“Not true,” he said, his voice hard and distant. “You’ve become important. To me.”
I kissed his ear and then his neck. The regal indifference he attempted to hide behind faltered against my touch. “And you’re important to me too. That’s why you have to be ready. And you have to remember there are more things to consider than me. There’s my home to think about and yours. Don’t forget your family and mine. Not to mention the Gate. If worse comes to worst, you need to do what’s necessary to make sure all that is safe.”
“Do you realize what you’re asking me to do?” he asked. His words were as sharp as an athame.
I inhaled the woody scent of his hair and nodded. “I do.”
He turned in my arms, his eyes wide with fear and wet with anticipated grief. “I don’t know if I can.”
I grinned down at him and brushed my lips against his. “I know you can,” I said. “You’re Prince Aiden of the Royal Fae Court. You’ve taken on banshees, vampyren, and even the Grumpy Wizards of Havenbridge. I have faith you will do what needs to be done to protect Otherworld.”
He went slack in resignation. He slumped into my embrace and let loose a long exhalation. “I will,” he finally said. He stood up straight. His regal bearing had returned, but the distant gaze and tone had faded. “
If
I have to. We just have to make sure I don’t have to.”
I could agree to those terms. “Seems reasonable enough.”
“Good,” he said. “Now there’s something you must do for me.”
“What’s that?”
He grabbed my hand and led me across the clearing and farther into Otherworld.
DESPITE MY
repeated questions on what he wanted me to do, Aiden refused to answer.
He led me into the forest, which he called the Arbor, and through a maze of massive trunks, each of which was about twenty inches in diameter. The thick green canopy above let through only minimal light from a sun that was already retreating toward the horizon.
We found a path made by whatever woodland creatures dwelled in the forest and followed the snaking trail through the trees.
“Are you going to answer me?”
Aiden glanced over his shoulder and grinned. The mischievous glint in his eyes told me he was clearly enjoying this. “Soon,” he responded as a warm breeze whipped around us. It sent his dark hair fluttering, and if it was possible, a full head of hair in disarray made him even more stunning.
Not that he needed any help with that.
Everything about him was beautiful. The pronounced dimples on his cheeks when he smiled, the flexing of his back muscles as he swung his arms, the sensual curve of his lower back as he navigated the trail, and the contracting of his butt muscles as he walked.
He was absolutely stunning.
The path ended at a gathering of rocks. He scrambled to the top and gazed down at me. “What are you waiting for?”
“An answer,” I mumbled before scaling up to where he waited.
Past the rocks was a dense thicket of brush, and beyond that a brook babbled. Its topaz water flowed languidly through the woods, in no great hurry to get to its final destination. A huge, mossy trunk had fallen across the brook, providing a natural bridge across the water. On the other side, the dense brush gave way to flat, green grass and more trees that extended into another dense section of the forest.
On the horizon stood a cliff, its sheer face looking directly at us. Patches of green grass grew along its rocky sides, but on its top was what appeared to be a castle composed of red brick.
That had to be Aiden’s kingdom, what he’d referred to as the Hearth.
“It’s beautiful,” I said.
He nodded at the palace, which sported a tall brick tower with smaller structures of similar material surrounding it. “It is,” he said with a nod. “But we’re not going there just yet.”
I tore my gaze from the natural splendor around me to Aiden. “Then where?”
Fiery wings sprouted from his back in a heated whoosh. He grabbed my hand, and seconds later we were floating over the water and landing on the other side.
“Give a guy a warning next time,” I said. The unexpected liftoff had made me queasy. “I think we left my stomach on the other side.”
Aiden’s wings disappeared in a puff of smoke, and he rubbed his strong hand across my stomach. “I’ll make it better.”
I was intrigued. “And how are you going to do that?”
A grin slid across his lips as he massaged his way from my stomach to my waist. He tugged the fabric of my shirt up and over my head before pressing his body against me. He wrapped his arms around me, gripping my muscles as he followed a steady path to the small of my back, where they rested.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
He didn’t answer. He rubbed his face against my chest, licking a trail across my pecs and up to my neck. I gasped when he lightly nipped at my flesh. I dug my fingers into his waist and held him tightly, pressing my fattening cock against the bulge in his jeans.
“Aiden, I—”
“Shhh,” he whispered, trailing his fingertips along my jawline before scratching his way through the reddish stubble. He drew slow, lazy circles around my lips, which trembled in response.
Aiden’s touch communicated something greater than words could hope to convey. The gentle brushes of his fingers on my skin revealed I
had
become special, and the lingering of his lips upon mine offered a promise far sweeter than the honeysuckle that filled the distance between us.
I inhaled deeply, taking the scent and the unspoken emotions into my soul, where they worked to untangle the darkness that crouched within me.
How we’d gotten here was a mystery to me. We hadn’t gone out on a date or even spent much time together that hadn’t been dominated by constant threats, yet here we were, our arms around each other, and our hearts beating in synch to the rhythm our bodies created.
“We’ve got a lot going on right now, and it might not be the right time considering everything, but we need this and I want you to remember this moment,” Aiden said as he pressed his lips to mine. His tongue came alive in my mouth while he unfastened my jeans. “If you feel yourself losing control again, remember my touch. Nothing is more powerful. Not blood magic. Not some shadow weaver. Just you and me.” And he was right. The moment he undid the zipper and pushed my jeans past my hips, he created a weakness in my knees. My seven-inch prick stood out from my body, throbbing in want. He took my hard cock in his hands, and my knees practically buckled. He gripped the shaft and began a leisurely tug that made me moan. “Can you remember that for me?”
I nodded. I couldn’t form intelligible words. I could only mumble and groan as he jacked my dick to full mast.
Aiden continued the hand job while I fumbled with the button and zipper on his jeans. There was no way I was going to be denied the pleasure of holding his hardness in my palm.
I shoved my hand underneath the denim, grabbing hold of the prize I’d first seen in the woods. The hot, hard flesh throbbed in my grip as I pulled the sensitive skin up and down with my right hand while my left sent his jeans fluttering to his ankles. “I’ve never wanted anyone like this before,” I finally managed. “Whenever I’m around you, it’s like some wonderful spell has been cast on me. It’s magic I’ve never experienced before.”
“I know,” he said. He gazed into my eyes, the fires of his passion raging within. “We have blood magic of our own.”
I tangled my fingers through his dark hair before kissing a trail from his lips to his neck. I lapped at the sweat-slick skin and then his nipples. I flicked my tongue around the taut flesh and gently sucked on each one until they pebbled.
Aiden cooed in appreciation. He fluttered his fingers along my neck and shoulders as I followed the lines of his abdominal muscles with my tongue, licking up the perspiration that had collected in the ridges before kneeling in front of him.
I grabbed his hard cock at the base, slowly jacking it until a tiny pearl collected at the slit. I lapped the sweet nectar before slipping the head of his thick cock in my mouth.
“Damn, Thad,” Aiden moaned. He pumped his hips, forcing his prick past my lips and into my throat. “You feel so good.”
I could only mumble in reply. The saltiness of his cock, combined with the musk from his nest of dark pubic hair, intoxicated me. I greedily slurped up and down his dick, swirling my tongue around the shaft before swallowing the entire length.
Aiden continued to pummel my face, working his hardness in and out of my mouth as he moaned and gave himself over to the pleasure I gave him. “It’s too good,” he said. “I’m not going to last much longer.”
I pulled off his prick and grinned up at him. Sweat poured down his forehead and dripped onto his heaving chest as he lovingly caressed my cheek and chin.
“Can you do something for me? Something that will make me remember right now for the rest of my life?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“I want you to make love to me,” I said. I’d never uttered those words to another man in my life. I was the top. I was always in control. I didn’t want that with Aiden. No, I didn’t need that with Aiden. For us, there were no limits, no boundaries, no need for reins.
I gave myself freely to him, and I wanted him to take it. I wanted to be his.
Aiden bent down and took me by my neck before delivering his yes with a long, electric kiss. I let go of every reservation, every shred of control, and it left me breathless. I tingled with the anticipation of Aiden’s body on top of me, within me, and the world around me spun by in a dizzying euphoria.
Aiden gently lowered me onto the grass. The coolness of the soil pressed against my flushed flesh caused shivers to run up and down my body. Aiden rested on top of me, grinding his erection against mine. The weight of his throbbing prick nestled against my hardness, and Aiden’s pumping hips created a flash fire across my skin.
I whimpered in approval, moving my hands wildly across his body as my lips once again found their mate. I clutched at his muscled shoulders, his hard ass, trying to force as much of Aiden against me as I could. It wasn’t enough. I needed more, and Aiden evidently read the mad desire in my eyes.
He crawled down my body, kissing and licking a fiery path down my chest and through the reddish nest that surrounded my weeping cock. He grabbed my prick, pumping it slowly before lapping up the shaft. I grabbed a handful of dirt when his hot mouth slid down to the root of my dick, lodging it down his throat.
“Fuck,” I whispered. Aiden’s throat muscles and tongue massaged my cock in alternating pulses of pleasure. I grabbed the back of his head and forced myself farther down inside him.
“Feel good?” he asked, rising off my prick just long enough to grin up at me.
“Fuck yes,” I replied. A red haze settled over my vision, my mind completely lost to the passion that coursed through my blood.
Aiden continued bobbing up and down my cock, this time running his fingertips through the saliva that coated my shaft. His moistened fingers found their way to my crevice, and I parted my legs without a second thought. He rubbed the moisture across my opening while he used his mouth to work me toward a mind-blowing orgasm.
When he slipped his finger inside me, I bit my lip and clawed the earth underneath me. His digit wiggled, opening me up for the moment when my body became Aiden’s.
A second finger and then a third penetrated me, and I practically jumped out of my skin. Aiden pushed farther inside me at the same time he increased suction on my cock. I bucked my hips, forcing more of my dick in Aiden and his fingers in my ass.
When he pulled off my cock and out of my ass, I’d never felt emptier in my life. “What’s wrong? Why did you stop?” I asked. The tremor in my voice was unmistakable.
“I’m not stopping,” he said, positioning himself between my legs. “You’re ready.”
I nodded. “Yes,” I said, practically panting. “I am.”
He grabbed his cock and pointed it at my center.
If this had been anyone but Aiden, I’d be reminding him to put on a condom, but fae were creatures of pure magic, immune to the diseases of man. “I’ve never been more certain about anything in my life.”
I spread my legs wider, giving him the access he needed. Aiden spit into the palm of his hand, coating his throbbing cock with more lubrication before he pressed the tip of his engorged head against my opening. With one thrust, he parted the first ring of muscle, and perspiration immediately erupted across my body.
He massaged my chest and legs, urging me to relax. A few seconds later, he pushed inside. I opened up and drew him in until his groin rested against my ass. The red haze that had enveloped my world lifted, and I saw Aiden with crystal clarity.
His green eyes were wide with want, his lips parted in silent ecstasy as I squeezed his girth within me. I brought his face closer, needing to feel his lips on mine, but before we kissed, I muttered one final request. “Harder.”
Our kiss intensified our lovemaking. Our tongues dove in and out of each other’s mouths as I slid my hand down to Aiden’s thrusting ass. I grabbed hold of him, forcing him in and out of me harder and faster.
Aiden clutched my shoulders, using the leverage to increase the strength of his thrusts. He nibbled on my lip before biting a trail to my neck, where he nipped and licked. I dragged my fingernails across his back, digging into hard muscle and silky flesh.
“Shit,” Aiden mumbled. He took my earlobe in his mouth and sucked, thrusting wildly against me. He was no doubt reaching the point of no return, and I wanted to join him.
I shoved my hand between our sweat-soaked bodies, palming my cock. I jacked myself to the same frenzied rhythm with which Aiden pounded my ass. My moans became louder and more fitful as I barreled toward the same precipice where Aiden floated.
“F-f-fuck,” I groaned as my orgasm released, launching five volleys of spunk across both our stomachs.
Aiden pushed forward in response to my contracting muscles milking his cock. He let out a growl as his dick throbbed within me, filling me not only with his semen but with something far more potent.