The Journey's End (5 page)

“I present to you Queen Nori.”  He pulled her around before
him, his front pressed against her back, his arm slipping around her waist to
hold her tight against him, even as his hand slipped into her hair at the nape
of her neck. 

She wanted to purr.  What the hell was she supposed to do? She
could fight anything but the mating dance, and somehow her body had chosen this
man as her mate.  It was beyond bad news, especially when she knew it would get
worse the longer she fought.  She would be a danger to herself and everyone
around her until she completed what her body had started in that coach.  Not
that she was likely to suffer all that long, by the feel of the erection
pressed against her back, it would be about as long as it took to get to a
private room. 

At the thought, she did purr, and was really glad no one
else could hear it, except for the man holding her who promptly cursed again. 
Shifting, he lifted her up high on his chest with one hand beneath her knees
and the other at his back.  The scent of him was enough to make her lose her
mind.

“I will kill anyone who disturbs us.”  From the look in his
eyes, no one doubted it, or what he had planned. 

Nori got a brief glimpse of the castle before she was taken
through two great wooden double doors. It was enough to see that it had at
least two towers and a high rock wall surrounding it, with soldiers patrolling
both the extensive grounds and the walls themselves.  It was a massive edifice,
all gray stone walls and colored glass inset windows was the impression she
received before she saw no more.  She was too distracted by the scent of her
mate.  She turned in his arms and buried her face in his neck, her arms around
his shoulders.  He adjusted his hold with very little effort, cradling her in
his arms and stomping as fast as seemly through the herculean doors.

“My Lord!?”  The voice was feminine and outraged.  But
neither Menelaus nor Nori noticed until a woman planted herself in the way. 
Which was either a very brave or very stupid thing to do.  “What happened to
you?  And who is that?”

“Leanne, get out of the way, or sister or no I will step
over you.”  But she still ignored him and Nori was amazed that she had the
courage.  She seemed overly delicate, or at least she looked it from high in
Menelaus’ arms.

“Is this the woman you went to collect?” 

“Yes,”  he barked, “Now for the last time. Get. Out. Of.
The. Way.”

“The law is clear.  I need to know she is not forced.”  Nori,
who had been concentrating on not nuzzling up against his neck and licking
behind his ear, was finally brought out of her sexual haze by the woman’s firm
voice.  Of average height with pretty brown hair and concerned brown eyes, she
was looking at Nori, and her next question was directed at her.

“Are you willing?”  She asked, her voice kind.

 King Menelaus suddenly got very tense. He practically
turned to marble at the question, his arms tightening into steel bands. 
Clearly he did not like the question, nor the way Nori’s eyes were flashing
from green to lavender.  She closed them, taking a deep breath, fighting the
desire she had to just say yes, and she could feel him willing her to say it.  But
he knew as soon as her green eyes met his what her answer would be.

“N…”  His lips cut her off, melding into hers with a
punishing intensity that had her clinging to him and dueling with his tongue. 
The woman was forgotten, the question was forgotten, hell she forgot her own
name as the passion zinged through her and the mating dance began again.  She
was not aware of the protests being voiced and then abruptly halted when he
dropped her legs and she wrapped them around his waist in a show of acrobatics
and mutual need.  Leanne was pulled out of the way by General Renik who had
come in behind them.

“But she was going to say no.”

“She is not saying no now My Lady.”  That much was obvious
to everyone.  “Leave them be.  There are men outside who need your healing
touch.”

How they made it upstairs without killing themselves falling
down was a mystery.  Menelaus entered the large king’s chamber, and startled
two maids in the process of readying his bath.

“Out!”  he barked and they scattered, the door slamming
behind them.  Then they were on the bed and he yanked her tunic over her head ,
then the under tank that held her breasts in.  He growled in satisfaction when
her breasts were finally bare to his gaze.  She had been hiding quite a bit
under her tunic. 

Nori, her eyes a feral green, distracted him by ripping away
his tunic with no problem, leaving him naked from the waist up.  He was
rippling with muscles and a dark smattering of hair.  His hands went to her
breasts and hers went to the ties of his pants.  She had him free and in her
hand before he could do more than groan his pleasure. 

He lost all finesse at that point, pulling her pants down
and cursing because he had to stop and remove her boots and stockings first. 
But then she was naked before him and he could wait no longer.  She led him in,
positioning him with a grasp that was just shy of painful.  He thrust in to the
hilt, his size making it a tight, almost painful fit, but she didn’t care; nor
did she care when she felt the pain of her maidenhead being breached, but he
did. 

He froze, having a hard time believing she was untouched. 
She growled. Her hands went to his backside, pulling his pants the rest of the
way down and digging her nails into the firm muscles of his buttocks.  Now was
not the time to stop.  He moved.  In and out, pound after hard pound. Somewhere
along the way finesse went out the window, if they had ever had it.  She
screamed, her climax ripping through her, and as her inner contractions milked
him, he fought to make it last.  She found his neck with her teeth and bit
down, then he was over the edge with her.

When Nori finally became aware of her surroundings and what
she had done, she only wanted to curl up into a ball and forget it had ever
happened.  There had been many times in her life where she had hated her past,
and her blood, but the mating made it ten times worse, and all she wanted to do
was weep from humiliation.  But Menelaus had other ideas.  He got up and pulled
his clothes all the way off, and lay back down fully naked along her back. Leaning
up on an elbow, he kissed the back of her bare shoulder and rubbed his hand
down the soft skin of her arm, and then a bare hip.  His touch was clearly
proprietary and very satisfied.

“Don’t,” she said,  wishing the tears were not so obvious in
her voice.  “Don’t touch me.”

He pulled her over until she was on her back beneath him,  one
of his thighs over her to hold her in place.  He was hard again, she could feel
him against her thigh and she shuddered.  She wished it was revulsion but was
honest enough with herself to know it wasn’t.

“It’s too late for that.”  He kissed both of her eyes, his
lips following the tear trails down, then his lips were on hers in a soft
brush.  She hated, hated how good that felt.  He looked into her eyes,
searching for answers.  She looked away not wanting to give them.

“How is it that you were still pure?”  He smiled, “How shall
I put this delicately?  You do not act like a virgin.”

“I was, now I’m not.  Can we just drop it?”  She started to
rise, but he pushed her back down, covering her completely with his body and
shuddering himself at how good it felt. 

She tried to buck him off and only ended up with him more
snuggly fitted between her legs and her hands trapped above her head by his.

“You’ve had your fun, now let me up.”  Her voice had a bite
to it which he took exception to.   

“I have not even begun to have ‘my fun’ as you call it, and
it’s a little late to pretend you don’t want me.”  He sounded so smug and she
was feeling so defenseless before him, she didn’t think past wiping that smirk
off his arrogant face.

“You think my reaction had anything to do with you
personally?”  She laughed bitterly, and he frowned.  “My people have a
biological imperative, you just happened to be the male there when it hit.  It
could have been any man who touched me.”  It was all a lie, other than the
biological imperative part, but telling this man that she was now mated to him
for life would not have wiped the smile off his face, on the other hand he may
not have become quite so furious either.

He let go of her hands, his going to her knees to spread
them wide, and then he rammed himself inside of her.  She screamed, and had no
idea herself if it was the pain or the pleasure that caused it.  He grabbed her
hair in tight fists as he battered her womb. His lips hovered over hers, his
eyes fiery heat and possession.

“Touch me,”  he ordered, nothing short of a royal decree.
“Touch
me
.”  He stressed the ‘me’.  What she said had bothered him. 
Good,  she thought, even as her arms went around his neck and clung.  She found
her pleasure once again, her back arching.  He followed.

He was still inside her, his face against her neck when she
realized she was running her fingers through his hair and stopped, dropping her
hand to the side.

“A biological imperative?”  he said casually, though the
look in his eyes was anything but when he raised his head.

“It’s not you,”  she said firmly, hoping her eyes would not
betray the lie.  She was grasping at straws, but there had to be a way out of
this.  “Do you really want a queen who at certain times of the month is like a
cat in heat?”

“And you were still untouched because?”  he asked
doubtfully.

“My people mature at different ages than yours obviously.” 
How
many lies can one woman tell,
she wondered,
before they all come crashing
down?

“So you would react this way to any man who touched you?” 
There was no expression on his face, and his eyes were cold as ice.

“Absolutely.”

“Let’s test that theory shall we?”  he said, pulling out of
her and standing up.  He pulled her right up with him, taking the sheet to wrap
around her and pulling her to face the door. 

“What does that mean?”

He ignored her, going to the door and yanking it open, the
force of it making Nori aware that whatever he was projecting on the surface,
the man was in a rage.  “General Renik,” he bellowed, and then leaving the door
open, walked to her and pulled her around to face the door.  He adjusted the
sheet to cover more of her and kept his hands on her shoulder as the general
came in.

“Sir?”  he asked, careful to keep his eyes off the new queen.

“What are you doing?”  she hissed. In answer, he pushed her
a few steps toward the general and dropped his hands.

“My wife…”  he said with a bite on the word,  “is trying to
educate me on her kind.  Touch her.”

“Sir?”

“What?”  They both spoke at the same time, and he answered,
but his eyes did not leave the general.  “Touch her.”

Then he leaned over and she could feel his breath on the
back of her neck.  “Show me that you want his touch Nori and I will let you
go.”

So she stood still, while the expressionless general took
the steps needed to reach her.  She tried to stay still, she really did, but
when his fingers touched her bare shoulder, she hissed; scratching his hand
away and jumped back, right into her mates open arms. 

“Thank you general. See that your hand is looked at. You may
go.”

“Sir,” he said, holding his bleeding hand. He bowed and
headed for the door.

“And Renik,”  Menelaus left his eyes on the top of his
wife’s head, his hands finding their way under her sheet at her hip.  “That
will be the only time you try that.”

Renik held up his bleeding hand.  “I think that goes without
saying sir.”

Menelaus chuckled as Renik closed the door behind him, and
then there was quiet and his hand went from soft hip to breast under the sheet,
making Nori tremble.

“How did you know?”  she said forlornly as soon as she got
her breathing back under control.  She tried valiantly to ignore the hand
kneading her breast, or the lips skimming her neck.

“By the coach, when anyone tried to touch you, you reacted
defensively.  It was instinctive.  When I touched you, the instinct was
different.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”  But it was weak, even to her
own ears.

He nipped at her ear lobe for the lie.  “It means you want only
me.”

“It’s still just biology, I do not want you. My damn blood
thinks you’re my mate and acts accordingly,  but I don’t want you.”

“But your blood does?”  he asked quietly.  “Is that what
you’re trying to say?”

“Yes!”  She pulled herself forcibly out of his arms, leaving
the sheet behind to hit the floor.  “But it’s wrong.”  She was vehement, trying
to keep him in sight while she looked for an escape.  “You are not my life
mate.”

“Life mate?”  he asked softly, stalking her as she backed
up.  His smile was pure evil, “I like the sound of that.”

She spoke through gritted teeth.  “I do not!”

Her back hit the wall and she sprang at him, hoping to push
her way unexpectedly by.  Instead, he grunted from the impact and held her
close.  Naked flesh to naked flesh, he bit her neck hard enough to draw blood
and leave a mark.  That was all it took. Just that quickly, her legs and arms
were wrapping themselves around him and he was entering her, his hand on her
butt to hold her in place.  He fell back on the bed, and the jolt was felt
clear to her womb.  She rode him, his hands on her back to pull her down to
him.  He arched to take one breast in his mouth and held on to the other one
and then traded up. All the while, she was rocking against him until he had
enough and rolled to reverse their position, pumping his seed into her as she
cried out.  When he was finished, he rolled back over with her in his arms.

“Admit that you are mine.”  His voice was soft with a hint
of steel beneath it.  His hands were fisted in her hair.  She could feel his
mark like a brand on her neck.

She sighed, too tired to fight something she could not
deny.  “I am yours.”  His hands eased their tight hold, but she added,  “for
now,”  in a voice he could barely hear.

His arms went around her back, pulling her closer than the
blanket around them.  She was about to drift off when she heard his whisper.

  “For always.