Kenna
What I don’t know, as I kneel on the furs, is that Evander came here looking for me only to find out he’s still part of the Rite. Mystics surrounded him at the lake shore and followed him to the temple entrance, hurrying him along, telling him he was late.
He came here for me. Maybe to stop me from doing this, or for another reason I don’t know.
It’s clear, however, that he feels some sense of relief finding me well and whole, regardless of the situation.
But I can tell he’s trying to free himself from the yoke of the eclipse that’s blurring the lines between us right now. He’s trying to be logical about this. He’s trying to hold onto some kind of rationality but is failing just as miserably as I am as I lie back against the furs.
He’s watching every move I make. I can feel his heart thundering through our bond.
I feel like I’m in a haze as he covers me with his body. I reach up and run my fingers through his soft, golden hair. He smells so good–like the forest after a heavy rain. Like the warm comfort of my bedroom during a storm when the only lights are that of those silly candles I love so much.
He smells like home to me in every way. It’s the bond, of course, but there’s more to it. How could I not see this before? When we were young, when I was just a teenager writing him letters and waiting with bated breath for his return?
This hazy, overwhelming feeling has to be the eclipse. There’s no other explanation for it.
But I’m also… so incredibly happy to see him.
His knee draws up between my thighs as he holds himself up on his elbows. He nudges my head to the side, his mouth brushing up my neck to that spot just behind my ear that makes shivers lick up and down my spine when his tongue darts out and smooths over that space.
I close my eyes and drink in every sensation, my fingers tangled in his hair.
But then, for a moment, I hurtle back to reality.
Just before his mouth meets mine, I press a hand to his chest. “We don’t have to do this.”
He pauses, opening his eyes. I curl my fingers into his shirt.
“Evander, I–we don’t have to do this. The Rite, I mean. I know you don’t want–”
“I was wrong,” he says, lowering his face to my neck. He sucks gently, his teeth raking over my skin.
I suck in a breath and let it out in a moan as heat pools between my thighs, and I start to grind against his knee.
“I have dreamt of you like this,” he rasps, running a hand down the curve of my hip while holding himself upright with the other. “I loved falling asleep because it meant this. It was the one way I’d let myself have what I wanted.”
He bunches up the dress until my hips are exposed. I’m totally naked beneath, and he groans with satisfaction, but I’m still unsure.
“Wait–”
He pauses again, looking down at me with sudden clarity.
“Why did you come back?”
He holds my gaze for several seconds, taking a resigned breath. “I found out you’d been called to perform the Rite and I didn’t like it. I felt like something was wrong about it, just like when I was called and you weren’t chosen. My own mate–” He grits his teeth and his eyes fill with a kind of heat I’ve never seen in him before. “My mate,” he rasps again, lowering his lips to mine. “My behavior toward you has been inexcusable, Kenna. I don’t deserve you. I likely never will. That is why I left, but I can’t…. Now that I’ve tasted you, I can’t be without you. I can’t put that kind of distance between us.”
“But this is everything you don’t want.”
He shakes his head. “You are everything I’ve ever wanted.” His mouth meets mine in a kiss so hot and demanding I feel like I'm floating. The room around us fades to nothing, and then it’s just us, and his hands are on my body, tearing at the dress.
But then he stills and looks into my eyes again. “You have every right to push me away, to reject me. I will accept it if you do. Until that night under the willow, I had no idea how strongly you felt, and I couldn’t handle knowing how deeply I’d hurt you. Our kingdom is on the brink of war. Your life is at risk. If we do this, I can’t promise you I can give you the life you want, the life you deserve, but I can keep you safe. I swear that I can keep you safe.”
“Evander, I don’t care about that,” I whimper, caressing his face, but he shakes his head.
“I do. That’s why I’ve pushed you away. I want you to have children and a warm home. I want you to have a soft life, where you’re safe and content with someone who makes you laugh. I don’t know if I can be that man, but I can try.”
His words echo through my heart and ignite something deep inside of me that I can’t explain. It’s more than the bond, just like Mom said. The bond is so complex and confusing, but this feeling is totally, utterly clear.
“I love you,” I tell him, and he exhales deeply, closing his eyes as he kisses me softly, tenderly.
“I love you,” he whispers against my lips.
In the distance I swear I hear the beating of drums. Maybe I’m imagining it. Maybe it’s my own heartbeat rattling the walls of the cave, but my body starts to move in tune with the strange, ancient music.
Evander’s kiss turns to something heated and animalistic. He tears my dress again, pulling it away. I unbutton his shirt, my fingers slipping over the soft fabric in my haste to touch him, to lay my hands on his bare skin and feel his heat.
His hand glides over my chest to my breasts, and he lowers his head to suck my skin, his tongue darting over my right nipple until it hardens, and I moan his name. I grind against his knee, chasing whatever friction I can find to ease the throbbing ache between my legs, but I need more.
He shifts his weight, pressing kisses down my body until he’s… he’s…
“What are you doing?” I gasp, trying to sit up, but he pins me to the furs by stretching an arm over my weight.
When his tongue parts my folds I lose any sense of self completely. My mind goes blank, and all of my attention is on the feeling of his tongue grazing my sex until I am trembling with ecstasy I’ve never experienced before.
His teeth glide over my clit, and I cry out, pinning his head between my thighs. “Evander!”
“Oh, my gods,” he groans, kissing up my thigh and back down again before going back to work.
“For–for a man who took a vow of chastity,” I pant, “you seem to know what you’re doing.”
“I’m a virgin, Kenna, not a monk,” he laughs hoarsely.
I look down to find him staring up at me, his eyes glazed with feral intensity. He holds my gaze while sliding two fingers inside of me, stretching me to the point of pain. I arch my hips into his touch even though it hurts, unable to stop myself. Pressure builds and builds until I feel like I might explode as he slowly, achingly slowly, thrust his fingers in and out.
“Take off your pants,” I command to the best of my abilities.
He arches a brow.
“Take them off,” I repeat, trying to keep my head on straight as he continues working me into a frenzy with his fingers. He’s watching me fall apart and loving every second of it. “Evander–”
He removes his fingers and is suddenly on top of me, nudging my legs further apart. He dips his head, hovering over me while he pulls his belt free of the loops. “Let me make one thing clear, Kenna. You might be a future queen, but there is one place I plan on ruling in our future home. You are mine, and this body–” he bites down on my neck and I moan loudly at the pressure. “This body is mine. You will do as I say.”
For whatever reason, Evander bossing me around is like fire in my blood. I nod, whimpering and closing my eyes as he continues to bite down on my neck while kicking out of his pants.
He’s so warm, practically fevered. His naked body settles against mine, and I feel utterly whole and protected beneath him.
But then I feel it, and some of that heated confidence wanes.
I went to an all-girls college, for Goddess’ sake. I’ve heard all the stories about what happens in a bedroom–or a bathroom stall in a crowded inn.
I’m still not prepared for Evander’s brutally hard cock resting against my thigh.
He’s going to tear me to pieces with that thing, and I think I’m going to love it.
My breathing picks up as adrenaline takes over.
“Do you know what to do?” I whisper.
He lets go of my neck to look down at me.
“Yes, I know what to do. I’m going to try not to hurt you, but this will hurt, Kenna.”
“Just for a minute, right?”
He nods. “Yeah, just for a minute.” But now he looks uncertain. “We don’t–I’m not sure if we should. I don’t want to hurt you.” He starts to pull away, but I gather him back.
I want to say we have to do this. This is the Rite. The eclipse is happening as we speak, and it’s probably why we’re acting so insane right now, but I don’t.
“I want you. I want to do this.”
I sit up a bit and kiss him soundly, my tongue sliding into his mouth, over his teeth. He groans and wraps his arms around me as he lays us back down.
The head of his cock nudges my entrance. He lets out another groan as he holds me as close as possible, breathing in my scent. “You’re so wet,” he rasps, pressing a kiss just below my ear. “You were so wet in that inn when we were traveling. It took all of my strength not to claim you as mine right there on that straw mattress.”
“I wanted you to,” I breathe, closing my eyes as he slowly nudges his cock inside of me. The fullness is something I wasn’t prepared for, and I wince as he pulls out.
“Kenna,” he groans, pressing in again, deeper this time. “Look at me.”
My eyelids flutter open, and I look into his eyes as he thrust his hips against mine, hard.
He holds still, giving me a moment to get used to the fullness of him inside of me. It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.
But when he does it a second time, I cry out, and he’s past that barrier.
And I’m his.
“Oh, Kenna,” he says against my shoulder as his hips grind into mine. “Fuck, you feel… you feel so good, Gods.” He nips at my ear as he thrusts into me with fervor.
My eyes flutter closed as I wrap my arms around his neck, pressing kisses to his jaw. The slight ache gives way to something deeper, a new kind of heat that blazes through me like wildfire. Again, that delicious pressure builds in my core and spreads through my thighs until I’m wound as tight as a bow string, and the sounds coming out of my mouth are unintelligible pleas for more.
Then it hits me. Pleasure washes over me like a tidal wave and then explodes. I come so hard I’m sure I’m blacking out. My vision fills with stars as I meet Evander’s eyes, unsure if this is how it’s supposed to feel, but if it is, I want to do this again, and again, and again. My muscles spasm around his cock, and he buries himself deep inside of me, holding himself there as I come undone around him.
When I open my eyes again, trying to catch my breath, he’s looking down at me with so much emotion behind his eyes it’s nearly enough to bring me to tears.
But then he flips me over onto my stomach and enters me again.
“Evander,” I groan, arching my hips to meet him thrust for thrust. He pulls me up so my back is flush with his chest and grips my throat, whispering the dirtiest things I’ve ever heard in my life in my ear while his free hand toys with my clit until my head starts to spin.
“You’re mine,” he says, over and over again. “You belong to me.”
“I’m yours,” I rasp, and I feel a sudden surge of my powers returning at the very moment I come for the second time, and he flattens me to the ground, covering me with his body.
But his mouth trails hot kisses over my bare shoulders as he pumps into me once, twice, then a third time.
“Evander, please!” I beg, already on the edge of oblivion again. The pressure feels impossible. I want him so badly, I need him….
A searing pain erupts on my left shoulder, and my mind explodes with light and color.
Those fine threads woven between our hearts blaze with new life.
Evander just marked me. His teeth are still piercing my skin as my powers suddenly roar to life, and they feel new and whole and…
He comes, spilling himself deep inside of me, filling me with a new kind of warmth, and gathers me up as he rolls us over.
I stare up at the ceiling in shock.
“I need to mark you,” I manage to say. “I need to–”
A thunderous boom echoes down the tunnel into the cave.