Page 24

Chapter 24

Argos

T ully stirs beside me, and I ease my hold on her so she can turn onto her other side. Her eyes crack open. The light from my window turns her green eyes to a brilliant spring grass shade. I take a curl of her long hair between my fingers and savor the silky feel. Her eyes float closed again and she’s sleeping once more.

A warmth spins across my chest. I glance down at my loose sleeping tunic, and I freeze.

Black drops like rainwater swirl together to form a symbolic heart. More dark lines combine to create the look of magic sparking all around the symbol.

I take a shaky breath and my grip on Tully’s hip tightens.

It’s a mate’s mark. My head spins for a second. I’m shocked, but… I’m thrilled. Nervous as all hells, but hopeful? Is there really a chance for us to be mates? If one formed on her as well, she would have told me, wouldn’t she? Or maybe it shaped itself while she was sleeping and she has yet to discover it. I wince, thinking of her possible reactions. Tully isn’t one to be tied down. I know that. I love it about her. Could she ever commit to me? I will enjoy her no matter what, taking whatever she’ll give, but to think of having her as my mate is paradise.

She wakes and turns her face to mine. “We are constantly blacking out, you and me. We need a new trick.”

I laugh and press a kiss onto her head.

“So what happened?” she asks. “The mirror is dead, right?”

“You were magnificent,” I say quietly. “Complete success.”

“Please tell me you’re talking about my magic and we didn’t have sex while I was delirious.”

Relief loosens the tightness that has plagued my shoulders and neck since she passed out. “I don’t do delirious sexy activities.”

Her red eyebrow lifts. “Well, we were pretty drunk that first night.”

“The one where you enjoyed my tail’s attentions under your skirts while you stole from me or the night I held you on my horns and devoured you?”

Her throat moves in an audible swallow, and she glares.

My lips just barely brush hers and a tingling warmth hovers over my heart. “I love that glare.”

“I don’t hate your smirk. Actually, I do, but it also makes me want to pin you to the bed.”

I laugh triumphantly. “My plan has succeeded then.”

“Indeed.”

She kisses the bare spot of skin at the opening of my tunic. Her touch is a balm and a match to the fire simmering in my veins, but I wonder what will happen if she tugs my clothing down a bit more and sees the mate’s mark.

“How worried were you?” she asks.

“A little.”

“Really?”

“Maybe more than a little.”

She waves a hand lazily through the small space between us. “I’m tough.”

I kiss her fully, and she parts her lips to allow my tongue passage. I taste her sweet mouth and her tongue slides over mine. Heat shoots to my groin and I moan, wanting more than anything to push my way into her warmth right here and now.

“You promised that I would be the one moaning.”

“As you wish, my witch.”

Using my tail, I tug up her skirts and begin tickling the heat of her center. Her mouth opens with a quick gasp and she rolls her hips. I put the heel of my hand against her core and press up and down.

“Yes, like that.”

I lean my head down to bite the side of her throat, and she whimpers, her chest rising and falling at a faster rate. I take the neckline of her top between my teeth and yank it down to expose those beautiful breasts of hers. With my long, minotaur tongue I lick the underside of one savoring the sweetness of her skin. She leans into me and rocks up against my hand.

“You’re so soft. So warm.”

Her fingers slip into my trousers and she wraps my cock in a tight hold. I curse and swear nonsense into her red curls, my head swimming and my pulse pounding at the point of contact.

“If you move much, this will be over in a heartbeat,” I grunt out.

“I think you can hang on. I believe in you,” she whispers saucily.

“I knew you’d be the end of me the moment I saw you outside the chapel.”

“Truly?” She strokes me once, hard.

I’m trembling and nearly there. I grunt and grit my teeth. “Aye. The shape of you. Your vicious stare. The way you angled yourself between me and your friend just in case I was trouble.”

“I was right to assume mischief.”

“Definitely.”

She strokes me up and down, and my pleasure pushes me toward the edge. I force the tide of desire back. Not yet. Not quite yet.

“I want you,” she says, her tone changing, softening. “I want you inside of me.”

“I don’t think we can. Remember? The knot is made for minotaur females.”

“Witches are tough. I like the danger of it. I can handle it.”

“No, Tully. I am not going to hurt you.”

She releases me, pushes me to my back, and climbs on top of me. The evil grin on her lips makes my cock jerk under her. I grip her underthings and rip until I feel hot flesh through the fabric of my trousers. She lifts herself, tugs my trousers down, and then it’s just her core on my cock, sliding slightly and making it very hard to breathe.

“Gods, Tully. I’m going to come right now.”

“No, you are not. I want my fun first.”

“I can do it again.”

“No. This time,” she says, “I’m in charge.”

With her wand uplifted, she produces a rope seemingly from the air, and after setting her wand beside me, she quickly binds my hands over my head. She’s threaded the rope through the wooden slats of the headboard. She tilts her head like she’s thinking. Her gaze goes to my desk and soon my glasses are soaring from the drawer and into her hand. She opens them carefully and slides them onto my nose.

“Glasses?”

Grinding on me, she practically purrs. “Yes, I adore your slutty little glasses.”

I’m barely hanging on, my body buzzing and burning with the urge to finish this.

“I have something to show you,” she says.

She unlaces the outer corset over her dress, her fingers slow and sensual. Sliding her dress off her shoulders, she begins to bare her breasts to me, inch by smooth and glorious inch. I grit my teeth, my pulse throbbing in my cock beneath her heat.

There it is.

A mate’s mark.

“Tully.”

Her gaze loses its usual flame of confidence and wariness tightens the corners of her eyes. Looking down at her chest, she traces the shape of the mark. A heart symbol rules the center like every mark, but tiny gears circle the symbol.

I meet her gaze, my chest aching with love for this powerful, sharp-edged witch. “You see my inventive nature.”

Biting her lip, she nods.

“Pull my tunic down. Rip it if you like,” I say.

She tilts her head and narrows her eyes. “All right.”

Instead of using her hands, she takes her wand and aims it at my tunic. She whispers something I can’t hear clearly.

Starting at the opening near my collarbone, I watch the fibers of my tunic unravel in a neat line straight down the middle.

Tully gasps. “You have one too.” Her eyes glisten and she bites her lip again. She draws her fingertip over the mark’s sparks of magic and a sweet smile graces her mouth. “I never thought I would have one of these.”

“On yourself or on someone else?”

“Both. Either. Neither.”

I buck against her. “You either need to get to work on me, my mate, or untie me so I can. This torture has gone on long enough.”

She cackles like the gorgeous witch she is and eases down my body. She removes the rest of my clothing and climbs back up. With a wicked glance up, she takes me into her mouth.

“Tully. Fuck. Tully, I…”

Sucking and stroking like it’s something she’s wanted to do for a long time, she unravels me as neatly as her spell did my tunic.

“Tully, I’m going to?—”

My knot swells a bit, and she eases away to study it. Kneeling, she removes her rumpled dress and underthings, taking her time and batting her thick red eyelashes.

“I really and truly want to bend you over, Witch.”

She bares her slightly sharp incisors at me and I lash my tail as much as I can with half of it trapped under me. Once she is in her fully naked glory, she throws a leg over me and straddles me. Once my knot lessens in size, she meets my eyes.

“It’s time to try this,” she says, her voice husky and undeniably sensual.

I swallow hard. “I don’t know.”

“I do. I am in charge here. Are you willing?”

“Once I’m inside and it swells, there’s no going back.”

Lifting one knee, she gives me a full view of her sex. Desire slams into me, and I shudder.

“You’re absolutely perfect,” I grunt out and lift my hips, wishing these damned ties were long gone.

She takes hold of me and positions my cock at her slick entrance. “Slowly, now, Minotaur. You seem in too much of a hurry.”

“Can you blame me? You’re exquisite.”

Pride gleams in her sultry look. “I know.”

I grin, adoring her confidence, and raise my hips. She bears down to meet me, throwing her head back and letting out a moan. The sensation of her heat fully enveloping my length has me trembling again. She lifts herself a fraction, and then I buck against her, slamming into her all the way again. We both cry out this time, and my cock is shuddering against the squeeze of her silken warmth.