And teach me he did.
First came the lesson about how to properly kiss a Scottish alpha king….
Magnus cupped my face in his hands and took my mouth with a lazy, tongue-swirling kiss nowhere near as fleeting as mine. His kiss lasted for what felt to me like long, tantalizing hours. And when he finally pulled away, I found myself back in the bedroom with him, my hands fisted on top of his borrowed sweatshirt.
Next came the lesson on how to consort with a king. “Firstly, you must turn around. Let me take a good look at ye …”
Magnus took me by the hand and spun me around, a slow smile spreading across his face as he did so. He looked at me as if I were dressed in the loveliest ball gown he’d ever seen, instead of a towel and badly torn nightgown.
I rolled my eyes and tried hard not to smile at his antics. But something thrilled inside me as his gray eyes followed my twirl with frank appreciation.
“And now that the king has taken a gander of you, he will be honored to remove your clothes.”
I lifted my hands to loosen the towel. “I can do it.”
Magnus gently knocked those hands away. “Nae, mo leannan. There will be no further law-breaking from you.”
He slowly began to undo the towel I could have easily removed myself.
“I am almost positive there are no laws stating that you have to undress me,” I said, my voice dry with disbelief.
“I assure you there are, mo leannan,” he answered, his eyes darkening as he took in my breasts. “Consorting with a monarch is serious business. It can decide the fate of entire kingdoms, which is why we made rules to cover this verrae important subject. Rules that mean I get to unwrap these beauties myself.”
As if to punctuate his point, Magnus dropped the towel, then pushed down the straps of my ruined nightgown, letting it fall to the floor in a silky pool around my feet.
For a moment, he looked at me standing there completely naked.
“Now do I undress you?” I asked, feeling uncomfortable and awkward under his stare.
“Not without permission. What you did to my clothes last night was highly unlawful. I’ll allow it this time as you were taken by your heat and likely didn’t know what you were doing.”
Arrogant. So arrogant. Still, I asked, “Will you allow it now, Ri Faol?”
I only guessed at his title from the story he’d told me, but I must have gotten it right. His chest hitched, and his eyes softened. “Aye.”
Two could play at this game, I decided.
So, I took my time, holding his gaze as I pulled off his brother’s university sweatshirt. Then I slowly unbuckled his kilt and let it fall to the floor.
Instead of touching him right away, I looked him up and down in the same frank manner he’d looked me over until he chuckled darkly and said, “Yer a verrae good student. Now, lie down on the bed. I have a few more things to teach you about receiving a king’s kiss.”
I did as commanded, my body hot with curiosity and a sparking desire.
Magnus crawled after me onto the bed, looking incongruous against the soft pink duvet. He was a huge splash of wolf that didn’t comfortably fit into my designer life.
But all thoughts of how opposite we were disappeared when he dipped his head down and his hot, wet mouth covered my lips … but not those on my mouth. His wicked tongue delved in and out.
Not long after came the lesson about how to beg an alpha king to take me, though I was no longer in heat. Which he thankfully did, sliding home between my legs and once more claiming my mouth so I had a taste of my own essence on his lips. I came with a long moan a few short moments later, my naked body wrapped around his, clinging to him as the storm hit.
Of course, we needed a shower after that. And that’s where I received the lesson about how to brace myself against a slippery slate wall as an alpha king took me with deep strokes from behind.
I thought Magnus might be tired after claiming me thrice in one day, but I quickly learned my lesson. Several times actually. On the couch when I tried to return work emails while he watched the sports news. Then later at the stove as I was unboxing our Indian takeaway.
“Sorry, mo leannan. I cannae help myself,” he said as his hands slipped under the top half of the Kate Spade pajama set I’d put on when the delivery man dropped off our food. “I’m not used to the sight of a woman preparing dinner for me. Makes me want to take care of your needs the way ye are taking care of mine.”
“It’s just takeaway, and I’m a terrible cook,” I answered. “My family wasn’t even allowing me near the stove by the time I left out for university …”
“Doesnae fash me none,” he answered, as he pushed down my pink-and-red pajama bottoms and taught me yet another lesson.
It was dirty. Wrong. And ohhh so good.
* * *
In the end, it turned out to be a very educational week indeed.
At first, there had been some talk about us trying to go somewhere. We considered Spain. Then we dialed that plan back to Blackpool... but even that seemed like too much to pull off. Magnus was insatiable. He barely let three hours go by between hitting me with one of his mauling kisses and manipulating my overused body until I found myself forgetting about my soreness and begging him to claim me. Again.
Sigh …
Magnus appeared to take special pride in making me beg. Even after four days of non-stop sex, he continued to tease me about it mercilessly.
“Are ye sure you want me inside you? I’d heard talk about you not liking me verrae much,” he asked that Saturday morning over the ruins of the breakfast I’d attempted to pull together for us.
Magnus had come out of the bedroom looking like an angry bear searching for his missing mate. When he found me preparing a breakfast tray, he thanked me for my consideration by shoving the platter aside and placing me on the counter so he could show me exactly what he was hungry for that morning.
“Please, your majesty,” I pleaded, tugging on his hair.
I’d learned that addressing Magnus by a royal title was his sexual kryptonite.
He lifted his head from my core as I’d asked, his heavily muscled body moving with the agility of a true athlete. I let him see how much he impressed me right before I reached forward to take him in my hand with a naughty smile.
This was what a week of lessons had done to me. On Tuesday morning, I could barely fathom Magnus fitting inside me. But by Saturday, I boldly wrapped my hand around his long length and tugged it toward my aching sex without a reservation in the world.
Magnus had taught me well.
“And besides,” I added. “It doesn’t matter if I like you.”
He pursed his lips comically. “I will not be used as a tool to satisfy your lust, you greedy she-wolf.”
“You mean like you used all those human women before you knocked me up?” I teased.
A sudden shadow fell over his face. This time he didn’t just frown at me, he removed my hand from his cock and stepped back. He actually looked hurt.
“Oh, hey. I’m sorry.” I bit my lip. “I was only joking.”
When he didn’t immediately reply, I tried again. “Milly told me about the law you guys have—the one about wolves not being allowed to have a long-term relationship with humans, so I … um … understand, I guess …”
God, why was it so hard for me to do this with him? My parents had raised me to regard others with compassion and patience. But it felt like I was handing over a secret nice girl part of me when I said, “I know you weren’t really using all those women, no matter what my boss said—”
“There were she-wolves, too,” he admitted, his voice low and flat. “Young widows with an eye on my crown. I used them like I used the human women. I wasnae a gentleman before I finally found you—or even decent about how I handled the business of relieving my sexual frustration. I’m a rugby player and a king besides … I can’t remember a time when birds didn’t flock to me.”
My brows went up while my mouth frowned down. And just like that, my sexy mood withered on the vine of his past. “If bragging about all the wolf and human women that came before me is your idea of foreplay, I’m here to tell you it’s not. I know you think I should be impressed by your stats, but …”
I looked away from him, hating how vulnerable it made me feel to admit, “My wolf doesn’t like the thought of you doing to someone else what you do to me. Thinking about all the women who came before me makes me feel the opposite of turned on.”
I peeked up at him to see how Magnus was receiving my truth. The answer probably should not have surprised me, but it did.
Instead of looking even a little bit contrite, a huge, arrogant smile spread across his face. Like he’d just eaten a canary.
“You’re jealous!” he said, his voice set at 100% gloat.
“See, this is why I don’t like you!” I shoved him out of the way and pushed off the counter with a huff. “If you’re not making me beg, you’re acting like me telling you how I feel about all the women in your past is food for your ego—which is already, like, the fattest thing ever. Ugh!!!”
I started for the bedroom, wanting to be alone for the first time since I opened the bathroom door for him last Tuesday.
But before I’d made it more than a few steps, his arms came around me from behind.
“Nae, nae, Tara, that’s not it at all,” he said, folding me into his bare chest. “I’ve been looking for a sign—any sign—that ye fancy me as much as I fancy you. Ye’ll have to forgive me for being an arse about it. I was only grateful to finally get it. That’s all. Because in truth, my ego has never felt as small as it does with you, mo leannan.”
“Stop playing, Magnus!” I said, struggling against his hold. “You were just saying how women have been throwing themselves at you all your life. I know this isn’t the first time you’ve made someone jealous. I mean, the sex alone would get any woman’s head all twisted.”
“But that’s just it, don’t you see? I never cared if any woman was jealous. With me, it was always one night, show myself to the loo, and then sod off. I never wanted to linger. To spend days on end exploring one woman’s body. To spend the rest of my life knowing every aspect of the she-wolf in front of me. Cos’ you’re not just any woman, are ye? You’re not just my unexpected mate …”
Magnus squeezed me even more tightly and said, “What I was trying to tell you is you’re the only female, human or she-wolf, I’ve ever truly desired. The only one I have ever wanted to be with again and again—as many times as you’ll let me over the course of a lifetime. It has only been four days but I already ken there will be no other for me. I will never desire another female the way I desire you. And all I’ve wanted is a sign you felt the same way about me.”
I stilled, all sorts of alarms going off inside me. Magnus had trapped me again, and now he was pushing me further than I was ready to go after only four days of really knowing him.
I waited for the claustrophobia, for the metallic thunk of the pack alpha’s basement cage, for the usual punching rage. But it never came …
And eventually, my body softened inside his arms.
“My wolf likes you, too,” I admitted. They were only five small words, but I expelled the same breath after speaking them as I would have after bungee jumping off the tallest bridge.
A moment of silence. Then he asked, “And your human? How does she feel about me?”
I stiffened, feeling “caught out” as my Scottish friends often said. I had no idea how to answer that question … or how Magnus figured out I’d been purposefully holding that part of me back during our days together.
He exhaled, his arms loosening a bit. “You said you dinnae want to be trapped, and I dunnae desire that for you either. I’m aware you’re only here with me now because your wolf put your human in a poor position. I know that, but I still want all of you, banrigh, and I won’t settle for anything less.”
Banrigh …
I twitched inside his loosened hold, wanting to say something sarcastic or cutting. Wanting to protect myself, just like I’d been tirelessly doing for nine years. But, in that moment I realized there is a thin line between angry and scared. At least for me. And I’d stepped over that line.
Magnus frightened me.
And that realization made me admit, “Magnus, I’ve been a lone she-wolf for a very long time. But after Milly and Iain got together … they seemed so happy. I began to think maybe I should do that. Maybe I should be … I don’t know—more social with other wolves again. Maybe try to find a mate and settle down …”
And here came the hold again. His strong arms seemed to tighten reflexively around me. “You think you were jealous of my past women? Do you ken how jealous I get at the thought of you settling down with a wolf who isnae me?”
“Magnus, listen! The point is I like you!” I rushed out, cutting him off before his oversized pride could hijack the conversation. “But I don’t like liking you.”
I lowered my eyes, and I focused all my attention on his heavily muscled forearm as I blurted, “I don’t like feeling tongue-tied every time I look at you too long. I don’t like this ‘but why me?’ feeling I get when I’m in your arms. Like, I’ve won the lottery, and someone is going to come take it away any minute. Being with you … staying with you means I’ll have to give up everything I’ve ever wanted, everything I have ever worked for in the human world. That scares me. Like, a lot.”
I sighed. “The thing is, me being pregnant with twins and taking over as queen of Faoiltiarn isn’t going to remotely solve all your kingdom’s problems. I want you, Magnus … I do. We want to be your mate—my wolf and my human. My wolf would do anything to be with you, but my human knows I am not capable of being your queen—not with my background. I just … can’t.”
Magnus was silent. For a very long time.
And then, gently, oh-so-gently, as if I were made of glass, he turned me around and pulled me to him, cupping my face to his chest and completely enfolding me in his large arms.
His unexpected hug made me shudder—then instantly melt.
When he held me like this it made me feel treasured … and protected. From everything, including myself.
His arms felt like a safe harbor from the storm of “I can’t! I can’t! I can’t!” raging inside my mind.
“Is that what you need from me?” he asked, his breath warm on top of my head. “Me with you here in Edinburgh instead of you coming to me in Faoiltiarn? Is this the only way you’ll let me have all of you?”
I pulled back out of his hug because no, that wasn’t what I was saying at all. I knew how much his kingdom meant to him and I’d never give him that kind of ultimatum.
But before I could tell him that, the sound of bagpipes cut into the moment—electronic and tinny.
Magnus frowned and glanced toward the kitchen sideboard where his phone had been sitting since he tossed it there sometime on Wednesday.
“Sorry, mo leannan. That would be the head coach. He designated the ‘Flower of Scotland’ as his own special ringtone and had us program it into our phones, so we know when he calls. That should tell you how much he thinks of himself. But he wouldn’t be calling on game day if it wasn’t important. Hold on …”
My eyes widened as I watched Magnus pick up his phone. Today was a game day? He was skipping a game to be with me? I couldn’t believe a guy as tied up in his career and title as Magnus would do that just for me.
“Nae, not so far away. We decided to stay in the city, actually, but—” Magnus broke off, his face pulling into a heavy frown. “Ach, poor sod. Does he have a concussion then?”
He gave a painful wince that made me suspect the answer was a big yes.
“I see. Aye, that is too bad. But you still dinnae need me for … ah, aye … their captain does have a dirty goose-step. But—”
Even with my powerful wolf hearing, I couldn’t understand what the head coach said next. But in the end, Magnus nodded with a terse, “Aye, alright then. Give us an hour.”
Then he hung up and turned to me, his jaw tightly clenched underneath his beard. “Looks like you’re going to get a taste of the kind of life I can provide you a little sooner than expected, mo leannan.”