chapter TWELVE
THANE COULDN’T BELIEVE the day he’d had. He and his boys had almost died in the building collapse. If not for the Water of Life, they would have. Within seconds of taking a sip of the healing agent, their broken bones had mended, torn muscles had woven back together, and dry veins had replenished.
Once healed, they’d pulled the humans from the rubble, and fed each a drop of the Water, as well, ensuring no lives were lost. Unfortunately, news stations were now blasting the story of the three odd-looking males who’d “preformed one of the world’s greatest miracles.”
He was a bundle of emotions. Relieved the humans survived. Guilty for not following orders and thereby leading to the blast, and discovery. After all, a mistake that turned out well did not make it any less of a mistake. He was even worried. What would happen next?
What would Zacharel say? Would his leader reprimand him? Or finally kick him out?
Just then, Thane cared.
Without his strength, his wings, how would he protect Elin?
Back at the club, he had gone in search of her, thinking he would keep her by his side for the rest of the day, just in case the prince decided to attack on his home turf.
Lying to yourself? No. But massaging the truth? Definitely.
The truth, without any massaging: he’d wanted Elin in his bed, naked. He’d wanted his hands on her. His mouth on her. He’d wanted to thrust inside her and hear her cry his name.
As the Rathbone building had collapsed around him, his only thought had been this: he couldn’t leave this world without having Elin in every way.
Elin, who hated blood and didn’t realize his soul was soaked in it.
Now, he carried her through his suite and into the bathroom, placing her on the toilet lid. He sent Xerxes a mental command.
Relocate Bellorie. I don’t want her at the club.
She’d caused this.
Did you sleep with her? Xerxes demanded, his shock evident.
No. Her presence offends me.
There was no more need to discuss. Very well.
Elin was silent, her mind probably somewhere else. The past, most likely.
Moving as swiftly as possible, he locked the doors and drew a steaming bath. She offered no protest as he stripped her and looked her over, searching for injuries. Her skin was pallid in places and flushed in others, her freckles stark. But her beautiful breasts, topped by little pink nipples, and her stomach, flat and soft, and her legs, long and lithe, were all unmarred.
“Elin,” he said softly.
Finally, movement. She wrapped her arms around her middle—to warm herself against the chill in the air, or to at last shield herself from his view?—and he saw the beginning of a bruise on her right side.
He hissed in a breath. Elin...in pain...
His hands fisted as something inside him broke. Or finally yanked out some of the weeds. He remembered Elin’s screams, her voice laced with fear and broken at the edges. The sound hadn’t aroused him; that was no surprise—it hadn’t at camp, either. But it had tormented him. He would have done anything to make it stop.
He remembered the way some of his lovers had looked at him over the years—as he had once looked at his demon captors. What would he do if Elin ever looked at him that way?
Die, he realized. Some part of him would die. His last shred of decency, perhaps. He would be no better than the monsters he fought.
Are you any better now?
The thought jolted him. He was. Now. Finally. Before, he’d been dead. Choked by those weeds. Now he could breathe. He lived.
He crouched in front of Elin and traced his knuckles over the discoloration on her ribs. “Why do you have this, kulta?”
She kept her gaze on the tiled floor, saying softly, “I don’t know. I mean, I fought Axel when he tried to pick me up and I fell, and it hurt. Maybe then?”
Axel had not protected Thane’s treasure. He and Axel needed to have a chat.
Thane picked Elin up and settled her in the hot water. He perched at the edge of the tub, wondering if he should bathe her or just allow her to soak.
“Join me,” she beseeched.
The words were soft, barely audible. Even still, they caused his entire world to shift.
“No, kulta.” He would make the bath sexual rather than comforting, and she was too vulnerable right now. “You are not in a good place right now. Your decisions aren’t—”
Haunted smoked-glass eyes found him and pierced all the way to his soul. “Please. I don’t want to be alone.”
My female should not have to beg for anything. “All right.” So easily swayed. After a moment’s hesitation, he removed his robe, steeling himself against the excruciating rapture to come, and climbed in behind her. Liquid heat lapped at his skin as he drew her between his legs and settled her against his chest.
Careful. He adjusted her position, or rather, tried to, but no matter her angle, his erection pressed against some part of her. He shuddered, fighting the urge to rub against her. Can’t...resist... He had the most exquisite view of her body. A long strand of midnight hair clung to her dampened skin, the end wrapping around her pearled nipple. Droplets of water clung to the flat plane of her stomach.
“I’ll clean you now.” Remain detached. He soaped her from neck to waist. At first, he managed to keep his mind on other things. The meeting with Zacharel tomorrow, concerning his actions at Rathbone Industries.
Would he receive another whipping?
That led to thoughts of tracking the demon prince and dishing out a whipping of his own. All the while Elin remained still and quiet, but she was also soft and sweet, her scent rivaling all distractions, and it wasn’t long before the tether on his resistance frayed, then split and he accidentally-on-purpose grazed her nipple with his knuckles.
She gave no reaction.
End this. He poured warm liquid over her stomach, washing away the suds.
“All done,” he rasped.
“Thank you,” she replied, her tone somewhat automated.
It was clear her memories still plagued her. Despite his own poor condition, he couldn’t leave her like this.
Massaging her shoulders, he asked gently, “Why do you hate blood, kulta?” in an effort to purge the past.
Quiet, hesitant, she said, “The Phoenix burst into my parents’ home on my twentieth birthday. My husband and I were there for a celebration dinner. It was just the four of us. Momma grabbed me and threw me under the table, and I was such a coward I stayed there while Daddy and Bay... They jumped to their feet to protect their women. The warriors decapitated Daddy and stabbed Bay. His body fell over the table, and his blood, it rained all over me. I screamed so much I permanently damaged my vocal cords.”
Her words painted a truly horrific image. Thane squeezed his eyes shut in an effort to blank his mind. His heart clenched. He ached for the girl she’d been. So young. So vulnerable.
So tragic.
“You aren’t a coward, kulta.”
“I am,” she said, dropping a fist into the water. “Today, when I saw Ardeo and Orson, I hid beside Axel rather than attack.”
“And you were wise to do so, not cowardly. You are a human without training. You—”
“Have training,” she interjected. “I’ve just never had the courage to apply it.”
A human learning to defend herself against other humans was hardly training for defending herself against the beings populating his world. “Would you hide if Ardeo and Orson burst into this bathroom?”
“No. I’d attack!”
“Then you are already a changed person. You learned from your mistakes.”
“That’s...right.” The knots in Elin’s muscles smoothed out, and she relaxed against him—while he grew tenser by the second.
He could have roared with triumph. He’d helped her.
And maybe that was why, despite the horror of their conversation, his shaft remained as hard as a steel pipe, throbbing, urging him to arch into her at last and stroke against her cleft.
“Thank you, Thane,” she said, trembling.
“Welcome.” Did she sense the direction of his thoughts? Or had she finally realized she had a fully aroused male at her back?
“So...how did you find me?”
He wouldn’t mention his search for her. The way he’d torn the club apart, more desperate to see her by the second. Or that Chanel had said Bellorie took her shopping and he had been airborne mere seconds later.
Along the way, Axel had spoken inside his mind. Your human won’t stop screaming. What would you like me to do with her?
Protect her. I’m almost there. Thane had quickened his pace.
“Axel summoned me,” he finally said. “Sent Ones can communicate telepathically.”
“Oh. That’s cool,” she said, shifting restlessly in the water, as if beseeching him...for more.
You’re misreading. He gritted his teeth.
Then she moved again...and again, seeming to deliberately stoke his desire. Soon, she was rubbing against him.
Thane flattened his big hand on her stomach to stop her. Instead, he spread his fingers, covering as much ground as possible, and encouraged her to move faster. He’d fought for control. He’d failed.
She arched into his touch. “Thane.”
The neediness in her tone...
He stroked his pinkie at the apex of her thighs, edging ever closer to her sweet spot, letting pulse after pulse of sizzling desire leave him and seep into her. She moaned.
“Neither one of us is thinking clearly right now,” he said. “Now is the time to stop.”
Her head rolled against his shoulder as she released another moan. “I don’t want to stop.” She paused. “Do you?”
“I don’t just crave you, kulta—I’m literally starved for you.” He pushed himself against her so she would have no cause to doubt his words. “I would rather die than stop.”
She shivered, the water rippling. “Will you use whips and chains on me?” She reached up and behind, threading her fingers through his hair.
“No.” Never. “All I need is you.” He licked the shell of her ear.
“But—”
“No buts.” He pinched her chin and forced her head to angle toward his. Her eyes were at half-mast, her lips already parted and ready for his possession. Triumph surged through him. “When we’re together, it will be you and me. No one else. Nothing else. Agree.”
“Thane—”
“Agree, kulta.”
A torturous pause. Then, “I agree. For now.”
For now was good enough.
Leaning down, he pressed his mouth against hers. She opened immediately, as if she couldn’t help herself, and he took full advantage, thrusting his tongue against hers. He demanded. He consumed. He devoured. Never had a female intoxicated him more.
He would give her everything. Do everything with her, things he’d never done with another. He would touch and taste every inch of her, then let her touch and taste every inch of him.
They would never be the same.
His water-slick hands moved to her beautiful breasts and cupped, kneaded. The water had fever-flushed her skin. Or maybe the intense heat radiating from him had done it. His palms burned so hotly he feared he would scorch her, but as he rolled her nipples between his fingers, she moaned and arched her hips, her arousal unfettered.
“Can’t get enough of you, kulta, and I think, perhaps, you can’t get enough of me, either.” He kissed and licked a path down her neck. “Am I right?”
“Yes.” She tilted her head to give him better access. As he sucked on her hammering pulse, she dug her nails into his scalp. “The things you make me feel. It’s like poetry.”
Such beautiful praise... Pressure built, driving him to rub against her with more force. He hissed at the rightness of the sensation. “Tell me what you need.” His voice was nothing more than a growl. “I will do it. Will do anything.”
“You. Your fingers.”
His greedy gaze tracked a path down the center of her stomach, and his hands soon followed. He’d been with hundreds of women. He’d bitten, scratched and whipped, but he’d never touched one the way he was about to touch Elin. He’d always used external devices.
“Open for me.”
She obeyed, spreading her knees as far as they would go.
“Good girl.” He curled his fingers around her mound and moaned. She was hot enough to burn him.
“Thane,” she gasped. “Yes. Like that. But inside.”
His name on her lips...a throaty wisp...
He parted her, dipped a finger into the tight, silken warmth of her, and felt her clench around him. Utter. Perfection. He nearly came. A hoarse cry left her as he pulled out...and sank back in...again and again.
“Move on me.” As he spoke, he urged her backside into a rocking rhythm against his shaft. Up and down, creating a dangerous friction...so insanely good...propelling him closer and closer to the edge of no return. “That’s the way, kulta,” he gritted.
Water lapped over the tub’s rim only to return and stroke over his sensitized skin. Water that had not cooled in the slightest. Water that had only heated.
“Yes.” She reached up to knead her breasts, just as he had done.
It was too much...not enough. He should close his eyes and allow himself to calm, simply enjoy the feel of her inner walls clamping around his thrusting finger. But the sight of her...so erotic... He couldn’t look away, and his need for satisfaction continued to climb.
He battled the urge to grab her by the hips, lift her, and slam her down on his erection. That was what he needed. Her, surrounding him. Her, dripping on him. But he felt like a virgin, completely inexperienced and unsure. This was still so new to him. Pleasure without pain—without even the desire for pain. Being lost in a woman: her scent, the little moans escaping the back of her throat, the way she writhed against him. He didn’t just want to please her. He had to please her. It was a need as necessary as breathing.
“Tell me how much you like this,” he demanded.
“So much.”
Rejoicing, he fed her a second finger and began to work them in and out of her.
Faster and faster. Harder.
Panting, she arched to take him deeper. The heel of his palm pressed against the heart of her need, and she cried out, those wet, wet walls squeezing at him almost as tightly as a fist.
“More. Please, more.”
The sight of her, the sounds she made, both pushed him past all reason. He couldn’t wait a minute longer. Had to finish her. Him. Now. Just like this. With his fingers still nestled inside her, he slammed his hips forward, rubbing the long, hard length of his shaft against her. Then he did it again. And again. Hard and fast. And again. Again. All the while he worked her with his fingers and palm.
“It’s so good, baby. I’m so close,” she rasped.
Baby. An endearment. From a woman. For him. It was as new as the pleasure—and just as intoxicating.
“Come,” he commanded. “Come now. Let me feel you. See you.” He thrust harder, higher, the heel of his hand pressing against her.
“Thane!” she screamed, her inner walls clenching on him, her entire body bowing. A rush of liquid heat spilled over his fingers.
The knowledge that he’d brought her to climax—the sensation of it—sent him over the edge at last. He roared as sublime satisfaction slammed into him, and came against her back. Came more forcefully than he ever would have imagined possible.
When the last of his shudders stopped, he collapsed against the tub and realized he had Elin in a death grip. He loosened his hold and withdrew his fingers.
In the light, those fingers gleamed. His mouth watered, wanting to taste. He licked his lips...and then the fingers. His eyes closed, and his head fell back. So deliciously sweet. How had he lived without it? Without her?
“Maybe we should wash my brain while we’re here,” she said, her voice breathless. “My thoughts are still very, very dirty.”
“You want more, kulta? I’ll give you more.” Gladly. He kissed the base of her neck and grinned. “Your skin is so hot, your freckles little infernos.”
“Hot?” She stiffened. She jolted upright, severing contact. “Um, I think I’ve had enough for one day. I’m gonna take off, okay, and I’m going to borrow your robe.” Before he could reply, she rose and stepped out of the tub. As she pulled the white material over her head, she said, “Everyone will see and know, won’t they? It’ll be my first walk of shame.”
Shame.
She felt ashamed of him, of what they’d done. Even though he hadn’t hurt her.
Ice rained over him. He’d loved every moment together, and she had, too. And yet, the moment her desire was slaked, she regretted.
“I’m sorry.” Elin raced to the door, only to pause with her hand on the knob. “I, uh, had fun. Thanks.”
Thanks?
Why not leave a wad of cash on the sink? The sentiment was the same. He scowled.
When she actually made to leave, without another word, he stopped her with a barked, “I don’t want you to vacate the club grounds again, Elin.”
She turned to peer at him, aghast. “I’m a prisoner, then?”
Her cheeks were still flushed from her climax. A climax he had given her. Wet hair stuck to her cheeks. He wanted to hate her.
He couldn’t hate her.
“You are to be protected.”
“Is everyone else to be similarly protected?” she demanded.
A muscle ticked under his eye. He couldn’t lie. But then, he’d had centuries to learn how to get around stating an untruth. “All humans are.” What she didn’t know: she was the first and last human ever to grace his club. “My enemies are out there, hunting, and you could be used against me.”
She looked away from him, fingers twisting over the center of the robe, lifting its hem, revealing her calves...and the water droplets still clinging to her skin. “What are you going to do about Ardeo?”
“That will depend on the king.”
“Maybe you should avoid him—”
“Enough.” He wouldn’t discuss strategies of war with her. They would only frighten her. “You had your fun. Go.” Before I close the distance, carry you to my room and take you the rest of the way.
Just like before, she scurried off.