Carnal Sacrifice (17 page)

“Oh Ares, yes! So much! So big!” Every word came on a labored sigh, and the response filled him with masculine pride.

“I’m going to fuck you so hard, Laela. I’m going to make you forget anything else but my cock even exists. I’m going to make you scream.”

He didn’t wait for her answer, instead doing exactly what he’d just promised—he slammed his rod hard into her, again, and again, knowing that the position heightened everything she felt.
 
Yes, yes.
 
So wet. So hot.
 
Thrust. Thrust. Thrust.
 
She cried out with each hard stroke, and it almost sounded like pain, but he knew it was the most profound pleasure.

“Tell me it’s good!” he demanded, his cock pummeling her, driving into her wetness again, again.

“Yes! Oh yes!” she sobbed.

“Tell me you feel it
 
everywhere
.”

She cried out once more, then managed. “Oh Ares, yes! I feel—”
 
Another plunge.
 
“—each thrust—”
 
Another
. “—in my fingers—”
 
Another
. “—and my toes.”

Feel it, princess, keep feeling it.
 
It was his only wish in life in that moment—that she feel him, that she take from him, that she yell out in joy
 
because
 
of him. He wanted all of her, in every way, wanted to own her—more than just this slave and master agreement—he wanted her heart, too.

And it was that realization that sent him over the edge, exploding inside her, releasing every ounce of heat and energy that had built in him these past hours—and he

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knew that
 
he
 
was taking from
 
her
, too, just as much as she was taking from him. What  moved between them was pure pleasure…and something more. Something he couldn’t,  wouldn’t, give a name—and now that he’d climaxed inside her, now that the hot  tension was easing, he wasn’t going to indulge his worrisome thoughts of
 
caring for her
 
any longer.

She turned in his arms, flashing her innocent smile—and Ares, he found that more  alluring than anything else she could possibly do, and she wasn’t even trying.

“You’ve worn me out tonight,” she said.

He ran his hands down the length of her soft, beautifully bare arms then took her  by the hand. “Come to bed, princess.”

Although it was only as they lay down together atop the fur that he realized,  despite his weariness, he was too wide awake to sleep. Odd—usually, like most men, he  could drift off quickly after sex. He’d opened the shutters in the bedroom now, too, for  the breeze, but admitting the moonlight as well, and so he found himself watching her  as she closed her eyes, settling in for the night.

He studied her pale cheeks, pinkened slightly from fucking. He studied her long,  dark lashes and her soft, pouting lips. The tips of her breasts still puckered, even now,  tempting his mouth, but he knew she needed to rest.

Yet then his eyes fell on something he’d noticed about her the first time he’d met  her, and he realized he’d never seen her without it. She lay naked but for the odd cat’s  face pendant at her neck. “Why do you never take this off, princess?” he murmured in  the shadowy room, reaching out careful fingers to touch the ribbon it hung from.

She smiled sleepily, and he was selfishly pleased to find she was still awake. “It was  a gift from my mother for my last birthday.”

“Ah,” he said, hearing the light air of melancholy in her voice. “You must miss  her.” He knew that girls and their mothers often seemed closer than any other familial  relationship he knew of.

“Very much,” she admitted, reaching to touch the cat’s face. Their fingers mingled  there, at her throat. “She loves me.”

I love you, too.

He went stiff at the insane thought, then pushed it back in his mind, as far back as  possible, as he drew his hand away. “Unusual gift,” he said instead.

She simply shook her head against the pillow, eyes still shut, a small smile  unfurling on her pretty face. “It’s supposed to be my cat, Midnight. He’s still at the  fortress. I hope someone’s taking care of him, feeding him. I miss him terribly, too.”

He couldn’t help being confused. “Your
 
cat
? And this cat—it needs to be
 
taken care  of
?” He’d never heard of such a notion.

Finally, she opened her eyes, the hazel color looking nearly as green as the cat’s gem eyes in the dim light. “I know most people only see cats as wild animals that keep mice away and kill birds, but…Midnight was the runt of his litter and his mother didn’t

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want him. And I’ve always had an affinity for cats, odd as that may sound. I brought  Midnight to the fortress and he was my constant companion…before I ran away.”

He couldn’t help chuckling at the peculiar idea. “Leave it to you, princess, to charm  a cat into a companion.”

She delivered a playfully accusing look in the darkness. “What does
 
that
 
mean?”

He shook his head, laughing. “Only that I think you could charm…well, anybody.  To do anything you wanted.”

Her expression softened. “Is that so?”

He gave a short nod, and realized, with regret, that the late hour and his warm  feelings had gotten the best of him yet again. Time to put a stop to it, so he narrowed  his brow and spoke gruffly. “But that doesn’t mean you’re not still my slave.”

“May I tell you a secret?” she asked.

Say no. Quit indulging her, once and for all.
 
“Yes.” This was a mistake.

“Strange as it sounds, I rather
 
like
 
being your slave, and I fear I would miss it if I  suddenly could not be.”

He wanted to kiss her. Desperately.

But this was going way too deep, getting far too close to the very danger he was  trying to avoid. “Goodnight, princess,” he said simply, turning the other way in bed,  trying not to feel her, smell her, sense her lovely presence.

Still, her pretty voice came in his ear just the same. “Goodnight…master.”

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Chapter Seven

Garon toted a heavy keg of ale through the open tavern door, lowering it to the counter in the serving area. It was the last of three he’d carried from the delivery wagon up the way. Once he caught his breath, he yelled out, “Princess, where are you?”

Despite himself, after last night, he was anxious to see her. Try as he might to will her away, last night had been eye-opening. He still wasn’t ready to accept some of the crazy thoughts that had wafted through his mind during their more intimate moments, but he couldn’t refute that he admired her sensual abandon and the way she met every challenge. And that each and every time she surprised him, she also…
 
moved
 
him, making him feel something new and sobering deep down inside.

Ares, quit thinking this way.
 
Hadn’t he just told himself he wouldn’t indulge those thoughts?

“Still in bed, sleepy girl?” he called, leaning through the doorway.

But the bed lay empty, the fur covering stretched tidy across it. A glance to a hook on the wall revealed that her green silk dress no longer hung there, and he couldn’t deny to himself that if she had left the tavern, he was glad she hadn’t worn the skimpy top he’d made her wear last night. She’d looked delectable in it, but letting other men see her that way—
 
that
 
had been a mistake. One of many he was making lately, it seemed.

That’s when it hit him. If she had left the tavern…

She’d
 
never
 
left the tavern since coming here a few days ago.

He’d assumed she’d be too afraid to show her face in daylight, fearful that someone from the fort might be in the village, that she’d be recognized.

So where would she go that was important enough to draw her from the relative safety of the building?

Or…dear Ares, what if someone had
 
taken
 
her? A blade of panic sliced through his

heart.

Turning, he stalked toward the door and out into the pathway that wove through the village. The first person he met was Baelor, heading toward him with a bright smile.

He grabbed the younger man’s shoulder in such a way that it wiped the grin right off his face. “Have you seen Laela?” His voice came too harsh, but he didn’t care.

Baelor flashed a questioning look. “Yes. Why? What’s wrong?”

“Where is she?”

“At the ocean.”

Garon let his brow narrow. “At the ocean? What in Ares name is she doing
 
there
?”

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Baelor raised his eyebrows, as if to say
 
calm down
. “Just going for a walk, Garon.  Said she liked the sea. What’s the matter with you?”

It was as if a blanket of relief dropped over him. He finally released Baelor’s shoulder from his grip. “Sorry. I just…feared the worst. Feared Enrick’s men had come back.”

“Oh,” Baelor said somberly. “No, nothing like that.” Then he lowered his chin and  gave Garon a sizing-up look. “And if they did, you would be upset because…?”

Garon considered telling his friend the truth, but since he couldn’t even quite admit  it to himself and was still hoping his feelings would fade to normal, he answered stiffly.  “She’s my slave and I’m not even close to being done with her. Besides, if they find her  in my tavern, chances are I’ll take the blame.”

Baelor tilted his head, looking thoughtful. “On the night we shared her, you  seemed…”

“What?” Garon snapped. “I seemed what?”

Baelor took a step back, but spoke frankly. “Fond of her.”

Garon forced a shrug. “Perhaps. But she’s also my property, and someone who is  putting me in danger, both of which are far greater issues than whether or not I like the  girl.”

With that, he started past his friend.

“Where are you going?”

“To the beach,” he tossed over his shoulder.

“Funny,” Baelor murmured behind him, “You’d think if the girl’s such a danger,  you wouldn’t be so anxious to track her down and bring her home.”

Garon pretended he didn’t hear and kept walking, mainly because he had no  sensible reply. If he was honest with himself, his mind had been messed up about her  since the moment they’d met. He wanted to enslave and punish her—or did he just
 
want
 
her? He wanted her to leave—but he pleasured her so much that he knew she’d  stay. Nothing he thought or did regarding her seemed to make much sense except in  the very moment he was thinking it or doing it. And still his steps led him onward,  through the outskirts of Myrtell, over the dunes that had only partially reclaimed the  remains of the Before Times structures that had once lined the shore, and down onto the  empty beach.

Empty…except for the pile of green silk that made a small mound on the pale sand.  He narrowed his gaze on it, trying to make sense of what he saw.

Was she…in the water?

Apparently so. Without her dress. His cock rose slightly.

So his princess was full of still more surprises. She swam in the ocean—naked.

Unheard of. But he was still very glad he’d come.

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Bypassing the pile of silk, he walked down through the soft sand toward the gently rushing tide and looked out on the water to find a head bobbing in the waves. He thought to call to her, but instead, simply watched her for a moment.

As the whitecapped swells rolled inward, she leapt up and over them, seeming to make a game of it. Silly little princess. Even so, he enjoyed watching the way her long, wet mane of hair clung to her back, the soft pale expanse of her shoulders visible on either side. When she dove over a small wave like a lovely, curvaceous fish, disappearing smoothly beneath the water, the white flash of round ass hardened him still more.

“What in Ares’ name do you think you’re doing out there?” he yelled when her  head emerged to break the surface again.

She looked around with a start, then smiled when she saw him. “I’m swimming!”  she called merrily back.

He tried not to grin at her easy, infectious exuberance. “Yes, I can see that.  But…why?” The beach was for launching boats and bringing in fish and lobsters and  sea sponges. Given the sun and tide, it was a harsh place.

“I
 
love
 
to swim. Especially when the weather is so hot—it’s a wonderful way to cool

off.”

“Your father let you swim in the ocean?” He found that hard to believe. It was  hardly a civilized activity, and certainly not for the royal.

“Of course not,” she replied on a laugh. “But my sister Teesia and I used to sneak to  the ocean anyway.”