Page 28

Chapter 27

Meera

Everything burned. A tingling heat swept from my legs to my fingertips and everywhere in-between, making my skin feel too tight, too sensitive. My mind reeled back to the fight in the brothel, the heat intensifying as I recalled the way Vareck moved. The way he fought for me.

I knew he was intimidating. I’d heard tales of his ruthlessness. After spending time with him, I’d begun to wonder if they were even true. Now there was no doubt in my mind.

Instead of scaring me, it had the opposite effect. Fricken romance books.

I lifted a trembling hand to my throat, wondering what it would be like to get on his bad side. To feel those strong fingers wrap around my neck, pressing just enough to make me shiver. Would his hands be calloused like they were in our dreams? Would he hold me firm and take me from behind? Maybe he’d shove me up against this wall and?—

“Meera?” His rumbled tone pulled me from my fantasies. “How are you holding up?” He’d ended up a few feet in front of me, but doubled back when I didn’t move. I bit my lip hard, shaking my head. “I can’t . . .” What’s wrong with me?

“It’s the pixie dust,” he said quietly. I must have asked my question out loud.

My throat felt rough when I tried to swallow, like sandpaper rubbing together. “Never been on it. This is . . . something else.”

Vareck let out a strained chuckle, holding out his gloved hand for me. “Come on, we need to get to the inn. We’ll talk there.”

His fingers wrapped around mine. We weren’t even touching skin to skin, but it didn’t matter.

A fresh wave of heat pooled between my thighs.

I groaned, my knees buckling as I collapsed into the snow. The ice seared into me, bypassing the fabric of my pants, but I barely felt it. I just needed a moment—just one moment—to clear my head. But it wasn’t working. My thoughts spiraled, filled with images of Vareck—of us—of the things we had done in our dreams.

Lust throbbed in my veins, making me dizzy.

“Fuck.”

The word was both a whisper and a curse coming from his lips.

I forced myself to look up, eyes hazy, chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. He knelt beside me, all traces of anger from earlier gone, replaced with a hunger that should have worried me. His gaze burned as it roved over me, his breath slow and controlled.

“How much further?” Vareck asked our guide, his voice strained. I whimpered at the cold pressing against my skin, my nipples peaking painfully beneath the fabric of my shirt and sweater. Everything ached . Everything burned.

“Three minutes, give or take. ”

His chin dropped, head bowed for a suspended moment. “I need you to stand up, Meera.” His grip on my hand tightened, pulling me up on shaky legs. I swayed instantly. Vareck lunged, pulling me to his chest with an iron grip around my waist.

We were surrounded by winter, yet when his scent washed over me it was like the snowy landscape around us was a pale comparison.

A long, breathy moan escaped me. I melted into his touch, pressing tighter against him. I arched, my fingers hovering over my lips before biting down on my knuckle, desperate to curb the wicked thoughts tearing through my mind. But it wasn’t enough. I needed more .My hand twitched, ready to slip beneath the band of my pants?—

“You have to walk.” The voice sliced through my haze, and my breath hitched. Vareck frowned and gently moved my hand from my face. A soft whine left my lips.

“How”—I swallowed again, trying to focus on the words—”How are you still . . .” Functioning? Not affected? I wasn’t sure how I planned to end that sentence, but he seemed to understand.

“I’ve been through the passage. You haven’t.” His voice was rough, but it sounded miles away.

I blinked up at him, my vision blurring at the edges.

I wanted him.

Oh, how I wanted him.

Right here. Right now .

I wanted him to shove me onto the ice, to claim me against the cold, to drag me up by my hair and?—

“We need to get out of the snow,” he said. I heard the words, but my feet didn’t move. They couldn’t.

I didn’t care.

“You had me so turned on back there,” I admitted, breath hitching as I trailed a hand down my own chest. I pinched one of my nipples, arching into my own touch.

“Gods be damned,” Vareck cursed. His heat pulled away. The pressure against my body was no longer there. “Siren, I’m barely holding on here. I can’t carry you. You have to walk.”

My body shook like a leaf in the wind, but it wasn’t from the cold, even if my fingers were numb.

A shadow loomed over me as Galpin stepped up beside us. “I can carry her. It’ll be faster?—”

He made the mistake of reaching for me. Vareck reacted before I could even process what was going on.

“ Do not touch her,” he all but snarled, persuasion steeped in every word of his command.

Galpin stepped back, lifting his hands in surrender. “I wasn’t goin’ ta’ do anythin’ unsavory, friend. Yer lady is goin’ to freeze in these temperatures if we don’t get her inside.” The muscle in Vareck’s jaw tightened, but Galpin continued, wrapping his scarf around his face. “I’m covered head ta’ toe. She won’t get any dust on me, n’ even if she did, it’s not the first time. I’ve had plenty of encounters. Don’t affect me much anymore.”

A shudder ran through me. Without thinking, I leaned toward Vareck, reaching for him. He caught my wrist in a gloved hand, fingers flexing against my skin.

“Vareck,” I whispered, trying to break his hold.

He didn’t budge.

Didn’t even flinch .

“Do it,” he said quietly. “Just know if you touch her inappropriately?—”

“I’m happily mated. Only woman I want ta’ touch is my wife.” He and Vareck stared at each other for a second, then the king nodded. He released my wrist and stepped back. I was too busy watching the man who’d occupied my thoughts for years to notice the bartender move. My world tilted as he knelt to bend me over his shoulder. A strong arm wrapped around my legs, just above my knees.

A growl rumbled in my throat.

“Put me?—”

“Do not compel him,” Vareck cut me off. My eyes narrowed. I couldn’t see him; only the back of the man carrying me. He must have sensed what was coming because he quickly added, “ or me.”

My sexual frustration turned into a new irritation. Logically, I knew this was probably the best route. I clearly couldn’t walk. Vareck was struggling more than I’d originally thought. We were both trapped by the pixie dust and needed to get somewhere safe, or as close to it as we could manage.

Unfortunately, because of said dust, logic was not going to win.

“You—you asshole!” I yelled, fisting my hands to keep from beating against the nice man’s back. Or butt. I couldn’t make out much through his cloak, but the body beneath me was warm and hard. The pressure on my lower abdomen wasn’t helping matters either. “Put. Me. Down.” My demand turned into a low moan. One I tried to stifle. This was why I didn’t want to be carried, especially by some stranger. Frostbite seemed less embarrassing, though significantly more problematic.

The man holding me didn’t react, but Vareck did. A rough growl sounded from somewhere close to my left.

“We’re here.” Galpin opened a door with his free hand and stepped inside. Wood groaned beneath his boots. My skin started to burn with the sudden temperature difference, and not in a good way .

My body was gently lowered to the ground. A strong hand held me up with a grip on my bicep. “Farris!” he called out in greeting. I was too out of it to turn and see who he was speaking with. “These two got caught up in . . . a situation. They’re goin’ ta’ need a room. Not above anyone else, if ya’ know what I mean.”

The room blurred around me. Everything became distorted except for Vareck. He wasn’t touching me with his hands, but his eyes—I’d had fucks that didn’t feel as deep or sinful as his gaze. My lips parted.

“Sure thing. It’ll be?—”

Metal clinked as Vareck tossed another leather pouch on the counter.

Galpin whistled under his breath. “They had a run in with the dust,” he explained to the other man, presumably his brother.

“Ahhh,” Farris hummed. Something hard scraped across wood. “Here’s yer key. Second floor, turn left, last door on the right.”

“Ya’ need any help?” Galpin asked. His question was directed at me, but it was the man looming over his shoulder he looked at.

The muscle in Vareck’s jaw flexed. “I’ve got her.”

Gravel had less roughness to it than his voice did, and gods was I here for it.

The hand on my bicep dropped away. Before I could sway, Vareck scooped me up, carrying me bridal style toward the stairs.

“Have fun!” Farris called.

“Don’t forget ta’ bathe,” Galpin’s voice followed behind. Their good-natured chatting continued, slowly quieting as Vareck led us away.

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, my lips grazing his neck. His scent—dark and masculine—ruined me. I kissed his jaw, nipping at his skin, wanting him to break.

He quickened his pace, but otherwise didn’t respond. We came to a brief stop, but he didn’t put me down. Maneuvering the arm bracing my back, he shoved the key in the lock and twisted. The door swung open silently.

Vareck stepped inside and kicked it closed with his foot. The arm beneath my knees dropped away. My legs fell, but he slowly eased me down, dragging me against his body as he reached behind him and flicked the lock back in place.

I reached up, my hands skimming his shoulders, moving to wrap around the nape of his neck and through his hair. I pulled, trying to make him lower his face to mine, but the king remained as immobile as a statue.

The frustration from earlier resurfaced. A low keening whine built in my chest. “What in the nine realms are you waiting for?” I demanded.

Gently, he reached back to wrap his fingers around my wrists, prying them from his body. “Bath first.” He jutted his chin toward the door to my right.

“No.”

“Meera, this isn’t a negotiation.”

“Either you fuck me or so help me gods, I will find someone else?—”

“ Do not finish that sentence,” he snapped. His voice was ice-cold yet burning with fire. I growled under the compulsion, wanting to fight it, but unable to with how the pixie dust was affecting me.

Vareck reached around me, opening the bathroom door. He pressed one hand to my hip and the other to my lower abdomen, pushing me firmly toward it.

“This is ridiculous,” I groaned. “I want you. You want me. It’s not like we haven’t done this hundreds of times?—”

“Strip.”

My hands dropped, pulling at my shirt and cardigan without hesitation. Any stubbornness I had died a swift death now that he was speaking my language. I didn’t even need the compulsion to obey, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t do something for me.

My leggings clung to my thighs, damp from my arousal. Vareck turned on the bath, testing the water temperature before stepping back. Once naked, I reached for him again.

“Get in.”

“But—”

“Get in,” he repeated, this time using persuasion.

Unable to fight his commands, I stepped into the clawfoot tub and sank to my knees. The water was only a couple of inches high but filling quickly. I leaned back, gasping when my bare skin touched the cold cast iron.

Vareck paused, tugging off his gloves, his dark gaze zeroing in on me. His eyes, usually so blue, were nearly black from how dilated they were.

My breath hitched.

He resumed undressing. “How familiar are you with pixie dust?”

I licked my bottom lip. “Heard of it. Never used it. My brother had a problem with it for a while, and I didn’t want to touch it after watching him go down that road.” Lust made it hard to focus but easy to talk.

He nodded, hanging his cloak on one of the mounted wall hooks. “It hits hard and fast, but unlike drugs you consume, the effects of pixie dust don’t start to wane until it’s off your skin.” Vareck glanced at the tub. “Which is why we’re both going to wash up before I take you to bed. ”

My heart rate ratcheted up. My hand touched my throat, then slowly descended my naked form. Water dripped from my fingertips as I circled one of my nipples. They were already sensitive, and I had to bite back a moan.

Vareck let out a harsh breath as he quickly unbuttoned his shirt. His focus was locked in on where I touched myself, expression feral.

I loved it. I needed more.

He whipped off his undershirt, revealing the gleaming muscles of his bare chest. Without hesitating, he started on the laces of his pants. “You’re toying with me.”

“I’m horny,” I corrected. “And you’re holding out on me.”

Vareck grunted, leaning over to tear his boots off, then his socks. My hand slid between my breasts and down the soft swell of my stomach. “I’m making sure we don’t end up in Warwick for a week because we can’t stop fucking. I’d love nothing more than to lose myself in you.” His pants dropped, revealing the lack of boxers or any type of underclothes. “But if we’re going to do that, it won’t be under the influence of pixie dust.” My hand slipped beneath the water, traveling toward the apex of my thighs. Vareck wrapped his fingers around my forearm, stopping the descent.

I lifted my chin, meeting his eyes in a challenge. A sexy smirk curved up his face. “Scoot forward. Let me take care of you.”

Despite the lust drowning me, my heart stuttered in my chest, constricting uncomfortably tight. Vareck settled in behind me, his legs braced on either side of my body. A strong arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me so my back met his chest. I tried to ignore the thick shaft nestling against my backside, but it was almost painful from how turned on I was.

Instead of touching me, like I wanted, Vareck dipped a washcloth in the water before pouring some sort of soap on it. The smell was floral, but light and not overwhelming. While the cloth was likely soft, it felt rough against my sensitive skin as he began the process of washing me, and first up was my face and neck. He gently wiped and re-wet the cloth over and over, removing traces of silver.

“Is there anything you don’t want to do?” he asked quietly, cleaning one arm, then the other.

“I, uhm, no.” My back arched when he started on my chest.

“Nothing?” He paused. “I know it’s hard to think right now, but I need to know your limits.”

I groaned, arching my back against him when he stopped moving. The breath hissed between his teeth. A sharp pain made me gasp, then moan. He bit me.

He bit my ear lobe, and I should have been alarmed.

Keyword: should .

Biting between fae wasn’t the same as with humans. All it took was a slip of control for our fangs to break the skin and a mate bond would be formed.

Sure, Faerie lost true mates because of the curse. Chosen mates, though? Happened all the time.

“Behave,” Vareck ordered gruffly. It didn’t escape my notice he hadn’t used persuasion. Maybe he didn’t actually want me to behave . . .

I leaned back, tilting my neck to the side in an open invitation as my hands settled on his muscular thighs. “I’d rather we didn’t.”

He muttered something under his breath that sounded like he was asking for a god to give him strength .

Ha. There were no gods in Faerie, not since Amoret’s demise.

“Meera, if you can’t focus, I’m going to have to compel answers out of you and I really don’t want to do that.” I lightly ran my nails up and down his thighs, making him shudder. “Please.”

That word made me pause.

He was a king. Royalty didn’t say please. They didn’t beg. Except, he did. For me.

I took a deep breath, trying to pull together my jumbled thoughts. “You asked me something. What was it?”

Vareck laughed softly, but it was tight. I wasn’t the only one feeling the effects of the pixie dust. He was just better at controlling his reaction.

“Your limits. What are they?”

“Um.” The scenarios that flashed through my head had my blood boiling. I clenched my teeth to keep from making a sound. Except to answer him, I had to speak. “I’m okay with most things.”

Vareck groaned as he resumed washing me. “That’s not an answer. I don’t want to take things too far.”

He had good intentions. I knew that. He was trying to do this the right way. And sober, uninhibited Meera appreciated it. She, however, was not here. “Anything we’ve done in dreams is fine—other than biting.”

The idea of it made my body flush with arousal, but I wasn’t making a decision like that while under the magical equivalent to ecstasy.

“I can work with that. If at any point you want me to stop, all you need to do is say it. Okay?”

“Yes. Now can you—” My words died a quick and lustful death when the washcloth rubbed one of my breasts, then the other. His strong fingers circled my nipples. Pleasure shot straight between my legs.

“Tell me something.” His warm breath fanned my ear, sending a wave of goosebumps down my arms. “That first night we were together, what would you have done if I were in bed when you woke up?”

“I . . .” His hand traveled down my stomach, to the junction between my thighs. “Oh gods.” My back bowed, pushing my hips forward.

All too soon, his hand slipped away, washing my legs instead.

“Words, Meera. I want them,” he growled.

A whine built in my chest, threatening to pass my lips. I bit down hard, tasting blood. “I wanted you.”

“I know, but that’s not what I asked you.” A calloused hand wrapped around my shoulder, bending me forward so he could wash my back.

“I don’t know.” My voice didn’t sound like me. It was deeper, sultry, and breathless. “When I woke up and saw you . . . I was embarrassed.”

Vareck paused. “Why would you ever be embarrassed?”

A brief laugh escaped me. “I’d just met you and was sleeping in your bed.”

“And?” He didn’t get it. “It’s not like you were the only one turned on. I just woke up first.” Strong fingers skated down my back, then curved around my hip.

“You also left the bed,” I pointed out.

The washcloth left my skin, and I glanced back to see Vareck washing his chest.

“I didn’t think I was dreaming,” he said quietly. “I tried to wake you up, but you insisted you were awake.”

My mouth went dry. “I’m awake in all our dreams.”

“But you’ve never said my name before.” The vein in his neck stood out, and he shook his head. “I got up because my control was fraying, and you were still asleep. Before I met you, I’d convinced myself I’d be fine if I could just meet you and get answers.” Vareck snorted self-deprecatingly. “I’m a fucking liar. One look was all it took. We were a hundred feet apart, and you wore a mask, but the second I laid eyes on you, I wanted you.”

My lips parted, and I shifted around so I was on my knees facing him. “I didn’t think I was dreaming either.” His eyes flashed, something savage peeking out. Something primal. “I remember you trying to wake me, but you were so warm and solid and real .” I swallowed hard. “I felt how hard you were, and I couldn’t help myself. When I woke up, you weren’t there.” I dropped my eyes to his chest, struggling to look him in the eye when I was being so honest. “I thought I woke you and after I laid down all those rules about not touching, I was embarrassed. It was pretty obvious from your body language you knew what I was dreaming about, but it didn’t occur to me that we were having the same dream.”

Vareck tipped my chin up, forcing me to meet his gaze. “I wondered if we were sharing the same one or simply dreaming of each other. That means all the other nights you’ve been at the castle . . .”

“Even when I was pissed at you, I couldn’t stay away,” I whispered.

His hand tunneled through my tangled hair, pulling me to him. Our lips met; our tongues instantly intertwined. It was a dance we’d done a thousand times, and yet it was all so brand new. I ran my hands up his chest, feeling the muscles contract beneath my touch.

Vareck groaned, pulling me toward him, but while the tub was large, it wasn’t big enough for me to straddle his lap. Vareck wasn’t a small man and my thighs were thick. When it became clear we weren’t going to be able to make that position work in here, he released my mouth, forehead falling to mine. We both were breathing hard.

“You’re going to turn back around and let me wash your hair. Then, when you’re clean, you’re going to take your sweet ass into the bedroom and wait for me.”

“This is torture,” I whined. One of my hands snaked down his chest to wrap around his cock. My fingertips didn’t touch when I fisted him.

A violent jerk ran through Vareck’s body before he cursed. “Godsdamnit, Meera. As much as I am dying to be inside you, one of us has to hold it together and get this fucking pixie dust off us.” I opened my mouth to argue but paused as his eyes bled to black. When high fae used their powers, their eyes glowed. Confusion made me tilt my head, before it occurred to me what it meant.

Vareck wasn’t just a high fae. He was a fury too.

Their kind didn’t originate from Faerie. They came from one of the hell realms.

“Your eyes are black.” Apprehension should have made me back away, but that was the furthest thing from my mind. “Does that happen often?”

“No. It’s because I’m this fucking close to losing control.” His voice was impossibly deeper. Darker. A week ago I might have been scared. Now? I knew he wouldn’t hurt me, not in a way I wouldn’t like. “Now turn the fuck around and hold still.”