Chapter 9

Ikept the sheet wrapped around me as Tristan stalked through, presumably heated the water in the bath, then stalked back out with the same arrogant determination not to look over at me, completely ignoring my murmured thank you on his way out.

The second that door closed I slipped inside the humid bathroom, took a deep inhale of the steam spiraling up from the gold-footed tub, and tossed the sheet to the side. Sliding in, the water encased my body in delicious velvety heat, sinking into every aching muscle, soothing away the terror of these past hours.

The only soap was old and dried but still smelled faintly of sandalwood, and ten minutes later, I combed my fingers through my now-clean hair, bubbles hugging the tub's edges.

I inspected my legs, covered in fresh, pink skin, still tender but intact. I resolved right then to do something nice for Bexley tomorrow. If Torin hadn't already sent him away. I rested my head on the tub's rim and closed my eyes, letting the silence sink in.

I wouldn't have heard him if not for the slight groan of unoiled hinges.

The soft pad of bare feet was undetectable; he moved so smoothly even the air in the room didn't change, a miracle of sorts, given how big he was.

I sank deeper into the water when Tavion leaned back against the sink, a lock of silver hair escaping his leather band, darkening eyes flicking over me with an experienced male's frank assessment, and for the first time since I'd met him, a shiver of apprehension went through me.

My nipples pebbled at the raw hunger written in his gaze, and instead of holding my emotions in check, I gave myself over to them. Let myself get eaten alive by those beautiful green eyes, let myself devour every inch of his muscled torso, the way his powerful arms flexed as he braced himself on the sink, and how his thighs bulged against the confines of those thin breeches.

His throat moved, the only thing that broke the absolute stillness of his body.

"I thought you were dead." Tavion's rough, low voice thrummed with a thousand unsaid things, and then it was my turn to swallow.

"Well, because of you, I'm alive. Because you got me here in time, Tavion." Somehow, I knew he needed to hear those words. Needed to know he'd played a part in saving me. "And now we're even. Again."

I was too fucking naked right now, pinned beneath his predator's stare, vulnerable with no place to hide except behind these fast-disappearing bubbles, and the only towel…was right next to Tavion.

As if he read my mind, his mouth curled slightly at the corners.

"What if I don't want to be even?" He prowled up to the tub, no sound in the room except my own panicked breathing. "What if I like you owing me? What if I like having something to hold over your head?"

"Then I suppose you'll have to do something else heroic to impress me," I snapped, not sure why I was so godsdamned off-kilter. "I was enjoying myself, for your information, before you barged in here. Where are Raz and Zor?"

He settled his hip on the tub and—gods help me—dipped a hand in, swirling the water, his fingertips inches from touching bare skin.

"Sleeping somewhere else tonight. We made a deal, you see." His eyes locked onto mine. Held.

"What…what do you mean?"

"I've waited for you for so godsdamned long, Anaria. So fucking long, and I'm tired of waiting. So Raz and Zor are sleeping somewhere else tonight. And you have me to yourself." His hand drifted closer, bubbles lapping at my chest. "If that is what you want."

Another one of those hard, desperate swallows, and I wondered…was Tavion Montgomery nervous?

"When I almost…lost you, the only thing I thought of was how much fucking time we'd wasted. Days. Weeks. Months."

Another swirl, his fingers grazing my knee this time, sending heat zinging through me.

"You never get wasted time back, Anaria. All those missed chances are just…gone forever."

The last bubbles disappeared and a flush of shyness came over me. I laid my arm over my breasts, but he caught my wrist.

"A simple yes or no, wife." I couldn't look away, because he stared at me like everything he'd ever wanted was right in front of him.

"No, and I'll leave you be. We go on our way, and I'll wait for you to make the next move. But know this. I'll wait for however long that takes, even if it's ten years." The way he said those words—like he was handing me over a piece of his heart—brought down any last reservations I had.

I stopped breathing at the look that came over his face.

Pure, undiluted want.

"Say yes, and I'll take you to bed right now. Make this marriage of ours real." The water around me rippled, his grip tightening until all I felt was the squeeze of his warm flesh against mine.

"Let me worship you, Anaria. Let me make everything up to you, all my crimes and wrongs. Let me get on my fucking knees and make things right between us. My heart belongs to you now. Even if you say no tonight…I am yours, and I cannot—will not deny you. If you tell me to leave, I will obey."

But his eyes begged me to let him stay.

His eyes begged me to let him love me, and I didn't think I'd ever wanted anything as badly as I wanted Tavion Montgomery right now. Looking into his face—shining with such yearning—was like coming home.

"Yes."

He froze, as if trying to decide whether he'd heard me right, then shuddered, his body shivering in one, long, continuous motion, his knuckles, wrapped around the tub's edge, turning white.

"Are you sure?" He searched my face with that unnerving intensity. "You have to be sure, Anaria. I don't think I could…"

I rose, water streaming off me, and cupped his chin, brushing my lips over his. Softly, promising him everything I had to give, because that's what was important right now. No matter his arrogance, Tavion needed me, and I wasn't going anywhere.

His hands rested lightly on my hips, and mine moved to his shoulders as our kiss grew deeper, his tongue exploring my mouth with a reverence I'd never expected from him. I opened, completely compliant, letting him take his time, catching my bottom lip between his sharp teeth before he broke away.

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure, Tavion. You're right. We've wasted too much time."

I closed my eyes when he dragged the towel off the counter and started drying me off, his hands deliberate, gentle, mirroring every sweep of fabric with a softer brush of soft lips over my skin, like a reverent, whispered thank you.

Then he was kneeling at my feet, head bowed before me, and I couldn't stop my fingers from sifting through those silver locks, falling like silk between my fingertips, as he dried my feet, my ankles, then moved higher.

He glided the towel up my legs, deliberately enough I gasped when he reached my core, his quick glance up little more than dancing green eyes and a flash of white teeth before he went back to his work.

The room tipped when he swept me up, water flying everywhere as he strode across the tiled floor, kicked open the door, and pressed me into the mattress, his arms braced on either side of my head.

His chest rose and fell as his green-flecked gaze raked over me with slow, deliberate thoroughness, his face darkening as if imagining every wicked thing he planned to do to me.

"So fucking beautiful, my wife." His voice pulsed with sex, my thighs rubbing together, dripping wet, and not only from the bath. I was fucking soaked for this male, for whatever storm he was preparing to unleash on me, and I could not wait.

"Reach up and grasp the headboard." I obeyed, fingers scrambling until they found something solid to hold onto. "Now spread your legs for me, Anaria. As wide as you can. Show me that pretty pussy."

I swallowed then did as he said, my fingers tightening on the headboard as my face heated.

"Gods." There was a helpless sort of wonder in his voice as he trailed a hand down my body, over one breast, circling my hard nipple before he traced my ribs, the swell of my belly. "Gods, you are so beautiful. I don't fucking deserve this, Anaria. But I swear, you won't regret tonight. I'll make you feel so good. So fucking good."

Clothing rustled and I opened my eyes to watch him strip, revealing every inch of his perfectly honed body, wide chest tapering down to a tightly ridged abdomen, muscled thighs flexing as he peeled off his breeches.

He was…I'd seen him naked before, but this was different. Intimate.

A fucking work of art, dangerous and beautiful. Deadly and seductive.

When he turned, his cock was hard and heavy, the head touching his stomach, precum beaded on the tip in a pearly drop of white. My mouth went dry as I wondered what he'd taste like.

Imagined getting on my knees right now and finding out.

But all I could do was stare as he approached, sinking down between my legs, warm breaths feathering the insides of my thighs. His lips grazed along my knee, then moved upward, soft feathery kisses punctuated by nipping of teeth until his calloused palms pushed me wider, his mouth poised over my pussy.

He sucked in a deep breath, and I was never so glad to have just had a bath as I was right now.

"You smell fucking delicious." My hips bucked up, body quivering in anticipation, needing him to lick me, fuck me, put his fingers or tongue or cock inside me. Anything but this aching emptiness that was absolutely killing me.

"Please, Tavion." The plea came out in little panting breaths. "Please. Please touch me."

"So impatient, my wife. So needy. So wet. Your pink pussy is gushing, and you smell like jasmine and amber. I could eat you for hours and never get enough."

"Then fucking do it." I was about five seconds from letting go of this headboard and putting his mouth where I wanted him when he finally moved, dragging his rough tongue through my folds with a purring growl that rumbled through my swollen flesh and speared straight into my core.

He feasted on me like a starving male, one finger sliding in and out, curling against my inner walls. Not enough. Not nearly enough. I tried to arch my back, to get him where I needed him, but he was too strong, holding me down while he took his time tasting and licking at his leisure, those purring hums ratcheting my aching want up to an intolerable level.

"Tavion," I moaned. "Please. Please don't make me wait any longer. I need more." I bit my lip then said the rest anyway. "If I don't come, I'm going to fucking die, I swear."

"That sounds serious, wife. After all the effort I went through tonight to keep you alive."

"Stop being an arsehole. I'm fucking begging you. Isn't that what you want? For me to beg?"

He rocked back and cocked an eyebrow, his lips wet from…me. Something twisted inside me, my core aching.

"Your idea of begging and mine are very different, wife, but…" His smile revealed his teeth were bigger. Longer. Sharper. "I'll see what I can do. No good husband leaves his wife wanting."

"I swear to the gods, Tavion…"

Tavion fastened his mouth over my clit, his tongue lashing over the swollen bud like he'd gone to war, and I imploded, clamping my teeth together to hold in my scream of pleasure so the entire godsdamned palace—and those fucking Reapers—didn't hear.

He never stopped.

Tavion devoured me with a greed that I'd never experienced before, as if he wanted to devour every last piece of me, heart and soul and body, and he did all those things, until I lay there spent, heaving, boneless.

My hands had slipped from the headboard, my arms too heavy to move when he flipped me onto my belly and pulled me to the edge of the bed, running his hands appreciatively down over the curve of my arse before he wedged his knee between my legs and spread me apart.

The head of his cock nudged at my entrance, then Tavion pushed inside with one long, relentless stroke. He was huge, huge, and I squirmed beneath him until his hand came down on the back of my neck and pinned me to the bed.

"You are mine." His voice was deeper than I'd ever heard it, rough, like he was…talking around his teeth. "I am going to fill you up, Anaria. Pump you so full of my seed, you'll carry my scent for days."

Those words had me moaning, Tavion's hips slapping against my arse as he furiously fucked me, his grip on my neck firm but gentle.

"Everyone will know you are mine. That you belong to me."

Something tugged in my chest, a streak of pressure that raced down my hip, along the black mark, a shiver of cold spreading as if I'd been touched by an icy finger. Above me, Tavion hissed, in pleasure or pain I did not know, but he stopped moving, his cock throbbing inside me.

Even the air in the room shivered. Turned colder.

I went still, my body softening for him as he slowly pulled out and pushed back in, taking me deeper with every stroke, stretching me around his girth, which was…getting bigger with every thrust.

"Gods, Tavion…please."

I didn't even know what I was begging for. Less. More. Harder. Faster.

"You are so fucking tight, wife. So fucking…That's it. Take me deeper. Take every inch of me. Gods, you feel like fucking heaven on my cock, Anaria." His breath heated my cheek, sharp teeth sinking into my earlobe as if he couldn't help but taste me there, too.

Havoc reigned inside me, a storm so close to breaking, as if every stroke of him inside me was a thundercloud billowing bigger and bigger, expanding until the moment I couldn't contain all that power.

And then I'd shatter all around him. And I couldn't wait.

"I love you, Anaria, more than life itself. Come over the edge with me, just this one time."

I couldn't deny him. Couldn't stop myself if I'd wanted to and tumbled over that precipice without worrying about hitting bottom or how far the fall was.

The only thing that existed was this crashing pleasure, his cock jerking inside me, his warmth sinking into me as he gathered me up and held me tight against him. I swore I sensed the echo of his release somewhere deep inside me, the twin shadow to my own rolling mayhem as I lost myself completely to the darkness.

I came to lying on my side, blankets tucked around me, a soft pillow beneath my head.

My wet hair was expertly wrapped in a towel and the drapes were closed—no light, only this deep darkness. So deep I couldn't tell if I was alone or how long I'd been out.

Something enormous rose from the shadows, and it took me one heart-wrenching second to separate Tavion's outline from the darkness around him.

"It's okay. You're safe." White teeth flashed in a brief smile. "I washed you, Anaria, before tucking you in. As much as I'd like you covered in my seed—that's my wolf talking, by the way, the pushy, territorial bastard—I wanted you clean."

The bed dipped, and Tavion's arms slid beneath me then cradled me close. I wondered if anything had ever felt as right as being here, in his arms, swallowed by the darkness and his pin-swept scent.

There was a calmness to him that hadn't been there before, a steadiness that had me sinking against him as he ran his hand down my side, gentle and soothing, my eyes slipping closed as if instinctually, I knew I could trust him.

"Sleep for a few hours, love." His lips skimmed gently over my cheek, my forehead. "Let me hold you until the sun comes up."