Healing Eden (13 page)

Galena wriggled beneath him, pressing up to her elbows. “But you—”

“I’m the happiest fucking man alive.” He tugged her hips up to his ravenous mouth and devoured. In every dream, every fantasy, this was how he’d wanted her. Spread wide and open to every touch, every lap of his tongue and scrape of his teeth. God she tasted good, a decadent feast he’d never get enough of.

Galena collapsed to the bed and widened her legs farther.

He licked and sucked her labia, gathering up every trace of her pleasure, driving her for more.

She clenched the sheets at her sides, and her whimpers stroked like velvet along his staff. “It’s not enough.” She fisted his hair, pushing him closer one second and tugging him away in the next. She clenched her fists harder and the bite of pain shot straight to his nuts. “I need more.”

Hell, yes, more. And then some.

Pressing one of her legs high and wide, he dragged his cockhead through her folds. The site of his flared head against her deep pink core nearly yanked his climax free. A growl rumbled from his chest. No more waiting. “Say it again.”

She met his gaze, her breaths short and ragged. “I need you. Please.”

Thank The Great One.

He surged forward and their rough shouts mingled, her nails scoring his back. Damn, but she was tight. Tight and so damned perfect he could barely breathe.

He pulled back slow, nearly to the tip, and powered deep, angling his hips to rub her just right. Over and over he pounded, punctuated thrusts and the gentle smack of his sac against her flesh spurring a wild rhythm.

She tossed her head, her auburn hair tousled against his sheets. Squeezing his hips, she dug her heels into his flanks and met each spear of his cock. With every lunge, her breasts bounced. The most delicious torment on the planet topped by nipples hard and berry-ripe.

His climax built, balls drawn tight and full. Lifting her legs to rest on his shoulders, he drove deep. “You’re coming with me, sweetheart. Show me how it feels to have you come on my cock.”

He fired energy at her every pleasure point, relentless, rasping pulses to match his unforgiving rhythm.

“Yes.” Galena’s relief rang out and her pussy fisted his length.

His climax fired and his hips rammed home, his shaft flexing in time with his frantic heart. He kissed and licked her sweat-dampened shoulder, lungs burning for air as he rode the ebbing storm with slow, leisurely rolls of his hips.

Damn, but she’d turned him inside out. Dragged him miles past bliss and rocketed him to rapture wrapped in slick heat. He’d never get enough, never be able to settle for anything less than what burned between them in this moment. And didn’t that just figure. The fates had finally given him a taste of perfection the night before he was sure to die.

Maxis cracked one fifty-pound eyelid open, his blood sluggish and muscles unresponsive. Sunshine framed the closed black velvet curtains across the room, and dull red embers glowed in the large hearth on his left. He tugged the thick gold coverlet to his chest and settled into the warmth along his side.

Warmth. He snapped awake, his hazed focus sharpening in one blink.

Serena lay stretched out on her belly with her pillow tucked lengthwise against her. Her near-white hair spilled in a well-fucked mess down her back, her breaths deep and even.

He’d actually done it. Claimed a mate.

He propped himself on one elbow and rubbed his chest. The flesh stung where welts rose in a starburst over his heart. A growl rumbled in his throat and an odd approval stirred. Serena had met him pound for pound in the course of their joining, insatiable, demanding, and downright dirty.

A flash of black caught his eye and he stretched out his arm. Her mark.

He’d forgotten that little aspect of his new turn in life. Hard to think about anything else the night before with Serena’s slick heat gripping his cock.

He sat up for a better view.

Oh, she’d marked him, all right, and with flowers, no less. Five-pointed blossoms, the long wavering petals crushed beneath a warrior’s fist. The blooms spilled down his forearm toward his wrist, deceptively beautiful. One, lone petal stretched and rounded at the end and formed a drop of blood.

The ivory silk sheets rustled beside him and Serena inhaled slow and sleepy. She pushed to her side, a sliver of white hair pointing toward one uncovered breast. Her screams and moans from the night before sounded in her roughened voice. “They’re oleander.”

“I know what they are.” Maxis pressed her to her back and gripped the hair at her nape. Damn, but the skin along her neck was decadent. Creamy perfection. “They’re deadly.” A message he’d be wise to heed, as well as appreciate.

Serena wrapped her arms and legs around him, lips tilted in a sultry smile and a sated glow on her cheeks.

“Eager to play again, my baineann?” He cupped one breast, the mound filling his palm, but not overflowing. “I would have thought you had your fill last night.”

“You could always fill me again.” She flexed her hips and chuckled, a delightfully wicked sound.

Maxis played her stiff nipple with his thumb, a languid back and forth that made her arch into his touch. Oh, yes, he’d be wise to exercise caution where she was concerned, else he’d wake up one day and find his balls canned and stored in the kitchen pantry. “Don’t think to lead me around by my cock, Serena.”

Her cool blue eyes fired hot. She bucked against him and fisted her hands at either side of her head. “Get off me.”

“Mmm. Perhaps I grazed too close to the truth.” Maxis rolled to his side of the bed, tossed a fresh log into the hearth with his mind, and strode toward the closet. “I offered you a partnership. More than I’ve offered anyone else. It’s best you remember that and mind your place.”

He summoned Uther with a thought and dressed in leather pants and black drast to match the warriors they’d soon meet.

Feminine grumbles sounded from the bedroom, and muted heel strikes beat against the carpet.

Serena rounded the closet door and planted her fists on her hips. A flush spread across her collarbone and cheeks. “Mind my place? Or you’ll what?”

He’d give her credit for her fire and fearlessness. Still, better to solidify her place before things got out of hand. He tugged on his last boot, straightened, and prowled close until he towered over her. “You’ll keep to your role as my mate and confidant. You will not rule me, Serena.” He paused long enough to ensure he had her attention. “I slit my own father’s throat. Don’t think for a minute I’d hesitate to choke yours.”

A knock sounded at the bedroom door.

Maxis pulled his robe from its hanger and tossed it her direction as he strode past. “Cover yourself.”

At his command, candles throughout the bedroom and his adjoining office flared to life. He rounded his desk. “Enter.”

The whitewashed doors swung open and the fire’s glow caught in the gold filigree. Uther filled the entrance, outlined by vicious sunshine.

Leaning back in his brocade chair, Maxis propped one foot on the corner of the French antique desk and laced his fingers behind his head. “Give me an update.”

Uther sauntered forward. Either he’d pulled off several feats in the two days Maxis had given him to work, or he didn’t give a shit how well or poorly his efforts were received. “Men are relocated. Slave pens are ready. Drills start after you meet with them this afternoon.”

Impressive indeed. Maybe he’d earned that cocky stride. “We’ll meet within the hour at the main training hall. I need an hour—”

“Did I hear someone at the door?” Serena, glided into his office, all sugar-sweet and fabricated innocence with his black robe precariously cinched at her waist. Nothing so flagrant as walking naked in front of his new strategos, but enough to make it clear she wore not a stitch underneath.

Uther spun and stepped back.

“Oh.” She halted mid-stride, a hand at her mouth. “I thought I’d imagined the voices.”

Troublesome wench. “I’m not buying it,” Maxis said. “Neither is he.”

She shrugged with an unrepentant smirk and aimed a come-hither look at Uther. She lifted the black sleeve, not enough to show the entire mating mark, but enough to register her new status. “We had a busy night.”

Uther took her hand, a roguish glint in his eyes. “So I see.” He glanced at Maxis. “It appears congratulations are in order. May I?”

Damn it all, the two made an impertinent and troublesome pair. If he denied Uther, he’d give Serena too much power. If he approved, The Great One only knew what message he’d send to Uther. He nodded.

Keeping her hand in his, Uther pushed the sleeve to her elbow with his free hand.

A Deathstalker scorpion covered her forearm, its pinchers reaching toward her elbow and its tail wrapped around her wrist. Two swords crossed the center of its back. It should have been obscene on her delicate frame, but Serena made it elegant.

“A powerful mark.” Uther laid a chaste kiss to her knuckles.

“Enough.” Maxis shoved to his feet and stomped toward the bedroom. This was why he chose to work alone. Less drama and infinitely less bullshit. “Get a man to Serena’s home and move her things here. Serena it’s time for your tour.”

“No.”

Maxis halted, clenching his torso muscles to keep from backhanding and marring his mate’s beautiful face. He pivoted. “You think to be my mate and live under another man’s roof?”

“I think I’ve waited years to see the look on my father’s face when I slide out from under his thumb. No one, not even you, will steal that from me.”

She pulled her robe tighter. Only a sliver of creamy skin showed beneath the dark silk. Her chin lifted, mouth as stiff as her spine, and wary.

“Fair enough.” A small win he’d allow. “Dress in the gown you wore last night. You’ll not meet our men like some common slut. We’ll retrieve your things together later.” He motioned for Uther to follow with a jerk of his head and resumed his trek to the bedroom. “We’ll wait for you in the tunnels.”

“What tunnels?” Serena scurried behind them.

Maxis unlatched the hidden mechanism deep within the gilded ivory walls. “Dress and find out.”

A section of wall framed in gold trim cracked open, and the hinges groaned from limited use. Another office, a mirror of the one he’d left behind, sat shadowed beyond.

A frigid draft pushed the hair off his neck, a mere taste of the bitter cold that waited.

Serena drifted to his side.

“You’re wasting time, mate.” Maxis ambled to the hidden room and set the hearth’s kindling ablaze.

Serena hustled away and disappeared into the closet. Leave it to curiosity to set his baineann in motion.

Uther strode toward the main tunnel entrance on the opposite side. “I’ll ready the men.”

“Not yet. There’s something we need to discuss.” More like catch his strategos unaware. He’d have to be damned quick to glean Uther’s memories before he shut him out. He motioned for Uther to shut the door between his hidden room and the bedroom.

As soon as the latch snicked into place, Maxis struck, snatching Uther’s hand and darting for his memories. His energy slammed into an unforgiving barrier, and painful reverberations ricocheted down Maxis’ arms and legs. He staggered and dropped Uther’s hand.

An arrogant smirk spread across Uther’s face, his arms loose and unaffected at his sides. “If you want my memories, you’ll have to ask.”

Interesting little gift his strategos had. Not exactly a welcome development on the quality control scale, but interesting nonetheless. “I’m not inclined to ask for anything when it concerns my baineann.”

“Mighty protective for a woman you’ve only just met.”

“She wears my mark. You’ll keep your distance.”

“I have no interest in Serena, or any woman like her. Too high maintenance and standoffish for my taste.” Uther offered his hand. “Though you’re welcome to see for yourself if you’d like.”

Solid, steady. Not so much as a tremor.

Maxis motioned his offering away. “Keep your distance from Serena. Managing her is challenge enough without you fanning her ideas.”

Uther grinned. “Duly noted.”

“Now explain that handy gift I barreled into.”

Uther studied him. His chin shifted back and forth as though he rolled the taste of possibilities on his tongue. “It’s exactly what it felt like. A natural shield. No one gets in I don’t want in, either mentally or physically. That’s the only explanation you’ll get. For now.”

Arrogant bastard. He’d have to find something to bring his strategos down a notch, or at least some leverage to keep him in line.

“Maxis?” Serena’s muted query issued through the walls.

“Go.” He waved Uther toward the door and the tunnels beyond. “See that the men are ready.”

Uther ambled off, and Maxis triggered the latch holding the hidden door in place.

Serena stood, hands on hips. “I couldn’t reach you via link or sense you.”

“Of course you couldn’t.” Maxis ran his hand along the bared gap between the walls. “It’s lined with zeolite. Not enough to hinder our gifts on either side, but enough to block detection on line of sight.” He held out his hand.

She stepped forward, her fingers chilled against his palm. The simple cut of her blue gown left her arms bare, not at all appropriate for their pending tour.

“Stay here.” Returning to his closet, he pulled a fur coat from a section deep in the back, a white, ankle-length affair Evanora had favored. Back beside her, he thrust it at her. “Put this on. The blue does nothing for your skin when you’re cold and where we’re going it will only get worse.”

She studied the coat. Then him. One corner of her mouth lifted and her eyes sparked as she reached for the opulent fur. “Careful, Maxis. One might think you care.” Slipping the heavy coat in place, she freed her hair from the neck.

“Of course I care.” He plucked his own black fur from a peg beside the door and halted beyond the tunnel threshold. “First appearances are everything. I’ll not have my mate looking like a popsicle.” He lifted his eyebrows. “Coming?”

“Of course.” She pulled the lapels closer together so the soft edges framed her smug smile, and glided forward.