Lunaria (A Soulmark Series Finale), page 14
"We are both cultivators. We enhance that which already is," I say, bristling as I explain my purpose as a fairy and the crystals equal significance. "We are like... batteries!"—I nod my head vigorously at my own human analogy—"We are more powerful together."
Adrian's arm constricts around me, and I must brace my hands against his chest to keep from falling into him. My eyes dart down to his neck, where the compress drips. The collar of his top is damp—
"A cultivator," he murmurs, drawing my gaze back to the sudden curving of his lips. "That I can see, but I cannot fathom a mere rock as impressive as you."
My eyes dart to him. Our gaze holds, and I blush. "It is a crystal," I manage to stammer. "Not a rock."
Adrian raises one eyebrow, unimpressed, and unconcerned with my correction. "What will happen to the crystal without you there? What consequence is it to your abilities to not have it near? I assume you are weaker."
"There is none. The only thing of consequence to my abilities is this menace, just the same as yours." My brow furrows as I stare the rokama down. "You offer scorn at the assumptions I have of your kind, yet you clearly know nothing about mine."
He glances away for a moment, then back to me.
"Forgive me."
I take my turn to glance away. "Just because we are not in the vicinity of one another, does not mean our individual abilities are incapacitated. We are simply more capable together than we are apart. Although..." I pause, caught suddenly by an intrusive thought. "The current state of the crystal is quite poor. We no longer bolster each other's aptitudes equally. I act to stabilize it now."
Adrian remains silent. I look back to catch his pensive scowl before continuing.
"Their plan won't work for the siphoning," I mutter, plucking an invisible piece of fuzz from his clavicle.
"Why?"
I still at the cut of his urgency. Eyes locking, my pulse speeds up. I give a lofty shrug, new unrest settling upon my shoulders at his queer questioning. Have I said too much?
"It doesn't matter... they would never understand the intricacies of my magic or the crystal’s, let alone what we can do together or apart. Besides, I have no plan to aid them with any of their efforts. My loyalties are with the Adolphus pack and Trinity Coven, and to my friends who are being held prisoner here. Not to them."
Adrian growls deep in his chest, but I press a finger to his full lips. Then, by their own accord, my fingers trace the seam of his lips. My heartbeat clambers loudly in my ears as I realize what I’ve done, and how still Adrian has gone. My hand drops to my side as I regain my senses.
"I might be scared and weak," I whisper, "but I will not betray my friends, not for these glorified bloodhounds. We will prevail. Somehow."
"Are you prepared to pay the price for your loyalties?"
In my mind, a flash of memories surface; Jax's patched eye, Alekos and Celosia's defiance in the Greenery, Keenan's unwavering support, and last, the sight of Adrian's bloodstained back.
"I am." Even if it terrifies me. Even though I know it will hurt.
A vein throbs in Adrian's jugular. A dozen emotions play out across his face and deep within his eyes. Most pass by far too quickly to identify. Others... others shine bright as day. Admiration. Frustration. Pride. Want. Shame.
"Everyone has their limits," he whispers back.
"You're right," I respond with equal softness. "Everyone does... but everyone has the ability to create new ones as well. To rebuild themselves stronger after they've fallen."
For a scant second, I think Adrian might push me away for something fierce flashes across his expression. It is gone before I can blink and transforms into something far different.
"It is easier to be better—to be stronger," he corrects himself swiftly, "when there is someone at your side to help."
Hunger, I realize belatedly. This is what takes up residence in his obsidian eyes. I suck in a harsh breath as Jax's words come back to haunt me.
"Spare him a few kisses—whatever you're willing to give—and he'll be eating out of the palm of your hand... You are our best chance to see us home without having to wait for the cavalry to arrive. Don't you want to go home?"
I close my eyes and sink into his one-armed hold. Our faces are scant inches apart when they flutter open.
It's time to seduce the beast. For our freedom, I remind myself, for all of our freedom.
Chapter 8
"Someone... as in your heart's content?" I murmur, letting my regard slip purposefully down between us to where my lightning mark resides.
Adrian swallows. Even I suffer the consequences of my words. My heart skips a beat, and a spike in my body temperature is noticeable. A flutter breaks out in my stomach as I dare to return my violet gaze to his obsidian ones.
"You awakened our connection, Lunaria." I nod at the scratchy baritone. It sounds far too loud in our quiet room. The muscles of his arm constrict around my back, locking me against his musclebound torso. "A fever should take us if we do not proceed. Our hearts will only be sated once we have completed what you have started."
I go still. "A fever?"
Never in my life had I heard of such a thing. No fairy with their heart's content made mention of a fever taking hold at some point during their courtship. The smooth pressure of Adrian's hand gliding up and down my side breaks me from my musings.
"It is different in your society." A faint smile appears on his lips. He brushes aside the locks of hair framing my face, tucking them behind my ears with a satisfied air.
"The life of pack is rougher than that of your community of fairies and sprites, as are our rituals of courtship, which are seen as the most hallowed of hunts."
"Hunts?"
He hums, his hand returning to my side and sinking to the gap between his oversized sweatpants and my boxing shorts.
"Sometimes they are long affairs. The period between the awakening and the entwining may last weeks for the fever to build between the two. It is no less monumental than lightning striking the earth, when at last they complete the entwining."
His dark eyes track the movement of my throat as I swallow. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Would we have stayed in the Hollow Woods, our hunt would have left us scorched from the inside and out. Only our eventual lovemaking would have soothed the burn we wrought for ourselves." We both freeze at the sudden stiffening of my nipples and how they pebble into his chest. "But we are not afforded that luxury here," he says slowly.
Adrian's tongue darts out to drag across the thick cut of his lower lip. With rapt attention, I follow the movement. His words fade into the background as my sights lock on his mouth as if he's cast some spell. Perhaps this assumption is not far off. How else could I be so inclined to Adrian's obvious attention? The portrait of enemy I painted upon him distorts further into a visage of something far more inviting and promising. To resist is proving... difficult.
"Luna?" His thumb combs the slope of my hip joint.
"Yes?" I answer, my reply coasting on a wispy breath.
We drown in each other's gazes, wholly transfixed by each other for moments that last dangerously long. I gulp in air, forcing myself back into a conscious state as my lust rises.
"What did you say?"
A rumble thrums deep in his chest. "I said I wish to partake in the entwining with you. Now. It is no secret that the entwining endows both parties with a greater sense of devotion and strength—"
"And emboldens the spirit to new heights."
The tension of passion on his face alleviates as I finish his sentence, possibly from relief at my knowledge.
Adrian nods, his lust-filled scrutiny falling to my lips. "To entwine will allow us a greater understanding of each other. I will always know when you face danger or harm, and you shall never have to fear your tribulations alone again."
"I will be bound to your pain, as you to mine," I say back, my words faint. With care, I adjust the cold compress about his neck and collar. Adrian's jaw clenches, his nostrils flaring as he takes in a breath.
"Yes," he agrees, "but it is the pain of the mind, thoughts of turmoil and regret, that will weigh heavily upon us. Those of flesh and bone will be but a pang in comparison. They won’t fully materialize until the act of the covenant."
My hands stop their ministrations as Adrian flinches back. A hiss of air bursts from his mouth. I still.
"I'm sorry."
He shakes his head and then smiles. The gesture transforms his entire face, despite how small it is. Suddenly the beast and man are one, and their union exudes an assurance and allure that is at once enthralling and enticing. I shiver despite myself. It is remarkably easy to surrender myself to this charade. Too easy.
"It is in your nature to nurture," he murmurs, and lifts one of my hands to his lips for a scant kiss. "Do not apologize." My hand falls back upon release, while his own moves to my waist. "Will you consent to the entwining?"
Fire races through my veins.
To refuse will squander the perfect opportunity to gain Adrian's confidence and trust and ruin the chance of escape his aide would provide.
To agree will establish an unshakeable mental link between the two of us and give Adrian a false impression of our future.
Another shiver traipses across my body, this one more turbulent than the last.
"We all have to do our part to get out of here alive..."
Before I can back down, I nod, a hesitant bobbing of my head that douses my cheeks in flames. The guilt that accompanies the knowledge of my active deceit flounders beneath the nervous energy building inside of me.
I can’t believe I’m doing this. The faint thought trails weakly through my head as Adrian's glossy black eyes devour my expression with greed. He holds my gaze while his roughened hands hook my sweatpants and shorts until both are gathered around my ankles. The callouses gracing each of his fingers are not as abrasive on their journey back north.
With half my clothes discarded, the mark of our heart's content peeks past the bottom of the sweater that drapes well-past my hips. My eyes swerve to his left bicep, where the mark of his heart's content resides and then his neck. The splintered bolts look eerily similar to the blistered veins claiming the skin there.
A slight but purposeful sweep of his thumb browses one of the pitched branches of my lightning bolt mark. At once, an acute desire flares to life inside of me. My lashes flutter closed from a second sweep—my breath hitching dreadfully loud. I swear I can feel the heat of his focus lingering upon my lips.
"Have you ever...?" His voice trails off.
"Yes." I open my eyes to catch his reaction, but rather than the flare of ire I assume will come, one of sinful appreciation rises to a head.
"Good." Adrian's eyes turn ravenous. "I've searched and waited months for you. I don't know what restraint I have left, even given our current state."
There is no chance to utter my reply for his palm slides up to cover my mark fully. The leaden touch arouses a current of longing that makes my knees buckle. Flames feast upon my nerves in a conquest that means to pull me under and drown me in their fervent decadence.
My flimsy underwear is ripped from my body. The sound of sheared fabric and snapping elastic making me gasp. Adrian's expert hands draw me up to straddle his lap, never losing contact with my heart's content. Lost in the vibrant coil of pleasure inhabiting my body, I make no fuss about his onslaught. A long-awaited moan steals out of me, when our lips join at last.
Adrian makes no move to ask permission with this kiss. His mouth slants across mine with aims to curb me to his will. I offer up no resistance.
I relish in the dance of our tongues, and how his canines scrape against my lips in their need for more. Our urgency pooled together in this hellish place only intensifies our fervor. The pulsating need at my core begs for relief, and as I press myself against him, he answers in kind. His hand slips away from my lightning mark to the small curve of my bottom. The overwhelming sensation of want cools to a rapid simmer inside of me.
I splay a hand around the back of his head, fingers scratching through his short hair, and allow the other to cup his fearsome jaw. Only one thought stands erect in my head: Adrian tastes of home. He is the rain belting down from a storm, devastating the land and flooding everything it touches. I moan.
Our passion builds, the intensity of it stretching me breathless. Of the times I have participated in this pleasurable act in the Hollow Woods, none can compare to this. Those before had been playful and fun. This... I toss my head back, gasping for breath as Adrian moves swiftly lower to explore new territory.
This is what it must mean to be ravaged.
The desperate surging of hands shoving aside that which obstructs.
The fierce strike of our lips upon each other's skin.
How entangled we become—how ensnared.
His growl of frustration sounds in my ears as he attempts to pay homage to my neck. The brush of his fingers across my collar bone is but a wisp of sensation.
There is a reverent suspension between his next breath and our eyes meeting. The sight is a shock straight to my heart. Without breaking eye contact, he reverses our position and deposits me in the middle of the bed.
Adrian's smolder is red-hot, sliding up and down my body with the look of a man starved.
No man has looked at me in the way this rokama does. Not the fairies who have shared my bed, and certainly not the sorcerer who haunts the recesses of my heart. They are a meager flame in comparison to the inferno that rages in Adrian's dark eyes. He toes off his boots and removes his clothing. What remains are several lengths of white bandage wrapped around his torso to protect the wounds on his back.
I swallow, my eyes drifting south. The swell of his cock is... impressive.
"I miss them." Adrian’s confession steals my attention back. I stare at him, wide-eyed, but his focus is on my exposed stomach from where the sweatshirt has ridden up.
The bed dips and shifts as Adrian crawls atop me. His rugged hands make fast work of my remaining clothes, leaving me bare to his hungry gaze.
"Miss what?" I ask.
"Your intraflora." He ducks his head, swooping down to nuzzle the soft skin of my belly. Hot and wet, his tongue swipes across the flesh there. I contain the whimper that threatens as he spies on my reaction with hooded eyes. "I dreamt of you every night... I dreamt of how these sleeping vines and flowers would react to my touch." His admission paints scandalous images in my head.
Would roses—thorns and all—curl beneath my breasts?
Would the scent of sweet and wild raysing perfume the junction of my thighs?
Would he savor the earthy taste of my skin?
I suck in a breath. A stinging sensation, gentle and nuanced, punctuates the curve of my lower abdomen as teeth draw across it. The world flickers out of focus as the area is soothed and laved with tortuous patience. Steamy kisses travel up the length of my torso.
"When this is over," he vows, hovering atop me. "And these monstrosities gone—" his attention flickers to my choker "—I'll have you again. Just like this."
A rush of warmth and wetness culminate at my center. Our eyes meet, his contracting as he inhales deeply. There is no denying the persistent ache of my arousal. Fingers brush against my dewy folds and my lips part in awe. There is a gentleness to his exploration, one I know will not be afforded me once he is inside of me. Adrian groans his approval at the slick warmth he finds, his mouth seeking mine as his fingers plunge inside of me.
My back bows until the peaks of my breasts graze the hard panel of his chest, and the soft gauze of his bandages. I know not whether to focus on his demanding kiss or seductive fingers and wither in distress. My hands grip his shoulders and pull him down till his weight rests upon me.
In the back of my mind, somewhere surely, there is a voice calling out to me to mind this path more carefully and to be wary of the consequences this union will incur. And yet, I have been without the taste and feel of home for so long. The lonely pang in my heart is finally abating thanks to my heart's content.
The urge to whine is almost too much to resist as his fingers withdraw, but they are quickly replaced by the firm head of his erection gliding up and down my slick entrance. My arousal doubles with each teasing pass, our breaths mingling in ragged breaths at this excruciating imitation of his beloved hunt.
"Adrian." The breathy quality of my voice is little more than a plea, but it is the restless rise and fall of my hips that beg him for more.
He surges inside of me. I tense instinctively. How long since I had last joined with another? Adrian hisses in my ear as he reaches the hilt of what I have to offer. Another harsh rush of breath escapes us both. The feeling of fullness is overwhelming. I squirm and push at his body as unapologetic heat infiltrates every part of my own. Adrian grinds against me.
"You are heaven," he pants, nibbling at the skin beneath my ear. A hand digs into my waist as he rears back and plunges back in. My nails leave red marks down his arms as I meet his next thrust, growing accustomed to the heavy and unyielding length stretching me.
"So wet." The words are dragged across my jaw, then his nose is nudging my head to the side as he presses more intimately inside of me. "So tight."
I mewl in response, noting the little quiver his jaw makes against mine. His next thrust takes me by surprise. It is harder than the last and far more delicious. My legs tighten around his waist.
Adrian releases a snarl and lets loose his inner beast, as if this minute contraction is the sign he has been waiting for. My hands are captured and held far above my head, stretching my torso to its limits as Adrian takes me without remorse. Every sore and bruise across my body throbs with his rough handling, and yet I cannot deny the deep fulfillment of his passionate taking.
When at last the taut suspension of my passion comes to a head, Adrian swallows my cry with a kiss that leaves me a whimpering mess. Though my body grows lax with its release, he is not finished.
