“And I’ve told you that I’ve had virgins, it isn’t a big deal,” he said cruelly. “And if you’re going to get weepy about it then you should have saved it for someone you love.”
“I love you!”
“No, you don’t,” he said warily, sighing in resignation. “You love a fantasy that you’ve created in your own little mind, Ferris. You love an illusion, not me.”
She tightened her hold on him, not understanding this terrible change of personality. He had always been self-contained but never spiteful. And after the past couple of days, after last night, she had thought he… well, that he had fallen in love with her.
Turning in her embrace, he cupped her cheek in his palm and gazed at her with cool, green eyes, “You’re very naïve, Ferris. I should have remembered how very young you were before I fucked you.”
His coarse word to describe what had occurred between them was a vicious slap to her face and she reeled backwards as if his words had the weight of his hand behind them. His words were shards of glass piercing her soul and threatening to tear her apart. She desperately tried to hold onto him, to keep him with her, to keep her soul in one piece. Last night she had experienced something so profound. How could he act as if it meant nothing?
He chuckled, the sound almost mocking, as he drew his thumb over her lower lip. His cool gaze heated and he looked at her with raw emotion. “But you’re so very sweet, I forget myself around you and I made a mistake.”
"Don't do this," she whispered in a shredded voice. "Last night was not a mistake! Don't say it was."
His gaze softened slightly and she saw the despair burning in the back of his jade eyes. "It was a mistake, Ferris, you know that it was. I'm not the man for you."
She felt his penis stir against her belly, swelling and lengthening as he whispered words of poison and looked at her with eyes of hopeless desire. His words and his body’s reaction to her were incongruous and her frown deepened. He was pushing her away but he wanted her, she knew he did.
Her lips parted to say something, anything, to make him stop talking but he slid his thumb into her mouth. His breath hitched in his throat and his eyes darkened as he stared at his thumb between her lips, “That is a very pretty sight. It makes me want to see those lips wrapped around my dick.”
Despite her conflicting feelings, the image of taking him into her mouth flashed in her head and her body responded. Wrapping her hands around his wrist, she met and held his gaze as she slowly moved her mouth up and down his thumb, mimicking the action of oral sex. His pulse throbbed in his throat and he rasped when he breathed. His penis twitched beneath the robe and she knew that there was passion between them if nothing else.
Passion could lead to love….
Falling to her knees, she nervously groped the front of his robe, her fingers brushing against the searing steel of his erection and he hissed in anguished pleasure. He grabbed her by the armpit and jerked upwards, not quite pulling her to her feet. Angrily, tensely, he glowered down at her, “Don’t debase yourself like this, Ferris. Get up off of your knees. Don't you understand that I'm trying to do the right thing?”
She looked up at him, at the turbulence in his green eyes. Why was he fighting her? Running her hand along the length of his erection she watched as his eyes closed and a shudder wracked his hard body. She would do anything she could to make him realize that they were meant to be together, including pleasuring him with her mouth. “But you want this.”
He hesitated a moment too long and she pushed the material aside, wrapping her fist around the turgid length of his erection and slowly pumping him. His hand trembled as he released her arm and laid it on the top of her head. He didn’t push her away and so she took the tip of his rock-hard cock into her mouth, her eyes closing as his musky essence overwhelmed her senses.
“Don't do this,” he growled, his voice foreign and harsh. "You deserve so much more than me."
Prying her eyelids open, she glanced up at him over the expanse of his sculpted belly and chest, nearly dying from the desire burning in his gaze. He cupped her cheek for only a moment before he slid his hand along her jaw and buried it the thickness of her hair. A moment later, his fingers curled into a fist and he yanked, jerking her head back and lifting her chin. Tears smarted at the sting but she couldn’t protest because he thrust his cock deeper into her mouth.
She knew that he was trying to scare her off but she wasn’t going to let him. Wrapping her hands around the base of his penis, stroking him, stroking the heavy sac beneath, she opened her throat and tried to take him even deeper.
“Damn you, Ferris,” he swore, his hips uncontrollably pistoning forward and backward, fucking her throat.
A surge of feminine power crashed through her, heightening her own arousal, flaming her love for this powerful man. Her body burned and her clothes were too constricting. Taking one hand away from his delectable penis, she slid it beneath her skirt and lightly touched her sex over the damp cotton of her panties. Her body twitched at the contact and demanded more. Hesitantly, she pushed past the elastic and slid her fingers along the swollen lips, smearing the wetness of her arousal over her flesh.
A low, rumbling growl was the only warning she had before Armand tore his erection from her mouth and grabbed her, taking her down to the floor and covering her body with his own. His hand reached beneath her skirt and tore the cotton underwear away and she winced at the sharp bite of pain. Then he was there, pushing into her, stretching her, filling her. Her body bowed in pleasure and he took her completely. His hips slammed against hers as he ravaged her, thrusting into her over and over with fierce possessiveness and strength.
His teeth grazed her neck and there was a slight sting as he bit down and then there was only pleasure as he sucked, marking her. His hands were everywhere, stroking her, caressing her and then he was inside of her body, stroking her from within, touching places deep inside of her that no object could ever touch. Startled, she opened her eyes and found herself staring into the powerful green gaze of a sorcerer. Reverently, she reached up and brushed her fingers over his lips as tears pooled in her eyes at the sheer beauty of him. “Armand.”
His energy swirled inside of her, bringing her to the edge of the abyss and then throwing her in. Everything shattered but Armand was there with her, and they were drowning, they were soaring. And then there was nothing. She had entered Nirvana.
Armand stared up at the night sky wishing he could see the stars through all of the light pollution of the city. His heart still pounded madly in his chest as he tried to figure out what the hell had just happened, how this mere slip of a girl made him feel things he had no right to feel. He squeezed her as she laid curled up against his side in perfect trust.
She made him want to give up his nights and that alone made her dangerous.
She was too young, too inexperienced of the world, to truly want to bind her life to his. Since the veil had been lifted humans no longer needed to be protected from the world of the supernatural. She should no longer be experiencing the discrimination that she had experienced in her youth. The world was hers for the taking. What could she possibly want with a gargoyle that no longer knew his place? Fuck, he was a Guardian with nothing left to guard.
He had tried to do the best thing for her and scare her away but she was too damn stubborn for her own good. She did not run away in fear or hatred. Instead she had turned the tables on him and he had succumbed to her sweetness and passion. Recriminations ate away at what was left of his soul and he knew that he had to let her go. He had to save her from herself. Even if it meant carving out his own heart, or what was left of it, he had to set her free.
Kissing the top of her head, breathing in the sweet scent that was uniquely Ferris, he chuckled softly to himself as an old memory flashed in his head. She had been fifteen or sixteen and he had found her moping in the kitchen shortly after the sun had gone down. Grabbing the ice cream from the freezer, he sat it down in front of her and handed her a s
poon, keeping one for himself. “What’s the matter, Ferris? Did one of your classmates try to spread rumors about you again?”
“No, nothing like that,” she had uttered, shaking her head, her eyes wide and bewildered as she looked up at him, as if he had all of the answers. “It’s just, well… we were studying Romeo and Juliet today and I was really looking forward to it. I mean, it’s one of my favorite plays. But it turns out that it’s a tragedy.”
He had to bite his lip to keep from smiling. Gently, he put his hand over hers and murmured, “It is a tragedy.”
“But it’s not,” she insisted, staring at him with wounded, blue-green eyes.
“It is.” He felt his lips trying to curl into a smile but he didn’t succumb. Yet.
“Then you’ve obviously never seen it performed by a bunch of pixies,” she had grumbled. “Romeo and Juliet is a slapstick comedy of missed chances, miscommunications and outrageous deaths, especially when Miran and Jinx get going. I swear I have never laughed so hard than when Jinx as the idiot Romeo killed himself over some girl he had known for a few hours until Miran out-deathed Jinx. Her death throes are so elaborate and hilarious and they can go forever. The whole production was so absurd and they were gracious enough to perform it for me all of the time when I was younger and each time it became even more outlandish.”
No longer able to contain his amusement, Armand had chuckled at the vehemence in her voice, the abject disbelief that one of the most tragic plays could be anything other than comedy. He could easily imagine the pixies turning it into a farce and he had discovered that it was something he would very much enjoy.
Armand sighed as he returned to the present. The supernatural world had screwed up her life and he hadn’t been able to protect her. How could she love a man unable to do even that little bit? He would take off to London and discuss the situation with his brethren there. They would be able to come up with a plan to thwart a young heart from pursuing a reckless path. They had done it often enough through the years.
He would let her go because it was the right thing to do. Ferris was too young, too vibrant, to be stuck with a cold hulk of a stone beast such as himself. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to make sure her future was with someone who could love her as she deserved to be loved.
Chapter 6
An Unexpected Setback
For nearly two weeks, Ferris had wandered around in a state of bewildered bliss, wondering when Armand was planning on returning home after his unexpected trip to the Old Country, as he called it. After that full-body orgasm, after she had woken up in his arms, he had looked at her with sorrow in his green eyes, as if he was afraid of losing her. She had assured him that she wasn’t going to go anywhere. He was her destiny, she would never leave him. But he simply gave her a sad smile and pressed a tender kiss to her lips, walking out the door a few hours later without a backwards glance.
His absence had driven her insane wondering why he had to leave just when everything was finally coming together. The other gargoyles didn’t have any more explanation than she did, saying that it was Armand simply being Armand. At the same time she was very careful not to act too crazy when the subject of Armand was brought up. She didn’t want to draw attention to the love that was blossoming between them for their relationship was still too new to share with the world. She was fairly certain no one knew she was pining away for the gorgeous gargoyle.
“Hey!” She cried out as Jenna and Rhys emerged from their bedroom, satiated grins on their faces. Last night was the new moon and Rhys had finally given up his nights for Jenna. Ferris was so excited for them because she knew this one last step was going to be the glitter on their platinum and diamond love affair. Hugging her mother and then Rhys, she grinned, “So you survived?”
Jenna blushed, burying her face in Rhys’s shoulder as he hugged her to him, a joyous smile brightening his handsome face even more than usual. “I think I fell in love with Jenna all over again last night.”
A smile of pure joy spread across Ferris’s face, tightening her cheeks in glee. Unable to help herself she hugged the couple again, “When are you guys heading to the airport?”
“We’ll be leaving in a few minutes,” Jenna murmured, resting her head against Rhys as a languorous smile curved her lips. “Are you sure you’re going to be all right here with just Michael, Leo and Raphe for company?”
Ferris chuckled, “I’ll be fine, Jenna. The only one who still gives me grief on a regular basis is Michael but Leo and Raphe will keep him in line. Hopefully, Armand will be back soon and there is always Melanie and Vaughn.”
Jenna gave a reluctant smile, stepping forward and pressing a kiss to Ferris’s cheek. “If you run into any trouble I want you to call me. You know that we will come home in a heartbeat if you need us, right?”
“Of course,” she murmured, her smile faltering slightly knowing that she would never even dream of interrupting Jenna and Rhys’s vacation in the sun. The world could be ending and the most she would do would be to call and tell Jenna how much she loved her. “Now go.”
Jenna and Rhys exchanged a gooey, lovey look and finally said their goodbyes, leaving Ferris alone in the suite of rooms at the top of the castle. Since she was done with college for the semester and she only worked part time, she realized that she would have a lot of time to herself. A slow smile formed as she thought about her studio and what she was going to paint. She had enough sketches of Armand that she would be able to create dozens of paintings, exploring every aspect of the man, of his sensuality and magnetism.
With a happy grin, she changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top and pulled her hair up into a ponytail, eager to begin work on an entire series of paintings, all featuring Armand in both of his forms: as a man and as a gargoyle. She had an epic painting already formed in her mind: that of Armand standing watch over the city, his nearly naked flesh gleaming in the moonlight. His gargoyle form would be standing guard over him, the majestic griffin frozen in marble.
She had always loved her studio, especially during the day, but after her nights with Armand it had become even more special to her. There was a skylight in the ceiling that flooded the room with sunshine, giving her the natural light that she craved. She planned on enjoying it while she could because once she accepted Armand’s gift she would no longer be able to enjoy the sunshine with human eyes.
It was worth it in order to spend eternity with Armand.
The door to her studio opened and she smiled, wondering what Jenna forgot. Her mom always said goodbye every time she left, even if she had done so only an hour earlier. Turning around, her world shattered and came crashing down around her feet. Armand stood there, beneath a beam of sunlight, a grim expression on his human face as he stared at her in defiance and regret. Horror filled her soul as her legs gave out and she crumbled to the floor, unwilling to comprehend what she was seeing with her very own eyes.
He was by her side in an instant, wrapping her in his strong arms, comforting her even as he was killing her. “Shh, don’t be upset, Ferris.”
“How could you?” she choked out, the future she had been dreaming about turning to dust in an instant. Betrayal clawed at her gut and she wanted to rage and scream and wail.
“I wanted you to stop looking at me as if I hung the goddamned moon and stars,” he said solemnly, stroking his long, elegant fingers through her hair, holding her head against his heart. “I’m not for you, Ferris. You must know that.”
“How can you say that?” she cried. “I’ve loved you all of my life! I’ve been in love with you since I was sixteen.”
“You’re a child,” he murmured softly. “You have your whole life in front of you. How can you even begin to think that a life with me, a life as a gargoyle, is what you want when it is all you have ever known?”
“So you took the choice away from me,” she seethed, teetering between despair and fury. Wrenching her head around, she glared up at him, “She’s never going to accept your gift.”
&
nbsp; “I know,” he bit out, resignation in his voice. “I never expected her to. It’s why I left her behind.”
Morbid curiosity made her ask, “Who is she?”
He shook his head, “It doesn’t matter because I’ll never see her again.”
“Who. Is. She?” she ground out.
He stared at her, his green eyes moving over her face, absorbing her features. Finally, he relented and rasped, “A woman who needed a bit of luck. She had lost her husband and child during the Rapture and she agreed to the terms I offered.”
“You don’t even know her name, do you?” she asked.
“It's not important,” he stubbornly told her, his jaw clenching in ragged determination. “I needed someone I could never love so I could give you a chance to find your true love.”
She swung her arm and slapped him across the face, for the betrayal, for taking away her choice before it was even offered. “I love you, Armand. You were supposed to give your nights to me and we would have been gargoyles together.”
He stared at her for a long moment, his lips pressed together in a thin line, a muscle ticking in his jaw, his pulse pounding in his throat. He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the effort, “It would have destroyed me had you refused my gift.”
She laughed mournfully as tears slipped heedlessly down her cheeks. Gently covering the angry red welt on his face with her hand, she shook her head at him, “Do you honestly think I would have refused you? That I would leave you? I haven’t left your side since I was six years old.”
The corners of his mouth tilted upwards in a sad, rueful half-smile, “Exactly.”
She stared at him in incomprehension. He gazed at her with longing as he turned his head and kissed her palm, “I’m all you've ever known, Ferris. It would be cruel and selfish of me to ask you for more knowing that you would give it in a heartbeat.”
Stone Destiny (Stone Passion #3) Page 8