Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I t took hours to tend to the wounded and organize the warriors guarding every entranceway, laying new wards as they went.

Merlin had helped tend to the wounded, and Arthur gave warriors orders, all the while carrying a lost, frightened child on his hip that he'd saved from an eagle's claws.

Bleddyn did his best to reassure his people, sending them home with promises that nothing could enter their city. Rosa stood with her hand on the closed doors to the Court, her forehead resting against the wood as if she was praying.

"Are you actually concerned for Gwyn?" Bleddyn demanded. "Rosa, he is a god! He can handle a few birds."

Rosa looked up at him, her eyes lost and glazed with darkness as if they were looking at something else.

"Merlin!" he called.

His son appeared, took one look at Rosa's lost expression, and gave her a shake hard enough to rattle her.

"Snap out of it! My claim on you is stronger than his, Wylt."

Her eyes refocused, and she hit him, hard enough to knock his head sideways.

"You shook me!" she snarled before she clutched at her head. "Oh, why am I so dizzy."

"You were caught up in the Hunt's magic again, you stupid girl," Merlin said, his golden eyes full of fear and fury. The anger on Rosa's face melted. She started to cry and collapsed into him.

"God, I'm sorry, Merlin. I'm sorry. It called to me, and I couldn't help it."

Merlin let out a long stream of Welsh curses before squeezing her close. "We are going back to the palace where I can keep an eye on you. We'll have no more mixing magic with the Hunt, do you hear?"

Bleddyn found Arthur, and together they all went back into the palace, leaving what remained of the crowds in the capable hands of Daesyn and Aidan.

Bleddyn opened his chamber door and felt the pulse of Eirianwen's magic. He had looked for her after the battle but thought she must have gone back to her own mansion. He had no protective claim on her as he did his family, even if she did drink from him. He wouldn't push her away by acting like an overbearing lover no matter how much he wanted to.

"Eirianwen?" Bleddyn called, moving through his rooms and into the restored Night Gardens. He felt something stalking him through the trees before she pounced into his arms.

Eirianwen was still in her ruined gown and smelled of blood, battle, and sex, her eyes shining with a vicious hunger as her legs locked around his waist.

Without warning Eirianwen sank her teeth into his neck, making him cry out and stagger in surprise. He had never felt desire in feeding except with her. Her sharp teeth and hot body had unraveled him completely.

He'd woken in the morning alone in her bed and didn't get to see her until the Hunt had arrived. He had a thousand things he wanted to tell her, and all of them vanished as the feeling of her bite went straight to his groin.

His pleasure intensified as Eirianwen branded him. It wasn't just a bite; it was the staking of a claim.

"Mine," she growled against his skin.

"For as long as you want me and forever after that," he replied honestly.

Eirianwen's magic spiked, and she let go of her self-control, claws shredding his shirt and jacket. He pushed her up against the garden wall, and her mouth found his, tasting of blood and desire and battle lust. Bleddyn held her tight with one hand, the other tearing at the layers of torn skirts, and plunging his fingers to her hot wetness. She moaned against his mouth as he thrust in and out of her.

Bleddyn moved to lick the jumping pulse at her neck, and at the moment of her orgasm, he bit down into her. Her hands gripped his hair as she cried out, her body shaking against his. He had held himself back last time, letting her feed and take what she wanted, but his control wasn't that good, and now he needed all of her. He could taste her pleasure in her rushing blood, letting it fill him with a lust he hadn't even begun to slake.

Without a word, Bleddyn lowered her to her feet, tearing her skirts in half as he got to his knees in front of her. He pulled one bare and booted leg over his wide shoulder and brought his mouth down on her, softly lapping at her, tasting every part of her. His hands gripped her hips tightly pinning her as she squirmed, her legs trembling as her hands fisted his hair.

"S-stop," Eirianwen whispered as her body peaked. "I won't be able to hold myself up."

"A problem easily solved," Bleddyn replied, pulling her gently down onto the soft grass beneath them.

"You're killing me," she said breathlessly.

"There will be no more dying for you, Eirianwen Eira," he said and tore off what remained of her bodice and tattered skirts. "This dress was lovely by the way."

"It was until I suddenly had to fight in it, and then it was just irritating."

Bleddyn had planned on continuing his exploration of her, but seeing her submissively beneath him stole what remained of his senses. She knew it, felt the change in him as she always did. She reached down, stroking him through the fabric of his trousers until he kicked them away. He hissed as she gripped him hard.

"Enough of these games. I've waited for you long enough," she said, kissing him hard, her sharp teeth tearing at his lips. He flipped her over and plunged deep inside of her. He ran his tongue up her spine, her pale skin shining under the moonlight. She moved harder against him as he reached underneath her to clutch at her soft breasts. She just about undid him as she kneeled up, pressing her back against his chest, the friction and change of angle making her groan.

Bleddyn's hand curled around her neck, baring the long line to her shoulder. He bit down into her again as her body and blood sent them both over the edge.

They ended up in a tumble of arms and legs on the grass, Eirianwen lying on top of him and smiling with satisfaction.

"I see your post-battle lust is still a force to be reckoned with," Bleddyn said, letting out an exhausted laugh. He kissed the top of her silver head, smoothing her tangled hair back from her face. "Do you want to explain what that was all about?"

She rolled her eyes. "I would think it obvious."

"You branded me, Eirianwen. Don't try to deny it. I know what I felt," he said stubbornly. She stretched out against him and smiled like a cat when he shivered underneath her.

"Very well, if you must have it in words. You are mine , Wolf of the Seren Du, and I want to make sure every other wench in the kingdom knows that if they try and touch you, like some of them did tonight, they will have me to contend with," Eirianwen said, her voice deep and steady. "You claimed me once and ruined any chance a man could have with me. I won't let you slip through my fingers again so easily. Not being able to find you tonight when those winged bastards came out of nowhere, it scared me like nothing has scared me in hundreds of years. When it was over, I wasn't thinking of the wounded or the queen or whatever dark magic Gwyn used to banish them. I was thinking only of you and feeling you alive inside of me."

Bleddyn lifted her up so he could kiss her gently, her hair falling over them in a canopy of silver.

"You didn't need to claim me to know that my heart is yours," he said, stroking the curves of her cheekbones. "Love and duty bound us together once, and time and curses separated us. We have been given a new beginning, and even though I won't choose this kingship and land, I'll always choose you, my silver huntress."

Eirianwen smiled down at him, kissing him and filling his long cold heart with a warmth he never thought he would feel again.