Page 38

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Like the others, Lilac returned to her room to pack her belongings. Ran to her room, actually. She was full of jitters, the excited kind, and threw everything into her trunk without bothering to sort or fold. It was a delightful tumble of silks and wools and linens and her toiletries and makeup piled on top all pell-mell, and she didn’t even care. She had to sit on the lid to get the latches to close, though, but they managed in the end.

It was happening. Really happening. Lilac had fought for her freedom, for the future she wanted, and it was hers. Certainly, it was soured somewhat knowing that her mother and the rest of the robed elders of the coven might be in trouble in Redbud, but that would be handled imminently by witches far stronger than her. And she would certainly help, of course, but she would not be sucked back into the fold as Grandmother’s beautiful weapon. That beauty was solely reserved for someone else now.

Opening her bedroom door, she peered into the hallway. It was dark and quiet, the random sounds of her siblings packing occasionally punctuating the still atmosphere. There was no sign of her father—probably hitching the wether goats to the wagon outside. On the first floor, the massive hearth was muted with small orange flames that only just licked over the logs. The Hall was readying itself for another year of hibernation until the next Yuletide Gala.

Barefoot, she slipped into the hallway and closed the bedroom door behind her. Her feet whispered over the hardwood floor as she glided down the hall and rounded the corner to the stretch of wall inset with the big bay window. She cast glances over the balcony the entire time, not sure why she was worried about being discovered, for she had chosen this and had no regrets. She rounded the next corner and padded down the hall a few doors before stopping outside Allen’s bedroom. Pressing her ear against the door, she discovered him shuffling around inside. A twist of the brass doorknob later and she was slipping over the threshold.

He turned from the open suitcase, a rolled-up shirt still in one hand. “Lilac?”

Allen was dressed only in those plaid pajama pants, tiny beads of water still clinging to his blond hair from his shower. The rest of him gleamed in the warm yellow light of the desk lamp, every curve and angle in sharp relief.

Lilac shamelessly let her eyes roam from his firm biceps to the range of his shoulders and down the thick muscles of his chest. The ridges of his abdomen made her mouth go dry, and the sharp cut of his hips as they disappeared into the flannel sent an almost painful pang of longing deep into her belly.

“Lilac.” The heat in his voice dragged her eyes back to his face. His own gaze was like molten gold, the muscle in his jaw feathering as he clenched his teeth. “What are you doing in here?”

“You’re not mad at me, are you?” she said, suddenly unsure.

“I’m just trying not to rip that nightgown off your body and devour you, sweet girl,” he replied. His tone was light, but the way he looked at her was anything but. It was all-consuming desire, and yet he stayed planted where he was by the bed on the other side of the room. “I’m trying to give you a moment to tell me whatever it is you came in here to say, but your scent . . ..” His eyelids fluttered as he inhaled deeply, a ripple of pleasure visible across his chest and shoulders. “It’s making it very difficult for me to concentrate when I can smell how aroused you are.”

Her heart fluttered, growing wings and soaring heavenward. “I didn’t come here to say anything,” she whispered. “I came here to claim you.”

The shirt Allen held in his hand dropped into his suitcase with a thud.

Lilac shoved herself away from the door, nightgown fluttering against her calves as she flew across the room. Allen caught her, arms banding around her waist as he slammed his head down to meet her kiss. It was a bruising, savage kiss, a ravaging of each other’s lips. Allen met her passion with all of his, nearly crushing her against him as his hands roved over her body.

She was on fire for him, impatient for every touch. Her own nails dragged down the taut skin of his back, her fingers squeezing slab after slab of hard muscle, never satiated. They tangled in his hair, teased his nipples, slid down the ridges of his abdomen to slip beneath his pajamas and—

Allen yanked her hand back with a warning, “Not yet,” and guided it back to his face. She slipped it into his hair, grazing her fingernails against his scalp just the way he liked. The man and the wolf had that in common. He growled with pleasure.

Then Lilac tightened her grip, forcing his lips to abandon their ministrations to her shoulder and return to hers. She pressed against him, drunk from the heat of his skin searing through the thin cotton of her nightgown, and sought more of that heat from his mouth. She wanted his tongue plunging into her again and again . . . .

His fist gripped her wavy brown hair, keeping his plundering mouth fused against her, his other hand gripping her butt and keeping her hips fused against something else.

She wanted that too, wanted that hard bulge to take a more active role in their pleasure instead of solely standing at attention. To be like his tongue, filling her with fire.

Lilac pulled away to kiss his neck, to bite and lick down his chest. Allen released a low chuckle as he lifted his chin and let her have her way with him. “Greedy girl.”

Lilac was greedier than he knew, and his chuckle turned into a single bark of a laugh as she shoved him down on the edge of the bed. His mirth vanished as she dropped down between his knees and peeled down his waistband. She didn’t stop there, shucking his pajama pants down to his ankles and revealing just how up she made him. Her hands glided over the fine gold hair and thick muscles of his thighs, gripping him close to his groin as she positioned herself over him.

“Lilac,” he whispered, frozen.

She glanced up to give him a coy smirk, then she plunged her mouth down on his cock.

Allen gasped, then moaned so loudly Lilac felt her entire body flood with satisfaction. She stroked his hard length over and over, swirling her tongue over that ridged, satiny head until her man was panting. His thighs quivered as he restrained himself, then his hands shot out to frame her face.

“Lilac,” he panicked. “Someone will hear.”

She lifted her head with one long, final lick that made his cock buck and rose from her knees, hiking her nightgown above her thighs. “Let them.”

Lilac straddled his lap, shivering with anticipation from the contact of her smooth thighs against his rougher ones. She reached between them to grasp him and guide him exactly where she wanted. Allen seized her wrist. “I-I don’t have a condom.”

She leaned forward, nuzzling his clean-shaven cheek until her lips drew even with his ear. By the Green Mother, he smelled amazing, from the perspiration of his excitement to the phantom scent of his cologne. The tip of her tongue and her lips captured his earlobe into her mouth, letting it release through her dragging teeth. “I’ve been taking contraceptive tea since the attic. I’m riding you bareback—any complaints?”

“No,” he said thickly.

“Good boy.”

He shivered, releasing her wrist so he could knit his fingers into her long brown hair and lift her lips back to his for another searing kiss. As his tongue plunged into her mouth, Lilac dragged his cock across her clit and to her entrance, back and forth, bathing him in her arousal. It was incredible, this building friction and excitement, and when she couldn’t take it any longer, she rolled her hips and let gravity do the rest.

Allen hissed with pleasure, seizing her waist and thrusting up to root himself deep inside her. A little cry escaped her, followed by an impatient whimper, and then she gripped his shoulders and began her ride.

Her man went feral. He tore the nightgown from her body, grazing his teeth and mouth all over her bare flesh. His hands swept across her arms, her back, her butt, memorizing the contours of her body. Wrapping his arms around her waist, Allen angled her back to grant him better access to her breasts. He laved them with his tongue, teasing her nipples with gentle bites before sucking them deep into his mouth.

“ Allen ,” she gasped. Lilac clung to his shoulders, the strong column of his neck—she couldn’t decide—and frantically pumped her hips.

With each slide of skin against skin, each pleasured gasp and moan, Lilac’s heart beat faster. The heat that had pooled in her belly spread, radiating out like the hundred petals of a sunflower. It flowed down her legs and up into her heart and burned anywhere their bodies were touching. She felt a strange throb in her hand, not enough to steal away her pleasure, but strong enough for her to merit a look.

The center of her palm was glowing.

“Allen,” she whispered. “Allen, look.”

He lifted his head from her breast, golden eyes widening. Lilac felt the loss of one of his hands squeezing her thigh, and when he raised it between them, the same green glow was in the center of his.

The spark!

Wordlessly, they clasped their glowing palms together, and Lilac felt a new shudder of pleasure course down her body. It wasn’t just carnal pleasure, but a binding of their souls. The knowledge that this man was hers in both spirit and body, that they were two halves of the same whole finally reunited. From the way Allen groaned, she knew he felt the same.

“I love you, Lilac,” he said, voice ragged and breathless. His hand tightened on hers. “My mate. My world.”

“Let me show you.” Lilac increased her rhythm, seeking even more friction.

Allen bucked against her, eyes screwed shut as his hand on her hip helped speed her endeavor. He hissed her name, his voice breaking mid-syllable as she drove him closer to climax.

“Yes, my love,” she urged, relishing each nuance of his approaching eruption. It was all over his face, in the tension of every muscle, in the beads of sweat dappling his chest. “Let me make my wolf howl.”

His control shattered. Allen flung his head back with a roar, squeezing so hard on her hand and thigh she thought he might leave bruises. But she didn’t care. She didn’t care because she was rushing headlong to the precipice of her own undoing, and each zing of friction between them, each rampant thrust of his hips, each hot, throbbing pulse of pleasure of his cock buried within her, was propelling her ever closer.

Allen’s eyes snapped open. They glowed brighter than she’d ever seen, even brighter than before the moment he shifted. His teeth were a flash of white before they bit down on that sensitive place she liked best, right between shoulder and neck.

Lilac screamed as two thundering waves of euphoria racked through her entire body. She felt like she was being ripped apart only to be made new immediately after, a sundering that somehow knitted her even tighter with her mate. Her Allen. She writhed on top of him, desperate to press all of her against every inch of him, but she couldn’t get close enough. Even joined, there was still a tighter bond to be had.

She sank her teeth down into the same place on his shoulder, the skin against her mouth turning unnaturally hot. Green light burst through the seams of their joined hands, and Lilac finally felt complete.

She sagged against him, shuddering with the tremors of her orgasm. Sweat trickled down her spine; heat radiated from her skin. She was a glorious mess, her thighs still trembling from her ride. Chest heaving, Allen cradled her close. With gentle touches, he swept and gathered her long hair into his hand and held it away from her back, letting the night air cool her down. With a low moan, he rested his cheek on her shoulder, and Lilac could feel the trembling aftereffects of his own climax still vibrating along his skin. She had worn him out, and she was supremely satisfied about that. Smug, even. His breath came in deep, ragged inhales and blasted hotly against her neck. One part felt a little cooler than the rest of her, and she reached up to discover a crescent moon of exceptionally soft skin there. Lilac then traced the exact mark on his shoulder, marveling at the silver scar tissue her teeth had left behind. The center of her palm no longer glowed, but she deemed that that was just as it should be.

“The mating bite,” Allen told her, his voice laced with exhaustion but bone-deep contentment and wonder, too. He leaned forward and licked the mark on her skin. “You’re truly mine now, sweet girl. My soulmate.”

She mimicked his tender gesture, loving the way he shivered with pleasure at her touch. “And you’re mine, wolf.”