Wicked Lord of Thessaly (Halcyon Romance Series Book 3) (9 page)

He chuckled and crouched to set the blade on the wooden floor. “I’ve never unleashed my beastly side with anyone.” His nerves fired, sending a tremor through his hands. He so badly wished to please her.

She placed her hands on his shoulders. “I trust you. I choose you, Agrius, centaur and man.”

As he rose, her hands slid down his chest to the belt at his waist.

“Don’t make me regret my choice, centaur.”

“Aye, lass, you will not.”

Agrius groaned while she loosened his breeches, the garment falling around his knees. He stepped out of them, unbuttoning his shirt and slipping it from his shoulders.

Patiently, he stood before her, nude, allowing her to explore him. Her hands glided across his abdomen, up to span his shoulders, and down his back, returning to his front.

He allowed her exploration because, soon, he’d unleash the passion of his wild nature upon her, and in that moment, there’d be no gentle caresses or leisurely kisses.

Once he claimed her, she’d be at his mercy.

“You are so beautiful,” she hummed, airy.

“Nay, sweetling, ’tis you who steals my breath.” He closed the distance between them and loosened the stays of her bodice, baring the creamy skin of her shoulder. As he feathered his lips across her silken flesh, her muscles quivered beneath his kisses.

“How did you know Myron’s blade would miss me if I performed the
morphos
?”

She laughed. “He’s a poor shot; he’d aim for the largest target on your body, your centaur flank.”

“Ah, not unlike some wench I know.”

She punched his arm. “You’re lucky you have two hearts and I had only one arrow.”

“Nay, lass,” he murmured against her shoulder, “I am fairly certain you pierced both of my hearts that day.” He braced his forehead to hers. “I couldn’t bear to lose you, not to your family, not to anyone. You are so much more than my mate. My cherished companion, my perfect match. I love you, Eione.”

Her lips parted and tears sparkled in her eyes. “And I love you, Agrius.”

He crushed his mouth to hers, claiming her body and stealing her breaths. His greedy hands ripped away her clothes, baring her to the moonlight.

Tonight, they were far more than a centaur and a Lapith.

Their love transcended their worlds, uniting them.

Two souls born to separate races and destined to become one.

She shivered, yet he sensed, not from modesty. Her hands were as demanding as his, roaming his body in possessive hunger.

He turned her around, her back to his chest, and they fell to their knees. He held her right hand in his and they positioned his tip at her entrance. Together.

As one, they guided his cock inside her, him gently thrusting his hips forward and her easing her thighs apart to welcome him.

She was tight and untried, but he coaxed her nub with his left hand, and she relaxed, allowing him to drive deeper and break through her barrier.

Inch by succulent inch, he claimed her, bonding not only their bodies, but their souls.

“Eione,” he groaned as he sank inside her, burying himself in that velvety softness. A band of fire flamed across his upper left bicep, demanding to be quenched.
Soon.
He nipped tender bites along her shoulder and stroked his fingers across her bud.

Agrius shifted backward on his heels and she settled into his lap, their bodies joined while she adjusted to the size of him.

Her tight sheath clamped around him and his control threatened to snap. Yet he gritted his teeth and forced his body still. If she’d been anything but an innocent maiden, he wouldn’t have been able to restrain the wildness of his urges.

Heaviness brimmed in his ballocks, the instinct to spill his seed inside her undeniable.

“Now, Eione.” He seized her right hand and placed the dagger’s handle into her palm. “Cut me and make your mark on me, sweet
Agrotere
.”

Her breath shuddered from her body, but Eione was no stranger to a blade. She slashed the edge across his upper left arm and he howled in ecstasy.

Not pain, but soothing relief flooded his body and his hips jerked backward, driving forward to slam into her core while his essence burst from his body in unsteady jolts of rapturous bliss.

She cried an airy pant of pleasure, her sex fisting around him and her body rocking against his.

Chests heaving and bodies slick, the scent of their union mingled in the air. The raw passion of their mating drained their bodies of strength and they collapsed to their sides together, still joined. Agrius thrust his hips against hers, driving deeper, not yet ready to relinquish this euphoria.

Eione was his bonded mate, and everything was right in the world.

He swept a damp lock from her neck and pressed a kiss to her feverish skin, nuzzling the spot between her neck and shoulder. “Mine.”

She wriggled her hips, pressing her lush bottom against him. “Mine.”

His shaft stirred, not yet sated.

With Eione as his mate, he doubted any part of him ever would be again.

***

Eione struggled to catch her breath, but Agrius stirred, his hips rolling into hers. The centaur hadn’t yet had his fill.

Moaning, she twisted in his arms and, keeping them connected, draped her leg over his so they faced each other. She traced the hard edge of his jaw with her fingertip and switched her inspection to his arm, trailing his firm muscles. “What does the script say?”

He squinted at the scrolling etched across the thin black band. “Your name, my love. In Old Centaurion. Forever shall you be a part of me.”

“Oh, I rather like that.” She chimed a laugh. “Now, all of those jilted females will know you’re mine.”

“Was there ever any doubt?” He nuzzled his nose against hers, brushing her cheek. “There are no jilted females, Eione. Only you.”

“Is that so?” She skimmed her hands across his decadently brawny shoulders and down to sink her nails into his backside. “What would you tell them if there were?”

“Simple.” He undulated his hips forward and stroked his length inside her. “That you are the most…” Grunting, he thrust once, twice.

“Yes?”

“Vexatious,” he droned, pumping between her thighs, “headstrong, and daring female I’ve ever encountered.” He claimed her mouth before she could counter him, and then wrenched his lips off hers, grinning wickedly. “And that you’re all mine and I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

“Careful, centaur, or this vexatious, headstrong, and daring female just might fire her arrows into both of your hearts.”

He nipped her nose. “She already has.”

She slipped both hands to frame his face and kissed him, every drop of blood in her body pulsing with love for this male. He rolled them over so his body rested atop hers, his glorious, heavy weight pinning her to the floor while his shaft pounded into her, drawing screams of pleasure from her lips.

The potent virility of him entranced her. He was strong enough to command her body, yet gentle enough to shield her from that power.

She surrendered to him, to this massive male who captured her heart, her mind, and her soul.

This was the beginning of their lives together, and come what may, they would fight for their freedom and their love.

Together.

Side by side.

Until the last beatings of their hearts.

And that was the true, wild and untamed, nature of their love.

Six months later

Agrius rubbed at his temples, awakening this morning beside his new mate. His entire world had once again tipped upside down. He’d grieved the loss of his brother Thereus with every beating of his heart. Yet his heart had mended, largely in part to his mate. Joining with Eione had brought immense joy into his life. Her sharp tongue and clever wit kept his centaur nature in check. He’d have married her months ago, but she clung to the hope of one day uniting their families.

A futile belief, yet he would deny his mate nothing. She carried no love for her two elder brothers or father, but her other brothers, and perhaps even her sister, were not beyond redemption.

Unfortunately, the twin Myron had somehow escaped his guards on their way to Great Meteoron. Luckily, Abiron had managed to evade capture and now resided in Agrius’s village, along with his family. No words had passed between Lord Macareus and King Cheiron on the subject, though Eione continued to write her family. Her letters were always sent back to South Glen, unopened.

Sadly, they’d learned the cause for this simmering hostility. Agrius’s brother Thereus had returned from the dead, well, the pretense of death, and with him, he’d brought terrible news.

War was coming. The divide between Lapiths and centaurs hadn’t been cracked; it had been split wide open and, now, the chasm stretched, irreparable.

Thereus’s mate, the nymph Melita, who’d posed as the Lapith Princess Kalliste—Thereus’s bride—after her death, had stirred the ants’ nest with her actions. The moment she’d confessed the truth to Agrius last week, he’d known.

Retaliation flamed on the horizon.

He rolled onto his side and crushed Eione to his chest, securing her in his arms. The dawn’s rays played across her skin, warming her sweet scent. He’d learned yesterday that they must be wed to complete their bonding. Bloody secretive rituals. No one had mentioned this fact to him, though they claimed their father knew the truth. Why had his sire kept him blind?

He snorted. It mattered not. Today, his brother and Melita would wed, and next, he and Eione.

“Sweetling,” he murmured in her ear, inhaling the floral succulence of her scent.

She moaned and dragged her eyes open. “What, Agrius?”

“Marry me.” He cocked one brow at her. He awakened her thus every morning. Each morn, she refused him.

She hummed and pressed her lips to his. “Yes.”

He huffed. “You must agree one da—”
Wait.
His pulse raced, blood pounding through his veins. “You said ‘yes.’ ”

“Indeed I did. Clever centaur.” Laughing, she twisted about in his arms and clasped his hand, lowering it to her abdomen. “I love you. As does your son.” She tilted her head. “Or daughter.”

His eyes shot wide, his jaw falling open, as he gaped at her. She pressed his hand against her belly, smiling with a secret knowledge.

“You…you…” He couldn’t form words. Couldn’t inhale or move a muscle. Blissful joy swept through him, seizing his body.

“You are to be a father and I am to be a mother, and by the gods, my dear Agrius, we had best begin our family right.”

A tremor shook his hand and a tear slipped from his eye as he pressed his fingers against her belly, greeting their babe for the first time.

“Well, don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind.”

At Eione’s dry laugh, he regained his composure, snaring her in his arms and claiming her mouth with his.

“Nay, my love. You can trust that I’ll never leave your side. Or our child’s.”

She caressed her hand against his cheek and he nuzzled into her palm. “A vow I’ll hold you to, Agrius.”

***

Eione smiled at the male standing beside her, squeezing his hand while they watched Melita and Thereus speak their vows. This day was perfect. The warm, sunny breeze lifted the heat from their skin and a rainbow of spring flowers cascaded across the meadow.

Her dear friend had at last claimed the happiness she deserved.

Agrius grasped her hand more tightly, sending her a mischievous wink that spiraled shivers down to her toes. After she’d realized she carried their child, she could no longer refuse to wed him. Her family might never forgive her, but she was now responsible for a new one.

For their child, they would stand together in a harmonious union to defy the war between their races. Their child would know nothing but love and peace. This she pledged.

Melita’s lilting voice chimed as she spoke her vows. “The Fates have brought us together. The gods have passed favor over us. From this—”

A female behind Eione screamed. Everyone spun toward the woman, and then to where she pointed.

At King Cheiron’s feet rolled the severed head of one of his guards. Eione clapped a hand over her mouth, fighting the sickness in her stomach.

Agrius crushed her to his chest, tearing her stare off the gruesome scene.

“Get everyone to the castle,” the King’s command rang out.

Her mate didn’t hesitate to scoop her onto his back and race toward the safety of the castle.

Once inside, Agrius swung her down and steadied her, gazing at her. The future they’d both feared radiated within those pewter depths.

“War?” she whispered.

Nodding, he clutched her to his chest. She sobbed against him, tears flowing down her cheeks.

He rubbed a long, slow circle across her back while the hall filled with others. Regaining her composure, she straightened, and he wiped away her tears.

“’Tis because of the babe,” she sniffled.

“Nay, lass.” Agrius brushed aside another tear. “’Tis because I must now raise my sword against the very people I should be embracing as my blood and family.” He stiffened, his tense jaw clenched. “I must go to Thereus. Wait here.” After pressing a kiss to the top of her head, he sought out his brother.