Dark Alpha's Fury, page 12
“Excuse me?” she asked, clearly taken aback.
“Why me?” he asked again. “Why follow me? Why track me? Why befriend me?”
Her gaze searched his. “We’ve been over this.”
“Tell me again.”
“Because I…” She paused and licked her lips.
Xaneth laughed sardonically. “Can’t find the words, aye?”
“What the bloody hell happened?” she snapped.
“Why me!?”
She blew out a frustrated breath, her lips pinched, and eyes slightly narrowed. “I’m a friend. I tracked you because I felt in my gut that you needed help. My help.”
“And Erith was fine with you walking away from the Reapers to do that?”
Aisling blinked, and he saw the slightest hesitation in it.
“That’s what I thought.”
“You know nothing,” she spat.
Xaneth crossed his arms over his chest. “Enlighten me.”
Her nostrils flared, anger rolling off her in waves as her red eyes glittered with fury. “I left the Reapers because I knew it was imperative that you had someone to watch your back. I risked Erith’s wrath to find you. And for what? This? To be grilled every time I turn around? I’ve done nothing but help you. And to think I believed you might care for me since you brought me back from the dead. Guess I know the truth now.”
“No one can bring someone back from the dead,” he retorted.
She snorted loudly. “Did you forget Ulrik? The Dragon King can do exactly that.”
Damn. He had forgotten about the dragon. “Fae do not.”
“Do you want me here?” she demanded.
It was Xaneth’s turn to pause. He definitely wanted her with him, but he didn’t trust her—or himself.
“Fine.”
Before Xaneth knew what he was doing, he grabbed her wrist. It happened so fast that he was surprised he had caught her before she teleported.
“What the fek?” Her gaze leaped from him to his hand. “What did you do?”
His chest heaved, and blood rushed through his ears like a drum, making it difficult for him to hear her.
“You stopped me from teleporting,” Aisling murmured, shock in her voice as her eyes went wide.
Xaneth immediately released her. Sound came rushing back to him. “I-I…” He didn’t know what he’d done or why.
“Tell me what’s going on right now.” She poked him in the chest with each word. “I said, now,” she stated in a low voice filled with righteous anger.
Xaneth ran a hand down his face. “I’m sorry for stopping you. It’s best if you leave. Forget you know me. Forget…me.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what brought all of this on.”
He stared at her, thinking she’d leave if he were silent for long enough. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her hip, her expression expectant as she tapped a toe angrily.
What would it hurt to tell her? He knew she’d convince him it was all real. As long as he steeled himself, he could speak about anything he wanted. Xaneth swallowed. “What if I didn’t get free of my mind?”
Her expression softened as the words hit her. “You think you’re still being tortured?”
“I heard Usaeil’s voice. I heard her laughter.”
“When? Since you woke? Or only when we returned here?”
Unable to help himself, he looked through the doorway into the room Usaeil had held him in. “When we came back.”
“Well, then,” she said and dropped her arms to her sides. “There’s your answer. Being here reminds you of that bitch. You’re probably hearing the things she said to you while she was torturing you. I assure you, this is real. You aren’t locked in your head.”
“I knew you’d say that.”
“Because it’s true.”
He slid his gaze back to her. “I’m nothing, Aisling. I happened to be part of the royal family but was so far down the line that I was nobody. These…powers I have now? Where were they when I needed to defend my family? Myself? Where were they when I had to defeat Usaeil?”
“Waiting,” she said softly. “For the time they were needed. That time is now. As powerful as we Reapers are, as formidable as Erith is, we can’t defeat Lena without you. You’re the one she fears.”
“I’m no one.”
“So was I. Less than that, actually. Yet Erith found me. Look at me now. Do I deserve to be here? I don’t know. Sometimes, I think I do, but I often question why I was given a second chance. I struggle with a past that still haunts me. I worry that I’ll let my friends down. That I won’t be there when they need me someday.”
He frowned. “Like when you followed me.”
She nodded, exhaling through her mouth. “Exactly like that.”
“I don’t deserve to be here. I certainly don’t deserve the things I’m able to do now.”
A whisper of a smile crossed Aisling’s lips. “Let’s agree to disagree on that one. You see, I think you’re special. Very much so. I hate what Usaeil did to you, but at the same time, I know you can do the things you can now because of what she did.”
Xaneth couldn’t hold her gaze and looked away. Everything Aisling said made sense. He wanted to believe her, but he couldn’t.
“Nothing I said helped, did it?” she asked, hurt coloring her tone.
He shook his head.
“Is there anything I can do? Say?”
Xaneth faced the railing and gripped it once more. “Nay.”
“I think you should leave this place. It isn’t good for you.”
He tried not to react to her telling him to leave, but it was like an uppercut to the jaw. He clenched the wood so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and the wood cracked again. It became difficult to breathe. He struggled to pull air into his lungs. With each mouthful, he needed more. Urgently.
“I’d stay if I thought it would do any good,” Aisling continued. “I thought we’d become friends. Now, I see that was my mistake. I won’t subject you to being around me anymore. You’ve told me enough times to leave you alone. I should’ve respected your wishes from the start. I…I’m sorry I didn’t.”
She was leaving. This time for good. Xaneth didn’t know how he knew it, but he did. And it left him shaken to his very core.
He turned to her. The sadness on her face pushed him over the line he swore he wouldn’t cross. He took a step toward her. She didn’t retreat, didn’t run. Xaneth closed the distance between them and wrapped his arm around her waist. Slowly, he pulled her close.
She never looked away from his gaze. One of her hands came to rest on his chest and caressed upward to his neck. And then her fingers were in his hair, her long nails gently scraping his scalp. Her other hand rested on the waist of his jeans.
With his free hand, he cupped the back of her neck and held her against him. If he kissed her, he wouldn’t be able to let her go. Ever. If he gave in to the desire thrumming through him, hot and sizzling, he would be hers.
Body and soul.
Xaneth looked into her dark red eyes before dropping his gaze to her parted lips. The silky strands of her hair slid through his fingers as he brought her closer and lowered his head. Their noses brushed, and then their lips.
The shock that went through him at the contact left him stunned, dazed. Astonished. And hungry for more. He moved his lips over hers, gently, softly. She sighed and melted against him. Xaneth slid his tongue into her mouth when she parted her lips. He moaned at the sweet, exotic taste that was Aisling’s alone.
She clutched at the waist of his jeans when he deepened the kiss, letting the hunger and yearning he’d locked away loose. Everything he had denied himself—the need, the desire, the longing—rushed through him like a whirlwind.
And she answered with passion, matching him in every way.
Chapter Eighteen
Aisling was in Heaven. It could only be Heaven, it felt so good. So right. Xaneth kissed as he did everything—with everything he was. He coaxed, he teased, and then he swept her off her feet with a kiss that curled her toes.
It became so heated and passionate they both needed more, craved more. He moved his hand to her lower back and pressed her against his arousal, allowing her to feel the hardness between them. He held her firmly, securely. His rigid cock against her was like a drug, and she hungered for more. Suddenly, she found her back against a wall as he continued kissing her as if he were starved for her.
Aisling tore her mouth from his, her breaths coming in great gasps. He sought her again, but she put her fingers over his lips. “Not here. Anywhere but this place.”
Before the words were out of her mouth, Xaneth had teleported them. She didn’t even register where they’d ended up because he took her lips once more. Only the sound of waves crashing told her they were somewhere near the coast.
“I need you,” he ground out.
She knew how much those words had cost him. For all of Xaneth’s power and magic, for all the evil he’d wiped away, he still held himself apart from others as if he didn’t think he belonged. In response, she kissed him as if there were no tomorrow.
Abruptly, Xaneth released her and stepped back. Aisling had to grab hold of him to keep from falling on her face. She thought he might have changed his mind, then she looked into his eyes. The blatant, palpable desire that stared back at her made her heart catch. His chest heaved, showing he was as breathless as she.
He held out his hand to her. She took it, and then saw they were in the cave on Kilbaha. A large fire roared at the back of the cavern, and a pile of thick blankets and plush pillows lay behind the flames. Xaneth made no move to bring her to the bedding, but she didn’t plan to wait for him. She removed their shoes with a thought and then pulled him after her.
Once on the pile of blankets, she faced him. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this.”
“I have an idea,” he murmured before taking her mouth again.
This kiss was slow and sensual, carnal, and altogether hedonistic, awakening parts of her that only he could touch. He kissed her thoroughly, completely. Until she could barely stand. Only his strong arm wrapped around her kept her upright.
She used magic to remove his clothes so she could touch him at her leisure. Her hands smoothed over his thick shoulders, coasting over the bulges of his arm muscles before moving back up again. She caressed his impressive chest and then moved down to his stomach. Her palms inched around to the back of his waist and then to his firm ass.
He groaned and rocked against her. Aisling was on fire for him. She slipped a hand between them and wound her fingers around his cock. It was hard as steel, smooth as velvet. She pumped her hand slowly up and down his length before smoothing her thumb over the head of him.
Xaneth’s breath caught. The next thing she knew, she was on her back with him over her, one of his legs between hers, and she was naked.
“Two can play that game,” he murmured with a soft laugh.
She smiled, but it quickly vanished when he bent his head and wrapped his lips around a turgid nipple. He drew the pebbled flesh deep into his mouth and pulled. She arched her back as pleasure shot through her, searing her body and landing at her center. Aisling cried out as his tongue flicked back and forth over the stiff nub.
With the soft blankets at her back, the warmth of the fire mixing with the cool sea breeze blowing into the cave, and the heat of Xaneth’s hard body against hers, her senses were overloaded.
His large hand smoothed down her side, his touch tender yet firm. The way he embraced her, caressed her, showed his desire. His hunger. She lifted her hips to move against him. How many times had she dreamed of exactly this? How many times had she wondered if she would ever know the feel of him against her?
And now, here he was.
His mouth kissed from her breast, gliding over her collarbone and up her neck before he licked across her jaw and seized her lips once more. She groaned with contentment when she finally felt his full weight atop her. He felt so good. Better than any fantasy she could’ve come up with.
As Xaneth drank deeply from Aisling’s kiss-swollen lips, he wondered why he had ever warned himself about giving in to his desires for her. The line he’d sworn not to cross was a distant memory. The woman who had tempted him beyond reason was in his arms, warm and willing. She was as passionate a lover as she was a fearsome warrior. It was like he was a jigsaw puzzle. She fit perfectly. A missing piece that opened an entire world he hadn’t dared to think existed.
He couldn’t stop touching her amazing body. Her skin was soft, her curves enticing and seductive, and her soft cries of pleasure? They only pushed him to touch, kiss, and lick more of her.
Xaneth turned his lips to the other side of her jaw and down her throat. He licked her collarbone and kissed downward until he feasted upon her other breast. Her nipple was hard and puckered when he drew it into his mouth and softly tugged. His cock jumped at her moan. He could play with her breasts for days, but he wanted to explore more of her.
He shifted his body down more. She widened her legs, allowing him to settle between them. He glanced up to find her watching him. Xaneth grinned before parting her women’s lips and lowering his head to lick the delicate area before circling her clit. She sucked in a breath, and her head fell back onto the blankets.
Hiding a smile, he focused all his attention on her.
Aisling gripped the bedcovers tightly, her body straining against Xaneth’s magical tongue. How did he know exactly where to touch her? He applied just the right pressure and kept at it until she soon spiraled toward pleasure.
She was so absorbed in what he did with his tongue and the tightening of her body that she gasped when he gently inserted a thick finger inside her. He moved it subtly, but that was all it took for the waves of climax to crash over her. Aisling’s back arched as her body jerked. The beautiful, undulating currents of ecstasy swept her away.
Her body went boneless as the last vestiges of the orgasm rolled through her. She felt his finger inside her still and cracked open an eye to look at him. The way he watched her sex continue to clench around his finger made her stomach tighten with desire once more.
“By the stars, the feel of you,” he murmured. Then he added a second finger and slowly turned them from one side to the other.
Aisling groaned at how amazing it felt.
“I want to make you come again like this,” he said, his voice thick with need.
She lifted her hips as he moved his fingers inside her. “I’d rather feel you.”
His eyes burned with a hunger that left her breathless. She started to sit up and take him in hand again, but he was over her before she could. He braced his hands on either side of her head and looked at her.
“If this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up.”
She touched his face. “It isn’t a dream.”
He bent his arms and lowered himself just enough to press his lips against hers. Aisling found his cock and stroked it. He moaned, the sound rumbling in his chest. If she didn’t want to feel him moving inside her right then, she would have turned him onto his back and had her way with him. But that would come later.
Aisling guided him to her entrance. She bit her lip when he brushed her sensitive clit. Then he slipped inside. She opened her eyes to find him watching her. Their gazes locked, held as he thrust once, twice, and filled her fully. She sighed as her body stretched to accommodate him.
Nothing would ever feel as wonderful as Aisling. Xaneth accepted the realization as fact because that was what it was. Feeling her warm wetness, he marveled that he hadn’t caved sooner. There would be no one else for him. Not in this lifetime. Or in the next. His heart would forever belong to the remarkable, exquisite woman in his arms. Even if she was nothing but a figment of his imagination, someone sent by Usaeil to torture him, he would gladly endure anything—just to hold her, kiss her.
Love her.
He began moving his hips, his length sliding in and out of her. She felt divine. Perfect in every way. Seeing the pleasure move across her face and how her breathing hitched made him desire her all the more.
Words he dared not say threatened to fall from his lips. To stop them, he kissed her heavenly mouth.
She clung to Xaneth. With every drive of his hips, every movement of his thick cock inside her, she felt as if she were coming alive for the first time. As if everything had suddenly fallen into place. Aisling lifted her knees so he could go deeper. His tempo gradually increased as his hips thrust, pushing him deeper, faster. Harder.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Don’t stop.”
His silver eyes had darkened to a stormy gray of pleasure. He gave her another lingering kiss. There was something there, something she wondered about but would never ask. It was the same thing she held within herself. Something that didn’t need to be voiced now, not when they had this.
Her thoughts halted as her body took over once more. She met him thrust for thrust, searching for the pleasure that awaited them both. Her body tightened a heartbeat before the second climax struck.
“Aisling,” he called as she felt his seed spill inside her.
The walls of her body clamped around him, milking him as he continued moving, her orgasm prolonged with each thrust. She clung to him and cried out as a third climax swept her away.
When she came to, Xaneth was still on top of her, still inside her. He gently touched the side of her face and smiled down at her. She returned his grin, happier than she ever remembered being.
“Wow,” he said.
She chuckled. “You can say that again.”
He gently pulled out of her before rolling onto his back. He turned his head toward her and quirked a brow. “Are you a cuddler?”
“I am.”
“Thank goodness,” he said with a smile.
She moved to curl against him, her head on his chest as his arm went around her. She listened to his heartbeat, the crackle of the fire, and the crash of the waves. “I don’t ever want to leave this place.”
