As Ren’s palms luxuriated in the Lykae’s smooth skin, that hazy feeling came over her, the immortal spell.
In this cave, the two of them were cut off from the world and its rules and responsibilities. The pounding water misted over them, but the fire kept them warm. They were both out of breath, desire sparking between them.
With each inch of him she caressed, her thoughts turned racier. What would he taste like beneath her tongue? Could she make him shameless?
Peering down at her, he rasped, “Your eyes are eating me alive. If you’re begging me for something that I would gladly kill to give you, how do you think this will end?” He eased even closer. “Kereny, I was born to pleasure you, to deliver anything your body craves. Any secret fantasy will be yours. The wickeder the better.”
At his words, her lungs forgot how to work.
“I’ll always give you what you need. Remember that,” he said, his tone vaguely threatening. “And it begins tonight. I’m going to make you orgasm.”
So confident that he could?
“Release me from my vows, woman. Need to touch you, kiss you.” His hands clenched at his sides, his arm muscles swelling.
She gazed down to find his claws had drawn blood from his palms. It dripped from his large fists, and for some reason, she found even that sexy.
Did all immortal males react so intensely? Would intercourse with one be so very different from sex with a mortal man?
She would never find out. “What you want from me is forbidden.”
“But there’s temptation in the forbidden, no?” Golden eyes gone molten, he said, “Let me show you how wicked we can be together.”
This Lykae had the power to lift trains, and yet his sex appeal might be the strongest thing about him. How could she be expected to resist it?
“Let me show you how good it feels to come upon my tongue.”
Doamne! He was talking about a below kiss, like the ones she’d seen behind the tents. The kisses I’ve coveted.
“You’ve got me in a state, Kereny. If you will no’ release me from my vow, then pull your hair aside and bare your neck for me. Want to see that flesh.”
He was very domineering in his demands. She was used to giving orders. Still, she needed to stoke the hunger in his gaze, to work him up to the point where he’d be oblivious to her scheme.
She slowly tugged her hair over her shoulder. “Like this, wolf?”
Gaze riveted, he said, “When you become immortal and I claim you, I’ll bite your neck, marking you as mine forever. Even after the bite heals, all Lykae will still be able to see my mark on you. They’ll know who you belong to. They’ll know who gives Kereny her pleasures.”
Shivers danced over her. She wore revealing costumes every day, but she’d never felt as bare as she did while this male stared at her neck and described how he needed to bite her there. Still . . . “You’d hurt me.”
He leaned down, mouth near her ear, and let her feel his breaths. “The claiming bite is different. It’ll make you come till your eyes roll back in your head. By that point, I’ll own you body and soul, just as you’ll own me.”
That mix of fear and thrill coiled inside her. She was only supposed to grab the knife, but she needed ever more of this.
He inhaled deeply. Could he scent her arousal? “Gods, I’m going to devour you.” His hips rocked, drawing her gaze.
She whimpered to see his penis had grown impossibly larger. It strained against his pants, its shape encased in leather. She could make out every lurid contour. Would his swollen shaft be hot? That member sweltering in its leather cage?
Want to touch it. Gaze locked on his erection, she licked her lips.
It pulsed, and he groaned brokenly. Fresh blood dripped from his palms. Her tongue against her lips had made him react more than when she’d pierced his heart!
Emboldened, she leisurely circled one of his flat nipples with her fingertip. Round and round and round she went, while a growl rumbled up from his lungs.
When she scraped her nail over the tip, he jolted as if she’d done more violence to him. “Kereny!”
What if she massaged his erection? Gave him a below kiss? She could fell him. Vanquish his will.
So this is how you master an immortal. Despite all his terrible strength, he was hers to do with as she pleased. “Is my touch honestly so different?”
He nodded. His voice broke lower as he admitted, “Woman, I could lose my fucking mind over you.”
His gruff admission annihilated her resistance. She felt as if she’d been born for this. In the face of so many delights, she thought, Maybe I was.
Maybe she had been born for him.
She remembered a stormy afternoon from her sixteenth summer. She’d been scouting the forest when lightning had struck a nearby tree, scoring its trunk. The light had inscribed itself in her eyes, in her memory forever.
Now she felt like that tree, and Munro was lightning personified. She’d just been minding her own business when she’d been seized by an outside force, one that planned to transform her forever. She burned from the inside out, her body weeping for him to do whatever he wanted with it.
Put her on all fours and devour her . . . penetrate her . . .
Take me, turn me, mate me.
“You asked me how I know you’re mine,” he said, his brogue caressing her. “I was told that when a Lykae finds his mate, it feels like the hands of gods have reached out to touch him, like his soul’s been branded. That’s how it was with you. As soon as I caught your scent, I was changed forever. Electrified.” Exactly as she felt! Seized by lightning. “Kereny, there’s no denying it.”
Could she deny it? When even now his voice seemed to awaken her? She instinctively knew that she would never have this level of intensity with another man. The wolf was simply too captivating, too sexually attractive.
“I’ve awaited you for nine hundred long years.”
He was nearly a millennium in age! Because he was deathless, a nonhuman. That reminder came before all was lost, briefly weakening his spell.
Using her sleight-of-hand skills, she made her move.
“I must have you for my own,” he said, none the wiser. “And I know how to do it. I’ll steal you from that mortal male one orgasm at a time. You’re going to choose me because I’ll bring you more pleasure.”
She would stop this now. Any second.
He was a different species. He’d lived through eras. She was married.
Yet her finger decided to brush one of the Lykae’s nipples again.
“Gods almighty!” His hips bucked, as if beckoning her to that huge ridge.
She couldn’t resist the urge. Her hand descended, and she traced her forefinger above the waist of his pants.
“Yes! Touch it, lass. Touch it.”
She watched in shock as her finger dipped inside toward that bulge. Taut leather over tauter flesh. She gasped as she grazed the slickened head.
A curt yell broke from his chest. “Killing me! I’m on the verra brink.”
She delved in again, swiping the pad of her finger over the slippery slit.
“Unh!” His head fell back, tendons straining in his neck. Sweat made his skin sheen. “You’ll take my come from me . . . with naught but your clever finger.”
A howl rang out, then another. Those sounds—as cold and shocking as that waterfall—cut through the spell. She removed her hand from him.
He groaned with loss and lowered his head to meet her gaze. Inhaling for control, he adjusted his member, then gave a hoarse exhalation. “Kereny?”
“I heard Lykae howls.”
“Did you?” He’d quickly masked his reaction to her words, a slight narrowing of his eyes.
But she was a carnie, trained to read such tiny revelations. “If I’m hearing the newlings now, you must have detected them before.”
Another exhalation. “Canna say that I dinna.”
“Your roar must have brought them early.” Realization hit her. “There were no demons.” The newlings separated him from that portal to Louisiana.
“Canna say there were demons.”
The carnie had been had. “Typical, lying immortal!” He knew she planned to fight them, so what was his solution? Hide the fact that they would attack early!
“I did lie,” he admitted baldly. Because the wolf still believed he held all the cards. “To get you to safety, I will be ruthless. As soon as the pack passes, we’re heading out.”
The circus wasn’t ready for an incursion tonight, not without the grenades coming tomorrow. The hunters would need her leadership more than ever.
But what if she could get Munro to help them?
Despite her outrage that he’d tricked her and planned to leave her loved ones to the mercy of those newlings, she humbled herself to a monster and said, “Please don’t abandon my people to die. You’re their only hope, Munro. Fight for them. Please?” She was asking him now, giving him one last chance.
The ruse was up, their play over. Munro had been teetering on the edge of release, but Kereny’s fear blunted his lust.
For her to beseech him for help, she must know that her people would die tonight. But once he had her back home and explained that history couldn’t be changed, she would forgive him for his dishonesty.
Still, he made a vow of his own: after he got her to safety, he would never lie to her again. “I canna fight those newlings. If I’m embroiled with them, then you’ll be left unprotected. I will never risk you.”
“Then leave me here and go battle them.”
He shook his head. “I will no’ let you out of my sight.” Even if he had the time to fight, none of this would ever be. The past was indelible.
“You’re leaving my family to die.” Her stricken expression sliced at him. “You tricked me.”
“I regret that.” She was so young and mortal, hardly a worthy adversary. No’ even sporting—
Searing pain erupted in his side. He gaped down at the new wound she’d just delivered.
Knife in hand, she ducked away from him.
“Damn you, Kereny.” He’d been so lost in her that he hadn’t noticed she’d stolen her weapon back. He lunged for her. As the magic sapped his strength, he stumbled. “Damn you!”
She raised the crimson blade in front of her face. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? And always thirsty for the blood of a lying immortal.” She flipped the knife in the air, then let it roll in her hand with a fluid, hypnotic move before she gripped it once more. “You shouldn’t have taken this from me. You never will again.”
The hex was spreading through his system. “Stay by my side.” He lurched forward to grab her arm; she easily evaded him. “Let me protect you. You canna defeat this foe.”
“And yet I’m still going to answer the call. Nonetheless, onward. That’s our motto. Countless hunters have given their lives to this cause, and our most glorious battle arrives soon. I will be there to lead my people.”
Strong-willed woman! He would have applauded his mate’s strength—if she hadn’t been using it against him.
His legs were about to buckle. Dizziness surged. “You’ll die! Tonight.”
“So certain?” She shrugged. “Wolf, understand something: girls like me don’t make it to the end of the story.”
“Noo!” He fell to his knees for the second time—because of that cursed blade. “They took you tonight for a reason! It happens against them!” His words wouldn’t make any sense to her. Canna think!
Gazing at the falls, she said in a distracted tone, “This is my duty. Since you will be sure to try to stop me, I must stop you. Permanently.”
She was going to fucking behead him. Canna protect her if I’m dead! Panic fueled his dizziness. His beast was in the throes of confusion and aggression.
She told him, “Vow to the Lore that you’ll never come near me again. Or die.”
“You canna kill me. I’m yours.” His vision was failing. “As protective as I am of you . . . you feel the same for me.” He only hoped that. In truth, he suspected his mate was about to godsdamn end him. “Lass, let’s protect . . . each other.”
As darkness took him, she murmured, “Time to kill a wolf.”