Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Arkon knew what they could possibly find when they raided the camp. He still wasn’t prepared for the reality of it.

The air in the building pulsed with malice and too many magical signatures at once. It was a demented buffet of magical abilities that the mages could ingest and use at will.

Arkon had seen some horrific things in the war, but nothing compared to the horror locked inside that building.

"I can feel him," Zarya snarled, her wolf still close enough to the surface that her eyes glowed and her footprints left frost burning on the floor.

Dark magic scorched the air, and Arkon pushed Zarya to the side before it hit her. He hissed in pain at the burn that seared against his arm.

"Come out, Gregor, and I’ll make your death quick," Zarya called through the shelves. She stared at the wound on Arkon’s arm, her eyes turning silver. She was done playing with her food.

Arkon knew the feeling. He had no control when the other mage had struck her.

"You go left. I’ll go right," he whispered to her. They headed in opposite directions. Arkon tried to focus and not look at the labels attached to the jars. They had to try and keep them intact, so at least...

"Arkon! Above you!" Zarya shouted. He looked up as a spider as large as a dog jumped from the top of the shelves. Furred legs and a hard body crashed into him. Arkon pulled his dagger free and stabbed the creature over and over. With a shout, he flung it off him with a burst of fire.

"I hate fucking spiders!" he snarled, shaking the horror off him.

Footsteps behind him had him whirling in time to see Gregor the twin cast another spell at him. It caught in the air, trapped by a web of magical threads, and was flung back at him.

Zarya was in front of Arkon, her hair lifting with the currents of magic streaming around her. Gregor scrambled through a doorway and disappeared up a set of stairs.

"Look at that. He’s made it easy for us," Arkon said, flicking spider gore from his dagger. "After you, little wolf."

Zarya didn’t give any indication that she had heard him. Her magic was riding her, and Arkon could only follow her. She glided up the stairs of the tower, her feet barely touching the stone. Arkon watched in awe as the threads around her lit up with silvery blue light. They were like fine tentacles that reached out into the walls, disabling traps and strange wards that were smeared with bloody sigils.

Gregor was sweating when they found him at the top. The skin of his chest was a slash of burns from the spell that had rebounded. He had painted sigils on himself that hummed with dark power, but they hadn’t been strong enough to protect him. He had a ball in his hand that Arkon immediately recognized as the shrapnel bombs the Varangians favored.

"Where is Strahil?" Zarya demanded, her body shimmering with light. "Where are Asa’s remains?"

Gregor spat a ball of bloody phlegm on the ground. "Just die," he growled and tossed the bomb.

Arkon and Zarya’s magic caught it at the same time, the blast contained as all the pieces inside of it, designed to shred, fell to the stone. Gregor laughed once before pulling a gun from his jacket and shooting himself in the head.

Arkon was stunned speechless, but Zarya was furious. With a screech of pure fury, the top of the tower blew off. Magic was pouring out her, her body lighting up with runes as she lifted two feet off the ground. The threads of magic tore at the stones of the buildings, crumbling them to dust.

"Arkon!" Zahir appeared on the stairs behind him. "Stop her before she brings the place down!"

Arkon pushed through the wall of magic that encircled her, and without thinking about it, he grabbed her around the waist with one arm and put his other hand over her eyes.

"Let the magic go, mia lupa. We will get them another way," he whispered in her ear. He pressed his lips to the warm space behind it. "Come back to me. Let’s leave this horrible place."

Zarya’s whole body shuddered, and the awesome power began to spool back inside of her.

"A-Arkon," she whispered.

"I’m here. It’s okay." Arkon shot a look at Zahir behind him.

"Go! We’ve got this. Get her out of here," Zahir said.

Arkon pulled the teleportation spell around them. "We will be on Torcello."

Still holding tight to Zarya, his magic overpowered hers, snuffing it out. The teleportation spell activated, and they dropped into his lounge room on the small island.

Zarya was shaking, and then the wetness under his hand had him moving it away from her tear-filled eyes. He turned her gently and kissed her forehead.

"It’ll be okay. Breathe through it. I have you."

He picked her up and carried her up the stairs. The second floor was one bedroom, and he walked her through it and into the bathroom. He put her down to her feet, turned the water on, and stripped them both. She was smeared with dirt—her mouth, throat, and chest covered in dark blood from fighting as a wolf.

Arkon took her hand and gently pulled her under the spray of warm water. Zarya stopped shaking, but her eyes were vacant.

"Magic drops are a bitch, I know," Arkon said, taking the soap. He ran it over her skin, getting the muck off her. The burn on his arm stung like hell, but it wasn’t a priority.

"He wasn’t there," Zarya said, her voice lost. "The spell led us there. He had to be..."

Arkon washed her face. "We were tracking Asa’s remains. If there are any there, Zahir and the others will find them. We will get Strahil, I promise. We won’t stop until we do."

Zarya nodded. "I promised Asa’s ghost that I would get them all, and that bastard robbed me..."

"I know. He’s dead though, which means he can’t hurt anyone else’s Asa. We stopped all those other prisoners from dying," Arkon replied.

Zarya nodded. "I’m sorry that I lost control. I could’ve killed everyone..."

"But you didn’t. I was there, and everything turned out okay." Arkon tucked her wet hair behind her ears. "You let the magic go even when it wanted to turn the place to dust."

"I wanted you more," Zarya said, knocking the air from him. She struggled to look at him. "If you’re afraid of me now, I’d understand if you didn’t want..." She cut herself off like she usually did when she felt she was saying the wrong thing.

"If I didn’t want to what? Toss you to the forest floor and pound you into next week? Because I thought about it," Arkon said. She glared at him and then realized he wasn’t joking.

Zarya had him pressed against the cool tiles in a blink, her mouth at his throat and the soft snarl rolling through her that was all wolf. Arkon’s dick hardened at the threat. Deep down he knew she wouldn’t hurt him, even with her wolf and magic barely leashed.

"Don’t move," she whispered.

Arkon nodded, and teeth that were a little too sharp to be all human scraped over his skin. Her warm tongue slid over the scratch, lapping up the small amount of blood. A sound between a growl and a purr rumbled out of her throat.

Arkon barely breathed, not knowing what she would do next. It didn’t matter. He would let her do whatever the fuck she wanted to him. If it was what she needed, he would lower himself into whatever dark and depraved urge she had inside of her. Bloodlust, adrenaline, and desire were turning his insides molten. As always, Zarya was a reflection of him.

Her hands and lips and teeth slid over his slick chest. She paused at his burned forearm, lifted it to her mouth, and pressed a soft kiss to it. Tingling warmth slid over it, healing it instantly.

"Thank you," he said and almost choked on his tongue as Zarya dropped to her knees.

She was so damn beautiful and vicious in the steam, her eyes fully silver and primal. She had decided to kill him after all, just in a way he didn’t expect.

Zarya licked down the underside of his dick, and he let out a soft curse. He’d had many fantasies about the Wolf Mage over the years, but having her lips around his dick hadn’t factored into them.

"I’m not fully back yet," Zarya said, wolf and magic and woman all burning in her eyes.

"I know."

Zarya’s hand wrapped around his shaft and gave him a hard jerk that had him fighting not to blow.

"Then you know I don’t want you to be gentle with me. Fuck me hard, Arkon. Make me feel it enough to bring me back," she said, almost begging.

"I promise you, Zarya," Arkon said, grabbing a fistful of her wet hair. "I’m never, ever, going to fuck you gentle."

He slid his cock into her mouth, and her hands gripped his hips tight. He did as she asked, just like he always would. He fucked her mouth with abandon, loving every gasp and gag she made. Her long lashes sparkled with shower mist as her eyes went hazy with lust. Fuck, he would never forget the utter surrender on her face.

"Cazzo, you are so perfect," he groaned. Her hot mouth was making him lose his mind. Her hand stroked and tugged on his balls, and he was blowing with a shout of her name. Come dripped out of her mouth and down her breasts.

Arkon was fighting to catch his breath, but Zarya was still pulsing with power. She wiped the come off her chin and sucked it off her fingers.

"More," she said. Her power wrapped around his dick, making him yelp in surprise. It was healing him and making him hard all over again.

"Want it that bad, do you? Fine."

Arkon shut off the water, hauled her off the tiles, and carried her back into the bedroom. They didn’t make it to the bed. He bent her over the small table, spread her, and speared her with his cock.

Zarya’s cry of surprise turned into a soft laugh. "Yes, Arkon. Harder. Fucking ruin me."

Arkon was mad for her, the feeling of her around him, of her begging him for more, for the power that she had in her that could rip them both apart. That had never frightened him. The only thing that frightened him now was that she would have to kill him to get him to ever let her go.

Zarya’s nails clawed deep marks into the polished wood of the table, and he pounded into her harder, unable to stop. His hands wrapped around her slender throat, choking her as he dragged her back with every deep thrust.

Zarya’s back curved, and she screamed, her pussy tightening hard around him as her orgasm tore through her.

"Catch your breath," Arkon said, pulling out of her. He dragged her off the table, carried her across the room, and tossed her on top of the bed.

She was boneless as he rolled her onto her side, drew her trembling thigh back over his leg, and fucked back into her soaked pussy. Her hands went behind her to tangle in his hair.

"I love it when you’re inside of me," she confessed in a whisper. "Everything feels right."

"That’s good, baby, because I plan on getting inside of you as much as possible," he promised and sucked a bruise on the back of her neck. He circled her clit with his fingers, delighting in her moan. "Come once more for me, and I might think about letting you sleep."

She had to be exhausted from the magic drop, but he wasn’t enough of a gentleman to stop.

Zarya gripped his hand and added more pressure to her clit, showing him exactly what she needed. Arkon took her cues, kissing and nipping his way over her shoulders. He eased his pace and fucked her deeper and slower until she was crying out again.

Arkon thrust a few more times, spreading her ass so he could watch his slick cock disappear inside of her. Fire burned down his spine, his magic getting tangled with his release, and he came with the taste of embers and ash on his tongue. Zarya turned her head to kiss him, slow and silky. Her eyes were back to normal, his Zarya fully back in her body.

"Go to sleep, my little wolf," he whispered.

Zarya smiled. "Your cock is still in me."

"I know, and it’s staying there," Arkon said, his magic pulling a blanket from the box at the end of the bed and spreading it over them. And because he was a bastard, he rocked his hips into her, making her moan. "That way you won’t be able to leave without me knowing."

"I’m not going anywhere," Zarya said sleepily.

"Damn straight you aren’t." Arkon put his arm around her waist, pressed his nose into the sweet scent of her hair, and finally allowed exhaustion to claim them both.