Chapter 17

Chapter17

Briar

Icome to before I hit the ground, Sol’s arms around me. He lifts me just as carefully as he always seems to touch me when we’re not having sex. The violence that screamed from his body language is gone. Or at least directed outward.

“Leave,” he snarls.

“See you around.”

I blink blearily at Ramanu as they walk out of the kitchen, apparently none the worse for Sol’s attempted strangulation. Then they’re gone and we’re alone again. Strange how I used to see Sol as the threat, but now the tension goes out of my body with Ramanu’s absence. They haven’t done anything, but danger comes off them in waves despite their irreverent attitude.

Maybe my instincts aren’t as fucked up as I believed.

“Briar?”

“I’m fine,” I say automatically and then have to stop and ensure it’s the truth. “I just got a little light-headed when I stood up.”

Sol turns and sets me back on the stool, but he doesn’t move away. “You passed out.”

“I don’t think so.”

He exhales slowly. “You passed out,” he repeats firmly. “Eat the rest of your food, and then I’m taking you back to bed.”

My stomach is twisted in knots, and I’m not hungry anymore, but he’s got an air about him that says he won’t move from this spot until I eat at least a little more. I sigh. “Humans pass out from needles or pain all the time. It’s nothing to be concerned about.”

“I disagree.”

He watches me closely, tension lining his shoulders, and I quickly take a few bites. “I’m fine.”

“You keep saying that, but you’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you.” He watches me eat for several long moments before taking a slow step back. “You would put your needs second to negating conflict.”

I start to argue, but he’s right. Best I can tell, he’s been honest with me since I arrived here. It feels disingenuous to lie to his face in response. I swallow one last piece of fruit and sit back. “Old habits are hard to break. I’ve been here less than a week. I think I can be forgiven for not suddenly becoming a new person.”

“I’m not asking you to. But you’ll forgive me if I take steps to ensure you don’t endanger yourself out of habit.” He eyes the plate. “You’re finished?”

“Yes.”

Sol nods and makes short work of the remaining food, then he cleans and puts the plate away. When he returns to me, he seems even more serious than normal. “I mean it, Briar. I don’t expect you to suddenly be without scars.” He pauses.

I blink, still chewing on his earlier statement. “I’m not endangering myself.”

“All the same.”

I don’t know what to say to that. The easy way we were before Ramanu came in is gone, replaced by tension. Sol is keeping himself tightly leashed, but there’s no missing how tense he is. A frisson of something that isn’t quite fear goes through me. “Would you have killed them?”

“Perhaps.”

In that moment, I wish Sol were a little less honest. “You can’t just go around murdering people who look at me sideways.”

Instead of answering, Sol sweeps me into his arms. He pauses to grab the container Ramanu left on the counter, and then he’s stalking back through the halls. They’re eerily silent, which makes me realize they haven’t been up to this point. “Sol?”

“You have nothing to fear from me.”

I don’t know if that means there’s someone else in this keep that I should fear, or if there’s someone in this keep that should fear him.

He carries me up to our bedroom and kicks the door shut behind us hard enough that, again, I’m glad this place is made of unshakeable stone. Sol stops in front of the bed and takes a long breath. It’s only then that I note the slight tremors in his arms.

He hisses softly. “Do you trust me, Briar?”

With my heart? Most assuredly not. I’m not certain I even trust him with my future, since we are diametrically opposed in a number of ways. But he’s not asking for either. I look up into his dark eyes. “What do you need from me?”

“I am…” He releases another hissing breath. “It’s the mating frenzy. I didn’t expect…”

Ah. I reach up and tentatively press my hand to his broad chest. “You need to reclaim what’s yours.”

“Yes.”

I’m familiar enough with the concept of jealousy pushing someone to this kind of action, even if my past experience always made it feel like I’d somehow done something wrong. It doesn’t feel like that with Sol. But then, nothing feels like I expect with Sol.

I drag in a breath. “I’m still very sore. You’ll have to be careful.”

“Trust me.”

Just like that, it’s an easy decision. I nod. “Okay.”

Sol sets me on my feet and whisks off the robe. He’s moving too fast for me to help, so I stand there and allow him to push me back onto the bed and guide my legs wide. He stands there for a long moment, staring at me almost as if he’s about to say something, but then he blinks and the moment passes.

He strips out of his pants. God, his cocks are out and look even bigger in the late-morning light than they did last night. I can’t stop the shaky breath as he stalks toward me, but he doesn’t immediately cover me with his body.

He sinks onto the bed and wraps one giant hand around my thigh. Sol jerks me closer until I’m nearly in his lap and drags his tongue along my calf and presses my foot to his shoulder. The position leaves me obscenely open. I’m not quite so far gone as to do more than shake as he stares at my pussy. “Sol, I think—”

“I won’t hurt you.” His voice sounds different. His gaze doesn’t move as he reaches with his free hand to the container Ramanu left. He lifts the lid with a practiced flick of his thumb, and a soothing scent fills the room. I don’t recognize it, but it reminds me of the lotions and bath bombs that promise a “spa experience.”

His claws snick away, and he dips one massive finger into the container. The scent gets stronger. I lift my head in time to see him press that finger into me. Sol swirls his finger idly inside me. It makes me flinch on instinct, but I quickly realize the soreness that’s plagued me since we had sex is…gone? “What—”

“The balm isn’t numbing.” He gently saws his finger in and out of my pussy. “It’s specifically formulated by the…” An angry hiss. “By them. It’s healing you.”

Them. The bargainer demons.

Sol withdraws his finger to scoop up a bit more of the balm, and this time, when he presses into me, he does it with two fingers. He watches himself fuck me with his fingers for several beats. I’m helpless to do anything but the same. It feels just as good as the first time he touched me like this. Better even, because he’s already found the spot inside me that makes everything go a little hazy. “Sol.”

“You’re mine, bride.” He moves his hand from my thigh over my waist and up to bracket my ribs, pressing one breast up as if in offering. “My bride to do with as I please. I will fuck you until you can’t take any more, then I will use the balm to heal you and do it again.” The words are harsh, but his touch remains consistent, unraveling me at the seams. “Look at this pretty pussy. So fucking obedient. Wet and needy, just for me.”

My back bows, but he holds me down. It only makes what he’s doing between my thighs hotter. “Yes!”

“Ramanu would fuck you if you gave them half a chance.” He gives that dangerous rattling sound. “They would spear you with their cock and fill up my pussy.”

“No,” I whisper. I shake my head hard against the bedding. “I wouldn’t let them.”

Sol lifts his gaze. “No, you wouldn’t. Do you know why?”

I worry my bottom lip. I can barely move with him holding me immobile, but I try to roll my hips to take his fingers deeper. “Because my pussy is yours.” I sob out my breath. “I’m yours.” In that moment, I almost believe it. Pleasure builds through me in ever-increasing waves.

Then Sol dips down, and his long tongue is at my clit. It’s as if he has some magic that lets him know exactly where to touch, how hard, in what motion. Within seconds, I’m on the edge. “Sol.”

This time, he has no words for me. He’s intent on my pleasure, and that focus tips me right into a back-bowing orgasm. I cry out so loud, I have the distant thought that I’ll be embarrassed about it later.

He doesn’t give me time to ease down like he did in the past. Instead, he withdraws just enough to flip me onto my stomach and urge my hips high. I almost tense up—it’s such a vulnerable position with my cheek against the bedding and my ass in the air—but then his hands are wrapping around my thighs, his claws pricking skin so sensitive that the pain almost feels like pleasure. “There you are,” he murmurs.

He feeds me one of his cocks a rough inch at a time. I thought he was impossibly deep last night, but it’s nothing compared to this position. It feels like he’s splitting me in two. He doesn’t give me much time to adjust, but my body makes way for him. Just like it did last time.

I fist the sheets when he bottoms out inside me. My breath sobs from my lungs. I’m so full, I’m certain I can feel him in the back of my throat. “Sol, please.”

“Are you begging for mercy, bride?” He squeezes my ass cheeks, making me jump. “There is no mercy here.” He withdraws just as smoothly as he entered me. I panic halfway through and try to shove back onto him, but he holds me immobile, continuing his retreat until just the head of his thick cock remains inside me.

“I like you like this. Shaking. Whimpering. Needing me.” He shifts behind me, one giant hand coming to rest beside my head as he bends over me. His breath is warm against my ear. “Beg, bride.”

I try to slam back on him again, but he moves with me easily, somehow maintaining just the head of his cock inside me. I slap the bedding. “Sol, stop teasing me and fuck me.”

I’m suddenly afraid he won’t do it. That he’ll keep teasing me until I lose my mind entirely. “Please, Sol. Please fuck me.” Words spill from my lips, fumbling words spill from my libs, need making them nearly incomprehensible. “Please don’t make me wait. I need you.”

His hiss rattles through his chest and into my back. Sol’s claws dig into the bedding next to my face as he does exactly what I beg for. He picks up his pace, fucking me hard enough to draw gasps and whimpers from my lips.

Not hard enough to hurt me, though.

My orgasm takes me by surprise. One moment I’m trying to lift my hips, to take him deeper yet, and the next I’m cumming so hard, I scream. Sol pulls out of me and flips me onto my back. I blink up at him, dazed and drugged on pleasure. He presses my thighs wide, and I look down to see his top cock glistening with my orgasm.

Sol notches his bottom cock at my entrance and then looks at me. “I’m going to mark you, bride.”

It’s not a request, not really, but I nod all the same. “Do it.”