Mending the Beast

by Lacey Thorn

  “Don’t even think to tell me that you were in any way responsible for what happened to you.” Daniel’s voice was a hard growl, though his touch remained gentle. “Nobody deserves what they did.”

  “I went with him willingly.”

  He eased her back then lifted her chin until their gazes met. “That’s what they do. It’s what they train for. To win your trust and bring you in so they can do unspeakable horrors to you. To so many of us. Because they take joy in our pain. Because they want to destroy us. Not just physically, but mentally. Emotionally. They inflict wound after wound and leave destruction in their wake. None of what happened was your fault, Ariel. Never try to say otherwise. Never think otherwise. It was done to you. Not with you. And I’d go back and kill every single one of them if I could. I’d go back and find you before you met the monster who made you feel your smile was anything but beautiful.”

  The sob caught her unaware, rising from her chest and spilling from her throat. She wanted to back away, to hide in solitude until the storm passed, but Daniel wouldn’t let her. He pulled her back into his arms and held her tightly, whispering words of love and understanding while she cried until she felt empty. He lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the bed that dominated the room. He sat on the mattress, cradling her in his lap.

  “I had a couple of glasses of wine the night before, but I’m pretty sure he drugged me.”

  “Most likely,” Daniel agreed.

  “I was already…” It was too easy to remember. The feel of the sun on her skin. The smells. The ropes against her wrists and ankles.

  “No,” Daniel whispered, cupping her chin again. “Stay here with me. Just the two of us. You don’t have to tell me. I’d never ask you to relive a single moment of that day.”

  “I dream about it. About him. About them.” She’d been wrong. Another tear spilled down her check. She wasn’t quite as empty as she’d believed. “They…broke me.” Not physically, though her body had taken time to heal, but mentally and emotionally, where the scars lay deep beneath the surface. That’s where she was still shattered. They’d taken an act that should have been one of passion, of love and turned it into one of terror and shame.

  “No,” Daniel denied. “You’re far from broken. Look at me, baby.”

  It took all she had to meet his gaze this time. She felt laid bare before him. No secrets left. He knew things she’d never told another. The guilt and shame she carried with her. Everything.

  Daniel appeared conflicted for a moment then shook his head as he slid her from his lap to sit on the mattress while he went to his knees before her. He took her hand and squeezed it between his. “Fuck it. It’s not the time or the place I wanted. Not the way I planned in any shape or form, but I think it’s past time I said this to you. Past time I assured you of how I feel. You’re my mate, baby. My other half. The one person I’ve prayed my whole life to find.”

  Her heart lodged in her throat, preventing her from saying anything.

  “In the name of the Great Creator, who has blessed us, by the life that flows within my veins and the love that flows within my heart, I take you as mine for now and always.”

  “Daniel—”

  “To my heart, of my spirit, as my life’s mate unto death and beyond. I shall possess you and be possessed by you, so that none may come between us. I am yours,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “I’m not asking for the words back from you. Not yet. Someday. When you feel them. For now, I offer you my vow and stand by it. I am yours. However you’ll have me. However you need me.”

  His words washed over her, mending fully what she’d worried could never be healed. This amazing man stood before her, offering her everything and asking nothing in return. In doing so, he made her want to give him everything.

  “Daniel, I…” She paused this time. The words stuck in her throat. Instead, she reached for him, leaned into him and met his lips with hers. “Show me.”

  “What?” he whispered across her lips.

  “Show me how to be your mate. I want to be your mate, Daniel. I just don’t know how.”

  “Ariel, you are my mate. There’s no hoop that has to be jumped through.”

  She shook her head. “I want you to make love to me. I… I want to try. Please.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Daniel’s hands shook with the desire burning through him. A desire he needed to ruthlessly control. The last thing he wanted was to do something that would send Ariel running from him again. Her golden gaze held his with such trust. Trust he didn’t want to lose. As if she felt his trepidation, Ariel leaned toward him.

  “Kiss me,” she urged.

  He stared at her for a long moment before rising to his feet and pulling her to stand with him. Slowly, he glided his fingers up her arms, moving across her shoulders then up the slender column of her neck.

  “Are you sure?” He needed her to be certain, and her fear showed clearly in her golden gaze.

  On a slow exhale, she nodded.

  “At any point, you can say stop. No matter what. You say stop, and it all stops. I swear to you.”

  She nodded again then pressed her lips to his. He felt her urgency, her need, and more importantly, the fear that ate her from the inside out. He softened the touch of their lips then slipped his across her face, placing soft caresses over her checks and nose, her eyelids and forehead. He ran his lips along her neck, letting his tongue glide out to taste her as he did. He took his time, and moment by moment, he felt her pulse calm, felt her body relax.

  He went back to her lips but let his fingers caress her waist, gently slipping under the edge of her shirt and softly caressing her skin. She tensed again briefly, but relaxed as he continued to kiss her. Every inch he gained was hard won, and by the time he’d managed to lift his fingers, so they grazed the sides of her breasts, her shirt bunched along his wrists, sweat covered his body in a fine sheen. He broke the kiss only long enough to pull her shirt over her head, then he immediately returned to her lips.

  He ran his hands over her skin, softly, slowly. He traced the edges of her bra, wanting nothing more than to cup her breast in his hand. To feel the weight and fullness of her. She would fit his palm perfectly. When he glanced down, he could just make out the dusky rose shade of her puckered nipples. They were tight, hard points that he ached to taste with his tongue, to roll between his lips. But he had to remind himself to take things slow and easy.

  Daniel finally left her lips to skim over her throat, sliding across her collar bone before dipping lower and scattering kisses over the top of her chest. His hands continued to soothe her while he hoped his mouth built her need. So far, she’d been content to let him touch her but hadn’t lost herself in the desire to touch him, as well.

  He slipped his tongue under the lace edge of her bra, sliding it over smooth skin and managing to skim the puckered edge of her areola. She moved then.

  “Daniel.” His name was a low moan from her lips as she buried her hands in his hair and urged him closer to the tip.

  With a groan, he locked his lips around her nipple, sucking her through the lace. She whimpered and clung, and he wasn’t sure she was aware of the moment he whisked away the fabric and met skin with skin. He sucked with gluttonous pulls, scraping with his teeth before lashing with his tongue.

  “I want to taste you everywhere.” He moved his lips over her belly as he tugged at the button of her jeans then eased down the zipper.

  She pushed at the denim with him, growling when they caught on her shoes. He dropped to his knees, continuing to run his mouth across her taut belly while he jerked her shoes and socks from her feet. He dropped the jeans and panties into a pile atop her shoes then let his gaze skim up her, stopping at the juncture of her sex where her slick folds were hidden between damp thighs.

  Daniel slowly came to his feet, sweeping her up in his arms and laying her on the bed before rising over her, taking her mouth in a searing kiss then working his way back down her body unt
il he was sprawled between her thighs.

  It took a moment for him to register the tension in her muscles, the whimpers that weren’t pleasure. Ariel shook beneath him, and now that he had picked up on it, all he felt was her fear. He quickly moved to her side, running his hand gently along her side.

  “Shh, baby. It’s okay. I didn’t mean to scare you. Open your eyes, baby. It’s me. It’s only me.”

  Another whimper before she opened her eyes, and the fear he saw there nearly unmanned him. He’d put that in her eyes. This time, her fear was because of him.

  “I know it’s you. I just… I can’t…” She paused, swallowing and shaking her head.

  That’s when it hit him. He’d had her beneath him, pinned her to the bed with his weight. He was a fucking idiot. As he opened his mouth to tell her how sorry he was, he bit back the words. Jesus! Was he determined to make things worse? Instead, he held her, did his best to soothe her with words and kisses until he felt the tension leave her again.

  “I want to try something,” he murmured, rising on his elbow so he could glance down at her. “Will you trust me?”

  “I… I can’t…”

  “I know, baby. I won’t do that again. Promise.” Not until she was ready.

  “I don’t know if I can do this.”

  “Did you enjoy my touch?”

  “You know I did.” He saw the truth in her eyes, but the fear still lingered there.

  “I want to try something. Will you trust me?”

  She stared at him for a long moment, so long that he was afraid her answer would be no. Then slowly, she nodded. He sat up, ridding himself of his boots and socks then ripping his shirt over his head and tossing it aside. He kept his jeans on, needing the barrier between his flesh and hers. He stretched out on the bed next to her, moving until his head was up by the headboard. She rose onto her knees beside him, and Daniel had to swallow several times to keep from reaching for her breasts again.

  “I want you to straddle my chest.”

  Her gaze flew from exploring his body to meet his eyes. “I… What?”

  Daniel kept his hands loosely at his sides. “I want you to straddle my chest. Please.”

  She bit her bottom lip, letting her gaze run over him from head to toe. He felt the heat of her gaze as it lingered at his crotch. Much longer and she’d have him coming in his pants again. He closed his eyes then snapped them open when he felt the slick glide of her sex over his stomach. She sat astride him, the heat of her soaking into his skin. She sat back, and he had to fist his hands in the covers to keep from reaching for her. Her ass just brushed the hard ridge of his cock, and his stomach muscles clenched tight as he fought to keep his hips from lifting into her.

  “Come closer, baby,” he urged. His voice was guttural, more animal than man, and there was nothing he could do about it.

  Ariel rose onto her knees and slid higher until her knees bumped into his arm pits. He could see the pink flush of her sex, the dew coating the plumped lips, and he wanted that ambrosia on his tongue.

  “Higher.”

  “I can’t go any higher, Daniel.”

  He licked his lips. “Yes, you can. Put your knees over my shoulders so they rest on the mattress beside my head. Hold onto the headboard for balance.”

  Her breasts wiggled as she moved, adjusting her position exactly as he’d told her. Her scent was intoxicating, and he prayed he didn’t lose control at the first taste of her sex on his lips. He glanced up as she positioned herself above him.

  “Wider,” he ordered and groaned when she complied. He could see all of her, every pink morsel.

  Now, he reached up, fondling her buttocks as he brought her sex to his mouth. He circled her hole, dipping inside just enough to gather her juices before moving along the inside of her folds to her clitoris where it peeked out at the top of her sex. He flicked over it then wrapped his lips around it and sucked.

  Ariel’s cries were music to his ears. Then she began pumping her hips against his face. He slid one hand under her ass and teased her entrance, tapping and rubbing but not entering her. Not with his fingers at least. His mouth was a different story. He sucked and licked, urging her higher toward the pleasure he wanted to give her. And she appeared to revel in it.

  As he let his gaze skate up her body, he took in everything. The ripple of her stomach muscles as she rode his face. The tight buds of her nipples, a dark rose as she moved closer toward orgasm. But it was her face that held his gaze. Eyelids at half-mast. Lush lips parted as she panted. Dusky color filling her cheeks. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and he was madly in love with her.

  “Ariel,” he whispered her name against her folds, and when their gazes met, he latched onto her clitoris, sucking while he thrust a finger inside her. She came with a harsh cry, her juices coating his finger and dampening his chin before he moved his lips lower and drank her in.

  By the time he’d consumed his fill, she was trembling above him, barely able to keep herself upright. He placed a sucking kiss on her inner thigh, pulling another moan from her.

  “Come here, baby.”

  She moved as if she were boneless, collapsing at his side with shuddering breaths. Not moving as he gathered her close to him. Daniel swore his cock was going to explode. He was so hard that he physically hurt. He might permanently have the imprint of his zipper at this point. But it didn’t matter. He’d brought his mate pleasure. That’s what mattered. That was all that mattered.

  Then her fingers grazed over his chest, exploring and making his cock ache more. Her lips followed, and Daniel groaned.

  “Am I hurting you?”

  “Only in the very best of ways,” he promised, running his fingers through her hair.

  “I want you,” she murmured, moving so she sat astride his stomach once more. “Can I… I want to ride you.”

  “You just did.” There was no way he could stop the grin that split his face. He licked his lips to relish the taste of her that remained there and enjoyed the blush that stained her cheeks.

  “You know what I mean. Can I do that?”

  “God, yes,” he agreed.

  She bit her lips again as she lifted and moved lower until she straddled his thighs.

  “May I?” She motioned toward his jeans, and he nodded.

  She popped the button and reached for his zipper.

  “Careful,” he growled, and she jerked her gaze up to meet his. “I’m bare and ready to burst through the zipper.”

  She sank her teeth back into her lower lip as her gaze returned to his lap. This time, she slipped her fingers inside, the back of her knuckles rubbing along his shaft as she opened the material then tugged it lower until his flesh rose free.

  “Take them off,” he ordered when she would have reached for him. The touch of her soft hand on him now would be the end for him, and he definitely wanted this moment to last.

  “God, Daniel. You’re beautiful,” she whispered as she glided down his body, taking his pants with her. She tossed them aside and crawled back up, her nipples brushing along his thighs as she did.

  “You’re killing me, baby.”

  This time, she smiled, all feminine wile, and Daniel caught his breath. Gone was the fear. Gone was the uncertainty. Instead, he gazed on a woman who knew she held him in the palm of her hand, though she’d yet to really even touch him. She ran her lips across his hip bone then inward until he felt the heat of her breath over his shaft. She didn’t touch him, though. Not there. She licked over his stomach then up to his chest, stopping and nipping at his nipple then sucking it with a similar greed to what he’d shown her.

  He reached for her then, pulling her up until he could reach her mouth with his. Her sex brushed over his shaft, and she rode along his length, her folds opening around him so that he glided between them.

  “Ariel.” He moaned her name, running his hands down her sides until he cupped her ass. He pressed her harder along his shaft, making sure the head rubbed over her clit wit
h each slick glide.

  “Help me,” she pleaded, and he reached down, holding his cock steady so that on her next glide he lodged at her opening. Her breath caught, their gazes held, and slowly, he pressed up into her. He didn’t stop until she had every inch. She was hot, tight, and so damn wet he felt her juices dripping onto his balls.

  He urged her to sit up then cupped her breasts in his hands, his thumbs rubbing over her nipples in tight circles. He rocked his hips up into her.

  “Lift and lower yourself on me. Lean back and brace your hands on my thighs to help you.”

  She followed the direction, and the sight of her nearly had him spilling inside her. He took a deep breath, wanting to make it last as long as he could. She found her rhythm quickly, sliding up and down his shaft, riding him closer and closer to the edge. He could tell she was close, too. He slipped one hand down to where they were joined, easily finding her clit and rubbing over it.

  “Not yet,” she whimpered. “Give me a minute.”

  A growl escaped before he could hold it in. If she asked him to stop now, he just might die. But he’d stop. He’d promised, and he’d meant it. No matter what, if she said stop, they stopped.

  “I want to give you the words,” she whispered as she sat up straight, driving his cock deeper inside her. “In the name of the Great Creator, who has blessed us, by the life that flows within my veins and the love that flows within my heart, I take you as mine for now and always. To my heart, of my spirit, as my life’s mate unto death and beyond. I shall cleave to you and be cleaved by you, so that none may come between us. I am yours.”

  He sat up, holding her to him as they finished together.

  “One heart. One soul. One life.”

  She leaned forward, sinking her teeth into his chest, claiming him fully. She tilted her head to the side, exposing her neck for him. With a roar, he clamped down, putting his mark on her as his seed flooded her womb. He felt her sheath tighten and ripple around him, milking every drop from his cockhead. And when he could finally move, there was only one thing left to say.