Honor Bound (4 page)

He laughed again and
pulled out mere inches before rocking back into her. "Stubborn
little thing. I like my women stubborn."

Heat blazed in her, and
she choked back a moan. "Do you think I'd need magic to make
you
beg?"

"Maybe not..."
Another thrust, this one stronger, and a noise slipped from him, half
growl and half groan. "Do you
want
me to beg?"

"No." Her
mind had shut down under the raw graze of sensation, so much and yet
not nearly enough. The words slipped from her without thought, an
almost inaudible rasp of sound. "Please.
Please
."

"Yes." He
tightened his fingers in her hair and coaxed her head to the side
until his mouth hovered over hers. For one tense second he held them
there, his body shaking over hers. Then he crushed his lips to hers
as he sent her spiraling into bliss.

Amaia writhed under
him, whispering curses he wouldn't understand, desperate even in the
throes of pleasure. Her body hummed, burning where his skin touched
hers. She could do nothing but ride it out, even as part of her
struggled to hold back, to keep the final connections between them
closed so that she wouldn't hurt him.

He was still hard,
still moving inside her with strong thrusts when his lips tickled her
ear again. "Let go."

"I
can't
."
Denying him—denying
herself
—was
painful. "I don't want to hurt you."

"I'm the strongest
werewolf you're likely to meet, sweetheart. It'd take more than one
round to hurt me." He sounded so sure, so
confident
.
In the next moment his fingers slid from her hip and down, dipping
between her thighs to caress dizzy circles in counterpoint to the
movement of his hips. "Let go."

You won't hurt him.
Just do it...
Even if she'd wanted to hold back, the combination of his thrusts,
his stroking fingers, and the low vibration of his voice undid her.
Another orgasm took her, this one accompanied by a flare of magic
that shot through her like fire, making her scream.

Amaia felt it, the thin
wire of energy snapping through her. Orion's energy. He lifted his
head and roared his release, the growling shout filling the small
cabin as his power, the sheer, wild
strength
of him filled her, like fine champagne or even a drug. It sang
through her, intoxicating and addictive.

Her arms collapsed, and
she hid her face in a pillow as she panted. So much power, and she
only wanted more. He coaxed her onto her side, still curled behind
her and joined with her, and his strong fingers stroked her waist and
belly. "See? I'm okay."

She wished she could
say the same for herself. Instead, she felt shaky, unnerved. "It's
dangerous."

He laughed. "
Life
is dangerous, sweetheart."

Amaia pulled away
gently, turning until she faced him. "That's true." She
channeled some of the strength she'd drawn from him and used it to
flip him onto his back, then climbed on top of him. "I could
have killed you."

Orion seemed
unconcerned. He tucked his hands behind his head and stared up at her
with a lazy smile. "You think so?"

Whether she could or
couldn't wasn't even a question. She narrowed her eyes. "You
want
me to do your Alpha's dirty work? Remove the threat you pose to him?"

"I think the more
pressing question is whether
you
want to."

"No." She sat
back and studied him. "He would only take what I didn't want to
give him."

He didn't pretend not
to understand. "He'd try." Even white teeth flashed at her
as he grinned. "Cavil isn't half the man I am. You'd eat him
alive."

Amaia trailed a hand
down the center of his chest and smiled. "You like that I'm
dangerous."

"I like that I
don't have to worry about hurting you."

Her smile faded. "I
have to worry." She leaned down, desperate to make him
understand. "I could do it right now. You'd be hard again before
you could take another breath. You'd give me everything, and you'd
love every second of it."

"Try." Just
one word, quiet and sure.

"I didn't say I
wanted
to do it," she argued.

"Try."

Amaia laid her hand on
his face and bent until her lips brushed his. The connection between
them opened with a spark of sensation that made her jerk, and she
moaned as she fed back to him a little of the sexual energy she'd
drawn from him only minutes earlier.

He grew hard between
them, but when she tried to taste his power like she had before, it
slipped from her fingers. He growled and bit her lower lip before
rolling them over again. "You don't know all my secrets, Amaia."

It should have scared
her the way her earlier vulnerability had. Instead, she felt free.
Safe. "You're strong."

"I'm strong,"
he confirmed before pushing into her again with a rumbling growl.
"And you're irresistible."

She slipped her fingers
into his hair and arched, heat skittering up her spine. "Bite me
again."

His teeth closed on her
neck, blurring the boundary between pleasure and pain, and he rocked
into her again. Less controlled, this time, and she could feel the
power inside him, bright and burning and out of her reach as he drove
her toward release.

Amaia didn't hold back.
She left herself open to him when she came, dragging her nails down
his back in helpless ecstasy. Orion growled and bit her again, and
this time it
did
hurt, but it faded in another rush of pleasure as he drove into her
one last time and stilled.

She whispered his name,
awed. Her people prized control. Losing it meant harm or, all too
often, death for a lover.

But not Orion.

He rolled one last
time, bringing her on top of him with her hair falling around them in
a wild, untamed mass. "Not all wolves are toys for demons to
play with."

She shivered, chilled
by his words. "And not all demons make satisfying conquests."

Orion gathered the
strands of her hair up and urged her head back. "I didn't mean
it like that."

"You've known me
all of two hours. How else could you have meant it?"

His thumb traced along
the line of her jaw and he smiled. "I just meant you don't have
to worry about hurting me. And I don't have to worry about hurting
you."

Amaia closed her eyes,
afraid he'd see the vulnerability in them. "Thank you for
letting me stay here tonight."

Strong hands coaxed her
down to relax against his chest. "Thank you for saving my
sister."

"She's just a
child. She has no place in our war. I had to see her to safety."

He was silent for a few
seconds before he sighed. "We should sleep. I mean to talk to
the Elders again tomorrow and secure protection for you. It
besmirches the pack's honor to do less."

She could only stare at
him for a moment. "It's not a matter of the pack's honor, Orion.
I have to leave at first light. Staying would only put you all in
danger."

"I owe you
protection," he insisted, his tone as stubborn as the tight look
in his eyes. "My honor is important to me."

"More important
than your life? Than Callisto's?"

His silence was telling
and a little terrifying. "Not more important than Callisto."

Amaia's chest
tightened. "For her sake, then. If I don't leave, they'll come
for me, and they'll kill you." She left unspoken the truth she
suspected—that seeing him dead would hurt worse than her own
end. "It's the only way."

"At first light."
His voice sounded flat, but his fingers tightened on her hip. "I'll
escort you to the perimeter."

"Thank you,
Orion." She tugged the blankets around them and relaxed against
his chest. She didn't have much time, and she wanted to memorize the
planes of his face and body, but exhaustion pulled at her until there
was nothing to do but give in to it.

Chapter
Three

Amaia bolted away when
the door slammed against the wall. Orion made it halfway out of the
bed, knife in hand, before he froze. He inhaled deeply and swore as
he lowered his weapon. "Callisto?"

Callisto stumbled into
the cabin. She panted for breath, her face peaked and frightened.
"Some of the Elders were talking—I heard them—"

The knife clattered
against the wood of the small bedside table as Orion rose and reached
for his pants. Tense power vibrated from him, but his voice was calm.
"What did you hear, Calli?"

She glanced at Amaia.
"They want to make a deal. They think the demons will leave us
alone if they hand her over."

Amaia wrapped the sheet
around herself. "I have to leave now. If your Elders try to
strike that deal, Itzal will take me and order them killed anyway."

Orion didn't argue. He
strode to a standing wardrobe and pulled out a T-shirt and a sturdy
leather vest. "Go to Lucielle, Calli. Tell her everything Amaia
said." He withdrew a heavy belt from the closet next, one
designed to hold any number of weapons. He jerked the shirt over his
head, then buckled on the belt as he turned to face Amaia. "If
you kill your squad, you're free?"

"That's the law.
Everyone, including the commander, and I'll have my freedom."

"Does the law say
you can't have help?"

"No." Her
people didn't prize fair fighting. They prized winning. "I can
have help."

He met her eyes and
nodded once. "So we kill them all."

Her clothes were still
in the bathroom. When she returned he was dressed and strapping a
foot-long blade to his hip while Callisto talked to him. "I'll
go talk to Lucielle. They didn't want Cavil to know. I don't know if
that matters..."

"Stay away from
Cavil," Orion snapped. "I mean it, Calli."

She lifted her chin. "I
wasn't
going to him, Orion. I just thought it might matter that they were
keeping secrets."

Amaia could guess why
the Elders hadn't told Cavil. The harsh, angry expression on Orion's
face proved her guess was accurate. It was equally clear he had no
intention of telling his younger sister that the pack's Alpha wanted
to keep a demon as a pet for his own twisted purposes.

Instead he nodded to
his sister. "It's important. You did good."

Callisto hesitated.
"I'll talk to Luci." Then she hurried out the door.

Amaia pulled her
blood-stained tank top over her head. "Will she be taken care of
if something happens to you?"

"Lucielle will
protect her." He strapped on a second knife, picked up a pistol,
and checked it with cool efficiency. "You said there were nine
left?"