Page 55 of A Spell of Bones and Madness (Nostos #2)

Chapter Forty-Four

Ajax

A s most self-loathing men did, Ajax had somehow avoided seeing Ember since the full moon.

It was torture—sneaking about the castle, awkwardly lingering outside her door to make sure she was safely tucked away at night.

Unable to face the woman he loved—see that look of distrust and disgust at what he was—regardless of what she’d said.

You don’t scare me, Commander . He should.

With a single swipe of his paw he could rip shreds through her skin, gods forbid if he lost control after not shifting for so long.

It was a risk he would not take, not let her take, even if he longed for what his parents had—more than that even.

Yes—the Kirassos were like family, but he had not had an actual family since his parents passed over to Aidesian.

Not a single person who loved him unconditionally, who felt the same life-altering charge through their bones at the idea of losing one another.

But to see that glimmer of fear, of angst, when he spoke those three words.

Ember did not feel the same way, and yet Ajax was reckless and quite honestly desperate, which led him now to the confines of the corridor outside her quarters.

He could hear the slow pace of her breathing through the wooden door.

Gentle. Calming. At ease. More likely than not, asleep.

Rustling his hand through his hair, guilt crept in his gut, roiling about—a present reminder that what he was about to do was entirely selfish.

Breath steady, Ajax reached for the handle, pulling back just as quickly.

Maybe he should leave her be—end this game of back and forth.

He could walk back to his quarters and she would never know the difference.

Never see the anguish he hid behind his eyes.

Ember didn’t deserve it, to bear this weight and burden of someone she could never love in return.

Wood creaked under his feet as Ajax began to retreat from the door. His decision was made. A tortured soul filled with regret sailing to his death. Low chuckles drifted past his ears, raising each hair on his entire body, sending goosebumps over his arms.

“And here I thought you were avoiding me.” Ember stood before him in little more than a blue, silk chemise and bottoms that curved high enough that nothing could be left to the imagination.

Gods, he was done for. He shouldn’t have turned back around to face her.

He should have walked away and left her to whatever dreams she might have had.

But seeing this—the way her golden hair fell past her shoulders, swaying gently above her peaked breasts, those pouting lips as she pierced him with her amber eyes—it was that night in Nexos all over again.

“Yes, well I—Ander just wanted to make sure you were prepared for tomorrow,” Ajax stammered.

Ember stepped closer to him, invading his space until she was mere inches from his chest. “Is that so? I’m sure Alexander is much too busy with my sister to worry about little old me, Commander.

Do you think I haven’t heard you outside my chambers all these nights?

Yet you never once came to speak to me.” Her breath was hot against his skin.

“I will repeat myself one more time—and only one more time. I am not afraid of you, Ajax. I will never be afraid of you.” Then she leaned up on the tips of her toes, meeting his lips with her own in the lightest of kisses.

Ajax stepped back. “You shouldn’t have done that.” His breathing was shaky, mind racing. He couldn’t think straight—not with her this close, not with cinnamon and honey wrapping its heavenly scent around him.

“If I am walking to my death, I do not want to leave this world with regrets.” Her face scrunched in that utterly heartwarming way it did when she was determined.

“And what would you regret, Ember?”

“Not being with you.”

Four words—four simple words, and yet they were his undoing. Not the three he craved to hear—those would never come—but these, a close second, a desperate need, begging him to lean in once more, to devour the fiery woman before him. “Is that so?”

“Yes, although I do think some serious groveling needs to be involved. I mean, you did put me through a lot.” Amber eyes lit up behind her fluttering eyelashes, before she turned, swaying her hips back and forth as she walked over toward her bed, the bottom of her ass just peeking out from below those tiny silk bottoms.

“Well, it is a good thing I am excellent at apologies.” Ajax stepped inside, closing the door softly behind him.

He prowled up to Ember, who now sat at the edge of the bed, propped up on her elbows.

Her thick golden locks were loose down her back, just grazing the dark velvet blankets she sat upon.

Just watching her shimmy down onto that bed, her feet hooked on the edge of the footboard with that soft smile and entrancing gaze, had his cock hardening beneath the sleeping trousers he wore.

There was nothing to hide the way it swelled up toward his stomach and it only made him want to thrust into Ember more when her teeth rolled over her bottom lip at the sight.

When he was just close enough to lean into her, Ember stopped him with her foot against his chest, dropping her gaze from his eyes to the ground. “I said grovel.”

Gods, her melodic voice was enough to put him under a trance.

Ajax knelt before this stunning woman, letting his hands travel up her pale thigh.

“Oh, Drakos, you know how much I love receiving orders from you.” Lurid memories raced through his mind, of all the dreams he’d had with her in this exact position—the images seared into his soul, ready to let loose.

“And how exactly will you show me how sorry you are?” Ember questioned, her voice heady as Ajax trailed his mouth along her inner thigh, eliciting a soft moan from her lips.

“I could think of a few ways,” he mumbled back, hooking one of Ember’s legs over his shoulders, slowly slipping her silk shorts to the side.

“I’d like to—” Ember’s breath hitched as Ajax dragged his tongue right up her center in a long, languid motion. “Never mind.”

Her scent was intoxicating, his utter undoing. Any man would be lucky to claim this woman, mark her, have her scent plastered over their body, but for a wolf—for him—it was something so much more. It meant she was his. Irrevocably his.

He moved in unhurried, lazy circles, taking his time with her, ruminating in the taste of honey and cinnamon, the way she would buck against his mouth every time he took a pause.

She tasted like sweet reprieve.

Felt like the amber and copper of a sunrise after a storm.

Warmed like the crackling of fire in the hearth.

Simmering.

Blazing.

His.

Holding Ember’s leg tight with one hand, he used the other to insert a finger inside her, feeling the warmth and wetness of her wrapped around him.

Gods, what would it feel like to have his cock inside her?

He would need to move carefully, start little by little to fit inside her.

His tongue and fingers picked up pace at the thought.

He began to flick his tongue back and forth, working in tandem with his fingers as he coaxed her into pleasure.

Lapping up every drop of her as he could, like it was a well that could dry up without him here to drink from it.

He would drown in this, drown in her. Sink to the bottom of whatever ungodly ocean she took him to. Live in the underworld with the monsters and daimons she brought forth. Let himself perish again and again if it meant he could have this for eternity .

And then her hand came down and fisted his hair. Ember held him tighter against her, riding against his face in an unbounded fashion, like if she didn’t finish this moment her body might simply evaporate.

Ajax was undone.

A low growl of need left his throat, vibrating against her as he worked his tongue again and again.

That’s it, love , he thought, gripping her ass tighter as Ember’s hips lifted, working herself over his fingers.

He wasn’t doing much at this point, other than let her ride against his face and, gods, if his cock didn’t throb, ready to take over as soon as she would let him.

Ember hooked her other leg around his neck, holding him in place, taking what was hers, what she wanted, whatever she wanted—and he would let her.

Her pace and her breathing quickened before Ember let out a low moan and her muscles tightened around Ajax’s fingers.

His eyes practically rolled to the back of his head feeling her tip over the edge.

“How was that for groveling?” Ajax murmured.

“It was a start,” Ember panted, unhooking her legs from his shoulders and scooching back on the bed, “but I could use a little more convincing.” She lifted her hands to the hem of her silk chemise, lifting it over her head and dropping that blue silk to the side.

Then she reached for the hem of those teeny, tiny bottoms, and Ajax locked on the wet spot at her center.

What he had done to her to make it that way.

His instincts had him clawing for the edge of the bed as she shimmied those shorts down.

“You wicked little thing,” Ajax said as he took in the round, perky breasts before him, trailing his gaze from their perfectly shaped mounds, down to her navel and even further to that glorious pussy he wanted to bury himself in.

He grabbed at the back of the thin cotton shirt he wore, tossing it to gods know where.

Ajax went to climb up beside her on the bed, but all he heard was a tsk, tsk, tsk , and all he saw was a waving of Ember’s finger.

What torture did she wish to make him endure? Anything—he would do anything except leave. He would never leave her side again.

“Now, if you are a good boy and listen, maybe I’ll let you in here with me,” Ember laughed, spreading her legs wide on the luxurious blankets that covered her bed.

Ajax had to stop himself from drooling. Her confidence was radiating off her. This was not a frightened woman looking for release—this was a woman who took what she wanted, who had experienced these things, knew what felt good, where she wanted him, how she wanted to feel.

“Take off your pants, Commander.” Her eyes raked over him, lingering for a moment on his stomach before dropping to the cock that now sprang free from his pants.

Ember’s tongue gazed over her lower lip and her hand slid to her breast, cupping it while she worked her finger over her peaked nipple. “Now, I want you to watch.”

“Watch?”

But he was quickly answered by her other hand sinking down between her legs, guiding her fingers over her clit again and again.

He couldn’t help himself as he locked eyes with her, the heady look of pure satiation staring back at him, and Ajax fisted his hand around his cock.

A tiny bead of pre-cum met his thumb as he stroked up and down his shaft, working in pace with Ember’s needy movements.

He pictured the way those soft pink lips that were parted ever so slightly would look around him.

If Ember would let him fuck her mouth like she had done to his.

Let him fist those golden locks as he buried himself into her, reaching the back of her throat while her tongue stroked up his length, her fist taking what her mouth could not.

It was too much.

He needed her.

Every piece of her.

Now.

Ajax moved closer to the bed and Ember did not stop him. She only continued to circle her thumb again and again, bucking up on her own hand, watching as he climbed closer to her, stroking himself in tandem.

“And what do you think you are doing, Commander?” Her gaze latched onto his, heady and yearning.

“I am taking what is mine,” he growled, grabbing her wrist and bringing her hand up to his mouth before licking her wetness right off her fingers. A small whimper left Ember’s throat as his tongue circled her finger.

“Say it again.” A beg, not an order.

“ Mine. ”

Ajax used one hand to pin back Ember’s wrists over her head while the other held his cock as he teased it over her center, brushing lightly up and down.

He slid the tip inside her, moving slowly at first, letting her adjust to his size.

A shudder released down Ajax’s back. It was pure bliss, the way she stretched around him, the feel of her heat encompassing him.

“You do not need to be delicate with me. I can take it. All. Of. It.” The lust in her eyes was intoxicating, unlocking the feral beast within him.

He felt awful, he wanted to ease her in.

But then she bucked her hips up, sliding along his cock and he lost it.

Placing one of Ember’s legs on his shoulder, he grabbed her thigh tight, using it as leverage as he thrust as far as he could into her.

A moan flew out of his mouth as he pulled out and thrust once more into her slick core, rotating his hips slightly so he could hit that spot she seemed to like so much.

If she kept doing that thing with her eyes, the flutter of eyelashes before rolling back slightly accompanied by the low fuck she kept whispering, it wouldn’t take him long—and he wanted it to be long.

He wanted to savor every tiny piece of this moment, clinging to it for eternity as the day he finally got what he’d begged the gods for—a woman to claim as his own.

A partner. An equal. Another thrust had him inching toward the edge.

“Ajax, please ,” Ember whimpered, her breathing choppy as she arched her back up off the bed.

Ajax’s pace quickened, slamming into her sweet, tight core again and again as Ember began to suck in tiny breaths, her eyes closing, digging her nails into his hand that pinned her hands above her head.

“I’m going to…” her voice trailed off as she began to pulse around his cock and her whole body seemed to loosen.

It was his undoing. A guttural moan stirred in his throat as he rode out his orgasm, spilling into her until there was nothing left. He leaned down, planting kisses along Ember’s collarbone and back up to her lips, delicately placing her trembling leg back on the bed, and wrapping her in his arms .

Burying his nose in her hair, Ajax breathed in Ember’s scent, now mixed with his own. It almost had him hard again, thinking of the way the pack would smell him on her, knowing that she was his—and only his.

“Can I stay here tonight?” he whispered into her ear.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she whispered back before clutching his arm and letting out a deep sigh. “If we make it out of this, promise you will spend every night by my side.”

Ajax held her even tighter. “I promise.”