl into his mouth.
He pushed his finger deeper, feeling the barrier that he knew he would find, and tried to ignore the voice inside that chanted she was his.
Francesca was in heaven. She had never known such bliss, such passion, and she didn’t want it to stop. Cade’s mouth was doing delicious things to her while his finger stroked inside her. Her hips rose of their own accord to meet his thrusts, her body knowing what was to come. She bit her lip and arched her back as something began to coil inside, tightening with each lick of his tongue and stroke of his finger.
Then he added a second finger to the first, stretching her, readying her for him. Her heart skipped a beat as she imagined him putting his cock inside her. She had felt him through his breeches, but it was nothing compared to getting to see him in all his glory. His rod was long and hard and hot as it lay against her leg.
Francesca ground her hips into his chest and moaned as his fingers increased their tempo. Whatever was building inside her was pushing her toward an edge, promising pleasure beyond her wildest dreams.
And then it claimed her.
She jerked, her body spasming with the force of her climax. Lights popped behind her eyelids as Cade continued to stroke her body, prolonging her pleasure.
Just as suddenly, he leaned over her, kissing her lips as the head of his arousal rubbed against her sensitive flesh. Francesca hissed, feeling another wave of pleasure wash over her. She watched as Cade guided himself into her; then, inch by inch, he filled her, stretching her.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said with his eyes closed.
Francesca smiled and brought his face down for another kiss. “My body is yours. Take it.”
His eyes opened, and she saw they were a light gray now. He pulled out of her only to plunge further inside, pushing past her maidenhead. She stiffened, feeling an instant of pain, yet it faded as quickly as it had begun.
As soon as Cade began to move again, the wonderful passion swirling inside her intensified. She wrapped her legs around his waist and met his thrusts. He alternated between long, slow thrusts and hard and fast ones, and each sent her building toward another orgasm.
Each time he drove into her, he rubbed against her aching pearl, bringing her closer and closer until she screamed his name as her second climax hit. Francesca felt Cade stiffen over her and opened her eyes to find his head thrown back, a look of joy on his face as his seed spilled inside her womb.
Chapter Thirteen
Cade had never felt such...peace...in all his days. He gazed down to find Francesca looking at him with an expression of such delight that it made his heart catch.
He bent and kissed her lips, still amazed that she had wanted him, despite the darkness. He pulled out of her and wet a piece of material to wipe her virgin’s blood from between her leg and on his cock. Once they were clean, he rolled onto his back, pulling her against him so that her head rested on his chest.
“You’re eyes are blue again,” she said.
He hadn’t known they had changed. “What color where they before?”
“Black. Then they turned to gray, and now blue.”
He knew they had changed because of her. Somehow, whether it was Francesca herself or her magic, she had driven the darkness away. For the time being.
“Are you all right?”
He looked down at her and nodded. “Better than I’ve been in a very long time.”
“So all you needed was a woman?” The teasing note in her voice brought a grin to his lips.
“Nay. All I needed was you.”
Her gaze lowered for a moment. “What happened?”
“You mean with Nigel’s army?”
She nodded and shifted so that she rested her chin on her hand, which lay on his chest.
“I had only one choice that would get Grayson and Adrianna to the castle.”
“Hmm. That was very brave of you. You fought the darkness for so long, and then f
inally gave in. What did it feel like?”
“Hell,” he answered without hesitation. “Like I had no control over myself. One moment I was standing before the army, and the next, they were scattered on the ground. Yet my thirst for blood only increased.”
She sighed. “That’s what Drogan said would happen to you. How did you beat it?”
“I didn’t. At least not alone.”
“What do you mean?”
“I tried to drown in the sea,” he confessed. “I wanted to die. It was better than having the evil urge me to attack Wolfglynn and kill all within it. Yet the darkness wouldn’t let me drown. Even when I climbed out of the water, it hungered for death and destruction.”
Francesca’s eyes held sorrow and compassion, but not pity as she listened to him. “Yet you fought it.”
“I tried. I could’ve killed you.”
“But you didn’t. Don’t question it. Just be glad you were able to win against it.”
He sighed. “For now.”
He’d let it out, unleashed it. How much longer did he have before the red haze of blood descended on him again?
She kissed his chest, above his nipple.
“Why did you come?”
She shrugged. “I had a dream about you.”
“A dream?”
“It is my gift as a bana‐bhuidseach. Serena sees how people will die. Adrianna is a healer, and she can see danger approaching her. Grayson can heal himself.”
“What?” Cade asked, interrupting her.
Francesca smiled. “Aye. It appears he is also a witch. It’s been centuries since our kind has had a male with magic.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The bana‐bhuidseach are a dying race of witches, cursed by one of our own.”
“Tell me,” he urged.
She rolled onto her back, the firelight licking at her skin, stirring his desire. “There isn’t much to tell. Through time and the retelling, we lost the truth of where our kind came from before England. Some say we came from a land of sand and sun, a land with monuments that reached the sky.”
Cade rolled onto his side, his head supported by his hand. “What happened?”
“We lived in peace with the others of this land. Every bana‐bhuidseach had magic, both male and female. Instead of living in small groups, we chose to live in one large city.”
He watched the play of emotions on her face as she retold her story. It made her sad, but he also saw a spark of anger in her tawny depths.
“One of the village elders who held everyone together had a son who fell in love with Helen. It is said that Helen was the most beautiful woman to ever walk the earth. She was perfect in every way, not a flaw on her body.”
Cade could argue that Francesca was the most beautiful woman, but he held silent and let her finish.
“Helen also claimed to fall in love with the son. Preparations for the wedding began immediately. Then, one day, a man came into the city. He wasn’t one of us. However, he was of noble blood, with lots of coin and a large castle. Helen decided she’d rather be with the noble and ran off with him.
“The son was so depressed that the love of his life had left him that he threw himself into the river and drowned. The village elder grieved for the loss of her son, and in her pain, she cursed Helen.”
“What was the curse?”
Francesca let out a long breath. “That Helen’s noble would leave her within three months after she bore him a child.”
“Did he?”
“I don’t know.”
Cade frowned. “The woman cursed Helen, so how did it affect all of you?”
“In her anger, she cursed all of the bana‐bhuidseach women. She tried to reverse it later, but it was too late. The damage had been done.”
Cade drummed his fingers on the blanket. “The curse can’t have worked. Drogan is still with Serena, and it’s been more than three months since she had given him a child.”
“Apparently, Serena broke the curse for herself. I think Adrianna has as well. Grayson’s parents were both witches, though he never knew it until recently.”
“Your father?”
She licked her lips. “He was killed in battle three months to the day of my birth.”
“By all that’s holy.”
“It’s why we’re dying out.”
Cade caught her gaze. “Is that why you’ve never married?”
“Would you? Knowing that your wife would die or leave you within three months of giving you a child?”
“Serena and Drogan took the chance.”
Francesca turned and looked out the cave. “How long do you think the storm will go on?”
Cade let her change the subject. “I’ve angered Nigel. It could go on for days.”
He lifted a lock of her hair, loving the color and silken texture. There had been nothing he’d ever done in his life that let him deserve Francesca.
She turned her head toward him and rolled onto her side so they were facing each other. “You left Nigel, didn’t you?”
Drogan had asked him that question a thousand times, and he’d never answered. He hadn’t wanted to before. Now, he did. “Aye.”
She reached out with her hand and entwined her fingers with his.
“Drogan said you came to their group with hope in your eyes. You must have had big dreams.”
“What does any boy dream of but honor and glory?”
“Will you tell me how you came to be with Drogan and Gerard?”
For a moment he thought about telling her no, but then decided it couldn’t hurt. “It was the king himself who saw me at a tournament. He asked that I join his royal guard.”
“What an honor,” she said with awe in her voice.
“I thought so. My father had died the previous year, and I was in charge of everything. Going with the king was the glory I had always dreamed of.”
“Did you have other family? A mother? Sisters? Brothers perhaps?”
Cade’s chest tightened just remembering his family. “Aye,” was all he answered. “I was young, the youngest actually, to ever be in the royal guard. My skill with weapons is what also caught Nigel’s eye. When he asked me to join an elite group of men that served the king, I didn’t hesitate.”
“Drogan and Gerard.”
He nodded. “They weren’t too much older than me, but if you looked in their eyes, it seemed they were ancient.”
“Did that worry you?”
“It should’ve, but being so young, I thought I was invincible. Drogan and Gerard brought me into the fold. The bond we formed then is unbreakable to this day.”
“I asked Drogan what happened with Nigel.”
Cade stiffened. It was the one thing he didn’t want her to know. Well, it was one of the things he didn’t want her to know.
“He told me it was your story to tell,” she said.
Cade let out a breath.
“Is it so terrible that you don’t want me to know?”
“Aye,” he murmured.
“Drogan told me you were assassins for the king. I can imagine what you were sent to do.”
He lowered his gaze to her lips. If she knew, really knew what he had done, she wouldn’t be with him now. “Nay, you can’t imagine, witch.”
Her fingernail ran lightly over his skin from his shoulder to his hip. “Then tell me.”
“I cannot.”
“Why didn’t you return to Drogan and Gerard? They searched for you.”
Cade swallowed and met her gaze. “Because the darkness had taken hold of me.”
“It had taken a hold of Gerard and Drogan as well.”
“Nay. They had it, aye, but it was nothing like what was in me. I feared being around anyone. I tried to outrun it, but the evil was always there. Nigel was always there.”
She cupped his cheek and smiled. “Yet you were able to get away from Nigel. So did Gerard and Drogan.”
“The only reason he let Gerard and Drogan go for as long as he did
was because he knew I would return to protect them. Attacking Drogan the first time was Nigel’s way of finding me.”
She paused, wariness in her gaze. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“Does Drogan know?”
Cade shrugged one shoulder. “I doubt it. It doesn’t matter. Nigel is coming back regardless.”
“For you or for Drogan?”
“For me. He’d attack Drogan just to get me here.”
Francesca licked her lips. “What did you do that made him hate you so much?”
“It’s not what I did, witch, but what I am. If he captures me, I will be but a pawn for him. He’ll rule the darkness through me.”
“Saints,” she whispered.
Cade lifted a brow at her idea of cursing. “I won’t let him capture me.”
“How are you going to stop him? Nigel is powerful enough to rule the weather. What else can he do?”
Cade almost smiled as he watched the fire in her eyes. She was lovely when she was riled, and the thought of Nigel winning sent her tawny eyes dancing with ire.
“What is Nigel capable of?” she asked again.
But Cade didn’t want to talk about Nigel or the hideous acts he could conjure up since selling his soul to the devil. He wanted more of Francesca, wanted more of her hands and lips on his skin. But more than that, he wanted to be inside her again.
Cade placed his hand on her back and pulled her toward him. Her eyes widened when she felt his hard cock between them. He burned for another taste of her, to hear her cries of pleasure.
Her hand moved between them and gripped his rod. Cade hissed in a breath, feeling her soft fingers closed around him. He closed his eyes as his blood fired his veins, demanding that he sink into her heat.
“Do you like that?” Francesca asked.
“Too much.”
“I want to explore you as you’ve explored me.”
Cade was about to spill just from the inexperienced touch of her hand. If he let her lick and kiss him as she had done her, he wouldn’t last a heartbeat.
“Not this time.” He grasped her and rolled her with him as he shifted onto his back.