by Cara Carnes
My steps faltered, and I swallowed when I glanced in at the large room. A large bed loomed in the center, engulfing the bulk of the space. Never had I seen such a large sleeping surface.
Stephan stood at the end of the bed, wearing a pair of snug, chestnut-colored pants. My pulse quickened after I noticed the prominent bulge he didn’t move to hide from me.
He wanted me.
Fallon pressed me forward, sending a wave of heat through my tingling spine. “If you don’t enter, he’ll likely drag you to the bed. Your thoughts have undone much of his restraint already. Take heed not to stir more of his passion.”
How?
My mind reeled, unable to discern how I was to act. Stephan smiled and stepped forward when Fallon shoved me hard into the room. My footing faltered, and I glared back at the alpha who made me feel like an awkward youth still unaccustomed to walking. He smiled and closed the door, sealing me into the bed chamber.
Alone with Stephan.
He made his way to me, his steps those of a prowling creature intent on possessing the one he wanted. Me. I stammered for something to say to break the raging tension between us, but fell silent when I realized what was between us was far more than tension.
I stepped toward him, and he growled, closing the distance with a speed which matched my flailing pulse and breathing. His fingers wound in my hair, and his mouth moved toward mine, pausing close enough for his breath to dance across my lips and send shards of awareness down to the pool of desire between my legs.
“Once I taste your lips I will not have the control to do less than possess you fully, Hannah. Decide now, for I have not the heart to do anything other than sate our raging needs.” My hands went to his chest. The fiery inferno within his eyes swallowed my fear whole and replaced it with a determination to pleasure the king before me.
“It’ll be the man tasting the nectar of your passion. It’ll be the man fucking you senseless until you surrender from exhaustion. It’ll be the man savoring your beauty as you abandon your inhibition and come hard on my cock.” His words ignited my lust and left me weak at the reminder he knew my every thought. “The king will never be in this bed with you, for the man wanted to possess you long before he was king.”
Defenseless to the imagery assailing me, I ran my fingers down his bare chest and dug my nails into his firm abdomen. “Birds of prey soar within me right here. Will you make them vanish?”
“I will.” His lips feathered mine, fluttering across my mouth. I shivered and longed for a deeper taste of him. “Say you are mine, and you will taste me fully. I must hear the words to quell the beast within me.”
I couldn’t believe there was any doubt. “I am yours.”
His growl lodged within my mouth as his kiss consumed me. My hands went around him, drawing him to me. His hands glided down my body. The material covering me ripped easily under the weight of his tug. I gasped.
He severed the kiss which left my mouth burning for him. He cupped my breasts and observed them within his grasp. “I wanted to be the first to see you.”
“They warned me I stirred too much of your passion.”
Concern filled his eyes. “I will not ravage you tonight, though I may long to. I may not be as gentle as your first lover should be.”
“I never asked for that.”
His thumbs flicked my nipples. They hardened with his touch, sending shards of awareness through my body. My moan mingled between us while I ran my nails down his arms, urging him to savor my body.
“I should’ve allowed our customs to remain intact and allowed another to bed you the first time. I fear my passion is too great to be the gentle, detached lover a maiden needs.” His fingers grazed my cheek as his lips hovered above mine. “But I’d have to kill whoever bedded you.”
I groaned, and his mouth crushed against mine. My tongue battled with his for control of the kiss that enflamed my senses and drove my passions until they raced across my skin and longed to escape. A growl filled the air, and he led me to the bed. My mind played tricks on me because I could swear I could hear his beating in time to mine.
Stephan placed me in the center of the bed. The pelts were soft against my flushed skin. His hands moved swiftly to remove his pants. Finally, I’d see the rest of the golden skin that had taunted my most intimate thoughts. I’d heard tales from fallen doves within our village of a man’s privates. Wild stories of lust had branded them all as stories for the foolish.
Stephan’s body left mine unable to move. Never had I expected to see such magnificent power honed into a body worthy of a god. No, a king. I memorized each glorious inch of skin while he stood before the bed. His cock was hard, long and thick with need. My fingers itched with the compulsion to surround his shaft and feel it pulse within my grasp.
Somehow I knew it would. How did I know that? Perhaps it had been in one of those tales I’d heard and dismissed. Perhaps a part of me had always been meant to be here—in his bed. My pussy clenched as I thought of his large cock filling me. A moment of virginal fear brushed across my thoughts, but I knew Stephan was the one meant to be my first.
No one else stirred the depths of desire he did. I took a shaky breath when he moved onto the bed and hovered over me. His mouth moved to my neck, his tongue lapped at my raging pulse. My hands rested on his arms as my skin heated under his touch, which slid from my arms down the sides of my breasts and to my waist.
His cock grazed my pussy as he positioned himself. I gasped at the sensation of skin-on-skin and longed for Stephan to close the distance between us. But his mouth moved, tasting its way down my flushed skin. A trail of kisses across the swell of my breasts made me shiver in anticipation. His hand cupped my breast and flicked an aching nub. He lowered his mouth, and I gasped as he took my nipple and laved it with his tongue.
I thrust my body upward, but his other hand settled me back against the bed and his lower body pinned me. His cock ground against my thigh while his mouth worked on both my breasts with equal measure. Fire erupted within me, centering at my pussy. I remembered how his fingers felt there and longed for the bursting pleasure he’d given me before.
Would it be the same this time?
His mouth returned to mine, and I kissed him. Sating the raging need to know each inch of his skin as he was learning mine drove my actions. I pulled at him and hissed my displeasure until he lowered his chest. He trembled, his skin surging beneath my lips. My pulse beat wildly when he growled, and I knew I incited the same depth of need in him as he did me.
I moved my hand down his stomach.
“Don’t, Hannah.” His growl made me smile. His golden eyes were now swallowed whole by the fiery embers I’d always found so fascinating. “Touch me there and I will lose what little control I have.”
“Good.” My brazen response empowered me as my palm touched the tip of his cock. A stream of emotions rushed across his face as my fingers slid slowly down the shaft. “Does it pain you when I touch you here?”
Stephan settled his weight on one arm and brought his free hand between us. My breathing stopped when his fingers grazed my slickened pussy. “So wet for me.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Does this pain you?”
He slid his fingers across my pussy and massaged my clit. I dug my nails into his side and moved my other hand across his cock. “It makes me want something, but I don’t know what.”
He kissed my neck. “Let me show you.”
I groaned when he removed my hands from him and pinned them above my head. His tongue delved into my mouth and suckled mine. I moaned as his cock filled me. I cried out when he pushed past my virginal barrier. Stephan stilled all but his kiss, which sent flickers of hunger coursing through me.
My pussy clenched his cock. The need for him to bring me to the pleasure I’d felt before overwhelmed me. Unsure how to convey my wants when I didn’t understand them myself, I dug my nails into his arms and hoped he still read my thoughts. For once I was glad he
knew my desires, for surely he’d know how to sate the fires burning within me.
He growled against my mouth, his hips moving as he plunged his cock slowly in and out of me. I whimpered with the loss of him in me and reveled in his return. I longed for the sensations our passion created to continue forever. I remembered the harsh words of the woman saying he’d bed me until dawn. I hoped she was right, for I couldn’t imagine wishing an end to such heady desire.
Waves of pleasure crashed around me. I met his thrusts and guided his mouth. He laved my skin as I did his, but nothing detracted from the way his cock moved within me. My pussy gripped his shaft as the fires within me erupted into an inferno that spread through my body.
Stephan’s growl filled my ears and his movements stilled. I cupped his buttocks, squeezing and begging with my hands for him not to retreat because I couldn’t trust my voice. His name tumbled from my throat again and again, as if saying his name would prolong the immense bursts of sensations.
His raspy breathing mingled with mine when he drew me into his embrace. I wished he’d remained atop me, because the loss of his weight stirred my vulnerability. His arms wrapped around me and drew me closer, his body flush against my back. “The depth of your passions amazes me, Hannah.”
I allowed my thoughts to tumble freely within my mind, knowing I had no will to control them even if I knew how. I refused to allow anything to meddle with the waves of sensations wafting through me. “Is it always like this?”
“With you it will be.”
His words made my heart swell, even though I doubted there’d be much of a future for us. After all, I wasn’t a part of his world. “What of the legion marching?”
He sighed, his breath caressing my neck as his finger slid across my hip down to my stomach and to my breasts. “Our alphas will strike them swiftly, but we move to join forces with the remaining fighters of your village and the neighboring Timbria in the morn.”
“You would expose your people?” His words shocked me. Concerned me.
“In times of war it is a necessity. Our mutual enemy already clears forest to the north. I won’t have our village suffer the burning Nalla’s generation did the last time we were at war. Telling your people of mine is the best plan.”
I prayed he was right and that whichever of the villagers remained would be more understanding of him and his people than they had been of me when I returned to the village as a youth. “When do you go?”
“At dawn. We’ll return with whichever leaders of your people we can find and discuss our battle plans from there.” Sadness filled his voice. “We will be together again by dusk. I promise.”
Chapter Six
A week had passed since then, and Stephan was finally returning. I took little comfort in Nalla’s company, and the heady concoction she continued to give me to calm my raging concerns. Troops had advanced sooner than anticipated, and Stephan had led the alphas into battle before seeking the joined effort of the remaining villagers from the area.
“They have returned,” Nalla said.
Stephan.
“It will take some time for him to greet you, child. Patience.”
I nodded, but prayed she was wrong. All I sought was a moment to guide my hands across his body and ensure for myself he was safe. Whole. Alive.
Still mine.
The door to Nalla’s home swung open. Nalla’s eyes widened. “Xavier. What’s wrong?”
How could Nalla know something was wrong merely by an alpha’s presence?
“Xavier is one of the outer alphas. He never enters the village and serves our pack by being the leader of the outer legion of our forces.”
“You are Hannah.” His gaze roamed my body briefly before settling on Nalla. “Fallon is injured.”
“How bad?”
“Bad enough to have me here. Come.” He turned and left.
Nalla moved with swiftness, throwing varieties of potions and herbs into a sack. “Come with me, child. You have learned much of my herbs while here. You will assist me if needed.”
I followed her, her steps faster than I’d expected from someone of her age. She moved toward the palace. I hoped Fallon’s injuries weren’t severe. How was Stephan?
The guards allowed her entry, but prevented my passage. Nalla turned. “Allow her entry, or I will show you why so many fear me.”
The two alphas stepped aside, and she and I moved hastily through the corridor I remembered all too well from last week. We made our way to the door nearest Stephan’s. A large cluster of men stood there. They all watched Nalla walk toward them, expectation and worry etched on their handsome faces.
She pressed past the crush of bodies and into the room, her hand dragging my nervous body behind her. My gaze moved to Stephan of its own accord, drinking in the sight of him. His eyes were filled with pain, fear. I longed to soothe him. I swallowed back my thoughts, determined not to add to what grief he experienced.
Not now.
Now Stephan needed Nalla. Fallon needed aid. Here Stephan was king, not the man I longed to welcome back. I moved to stand beside the aged healer when she sat on the bed and peered down at Fallon. Blood coated much of his pants. An angry gash covered his stomach with oozing crimson which made me nauseous. I fought the nausea and waited for Nalla’s guidance.
Their people healed quickly. Nalla had taught me much the past week in an effort to expend my concerns over Stephan. She’d assured me there were no injuries that could down an alpha—at least none a human could inflict easily. Only the loss of their heart or head could stop them from living. Yet Fallon lay like the dead, his body limp and lifeless. His eyes were hollow as they moved from Stephan to Nalla and then to me.
His lips curved into a grin, and he looked over to Stephan. “See, brother. I told you she’d still be here and hungry for your touch. You worried for naught.”
“What injury downed him so?”
Nalla’s hands moved swiftly over his body. I instinctively grabbed a cloth and dampened it, knowing the excess blood needed to be removed so she could see the injury. It was what my people would do. Surely the same would be needed here.
I gave her the cloth, and her hands swiped around the injury until more of his stomach was clear of the vile crimson stains. An angry wound resembling that of a sword sliced through him, the edges sizzling as if burning him from the inside.
“What do you feel, Fallon?”
“Their swords were different. They sliced and burned when they entered.” His words were choppy, half whispered as he closed his eyes.
“Remain with me, brother.” Stephan’s voice boomed with authority.
Fallon’s long lashes fluttered. “Just a moment’s rest.”
I squeezed Fallon’s hand and chewed on my lower lip, unsure how to aid him or Nalla.
“This is most strange. I’ve never seen anything such as this,” Nalla said.
“Some thought the alloy a poison to our blood.”
Nalla’s eyes widened with shock. “Were there casualties?”
Stephan nodded, his face grim. “Four.”
“Dear heavens!”
The number seemed miniscule to my ears, but I knew by their standards that was many. Only three of their kind had died in the past three hundred years. Death was rarer than pregnancy, which occurred only infrequently.
“Leave us.” Nalla glanced over her shoulder at me. “We must cleanse this wound fully. Perhaps that will stop it from eating his flesh.”
I studied the wound, now able to discern the visible hole slowly growing. I suppressed my gasp, but knew from Stephan’s pained look it did little to quell the growing concern cramping the room. Nalla motioned to all the alphas looming behind us. “Leave us.”
They moved swiftly from the room. Stephan stood and began to pace.
“That included you.” Nalla pointed to Stephan. “Fallon can sense your distress. Leave us.”
“You kick out the king?”
“No. I kick out the big brother. Leave us.”<
br />
Stephan’s gaze slid over me and he smiled softly. “This was not the reunion I longed for.”
I nodded, knowing I’d ensure he got a better greeting once Fallon was safe.
Exhaustion plagued me by the time we left Fallon’s quarters. Already his blood had begun to expend whatever dreadful compound had downed him. Nalla had worked furiously, mixing herbs and creating concoction after concoction and shoveling it into Fallon with a determination like none I’d seen.
The alpha had spewed and sputtered his aggravation, but obeyed his elder. The fiery embers returned to his eyes an hour before Nalla pronounced he’d live. A flood of joy filled my soul when I saw Stephan’s relief.
Warm hands massaged my aching shoulders. I didn’t turn around because I knew from my rapid pulse it was Stephan. His long legs grazed my skin from behind, his body flush against mine. “I missed you, Hannah.”
“And I you.”
“Show me.” His steps pushed me toward his room.
“I doubt you are ready for my passion.” Bravado streamed from me, emboldened by the feel of his hard cock pressed against my back as we moved into his bed chamber. He shut the door and I shivered, knowing many alphas stood in the hallway. For now I didn’t care who heard me. I needed to feel him touching me, tasting me, fucking me.
He lifted me, and I gasped as his mouth claimed mine. Gone was the gentle lover’s touch from before. His fingers pinched and tormented while he stripped me of my clothes. My nipples budded and surrendered to his ministrations. He laid me on the bed, and I finally felt the weight of his body on mine that I’d longed for all week.
His growl echoed through the chamber as he stripped down. My hands greedily wrapped around the thick shaft of his erection. He moved to free it, but I ran my nails down his thighs and made my own attempt at a growl. His chuckle softened the desperation flowing through me.
Stephan was going nowhere.