by Mina Carter
“You could try, but as I don’t actually remember my mother that could be somewhat of a problem,” she replied, turning to face him with a smile. Her voice was as terrible as the warden’s had been.
He froze for a moment, startled by the ancient eyes in such a youthful face. Same as the warden’s had been when he’d glimpsed the power within her, but a thousand times worse. Then, he realized he hadn’t actually spoken.
She smiled. “Of course, all my granddaughters carry a part of me within them,” she said, her eyes unfocused for a moment as though in thought. “Ah, Maribel... her journey is just beginning. A difficult journey, but that tends to happen to the powerful ones. And you don’t need to speak. Here, mere thought is sufficient.”
“Granddaughters?” He couldn’t stop the question from springing immediately to his lips, but then, the weak pulsing of light in his hand brought him back to his reason for being here. He held the orb out.
“Please...”
He faltered. What did you call a goddess? He had no doubt the creature who stood in front of him was a deity. He avoided religion like an arachnophobe avoided spiders, so he wasn’t sure what the approved method of communicating with one was.
“Please, my lady.”
He saw the small quirk of her lips and realized she’d read his predicament easily. Instead of speaking again, he held out Vixen’s failing soul.
She rose and took the small soul orb from him with delicate hands. Her bow-shaped lips pursed thoughtfully. “A soul. The soul of the warrioress Vixen.” She looked at him. “Her journey is almost over. Why do you bring this to me?”
Fear froze his heart in his chest. What did she mean Vixen’s journey was almost over? It couldn’t be.
“She’s my bond-mate, my lady... please, I can’t let her die.” He dropped to one knee before the slender figure of the childlike goddess.
She arched her eyebrow, an imperious look on her young face. “You can’t let her die? Why... what do you think you, a mere kyn, can do to avert the will of the gods?”
He bit his lip—he would fail. Vixen would die and he could do nothing about it. Coldness seeped into his heart.
“Nothing, my lady, except to beg you to take my soul in place of hers,” he said quietly, his shoulders slumped in defeat.
“You would offer your soul? Why?” Curiosity laced her tone, as if he had finally done something interesting.
He looked up, hope bright in his dark eyes. “I love her. I would rather die so that she could live.”
The goddess nodded and wrapped her hands around the faltering light. He gasped and started forward, the urge to snatch it back strong.
“And if I refuse?” she asked, still watching him.
His response was calm as he stood and looked down at her. “Then take mine as well. I would rather share her fate, whatever it is, than live without her.”
Silence stretched between them, the two powerful beings... a kyn warrior and a goddess matching each other look for look. The tension tore at his nerves, at his very will, as the impulse to scream and rail at her grew with each second.
She smiled. Darkness closed around him and tears filled his eyes. He had failed. Defeat crowded into his heart, crushing him, leaving him empty.
Then her voice whispered in his ear. “A soul offered willingly for love is a rare thing, warrior. Perhaps rarer than you realize for one demon-born. Live your days with your warrioress, and may the child she carries be the first of many.”
Chapter 10
Vixen lay sleeping. Her blonde hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders and her eyelashes fluttered softly against her cheeks. She looked like an angel. His angel.
And he’d almost lost her.
Kalen sat by her bedside, his fingers laced with hers as his thumb stroked over the marks on her wrist. Bond marks. Marks that announced to the world she was his, and he was hers.
And she thought she wasn’t good enough for him…
The memory of her last words to him as she lay dying sliced him through to the core and brought tears to his eyes. She’d actually thought it was better that she die because she wasn’t good enough for him. His proud, strong warrioress thought she wasn’t good enough for him… He shook his head. It was the other way around. He wasn’t anywhere near good enough for her.
“Oh, isn’t this sweet?” an acid voice asked from the doorway. “The warrior and the she-beast. They should make a film about it. It’d be a total fucking flop.”
The growl started deep in Kalen’s chest as he turned around to see Astra in the doorway. As always, she was immaculately dressed, her near white hair in a perfect undo and her makeup slathered on like she was ready to walk on camera. He couldn’t imagine her putting herself in danger of breaking so much as a nail, never mind putting her life on the line every night like Vixen did.
“Get the fuck out of here,” he snarled, rising to his feet.
Anyone who knew him, had seen him or any other warrior, or had a shred of common sense would have backed up and run for their lives as he stalked forward, but Astra had never had much of a survival instinct. Instead, she stood in the doorway, a small smirk on her face as she looked over his shoulder at the sleeping woman in the bed.
“Pity the pixies didn’t kill her,” she sneered. “One less dinosaur to worry about. A freak female one at that.”
Kalen’s hand shot out and wrapped around her throat. Yanking her forward, he snarled in her face. “You take that back,” he hissed, his voice low and dangerous. “That’s my bond-mate lying there and you’re not worthy to kiss the ground she walks on.”
Astra’s face paled as her fingers scrabbled at his hand.
“She is the best of us. Ferocious in battle… loyal… kind.” He shook her with each word. “We are the better for her being among us. And I love her with every breath I take, with every fiber of my being. I’ll love her for the rest of my life, until the final death takes me. Her and the child she carries, my child,” he snarled into Astra’s ear. “She has given me everything you denied me, willingly, and asking nothing in return. She took a broken man and made him whole, and when she wakes, I will worship her for doing so.”
He shoved Astra backward, her expression of shock and surprise so comical that under any other circumstances he would have laughed. Instead, he merely watched her as he would a cockroach. “Don’t come anywhere near me again, Astra. Don’t come anywhere near us. You’re not welcome and if you upset my mate ever again, I won’t be responsible for my actions…”
“We won’t be responsible for our actions,” a deep voice added. Astra whirled around to find Marak and his queen, Maria, standing behind her, their expressions as forbidding as Kalen’s.
“Kalen…” Vixen’s soft voice from the bed brought Kalen’s head around like a spinning top, Astra and their new visitors forgotten in favor of rushing to her bedside. She was still pale, but her eyes were open and fixed on him, shining with what looked like unshed tears. “Did you mean all that?”
“Every word,” he promised, lifting her hand to place a kiss gently on the back. “I didn’t know it, but I was lost before you. I hid it all behind a mask of jokes and sarcasm, but all I wanted was your touch. All I needed was you. I’ve been in love with you for years, but I was too stubborn to admit it.”
She smiled, reaching out to brush his cheek. “You… men,” she shook her head, closing her eyes for a second. When she opened them, another question shone there. “What you said… a baby?”
He nodded, unable to stop the grin breaking across his lips. “The goddess told me when I bargained for your soul.”
“Goddess? Bargained?” She laughed a little. “No, I don’t want to know. If you risked pissing off a deity for me, I guess that means you really do love me.” Her face filled with wonder. “A baby though?”
“I can confirm that,” a white-coated doctor commented from the door. A young kyn woman, she exuded confidence as she walked in, her face wreathed in smiles. “Vixen, you’re in the
early stages of pregnancy. Congratulations, you’re going to be parents.”
“Are you sure you feel okay?”
Vixen smiled at the concerned comment from her mate, the fifth on the drive over since they’d left the hospital. Kalen sat next to her in the back of the big SUV, his arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders. She hid her smile. What danger? She was in one of the heavily armored vehicles they used for their patrols with three warriors and herself in here. But his concern was sweet, and it made her feel cherished and loved.
“I’m fine,” she spread her hand over his chest, reveling in the fact that she could. That he was all hers to touch as she wanted. When she wanted. As much as she wanted. “Honestly. The doc gave me a clean bill of health or she wouldn’t have let me go. I promise.”
It was no less than the truth. As soon as her pregnancy had been confirmed, she’d been treated like she was made of china. They’d run every possible test, and several that were experimental, to conclude that both Vixen and her baby were in the best of health, with none of the issues that often plagued kyn pregnancies.
A baby. She was going to be a mom. She didn’t know anything about kids. Panic lifted its ugly head for a moment before she beat it down. They were both warriors, had faced the rogues for years. How hard could bringing up a kid be compared to that? And they would face it… together.
“Stop worrying, and take me home, okay?” she begged, nestling into his arms and resting her head against his shoulder. She might have been declared disgustingly healthy by the doctor, who had obviously wanted to keep her in for observation, but she’d also nearly died just a few days ago, and tiredness still plagued her.
“Home,” he nodded as the car changed direction again. “Our home.”
She watched sleepily through the window as the scenery changed. Before long, they pulled through huge gates and drove up toward a large manor. Kalen’s family home, it had to be. She recognized the crest above the door.
“Welcome home, Lady Sauveterre,” he whispered as he opened the door and climbed out of the vehicle with her in his arms. “My lady.”
He strode through the big doors at the front of the house, nodding to the servants lined up to welcome them. She didn’t get any more than a quick impression of faces as they swept by.
“Kalen, you can put me down,” she protested, trying to struggle against his hold. “I’m more than capable of walking. I promise.”
“No,” he growled, his grip tightening. “You’re mine to protect and look after, even against exhaustion. Let me do this, Vixen, please.” He looked down at her and the darkness in his eyes rocked her to the core.
“I nearly lost you and I need to see you in my bed,” he shouldered open a door and walked them through a huge suite of rooms. His, they must be, but she paid them barely a glance. Her gaze locked with his as heat rolled through her veins. “I want to hold you to reassure myself you’re really here. That you’re really mine.”
“I am here. I am yours. I love you,” she said softly, not struggling to be free anymore as he walked through a last door into a bedroom. A huge four poster dominated the room. He stalked across to lay her gently in the middle. But he didn’t join her. Instead, he pulled at her boots and socks, then her clothes, obviously intent on getting her naked quickly.
“Hey, hey… slow down, tiger,” she laughed and then jumped when he snarled, showing fang.
“I can’t help it.” He sighed, visibly trying to get himself under control. “I know we probably can’t do anything, but I need your skin against mine. I need to touch you. Now.”
Eyes wide, she nodded. She’d heard stories about bonded couples, had seen the way Marak acted around Maria, possessive and protective all at the same time. As though his world began and ended with her and her welfare. He snarled if any of the warriors so much as glanced at her the wrong way. Now Kalen acted that way, over her.
“You can touch me as much as you want,” she promised, helping him remove what remained of her clothes and lying back as he stripped his own off. A feeling of self-consciousness washed over her as his heated gaze swept her body. Did he like what he saw? She was muscled and toned from her job, not soft and slender like most kyn women. And she was scarred, her skin marked forever where the spelled blade had nearly ended her life.
“You’re beautiful,” he growled, crawling onto the bed naked, but with all the grace of the predator he was. Her heart stalled in her chest at the sheer masculine beauty of his big, leanly muscled body. He wasn’t built along the lines of a tank like some warriors, but was filled with a whipcord strength she ached to feel again.
“You know…” she murmured as he crawled over her, walking her fingers across his chest. “The doctor didn’t say anything about not… you know… having sex.”
His gaze locked onto hers, the darkness there eating up the color and leaving just the blackness of heat and desire. “We wouldn’t just be having sex,” he promised. “I crave your touch, sweetheart, and the feel of your body under mine. I don’t just want to fuck you. I want to claim you, body and soul. I want to take you so deep we don’t know where you end and I begin.”
Her breath caught at his growled words and the desperation behind them. Reaching up, she brushed her lips over his in invitation. He held still under her teasing, a big hand splayed out over the back of her waist to hold her to him. The thick, hard bar of his cock was trapped between them, brushing against her still flat stomach and betraying his need.
“I don’t see a problem with that,” she breathed and nipped his lower lip softly.
He groaned and surged into movement, claiming her mouth and parting her lips with his tongue in one smooth movement. A second later she found herself pressed back against the soft covers as he kissed her as though his life depended on it. Moaning, she wrapped herself around him, surrendering to his touch eagerly.
His lips branded hers, the sweep of his tongue as he found and tangled with hers a demand and claim all in one. Heat blazed through her, need following in its wake as she pressed against him. It had been far too long since they’d been together, and she ached to feel him within her again. She needed to feel his thick cock pressing into her, stretching and filling her as he took her to the heights of passion again.
She arched her back and pressed her breasts against his chest, the brush of skin against skin making her nipples bead and pucker as though they begged for attention. He didn’t leave her waiting long.
One arm braced by her head as he kissed her, his free hand swept up her side to close around one breast. She moaned into his mouth as he cupped her. Long, strong fingers rolled her nipple between them. Her breath caught, a bolt of pleasure arrowing down from her nipple to her clit. She moved restlessly against him, her thighs either side one of his, until she practically dry-humped his thigh.
“Shhhh, sweetheart, I got you,” he whispered against her lips. His hand traced down her side and over her stomach to dip between her thighs. They both groaned as his fingers slid through her slick pussy lips.
“Goddess, you kill me, Vix,” he groaned, finding her clit and stroking it with long, delicious caresses. She whimpered in reply, her hands driving deep into the hair at the back of his neck as she parted her lips in surrender. The feral growl that rolled from his chest as he plundered the softness of her mouth didn’t scare her. Instead, it turned her on even more. She liked him a little out of control, desperate to possess her.
“I can’t do this, not this way,” he broke away to gasp. Before she could ask what he meant, he’d used his greater strength to flip her over onto her hands and knees. The soft stroke of his hand over her stomach melted her heart. “Don’t want to risk hurting the baby,” he murmured as he kissed the side of her neck. “I’m too big and heavy.”
“You won’t hurt me or the baby.” Her breathing caught as he slid a hand down between her legs to play with her clit again. The feel of his big body against her back and his lips on her neck almost sent her over the edge.
“Please, Kalen,” she begged, pushing back against him. The shaft of his hardened cock fit in the groove of her ass, sending her excitement higher. All he needed to do was dip his hips a little and he’d be pressed right where they both needed most. Her blood heated at the thought, adding an extra rock to her hips as she pressed against him.
His growl was a warning, but the sharp points of his fangs as he bit down on her shoulder to hold her in place made her melt against him. She’d been horrified when he’d bitten her before, but only because biting was… should only be between couples who had committed to each other. Now they were bond-mates… she ached to feel his bite again.
“Oh, goddess, please,” she moaned, tilting her head to give him better access to her neck. “Please, Kalen, make me yours.”
The sharp points of his teeth scraping her skin made her shiver as he moved back, and in the next heartbeat, the broad head of his cock pressed against the entrance to her pussy. She moaned as he pressed into her, a slow, insistent push that forced her body to part around him, to accept him. He was too big, too wide, and he stopped just an inch inside her. She wanted to howl with frustration and tried to shove back, to force him further inside her, but his hand in the small of her back held her still.
“Easy, love,” he murmured and pushed again. Shivers rolled over her body, hot need flowing through her limbs like wildfire as he parted her again, pushing a little further, forcing her body to accept him a little more before he pulled out again. Little by little he worked his way inside the tight grip of her body until he was seated in her to the hilt and held still.
She moaned as he pulsed within her, the thick length of his cock stretching her wide. It felt good, better even than she remembered. The burning pleasure-pain of his invasion faded, and she wriggled experimentally against him.
His sharp intake of breath matched her moan. “Goddess, Vix… Carry on like that and I won’t last long.”