Isis could have trailed her fingers anywhere in the world, and most of them would have been sexier, but in the moment, Harmony relished the knowledgeable hands that kept careful pace across her skin.
“I’m going to touch your breasts, but I want you to copy my movements, okay?”
Harmony barely restrained the urge to pant. She wanted to know what Isis’ guiding touch could feel like.
Exquisite. Utterly and mind-numbingly exquisite.
Isis’ fingers grazed the underside of her left breast, stealing her breath. She tried to copy the motion, but she was lost in the sensation that was completely unlike the touch of scarred hands and selfish desire of males better off dead.
“Stay with me, Harmony,” Isis whispered in her ear. “I don’t know where your mind went, but it wasn’t here. Remember who you’d rather be doing this.”
She laughed. “Do you think he knows anything about how to touch a woman?”
“I think if he actually tried to be more than a growly mess, he could show a woman his vast knowledge of what he is capable of,” she said with a small smile. “Think of him. I know you want him. You’d be crazy not to.”
Harmony frowned. “Do you?”
“Good gods, no. At most, Ty is an annoying older brother to me. He doesn’t look at me like that. I’ve known him since I was a kid. We lost touch for a while, but no, he isn’t my type.”
Thoroughly thrown out of the mood, Harmony fought with her irrational moment of jealousy to put her mind back in the same place as her body’s raging hormones.
Isis lightly pinched her nipples and rocketed her to the edge of her flagging orgasm. Harmony closed her eyes and remembered the way Tyson had stared at her, his wanton gaze became the catalyst to her climax.
As her body tensed again, another wave of hormones coursing through her, Harmony knew she was in trouble. Isis’ touch was nice, but she could already see that no matter how much she would like to avoid his involvement, she was going to need the hard touch of the villain with the harsh green stare.
TYSON STARED DOWN THE
HALL
where his office was to the door of his bedroom. It had been more than half an hour, and Isis still hadn’t exited the room. He took two steps before he became aware that someone else was in his house.
“You’re a dumbass.”
He turned to his left to see the last god he wanted occupying his personal space leaning against the bathroom door.
“Meaning?” he asked the God of Destruction. He didn’t really care about the answer, because Lykil would likely say something meant to piss him off.
“Who the hell declines sex?”
“Me.”
“Admit it, you’re scared.”
“What exactly am I scared of?”
“Intimacy. Poor you. Lost your Soul’s Mate, and now you can’t deal. Boo-fucking-hoo. Life is terrible if you let it be.”
Tyson watched Lykil for a few moments before he simply nodded. He walked down the hallway to his living room where he relaxed on the sofa. He hoped by turning on his TV he’d find a distraction and discourage the god from hanging around.
“Ignored by a mortal. Lykil, that’s a new one.”
Tyson turned to the sound of Ronan’s voice. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Forced compliance,” Ronan answered with a shrug.
Tyson froze, hoping Ronan wasn’t implying they would soon be joined by more Rockys.
Ronan—an observant fucker from growing up surrounded by females—didn’t miss his facial twitch.
“Yeah, you’re readable as shit when you’re irritated,” Lykil said, obviously reading his thoughts. “And calm down. The Rockys aren’t here. They don’t really like you too much right now, remember? You have the benefit of Ronan and a contingent of the Blue Ridge fighters on call if the need arises. Omar also has some local Alesers from Zareb Joey’s pride ready when we say the word.”
“Five Lycans showed up here looking for her. I killed them. I’m waiting until her Rut is over until I hunt down the ones who took her in the first place. Why in the hell would I need so many Lycans to help me do a one-person job?”
Lykil sat next to Tyson on the sofa, making him uncomfortably aware how much space an eternal being could occupy.
“I can make you more uncomfortable. We could cuddle and watch one of Ronan’s movies. There’s a lot of moaning and bodily fluids.”
Ronan and Tyson answered in unison.
“I don’t watch porn, asshole.”
“I’ll pass.”
Lykil shrugged. “Your loss. That goes for both of you. I can cuddle like no one else, and porn is amazing. The things people do to get off inspires the worst parts of me.”
“There’s something worse than this conversation?” Tyson asked, shifting away from Lykil.
“The battery assisted orgasm happening in your bed right now is horrifying. Gods, you’re missing out. I’m sure her pussy is like—”
Tyson launched himself at Lykil, choking off the rest of Destruction’s sentence.
“First, keep you fucking eyes off of her. Second, degrade her again and I can show you just how close we can get when I rip out your fucking tongue.”
He relaxed back into his seat, managing to barely cover his twitch of surprise when Lykil started laughing.
“What is it with mortals and their desire to attack me?”
“Your acerbic personality?” Ronan answered. “Or maybe it’s your complete disregard for people’s privacy.”
Laughing harder, Lykil turned to Ronan. “Did you and Marcela… You know… finish?”
“I fucking hate you sometimes. Who the hell would be in the mood anymore when a disembodied voice pops in and comments on your wife’s tits?”
“They are nice, though, and it was fucking funny.”
“You’re an ass.”
“Not seeing a downside to being me.”
“Where’s Torin?”
Lykil stopped laughing then. “That was uncalled for, Ronan. He didn’t know where I was.”
“Says who, dumbass?” Torin said, appearing next to his bookcase. “Stop tormenting the mortals and tell Tyson why he needs to be in there with the female.”
Lykil waggled his eyebrows and opened his mouth to speak. Torin flashed across the room and slapped his hand over Lykil’s mouth.
“For once today, make my job easier. Act like a fucking adult. Think of how much that will mean to me. Can you do that?” Lykil shook his head no. “You know what? You’re an annoying little shit sometimes.” Lykil nodded as Torin yanked his hand away. “Nasty bastard. Stop licking me.”
Ronan laughed. “That sounds like it happens more often than it should.”
“You’d be surprised how often it’s like dealing with a toddler.” He made a disgusted face and wiped his hand on his dark washed jeans. “Believe it or not, he can be worse than this.”
“That hurts, Tor,” Lykil said, clutching at his chest.
“I’d believe you if I thought it actually mattered to you. Seeing how it doesn’t, stop wasting our time and tell the male why we’re really here.”
Lykil sighed. “You need to go in there. She needs you more than for assisting with her Rut.”
“Why?”
“She won’t tell you the truth unless you guide her through her most vulnerable moment.”
“I doubt I’ll find the truth between her thighs.”
Lykil snorted. “Haven’t spent too much time between any have you?” He motioned to the bedroom. “Just go in there, get laid, become something resembling tolerable, and then we can talk. But between her thighs is where you need to be.”
“No.”
“Stubborn fucker.” Lykil stood up. “I get it. You think this female and her sisters are a unique group of Lycan cattle and thus abnormal. I just want you to know you’re dumber than you look for thinking that. You need to know what these women are going through, and you have a ready-made information source in that room who wants to trust you, but you are doing everything in your power to ensure she doesn’t. She needs you, and you can’t be bothered to lift a finger to help her.” His eyes seemed to focus on something far off. “Gods, she’s coming again. Sorry, where was I? Oh yeah. You need to understand everything about Harmony’s escape. Besides, while Isis is helping somewhat, she isn’t what Harmony needs.”
All male heads turned to his bedroom door when the door opened, and Isis stepped out. The smell of an erotic female in the grips of her Rut followed out behind her as she closed the door.
She shifted under the weighted stares of the males. “What?”
Ronan started laughing, but walked away without comment.
Isis shook her head and raked Tyson with her best attempt at a withering glare. “I’m going to call my friend. He’s a nice guy, and she needs help that I can’t give her. I’ll take her with me when I set up a time with him.”
“You’ll try and die,” Tyson responded before he even thought of the words he was saying.
Isis stepped into his personal space, poking him in the chest with her manicured hands. “I get it. She’s yours to protect, but digest this, Captain Asshole. She’s in pain. She needs a male-assisted orgasm. You don’t have to get her pregnant. That will only end it before the three full days. She just needs a lot of amazing orgasms, and frankly I’m not doing it for her. She’s getting worse not better. That probably has to do with the proximity of an available male, but we know you won’t help her, so fuck off. I’m doing what I can to honor her wishes not to drug her. I’m doing all that I can to defend her because our mighty Asim can’t be bothered.”
She stomped out of the room, simultaneously pulling her phone from her back pocket.
Tyson didn’t remember moving, but he pinned Isis against his refrigerator. He crushed her phone and tossed the broken pieces on the floor.
“I’ll get you another one tomorrow, but know this, Isis. I am defending her. You may not like the way I’m doing it, but I will not give her what you think she needs. You don’t know me well enough to know the type of male I can be. Trust me when I say that the gentle male she needs in this moment does not live in me.”
“Oh, shut the fuck up. Do you honestly think I have no idea what kind of male leads us? You’re so violent that they just gave you the title of Asim. Just fucking
gave
it to you.
“We’re Lycans. We love, fuck, and fight. You only live for the fight, so yes, I get it, Tyson. You’re a big, bad monster. That female needs you to slay her Rut. Be a bigger monster than the one keeping you cowering out here. And I do mean cowering because there’s no excuse that keeps you out here while a female who has suffered gods knows what is forced to suffer more because you won’t do anything to stop it.” She pushed at his chest. “Now move. I have a solution for her problem. You don’t have to like it, but right now, the needs of one of your people trumps yours.”
Tyson leaned down and whispered in her ear, “You’ll pay for this later.”
He walked to his bedroom door and stared at it as if it would open on its own.
“Good god, go in there already,” Lykil said. “You have more feelings than an emo love song.”
Tyson flipped him off and closed his hand around the handle.
Opening the door was just as bad as he imagined it would be. The hormonal wave of lust that slammed into him almost sapped his willpower to do anything beyond parting her thighs and embrace his biological instinct to fuck until they were both senseless.
He managed to close and lock the door before walking into the dark room.
Harmony wasn’t on the bed. He sensed she was next to it on the floor, but couldn’t figure out why.
Her breathing was labored, catching at different moments as the vibrator’s buzzing dulled as it delved farther into her wanton core.
“Harmony,” he said. She whimpered in response. “Turn it off.”
The soft buzz didn’t stop. The pace of the vibrator increased, and she threw her head back as an orgasm tensed her body. Her chest heaved in a nearly silent cry.
“Please…” She collapsed against the bed, the vibrator still deep inside of her.
“Turn it off, Harmony. I’m here.”
She looked at him, blinked a few times as if she didn’t believe he was in the room, before she frowned in confusion.
“Turn that shit off, female. You wanted me; here I am.”
The soft buzz immediately cut off, and she rose slowly to her knees. She kept her head down, shyness claiming her and erasing the desire she’d had in her eyes.
Tyson rolled his shoulders. His skin felt too tight, but her need of him was too strong to deny. It clawed its way down his throat. He tasted her diluted scent on his tongue. In that moment, he became determined to kneel between her thighs, slide his tongue between her soft folds, and savor the flavor of her, to savor her feminine aroma in its purest state. He needed to know if she was as potent as the sweet smell of her lust on the air.
“Lie back on the bed.”
She did as she was told, but kept her eyes averted. “You don’t ha-have to d-do this, Tyson,” she managed to stammer.
“I know. But as I’ve been reminded, I am your Asim. My duty is to defend you against all harm,” he sighed. “Even if it’s only the pain of your Rut.”
“I—I can use someone else.”
He kissed her, enjoying the feel of her lips on his.
She was soft against him, her body easily molding against his harder one. He cupped her face and deepened the kiss when she opened her mouth to him.
If Lycans could be addicted substances, Tyson imagined he’d be addicted to the taste of her, the feel of her. The idea that she could potentially be his weakness momentarily darkened his thoughts. He gave himself a mental shake, determined to keep his thoughts trained on his true purpose: To see her through her Rut. Nothing more. He needed to remember that or she would be his second downfall.
IN SPITE OF HER
MANY ATTEMPTS
, Harmony couldn’t get past her lack of physical attraction to Isis and embrace what the female had tried to teach her. She wanted Tyson, so when he entered the room, Harmony thought he was an apparition, a trick that Isis used to bring him to the forefront of her mind.
But then he’d kissed her. If he fucked like he kissed, nothing in the Four Worlds would be more divine than the feeling of him within her. She’d savor it for the rest of her life because she was sure Tyson would never find her appealing enough to bury himself within her walls again.
Harmony slipped her hands under the shirt he wore, letting her fingers devour all the places her mouth longed to go. She wanted to kiss him everywhere, to worship his body with all the erotic promises she didn’t yet understand how to see to fruition.
He broke the kiss long enough to take off his shirt and toss it into his basket of clothes, before he kicked off his boots and took off his pants. His cock sprang free of his jeans ready to fulfill her every whim.
Gods, he goes commando.
Tyson hissed when she wrapped her hands around his stiff length.
“No.”
The single word command shattered all her hopes that they’d share more than just a basic experience between two unfamiliar people. She frowned when he kissed her again, hunger evident in the intensity of their intertwining tongues.
Just like Isis, Tyson stroked her body softly, pausing when he felt the scars decorating her torso. He looked down at her, narrowing his eyes on the old wounds. She moved his hand away from the scar, self-consciously rubbing at it as if it would disappear.
“Stop.”
As he slid down her body, he placed a thorough kiss over the erratic beat of her carotid artery. He took his time with her breasts, paying special attention to them as he took each one into the warmth of his mouth. She begged him for more, arching against him as he sucked and licked her overly sensitive nipples. He gave her nothing more than he was prepared to give. The scars of her torso received the attention of his lips—each gentle kiss like a silent promise.
The promises were unnecessary. The one who’d given them to her was already dead.
“Lykil said I must not spend a lot of time here.” He spread her legs wide, his eyes shining in the near darkness. “Let me show you how little Destruction knows about me.”
When his mouth sealed over her soft flesh, her body arched away from the bed. She made an effort to move away, her body too sensitive from the multiple and fruitless orgasms she’d given herself.
Tyson held her tight, his grip to her hips almost painful. He let her come down, her back meeting the mattress again before his tongue snaked out and tasted her. His groan of satisfaction vibrated against her clit, her climax building and growing into a powerful wave.
Her orgasm was a seismic event that kept her adrift in a haze of euphoria and bliss for untold minutes. She finally felt the orgasm ease off, the wave recede, but Tyson’s tongue dipped into her heat, tasted her, and reignited her desire.
Harmony forced her eyes open and met Tyson’s dark green gaze as he slowly crawled up her body. The depths of emotion behind the predatory movement, in his guarded expression caught her breath. In that moment, he’d shown her his vulnerability, a level of wanting that she somehow knew he’d never say out loud. He’d rather die a horrible death and be denied an honorable burial than let that amount of emotion cross his lips.
A naive part of her wanted to embrace that vulnerability and carve out an existence within it, but then Tyson blinked, and it was gone, only to be replaced by a calculating beast with a mission to accomplish.
He stood, pulled her to the edge of the bed, and wed their bodies together with no ceremony.
For the longest moment, he didn’t move. His head bowed as if in prayer, and when he finally looked up at her, she wished she’d Seen someone else, wish her soul had chosen differently because Tyson was right. He was no hero. A villain called his heart home, and he had no plans of playing nice with her body or heart.
He was going to fuck her, and she’d wish with everything in her that she’d found somewhere else to be when her Rut hit. When it was over, he’d break her heart and cast a shadow over the Goddess of Love’s domain so thoroughly that she’d never want to find it again.
He pulled slowly from her, stopping when he was barely within her feminine grasp. Harmony bit down on her lip, her body trembling with the uncontrollable urge to orgasm again. Still her mind was at war. She wanted what she could not and should not want. A shadow, the black knight, and villain.
“What are you thinking, Harmony?”
She blinked and met his questioning gaze. “Nothing.”
He slammed back into her, her body welcoming his thrust with lusty anticipation. She cried out because she’d expected pain, but there had been none.
“Don’t lie to me. In this moment, you are mine and I will not allow you to keep anything from me. Bare yourself to me; I know you are hiding something.”
She shook her head and met his gaze. “Just fuck me. Make me come. That is all we are sharing, because nothing else matters.”
Tyson narrowed his eyes at her, but nodded, throwing the force of his inherent power into his thrusts. She cried out when another orgasm took over, but Tyson didn’t relent. He pounded into her, leaning down so that he could swallow her screamed passion in a soul-searing kiss.
If it were at all possible, she would have hated him. He was a menace to her existence. His every stroke, the way his trim hips fit so well between her thighs, and how his fingers dug into her waist so that he could hold their bodies closer only served to meld him to her psyche in a way she was sure she’d never recover. She needed to hate him, but she was sure that each successive orgasm only made it more possible for her to love a shadow, to be carved by a male unwilling to give her the very thing her soul needed. A hero to assuage the wounds of the monster she’d become.
* * *
Harmony rolled over and tried to escape Tyson’s sleeping embrace. His arm tightened around her waist and pulled her closer.
“No,” he said against her shoulder.
“I want to take a shower.”
“No.”
She sighed and relaxed, because if it came down to a fight, she wouldn’t be able to win. She may be a monster, but she wasn’t a very strong one. Her demons were situational, which should ease her mind, but it didn’t.
It had only been two days since the beginning of her Rut, and the hormones had washed out of her with one final thrust from a male who didn’t like children. The ominous slip of parchment sat unread on the nightstand, but she didn’t need to unroll it to know what words graced the Gardinian scroll.
She was pregnant. It was the only way to end the Rut before its three day course. “Tyson, I need to get up. I can’t lie here all day.”
He snorted. “So eager to get away from me? Why?”
“I want to take a shower. That’s all.”
“Omission. Tell me all of it.”
Harmony turned as far as his hold would allow her and looked at him. He hadn’t opened his eyes. His long lashes—the kind human females glued to their lids—grazed the chiseled ridge of his cheekbones. God given beauty, and she could still—in the light of the day—see the male who wouldn’t save her, the male who would ruin her for all others, but leave her alone to find herself in the darkness she’d been thrown into.
“Harmony, it’s too early to circumvent a conversation you obviously want to have. Say what you want and get it over with.”
“I’m pregnant.”
The words whooshed out of her. She hoped he hadn’t heard the dread in the words or the hint of elation laying underneath her apprehension.
“I know.”
“You hate kids.”
“I do.”
“Then why would you give me a child? You didn’t even want to have sex with me, so why give me your child?”
“We’re wasting time sitting in here fucking. Do you want to free your sisters sooner or later?”
Harmony quieted, letting the monster she could be take over her thoughts. The monster would have settled for later to avoid a lifetime tied to a male unwilling to reciprocate her affections.
She warred with the two sides of herself—the monster and the little sister who cared—when he opened his eyes.
“You would wait.” A statement, one made with a hint of awe in his tone. “What do you think is happening to them right now?”
She looked away. She knew she should cease talking, but she always had the ghost of truth in her eyes.
“Tell me, Harmony. What is happening to your sisters right now?”
“I don’t know.”
He sighed and released her. “What do you think is happening to them?”
“It depends.”
“On what?”
“It depends on if they’ve recently had a fight. If they won or lost, if they are about to enter their Rut, the mood of the handlers. Any number of things can determine how they are being treated. I have no idea what they are going through right now.”
“Do you care?”
“Yes.”
That was the truth. She cared, but he didn’t ask the right question. She cared for the welfare of her sisters out of obligation. They were her sisters, comrades in a game where they all suffered. But their welfare wasn’t going to come at the expense of her own. It’s the reason that she didn’t try and find a way to free them all, why she hadn’t sent Tyson immediately to find her sisters. Her welfare came before theirs. It always would.
“But not more than you care about yourself. Tell me the truth, not that I need the words. You have a tell so radiant it mimics the sun.”
“No, I don’t care about them more than I care about myself. I matter. I have to. If anything, my time in that cage taught me that no one is going to be there for me when it counts. My parents are dead, and my brother is missing. My sisters are weak and ineffective when it comes to protection. All I had was me, and it’s all I will ever have.” She stifled a sob. “Nevermind. Now thanks to you I will have a child whose father could care less and a mother who is a monster.”
Silence greeted her declaration, but a gentle shaking of the bed forced her to glance at the male next to her. He was trying to keep from laughing and failing miserably at it.
“You think it’s funny? You, who has sworn off his title as our Defender, you who has neglected the needs of his people, has the gall to laugh at me? How long do you think this has been going on? Tell me, great
Asim
, how long do you think the people who fear you have suffered from random abductions while you sit away in your forest getting agitated at all those who dare look in your direction?” She swung her legs over the side of the bed and made her way to the bathroom, kicking aside a forgotten vibrator. “Don’t worry, Tyson. I won’t be here much longer so you don’t have to worry about me being in your space for you to you to protect us.”
She’d barely touched the door to the bathroom when Tyson slammed her into it. Part of her was ashamed that the first thought wasn’t of her baby, but of the boiling rage he cultivated in her. To hell with the baby. He was an ass, and she needed to remember that if she was going to survive the inevitable fallout of walking away from her Soul’s Mate.
Harmony growled and tried to push away from the door, but he held her firmly in place. His arm snaked around her, and she fought harder, trying to find a way to free herself, but knowing all along she would never beat an Alpha in a battle of will and strength when she was merely an Omega pretending to be the monster he really was.
Tyson’s power play elicited a lot of things in her mind. She thought of the conversation that he’d hiss angrily into her ear or the violence he’d exact on her body. What she hadn’t expected was the gentle kiss to her throat just before he buried himself into her wanton folds.
She moaned and cursed, bucked against him as much as their position would let her.
“You’ll leave when I let you leave, Harmony, and not a fucking moment sooner.”