Reaper: A raven paranormal romance (Crookshollow ravens Book 2) (13 page)

“Go, now!” The Chairman yelled at me. “Don’t wait for me.”

What do you do when your cat is trying to save your life? We ran.

The wrought iron gates at the end of the garden had been flung open. Outside the gates, Simon sat in the car. As soon as he saw us coming, he gunned the engine. As we raced between the high stone pillars, the gates whirred to life and swung shut behind us.

“Cole, Chairman … the others are still in there,” I gasped as I yanked the door open and flung myself across the back seat.

Simon, as usual, didn’t reply. The wheels squealed as we pulled a three-sixty and took off. I stared back at the house just as the gates clicked shut and a huge flock of birds rose into the sky with a cacophony of squawks and caws. A bike zoomed past us as we pulled out onto the road. The driver wore a familiar leather jacket. On the back perched a dishevelled-looking raven and two very terrified cats.

“Are you OK?” Alex leaned over and squeezed my hand. “Did they hurt you? Should we take you to the hospital?”

I gripped my neck and pulled my hand away. There were only a couple of drops of blood. From where Tony had scratched me. Nothing to worry about. “I’m fine.” I said, leaning over and embracing my friend. “Thank you for saving me.”

“Don’t thank me, it was all Cole and Libby.”

“Who is this Libby?”

“She’s Sir Thomas’s fiancée, and Cole’s new master. Don’t give me that look, I think you’ll like her when you meet her.”

“But what about—”

Alex held her finger to her lips. “Stop talking. You’ve had a terrible ordeal. But you’re safe now, and so is everyone else. Relax, and try not to think about it too much. When we get back to Raynard Hall, Simon will run you a nice scented bath, and I will pour you a glass of wine, and then you and Cole can do whatever it is you two do … and you can ask all your questions in the morning. I know Ryan and Cole have a lot of questions for you, too.”

I opened my mouth to protest. I was worried about the birds on the loose, but weariness washed over my whole body. I couldn’t do anything from the car. My eyelids fluttered shut …

… they didn’t open again until the car stopped. Someone opened my door and pulled me out of my seat. It was Cole, now dressed in a black shirt and jeans, his face badly scratched and bruised, and his eyes gleaming with joy.

“Welcome home, Nightingale,” he grinned, pressing his lips to mine. My body flared with heat at his touch, and I thrust my tongue between his, pouring all of my relief and joy at being out of there into the kiss.

Cole pulled away, his breath hitching. “Woah,” he grinned. “Are you ever glad to be home!”

“Tell me about it,” I laughed.

Cole carried me up the stairs, through the foyer, and into the main living room, where he laid me out on the couch and plumped the pillows behind my head. I heard Alex humming as she bustled around the kitchen.

Something furry jumped up on the end of the couch and wrapped itself around my feet – Chairman Meow, back in his cat form.

“I can’t believe you’ve been a shifter all this time,” I croaked at him. He folded his paws beneath himself, and yawned pointedly.

“Here you go,” Alex set down a tray next to the table. On it stood a glass of red wine, and a plate of something meaty and delicious. Oh, how I’d missed Simon’s cooking. All the food I’d been given at the Morchards’ was expensive and tiny and weird, except what Tony and I had saved for ourselves.

Tony.
I couldn’t believe I’d been so easily deceived by him. I thought he was a friend, but all along... My face burned with shame at the thought of it. It was Ethan, all over again. I wasn’t able to trust my own judgement about people.

If I was wrong about Tony, and Ethan, was I also wrong about Cole? What about all my friends, who’d worked together in order to break me out of Morchard Castle. Was I wrong about them, too?

My head throbbed. It was too much to think about right now. I reached for the plate, dragging a warm bread roll through the stew and lifting it to my mouth. God, that was good. Gravy dribbled down my chin.

“Careful,” Cole helped me sit up. “You don’t want to rush yourself.”

I ignored him, and cleared the plate. “Is there any more?”

“Why don’t you come back for seconds later?” Cole grinned, stroking the inside of my wrist with his fingers. “I heard there was a scented bath waiting for you.”

“Mmmmm, that sounds heavenly.” I let Cole carry me upstairs to my room. I noticed as we entered the familiar guest wing hall that the door to his room was badly damaged, and hanging off one hinge. I opened my mouth to ask what had happened, but all thoughts fled when Cole swung me into my room. There were fresh flowers in the bedside table, and towels folded on the chair. Steam rose from the rose-scented bubbly water in the egg-shaped bath in my en-suite. All the doubts running through my mind evaporated. Never had a body of water looked so inviting in my life. Every bone and muscle in my body ached from days of stress and fear.

“Allow me to help you with your bath, madam.” Cole said in a posh voice.

“Cole, I have been bathing myself since I was a kid.”

“I know, but remember, a Bran is born to serve. And the only person I really want to serve is you.”

That sounded good. I lifted my arms and grinned at him. “Fine. As you wish.”

Cole undressed me slowly, savouring every layer with his eyes and his tongue. He pulled the pajama top over my head, sliding the soft fabric over my skin, then tracing those same lines with his fingers. He bent down and nibbled on my neck, sending a shiver of delight down my back. I thought that the only thing I would want to do was wash off the stench of Morchard Castle and fall asleep, but one kiss from Cole and my whole body coursed with fire.

His tongue circled my nipples, first one, and then the other. I gasped as he pulled the tip into his mouth. My fingers pushed through his hair, enjoying the way his black ringlets fell through them like water. I pulled him closer to my chest, encouraging him to continue to pay attention to my breasts.

“We’d best get you in that bath,” he murmured against my skin, as he rolled my pyjama legs off, and then tugged the edges of my knickers down, trailing a line down my thighs with his tongue. I gripped his shoulders and pushed my body against him, my core pulsing with desire. But Cole didn’t give me what I wanted. Instead, he threw me over his shoulder and deposited me into the bath. The heat rushed my body, only enhancing the throbbing between my legs. Water sloshed over the edges, soaking the tiles and the fluffy mat.

Cole knelt beside the bath and picked up the bottle of body wash and a loofah. He squirted some of the liquid on to the loofah and started to run it over my body. “Lift your arms, Nightingale. I’ve got to get your all squeaky clean for what I want to do to you.”

I obeyed, my whole body singing as he ran the loofah all over me. Having a bath was such a luxury – I used to have them all the time after a hard day at the shop, back when I lived in the apartment with Ethan. But, of course, my crappy flat didn’t have a bath.

And as nice as a bath with scented candles and a glass of wine and a good book was, it had nothing on a seriously hot raven man soaping you down.

While Cole rubbed my body with the loofah in one hand, he used his other hand to tease me, rolling my nipples around his fingers, stroking the inside of my thighs, touching me everywhere except the one place I wanted to be touched.

“Cole ... ” I begged.

“Come on now. Don’t whine.” He lifted my foot and slid the loofah between my toes. I groaned in delight as he massaged the bottoms of my feet. “I’m just trying to make sure you’re really clean.”

“You missed a spot.” I pointed to my mound.

“Oh, no. I am getting there.” He placed my foot on his shoulder and soaped all down my leg, then the other, slowing moving towards the apex of my legs, then rolling away again.

“Cole, please …”

“Lie back,” he grinned. “Let the water keep you afloat.”

I obeyed, lying right down in the hot water and releasing all the air from my lumps. I sank a little, but then bobbed on the surface. Cole wrapped his arms around my ankles and pulled me forward, so my legs were out of the water. My core pulsed with anticipation.

Something warm slipped over my mound, the touch sending a shudder of delight through me. Another stroke along the whole length of my slit, and then something soft rubbing over the sensitive skin, dancing in wonderful circles.

I couldn’t tell what was his tongue, and what was the loofah. But whatever he was doing there, it felt amazing. He alternated lapping, sucking and stroking, his expert tongue undoing me completely. Heat rose from the water and washed over my skin. Every lap of the water against me sent heat racing towards my core. My body hummed with energy as the heat enveloped me completely. I was suspended in the warmth, growing hotter, hotter, melting into a pool of molten lava.

“Oh!” I cried out as Cole sucked my clit into his mouth, and I came. The force of the orgasm soared through my body. I arched my back to take the force of it, and sank into the water. I grabbed the sides of the bath to keep my head afloat as my body convulsed with pleasure.

“Are you OK?” Cole dragged me from the water.

“Yeah,” I spluttered. “That was amazing.”

“I nearly drowned you.”

“That’s what I like about dating a bad boy,” I grinned, bracing myself as another convulsion wracked me. Damn, he was so good. “I’m living on the edge.”

“Are you sleepy? Do you want to go to bed?”

“Oh, I want to go to bed all right, but not to sleep.”

Cole leaned down and kissed me, finally releasing his own passion. His kiss grew deeper, more intense. He picked me up, still dripping wet, and threw me over his shoulder again, then dropped me on the bed. I watched as he tore his shirt off, flinging it across the room. His pants came next, and then he was on top of me, his warmth enveloping me, his unique scent invading my nostrils.

I ran my hands across his back, over his ink, committing his body to memory. I never wanted to be without him again. He stroked my hair as his kissed me again, deep and long. I opened my legs and wrapped them around his, pulling his body tight against mine. He broke apart for a moment to pull on a condom, then sank into me again, his thick cock sliding inside me.

“You feel so good,” I whispered against his lips. His eyelids fluttered. His fingers dug into my shoulder.

“Belinda, oh Belinda.” Cole wrapped his arms around me, pressing his warm chest against mine. His legs entwined with mine, we became one single entity, a mess of limbs and heat.

I closed my eyes, breathing the scent of him deep into my lungs, his cock filling me with each glorious stroke. After all those days of fear and wondering, I’d all but lost hope he would come for me, and now that I had him again, it was so perfect. We were made for each other.

“Belinda,” Cole whispered in my ear as he ground his body against mine. “I love you. I’ll never leave you.”

The heat swelled inside me. My core throbbed with longing as my heart exploded with joy. I never thought I’d hear those three simple words again, and believe them.

“I love you too!” I cried out. I had promised myself I’d never say those words again, but they came out so easily, they were so true. Cole was with me now, and he’d never hurt me like Ethan did.

I had never been this happy.

I
glanced
down at Belinda’s sleeping face, her features soft, content. She’d fallen asleep the second we’d finished our lovemaking, her hands folded under her cheek like a cherub sleeping on a cloud. She looked so beautiful lying there, a perfect angel.

It tore my heart. Because I knew then that we could never work.

You’re no good for her. Look at what’s happened to her since she met you. Her livelihood is ruined, she’s kidnapped and nearly killed, a vicious avian virus is now loose in the world, and all her friends are in danger. It’s all because of you.

The pain gnawed at my chest. The pull of Gillespie’s power, reminding me constantly that I was his slave, his and Libby’s, that saving Belinda had only happened because of his good graces, that my life wasn’t my own to do with as I pleased.

She’d be better off if she’d never known you.

I was not worthy of her. She deserved a prince, and I was a slave.

But you can’t desert her.
Looking down at Belinda, I saw her for what she really was. A hurt, fragile woman, teetering on the edge of her own fierce resilience. She needed me; she needed me in order to heal.

No.
I shook my head.
You can’t think like that, just because you need
her
. Belinda is stronger than anyone gives her credit for, and she has all her friends here to support her. She will survive without you. And you have to go, you know you do. You can’t continue to love her as a slave. It will tear you apart.

I’d said those words. I’d told Belinda I loved her. I’d been thinking them ever since I’d met her, but saying them was another matter entirely. I promised myself I wouldn’t say them until I was free. And I had to keep that promise now, for both our sakes.

Tearing myself away from Belinda. I gently slid my arm out from beneath her, and climbed out of bed.

You could just ask Libby for your freedom.
The voice in my mind chirped hopefully.

That would never happen. She is a fine mistress, but she would never offend her husband by giving away his cherished gift. She likes having you around too much. No, if you want your freedom, you have to take it for yourself.

And that means you have to leave. Now. Before you change your mind.

Leaning over, I planted a last kiss on her soft cheek. “Farewell, Nightingale,” I whispered, my voice catching on the words. “I will come back to you when I am worthy of your love.”

I pushed the window open, and, in an instant, had shifted into my bird form and swooped out into the night.