Wicked Lord of Thessaly (Halcyon Romance Series Book 3) (5 page)

She hummed and tilted her chin to smile at him. “You are delightfully warm.”

This was surely a test. Those lush lips begged for his kiss and her eager responses last time suggested she would submit to whatever he demanded.

But she was his mate. A maiden torn from her home. Vulnerable.

She might find solace in any other male’s embrace as easily as she did his.

He clenched his jaw, striving for control. For clarity of thought. And for anything to tear him from this crippling temptation.

“Agrius,” she murmured, her tone low and sultry. “I never apologized for shooting you.” Her fingers traced a hesitant circle across his abdomen, causing his muscles to jolt in warning.

“Eione.” He snagged her fingers and laced them with his, edging them toward her body. “’Twas my fault. You needn’t suffer guilt.”

“Perhaps not for that, but most likely for this.” She swung her leg across his waist and hopped to straddle him. Snaring hold of his shirt, she pressed her lips to his.

His cock shot hard in an instant. Her soft lips ate hungrily at his mouth, bearing none of the hesitation from their first kiss. He groaned and surrendered to a fight he’d never had any chance of winning. Gliding his fingers through her locks, he tugged her mouth harder onto his.

One kiss, only a kiss.

He could satisfy them both with a kiss, could he not?

She shifted, rocking her hips lower down his waist.

Damn.
He squeezed his fist and pounded it into the earth at his side, grappling for any semblance of restraint. Never had he kissed a maiden and lost his sanity.

Never had he allowed the darker side of his nature to seduce him toward acts his reason would never condone.

Every argument against him claiming her twisted through his mind, yet Eione had ensnared him. Her innocence was all that kept him from being inside her this very moment.

She panted against his mouth and he wrenched his lips off hers, feathering them along the silken skin of her neck.

He knew how this ended. Tomorrow, they’d awaken and Eione would realize how foolish and destructive their actions had been.

She would hate him.

The truth sobered him enough to tear his lips off her neck and nudge her backward to regard her.

Those flushed cheeks and glittering eyes resulted from his kiss, yet he took no pride in her aroused state.

As his mate, she would experience great pleasure from his touch, but because they weren’t bonded, he had no right to her.

He’d already stolen from her family—an act which could provoke a war. The right thing to do would be to seek his father’s council, and likely surrender his claim on her.

Though unbearable, the truth was simple.

She could not be his.

Eione scanned Agrius’s face and spotted the resignation within the grim set of his features. Just like before, he was about to reject her.

She scurried off his body, a new heat flushing her cheeks. How many times must she humiliate herself before accepting that this male did not hunger after her? Though he might appear to enjoy her company, their connection extended no further.

“
Agrotere
, please don’t be angered.” His hand clasped her shoulder but she refused to face him.

The ache in her core had made her nigh irrational in her lust for him. Yet he clearly didn’t suffer the same. She swallowed her tears and curled onto her side, squeezing her eyes to force herself to sleep.

He sighed and released her shoulder.

Soon, the whispers of the night forest lulled her to sleep.

Eione awoke the next morning, alone. The embers of the fire emitted no glow. Damn the centaur for allowing their fire to die.
Where is he?
She scowled and slipped from the furs, her foul mood growing with each step while she scanned the ground for his trail.
There.
Leading toward the stream.

She marched through the trees, down a small embankment, and drew up short at a pile of clothes that dragged her perusal toward the water.

Agrius stood in the waist-deep stream, scrubbing moss across his nude upper body.

Her throat dried. The flexing of those brawny muscles displayed their potent strength.

“Eione.” He twisted around, his shock narrowing into a glower. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Forgive my intrusion.” She stamped down any attraction blooming for this male and spun on her heel.

“Please,” Agrius whispered, behind her. So swift. His fingers brushed her back, jolting her. “I have struggled to keep my distance from you, lass, because I desire you so bloody badly.” His rasped words rumbled beneath her skin. “Sweetling, I haven’t been truthful.” He braced both hands on her shoulders, forcing her to face away from him. “Lapiths do not bond, but centaurs do.”

“What are you speaking of?”

“Eione, you’re my mate.”

Mate? She’d heard tales of the bonding, mostly from intoxicated nymphs. Their bawdy storytelling had seemed like jesting. Could this bonding be true? She frowned, twisting toward him. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“No, of course you wouldn’t.” He raked a hand through his damp hair. “The goddess Aphrodite bonds descendant species. Male and female pairs. It is an unbreakable union for the male. As a symbol of his undying devotion, he bears a mark—a black band around his upper left arm. She, in turn, experiences extreme pleasure at his touch.”

Of course, she squinted at his arm. No mark. “You don’t—”

“Not yet,” he softened his tone, “because we aren’t mated.”

“Mated?” She swallowed thickly, her throat tight.

His eyes narrowed in pain. “I couldn’t ask you to choose me, a stranger, when you were fleeing from another male’s offer. You deserve a choice in this.” He scoffed and tossed his head. “That is why I will not kiss you, lass.”

True, she’d only just met him, yet everything about this male mesmerized her. Because of the bonding?

She tore her stare off him and faced the forest. He released her and the splashing of the water indicated he’d resumed his bathing.

The Fates had destined her for this male. Incredulous, terrifying, and yet also, comforting. Her entire life, she’d feared becoming the wife of a heartless scoundrel.

Agrius was not the male of her nightmares, he was the one of her dreams. Worthy, kind, as gentle as he was powerful. Yet, she’d only begun the fight for her freedom. Dare she relinquish it for him?

Eione blew out her breath, long and slow. One truth sang out above the others. She risked nothing by pursuing this path with him.

By surrendering to what just might be the future she’d always prayed for.

***

Agrius froze as the splashing behind him neared. Eione. The rustling a moment ago indicated she’d stripped, and now, she stood behind him. Nude. The greatest temptation he’d ever faced.

Did this mean she’d chosen him?

“Eione,” he growled her name in warning. Who knew what would happen if he unleashed his beastly side with her.

Her slender hand skimmed along his back. “Tell me what being your mate means.”

He lowered his head, focusing on the crisp water and not the raging stiffness in his shaft. “I would desire you and no other female. You, however, would be free to choose another, though it might kill me. And him.” He chuckled and she chimed a laugh. “You would have my undying devotion for the rest of my existence, and in turn, yours would also be much prolonged.”

Another reason she might refuse him. He tensed, but she laughed again.

“Sounds tempting.”

“Does it?” Twisting toward her, he studied her face and no lower. “I would not force any decision upon you.”

She arched a fine brow. “Agrius, my own family could not compel me to any of their whims. What makes you presume to wield such power?” Her lips curved as she shifted closer, murmuring into his ear, “How am I to make this choice without first sampling what you have to offer? Convince me, centaur, of this
devotion
you promise.”

He whipped around, crushing her to his kiss.

Eione moaned into his mouth, driving his wild nature further from his control.

Her bare flesh was decadence in his arms, one hand sliding across her back, the other forward to close around one perfect breast.

Her nude body presented too much glorious temptation and he didn’t possess nearly enough hands. The water slicked between them, his rigid length pressing up between their bodies. He glided his hand down to cup her bottom, the other gently squeezing her delicate breast. Tearing his mouth off hers, he dipped his head and flicked his tongue across the pert peak.

Her gasp provoked him to do it again while her fingers tangled in his hair and commanded him to continue.

He should stop. Halt this madness.

The yearning to seat himself inside her pulsed through his muscles, manipulating his body according to its own will.

She tasted so damn sweet, stopping seemed akin to dying of starvation.

He shouldn’t be sampling her. Or was it her sampling him? Either way, a mate should be claimed, in the proper manner, but he wouldn’t have the control to do so without first easing some of this excruciating pressure. He would satisfy them both without endangering the fragile bonding. Once their baser urges had been attended to, he’d be able to concentrate on the sacred ceremony. On ensuring Eione would perceive how truly cherished she would be.

“Sweetling, I’m not going to take you, not here, not like this, but I am going to pleasure us both. Trust me?” he panted, resting his forehead against hers.

“Yes.”

At her murmured plea, he wrapped his fist around his width and bent to her, guiding his cock between her thighs, alongside that sweet entrance but not inside her. Then he grabbed her luscious bottom and grunted while he stroked himself across her silken flesh, rubbing his erection against her nub. The water ebbed between them, providing a sleek, slippery indulgence. He rocked his hips in a slow, sensuous rhythm, the glide of his length in and out from between her softness driving a feverish need through his ballocks. Her mouth sought his and he flicked his tongue across hers, relishing in her honeyed taste.

She mewled and gripped his shoulders tighter as he pounded harder. He could almost imagine he thrust inside her, and the utter bliss of having her at his mercy proved too much.

He slipped a hand between them and rubbed her bud until her whimpers grew to airy cries and she dug her nails into his flesh. His frenzied release followed hers, his shaft jerking as it sputtered his seed between her thighs. She squeezed her legs around him, milking the last drops from his body and whimpering in his arms while the next climax seized her. As mates, his release on or in her would spark her own rapture.

His scent perfumed her skin, his centaur nature exultant. A howl of triumph rumbled from his chest.

Mine.

***

Eione wobbled while Agrius released her and steered her to the embankment. She’d never been nude in front of a male, but with him, she experienced no modesty. He’d devoured her as though no female had ever sated him so. To be the sole object of this male’s lust was a heady intoxication.

Above everything, she trusted him. Centaurs could not be as savage as her brothers claimed, because Agrius wielded control over his beastly nature with exceptional restraint. Had she refused his offer, he would have kept his promise to guide her safely to his lands.

Eione plucked her clothes from the ground and gathered them in her arms before facing Agrius. In the water, she hadn’t been able to fully admire his nude form. Striding toward her, he was the most majestic vision she’d ever beheld.

The wound from her arrow had indeed healed, the slight scar joining several others across the etched muscles of his front. She cast her approval across his wide shoulders, down that carved abdomen, to rest on the thick, jutting proof of his virility.

A huntress raised among three elder brothers, she hadn’t been sheltered from the act of coupling, yet never had she witnessed even an ounce of the passion Agrius had unleashed upon her.

Perhaps centaurs were simply better at lovemaking than other species.

She bit the inside of her mouth as he approached her, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek. “As badly as I crave you in this moment, we shouldn’t dally here. When I claim you, I don’t want to be on the run. I need you to know you’ll always be safe with me.”

“I agree.” She tilted her chin toward him.

He bent and purred into her ear, “And when I claim you, you won’t be leaving my bed, not for days, weeks.”

Heat flushed her body, fanning across her cheeks. He winked at her and gathered his clothes, then donned them. Steadying her breaths, she copied him, following after him up the embankment to their camp.

She frowned once more at their expired fire and twisted to chide Agrius, but jerked back to scan the embers.

No.
The ashes had been stirred.

A boot scuffled behind her and a thick arm lashed across her body. She squirmed, but the edge of a blade pressed against her throat.

“Please, milady,” a gruff voice rasped. “Don’t struggle.”

Agrius’s wide, panicked gaze raked across her and landed on her assailant. She twitched her head slightly, begging him not to act, while she grasped for the knife at her belt.