WitchofArundaleHall

by Jennifer Leeland

  When he closed the door she turned to light the fire in the room. Her hands shook and made the task difficult. Perry said nothing. The silence lay heavy in the room between them.

  Finally she started a blaze and rose to her feet. When she turned he was no longer a beast but the blue shine of his gaze remained in place. Though he was in control Perry was too close to the transformation. She swallowed, nervous and aroused at the same time. How was it possible that the violence had excited her? It was those new feelings, new sensations beneath her skin that caused it. It had to be.

  “Shall I rest in the chair then?” she asked without meeting his determined gaze.

  “No. You will not.” His tone brooked no argument.

  “Surely you should have the bed,” she said. “After your altercation with…with…”

  “With the wolf.” Perry stepped closer to her and she backed away. “He knew you.”

  Her courage almost failed her but she made herself look at him. “He has been to Wolford House. It was a chance meeting.”

  “Perhaps.” Perry kept coming toward her and she tried to slide away from him.

  “As I said, I will sleep in the chair tonight. You should rest easy.” She moved to avoid him but this time he caught her arm with his hand.

  “No. You shall sleep in this bed. With me. And you will not be resting.” He yanked her closer and she could barely breathe.

  “You promised,” she whispered.

  “I am breaking my promise.” There was no regret or give in him. He was implacable.

  “You cannot do this,” she pleaded. “It is what Lady North wants. It is the curse.”

  “I do not care.” He wrapped his other arm around her waist and she stifled a moan of relief. “That wolf came because you are unclaimed. If I Claim you I will be his target. He cannot have you unless he kills me. I will plant my seed in you.” His last words were husky and filled with lust.

  “Then only death will free us. We will be like Marcus, alone and in pain.” She tried to shove him away with her hands and her words but he would not be moved.

  “You will be mine.”

  “Perry, please. Our children will die.” She struggled against his hold. “You will hate me.”

  “I do not believe that,” Perry said, and took possession of her mouth.

  When he had kissed her days earlier, he had ravaged her lips, demanding her response. This time he simply overwhelmed her. He broke away and pinned her to the bed. He extended his claws, a partial change that shocked her into stillness. With them he ripped away her bedclothes and left her naked before his needy stare.

  Her senses returned enough to try to escape but he captured her easily and shoved her facedown onto the mattress. “Did you know that a Claiming can be done if I release my seed in your arse?”

  It should have disgusted her. Instead she buried her head in the linen and tried to hide the telltale blush on her face. Her whole body heated, remembering how he’d stroked her there, visions of tableaus she’d seen. She wanted to resist him, to reject this, but her heart longed for his possession and her body already belonged to him.

  “But I am not going to Claim you that way,” he said in a low, gravely tone. He turned her onto her back and loomed over her, his cock pressed against her thigh, his face thrust into hers. “I am going to tie you to this bed and make you come at least three times before I spill my seed in your sweet cunt.”

  Her breath caught in her throat but she managed to snap back, “I will fight you.”

  His smile was slow and wicked. “I hope so.”

  She arched her back and heaved against him, hoping to dislodge him, to throw him off her. Instead it only scraped her nipples against his chest and caused him to shift his hips to pin her. He used her shredded, discarded nightgown to tie her to the bed, his movements rough and uncontrolled.

  Now that she was at his mercy she could only hold still, give him nothing, including a fight that would only arouse them both. Every touch he tortured her with made her want to tremble but she wouldn’t allow her body to respond. If she could remain quiet he would think she was cold. No chance he would believe her indifferent.

  “You think to deny me your response?” He bent over her, his restraints holding her in place, his words sliding through her. “Try. But I am determined that when the morning light comes through that window, you will know that you belong to me. And that you do so of your own free will.”

  Out of despair Sarah sought to stop him. “By tying me to this bed you give me no choice.”

  He smiled. “You surrendered to me tied before. You and I will both know, even if you deny it.”

  She wanted to shout at him, to scream her denial. But when he swooped in to take possession of her lips she was lost. Her whimper seemed to unleash something as wild and untamed as the beast beneath his skin. His hands roamed her body with a devastating knowledge that crumbled her resistance and destroyed her resolve. He broke the kiss only to move to her neck, to bite her sensitive skin there, to leave a mark of his ownership that would fade as the other Claim never would.

  If she had truly wanted to be free of him she might have cried, been able to hold back her arousal. But she had lied to herself as well as to him. She wanted no freedom from him. She loved him and wanted his possession as much as he seemed to need to possess her.

  There was nothing left but empty resistance. To surrender was to admit to him that she was weak and helpless in the face of his desire. That she could never do. She twisted and wrenched against the restraints. When he ducked his head closer to nibble on her earlobe, she bit his neck.

  It should have discouraged him. Instead it seemed to inflame him. His fingers found the sensitive nub between her legs and she gasped when he pressed his thumb against it. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. His mouth devastated her, traveling over her collarbone, the top of her breasts and finally capturing one of her nipples. When his tongue curled around her raised flesh, she cried out and arched toward him.

  She yanked on the restraints, her need for the biting pain almost as frantic as the desire for his touch. He continued to stroke her pussy, sending her spinning into oblivion. The sensation of his skin on hers, his hot tongue and his wicked fingers, made her heart accelerate until she wondered if she was going to die reaching for that final pinnacle.

  The first time, she’d been overwhelmed by the dominance of the three men she’d betrayed, her fear of the loss of her innocence swept away by the intense arousal. But now it was only him, just him. His possession, his dominance, was the only thing she wanted and the only focus of her addled brain.

  When his fingers slid inside her slick channel, she moaned and squirmed helplessly. He moved down her body, his mouth branding every inch of her skin. She was hot, needy, on the edge of insanity that could only be relieved by his touch.

  She opened her eyes, wanting to see him as he kissed her bellybutton. His dark hair brushed her sensitive skin and his long, beautiful fingers brushed her thighs. When he raised his head and met her gaze it was as if lightning struck her. That connection snapped into place and the bonds between them tightened. Her soul reached out, grasping for him, needing him.

  His inhuman growl made her nerves jump, not with fear but intense desire. She couldn’t touch him or urge him in any way except with her voice. “Please, Perry. I burn.”

  He stroked her inner walls with his fingers, his stare focused on her face. “You know what to call me,” he said in a guttural tone. “I am your Master. Say it, Sarah.”

  No. She couldn’t. It was as if that were the last line that kept her anchored in reality. If she acknowledged what he was to her he would destroy her. She twisted and shifted, trying to escape his knowing hand and his implacable gaze.

  But then he bent down and blew his hot breath over her erect nub while he stroked her inside with his fingers. She cried out, stars blazing across her vision. So close. Just one touch of his tongue on her and she’d unravel. He kept her on edge, another heat
ed kiss on her inner thigh, just to the right of her aching core.

  “Perry,” she sobbed and arched toward him. “Perry! Please. I need you.”

  He growled again and dove between her legs. At the first scrape of his tongue over her, she shattered. Her scream echoed in her ears and the sensation went on and on. He gave her no reprieve but drove her back toward that edge. He bit her, devoured her, his sinful mouth doing magic she knew she could never undo.

  Her breath came in pants as she spun into another tornado of arousal. This time she shouted Perry’s name and his response vibrated against her pussy. It was enough. It was too much. She wanted…she needed…the things she thought were so erotic that she tossed her head back and forth.

  She swallowed and did what she knew would please them both. She begged. “Take me. Please, take me now.”

  “No,” Perry answered. He intended to drive her to exhaustion with pleasure. Even as his cock pulsed painfully and the beast beneath the surface surged forward to place its Claim on her, he resisted.

  When he’d been honorable, let her choose to reject him, another wolf had tried to take what belonged to him. Now he was taking that choice away. But when the morning light shone its harsh light on his actions he was going to make sure she couldn’t say he took her without her permission.

  He slid his tongue lower, his fingers still buried in her sweet pussy. When he touched her arse with his mouth, she froze. Like a predator Perry hummed with arousal at her stillness. He sucked and nipped at her puckered flesh. As frozen as she’d been, an instant later she went wild beneath his ministrations. She bucked and rocked, her whimpers firing him further. He dove in, his nose near her pussy and his tongue lashing her arse.

  His fingers were soaked as her pussy wept for him. Then her whole body went rigid and she squeezed him in a vise that he felt all through him. She gushed, her slick channel ready and hot.

  It was too much. With bare control he extended his claws and slashed through the material that held her legs. When he plunged inside her, he wanted her thighs to squeeze him and her heels on his arse.

  He wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her, tilting her even as she arched closer to try to capture his length inside her. “Who am I, Sarah?” He made her meet his gaze. Her clouded, confused expression made his heart wrench but he was not going to back down. Every step of the way he wanted her capitulation, her surrender. “You know what I am to you. Say it.”

  The vulnerable look in her eyes, the trembling of her lips only inflamed him. If she didn’t speak he was going to come all over her skin. She swallowed and he focused on the movement. Every single twitch of her body belonged to him. He was only waiting for her to admit it.

  “You are my Master,” she said.

  He thrust inside her and she made a keening sound that almost made him spill inside her immediately. She thrashed and bowed to deepen his penetration. He groaned and cupped her arse as he drove harder, faster. She was so wet, so needy, so perfect.

  The beast beneath him burst forth through his voice and he howled just as her cunt tightened around him, squeezing him, stroking his cock. His release boiled and burned, exploding from him. Words spilled from his mouth as he streamed his hot cum inside her. “Mine. You are mine. My mate. Mine. Mine.” With each word he thrust to emphasize his possession.

  His soul locked to hers, a snap that was almost audible to him. The wolf howled again, a sound of triumph that echoed in Perry’s ears.

  As he came down from those impossible heights he gripped Sarah’s hair and plundered her mouth as he’d plundered her body. Her legs clasped him closer and she convulsed around his spent cock, hardening him again, making him moan against her mouth.

  When he broke the kiss, he stared at her and her shocked gaze met his. “Again.”

  Reality did not intrude and Sarah gasped for another breath. Again? How many times could a man pleasure a woman until she died from it? Her heart beat so hard she thought it would explode. He had not left her, his spent length inside her, a comfort she clung to like a lifeline. His fingers dug into her flesh and shards of pain streaked through her. But rather than distract her from the intense pleasure, the pain enhanced it.

  He must have felt the natural response to the arousal, because he groaned. She didn’t think it was possible to do more, go further, but she should have known Perry would accept nothing but her complete capitulation.

  His thrusts were slower, deeper, more intense, and Sarah couldn’t look away from him. He held her gaze as he drove her toward that desperate place of need where he seemed to keep her. “Talk to me, Sarah. Tell me how it feels,” he demanded.

  “It feels…” Like home. Like heaven. She closed her eyes and whimpered. “It feels like I’m dying, like I’m being born anew. It feels like a dream, yet so real. Perry—” Her voice broke as she convulsed around him again. She reached for it, wanting it, needing it.

  She was owned, no longer able to deny the truth of his mastery of her. Tomorrow she would have regrets. Tomorrow she would face the cold facts—that he’d Claimed her only because another threatened to take her. But for this moment he stared at her as if she mattered, as if she were life itself. Those times at Wolford House when she had watched, envious of the women who experienced that intense connection with their partner, she had not considered how erotic it would be to have Perry watch her fall over the edge.

  His hands stroked the fires again, touching her everywhere, branding her with his desire as surely as he was branding her with his seed. When he brought her breasts to his mouth she held her breath, unable to move. He no longer stroked her but sucked on her greedily, and she cried out as a sharper pleasure whipped through her.

  He bit her sensitive nipples and growled with pleasure as she thrust her hips upward to take him deeper inside her. Every nerve was on fire and every muscle tense. His tongue lashed her breasts and she thought she’d die from the pleasure. The harder he bit her, the higher she flew, until she was there again, screaming, thrashing under him like a wild animal.

  Out of control now, his movements were frantic and he pinned her with his cock. Then he kissed her, his mouth fused to hers as he shouted his release, the vibrations of sound filling her throat and her body with their force.

  His seed was everywhere. She could smell it. Limp and exhausted, she dropped her legs and lay quiet. She loved the feel of his body on hers, a weight that said she was loved, protected, wanted. When he moved she made a sound of protest. But he only left her for a moment, his knife out to cut the bindings on her hands.

  Free to touch him, she reached out and threaded her fingers through his hair and pressed her lips to his. Her soul and her heart were his, had always been his. Whatever happened tomorrow, she had this moment.

  At some point she must have fallen asleep but he woke her and aroused her all over again, brooking no resistance. It wasn’t the bone-deep desire or the intense muscle-clenching orgasms that made her heart soar. It was the way he sheltered her in his arms and held her after his third and final explosive release.

  When the morning light streamed into the room, Sarah was alone. All the doubts and fears were there waiting for her. But there was a delicious sensation of being used, loved, worn to exhaustion by his desire.

  She rose from the bed and poured some water into the bowl on the dresser. With a cloth, she cleaned the sticky seed that clung to her thighs. The full-length mirror showed red marks on her wrists and bite marks on her breasts. But the mark on the inside of her thigh was now deeper and more noticeable. He had Claimed her and there was no doubt in Sarah’s mind that she was as bound to him as Elizabeth had become bound to Joshua.

  She placed her hand over the mark and suddenly the room spun.

  The room was gone and she was in an orchard filled with a strange plant she didn’t recognize, with green leaves. The air around her was damp but hot. Not England.

  Laughter led her down a worn track and she wove through the rows of plants until she entered a clearing fil
led with green grass and one lone apple tree.

  Perry stood in the clearing, a warm smile on his face and a tan to his skin, lifting a child of about eight years into the air. They laughed as Perry swung the boy around. Matching gray eyes turned to her, saw her.

  Like the jolt of a carriage, Sarah was torn away from that sweet vision and dropped back into reality. It couldn’t have been her child. She knew that. Lady North had been clear about Sarah’s chances. Even if she dismissed Lady North’s predictions as lies, there was still the information from the scrolls, copied and kept at the North estate. Those papers also stated that a woman born of her line must never mate with a DeFalk wolf.

  So the child had to be another’s, not hers. Her heart broke at the thought. She could selfishly cling to Perry, be his wife but bear him no children. But her vision showed a child and her visions had always been correct.

  This had to stop. She could not allow this curse to go on, to pass to another generation. Not when she knew the dire results. To succeed she had to keep Perry out of her bed. She could not bear the anxiety of waiting for the child to die, for the day to come that was predicted from the curse on her blood.

  But oh, how her heart longed to bear that child, to be a mother, to be Perry’s true wife. She knew the answers to her future lay in the scrolls in Bayeux. The papers Lady North possessed had been vague about the way to break the curse. Sarah hoped to find more in the originals.

  The knowledge she had was difficult enough. Claimed, the only way to break the curse was with blood. Her blood. Probably her death. She could not allow things between Perry and herself to go on this way. She snatched her hand away from the mark on her inner thigh and she turned away from the mirror. Her mind whirled as she dressed. The hallway was quiet as she sought the top of the stairs. The house seemed deserted as she descended to the first floor. She heard the low murmur of voices and followed the sound to the dining room.