“I have lived with the loss of young for so long… I accept that void in my life. I regret more
that you have been denied the blessing of motherhood.” Leaning against the breakfast bar,
the Bard sought to breach Alex’s mind.
“Oww.. What did you just do?” Gripping at her temples, Alex dropped onto a stool, fingers
massaging away the pain of an unexpected mental intrusion.
Falling at her feet, Teague dropped his head onto her lap in apology.
“I needed to see the truth in your soul. I had to know if my love is indeed returned.”
The volume of pain in her head receding, Alex ran a hand over silvery hair. “I do love you.”
She whispered hoarsely, heart aching to throw caution to the wind.
“But I cannot commit to a mating. We both have to be prepared to walk away if the tie
we have is no longer enough for us to be together.”
Lifting his face to enforce a dictate of noncommittal partnership, Alex laid down the law
as she wanted it. If the day came where wrinkles and grey hair denoted the downward
spiral of vigour and passion, she wanted him to understand why she would leave him.
To know that making love to sagging skin and middle age spread was a chore to a male
as beautiful as the Bard spelt the day her heart would shrivel up and die.
“When, what little allure I have for the hunger in your soul begins to fade, the choice is
mine to make. I will not live with your useless death on my conscience.” Stroking long
silvery strands of hair, Alex voiced her demands.
“If I am willing to give to you all the love in my heart, I expect you in return to agree to a
pact. For as long as I remain young, I am yours. The day I decide age has overtaken the
appeal of my body, you must promise to release me.” Reinforcing the dictates of a heart
saddened by the limitations of a human life, Alex gripped tightly at his hair.
“If indeed you do love me Aingeal I ask for no more.” In his heart Teague wanted his
female to be bonded to him. The time would come when her defences were lowered
enough for a mating to be entrenched on a reluctant soul.
“Not good enough Teague… I want a promise you are honour bound not to renege upon.
Swear on something sacred to you, that when I decide to leave you, my wishes will be
granted. Swear to me that you will not sacrifice a wonderful life to go into oblivion.” Alex
was determined to have him make a binding vow before surrendering to the fierceness of
a love she could no longer deny.
Running his palms over the smooth skin of her thighs Teague leant further into Alex’s body.
“Your life is the only thing sacred to me.” Pulling his female to a breast that ached to hold
her close, the Bard made the oath she had asked for.
“On that life, I vow to let you go when the time comes.” Burying his face in her neck, Teague
laid soft kisses on sensitive skin.
Shivering under the weight of tender caresses, Alex relaxed into the arms of the male her
soul cried out for. Daring to touch him, she wrapped her arms around a body vibrating
with pent up passion. Before she had chance to take another breath, Teague had worked
out to how to unzip her dress. Laying waste to a silk confection costing more than a month’s
wage, the barrette holding up her hair followed the dress.
CHAPTER TEN
Wearing only Boo avenue’s finest lingerie, Alex was transported to the main bedroom to
fall onto a cushion of pillows.
A soft smile on his face, the Bard leant down to remove her sandals.
Alex was torn between ripping off his clothes or trying to hide the scar on her abdomen.
The scar won out. Placing her hands across the width of a stomach toned by continual
exercise, her eyes never left the figure of a gorgeous male stripping off leather shirt and
trousers with graceful ease. Crawling to arch over her, Teague smiled wickedly.
“I do have a liking for these black lacy things.” Running the tip of one finger over the swell
of a generous breast, he settled between her thighs. Lifting both her hands to kiss at each
fingertip, the Bard inhaled sharply.
Alex closed her eyes. The deforming scar across her body was guaranteed to still the rush
of the most heated of desires.
“I have been afflicted with wounds such as this.” Soft words accompanied gentle kisses.
The touch of cool lips on hyper sensitive skin had Alex squirming on the bed.
“My body recovers swiftly as yours has not.” The truth behind his female’s wishes to leave
behind a male who would not age or die as she, hit him with the force of one of Turi’s fists.
“What male did this to you?” A distraught whisper washed her stomach in a cooling waft
of air. The evidence of a sordid past she had tried hard to leave behind was laid bare to a
male who lived for the appreciation of beauty in all things. Alex wanted to curl up and die.
Pinned to the bed by the weight of his head on her stomach, she had no option but to tell
him the truth.
“Not a male, a female…
A jealous, vindictive woman, who was supposed to be a responsible adult did this to
me because she thought I was stealing her man.” A single tear tracked over her cheek
to slide onto the pillow. “I was fourteen years old, a child. That didn’t stop her from
making sure I could never have children. Her reasoning behind an effort to gut me was
to me make me ugly in the eyes of her husband.” A bitter laugh left Alex’s lips.
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned… Her handiwork put me in hospital for weeks.
I have to live with this every day. Most men can’t see beyond a scar that nearly bisects
my stomach.” Every word was calmly pronounced, as she waited for Teague to look at
her with distaste.
“Aingeal… I am not every man. I have lived a long life within a realm where injuries such
as this are inflicted on any male who refused to submit to the desires of a depraved Queen.
She was, and is a woman scorned. Her wrath came with sadistic torture that either broke
the spirit or caused the male to retreat into a mindless servitude.” Tender kisses etched
the red puckered scar below her belly button.
“I have similar scars precious one, they are etched on the walls of my mind. If I wished to,
I could count them by the thousands.” Reaching up one hand he cupped her cheek, wiping
away a tear with the pad of his thumb.
“Nothing you can do or say will detract from the beauty of your soul. I love all that makes
you unique, including the mark of envy upon your skin.”
Alex was speechless at the compassion in violet eyes. The stroke of his thumb across her
cheek stilled the fear in her heart, that the Bard would be repelled by a less than perfect
body.
“Oh Teague, I’m so sorry. One little scar is meaningless compared to all the pain you have
endured.” Turning her head Alex laid a kiss on the palm of his hand.
“Shed no tears for me Aingeal, it is of no matter. I have you in my life. That alone serves
to erase the dark memories of my past.” Easing over her body, hands planted firmly on
the bed, the Bard leant down to place a feather light kiss on her lips. The instant his mouth
touched hers with infinite tenderness, he felt hesitation melt away.
With increasing pressure he tested the fragility of a tiny female, Teague was consumed by
a raging
passion to become one with his Aingeal, but not at the expense of causing damage
to a body he adored.
With the scent of Christmas invading her senses Alex ran her fingers into a cloud of slivery
hair, hands locking onto the back of his neck she parted her lips, willing the diffident Bard
to unleash his inner animal.
With a groan, descending into a deep growl, Teague accepted the invitation with a kiss
sensuously deep and gloriously demanding. Offering herself up to a male whose strength
could break her in two, Alex shivered at the exquisite pain building in the pit of her stomach.
A tiny glimmer of fear at the weight of an arousal of impressive proportions pressing against
her thigh, held her still. The reality of a love starved male of the Fae making love to a puny
human made Alex realise how powerless she was stop him taking whatever he wanted.
A sense of that fear seeped into Teague’s mind halting a desire to sheath himself in the heat
of his own true mate. Lifting his head to stare into glittering sapphire depths, he dropped a
soft kiss on the tip of her nose.
Restraining the urge to devour Aingeal in a display of rampant need, the Bard eased onto his
elbows a curtain of silver clouding wide muscled shoulders.
“I would not hurt thee my precious one. The choice is yours to say nay if my ardour frightens
thee.” Violet eyes misted over, white swirling clouds danced around pupils of deep night.
Unsure whether she was shivering from fright or a desperate longing for Teague to make
her forget for one night he was Sidhe and she was human, Alex shook her head, a smile as
bright as the summer sun brought dimples to her cheeks.
Running her palms up over the taut muscles of an awesome chest, she was enthralled by
his sheer beauty. With the added edge of feral need, the Bard was more desirable than ever.
“I know you won’t hurt me. I’m just a little anxious as to whether I can fulfil the needs your
body demands.” The smile on her face waned as the Bard dipped his head to her neck.
Like a speeding train crashing into her heart, the fear she felt changed tracks.
Had Teague finally realised she wasn’t a fit partner to take to bed. Choking back a sob Alex
fought to be released from the indignity of being discarded as unworthy to lie with a male
more suited to be bonded to a Queen.
She found every escape blocked by a cage of sinewy arms. Frantic, her heart accelerated,
lungs gasping for breath in the throes of an incipient panic attack.
Be still precious one. A wisp of thought entered her head with the dull echo of pain.
Teague was determined to calm the erratic beat of a heart so close to his.
Running a trail over her throat, a line of promise between the curves of firms breasts, cool
lips left a wake of burgeoning desire building in Alex’s pounding heart.
“Close your eyes Aingeal. Let me help you to relax.” The Bard breathed glamour over the
tight planes of her stomach. Cinnamon and cloves assaulted her senses, crowding out the
tremor of fear holding Alex back from an embrace that would change the cautious path she
had trodden from the moment she had become embroiled in a vision of co-existence between
species.
Vividly aware of silken caresses covering every inch of sensitised skin, her body felt as light
as a feather, mind floating in a calming mist of the Bard’s making. Alex breathed out softly.
Muscles unclenching, she subsided onto a mound of pillows. Luxuriating under the sensuous
ministrations of a male who showed endless patience in bringing her remorselessly to the
peak of arousal, a gasp left her lips.
“Hush Aingeal…” A husky whisper soothed anxiety, as lacy briefs were eased over her hips.
Alex dare not open her eyes as a lean body brushed up against hers.
The front fastening of a matching bra came free to the sensation of a moist tongue running
around one nipple in tightening circles to latch onto painfully hardened flesh. A moan pulsed
from Alex’s throat as she arched to accept the release of aching anticipation. The pull of his
mouth, lazy strokes of searching fingers over the most sensitive folds of female flesh inflamed
the burn of arousal in the pit of her stomach.
A deep throbbing pulse of exquisite pleasure exploded through her, sending nerve endings
into overdrive. Laying a searing path over the curve of aching breasts, Teague sought the
other nipple as he entered his love with gentle pressure.
Sapphire eyes flying open, fingers gripping at wide shoulders, a soft cry left Alex.
Lifting his head to look directly in to her eyes, Teague glowed with an inner fire, opaque
swirls of blue and white coloured his skin, canted eyes, darkened to amethyst, sparkled with
starlight. “I cannot hold back…”
The growl was deep, reverberating through him into every atom of Alex’s body. A slow
penetration held the edge of pain, not enough to still the craving to hold him fully in an
embrace that would make a perfect male all hers.
Lifting her head she kissed him, slipping her tongue between lips that tasted of heaven on
earth. “Then don’t…” She murmured against his mouth.
The surge of an arousal held in check for eons lifted Alex from the bed, pin-points of white
light flickered in her peripheral vision as a gasping moan broke free of her lips.
Teague’s glow dimmed. “I have hurt you….”
Despair tinged the hoarseness of a voice lost in a well of near violent passion.
Hips raised to accommodate all of him, Alex answered with a languorous sigh.
“Believe me, I am far from hurting.” Wrapping her legs across muscled thighs she pulled him
back to a kiss as deeply penetrating as the conquest of a body that cried out for more.
With a rasping groan, Teague placed an arm beneath her hips, burying himself to the hilt in
an embrace he never thought he would have. Slow, sinuous strokes teased at sensitive flesh, Alex
gasped at the intensity of delicious pangs of pleasure curling outwards from the core of their
coupling. Muscles contracting in waves, her body drew them deeper into a whirlwind of
passion filled union, both released from the fear of inflicting or receiving pain, ecstasy came
in blinding waves.
The cool mists curling through the atmosphere of a bedroom grounded on Mother Earth,
shuddered and shivered in mimicry of lovers lost in a world of sensual pleasure.
Hanging limply on Teague’s neck, fingers locked onto tendrils of silk, a smile touched
Alex’s lips. She looked on in awe, as mini tornadoes danced around the room.
The Bard nuzzled at her neck, prolonging the afterglow of release with tiny nips of sharp
teeth on skin. Every time she shivered, a wisp of morning mist curled into a tiny twister
to rocket across the room.
Oblivious to the wonder that held Alex still in his arms, Teague was eaten up by shame.
“Aingeal you are hurting….” Afraid to witness any damage he may have inadvertently
wreaked upon the Angel of Edanholme, he hid his face against her shoulder absorbing the
shivers that rocked a fragile frame.
A soft laugh reached his ears, echoing through the breast beneath his hand.
“I’ll admit to being exhausted and a little bit bruised.”
The Bard winced. As much as he had held back the full nature of Sidhe bonding, had he
indeed been brutal in taking his female?
“It’s worth every second of being loved by you.” Laying a kiss on his cheek, Alex grinned
cheekily. She had survived intact at the hands, and everything else, of a male denied the
knowledge of a female for far too long. Happiness coloured her blissful sigh. For one
moment in her life she was free, free to express her feelings without fear of contemptuous
dismissal.
“I love you, I will always want you. But what’s with the freaky atmospherics?”
Opening eyes a safe shade of violet, Teague rolled to her side one hand still locked to the
curve of a breast he wished to kiss forever.
“Aah…” He breathed deeply. In indecent haste to bed his female, the Bard had omitted to
mention the side effects common to Sidhe coupling. In truth he had not expected his air
element to respond so dramatically to a human companion. The female in his arms did not
wholly derive from the mortal stock. He sensed no Fae in her aura, only purity of spirit.
“Mother Earth rejoices when mate meets mate in a bond of eternal love…”
Stroking the scar running across Aingeal’s stomach, he felt her stiffen at his words.
“We are not mates…” Alex wasn’t giving an inch. This was not part of the plan to be with
Teague for only as long as it suited her. She would love him for as long as she could, but
eternity was beyond human reach.
“Argue with the Mother of all, she is the one who disagrees with you Aingeal.” The Bard
neatly side-stepped a battle of wills, watching calmly as the air in the bedroom returned to
a state of normalcy.
Pursing her lips in a moue of disappointment, Alex growled her chagrin into the ether.
The Bard had defused a righteous show of indignation that her choices were being usurped.
“As if that’s going to happen, I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
“Thank the Fates you show some sense in not carrying on a futile denial.”
Breaking free of his grasp, Alex whirled to face a serene visage.
“I said I love you. That’s it… Don’t think for a minute I will change my mind.” Rolling to the
edge of the bed, she wanted to hide away from the acceptance on Teague’s face that they
had truly bonded.
Reaching out a hand he trailed long fingers down her back. Alex shrugged off the caresses
Eternal Bond (Edanholme Book 2) Page 14