Heart of Iron

Twenty-four

Sunlight shimmered through gauzy lace curtains.

Lena moaned under her breath and tried to cover her eyes. Then she blinked. This wasn’t her room. Where was she?

Sitting up sent a shaft of throbbing pain through the base of her skull. Wincing, she cracked her eyelids open and looked around.

Bare timber floor. Rough hewn furniture. A table in the corner with a single chair seated by it. And a pair of boots, attached to long muscular legs.

Will.

She was at Will’s flat.

Sunlight caught the coppery tips of his hair and burnished his tanned skin. He dozed, propped up in an old armchair, his arms crossed over his chest and his head nodding forward. Dark circles shadowed his eyes and his jaw bore the signs of several days’ rough growth.

The last time she’d seen him he’d been frantic; tucking her into his own cot, muttering that she was safe, that she would be all right now. Telling her again and again that he was sorry.

Lena frowned. When had that happened? She had a vague flashing memory of pain and heat, and then screaming as someone dropped her into what felt like a vat of burning oil. Honoria peering at her worriedly as she tried to give her water. Will snapping at Honoria, driving her from the room as he dragged Lena out of bed and brought her here.

What the devil had happened?

Tossing aside the blankets, she tried to stand up. The world spun and she staggered into the stove, her nightgown tumbling around her ankles. The faint odor of lavender clung to her. Not her usual soap. Someone must have been bathing her.

Will blinked sleepily. “Lena?” He leaped to his feet and caught her, as if she were too fragile to even stand. “What are you doin’ out of bed?”

The heat of his body was a welcome sensation. She burrowed her face against his chest and breathed deep. His scent was so familiar, so warm and masculine, but beneath that she caught myriad scents. Starched linen, soap, sweat, a hint of her sister’s perfume, even the oil he used to clean the heavy hunting knife he wore strapped to his thigh.

How curious.

“Can you shut the curtains?” she asked. “It’s so bright.”

His scent changed, became somehow sharper. “It’s your eyes. They’ll adjust, but it’ll take a few days.”

“Adjust to what?”

Another pause. His scent became even bitterer. “Lena.” He cleared his throat. “Do you remember aught of what happened?”

The seriousness in his face and tone sobered her. She fought for recollection and failed. “What’s wrong? What happened? Is everyone all right?”

“How do you feel?”

An odd question. She considered her body. Now that she was on her feet she felt better, an incredible lightness of being that she couldn’t quite explain. “Very thirsty?” And another pressing need she didn’t want to admit. Heat flushed through her cheeks. “Do you think I could…use your washroom?”

Will stared at her for a long moment, coppery rings burning around his pupils. He gave a short nod. “O’ course.”

Herding her to the washroom as if she were an invalid, he started to follow her inside.

“Will!” She tried to shut the door in his face. “What are you doing?”

“Lookin’ after you.”

“Not in here,” she replied firmly. “Out!”

It took a moment, but his lips thinned and he turned on his heel. “I’ll fetch you some water to wash with.”

He brought water, soap, and a small towel. As soon as he shut the door, she turned to the unmentionable. Perhaps she had been hasty. By the time she washed her hands in the jug of water on his washstand, her knees were shaking. And the water looked damned good. She was half tempted to drink it straight from his shaving jug but forced herself to merely rinse her mouth and scrub her teeth. Using his washrag, she stripped her nightgown off then washed herself with the cloth and soap. Lavender scent assailed her. He’d definitely been bathing her.

Tugging her nightgown over her head, she ignored her discarded drawers. She wanted clean clothes, something to drink, and a good hot meal.

“Will?” She twisted the knob, but the door sprang open in her grip. Will hovered on the other side with a glass of water for her.

Now that she’d taken care of one need, others were begging for attention. Her gaze went straight past him, to the icebox, just as her stomach gave an embarrassing growl. She took the glass and gulped it down.

“I’ve mutton stew,” he said. “And bread and cheese. It ain’t much, but there’s lots of it. I had ’em send round as much as Esme could bake.”

Stew. Her mouth watered. But there were other more pressing concerns. “Will, why am I here? What’s been happening? I can hardly remember the last day.”

“It’s been four actually.”

“What?”

Raking a hand through his hair, he turned away from her. “Here. I’ll show you.” Snatching the small bone-handled mirror off his washstand, he held it close, as if he didn’t want her to see.

Sudden dread filled her. What was wrong with her? Her hands flew to her cheeks, but her skin felt normal. Snatching the mirror, she bought it up and stared at her reflection.

“My eyes,” she whispered. They stared back at her, the pupils ringed with bright bands of copper. Slowly she lowered the mirror. “But how…? What…?”

Will couldn’t meet her gaze. “God, I’m so sorry. I told you I ought never have come near you.” He looked up, heat and anger swirling through his eyes. “This is why. I nearly lost you. I nearly killed you!”

He turned on his heel and strode away, hands entwined behind his head. Lena risked another quick glance in the mirror. “I have the loupe?” she asked wonderingly.

He flinched as if she’d hit him.

“Will.” Putting the mirror aside, she crossed toward him, but he jerked away, circling the table and chair as if she were hunting him. Taking a slow breath, she put her hands on the back of the chair and leaned on it. “I don’t care. I told you I wouldn’t mind. If I could be with you—”

“You nearly died!” he snapped, eyes rolling with white.

And she realized then just how close it must have been. His hands clenched and he looked away, tearing his gaze from hers.

“How bad was it?”

“We didn’t think you were goin’ to make it,” he replied hoarsely. “I thought you were dyin’, before the fever broke. You don’t know what it did to me.” He rubbed his chest. “I went a little insane. I threw Blade across the room and brought you here. Honoria comes by every day but I couldn’t let her… Not ’til you woke…”

Her heart ached for the pain emblazoned on his face. “I survived.”

“Barely.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

His fists clenched and he turned his face away. “Yes, it does. You don’t know what this means.”

“What this means?” She shoved the chair out of the way. Then the table. It was ridiculously easy. “Is that you don’t have any more excuses.”

Will backed up against the cot, his hands held in front of him. “Damn it, Lena,” he growled. “I infected you! Your life ain’t gonna be the same.”

She stalked him. “I certainly hope not.”

“You don’t understand—”

“I understand perfectly.” Stopping in front of him, she pushed on his chest and he stumbled back onto the cot, a look of surprise on his face.

Staring at her hands in wonder, she couldn’t stop her smile. “How strong do you think I am now?”

“Why?”

“No reason.” I wonder if I could dangle a certain blue blood off the edge of the Ivory Tower?

The world had become a different place, full of blazing color, heat, and scents. Dust motes swirled through the shaft of light that lit them. She held her hands up, stirring them about. All her life she felt as though she’d been blind, with the details of the world around her only newly revealed.

“You see this as a curse,” she said, sliding onto his lap. The muscles in his thighs tensed. “I don’t. I know there shall be limitations. I know my time in the Echelon is done—it was done the moment you carried me out of that ballroom.” Seeing his mouth open, she pressed her finger against his lips. “I’ve been afraid for a very long time, Will. I’m not afraid now. Not even a little. Is that part of it?”

His gaze locked on hers. Mutiny burned there. He didn’t believe her.

“There’s nothing about my old life that I want to go back to,” she whispered, sliding her leg up to straddle his hips. The nightgown slid up around her thighs, and he sucked in a sharp breath, his fingers clenching in the blankets. Lena rocked against his hips, the rasp of the buttons on his trousers riding over her inner thigh.

“I want a new life,” she told him. “With you. I know that now.” Sliding her hands over his shoulders, she leaned closer, breathing in his delicious musky scent. “I finally know what I want. And I’m not afraid to admit it anymore.”

“Lena.” His hand curled against her bottom, as if in warning. “You’re verwulfen now. A slave in the Echelon’s eyes. You might never be able to leave the ’Chapel again.”

“Who says I need to?” She brushed her mouth against his. “Who says I ever need to leave this bed?”

Another gasped breath. But his eyes were burning now, turning hot with a flood of amber color.

“You’re mine, Will.” A smile of victory curled over her lips as soon as she saw the change. “You can’t hurt me anymore. You don’t have any more excuses. You can hate yourself all you want, but quite frankly, I’m rather impressed with the changes.”

As she leaned toward him, he leaned back. Stubborn, stubborn man. Lena followed him, kneeling over him and drinking in the sight of that tempting body.

“Ain’t you hungry?”

“Mmm.” She kissed at his mouth, licked it. “Yes, I am.”

Hands hovered at her sides. Fingers stiff, half reaching for her. “Lena, damn it. You weren’t well.”

“Anyone would think you a skittish bride on her wedding night.” A smoky laugh, her voice lowering. “Now that you can’t hurt me, think of all the things you could do to me.”

His gaze darkened. “You’ve just recovered from a fever.”

“I feel wonderful.” She bit his lower lip, sucking it into her mouth. “I feel better than wonderful.” She laughed, dug her nails into his chest. “I feel like I could do some very wicked things to you, right now.”

Hands clamped on either side of her hips, and he opened up to her, his mouth chasing hers. “Damn you, I thought I lost you.” A shudder ran through him. “I don’t have the words to say… I can’t fight it anymore,” he admitted hoarsely.

“Then don’t.”

Their mouths met, the taste of him hot and furious, full of denied hunger. It felt so right. She almost shuddered, pressing herself against him, desperate to get closer, skin on skin, to let him sink himself deep within her. Need swamped her. Furious, desperate need.

Grabbing the hem of her nightgown, Will shoved it up. They broke the kiss just long enough to get it over her head, then she was naked against him, the rasp of his shirt abrading her nipples, his hands clenching in the soft flesh of her bottom. Lena wove her fingers through his hair, grabbing fistfuls of the silky strands.

A groan tore through her throat. She threw her head back as his hot mouth closed over the column of her throat. “Yes,” she whispered. Her eyes shot wide as his teeth grazed the smooth slope of her breasts.

Her hands half lifted to cover herself, but he caught them and held them wide.

“No,” he growled. “You promised me everythin’ I could do to you. And I owe you for that bashful bride comment.”

The domination in his voice thrilled her.

“Instinct,” she replied and threw her head and shoulders back. Light gleamed off her pale skin, her nipples hard and pink. A breathless fist twisted in her stomach at the look in his eyes.

“Do you like them?” she whispered.

Hard lips captured hers. The answer was evident against her thigh, the thick, heavy heat of him branding her intimately. His tongue drove into her mouth even as his hands caught her hips and ground her against him.

It felt so good. Lena whimpered, her hands sliding up through his hair, her nails raking his scalp. The laughter was gone, faded. In its place was a desperate insanity, a hunger, a need to consume. The empty ache between her thighs almost undid her. She scrabbled at his shirt, tearing it over his shoulders until only the briefest scraps of linen hung from his elbows, still buttoned at the wrists.

“Easy,” he growled into her mouth, hands capturing her wrists.

“No.” She caught the top button of his trousers, but he drew her hands away.

“Plenty of time.”

“Now,” she demanded.

This time it was his turn to laugh. Caging her in his arms, he crushed her against his chest, his mouth possessing hers. Long, slow, hot kisses. Enough to drive her crazy. She wriggled, wanting more, desperately drinking at his mouth.

“I…” He tumbled her onto her back, his hard body driving her back into the mattress as he pinned her. “Ain’t gonna rush this.”

“Who said you had a choice?”

Another smile. His special smile. The one that melted her deep inside. “I’m still stronger than you.”

Lena stroked her fingers down his abdomen. “And bigger.” Definitely bigger. She shivered. Splayed her hands over his chest. “I always wanted to do this.”

“Do what?”

“This.” She dragged her nails down his stomach, tugging at the waistband of his trousers. “When I was younger, after I first moved into the warren. I wanted to touch you. To taste you. I dreamed of you,” she admitted, heat flushing her cheeks.

Will met her eyes, his own sober. “I couldn’t.”

“I know.” She shrugged as if it didn’t matter.

“I wanted to.” Another devastating smile. “Damn it, Lena, you don’t know how much I wanted to. You drove me crazy. I ain’t never felt such a thing for a woman before and you were too young… Too… I thought it were only a game for you. I had to leave.”

“It wasn’t. Not truly.” She smiled, latching onto the few words that interested her. “You’ve never wanted a woman before?”

“Only you.”

A warm glow lit her from within. She tugged at his waistband, sliding her finger behind the button. It popped open and Will’s eyes narrowed.

“I’ve had enough wanting. Enough waiting,” she said.

“You’re impatient.”

But he ran the backs of his fingers over the curve of her breast, watching the movement with a rapt fascination. Lena felt that touch in other places. She shivered, writhing beneath him.

“Touch me,” she whispered.

“I am.”

Wide, slow circles around her breast, drawing ever nearer to her nipple. She arched under his touch, like a cat.

“You’re not. You’re teasing me.”

“Mmm.” Warm humor filled his eyes. “I think I know somewhat how that feels.”

The devil. She bit her lip and reached for him, but he reared away.

“No. Put your hands on the bed head.”

“I don’t want to. I want to touch you.”

He caught her wrist, forced her fingers around the iron bed head. “I weren’t askin’.” Taking the other hand, he repeated the motion. “Don’t make me tie you down.”

Tie her down? The thought sent a shiver of need straight through her. She considered the demand, then relaxed her hands around the iron. “Very well. Just don’t take too long.”

Will lowered his head, his lips skimming across her collarbone. A soft laugh whispered over her skin. “You’re not in the position to be making demands.”

“I’m—”

His mouth closed over her nipple, the heat of it scalding her. Her mouth dropped open. “Oh.”

“You like this?” He looked up at her, his tongue tracing the hardened bud, a devilish look in his eyes. Since when had he ever been this playful?

She licked her lips. “It’s nice. I suppose.”

Teeth grazed her soft skin. White heat turned her vision blank. When she could breathe again, he was laughing at her.

“I told you to keep your hands on the rail.”

Somehow she’d clenched her fingers in his hair.

“Bet you can’t keep ’em there.”

Lips firming, she grabbed the bar and curled her fingers around it. “I’ll bet I can. What do I win?”

“Hmm.” The murmur shivered over her skin. He licked her again, swirling his tongue around her nipple. “If you win… Perhaps I’ll let you return the favor.”

“Tie you down?” She sucked in a breath. Her arms were quivering. It was increasingly difficult to keep her thoughts straight. “And if I lose?”

“Then for a week you’ll do everythin’ I say, without even a single argument.”

Lena lifted her head off the pillow. “Not a chance.”

“Then don’t move your hands. No matter what, Lena.”

Ducking his head, he kissed his way across to her other breast and lavished the same attention on it. The sensation shot through her like the charged lightning the Echelon used and stored in Leyden jars.

Throughout it all she clung to the bed, her hips arching up, desperately pleading for something, anything more. Her thighs were wet with her own need, the scent of it flavoring the air. He had to know.

“Breathe,” he told her, smugly wiping his mouth. “It’s about to get better.”

“Better?”

His fingers tickled her thigh. His mouth trailed down her stomach and she forgot to breathe. Little white dots danced before her eyes. “Will!”

Nuzzling into the thatch of dark hair between her thighs, he eased them wider. “Heard enough stories ’bout what a woman likes. Might take some practice though. You let me know how I’m doin’.”

His mouth closed over her sensitive, wet flesh. Lena’s eyes widened. “Will!” The word was almost a scream, the shock of it slicing through her in waves of sensation.

Heat seared her as his tongue delved deep inside her. The rasp of his stubble against her oversensitized skin tore another gasp from her throat. Good heavens! What was he doing? How did he know? He nuzzled higher, sucking at the tender nub at the center of the sensation.

Lena lost her bet.

She clung to his shoulders, her hips jerking beneath him as he lathed her delicate flesh. “Don’t stop!” She arched her hips up, trying to force herself against his mouth. “Oh, my God! Don’t you dare stop!”

Delicious tension stretched and furled deep within her. Head thrown back, she gasped as he lapped at her, suckling her into his mouth. So close… So close to the edge…

She screamed as it broke within her. Screamed as he suckled her hard, driving her spasms higher, forcing the sensation through her. Sensation finally ceased as he lifted his head, eyes dark with amusement. He licked his lips and she rolled to the side, involuntary quivers shooting through her body as she sucked in desperate breaths.

Fingertips trailed up her thigh, circling her hip. The muscle jumped beneath his touch. “Lena.” Humor flavored his voice. He kissed her hip. “Did you like that?”

“I daresay I liked it rather a lot,” she gasped. “But I’m not quite sure at the moment. The world seems to have shifted.”

He laughed, his voice dropping to a smoky whisper. “You taste delicious.” Another kiss, against the curve of her hip. He crawled up over her, nudging aside her arm and capturing her nipple between his lips.

It was too much, too soon. But she could no sooner have pushed him away now than she ever could have. Rolling onto her back, she slid her legs around his hips with a shudder. “You’re still wearing your trousers.”

He caught her questing fingers and pressed her flat onto her back. As he captured her mouth, she tasted her own body on his lips. “And you’ve lost your bet.”

Lena lost herself in the taste of his mouth. “You’re getting better at this,” she whispered, tracing his tongue with her own.

A pinch to her bottom made her jump. “First the blushin’ bride, now you question me skill at kissin’?” Grabbing her by the hips, he rolled them until he lay flat on the mattress and she straddled him. “Since you’re the one with all the experience, I’ll let you lead.”

Lena slid her hands over his bare chest. Will cupped his hands behind his head, the very picture of male repose. “I like the fact that you’ve never kissed another woman before,” she protested. “I like being your first. And I intend to be your last.” The last few words came out as a low growl.

She slid her hands lower and tugged open the buttons on his trousers. The heavy ridge of his cock strained against the fabric then sprang into her hands with an eager thrust.

He was enormous, her fingers barely closing around the girth of him. A drop of pearly white glistened at the swollen head, thick veins curving around his shaft.

She didn’t know what to do. All of the lessons about her flesh rights flew straight out of her head.

“Here,” he said, seeing her helpless look. Grabbing her hands, he curled them around his cock. “Like this.”

Lena wet her lips, her hands stroking him carefully. His eyes glazed and he threw his head back, lip curled up in a silent snarl as he gripped the end of the bed. Thick muscle strained in his biceps as he squeezed tight.

“You like this?” she whispered, her hands loose as she stroked him.

“Harder.”

Tightening her grip, she pumped the silky-slick skin in her hands. She couldn’t tear her gaze from his face, watching as the violence of pleasure twisted his features, made him gasp. She made him gasp. The thought was heady and with it inspiration struck.

Years ago she’d seen pictures of how to please a man and one thing had always stuck…

Lena bent low and licked at the slit on the throbbing head of his shaft. Will’s hips pumped and he cried out wordlessly. It had felt so good for her, so she greedily suckled him into her mouth, tasting the saltiness of his seed on her tongue.

A hand fisted in her hair, driving her lower, his hips thrusting up, filling her mouth, her throat, with his cock. Feral light blazed in Will’s eyes and he lifted his head off the bed to watch.

“God, Lena.” A gasp. “That feels so f*ckin’ good.” He collapsed back against the bed, his hands urging her away from him. “You have to stop.”

“I don’t want to.” She licked at the thin slit on the head of him. She’d barely begun to learn what he liked—

The world shifted. He yanked her up, rubbing his shaft between her thighs. “Can’t. Have to be inside you. Now.” Snarling, he lowered her hips, the tip of his heavy flesh stretching her.

Lena gasped. She could feel the inexorable stretch of her body as he edged deeper. Pain burned. She couldn’t do it. He was too big.

As if recognizing her distress, he froze.

Sweat gleamed against his hairline. The muscles in his arms trembled. “I’m tryin’. Tryin’ to hold it,” he whispered hoarsely.

And he would. He would turn away from this if he thought he was hurting her. Chain whatever turbulence drove him deep inside, force it back into the cage. The hunger gleamed in his eyes, the sheer need to possess her, but he would do it.

For her.

Lena shoved down, her mind branded with shock as he filled her. Will hissed, his fingers digging into her hips, even as the pain shot through her.

She gasped, wilting over him, her body so full of him that she didn’t know where she began and he ended. The hurt was a pulsing throb where they joined, yet with it came the satisfaction of finally being in his arms, finally sheathing him in her body. She would do anything, pay any price to be his.

Will’s hand slid up her back, cupping the back of her neck. “Damn it, Lena. I don’t want to hurt you, but you feel so good, so tight.”

“It’s fading,” she whispered, lifting her head a little. The pain was receding, the loupe healing her. A part of her wanted to own that pain, to brand herself with the proof of his possession.

Will’s hips flexed. He groaned, throwing his head back against the pillow. “I’m sorry. I can’t—”

She kissed his chest, a shivery sensation spreading through her. “Then don’t stop. I want to be yours.” Rolling her hips brought another gasp to his lips. She tried again, squeezing him deep within, her body knowing instinctively what her mind didn’t.

Will’s fingers dug into her bottom. He thrust up, the heat of his body burning her from within.

The pain was gone, chased from her body by a dawning exhilaration. He was hers. He was finally hers, and she was never going to let him go. Lena threw her head back, his hands helping her to find the rhythm that pleased him and taunted her. Each slick glide brought her temptingly close to the edge.

Will curled his back, lifting off the pillow and claiming her mouth. The movement impaled her deeper, her knees driving into the mattress and the base of his shaft rubbing against her slit. Body tightening, she gasped, but there was no escape. From his mouth. From the feel of him, deep inside. From the hands that cupped the base of her skull.

Fingers clenching in her hair, he dragged her head back, his teeth sinking into the soft flesh of her trapezius. Marking her. Claiming her. Driving her over the edge.

Lena cried out as it took her. Her body clenched around his and he groaned, his hips slowing, his thrusts becoming deeper. Crying out, he shuddered violently against her, one hand against the small of her back as he drove her against him.

Long minutes of breathless gasping as she came back to herself. She’d never felt safer, more at peace, than this moment in his arms.

Skin slick with sweat, his heart pounding against hers, she lifted her head slowly. Will shivered. His eyes were bright as copper pennies and fueled with uncertainty. “I didn’t hurt you?”

She smiled and nibbled at his ear. Her body ached with the possession of their joining. And she loved it. “No.”

“You’re so tight, mo cridhe.” He stroked her face tenderly.

Lena cupped his hand against her face. Mo cridhe. Incomprehensible words she could remember him whispering to her in the fever, amongst others. “What does that mean?”

“Little one.” He smiled, but the tension lingered in his bronze-warmed eyes.

“I don’t think it means that at all.”

“No?”

She kissed his palm, looked deep into his eyes. “No.”

Will chuckled against her skin and dragged her against his chest as he lay back. His body still nestled within hers. “Go to sleep,” he said, with a satisfied yawn. His eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks. “Before I’m tempted to have me wicked way with you again.”

***

He roused sometime later, just long enough to roll her onto her stomach and bite the back of her neck. Lena blinked sleepily as he tugged her hips up and thrust inside her. This time there was no gentleness. Whatever thought spurred him out of sleep, he slaked it on her body, filling her, owning her. Claiming her with such desperation that she collapsed panting on the bed afterward, unable to breathe, her body still tingling with aftershocks.

And again. Barely hours later, with evening darkening the sky. Driving her into the mattress, his eyes gleamed with copper, lost to the feral side of his nature.

It ignited something within her. Urges she’d never felt before. They kissed and bit and thrust at each other, desperate to leave some mark, some shadow of themselves on the other’s skin. The darkness within her unfurled and she raked her nails down his back as she screamed her pleasure into the night.

She lost count of how many times he took her. The world faded. Became little more than skin and sweat and seed, the thrust of his body, the acceptance of her own. Sometime before dawn they both collapsed, exhaustion shivering through her body.

Will crept from the bed and fixed a plate of stew for her, warming it on the stove. Her hungers changed and she ate two plates ravenously before collapsing back onto the cot. There was barely room for two, but he curled around her, dragged the blankets over them, and nuzzled into her hair. A part of her liked the fact that the bed wasn’t bigger.

“Sleep,” he whispered, as if he wasn’t the cause of her sleepless night.

She snuggled against him, her eyelashes fluttering heavily against her cheeks. “Only…if you let me…”

She was asleep before she finished her sentence.