Bride Gone Bad

Lucky rode a wave of power that kicked like a bucking bronc. If he hadn’t bound Tempest with silk and silver, he’d be hard pressed to hold her.

Rattlers must normally have wielded this type of power before they had transferred the Atlahtaw power to the spirit plane. He wanted to give in to the exhilaration that surged through him in a flame of searing heat, but he held tight as he balanced on a knife’s edge. To lose control or to give in meant annihilation for both of them.

And then the power shifted, intensifying as the heat spiraled inward, growing hotter as it raced to his center. He felt a jolt in his cock that turned him desperate. He gripped her harder and felt her naked body writhe against him as she tried to escape his embrace and break the connection between their Soleil Wheels. Her actions inflamed him more. He fought to retain control, but he could think of little except driving deep into her hot, moist center.

Now was the time to complete her initiation. He glanced up. The Moon rode high in the sky. The campfire burned low. And the protective circle he’d drawn in the dirt with a stick several feet out around the campfire hadn’t been broken. They were safely inside the Medicine Wheel, so no outside force could get in and harm them or interfere with the ceremony.

As above so below, the power moved from spirit to Earth, from outer to inner, and was ready to be grounded in a man and a woman. Only two Rattlers with their level of abilities could safely ignite the old power. Even so, he wasn’t sure they could survive the joining, but they had no choice except to try. The Moon Rattler had set them on this path, or it had been ordained long before her gift to Tempest of a personal Soleil Wheel.

Tempest struggled in his arms, kicking out and almost getting loose. He gripped her harder. He couldn’t let her break free now, not when they were so close. He had to protect her from herself, from unleashed power, and from outside forces. He strained with the effort because he fought his own powerful need for her, too.

“Tempest, listen to me.”

She tossed her head back and forth.

“I’m going to lay you down on the blanket, but please don’t struggle.”

She writhed harder in his arms. “I want—”

“I’ll give you everything you want, but don’t fight me.”

“I’m burning up.”

“I am, too.”

“Please make this stop.”

“Soon. I’ll release one of your hands if you won’t try to break the connection of our Soleil Wheels. Promise?”

He hoped she’d had time enough to gain control of her reaction to their combined power. He reached behind her. He released the chain around her left wrist and left it hanging from her right wrist. And then he hooked the chain around his left wrist so that their two hands were joined together.

“Tempest,” he said solemnly. “You are now unbound from your old life to enter freely into your new life.” He pulled the silk scarf from her head and tossed it aside. “You move from the dark of your old life into the light of your new life.” He placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Abide with me.”

She stared at him, tears sparkling in her violet eyes, and then raised her hand and gently stroked his face. “Yes, I’ll abide with you.”

And her words freed him. All restrictions, restraints, reservations disappeared in a blaze of fire.

He sank down to his knees, taking her with him. He kept her right arm behind her back so he could control the connection of their Soleil Wheels. But with his right hand, he was free to stroke her hair, down her shoulder, across her back, and clutch her butt as he pushed his prick hard between her thighs and urgently moved against her. He felt hotter and harder than he ever had in his life. He fiercely needed to complete their union.

And she rained hot kisses across his face, digging her fingers into his hair, scratching his shoulder with her nails, and undulating with her hips as she bathed his prick in her thick, hot honey.

Any other time, he would have teased and tormented her until she was wild with desire. Now there was no need. She was ready. He was ready. There was no reason to wait. He eased her down onto her back. He raised her right hand above her head and held it there as he nudged her thighs apart.

“Ladylove,” he whispered against her ear. “I’ll try not to hurt.”

He’d lack finesse, knew it, but couldn’t stop the urgent desire, change the position of their bodies, or hold back another moment. He raised her hips with one hand, centered the tip of his prick against her hot, slick, swollen lips, and then pushed hard, met resistance, and then thrust deep inside her.

She cried out in pain as she clutched his shoulder.

He didn’t apologize. He couldn’t say anything. He was lost in stroking her harder and deeper, relentlessly joining them as he felt heat and power and passion combine and swirl and pull them higher and higher toward the spirit plane as she moaned and moved with him, timing her motions with his strokes as if they both danced to the same beat of one drum.

But his release didn’t come, no matter how hard he drove into her hot, wet depths. Instead, he spiraled tighter and higher, reaching up, striving for completion. And he felt her stay with him, riding and undulating and urging him onward. Until he felt as if there was no world except this one of power and lust and . . . love.

In that moment, he realized that he truly loved her. Nothing, not even Soleil Wheels or Rattlers, could ever be as important to him as the woman in his arms. She was his life, his light, his ladylove. And he would do everything in his power to keep her safe and by his side forever.

With that realization, he reached his peak and bathed her in his hot fluids just as she screamed his name and joined him in flight from the physical to the spiritual where they floated together.

And in time, he lay down beside her and she nestled close to him. He took deep breaths to slow his racing heart and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. He glanced around to see if the world reflected the huge shift in his own life, but only the fire had burned down to embers to mark the passage of time.

They’d completed the initiation. The Soleil Wheel on his chest lay cool and dormant. She was safe from Crawdaddy or any other. And they were alive.

He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. She was his bride. She was now part of his Sun Rattler clan. And those facts made all the other considerations pale in comparison.

She nuzzled against his neck. “That was the most incredible experience of my life.”

“Mine, too.”

“Really?” She rose up on an elbow and looked at him. “How? Why?”

He gazed up at her face. “I love you.”

“Oh.” Tears flooded her violet eyes. “I never thought to hear you say that.”

“I’ve never been loved by a man.”

He pulled her down to him by the silver chain that still bound them. “I’ll show you what it means to be thoroughly loved by a man.”