Wild Hearts (Blood & Judgment #1) (31 page)

“Destructive?”

“Uh…tearing upon the body…I will leave it at that. Alessandra possessed the ability to heal. If she had not, she would have perished upon your delivery. However, the healing process took its toll and, as I said, weakened her considerably. The birth of such a powerful being was like a beacon to the King and he was able to locate her. She was not strong enough to shield herself with her own magic and your father did not possess any of his own. The next evening, the King sent several of his best Ambassadors to murder her
and
you.”

“Holy shit,” I breathe.

He pulls away from me and can barely look me in the eye as he says, “
I
was sent there.”

“What?” I gasp.

“I was sent there as one of his
best
to carry out the task.”

I slap my hand to my heart. “Oh my God, Cahl.”

He holds up his hand. “As I have told you previously, your mother was a friend to me.” He sighs heavily and then eyes me intensely as he reveals, “I committed treason that night.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I did not go there with the intention to carry out the King’s orders. I was determined to protect Alessandra.” He scrubs his hand over his face. “Unfortunately, I was too late. When I arrived she had already suffered a fatal wound. No amount of magic could save her.
However
, the same could not be said for you and your father.”

“Shit,” I breathe, shifting my weight and leaning forward, eager to get the full story.

“I diverted my brethren’s attention away from you and your father, facilitating your escape.”

“You—you saved our lives? You were there when I was a baby? You saw me? My father?” I ramble, barely coherent.

“Yes, although, lies were told of your demise a few months thereafter and I believed you had perished.”

“Oh my God. I can’t believe this.”

“I understand that it is a great deal to absorb.”

I grab his hand and squeeze it. “Thank you, Cahl. Thank you for saving us.”

He blushes a little. “Of course, princess. You were mine to protect, gifted to me by your mother.”

I smile back at him, holding his hand tightly.

My thoughts whirl in my head. “Do you know if…Ember said I was just bred for power. But my father….I mean, he—”

“He loved you dearly, as did Alessandra.” He squeezes my hand back. “Your father knew about your duty, Aria.”

“What?”

“He knew and he hid you and kept you from it. He did not want it for you. He was trying to protect you. Even Alessandra had her doubts once she fell pregnant. They both craved a life together, so much in love were they. A life with their child—you. Alas, the King sought to punish them both for Alessandra’s perceived betrayal
and
the threat that your very existence posed to his position of power.”

“Wow,” I murmur. “Just…wow.”

He smiles kindly. “I know.”

He wraps me up in his arms and holds me tightly to him. We stay that way for a long while, until I lean in and whisper in his ear, “My hero.”

I feel him shiver at my hot breath at his ear. “Aria,” he returns, his voice hoarse with desire. He’s already turned on.

I pull away and lay back on the bed, giving him my most seductive look.

He grins, understanding, and rips off his gray muscle t-shirt. He crawls up my body, looming over me, his hands either side of my shoulders and his knees on either side of my legs. His eyes stray to my amulet and he frowns. “Without it, Aria.”

“Are you serious?”

“I am.”

“Why? What does it matter?”

“I will demonstrate.”

What the hell does that mean?

Before I can ask, he suddenly sits back on his haunches and commands, “Shed your clothing.”

I do it right away, quickly pulling off my pants and then my lace panties. I toss them off the bed and then reach around and unclasp my bra and do the same with it. I lean back on my elbows and eye him expectantly.

“Turn around. On your knees.”

I start to move, but he’s suddenly looming over me again, stopping me. “See?”

“See what?”

“You do not even realize, do you?”

“Cahl, what the hell are you talking about?”

“You are submitting to me, to everything that I command.”

“What? No, I’m—holy shit! I am! Oh my God! I
am
!”

He grabs my pendant. “It is this.”

“I…it’s okay.”

“Excuse me?”

“I want to do it like this…without the wolf. I’ve never experienced sex without it being a factor, without the wolf’s ferocity. It’ll be different. Calmer. More…loving.”

“It will always be loving between us, Aria. You need not be concerned about that.”

“Yeah, I get that. But you know what I mean. Let’s just do it. I want to know what it feels like.”

“You are sure?”

“Yep,” I tell him with a nod.

“All right. As you wish.”

I watch him pull off his jeans and boxers. Whoa. I’m never gonna get used to the size of him. I rub my legs together with anticipation.

He’s looming over me a moment later, his fingers trailing down to my pussy.

“Open your legs for me, princess.”

I spread my legs wide beneath him and then his fingers are there brushing over my clit lightly.

“Mmm…yes. Touch me, Cahl. Touch me.”

He drags his fingers through my wetness. “You are slick and wanting already.”

I reach up and run my hands over his pecs, down over the wisps of hair in the valley between them and to his carved abs.

As he smiles down at me, a curious expression plays on his face.

“What?” I ask.

He leans over me and slides his hands into my thick, red hair. “I am just not accustomed to you being so sexually passive.”

“You’re not happy about it?”

“How could I be unhappy with such a vision of beauty before me?”

“Aww…that’s so romantic.”

He smiles and leans in. His mouth smothers mine, taking me in a deeply passionate kiss.

I wrap my arms around his neck, holding him to me, as I get lost in our kiss.

He shifts his weight on top of me and, the next thing I know, he’s inside me. He eases in slowly in that gentle way of his and I grunt as I feel his thick length stretching me. Once he’s seated balls deep, he stills for a few moments, to let me adjust, and then he starts pumping in and out of me at a slow, easy pace.

I never imagined that slow could be as satisfying as hard and fast. But with Cahl, it is. It’s beyond satisfying. The way we fit together. The way we move together. It’s earth shattering. Nothing I’ve ever experienced before can compare to it.

“The feel of you is beyond anything I have ever felt…incredible,” Cahl rasps, pulling back from our kiss to gaze down at me.

“I know,” I tell him, sliding my hands down to his back and caressing him softly.

He flinches as I do and stops moving.

“What? What is it?” I ask, wondering what the hell is going on
and
also how the hell he has the strength of will to stop thrusting so suddenly. Cahl is definitely out of this world. Wow.

He eyes my pendant and frowns. “You are not yourself.”

Before I can answer, he grabs it. “I want
all
of you,” he tells me. A shimmering black light emanates from his hand for a few seconds and then the amulet disappears.

“Cahl. No, I—”

My words get caught in my throat as an overwhelming sensation surges through me, making me choke from the sheer force of it.

The furor of the wolf.

It takes hold of me so abruptly that I can’t stop it. I can’t take any sort of control over it.

Fucking hell. It’s intense. More intense than I’ve ever felt it.

I lunge forward, slamming into Cahl and propelling the both of us off the bed.

He grunts as his back hits the carpeted floor. He tries to roll to the side, to get back to his feet.

I pounce on him, pinning him down. Before I can stop them, my claws breach the surface. Cahl hisses as they tear into his chest. In the next second, I’m snarling at him and baring my wolf teeth.

“Stop me!” I scream, pulling my claws out and then grabbing his shoulders and slamming him into the carpet over and over again.

“No,” he responds through gritted teeth.

“Give me back the amulet!”

“Do not hide from me, Aria.”

“I can’t…I can’t control the wolf right now. You won’t be able to either. It’s too extreme, because it was subdued.”

“You do not need to. Unleash.”

“What?”

“Unleash on me.”

I shake my head and jump off him, springing back to my feet.

He rears back and somersaults back to his feet too. He waves his hand over the blood-red indentations in his chest, courtesy of my claws. They disappear instantly. “You cannot harm me.”

“Give it back!” I command, roaring like a wolf, the room reverberating with the force of it. “Now!”

He doesn’t make any move to call it back. Instead, he steps towards me.

Big mistake.

His refusal to give the amulet back has rage ripping through me. I’m too out of control to push it down and I leap at him, slamming him into a dresser. I raise my hand to swipe him again with my claws.

But he reacts quickly, thrusting his hands into my chest. The power behind it propels me across the other side of the room. I wince as my back hits the stone wall, cracking it.

He’s on me a second later, his hands gripping my arms and holding me against the wall.

“We are meant to be together, Aria. I am the one who can take what you are.
All
of what you are. Do not be afraid.”

He releases my arms and sweeps his hand over himself.

Right away, his scent gravitates towards me. He’s had that scent-concealing spell on for so long now that I’d gotten used to him not having his own scent. It’s jolting, smelling him after all this time, especially with the wolf so sensitive right now. It takes me over. It’s irresistible.
He’s
irresistible. He smiles when he sees the heat in my eyes.

I reach up and grab his neck, jerking him down to me. Our lips clash. Hard. Viciously, even. It’s beyond passion this time. It’s primal.

I leap at him, wrapping my arms around his neck as I thrust myself down onto his dick. He grunts at my sudden attack and grabs my thighs, supporting my weight as I start to fuck him wildly. Hard and fast. The next thing I know, he’s spinning us and slamming me into the wall, taking out another chunk of stone. Now I can finally feel his full strength. He’s giving me everything.

“Ah! Fuck, Cahl! Yes!” I scream as he starts taking control, pounding into me and matching the furor of the wolf within.

It’s a whirlwind of intensity.

There’s no thinking. Just feeling. Just pleasure.

I can barely breathe through it as I meet him thrust for thrust.

He’s given into it too and the wild, passionate look in his eyes sends a delicious thrill through me.

He carries me over to the bed and rips me from his dick and tosses me on the bed. I land hard, bouncing on my back. He doesn’t give me a chance to catch my breath. He grabs me, flipping me onto my front.

And then he’s back inside me, impaling me so deeply, I cry out from the shock of it.

He leans over my back, grasping at my hair and pulling it. He kisses my shoulders, my neck, smothering me with his mouth. And then his tongue. His teeth.

It’s overwhelming. I’m screaming, screaming at the top of my lungs.

“I cannot get enough of you,” he tells me on a whispered, husky breath.

I never knew it was possible for a man to be tender
and
rough at the same time. But here Cahl is now, doing just that.

“Cahl?” I gasp out, barely able to speak, because he’s fucking me so hard.

“Yes, princess?” he responds, slowing a little and kissing my neck lovingly.

“You’re so perfect.”

“No.
We
are. Together.”

I turn my head to see him over my shoulder. “I love you.”

A sweet smile plays on his lips as he tells me, “I love
you
.”

He flips me again so he’s on top, with me looking up at him. “I needed to see you.”

I grip his shoulders, holding him tightly. “I won’t let them take you from me. Whatever it takes, I’ll get your immortality back.”

“Princess,” he starts, his voice hoarse with emotion.

But I don’t want to hear the rest. I don’t want him to tell me it’s too dangerous, or any of that. I just want him to know that I’m all in with him now. I’m not holding back anymore. I’ve been so closed off to everyone all my life. So defensive. My heart locked up tight. Cold. But he’s broken through all of that. He’s brought a sense of love into my life. And there’s no way in hell I’m gonna lose that now. I don’t care what it might cost, or how dangerous it might be, I won’t let the Jurisdiction take him from me. I won’t let anyone. Him and me? It’s a forever deal. No one is gonna fuck with that.