by Kresley Cole
Have to shoot him between the eyes if I must. From close range. Otherwise, with his speed he could dodge the shot. And put her in agony. “MacRieve, I’m giving you one last—”
He silenced her with a sizzling kiss to her neck, his tongue flicking against her chilled skin. Shivering with pleasure and surprise, she gazed up at the tree limbs above her, biting her lip.
Yet when he pressed his erection against her, she cried, “Let me go now!”
He didn’t, so she gouged her thumb into one of his wounds. His dark claws dug into the tree, but he didn’t release her. “Woman, that bluidy hurts.”
“Then stop kissing me!”
“Nothing hurts that bad.” His mouth descended to her neck once more. He seemed to be not only kissing her but tasting her… gentling her.
“I can make it hurt that bad,” she said inanely, striving to keep her eyes open as his tongue darted.
“I feel only one ache in my body.” He drew back, and the corner of his lips curled. “And you’re soon to ease it.”
So earthy and sexy. Lucia couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this much excitement with a male…. Her thoughts trailed off.
No, I can remember the last time. Vividly. Lucia was still paying for it. She attempted to pull away, but he clutched her to him. And Freya help her, she wanted him to. No! No more pretending that she was a normal woman about to have a clandestine affair with the most sexually attractive male she’d ever seen. “Never, MacRieve.”
She could be as vicious as any of her sisters. Just be cause a Valkyrie’s innate ferocity wasn’t her first impulse in a conflict didn’t mean she couldn’t draw on it when she needed to. “Kiss me again, Lykae, and I’ll make you regret it.”
He kissed her again. So she kicked him between his legs, ducking from him. As he dropped to his knees, she hastened away. But she heard him grunt, “Still doona regret it.”
Chapter 5
Stalking her through the bayou once more, he tracked her heady scent—with his bollocks aching from her kick and his chest wounds on fire.
“I can scent you, know you’re near.” Yes, she was close. He circled in place, his eyes narrowed. “Doona run from me! You will no’ get away.” And we crave the chase. Ah, gods, we crave it. “You’ve only got one arrow left.”
“But I’m going to make this one count,” she whispered above him.
Before he could swing his head up at the sound, she’d tackled him into a bed of moss, knees into his shoulders, her arrow pressed into his forehead.
In a slow, awed tone, he rasped, “I—like—you, lass!” So lovely, so wild. An avenging angel, with her bizarre bow seeming to glow above him.
When blood welled on his forehead and trickled down his temple, he said, “You canna release your arrow, Valkyrie. You feel something for me, too.” She looked stunned, as if her hesitation baffled her. “I’ll bet when you set a course of action, you doona falter.”
At that, she gritted her teeth, like she was redoubling her resolve.
“But you canna do it.” The instant she relaxed the tension on her bowstring, he tossed her on her back, covering her body with his. He groaned to feel all her lush curves pressed against him. Both of them were out of breath, her breasts rising and falling so temptingly.
She was a wee beauty, with her smooth golden skin and plump lips. Her hair had begun drying into a deep caramel color. It felt like silk and smelled like heaven. Like home. “You ken this feels right between us.”
Ah, gods, it does. As if they’d done this before. As if she recognized his touch and remembered the breathless way she felt at this moment.
What was happening to her? He was right—when she set a course of action, she’d never once faltered. Yet she couldn’t shoot him!
His mouth descended on hers. Just as she was about to shove him away, he groaned, as though the mere contact of their lips brought him so much pleasure he couldn’t contain it. He deepened the kiss, pressing his firm lips harder, coaxing her with his tongue to respond.
The shock of being kissed after so long. The heat of his body over hers in the cold rain.
Lightning struck above them, and she knew it came from her. Her bow hand unclenched, her other palm clasping the back of his neck. When she parted her lips on a gasp, he stroked her mouth with his delicious tongue while she remained still, merely taking his attentions.
Breaking away, he stared down at her, giving her a look—a purely masculine expression of intent—that promised he was about to do wicked things to her. Oh, that look. Robbing her of thought…
“Your eyes are goin’ silvery,” he said, his accent growing thicker. “You want me, too.” Before setting in again, he commanded, “Now kiss me back.”
Over her long lifetime, many men had tried to seduce her, but she’d easily disregarded them. What was so different about this Lykae? It was as if he knew exactly how to tap into her need, into the wildness inside her.
That dark part of her she feared took over and ruled her. This won’t be more than a kiss. I’d never let it be more than that….
In a rush, her body flooded with desire, her breasts growing heavy. The wildness within me. Can’t fight it…
She was starved for this. And a bounty lay before her. Pleasure building… losing control… losing…
Lost. This felt so… right. With a moan, she surrendered.
The Instinct was screaming inside him. —She needs you. Aches for her male. —
At last, she offered her lips up to his, freely, letting him in. He delved with his tongue, tasting her, drinking her in. When she kissed him back with a tentative lick, he groaned against her, squeezing her tighter to him.
She’s yielding to me. Garreth wanted to growl with pleasure. I’m bringing home my woman this night. Into my bed, into my life. Finally, after so long waiting for her.
For… Lucia.
With each shy lap of her tongue, she stoked his need. When their tongues began tangling in earnest, when they began sharing breaths, she gave a surprised moan into his mouth.
Then it was as if a dam had burst, as if she, like him, had been waiting centuries for this night. She seemed to share his unimaginable need—or even suffer from it more keenly.
He kissed her deeply, squeezing the flare of her hip and raising his other hand for one of her breasts. He hesitated just above her chest. But like a dream, she arched to his palm with a plaintive whimper, pressing her breast into his hand. Against her lips, he said, “Gods, you madden me, Lousha.” He cupped her generous, soft breasts, one, then the other, learning them.
She trembled from his touch, crying out as he circled one of those stiff nipples with his thumb. When he bent down to close his mouth over one of her tight buds, she said, “What are you—”
He suckled her through her shirt, and her words died in her throat, replaced by a moan. When she completely relinquished her bow and clutched the back of his head to hold him to her breast, the world seemed to fade away until all he knew was his mate—her scent, the sight of only her, the feel of her sensuous body. As he sucked her, he reached down, unfastening her leather quiver, tossing it away.
Her arms laced around his neck, her moans growing more frantic, mingling with his groans as he explored her.
But then she whispered, “Not more than this. Mac-Rieve, only this…”
“Aye, only this.” For now.
His assurance seemed to embolden her, melting any lingering resistance to him. She rolled over atop him, rocking her sex against his. He yearned to claim her, to mark her tender flesh so badly, but he’d never imagined a female in need of release like this. When she ground against his shaft, nearly robbing him of his seed, he hastily tucked her beneath him.
Aggression ruled them both—each trying to get the upper hand, rolling over again and again.
He was all for her riding him like a horse if she wanted—later. Right now he needed her hands pinned above her head, her thighs spread to cradle him, her eyes gazing up at his. So he sho
ved her beneath him, wedging his hips solidly between her legs.
At last, she surrendered to him, but not before those little claws scored down his back. He threw back his head, roaring with satisfaction. She made him wild, frenzied for her. With each of her cries, he fell deeper under her spell. How’d I ever live without this?
But then came a trickle of unease. Never had he been so crazed for a female. He comprehended his life would never be the same if he continued tonight. A daunting thought for any male. Yet when he gazed down at her, Garreth knew he had to have her no matter what.
With that in mind, he reached down, using his fore claw to slice the crotch of her shorts. As he shoved the material to her waist, he clumsily fumbled his jeans to his knees.
Her panties were black and sleek—sexy as hell. He hooked his fingers into the material, about to tear them off her, but she grabbed his wrist. “Don’t!”
“Canna wait, waited so long…” My cock’s about to go off. He wanted it to—inside her. Needed to pump his semen deep into her womb as he marked her as his own forever.
She shook her head, her expression growing panicked. “I can’t! They… they stay on.”
Confusion. —Seduce her. —
So he bent down between her legs and kissed her through the damp silk of her panties. She gasped, but her gasp turned to a moan when he licked, nipped, and nuzzled in bliss. Once she was helplessly undulating her hips to his mouth for more, he again tried to rid her of her panties.
“Wait!” she cried.
With a growl, he covered her body with his own, wrapping her hair around his fist. “Lousha, I have to have you. I’ll bring you pleasure, make you come till you scream.” He punctuated his words with a rock of his hips.
When his cock rubbed over her silk-covered sex, her eyes went wide. “Oh… oh!”
“You’re about tae, are you no’?”
She nodded up at him. “I think…. I don’t know—”
You’ll know. He’d make her. He bucked against her.
“Ah! Don’t stop that! Please….”
“This?”
“Yes, there! Ah, yes!” Her head thrashed on the ground. “Just don’t stop!”
“Will no’. I may come atop you—but I will no’ stop.” He ground against her, struggling to hold his seed. He was on the verge, spasms already beginning in his swollen shaft, the head moist.
Lightning struck a tree directly beside them—she didn’t notice and he forgot when he saw her lost expression, her silver eyes…. Ah, gods, she’s coming. “Yes, Lousha!” Bucking furiously, pants at his knees, he grew desperate to shove into her, to feel her clenching around him. “Come hard for me….”
She screamed, her knees falling open as she pressed those big breasts into his chest. As his hips pumped over her, she dug her claws into his back, holding him tight to her.
Mine! Now you’re mine…. He leaned down to her ear. “You’ve maddened me for you, have changed everything.” Reaching between them, clutching her panties, he rasped, “So I’m going to fuck you long and hard, beauty, because if I’m to be enslaved by you—I want to be your master as well.”
He yanked free her silk, and the head of his cock slipped against the slick folds, soaked from her orgasm. His eyes rolled back in his head just as she screamed, “No!”
She shoved against his chest. “No, don’t!” It was as if he’d doused her with ice water, her passion evaporating in a rush. “I can’t do this!”
“The hell you say!”
She continued scrambling from him. “Let me go!”
— She knows fear. —Though his cock was about to explode, throbbing so hard it felt like it’d been slammed in a door, he finally let her up. His bollocks were heavy, aching with seed.
“I don’t want this… didn’t want it.”
He’d been a thrust away from claiming his mate… “You dinna want it?” He shot to his feet, dragging on his jeans. When he tried to zip them over his swollen shaft, lust turned to anger and frustration such as he’d never known. “Then why were you riding my crotch like a wanton as you sucked my tongue?”
She gasped, trying to put her clothes to rights, darting for her bow and quiver. Once she’d collected her weapons, both of their gazes fell on the black panties he’d ripped free. She reached forward, but he snatched them from her, stuffing them in his pocket.
She blinked in confusion, backing away.
“Doona walk away,” he growled. “You think I will no’ follow?”
“You don’t understand!”
Her eyes are… haunted? “Then make me understand! Is it because of what I am?”
“If you try to follow me, I–I’ll hate you forever.”
Damn it! What was happening here? She looked like she was about to flee for her life.
Suddenly thoughts of his cousin Bowen’s tragic history arose in his mind. Deadened Bowen was a cautionary tale to all Lykae males of what happened when a mate—who was other—ran.
Bowen’s female had perished as she’d fled from him, dying gruesomely.
Cold fear suffused Garreth at the thought of Lucia hurt. He inhaled sharply, wrestling for control, even as he watched what he coveted most in the world slipping from his grasp.
Chapter 6
What just happened? How?
Lucia had almost been… unchaste, about to lose her purity—and therefore her abilities—right before the Accession!
One misstep had nearly cost Lucia her powers. Because Skathi hadn’t gifted her with anything. Lucia’s archery skills were on loan—and conditional.
How close she’d been. How close…
Yet even now her body was still thrumming for his touch—for more.
Lucia made it really simple for herself. The Accession meant Cruach. Succumbing to this Lykae meant no archery. She’d be defenseless if the Broken Bloody One escaped his prison and returned for her. Returned to make me pay…
Whatever MacRieve saw in her expression had him backing away with his palms raised. “There, lass. Doona be afraid. You’ve nothing to fear from me.”
She knew her eyes were wild, her heart racing with dread. “I–I’m not afraid of you!” I’m afraid of him—afraid of being trapped back in his corpse-ridden lair. She put the back of her hand against her mouth as she retched.
Lucia, I gave you meat and wine….
“Now, Valkyrie, just wait. I dinna mean to upset you.” MacRieve absently swiped a hand over his still-engorged shaft, as if it pained him—even now her body responded to the sight.
“If you’re bent on leaving, then meet me here this weekend,” he said tightly, as if this was a great concession. “Saturday at noon, we’ll return. That’ll give us both time to cool off, to think about this.”
His offer did surprise her. “I… I don’t know.” He’d told her that she wasn’t his mate, but she thought he’d lied since his reaction had been so fierce. Now she began to believe again, because otherwise he’d have been thumping his chest and snarling, “Mine!” as he slung her over his shoulder. “All right. I agree to it,” she lied, feeling something she hadn’t in a long time with a male. Five hundred years to be exact.
Terror.
There was no rain in the bayou Saturday night. Only quiet.
Garreth had been waiting here since quarter past ten this morning. He’d risen at dawn, too anxious to remain abed, and begun to get ready. He’d intended to take care with his dress, to present himself as a male of worth, like the leader that he was. Not like the hard-drinking, foulmouthed brawler Lucia likely thought him.
Then he’d realized he owned nothing but hole-ridden jeans, broken-in boots, and pullover shirts.
Hardly a fitting match for a lass with her delicate beauty. Hell, it hadn’t mattered anyway. She’s no’ coming. What he didn’t know was why. Yes, the Valkyrie hated the Lykae, considered them animals. But she’d responded to him.
Gods, how she’d responded. She’d taken her release and left him stranded and aching for his. He’d witnessed
Lucia in the grip of passion, and she’d been like no female he’d ever imagined.
At the memory of her lust, his cock swelled in his worn jeans, and he rubbed the heel of his palm down his raging erection. All week, he’d been like this, randy as a lad in his first brothel, no matter how many times he took release. He’d hoped to be inside her this day, imagining it in a thousand different ways.
But she’s no’ meeting me. He checked the clock on his sat-phone. Ten at night. Clearly, he needed to call this. Lucia, it seemed, was in no way easy. He’d gotten his wish, and wished he hadn’t.
As soon as she’d left him here that night, Garreth had dragged Munro and Uilleam out of the still-going game and told them, “We need to find out everything we can on our new neighbors, the Valkyrie. All of them.” He’d been amazed at how little the Lykae knew about that faction of the Lore. And again he’d sworn his friends to secrecy. “Say nothing about this to anyone.” If word got back to the clan elders that they were about to have a Valkyrie for a queen…
He and the twins had agreed that no one could know about Lucia until she was bearing Garreth’s bite mark upon her neck. The beast inside any Lykae would recognize the claim as Garreth’s, would know she was forever under his protection.
Then the three of them had combed the streets of New Orleans, a city they hadn’t visited often, and all the while, Garreth impatiently counted down the hours till this day.
Finding information had proved difficult. Big Easy Loreans were suspicious of the Lykae newcomers to their city and on guard with the Accession approaching. Garreth had come up empty in his search, but the twins had charmed a voodoo shopkeeper who’d told them much.
Now as Garreth waited in the swamp, he thought back over all they’d learned about Lucia….
“She’s legendary for her archery skills,” Munro had said. “Nothing else unique about her.”
That was all she was known for? “There must be more. What does she like to do? What are her interests?”
“No one knows,” Uilleam had answered. “She’s just the Archer.” As if nothing more needed to be said about her. It was how she was identified.