by Lola Gabriel
He pushed the thoughts away, wanting to focus only on the moment, the perfect moment between him and Ellery. Ellery wrapped her legs around his waist and he felt himself slipping into her even deeper. She called out his name, her arms and legs wrapped tightly around him, holding him against her as she orgasmed again.
Max felt her pussy clench around his cock and the feel of her wrapped so tightly around him pushed him over the edge. His climax slammed through his body, filling his cock and his stomach with delicious heat. His skin tingled, his body on fire. And then he was coasting down, coming slowly back to earth as his climax faded away, leaving him feeling worn out but happier than he had ever felt before.
He rolled off Ellery and lay beside her on the bed, both of them panting for air. He allowed himself to lie in place for a moment and then he started to sit up.
“Where are you going?” Ellery asked him quietly.
“Back to my own quarters,” he said. “If your father catches me here, Ellery…”
He trailed off, not needing to finish the sentence. They both knew what Faust would think if he found Max in bed with Ellery. Ellery shook her head and smiled at him.
“My father never comes into my rooms, Max. You’re fine,” she said.
Max wasn’t sure if that was entirely true, but when Ellery put her hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down onto the mattress, he didn’t fight her. She snuggled closer to him, curling into his side, and he rolled over and wrapped his arm around her.
He told himself he would lie here a little longer, enjoying the scent of Ellery, the closeness of her body. And then he would have to leave her, because despite her reassurances, he wasn’t willing to risk being caught in Ellery’s bed. If he was right about the feeling inside of himself, the feeling of coming home, and there was any way they could be mates, then Max knew they would have to tell Ellery’s parents at some point. But that was a lot different from them finding out by catching him naked in her bed.
8
Ellery woke up slowly to see sunlight streaming in through the still-open curtains. She smiled to herself. She had been much too busy last night to worry about something as trivial as closing the curtains.
She rolled over, already sensing that Max had left, but she had to know for sure anyway. The sight of the empty half of the bed beside her made her feel a deep longing, a deep sense of missing a part of herself, and for a moment, she was hurt to find Max had snuck away from her while she was still sleeping.
She understood why he had done it, though. He had been worried about being caught in here with her by her parents, and although she had reassured him her father never came to her rooms like this, there was always a chance of one of the household staff catching him leaving her rooms. Ellery knew if that had happened, the staff would be gossiping nonstop and her parents were bound to hear about it.
Still, Ellery thought, we won’t be apart for long. And when we see each other, it’ll make the time apart seem special, like being apart will make us only want each other more. Ellery knew now after last night that her suspicions at the party had been right. Max was her one true mate. She had felt the sacred bond forming last night when he had made love to her, and although they hadn’t spoken about it, she had seen his eyes changing as he pumped into her, and she knew he had felt that moment too.
So really, what did it matter if he had snuck away early this morning? Ellery now knew she was going to spend forever with Max. She could wait another couple of hours for it to start. She also knew they needed to tell her parents and she couldn’t decide how they would feel about the news. She thought her mom would likely be okay with it, just happy that she was happy, or more truthfully, just happy that she had finally found her mate. Her father’s reaction to the news was a bit more of a mystery to Ellery.
On the one hand, he obviously trusted Max to have given him a job as her bodyguard. But did that mean he would always view him as merely staff, not as someone Ellery could take as a mate? It didn’t much matter one way or the other, Ellery knew. Now that the sacred bond had started to form, the enchantment was proving to be working, and even if her father didn’t fully approve of her choice, he couldn’t deny her the chance to be with her one true mate. It would go against centuries of traditions, something she was sure he wouldn’t do.
Ellery got up and went through to her bathroom where she took a shower and got dressed, slipping on a pair of skinny jeans and a white tank top. She checked the time and saw it was much earlier than she had first thought. She had a few errands to run, but she had some additional time. A plan started to form in her mind. A plan that made her smile widely.
She was going to sneak out of the house before Max could come and find her, because she wanted to head out to the village alone. She was going to go back to the comic book store and buy the special comic Max had seen and give it to him as a present. She squealed with delight, imagining his face when she gave him the present.
Almost skipping in her excitement, Ellery left her quarters. She reminded herself to act normally and not draw attention to herself. She was so excited about getting the present for Max, and she didn’t want anyone to see her sneaking out without her bodyguard and alert Max to the fact that she had left the house alone.
She made her way through the house and out the front door. She felt tense as she waited for a voice to call after her, Max, or one of her parents, demanding to know why she was going out unaccompanied. She could hardly admit the reason and she crossed her fingers that she could make a clean getaway. She held her breath and it was only once she was out of the gate, hidden from view of the house by the fence, that she dared to breathe normally again.
I did it, she thought to herself. I actually did it.
She hurried toward the center of the village, hoping she could remember which side street Max had taken her down to find the comic book store. If she couldn’t, though, she could ask for directions at one of the shops on Main Street. Someone had to know where the store was.
“Ellery,” a voice called out to her as she reached the block before Main Street.
She turned toward the sound of the voice and her heart sank when she saw who the voice belonged to. Errol. And now that she had turned around, she couldn’t pretend that she hadn’t seen him. She gave a halfhearted wave.
“Morning, Errol,” she called.
He started to jog toward her and any hope she’d had of that being the end of their interaction fizzled out.
“Good morning,” Errol said when he reached her side. “I’m glad I ran into you. I wanted to ask you to have dinner with me.” Ellery opened her mouth to tell him no chance, but he went on, seeming to sense her reluctance to agree to the idea. “Just as friends, I mean, Ellery. I know we didn’t exactly hit it off as anything more, but you did say you had enjoyed the evening. So why not do it again?”
“I’m sorry, Errol,” Ellery said. “I just don’t think so. I’m really busy right now and…”
“Okay, I get it,” Errol said, cutting her off mid-sentence. “So come and have a coffee with me instead.”
“What now?” Ellery said.
“Well, yes, why not? There’s a nice little place just around here on Main Street I’ve been going to while I’m staying here.”
“I really can’t,” Ellery said. “Sorry.”
“Oh, come on, Ellery. One coffee, just as friends. It’ll be my way of apologizing for my appalling behavior the other night,” Errol pleaded.
Ellery knew he wasn’t going to be put off, and that the only way she was going to be able to refuse was to be rude to him. As much as she didn’t care if she hurt his feelings after the way he had propositioned her in the restaurant that night, and after he had lied about meeting her before, she hesitated. For her parents to have arranged her to meet him on a proper date rather than just giving them an introduction, Errol’s family must have been pretty important and the last thing Ellery wanted to do was to make trouble for her parents within the tribe by offending the son of so
meone important. She sighed and nodded her head.
“Okay. One coffee. But it really will have to be a quick one. I have a lot to do today,” she said.
“Excellent, this way,” Errol said, taking her elbow and marching her toward Main Street.
His whole demeanor had changed now that Ellery had agreed to go for coffee with him. He seemed excited, like he was slightly on edge, waiting for something to happen. Ellery was already regretting agreeing to this, but she knew it was too late to back out now. Just get it over with, get the comic, and go home to Max, she told herself. Thinking of Max calmed her a little and she knew she just had to get through this next half hour and then she would never have to see Errol again.
“It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” Errol said from beside her.
Ellery nodded her head and tried to smile.
“Yes,” she said. “It is.”
“Hey, what’s that over there?” Errol said suddenly, pausing and pointing.
Ellery looked where he was pointing, turning her head to the side. She felt something slam into her temple and a sharp pain filled her head. She opened her mouth to cry out, but the sharp pain came again. Ellery’s eyes rolled back in her head and she tumbled to the ground, unconscious.
9
Max glanced at the clock beside him on the table. It was almost nine thirty and he knew Ellery would want to get out of the house soon. He hoped she wasn’t angry at him for sneaking away in the middle of the night, but he had felt like he had had no choice but to do it.
The more he thought about it, the more certain he was that Ellery had felt their sacred bond forming just like he had, and he knew that he couldn’t walk away from her for good, job or no job. He also knew that if they were going to be together, Ellery’s parents would need to find out at some point, but he didn’t want that to happen by one of them finding him in their daughter’s bed. That was the only reason he had snuck away, and he had hated to leave her that way.
Now he was starting to wonder if she was angry with him. He got up and headed toward Ellery’s quarters. He knocked on her door, but there was no answer.
“Ellery? Are you in there? It’s Max,” he called.
There was still no answer and he felt a deep sense of dread within him. He told himself he was being silly. Ellery wasn’t petty enough to stop speaking to him because he had left her rooms last night. She would know why he had left; he had admitted to her his fear of being caught there, after all.
Maybe she’s downstairs grabbing some coffee or something before she has to leave, Max thought to himself. He moved away from Ellery’s rooms and went down the stairs, heading for the main kitchen. As he approached it, he heard low voices drifting out and he relaxed. He had been right. Ellery was in there.
He pushed the door open and stepped into the room, only to see that he had been wrong. Ellery wasn’t in the kitchen. The voices were coming from Freya and Faust, who sat at the table drinking cups of coffee and eating toast.
“Is everything okay, Maxen?” Faust asked.
Max nodded, not willing to tell Ellery’s parents he had lost her. He told himself that was stupid. He hadn’t lost her. She was likely in her rooms, and if she wasn’t, her parents might know where she was.
“Have you seen Ellery?” Max said, choosing his words carefully so as not to give anything away. “She’s had some errands to run today and I thought she would want to get going.”
“Oh, she’s probably still in bed nursing a hangover after the party last night,” Freya laughed. “She’s likely not going to want to do anything today.”
“Thanks,” Max smiled, feeling relieved.
That sounded plausible. He turned to leave when Faust called him back.
“Have some coffee and relax for a bit,” he said. “If Ellery is anything like her mother, it’ll be lunchtime before she surfaces.”
Freya slapped Faust’s arm but she laughed and nodded her head, beckoning to Max. He couldn’t think of any way out of this without seeming rude, so he sat down and Freya poured him a coffee and handed it to him. He thanked her and took a sip. It was strong and good and he took another sip.
Max looked up from his cup as a light tap came at the kitchen door and then it opened and Peter stepped in.
“Sir, ma’am, you have a visitor. Says his name is Errol Rogers and you are expecting him,” Peter said.
Max felt his stomach tighten at the mention of Errol. The man Ellery’s parents had tried to set her up with. What the hell was he doing here? It seemed her parents were still trying to make it happen between Ellery and Errol, but Max saw the glance the couple shared and he realized they had no idea why Errol was here either.
“Show him in,” Faust said.
Peter gave his funny little bow and then he stepped back and a black-haired young man stepped into the room.
“Faust, Freya. A pleasure to see you both,” he said. “Please accept my most sincere apologies for having to delay my arrival. Business stuff, you know how it goes. I hope Ellery wasn’t too disappointed that we had to reschedule dinner.”
Faust and Freya exchanged another look, a look that told Max they were both as confused about all of this as he was.
“Sorry, Errol, what are you talking about?” Faust said.
“My delay,” Errol frowned. “I’ve just flown in from Boston overnight. Oh, please tell me you got my message informing you of this.”
“No,” Faust said. His expression had gone from confusion to worry. “Something strange is going on here. I didn’t get a message from you, and Ellery thinks she’s already been out with you.”
“Already been out with me? No, it definitely wasn’t me, Faust, I assure you.”
“She said he was rude,” Freya put in. “That he propositioned her. I thought it didn’t seem like Errol, but I didn’t give it too much thought until now. Who the hell was she out with, Faust?”
Max stood up.
“Let me go and fetch Ellery and see if we can get to the bottom of this,” he said.
“Thanks, Max,” Faust said, sounding a little bit distracted.
Max had a really bad feeling about all of this, and as he headed toward Ellery’s quarters, he found himself running. His instincts had kicked in since the moment Errol was announced. He had thought he was jealous, afraid Faust and Freya would convince Ellery to choose Errol over him. But now, he recognized the feeling for what it was. Ellery was in danger and the bond they now shared was warning him about it.
10
Ellery woke up and blinked, wincing at the thumping headache she had. For a second, she allowed herself to believe she was hungover after her party, but her senses soon kicked in, reminding her of Errol smacking her in the temple, knocking her unconscious. She sat up.
She was in a room, lying on a couch in front of a TV. Ellery didn’t recognize the room. She looked toward the window, hoping to see a familiar landmark, and she started when she saw Errol sitting in an armchair, watching her with a smile on his face.
“What the hell?” she exclaimed, jumping to her feet. “What’s going on, Errol?”
He ignored her and she looked over her shoulder, seeing the door. She ran for it and Errol laughed behind her as she tugged on the handle. The door didn’t budge.
“It’s locked,” Errol said. “And so is the other one. You can’t get out, Ellery.”
Ellery felt panic welling up inside of her, but she swallowed it back down and turned back to face Errol.
“What’s going on here?” she demanded. “Why the hell have you taken me prisoner?”
“There’s no need to be so melodramatic, Ellery. You make it sound like I want to hurt you,” Errol said.
He smiled at her and she shivered.
“And what? You don’t want to hurt me?” she said.
“Of course not,” Errol said, shaking his head. “I love you, Ellery. I would never hurt you. We’re meant to be together. I can feel it. And I know you can’t yet, but that’s okay. You will in time. That’s why
we’re here. We’re going to stay here together until you love me like I love you.”
He was still smiling the whole time he talked, the smile that didn’t meet his eyes, the smile that made Ellery feel panicked inside. She shook her head, unable to bite her tongue.
“You’re crazy,” she said.
She immediately regretted her words as Errol got to his feet and came toward her. She shrank back and Errol laughed.
“You won’t think I’m crazy once you get to know me properly. You’ll fall in love with me and then you’ll look back on this and see how romantic it all was,” Errol said.
Errol grabbed Ellery’s arm as he spoke, dragging her away from the door and back toward the couch. She tried to resist his pull, but he was much stronger than she was and he pulled her along easily, pushing her into a sitting position on the couch. He sat down beside her, much closer to her than she would have liked him to be.
He picked up a remote control from the coffee table and smiled at Ellery again.
“I thought we should watch a movie,” he said.
Ellery did bite her tongue that time, wondering at how surreal this whole thing was. Errol was clearly crazy, and she had no idea how she could get away from him. She still couldn’t for the life of her work out how her parents had thought she might like this man, how her mom had described him as sweet. It was like the whole world had gone mad, and now here she was, staring at the TV screen, watching a movie with her psycho captor.
Errol put the remote control back down and settled back against the couch. He waited for a moment, and then he put his arm around Ellery’s shoulders. His touch repulsed her and she sat forward quickly, pushing his arm away.
“Don’t touch me,” she snapped.
“That’s no way to talk to me, Ellery,” Errol said.
He reached forward and put his arm around her again, digging his fingers into her shoulder and pulling her back against the couch again. She reached up, peeling his fingers away from her and trying to disentangle herself from underneath his arm.