A Crown of Blood and Bone: Paranormal Romance (The Shadow Walkers Saga Book 1)

by Sloane Murphy

"Holy shit, what was that?" I ask, breathless but his only answer was to do it again and this time, he drank.

  My orgasm hit all over again, lights and sounds and electricity ravaging my entire body as he sucked in my blood and my juices.

  "If that's punishment, Kain, I might be a naughty girl more often," I panted, my whole body still on fire from the orgasm that never ended.

  "Now," he said, standing and looking down on me with eyes the color of lust, "I'm going to fuck you until you’re too tired to sass me anymore."

  The towel that was wrapped around his waist fell to the floor along with my jaw. He wasn't just big; he was long and silky with a vein that screamed desire and want.

  "Don't worry, little minx, it'll fit nice and snug," and before I could argue, he picks me up and carries me into the shower. He places me on my feet, and I look up at him as he brushes my wet hair from my face before bending down to kiss me again. I lose myself in him. The feel of his lips on mine as his hands wonder over my body. I feel his hardness on my stomach and smirk, pulling away from his lips, kissing down his chest, lowering myself to my knees. I look up at him, the amber taking up most of his eyes again as I lick from the base of his cock to the tip. His groan rattles through him and he clenches his fists at his sides, not taking his eyes from mine. I cup his balls softly and take him into my mouth, as far as I can take him before hitting the back of my throat.

  "Fuck, Remy," he groans, and I smile around his cock, repeating the movement, and swirling my tongue around the head. I bring my other hand up and wrap it around him, moving it with my mouth, drawing snarls and moans from him.

  "Enough," he barks and pulls me to my feet, taking my mouth with his, bruising my lips with his kiss. His arms lift me, and I wrap my legs around him, as he backs me up against the wall and slams into me. He pushes me against the tile wall of the marble shower, and I hold on to his shoulders as he pumps relentlessly into me, his movements hard and dominant, his groans an echo of my own with every pounding he delivered. I am nothing more than wanton need as he drives his dominance into me.

  "Do you know I much I desire you, mon amour? How much I have fantasized of you?" His tender words a complete contrast to the bite of his tone and violence of his fucking.

  I nod, incapable of forming words.

  Digging his fingers into my ass he demands, "Say it."

  He thrusts in and grinds against my tender clit, stealing my breath, my words.

  "Y-yes," I stutter, his cock working its magic on my brain and body.

  "Do you know how I love you, mon amour?" he continues, pulling out quickly and pushing in just as fast.

  "Y-yes, oh god, yes!" I cry out as another orgasm starts to build from deep inside my belly, my heels pushing into his sculpted ass, begging for more.

  "Good girl," he murmurs at my ear. "Now, come," he commands and as he thrusts inside one last time, his fangs latch onto my neck and both of us fly into an orgasm that has me seeing stars. Our bodies convulsing as he pumps his seed into me all the while sucking my life source for his own. He gives and he takes, and I will happily give and take as much as he is willing to offer.

  "I love you, Kain, so much," I sigh as my climax finally relents, our bodies slowly coming back to earth as Kain licks up the errant droplets of my blood, leaving me breathless.

  "Moi aussi, je t'aime. De tout mon coeur."

  "What does that mean?" I ask, my voice but a murmur. "I, too, love you. With all of my heart."

  Slowly and carefully, Kain releases my thighs, putting me back on the ground so I can try to stand my own, not an easy feat when your legs feel like jelly.

  With one arm, he secures me in place and with the other, he lathers me up with a loofah. His movements gentle and slow, running over my body as he worships my skin. We both rinse before turning the water off and he carries me out of the shower and onto the plush carpet. With one thick, soft towel, he dries me off, no words, only our breaths and thoughts to accompany us, he repeats the action on himself before carrying me to the bedroom and lying us down on clean sheets.

  We're both in a haze of love, our fucking still buzzing in our veins.

  "That was..." I don't know how to finish that phrase; it was so much.

  "That was us, mon coeur. And that, was only the beginning."

  Twenty-Four

  I walk through the forest barefoot and at one with the nature around me. It’s so green and lush, with the sound of wolves playing in the distance. The air here is so clammy, the smell of rain from the fall last night. The canopy of leaves and branches below keeps the beating sun from my

  already browned skin.

  We’ve been here for months, enjoying the freedom that comes with the forest. Hunting and foraging for our food, reveling in the outdoors. Just being pack. After a rough few weeks of establishing myself within the pack as Roman’s mate, things have finally settled down and we’ve almost established a routine.

  Four wolf cubs barrel towards me in the undergrowth, their black and white pelts so soft usually, but now caked in mud. Their silver eyes glow, their excitement and joy palpable. One jumps up at me and I catch her in my arms, scrubbing the space between her ears as her tongue lolls out of her mouth.

  “Come on you guys, lets head back for dinner,” I say to them and they yip and howl back at me, the pup in my arms jumping down and rushing ahead of me back to our camp. I take my time, walking humanly slow through the trees on the path that has become established since we’ve been here.

  As much as I love the pack, and I wouldn’t give it up for the world, sometimes I need some time to myself. If you’d have told me a year ago, that I’d be here, I’d have laughed in your face, but meeting Roman Knight changed my entire life. I already knew that something was amiss, a hole in my memories clawing at me, pleading with me to understand, and that’s when I met him. The most domineering asshole, with a heart of gold. I’ve never met anyone like him, not in this life or the five before this one.

  My lives have been peppered with moments of joy but ruled by death and torture. At least, for as much as I can remember. For some reason, my memories barely came back, and with my mother and father refusing to fill in the gaps, there is no-one else I can turn to. No siblings, no cousins, or other Hunters my age, at least none within the Hunter families we dealt with. Life was lonely before Roman. It was nothing but my duty. Following orders I didn’t believe in, from a man I was starting to resent. My father is a hard man, his beliefs resolute. When I began to question the ways we live, he threatened to have me cast out, and so I left, travelling half way around the world by sea, running as far from him as I could.

  That’s when Roman found me.

  Or well, that’s when Roman tried to kill me.

  I still take pride in the fact that I was the first person in existence to pin him. Female or not, I pinned him, and then he claimed me as his mate. Marking me, taking my blood, before I even really knew what it meant. The beginning was hard as he adjusted to the fact that I wouldn’t just lie down and let his word be law. That I had my own opinions and that I would voice them. I was not a usual woman of our time. I refused to cower, to bow down to his whim. It’s the reason he claimed me, and I secretly think he gets off on the conflict.

  We moved the pack deep into the forest when rumors of wars ravaging the world began. Conquerors wanting to claim lands that were not theirs to take. Slaughtering the humans in droves. If this were another life, I might stand up and fight alongside the humans, but it wasn’t. I am pack, and that means I protect them first, above all costs.

  I break through the tree line into the clearing where we made camp in this humid, sweltering place. I do not know the name of this place, hidden so deep in the forest we have not seen a human for much time. I spot Roman on the far side, close to the waterfall pool, with the pups climbing all over him, his laugh booming across the space.

  My heart warms seeing him so carefree. It is so very rare that he gets to be this way, but life has been easier, simpler, since we
came here. The outside world less of a threat. I make my way over to the fire where the cooks are preparing dinner and offer my assistance, before being waved off. Cooking for pack is deemed a privilege and no-one wants to sacrifice that.

  Roman sees me across the clearing, and stands, telling the children he’ll play more tomorrow, before striding towards me. He captures my lips with his, his hands buried in my hair as he claims me, not caring who can see. I hold on to him, my hands on his biceps, which twitch beneath my touch, giving as much as I get with his mind-blowing kiss.

  “You’ve been gone longer than usual,” he murmurs when he breaks the kiss, his silver eyes studying me. “Are you unhappy here?”

  I shake my head at his question and smile. “No, I just wandered further than I have before, so it took me longer to return.”

  “You should not wander too far; you do not know who travels this place. It could be dangerous.” His concern warms me, his dominance not steering his words, but his love for me.

  “Then it is good, that I am not just anyone, and capable of looking after myself.” His hand grips my throat, not tight enough to steal my breath, but enough to keep my attention on him.

  “You are mine, and while you can look after yourself, you will not put yourself in such situations.” He growls, kissing me again, his hand still on my throat. I melt into him, the pressure only making me want him more, and I know he scents it when his chest rumbles.

  “Later. Later, you and I will finish this,” he says with a heated look, releasing me and storming back to the cold pool and diving in.

  I wake in my room, sleep still clinging to me and groan at the sunlight filtering through. I haven’t had a good night’s rest since earlier in the week in Kain’s hotel room, and that was the first time since my spending the night with Creek in my bed. I’m beginning to think I’m only ever going to sleep well with one of my men in bed. When I started to think of them as my men, I’ve no idea. My dreams are full of memories. Some of them haunt me with the things that I’ve seen, others make me squirm when I wake up, practically setting my pussy on fire.

  I huff, knowing that I’m seeing Roman today, I put him off in the week, but I am nervous about seeing him. Especially since more memories are returning, and the thought of seeing him practically makes my ovaries explode. Underneath it all, like a stone in my stomach though, is my guilt. Because Creek still doesn’t know. His sweet kisses, and soft words. Not quite declaring his love for me, but close enough that I know it’s coming. The guilt eats at me, because I know I cannot say it back. Not because I don’t feel it, because I know I do. But because of the others. I slept with Kain, after Creek told our families I was his, and I’ve barely been able to look him in the eye since. Until he knows about the others, about everything, I can’t tell him, because I can’t

  hurt him more than I know I’m already going to.

  Knowing that I’m going to meet Roman tonight, rather than see Creek again, deepens the pit in my stomach, but I need to find out more.

  I will tell Creek, I will. I just. I need to see what this is with Roman, if he even wants me as his mate in this life. I’ve noticed that I’ve only been with him in two lives. I know one was my sixth from Kain, who found me in the life I was with Roman, but kept his distance, so as not to dampen my happiness, but I do not know the other, I only know it was a different time. I have no recollection of any others and so, I have to wonder how the pack handles that. How he deals with it. If he even wants that again or if he has moved on to another and is here to tell me that.

  Even with his wolf being protective the other night, and the flowers, he’s made no other moves towards me, and so I hang in the balance, waiting for the axe to fall.

  He told me he would come and collect me, like a prize, but I swallow that thought. He wasn’t always such an asshole. Sometimes he was sweet, caring. The domineering side of him always present, but what else could I expect from the alpha of alphas. I am just happy that he always seemed to accept that I would not bow to his every whim, and hope it is still the same.

  Because even if he does not want me, if he has moved on. While it might make my life easier, a piece of my heart would leave with him.

  I throw off the sheets and head to the bathroom, not bothering to dress because I have nowhere to be just yet. I turn on the shower to let it heat, and move to the kitchen and start the coffee pot, yawning as I go through the motions.

  “As much as I love the view, I’m surprised to find you naked.” I scream as I spin and find Roman sat in the chair by my window, Sushi in his lap, purring under his hand.

  “What the ever loving fuck are you doing here, and how the hell did you get in?” I refuse to cover myself in my own home, so let him stare.

  “I told you I would collect you, did I not?” He raises his eyebrow, his only movement apart from stroking my traitorous cat. I’m kind of jealous.

  “Enjoying stroking my pussy?” I quip and his eyes darken.

  “I suggest you shower quickly, and do not test my patience, Remy.” His eyes glow, and I know I’ve pushed his buttons enough.

  “Fine, but don’t think this is over. This.” I wave my hand around the room, “is not okay.” He glowers at me but doesn’t say a word as I stomp to the bathroom to prepare for the day.

  I have the worlds quickest shower, having realized he’d have smelled my arousal and groan at the thoughts of missed opportunities. I get my hormones under control, refusing to be led by them and dress. Thankfully, my waist length hair sits in natural waves, so after running a quick brush through it, I’m ready for the day, whatever it should bring. I slip a hair tie in my jean pocket just in case.

  “Are you about done?” I spin at his voice and find him standing in the open doorway, filling the space. His arms above him, leaning on the top of the doorway, his muscles bulging. I cuss myself for being so easily distracted by him. I’m going to blame it on the dreams, the memories.

  “I am, good to see your patience is as good as ever.” He grins lazily at me, but his look is entirely predatory.

  “I’m glad I do not disappoint.” I stand before him, hands on hips, refusing to back away, to look away first. He belts out a laugh and steps back from the doorway allowing me to pass. “Better view back here anyway.”

  I roll my eyes at him, but grab my boots and begin to put them on. “They’re not going to work, princess.”

  My eyes dart to his, and I want to wipe that smug grin from his face, but I’m also not stupid enough to wear the boots just to spite him. “Fine. And don’t call me Princess. I wonder, is pissing people off to this extent a skill you were born with or one you learned?”

  His eyes flash, when he gives me a predatory grin. “I guess you’ll have to stick around long enough to find out won’t you, princess.”

  I sigh and flip him the bird, and I swear his chest rumbles, part laugh, part growl.

  I remove my boot and grab my chucks from under the coffee table and slip them on instead, trying to ignore his snickering. “Any chance of telling me where we’re going.”

  “Not a one. Oh, but you should probably take these.” He reaches into his pocket and throws me a set of keys. “Your car, fully restored.”

  “Whaa? How on earth did you manage that so quickly.” “I am a man of many talents.”

  “I don’t know… Thank you, Roman.” I smile softly at him.

  “Guess I’m more than just an asshole, huh?”

  Twenty-Five

  “I’d have thought you’d miss the great outdoors.” Roman snarks as we walk back up to my apartment. “I wanted to show you the place where our pack will gather once they arrive.”

  “Roman, you took me on a two-hour drive and a four- hour hike, just to show me a spot. If the pack had been there, I could understand it, but why?” I practically growl as I yank the door open from the stairwell to the hall.

  “Maybe I missed you. Maybe I wanted to spend some time with you,” he says and I glare at him.

  “Or maybe
, you wanted to see if I could still keep up with you, even when you’re in shifted form,” I snark back, halting only to open my door, it swinging open with the force of my push. “Maybe you wanted to see if you could piss me off with all your little digs, and taunts.”

  “If I did, it obviously would have worked,” he says, grinning at me as he grabs a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

  “Oh, of course, just make yourself at home,” I huff, because his presence is too much for his space, and I feel like I’m on edge in the place that is usually my retreat. “But really, what was today about?”

  I drop onto the chair by the window and watch his as he prowls around the place, taking in each detail.

  “It wasn’t about anything, other than your time.” He says softly, so softly I almost miss it, and I realise that beneath the domineering, alpha mask, is the man that very few must get to see. The man who loved me enough to risk his pack, by accepting our bond as mates.

  “Roman, I…” my words are interrupted by the sound of a key in the lock of my door. Before I can move it swings open, and Creek stands in the doorway, Roman between us, growling.

  “What the fuck!” Creek shouts, pulling the gun from his shoulder holster and pointing it at Roman, as he steps forward and closes the door.

  “Creek, I can explain.” I move forward, but Roman snarls, keeping me behind him. “Roman, he’s not going to hurt me.”

  I gulp, hoping my words are truth.

  “It wouldn’t be the first time.” The words rip from Roman, more animal than human.

  “That was your fault you fucking animal,” Creek hisses, and I ease my way between them.

  “Remy, you need to start talking. What the fuck is Roman Knight doing in your apartment?”

  “You already know,” I say quietly but firmly, meeting his gaze. “I know you do, because I remember.”

  He looks gutted, like I just drove a blade into him, and lowers the gun. “I thought that we…”