by Donna Grant
But Arran wasn’t ready for this to be over anytime soon.
He held himself in check and leaned down to wrap his lips around a turgid nipple. His tongue swirled around the bud before he suckled.
A cry wrung from Ronnie’s lips, her body stiffening for an instant before she arched her back. He smiled and moved to the other breast.
The way her body reacted to his every touch only made Arran want to give her more. He wanted her screaming his name, her body flushed and languid.
He kissed down her stomach and around her navel until his mouth hovered over her wheat-colored curls. He added a second finger to the one inside her and kept the slow pace of his fingers sliding in and out of her.
With a shift of his shoulders, he put them between her thighs that spread even more. He licked her slowly, sensuously.
Her hands fisted in the bedspread and her legs stiffened against him. But he was just beginning. He put his mouth against her sex and flicked his tongue back and forth over her clitoris.
The sound of her cries grew louder, longer, the more he continued to tease her. She said his name, her head moving from side to side.
He felt her body tightening, knew she was close. And just before the climax took her, he pulled back. She gave a frustrated cry that brought a smile to his lips.
A few seconds later, he resumed his teasing. He loved the taste of her in his mouth, loved the feel of her sex contracting around his fingers as he once more brought her to the brink.
It took no time at all to have her body trembling with need, her chest rising and falling rapidly. But this time he didn’t stop.
Not when he felt her legs squeeze him. Not when her body stiffened. Not when her back arched off the bed.
A strangled cry tore from her throat as the walls of her sex clenched around his fingers. He pumped his hand faster as his tongue continued to lick.
He prolonged her climax until she was languid on the bed, her chest heaving. Only then did he rise over her, hooking one arm beneath her knee as he did.
Her eyes fluttered open and looked at him. She ran her hands up his arms and over his shoulders before pulling him down for a kiss.
Arran jerked when she wrapped her fingers around his cock and slowly caressed up and down the length. He groaned, rocking his hips in time with her rhythm.
He broke the kiss and clenched his jaw to keep from spilling. It would be so easy to give in, to let her take him there. But he held back. Somehow.
Her grip tightened a fraction, causing him to moan with pleasure. “Ronnie,” he warned.
Only then did she guide him to her entrance. His chest tightened at the first feel of her hot, slick walls. She was incredibly tight, and he eased his way into her until she finally took all of him.
Her legs wrapped around his waist as her arms draped over his neck. He slowly pulled out of her and held himself still for a moment. And then he thrust hard inside her.
Her lips parted with a moan. He set up a steady pace, plunging faster and harder each time. Their eyes met, their bodies moving in harmony.
No words were needed. Everything was being said through touch, through their joining.
Suddenly, Ronnie’s magic began to surround them. Arran might not be able to see it, but he could feel it through every inch of his body. It heightened his passion, driving him onward.
Ronnie clung to him as he propelled her higher and higher. The sound of skin meeting skin mixed with their harsh breathing. She couldn’t look away from Arran, and didn’t want to.
In his golden gaze was some deep, primordial emotion she couldn’t quite name. In his every move he claimed her, body and soul.
And she eagerly, willingly gave it to him.
Sweat glistened along their bodies. She could feel her desire tensing low in her belly once more, winding tighter and tighter.
Arran’s muscles bunched and shifted beneath her hands with each movement. Her skin felt too tight around her. Her nerves were stretched taut as she rose toward the climax.
As if Arran knew what was happening, he angled himself so that his arousal drove deeper, harder into her body. He was ruthless, unrelenting in his drive to bring her pleasure.
Her short nails dug into his skin as she felt the orgasm coming. There was no holding it back, no stopping it.
Just when she didn’t think she could stand it anymore, she was swept away on a surge of bliss so profound, so intense, she was blinded by it.
She gripped Arran’s arms in an attempt to hold on as the most powerful climax of her life ran through her body. It spun her, tossed her.
Consumed her.
And all the time, her gaze was locked with Arran’s. That connected them deeper than before. As if the invisible bond between them strengthened, intensified.
And when he gave one final thrust as his orgasm took him, her breath rushed from her body at the emotion she saw swimming in his golden eyes.
Feelings, strong and powerful, flowed through her and around them. They were sealed in a cocoon of passionate sensation that would forever alter them.
As if their souls had been marked somehow.
After several minutes, Arran rolled to his side and wrapped his arms around her. She tried to comprehend what had just happened, but she couldn’t find the words.
They stayed locked in each other’s arms, content in the quiet of the room and the peace in their hearts.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
Arran looked at the ceiling as he ran his hands up and down Ronnie’s back. They’d lain just as they were for over an hour, and he wasn’t yet ready to move.
“Did it hurt when Deirdre unbound your god?” Ronnie asked quietly in the darkness.
He released a long breath. “Verra. It isna just the pain. It’s the god itself. Suddenly you have another voice in your head, and his demands are difficult to ignore.”
“But you did it.”
“Aye, and for every Warrior who does, four more doesna. You have to be strong, no’ just physically, but mentally, to take control of the god.”
She rubbed her cheek against his chest. “It sounds risky.”
“It is, but it isna like we had a choice. Deirdre didna give us one. One day we’re men, and the next, we’re Warriors.”
“Are you sure Larena is the only female Warrior?”
Arran grinned. “Nay. But she has a goddess, no’ a god.”
“I’m surprised there aren’t more goddesses.”
“Hmm. I wouldna be surprised to learn that there are.” Arran tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “The goddess isna the only difference with Larena. We all turn a certain color, as I’ve told you, but with Larena, she turns almost iridescent.”
“I want to meet her.”
“I want you to meet her and the others.”
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell someone about you?” she asked as she folded her hands on his chest and rested her chin on them.
“Nay.”
“Very trusting of you,” she said with a grin. “What does this mean for me, being a Druid?”
“It means you’re special.”
“I mean, I don’t know the first thing about being a Druid.”
“There’s nothing to it. You already know what your magic is.”
Ronnie laughed and ran her hand up his spine as he flipped her onto her back. “That I do. So that means you won’t be leaving anytime soon?”
“Nay.”
How one little word could make her so joyous, Ronnie didn’t know—nor did she care. She’d been prepared, and afraid, for Arran to depart from her life.
“You thought I was leaving?”
She shrugged and lifted her head to kiss his shoulder.
“I’m no’ done with you yet, Dr. Reid,” he said with a heart-stopping smile. “No’ nearly.”
She groaned in need when she felt his hot, hard arousal against her. He smiled slyly before he kissed her.
His hand skimmed down her side as he ground his hips
against her. She gasped as he suddenly flipped her onto her stomach.
Ronnie’s eyes closed, her blood heating so that it sizzled as it flowed through her. Arran’s breath was warm on her neck, an instant before he placed hot, wet kisses along her shoulder.
All thought halted. She couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but feel Arran’s hands and mouth on her body. His caress incited her, catapulted her into another world, a world where only the two of them existed.
He whispered her name, the sound its own caress as it sank into her skin and through her bones, into her very essence. In Arran’s arms, she became the woman she had only ever dreamed she was.
Ronnie didn’t stop the wanton from rising within her. She reached for it, embraced it.
Welcomed it.
Her breasts ached for his touch as he shifted and pulled her up on her knees. A deep fiery need pulsed within her. For Arran. For the passion he wrung from her.
From the yearning only he could quench.
Arran had never known anyone so passionate, so fervent in her lovemaking. The urgency within him to take her once more, to mark her as his, burned inside him.
It was all-consuming, this wild, untamed need to have her. It was a new experience for him. But one he couldn’t turn back from.
He buried his face in her neck and inhaled the sweet scent of her hair as she pushed back against him.
With breaths coming in panting gasps, her body shook with need. He plunged inside her, her scalding wetness clutching him, holding him.
It was as if he hadn’t just taken her an hour before. He realized then it wouldn’t matter how many times he was with Ronnie—it would never be enough.
Her magic felt like bliss, but it was more than that. It was her. Her smile, her laughter, her tenacity, and her kind heart.
She had gotten into his psyche without him even knowing it. Or maybe he had known it, and didn’t care. None of that mattered now, though. Not when she was in his arms.
Arran withdrew and thrust again. He drove into her deeper, harder, faster. Her soft cries only pushed him onward. He wanted to hear her scream her climax again.
He needed to feel her sheath clamping around him.
With his hands on her hips, he held her as he pounded into her relentlessly.
Ronnie couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move because of the desire coiling through her. She wanted to tell him to stop, to wait because she wasn’t ready to peak yet, but Arran didn’t give her a chance. He drove her higher, the passion consuming her.
With his name on her lips, Ronnie shattered.
Every sense had been crushed, every thought splintered. Into a blinding cascade of ecstasy.
* * *
Arran smiled when he felt Ronnie’s climax. Her body had stiffened, and her scream had been glorious to his ears. The roar of his blood grew until release swept him. Once more finding the contentment in Ronnie’s arms.
He pulled out of her and took her in his arms as he fell onto his back. She nestled against him, her eyes already closed.
Arran stayed awake long after she’d drifted off to sleep. He stared at the wall, his thoughts filled with Ronnie. He wasn’t sure what was between them, but it was powerful.
Did he even want to know what it was? Because once he went down that road, there was no turning back.
He thought of Camdyn and Saffron and their baby girl. He thought of Fallon and Larena and their desire for a child. He thought of all his friends who had found love through their years of battle.
Arran had never expected to find anyone who suited him as Ronnie did. The intensity of his need for her frightened him.
But the thought of not having her in his life left him feeling ill. If he had his way, Ronnie would never leave. They were connected, joined.
Bonded.
* * *
Ronnie smiled as she came awake to the feel of Arran’s hand on her breast, slowly rolling her nipple between his fingers. “What a way to be woken.”
“I should let you sleep.”
“I can sleep tomorrow,” she whispered, and wrapped her arms around his neck.
His lips had just touched hers when he suddenly leapt off the bed. Ronnie pushed up on her elbows to find Arran standing on the side of the bed, his legs bent and his gaze focused on the living area.
“Arran?”
He held up a hand to stop her. Several tense minutes passed before Arran turned and motioned her toward him. She eagerly went to him, only to have him shove her behind him as he hastily dressed in a pair of jeans discarded on a nearby chair.
“We have company,” he mouthed as he looked at her over his shoulder.
Ronnie’s eyes jerked to the doorway as her ears strained to hear anything. She was looking down at her gold dress and torn panties when a shirt hit her in the chest.
She hastily slid Arran’s tee over her head. A glance down showed that it barely covered her ass. But at least she wasn’t naked.
Arran moved so that his mouth was by her ear. “We need to leave.”
She frowned, hoping he understood she needed to know why.
“They’re coming in through the window,” he whispered. “We can no’ stay.”
In other words, he couldn’t stay and fight because of her. If only she’d known she was a Druid before, maybe she could do some kind of magic to help him. Did Druids even do that?
Another question to ask Saffron.
“Stay behind me,” Arran cautioned.
She still hadn’t heard anything when, all of a sudden, a light green Warrior filled the doorway. Ronnie gasped as Arran growled, his skin instantly turning white as his claws sprouted.
The Warrior smiled at Arran, showing his fangs. Arran simply growled louder before letting out a loud whistle. Ronnie stepped backwards and ran into a chair.
With a glance at the chair, she moved around it and backed herself in the corner, and then slowly slid down to her haunches. Her heart was hammering sickeningly, her blood like ice in her veins.
Who was this Warrior, and what was he doing there? Obviously he wasn’t a friend, which meant what exactly?
Ronnie bit back a scream as the Warrior attacked Arran. Or at least she thought he was attacking Arran. He only swiped his claws across Arran’s chest and tried to run past him.
To her.
Arran didn’t let him take one step before he wrapped his arms around the Warrior and pulled him to a stop. Arran let loose a loud roar and sank his claws in the Warrior.
The Warrior let out his own snarl and elbowed Arran in the face. He tried to repeat the move, but Arran ducked in time. Then, with his claws still sunk in the Warrior’s abdomen, Arran jerked his hand upward.
The bellow from the Warrior made Ronnie cover her ears. Arran continued to move his claws around. To a mortal, it would have been fatal, but to a Warrior, the damage was minimal since they healed so quickly.
Ronnie looked around the room for some kind of weapon, but there was nothing. Her only defense was Arran.
There was a loud crash as the Warrior propelled them backwards and slammed Arran into a small table. Wood splintered, and the lamp toppled to the floor.
The two continued to wrestle as the Warrior tried to dislodge Arran. Finally, he succeeded and turned to face Arran.
The light green Warrior had blood running down his chest while it covered Arran’s hands and arms and splattered his body. And by the looks of things, the fight was far from over.
Ronnie could only watch in fascination as the two attacked at the same time, their bodies slamming into each other. The sound of claws sinking into flesh was overshadowed by the growls.
It was hard to determine who was winning. Several times Arran got the upper hand, and then the Warrior would get in a good move.
Ronnie wondered if she could get to the living room so she could get Camdyn when a loud boom sounded from the entrance of the suite.
A moment later and Camdyn filled the doorway, his Warrior skin a deep brown the color of the soil. It
took barely a moment for the light green Warrior to realize he was outnumbered.
Arran tried to hold him, but desperation made the Warrior have the advantage for a brief second. That second was all it took for him to get free of Arran and run toward the window.
Ronnie heard Arran’s shout and covered her face a millisecond before the Warrior crashed into the window and glass went flying.
“Ronnie? Are you hurt?” Arran asked, his hands gentle as they touched her.
She lowered her arms and looked at the window. “What happened?”
“I scared him,” Camdyn said, his tone dead serious.
Arran nodded. “Aye. He had no intentions of leaving until Camdyn arrived. Apparently, the bastard had no idea I wasna alone.”
Ronnie looked at Camdyn to find his Warrior form gone, as was Arran’s. Thankfully, all of Arran’s wounds were healed. She looked around the room and saw the destruction and the claw marks along the wall and even scouring the sheets on the bed they’d just been in.
“We need to go,” Arran said as he scooped her up in his arms. He looked at Camdyn. “He was after her.”
“Get Ronnie out of here. Saffron and I will gather your belongings and bring them,” Camdyn said as he followed Arran.
Arran set Ronnie in her room. “Can you be ready to leave in two minutes?”
She nodded numbly, and then turned to grab some clothes. As she dressed, she could hear Camdyn and Arran discussing something in mumbled tones, but she couldn’t make out what it was.
“We’re going back to the dig site,” Arran said when he returned to her room.
He’d put on a shirt and shoes as well as cleaned the blood from himself. She slid her feet into her boots and grabbed her purse.
“I’m ready.”
“I still think you should go to the castle,” Camdyn said.
Arran took Ronnie’s hand and walked her to the door. “We are, but first we need to see if there’s anything else in the chamber about the selmyr.”
She looked at him. “The what?”
“The monsters from the box.”
“Look, I’ve never been attacked like that, Arran. I don’t even know what he wants, but—”
“I do,” Arran interrupted her. “It’s the same man I saw at the fund-raiser that I saw earlier in the day. He felt your magic, Ronnie. That’s why he wants you. And if he’s coming for you, that means there’s someone out there searching for Druids.”