Once Upon a Fiery Christmas (Return to Avalore Book 3) (5 page)

Moving so that his larger frame hid her from view, he bent his head low, pulling the neckline of her dress down to reveal the creamy curve of her breasts. Heat rushed through him, making him throb and ache. Before he even knew what he was doing, he buried his face there, breathing her scent deep into his lungs.
Mine.
He pulled a little more, smiling against her skin as she burrowed her fingers in his hair and thrust forward, silently begging for more.

Chantelle shimmied against him, and for a moment, he thought she might be trying to get away, but when the soft fabric of her dress gave way, releasing her breasts for him, he groaned.

He flicked his tongue over one tight nipple, once, twice, then pulled the puckered tip into his mouth. Chantelle fisted her hands in his hair, sending hot jolts of pleasure straight to his cock.
“Chantelle, make me stop. Send me away.”

Her only response was to slide her hands down his belly and to the button of his jeans. Without thinking, he drew in his breath, easing the way for her to unfasten them and lower his zipper. Tugging a little on either side, she freed him from the denim.

The cool night air teased at his skin, making it prickle with awareness. He brought his hands down her thighs and back up again beneath her dress, reaching for her underwear just as she wrapped her arms around his neck and her long legs around his waist. He couldn’t wait any longer. The scent of her arousal filled him with a deep throbbing need, one he couldn’t begin to deny. He grasped the damp material keeping him from her and gave a sharp tug. The sound of tearing lace had his dragon surging forward. It wanted fast and hard. It wanted now. It wanted her phoenix.

“Sebastian. Please…”

He was a bastard for taking her like this, and she’d hate him when it was over, but he couldn’t stop. With a deep growl, he positioned her above him and pressed up, filling her in one long glide. Her tight heat strangled his shaft. Squeezing his eyes shut, he fought for control. His lips found her neck and he gently bit at her skin just short of marking the sensitive flesh as he pulled out again. Her soft gasps tickled his ear.

Nails digging deep into his shoulders, she moaned and writhed against him, the sting adding to the pleasure firing through him. He nipped again, a little harder, then sank into her depths again. She shuddered around him, drawing the pleasure out with every quiver.

Fire raced down his spine. The dragon pushed him, furious that he’d dare deny what it wanted. More than anything, he wished to follow the beast’s command. Compulsion drove him closer and closer, until his lips refused to budge from that tender spot that would make her his. He teased the area with his tongue before nipping it again.

“Do it, Sebastian. Take me. No holding back. This is how I want you.”
Chantelle’s legs clamped around him and she threw her head to the side, giving him full access to what he wanted most. Too close to the edge, her small act of submission shredded the last of his control. Throbbing heat consumed him. She met each frantic upward thrust with one of her own coming down, whimpering in his ear as her soft quivers took him closer to oblivion.

Her energy slid over every part of him, teasing him, ensnaring his dragon. With one last, long thrust, he bit, clamping harder when she shattered around him, her cry muffled against his shoulder. Hot, smooth muscles contracted and released in time with the pounding of his heart, sending him over the edge to his own release.

Only once he’d slowed the erratic beat of his heart and was able to breathe, did he release her shoulder and look at her. Chantelle’s eyes, bright in the light of the moon, were like a kick to the gut. The soft smile playing on her lips, a knife to his heart.

He shouldn’t have been the one to put that smile there. He had no right to take what wasn’t his.
How could he look her, or her mate, in the eye after what had happened between them? They couldn’t even pretend it didn’t happen. He’d made sure of that with his bite.
Damn it.

Setting his jaw, he lowered her feet to the ground, letting her skirt fall into place. Confusion skittered across her features and she blinked fast, her smile faltering.

“Please come to my house. We can talk.”

The uncertainty in her voice cemented his resolve. He had to get out of there. She had every right to be happy and claim her mate, but no one had approached him. He wasn’t named. Crushed, he wanted to lash out at the world—at her.

“No, I’m not going to your house. In fact, we won’t be seeing one another again.” He stepped back, putting more distance between them.

“Sebastian, please.” Chantelle straightened herself before taking a step closer again.

“Don’t.” His growl erupted from his chest, low and mean. “I won’t be your plaything, Chantelle. You may not take your mating seriously, but I do. What happened was a mistake. It won’t happen again. If that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll have to find someone else.” With that, he turned away, but not before her eyes widened and pain crossed her features.

“Damn you, Sebastian Robins.” Her voice broke as she whispered the words just loud enough for him to hear before he took to the sky, leaving her behind.

Damn, damn, damn!
He never thought himself such a callous bastard until then. Her pain had lashed at him as he’d retreated, but he’d kept going. Only once he’d had a minute to process what had happened, how right being in her arms had been, did he realize his mistake.

He had to find her. Had to beg her forgiveness and hope and pray that she’d allow him to make it up to her. But by the time he got back to the palace, she was gone. He finally caught a trace of her energy as he approached her home. When he rounded the corner, there she was, standing in her front yard, facing all eight of the Elders.

Even though he hadn’t uttered a sound, the leader of the group looked at him, her icy blue gaze cutting straight through him. Her brows dipped lower at the sight of him. The woman’s lips moved, but he was too far away to hear her words. Chantelle stiffened, and dropped her hands from where they had been covering her face. After a moment, she gave a vigorous shake of her head. The displeasure on the Elder woman’s face twisted her features, then in the blink of an eye, she lifted from the ground, taking the other Elders with her.

His heart stuttered. He wasn’t destined to be mated to Chantelle. Crushing pain stole the breath from his lungs. The woman had looked him in the eye and turned away. Had he been named, she would have come to him, announcing his betrothal. Instead, she had left. The pointed edges of his teeth broke through the gums and fire churned in his gut. Blistering heat filled every place inside him. It charred every nerve as mind-numbing agony consumed him. He couldn’t stop the growl from breaking free, or the roar from ripping out of him. Fists clenched at his sides, he saw Chantelle turn toward him and take a hesitant step closer before she shook her head and went into her home, closing the door behind her.

Chapter 6

Chantelle walked back to the palace, determined to finish getting everything ready. Somehow, she had always known Sebastian was her mate, and her spirit had rejoiced when they’d finally come together. Nothing about being with him had been wrong—nothing. There hadn’t been a doubt in her mind that he was her mate. Not a single one. But only moments after marking her, he had pushed her away as though the experience meant nothing to him, and that hurt. But the fact that he hadn’t felt the same connection, hadn’t known in his very soul that they were meant to be, that hurt more.

So when the Elders came to her a short while later and named him, Chantelle did the only thing she could. She told them she’d had a change of heart and no longer wished him named. The Elder woman hadn’t been happy about keeping it from Sebastian, but she had finally relented.

Assumptions and misunderstandings would get her nowhere. Before anything else happened, they needed to talk. She had to know if they had any chance at making things work.

“Sebastian, we need to talk. I’m—”
Never would she have imagined him closing himself off to her, not in this lifetime. She stopped dead in her tracks, and tried again, only to come back with empty space. He was refusing to speak with her. A massive lump formed in her throat and she had to swallow a small sob. Maybe she really had imagined the deep connection they had shared.

He had seen her speaking with the Elders. He was no idiot. He had to have guessed why they would seek her out. Did he really believe she would allow any kind of intimacy between herself and another once she had asked for her mate? That she would allow his bite, marking her for all time if she wasn’t absolutely certain he was the one? Chantelle wanted to scream. Her phoenix wanted to screech long and loud as hurt and frustration waged war for dominance. What would it take to get the man to stop and listen?

Who the hell did he think he was, anyway? She wasn’t someone to play with and then discard. Furious, she got herself together and headed back to the palace. She had tons left to do before the Christmas celebration tomorrow, and if he thought for one second she’d stand there and moon over him, he was mistaken.

She found Katie singing the song about the snowman with the weary carolers. Katie raised an eyebrow and kept singing. The melodious voices echoed in the great hall. At least, they didn’t have to worry about the noise. Seeing how upset Rhia had been at the mention of Christmas, Drake had taken her on a small getaway, giving the rest of them the time and space needed to pull the Christmas party together.

Heat rose from Chantelle’s neck to her cheeks. Did Katie know what she and Sebastian had been up to? One couldn’t tell these things just by looking at a woman. Could they?

“Are you all right?”
Katie came toward her, leaving the singers midway through a song.

“I will be. What’s left to be done?”
Chantelle filled her lungs and exhaled slowly, then got to work.

Long strands of popped corn lay in a heap between her feet. She reached for yet another long thread to start the process over again. She had finished the other jobs she had set herself to. It wasn’t that she minded making the garlands, but it left too much time to think, too much time for the disappointment and hurt to filter into her heart again.

It was just as well he had taken off and was refusing to speak with her. Maybe she’d been hasty in requesting the naming of her mate. If he was so certain they weren’t meant for one another, then maybe he wasn’t ready to be mated. Maybe he didn’t deserve to be her mate. She had never heard of an unsuccessful mating, but… no. She shook her head and shoved the notion from her mind. He was her mate. The fact that he was being an idiot didn’t change that.

Sebastian’s energy reached for her even before she lifted her gaze to the doorway. A tall, brightly painted woodcarving of a soldier blocked her view of the man behind it, but it could be no other. Determined to make him listen, Chantelle took a shaky breath and rose to her feet, the string of popcorn she had been working on falling in a silent pool at her feet.

“That’s a nutcracker soldier. Rhia will love it,” Katie said.

Chantelle hadn’t noticed her come up beside her. “Yes, it’s beautiful.” Truth be told, she had no idea if it was. Her focus lay with the man mostly concealed behind it. The thing was huge, taller than Sebastian was, and almost as wide. “I’ll be right back.” She stepped toward the curved stairwell, but before she could get halfway, Michael stepped in front of her.

“Where do you want these?” He shifted the boxes he held so he could see her over them.

As grateful as she was for all the help, she didn’t want to deal with anything but Sebastian right then. “Umm… anywhere is fine. Maybe by the tree?” Chantelle didn’t even know what was in the box. Whatever it was, it would have to wait. “Sorry, I have to go…” But it was too late, and her heart sank. He was gone.

Disappointment didn’t begin to describe the hollowness inside. He had come and gone without a single glance in her direction. She cleared her throat to speak, but couldn’t past the lump.

Michael looked to the spot where Sebastian had been. “What has he done now?” Protective energy came off him in waves, making her want to cry even more.

“It’s n-nothing.” She blinked the moisture back before giving him a wobbly smile. The man was Sebastian’s best friend, yet his fists clenched at his sides, ready to defend her.

His brows furrowed further. “He can be a real idiot sometimes. Don’t worry, he’ll come around.”

How could he be so sure when she herself was riddled with doubt? “I don’t know.” A big fat tear slid down her cheek, and she swiped it away. She wasn’t going to break down, not in front of everyone. Later, when she was home, she could have a good cry and figure out what to do.

“Goddess help me, I’m going to go knock some sense into him when we’re through here.” In the next moment, Michael wrapped his arms around her, surrounding her with warmth. “They named him, didn’t they?”

Chantelle didn’t bother pretending she didn’t know what he was talking about and nodded against his chest. The tears she had been struggling to hold back dampened his shirt.

“Why didn’t you tell him? This could be resolved in a matter of seconds.”

She pulled away, wiping her cheeks. “I didn’t know for sure yet, and now, he won’t even speak with me or acknowledge me at all. It’s like I’ve ceased to exist.”

Before Michael could say another word, the energy around them crackled and snapped, stinging her skin as though tiny sparks ignited all around her.