Page 37

DAHLIA

A laric pushes inside and it’s fucking glorious. And tight. And maybe a little uncomfortable. He’s big. And big is an understatement, but it’s a delicious kind of big. The kind that makes you quiver and ache and think about for the rest of your life.

He’s been so careful to keep a tight rein on his control, but now, it’s like something else has taken over. Something primal and possessive and beyond arousing. I worry for the briefest moment, those words from long ago echoing in my head:

I could kill you easily.

Easily?

Easier than breathing.

But I know, I know , that he won’t hurt me. Even though his control has snapped, I feel into the depths of my soul that he can’t hurt me, no matter what. He slides inside me in one long, measured thrust and I arch my hips upward at the pleasure of it, the fullness. My toes curl and I dig my fingers into his back, crying out in pleasure. He waits a moment, sweat beading on his forehead as he holds himself still.

“Al…right?” he chokes out and I can tell it’s taking all of his strength to stop, to make sure I’m ok. I can only imagine what his instincts are screaming at him to do right now.

“Yes. More. Please , Alaric,” I beg. It’s a tight fit, but my gods does it feel euphoric. I don’t want him to stop. I want him to keep going. I want him to give me everything he has to offer. To claim me. I’ll admit, I don’t know exactly what that means, but something deep inside my soul somehow understands even if my mind doesn’t, and it fucking yearns for it.

He shudders all over at the words and then he starts moving, pulling back and slamming forward again. I gasp and moan, digging my nails into his skin and hiking my thigh over his hip. In and out, over and over, the sounds of our bodies coming together, the harsh echoes of our breathing, and the popping of the wood in the fire the only sounds in the room. Our chests slide together, slick with sweat, my hair sticking to my temples with it. He grasps my wrists and moves my hands away from his back, pinning them above my head. My entire body arches up to meet his as he thrusts, both of my wrists locked in one of his big hands. The other grips my thigh, shifting it higher on his hip and allowing him to move even deeper.

“Gods, you feel so good, Keeva. Been waiting centuries for you,” he pants before kissing me again. Our lips crashing together as he pounds on and on.

“Alaric, oh gods, right there…” I can feel my orgasm building already, that tight coiling in my belly like a snake preparing to strike. He pushes himself up and holds my gaze, and then I turn my head, exposing my neck. He groans, as if it’s the most glorious thing he’s ever seen, but like he isn’t sure…

“Please,” I beg. “Please, Alaric. It’s yours. I’m yours. I want you to…”

That snaps whatever was holding him back and he leans down, kissing and licking before sinking his fangs deep into my throat.

I scream something unintelligible, my back bowing at the most intense pleasure I’ve ever felt. My orgasm rips through my body like an explosion, leaving nothing but ash and smoke in its wake. He sucks and pounds, groaning against my skin, and…and…

“Alaric,” I gasp. “It won’t stop…I can’t stop…”

The orgasm goes on and on, not crashing down as it usually does but somehow building and building, like an enormous wave. My entire body convulses, the pleasure so intense it’s nearly painful, but I never want it to stop. The feel of his fangs, the pull as he drinks, the feel of his cock thrusting and filling me—it’s all too much.

I scream again as the orgasm intensifies, slamming into me like a battering ram. That tidal wave finally crashes and it shatters me completely, my entire body and soul splintering into a thousand tiny pieces and drifting out into the ether.

“Keeva!” Alaric roars, and I feel him come in a rush, shattering with me. He pounds harder, slamming between my hips as he pumps so deep inside. My climax finally subsides, as Alaric’s does, both of us slowly coming back to earth. He collapses atop me, burying his face in my neck, licking the spot where his fangs were just moments ago lazily, his body shuddering every few moments. My body is a boneless puddle, and all I can do is trace my fingers along his back as I fight to catch my breath and make sense of what the seven hells just happened.

He exhales heavily and rolls to the side, pulling me with him so that we’re face to face. He reaches out and strokes my cheek gently, pushing hair away from my face and running a finger along my nose, then my lips, then my cheek bone. It’s as if he’s trying to convince himself that I’m really here, that this is really happening.

“Did I hurt you?” he asks quietly, a note of real fear in his voice.

“Not at all,” I say and he gives me a look. “I will probably be a little sore—I’m not sure if you’re aware of this or not, but you have a giant cock, High General.” He laughs loudly at that, smiling in a way that I’ve never seen before and I can’t help but grin back. “—but no, you didn’t hurt me. You didn’t grind my bones to dust or drain me dry.” He flinches and I reach out and cup his cheek, loving the feel of his scruff beneath my palm. “I’m fine, Alaric. That was…gods, that was amazing.”

He studies me for a long minute. “You’re…sure?”

I lean forward and kiss him, slow and languid, and he runs his hands over my body leisurely, exploring every curve.

“So…so, it’s true then? I’m…your mate?” He’d implied it before, and the truth of it was evident by his survival from the silver poisoning, but I need to hear him say it. I need to hear the words from his lips, no one else’s.

“Yes,” he says, running his fingers through my hair. “I don’t know how—I’ve never heard of a human mate before—but there is no doubt. These things are…it’s difficult to explain, but our kind have instincts that are never wrong and cannot be denied.” Takara explained it to me as best she could back at the camp when I awake. “I thought for a time I could deny them, that I could keep myself away from you and not acknowledge what was screaming inside of me, but it was inevitable. You are mine, Dahlia. You have been since the dawn of time, since both of our souls were but specs of stardust in the heavens.”

“You believe that?” I ask, propping my head up on one hand.

“I do. I never truly understood until I found you, but now it makes all the sense in the world. My soul and yours were destined to be together, even before we existed on this earth.”

I think about that, about how it’s felt as if a part of me had been missing until I found him, how I only feel completely whole when Alaric is by my side. I know humans don’t have mates, but it’s as if somehow the same instincts that reside in him somehow guide me as well.

“Well, that’s very sweet and tender and I will be sure to spread the word that the High General is a hopelessly romantic fool.”

He laughs again, throwing his head back and pulling me atop him. I balance myself with my hands splayed on his chest and he wraps a hand around my nape, guiding me slowly down to kiss him. Slower this time, deeper. We take the next few hours to explore and worship and learn every inch of each other properly.

“Wait here,” he says after another shaking orgasm has turned me completely immobile.

“I couldn’t move even if I wanted to,” I grumble. He laughs and kisses my forehead before leaving the bed. I turn my head enough to admire the view of him stalking naked across the room to the closet. Dear gods is there any bit of this man that isn’t sexy?

He emerges and to my dismay is in low-hanging pants and tugging a sweater over his head.

“Where are you going?”

“To get my mate some food. I need you at full strength for what I have in store for you,” he whispers as he ducks down to kiss me again. I shiver at the thought and he chuckles as he pulls away. “I’ll be back shortly.”

I sigh and somehow manage to muster enough strength to roll onto my back and pull the thick fur blanket over me. I sink into the plush mattress, practically numb with pleasure, and let everything that’s happened wash over me. My lids get heavy and I drift off into the most blissful sleep I’ve had in months.

“Keeva,” Alaric whispers and I feel a gentle stroke down the bridge of my nose. I wrinkle it and groan, sinking deeper into the pillows. I hear his deep chuckle and he strokes my nose again. “Wake, Keeva…I brought bacon.”

I perk up at that, my stomach taking all control over my actions. I pry my eyes open and find a grinning Alaric above me. I stretch my arms over my head and smile at him.

“There you are. You slept like the dead. I thought perhaps I pleasured you into a coma.”

I try to scowl at him, but can’t help but laugh. It’s nearly true.

“I believe you mentioned bacon?” I say, attempting to remain aloof.

“Over here,” he says with a smirk, pulling the covers away. I grumble curses but the smells that reach my nose make them all dissolve away. I leap from the bed and grin when I hear Alaric’s low growl of appreciation. I put a little extra roll in my hips as I stride to the table by the fireplace laden with enough food to feed twenty people.

“Dahlia,” he says, somewhere between a warning and a prayer. “Behave or you’ll be back in this bed in seconds…”

“You say that as if it’s a threat, High General,” I retort over my shoulder, and suddenly he’s at my back, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me against his chest. I can feel him hard against my lower back and my eyes slide closed. He leans down and kisses my neck, making me gasp.

“If I didn’t have the innate desire to take care of my mate in all ways,” he whispers against my skin, making me shiver, “I’d bend you over this table and fuck you until your screams shake the rafters.” I groan and wiggle my ass against him, food suddenly forgotten and wanting nothing but what he’s promised. “ But ,” he says pointedly, stilling my hips with his big hands, “you must eat. So, again I tell you, behave .”

“Only if you promise to make good on that threat after I’ve been sufficiently nourished.”

“Anything you wish, Keeva.” With that, he releases me and I sigh, but continue on to the table. Before I reach it, Alaric is there again, pulling a robe over my shoulders. “Even my need to keep you healthy is not enough to keep my hands off of you if you sit there unclothed.”

I laugh and pull the robe tighter around me. I settle into one of the large chairs and dig into the food. I can’t remember the last time that I ate—before I ran to the battle?—and I’m suddenly famished.

“Have you spoken to Elias? Was everything well at the battle after you and I…left? Oh gods, Takara and the guard must be so worried. Are Wesley and Nova ok??”

“All is well, do not worry. Elias made for Ashcliff—that’s where we are, by the way. Our home on the Lyranian Sea—as soon as you and I teleported from the battle.” I look at him in surprise. “He had a feeling that I would bring you here, to get you as far from there as possible but somewhere I knew was safe. He arrived early this morning while you slept. The Revenant forces were decimated, my miraculous return from the brink of death a severe blow to whatever advantage they thought they had after that arrow—” He cuts off, as if worried that speaking of it will upset me.

“It’s ok,” I tell him, putting my fork down and pulling my knees up into the chair. “How did it happen?”

“Silver powder on a specially made arrow that can penetrate my armor.” I run my finger over the ring that da gave me, a cold pit forming in my stomach. They have arrows that can pierce Alaric’s impenetrable armor—and fucking silver ??

“Where in the hells did they get silver? I thought it was all but gone from the entire continent, the entire world. And that the Montclares controlled what little remains?”

“We thought the same, but months ago we found evidence that the Revenants had been digging in some caves far out in the wilds. We had no idea for what, but it turns out that they found a long-buried store of silver there. We have reports that Kilgren was in a rage state when he learned that his attempt had failed—though of course the coward fled the battle before I could find him.” His voice shakes with fury and I can feel how badly he wanted to end the Revenant leader, end this entire war once and for all. “So, I can’t imagine they have much silver left, if any. The arrows, too, must be in short supply.”

“Well thank the fucking gods for that,” I say, a little breathless. Images of Alaric, poisoned and dying on that bed, flash behind my eyes and I rub at the sudden ache in my chest. It had been so close, I’d almost been too late, I’d almost lost him…

I push myself away from the table and crawl into his lap, suddenly desperate to erase those memories, to prove that he’s safe and whole and alive in my arms. He wraps his arms around me, understanding exactly what I need, and rests his chin on the top of my head as I snuggle into his warm chest. He strokes my back lightly.

“Your Keeper and guard are on their way here now. Wesley and Nova as well. They will arrive shortly.”

I pull back to look at him, confused. “Are we…staying here?”

“For a time, yes. The Revenants will not be attacking again any time soon after that defeat, and,” he brushes hair away from my face, almost reverently, and it makes my chest clench, “I need time with my mate, away from a war camp.”

My lips curl into a smile and I shift in his lap to wrap my arms around his neck. I kiss him softly, sucking gently on his bottom lip and I can feel him shoot hard beneath me again.

“Mmmm,” I murmur against his lips but then other needs make themselves known. “Ah, hold this thought. I have to be a pesky human with pesky human needs for a few moments.” Then I remember. “Speaking of, why oh why, did you already have a privy in your bathing chamber?” I ask with a quirked brow. “I thought princes didn’t entertain humans?” I give him a pointed look.

He rolls his eyes. “That was added very, very recently at the discreet request of my most faithful but overzealous First Lieutenant who chaps my ass at every turn…but I suppose is actually very thoughtful and deserves to be thanked.” So Elias has known for a while then. Interesting.

“And the staff didn’t think anything of such a request?”

“It is not their place to question the requests of a prince—whom I’m sure Elias said the request was actually coming from.” I mull that over and he sets me off of his lap. “Go on then, human. Do what thy will.” He gives a very haughty wave of his hand and I can’t help but laugh. Gods I love this playful side of him. I turn and stroll towards the bathroom, accidentally dropping my robe in the process. I smirk when I hear him growl behind me and shiver a bit at the thought of what he might do when I emerge again.