A Bite of Magick

by Rhyannon Byrd

  And to make it even more extraordinary was the undeniable fact that she was so much more than anything he deserved or had ever thought to find. She was the foundation of his soul, the beat of his heart, the blood pounding powerfully through his veins, giving him life.

  In the midst of hell, she’d brought him heaven, and now they were one.

  His fingertips stroked possessively across the raw wound at her shoulder, a burning happiness filling him so full it was a wonder he didn’t shine, shafts of light erupting from his fingers and toes, gleaming from his eyes.

  Struggling to his feet, he lifted her into his arms with extreme care, pulling her close against his chest, and carried her through the heavy silence of the house, up to the bedroom that he now accepted as theirs.

  He just had to figure out a way to make the headstrong little gnach snoring softly into his shoulder accept it, too.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Wrapped around one another, limbs intimately entwined between the soft sheets of his antique four-poster bed, they slept hard and deep—not waking until late afternoon, and by then they were starving. To Té’s surprised pleasure, Kieran made her a decadent offering of fresh French bread with pâté, Gouda, and a rich Merlot.

  He insisted she stay in bed, not even allowing her to help with the meal, and when she asked to borrow a shirt, he grunted his refusal and went downstairs. Unsure whether she should be flattered or irritated by his attitude, she made do with wrapping the sheet around her naked body while he was busy down in the kitchen.

  But the moment he returned, tray in hand, he told her to lose the sheet. She managed to let it drop to her waist, and when he joined her on the bed, he pulled it completely away. Then he surprised her by saying, “When we’re alone, I’ll always want you just like this. I want to be able to look my fill and know I’m the only man who’s ever going to see you like this again.”

  Té shivered beneath the heat of his smoldering gaze, mesmerized by the way his dark eyes seemed to see straight into her. They stayed on her, constant and blazing with lust, so hot and hungry, watchful and fiercely possessive. A heady reminder of all that they had shared down there on that beautiful rosewood dining room table.

  She flushed beneath the thrilling attention and studied the food instead. “Wow,” she teased, lifting her brows, eyeing the lavish spread. “I’m impressed.”

  “Dinna be too impressed,” he chuckled with a wicked grin, settling himself out on his side, completely at ease with his own magnificent nudity. He propped himself up on an elbow, and Té tried not to drool at the glorious display of muscle and rugged beauty that stretched from one end of the bed to the other—valleys and bulges and delicious golden skin that made her brain feel thick with lust. “All I did was throw this stuff together. My housekeeper, Marie, makes it all.”

  “Hmm,” she hummed. I’ll just bet she does. Trying not to sound jealous, but failing miserably, Té said, “Marie, huh? Is she like…what?…five-nine with long blonde hair and a French accent?”

  His mouth cocked up at one corner as he reached over to wipe a drop of wine off her bottom lip with his thumb, black eyes glittering with humor and arrogant satisfaction. “Let’s try four-nine with short gray hair and dentures.”

  “Uh…oops,” she mumbled beneath her breath, face burning warm with embarrassment. “Sorry.”

  His dimples flashed, and she knew he’d seen right through her. “Dinna be sorry, darlin’. You’ll like her.”

  Té’s jaw dropped with sudden horror. She looked down at their naked, sex-flushed bodies and wailed, “She’s not coming today, is she?”

  “Naw,” he laughed around a bite of bread and cheese. “Tuesdays and Thursdays are her days off.”

  “Thank God,” Té sighed, voice heavy with relief, thinking of her ripped clothing scattered throughout the downstairs dining room, the table most likely still wet with her cum. Hardly the first impression she wanted to make on a woman who may very well be like a mother figure to him.

  She took a long, fortifying sip of wine, while Kieran’s gaze narrowed in concentration, studying the thinness of her legs and hips, the delicate lines of her arms. A shadow of regret flickered for an instant, and then he gave a sharp nod. “Yeah, Marie’s gonna love you, and I can guarantee you’re gonna love her—not to mention her cooking. She’ll get a real kick out of getting some of that sexy meat back on your bones.” His smile flashed, sensual with intent, as he reached out to curve the long, dark fingers of one hand around her left breast, testing the heavy weight. “I’ll enjoy it, too.”

  She gave him a skeptical look that clearly said she wasn’t buying it.

  “I’m serious,” he insisted, his tone going hard with resolve. “No’ that I dinna enjoy you like this, but I’d like to see those soft curves again, like the ones you showed off for ol’ Daumier.”

  Té snickered. “Sure you would.”

  His head cocked to the side, eyes thoughtful as he studied her. “Aye, I would,” he replied, voice gone husky with desire, imagining the sweet perfection of sinking into Té’s soft, womanly body. He thought she was gorgeous no matter what size she was, but he couldn’t deny the eroticism of riding her with those gentle curves back in full force. “You’ve probably been starving yourself these past months, worrying yourself sick, but there isna anymore need. I want you to be comfortable enough—happy enough to simply be yourself.”

  “Yeah, well, I should, um, call Evan and let her know I’m okay,” she mumbled, wanting very much to turn the conversation to something besides her blasted weight. Sheesh, she’d always made herself sick over the fact she wasn’t bone skinny, and now that she’d finally toned down, he wanted to fatten her up again. She’d have laughed at the irony of it, if she didn’t find it so damn sweet.

  Lying on her side, she watched him in the quiet darkness, heavy brocaded curtains keeping out the afternoon sun, the only light a shimmering glow of gold coming from the two thick, pear-scented candles on the mantelpiece. The molten gleam painted his long body like a god, illuminating the sensual line of muscle and bone, the long, heavy weight of his cock as it rested against his hip, still half-hard and purple at the head, the thick width sculpted with bulky veins that corded his length. And what a mind-boggling length it was. But she loved the thickness even better, the way it stretched her so wide, ‘til she could feel her vulva strained to her absolute limit, and then pushed past that point to a searing, pleasure-edged pain as he crammed himself in to the broad root. Shoved himself deep until their bodies sealed together, grinding against one another in sobbing ecstasy.

  She’d never known sex could be like that—something that ripped the world out from under your feet, hurtling you to a plane where nothing existed but mind-shattering passion and the undeniable knowledge that you’d shared everything you are with another person. Allowed them to penetrate not only your body, but your heart and soul, as if you could feel them flowing into you, the warmth of their being becoming an essential part of your own.

  It was breathtaking in its beauty—stunning in its absoluteness.

  She sighed, falling into a decadent, sensual reverie, when his next words struck a jarring chord of irritation.

  “There’s no need to call Evan,” he explained, collecting the tray and glasses, setting everything on his bedside table. “I talked to Lach last night and told him you’d be staying here with me from now on.”

  Forever.

  Té blinked up at him slowly. “And did he ask if I was agreeable to this decision, or do you McKendricks just think you control us little mortals like pets?”

  “He didna ask, and considering you now belong to me, he doesna have a right to.”

  “I’m not a dog, Kieran,” she muttered, sitting up beside him, the sheet clutched tightly against her naked chest once again, the beauty and warmth of her thoughts only moments before dimmed by a sudden chill of annoyance. “I don’t just belong to you. I’m not wearing your damn tags around my neck, am I? Lach should have asked if I wanted to s
tay here, instead of you two just deciding my future. Who’s to say where I’ll stay? I can go anywhere I damn well please.”

  He watched her like one might watch a wild animal, trying to anticipate her next attack. “You wanna know why he didna ask? Maybe because we trust one another.”

  “Right,” she snorted. “You don’t trust anyone, McKendrick.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Shit, he cursed beneath his breath. First Lach…and now Té.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Aye.”

  “You fuck me, you come in me without any protection, but you won’t let me look at you. And then you expect me to believe that you feel something for me—something that will last forever? Huh! Nothing lasts without trust, Kieran. Nothing.”

  “I didna just fuck you, Té. I changed on you…in you. I fucking bit you.” Christ, why wasn’t she getting it? Why wasn’t she running, screaming, hightailing her sweet little ass to the other side of the world?

  “Yeah, I know,” she said with a cool, hard voice, shifting her shoulder, the angry puncture wounds swollen and bruised. “I’m not likely to ever forget it. And you know what really sucks, Kieran?”

  His shoulders fell. “What?”

  One delicate, silver-banded finger poked him hard in the chest. “I liked it, you big idiot!” she seethed, feeling the need to shout and rage well up from within the untamed core of her body. She had years worth of frustration coming to the surface, all of it set free because of the stubborn ass lying beside her, refusing to recognize the truth even though it was staring him right in the face.

  “Pretty fucked-up way you have of showing it, Té,” he muttered. “You keep refusing me!”

  “Marriage, if that’s what you’re even talking about, is difficult enough, without building it upon a careless foundation. Without unconditional trust, everything else just falls apart.”

  “It’s more than bloody marriage I want from you, woman. Once it’s done, there’s no going back.”

  She gave him an infuriating nod. “Then all the more reason for me to refuse.”

  “You. Willna. Bloody. Refuse. Me,” he gritted through his teeth, dark eyes glittering like shards of black ice. “I’ve claimed you, and now no other man will ever touch you, Té. I’d kill him first. Fucking beat him into a miserable little puddle on the ground. Do you understand that?”

  “You can threaten all you like, Kieran, but the truth is that you don’t feel enough for me. If you did, you’d have given me all of you. You’d believe enough in me to know that I could take it, instead of hiding.”

  “That’s bullshit,” he growled, hating that she was partly right—only it was himself he didn’t trust, not her.

  She leaned closer, blue eyes alight with passionate anger. “Is it? You fucked me. You bit me. Your curse is broken. But guess what, gorgeous? You’re still going to want to get furry and fuck. You can deny it all you want, but it’s what you are, Kieran. Are we supposed to go through the rest of our lives with you turning away from me, hiding, because you don’t think I can take it?”

  The muscled length of his golden body shuddered with tension. “This isna fair, Té.”

  “And what you’re asking isn’t fair, either. Why don’t you think about that?”

  “Why dinna you fucking think about this,” he hissed, catching her—pulling her into him.

  His mouth slashed over hers, a violent force of need that demanded submission, and her lips felt bruised from the delicious assault as she eagerly tangled her tongue with his, determined to give as good as she got.

  Her aggression jolted him for the mere span of a second, and then he kissed her even harder, his head moving from one angle to another as he struggled to get deeper into her, his chest heaving, the air filled with his masculine groans.

  She lost herself in the wicked demands of his kiss until she felt him wedge one large, incredibly warm hand beneath her bottom, lifting her into him, one long finger playing at the puckered entrance of her ass. She started, but recognized the hiss of acceptance pouring from between her lips. “Yesssss. God, Kieran, yes.”

  Her slippery juices slid into the crease between the round globes of her cheeks, and it was a carnal thrill to feel the way he wet his fingers in her cream, rubbing the slick fluids into the tiny entrance. He played with her, teasing her ass with the tips of his fingers, while the desire threatened to erupt between them, building and building to a fevered pitch that felt like death and life all at once—both a wondrous beginning and a mind-shattering end.

  It was so fucking hot—as frightening as it was intoxicating, the knowledge that each moment between them led them deeper into the other, binding them together until they felt like two halves of one complete entity—an utter loss of self while at the same time thrilling with the discovery of new life.

  Blistering heat seared between their sweat-slick skin, burning, running in rivulets across the blazing surface of their writhing limbs as they each tried to crawl into the other. With mouths open, their breaths coming in sharp, rushed bursts of hunger, they reveled in the damp slide of hot flesh and the erotic scent of sex. Kieran’s muscles bulged, hard as iron, mastering her feminine, quivering form with expert care, and she willfully surrendered.

  She was so full on lust she felt drunk. So full of Kieran that she thought she’d burst from the pressure as he fitted the blunt head of his massive cock against her creamy entrance and crammed himself in with one hard, powerful, hammering stroke. They cried out as the snug channel of muscle gave way to his force with a stunning, delicious friction that gripped him like a fist, her wet cunt contracting to hold him tight within her.

  His mouth was hot, open against her own, but he didn’t kiss her. No, he simply breathed into her, filling her lungs with his own breath, and it was nearly as erotic as the blissful feel of that magnificent cock pulling the muscles of her pussy so wide they felt stretched beyond bearing. And yet, she held him so greedily, demanding more again and again, unable to get enough of this magnificent creature whom she longed to give everything she was, for all eternity.

  “Saephus, you’re the hottest little cunt I’ve ever had, Té. The way you squeeze me so tight. The way you’re so tender and wet.” His cock stroked her narrow sheath in a heavy rhythm, pounding her with the full force of his strength and weight, the entire mass of his granite-hard, blood-filled shaft ramming her with an almost vicious intensity, as if each deep shove could make her understand what he wanted…needed to tell her, but couldn’t say. And all the while, his fingers played provocatively between her cheeks, teasing the puckered entrance of her backside, her thigh thrown over his strong, hammering hip.

  “And this sweet little virgin ass,” he growled, pounding the heavy mass of his cock in and out of her, forcing her pussy to accept those long, wide, intimidating inches of hot, thick cock again and again. Her vision blurred and she knew she’d reached the limit of her senses, her body flushed and writhing with an overload of sensation as another insanely intense orgasm seemed to build up from the very depths of her soul.

  And then suddenly one finger was breaching the exquisitely tight ring of muscle, pushing up into the searing heat of her ass without hesitation, forcing its way through, demanding entrance. She came instantly, jerking with such force it shocked her that she didn’t knock him to the floor. But Kieran was nothing but rock-hard muscle and savage male, and he simply moved over her, pressing her down deeper into the giving softness of his mattress, forcing her to take the pleasure for everything it was worth while he held his cock high and hard inside of her. He held it there, stretching the clenching muscles of her cunt so impossibly wide while they struggled to clamp down, and then a second large finger joined the first, the two long digits lodged completely up her backside.

  Té gulped much needed blasts of air, while Kieran shuddered above her, working his fingers deeper and deeper, until his cock resumed its rhythm and continued to give her the kind of fuck she’d only ever thought to feel in her dream
s. Hard and rough and brutal, as if he’d die without the feel of her soaking, cum-drenched pussy to sink into over and over.

  She nearly came again as his teeth bit into her lower lip, drawing on the stinging flesh, and he whispered, “Christ, feel all that sweet cum coating me. It’s so perfect it blows my mind. Fucking you,” he panted, struggling to explain, his voice gruff with lust and all the raging things he felt for this woman, “being in you, it’s like nothing I’ve ever had before.”

  He lifted his head so he could look into her passion-glazed eyes, his upper body supported by the elbow of his free arm, and smiled with a wicked promise, his cock punctuating his words as he crammed it in deeper and deeper, changing his angle of penetration with the shifting of his hips. “This is the only cunt I’ve ever felt come on my naked skin, Té. The only one I’ve ever sunk into without a rubber. The only one I’ll ever feel again. Only one I’ll ever—so long as I live this life and every one to follow—will want or take. And I’m going to make you come like this every damn day and night, just so I can feel this tiny cunt sucking on my dick…my fingers…my tongue, soaking me with all this rich, sweet cream.”

  “More,” she pleaded, lifting her open mouth against his, reveling in the way his mouth attacked, utterly savage in its intensity. Then just as suddenly he ripped his lips from hers. They pulled back over his teeth, and she drank in his bursts of smoky, wine-flavored breaths, feeling intoxicated by the impact his words made on her mind. Her short nails dug into his bulging biceps, and she moaned, working her pleasure-filled pussy and bottom on his powerful, talented fingers and cock, demanding even more—all of it—everything he could give her.