Absolution (11 page)

He studied her knowing look. Thank the powers she’d had children. He didn’t have the willpower to take it easy. He flicked off her towel, his eyes caressing her translucent beauty. Her skin was flawless, not a mark or mar on her porcelain flesh. Rounded breasts, a little more than a handful, stood proudly, their nipples hardened. Her tiny waist flared into womanly hips. He swallowed hard at her flat stomach.

He couldn’t believe she choose him over all the Seraphim in hIfreann. A coil of anger rebelled inside him at the thought of those archangels having touched her. A dangerous reaction, one imbued with possession he didn’t deserve. She was dangerous to him in more ways than he could fathom. “Allana—”

“Shush.”

He stilled as she slowly undid the buttons of his shirt, pushed it off his shoulders and onto the floor. She lifted her hand to his face, threaded her fingers through his hair, and clasped the back of his head. The simple action sent desire pulsing through his blood. If he let himself, she would not only become his beacon back to life, but his obsession.

As she pressed small kisses to his chest and nipped at a nipple, he almost lost control. “Allana, sweetheart...” The endearment escaped without thought. He groaned. One of her hands undid the snap and fly of his jeans. Seconds later, clothes and towel puddled on the floor.

She stepped back. Her gaze roved from his head, to her hand, and then continued downward. At the jut of his erection, he heard an inhalation of her breath, faint and almost undetectable, but he caught her action. If he hadn’t known better, he would think she had never seen a man naked.

“You’re the most beautifully made man I’ve ever seen.”

He struggled not to growl and demand how many she had seen. Instead, he gently placed her in the center of the bed atop clean white sheets, the matching down comforter tossed aside. Goddess, he craved her, craved her skin against his, craved her body beneath his as he sank into her depths and heard the cry of her climax as they made love.

“Now,” he said. His hand slid up the inside of her thigh.

His body hungered for hers. The desperate hold of his need overwhelmed practical thought. “I’m not sure I can take it slow this time. I will the next.” His hand slid along her jaw and his fingers tunneled through her hair to clasp the back of her head. He nibbled at her lips, teased the closed seam of her mouth, and braced himself between her thighs, his cock nudging her sweet entrance.

No, he would wait. He would take it slow and savor every sip and taste of her sweetness before indulging his need for release. His tongue swept in, learning her taste—lavender honey. She matched him stroke for stroke. With each sweep of his tongue, she moaned into his mouth.

Pulling free of the sweetness of her mouth, he rained kisses across her face and moved down her body.

“Luc?”

“Ah, Allana, you’re so soft, so welcoming.”
And I’ve been so cold and alone
.

She squeaked as his mouth covered her breast.

He sucked and nipped while his hand squeezed the other nipple.

Allana’s hand clasped his head to her as she struggled to breathe through the sensations overwhelming her. Energy arced between them. Her eyes opened to watch white strands radiate from their bodies and twined together. The dance of energy braided together, reentering each of them joined and fortified.

His head lifted.

She tugged on a hank of his hair. “Don’t you dare stop.”

He flashed a grin. “I didn’t plan to.”

She returned his smile. “Good. I’d have to teleport you out into the cold if you did.”

Chuckling, he nuzzled her breasts and moved lower.

At the flick of his tongue on the sensitive skin of her stomach, she gripped the sheets in tight fists and tried to braced herself for the next sensual assault. Nothing prepared Allana for the rising passion when his thumb stroked the ultrasensitive spot between her legs. Her back arched off the bed. “Luc!”

His hand pressed down on her stomach. “Relax. Let me pleasure you.”

Pleasure her
? Try turning her inside out, having her quiver in anticipation, setting every nerve afire.

His mouth closed over the nub, and she inhaled harshly with an uncontrolled buck of her hips. He licked and nipped, relentless in spite of her whimpers. First one then two fingers slid inside her. She lost the fight to control her reaction. Her moan floated free as her body pressed toward him, demanding more.

Thank the Goddess he complied. His fingers moved in and out as his tongue lapped at her juices.

“So, sweet,” he murmured.

His nose nuzzled her as the prickle of several days growth sent little shocks through her system.

His mouth closed over her again and fire shot into her womb. “Oh, Goddess above.”

He watched her, his fingers never stopping their magical work. “Oh, Goddess above, indeed. You’re hot and ready for me.” Grinning, he moved up and over her, levering himself with his elbows on either side of her.

She swallowed hard at the sight of him. He had grown larger and harder since they started. Faking calm, she forced herself to remain as relaxed as possible as every fiber of her body screaming for more.

She stared into moss green eyes filled with tenderness and lust. Her hands stroked his back, urging him into her.

With one swift movement, he sheathed himself inside her. Her warmth embraced him, accepting him as his penis butted the entrance to her womb. His mouth covered hers, his tongue capturing hers, mimicking the thrust of his cock.

Within seconds, her toes curled and her body convulsed. He pumped harder, faster. She came apart as he threw his head back and moaned, a grimace marring his face. Every nerve, every atom of her essence exploded outward with their climax and entered Luc. In that instant, she felt his pleasure, her pleasure, and understood the true meaning of souls joining.

“You’ll be the death of me,” he murmured, easing out of her and pulling her atop him. He jerked the comforter over them. “Get some rest, sweetheart.”

She rubbed the side of her face on his chest. “Just a short nap. Then can we do it again?” At the silent shake of his chuckle beneath her, she smiled.

“Whatever you want, sweetheart.”

A burst of pleasure, or perhaps pride, washed through her at his response. He hadn’t paused, hadn’t given himself time to close himself off. He wanted her again.

He was hers.

***

“Shush, love,” Luc whispered. Clasping Allana’s wet face, he kissed the tears from her cheeks and brushed back sodden strands of blond silk. Nothing he did woke her from her nightmare.

“Nooo, run! Hide!”

In desperation, he straddled her and shook her shoulders. “Allana! It’s a dream. Wake up.” At her choked gasp, he eased back beside her and pulled her into the protection of his body. “Talk to me, sweetheart. What was it?”

“I-i-it’s Sophie.”

He clutched her to him, his caress gentle along her arms and back. “What about, her? I can’t help if you don’t talk to me.”

“There’s nothing we can do.” Her inhale shuddered against him. “This man, a monster, is beating her, terrorizing her.”

“Ah, Carlson.”

“Such evil. He wants to impregnate her as the Dark Lord did me.”

Luc scowled in the dark and pulled Allana tighter against him. He didn’t stop until she was draped over him, his skin in contact with every inch of hers he could reach. “We’ll get back to the Dark Lord later. But Carlson—he isn’t a problem for Sophie. She’s finally safe. Her mate, Jamie won’t let anyone harm her again.” His hold on her eased as the rise and fall of her chest slowed and her breathes softened from gasps to gentle exhales.

“What’s Jamie like?”

Luc thought back on the man he called friend. “Jamie comes across light-hearted, maybe because he’s a younger twin. He’s one of the strongest men I’ve ever met.” He glanced to check her reaction, and at her raised eyebrow, he shrugged. “Yeah, I know, a twin falling for a twin.”

“Is he stronger than his brother the alpha?”

“In some ways, yes. It’s never easy to have all the potential to be an alpha and choose the role of second instead of leaving to form your own pack. He puts pack security ahead of personal gain. He knows how to comprise and get along with people. He’s the fixer, the smoother of ruffled feathers. If it takes from here to eternity to make Sophie feel safe and loved, he’ll do it.”

“Does she love him? Are they together?”

How would he know? “They aren’t together yet. She helped save him from Carlson. From what Fritz said, Mark and Jamie both thought she was their mate.” At her surprised look, he shrugged and smiled again. Damn this woman made him want more. Too bad he wasn’t a were. Then he could act on instinct and take her again. His Druid senses said she was sore, something he hadn’t expected. A twinge of guilt worried at him for his hurried possession of her.”

Before he could dip too deeply into regret, her fingers absently traced designs over the chakra at his heart. In soft, feathered movements, they continued to his solar plexus, throat, and the third eye.

She repeated the process—this time at his root and sex chakras. She wasn’t aware of her actions, but he and his cock were. He stifled a groan and fought his impulse to take her again—now. If she continued, he could forget soothing her fears. Instinct would reign.

Desperate, he clamped his hand over hers when it reached his heart. With a smile at her confused expression, he clutched her fingers to stop the tracing. “Do you know who fathered your twins?”

“No.” She gnawed her lower lip. “I don’t even know how I became pregnant. I was fourteen, and only had my second menses. Then I was with child.”

Whoa
.
Shit. Fuck
. He struggled to hide his shock that, motherhood notwithstanding, she had been a virgin when they’d made love. Luc met her frightened gaze with a steady, and he hoped a compassionate one. “I know you well enough to believe you have suspicions.”

“Until recently, I’d believed it was the Dark Lord. Darkness below, even he accepted the girls were his. For a century, my relief warred with sorrow that they hadn’t survived. Once my father, Iasan, told me the truth, that the girls were alive and well, that their father was a Seraphim not the Dark Lord, guilt consumed me. I’m their mother. I should have known they were alive, should have felt something.

His thumbs wiped away her tears. “That’s normal. You’re their mother, whether you believed their souls were stained with the Dark Lord’s corruption or not. That guilt you need to let go. You were an innocent pawn.”

She nodded against his chest. “If I’d had them in my arms, it wouldn’t have mattered. They were half mine. I would have loved them anyway. It would have been enough to save them.”

He stroked his hand along her hair. Yes, she would have loved them anyway, a perfect mother with the undeniable need to love. But saved them? Doubtful. In his experience evil tended to win because it was the easier path. With the Dark Lord’s essence in them, how could they have resisted? “How did you get to hIfreann?”

“King Raziel. He rescued Iasan and me.” She rested her fingers on his lips. “I know he wasn’t my birth father, but to me, he is my real father. The years of slavery to the Dark Lord wore on him. Not even freedom in hIfreann soothed his soul. Knowing he would die if he told me the truth, he did so anyway. I miss him. He gave me what I needed no matter the cost to him.”

Luc frowned and shifted onto one elbow to watch her expression more closely. “What do you mean he died because he told you the truth?”

“He’d made a blood oath with the girls’ father to never tell me what happened.”

“And?”

Licking her lips, she bit the lower one before her gaze darted around the room and settled back on him. “Iasan said the Dark Lord infused some of his essence into an egg. Then a Seraphim Paladin interceded, destroyed the Dark Lord’s essence, and replaced his within the embryo. He created twin girls with full knowledge that the Dark Lord would reject them. Once born, King Raziel rescued the babies, and then Iasan and me.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Raziel refuses to talk with me.” She inched up until their lips almost touched.

In silence, Luc watched Allana’s effort to dispel the tension of her worries from her face. He covered the side of her neck with his palm in a slow steady stroke, attempting to alleviate her escalating anxiety. “We need to discover who their father is and why he abandoned all of you.”

She nodded and returned to tracing strange symbols on his body. When she reached his forehead, he grabbed her hand and held it still. “What are you drawing?”

“Not drawing. I’m following the silver sigils your parents tattooed on you.”

“I don’t have tattoos.”

“I can see them. You’re mother told me about them. They used ash and—”

Shaken to his core, Luc crushed her to him.

“Only a soul mate can see them.”

Was that the overwhelming connection as they climaxed together? A blending of their souls? Druids and Fae didn’t meld souls. Only those of hIfreann did. Eyes closed, he realized the enormity of what had occurred between them.