Chapter 12

  Possession

  BASTIEN

  Ididn’t want to believe the powers Claire had received during Temperance Kemp’s death ritual were from the very demon I once banished. But it was hard to deny what was right in front of me. Just as I was starting to suspect that horn had not come from a sheep, but from his head.

  In my youth, he was the first person I’d met who was like me. We both had tempers. We both didn’t quite belong. And we were both attracted to men and women.

  My coven wasn’t a safe place for those like me, as my own mother often said. And the demon fed off my desire to explore my sexuality. I’d like to say he used me, but perhaps I used him, too. It was hard to remember now.

  I took comfort in the fact that he was safely locked away in the Underworld. And the powers Claire had weren’t him. They were only a piece of him. A piece that he must’ve seeded into the Kemp family. I also knew that his horn was just a source of power, not his mind. I’d told Claire Dark Witches weren’t evil, and I’d be a hypocrite if I started treating her power as if it were.

  This was about my past. Not her. I was the one seeing him where he wasn’t. Claire was just trying to figure out how to live with her new magick. Something told me she was reaching for her magick because I was making her feel ashamed. And I didn’t want to shame her in the way I’d been.

  “I’m still waiting on your penance,” Claire said. “How long are you going to keep me waiting, Bastien?”

  I took her face between my hands and smashed our mouths together, mating our tongues in a wild dance. I grabbed fistfuls of her skirts, dragging them up until they were around her waist. Letting my fingers scrape over her garter belt as I did. I wound my finger around the strap and tugged at it, making her moan in my mouth. But I didn’t stop there. No. I wanted more. I trailed the curve of her deliciously full ass and squeezed her hard. Reveling in the way her warm skin felt against my palm.

  “I should terrify you,” I said between kisses. “Right now, I want nothing more than to tear your clothes off and drink my fill of you.” My fingers brushed against something lacy and soft, and I realized she was wearing some little scrap of fabric masquerading as undergarments. The knowledge sent fresh hot blood straight to my cock until it ached.

  “Such a big, bad vampire,” she teased.

  Through our connection, her pleasure crashed into me, and suddenly, I was overcome with her emotions. With her deep feelings for me. And with... her desire for more. It was endless. She just wanted me inside her. Proving to her that I’d never try to send her away again. I could feel it as though she was shouting the words in my head.

  Carefully, I bracketed her face with my hands. We could tease each other, but before this went any further, I wanted her to know the truth. “You mean everything to me. Everything. More than the moon or the stars or this castle. You are my world. My whole world, Claire. And I just want to be good to you in the way you deserve.”

  Candlelight reflected off her brown eyes, making them look molten gold. So delicate. So sweet.

  She cupped my cock over my trousers and squeezed. I sank my teeth into my lower lip. Hard. Threatening to draw my own blood. “The only thing I’m scared of,” she said, “is losing you.” She dragged in a slow breath. “Tell me you’d never try to sever our bond.”

  I threaded my fingers into her hair and drew a long, measured breath. This wasn’t just about some carnal need for her. It was about feeling close. About knowing I wanted her close.

  “Never,” I murmured.

  “You’re sure?”

  I pulled her closer, until my lips were nearly against hers. This time, I spoke my feelings aloud. “You are mine. I told you that the night I made you my wife. But if you need to hear me say it again, I will. Our love isn’t about bonds. There is no cosmic tether holding you to me or me to you. Only the certainty that my life is yours. My breath is yours. We belong to each other. Even on the day Damien calls you to the Underworld, I will stand between him and you and demand he step aside.”

  The tension in her body melted like frost under the sun.

  It was in that moment that her realization crystallized. She finally understood that nothing she could ever say or do would alter the depths of my feelings for her. Our bond was inextricably intertwined. My love unyielding. I was hers, and I would move heaven and earth to protect her.

  Our lips met again in a maddeningly slow kiss. Open and wet and deep. It invaded my heart as much as it did my skin. Like I was trying to consume as much of her goodness as possible, and she was trying to swallow all of my darkness. The centuries of war and pain and loneliness. There was room for all of it inside her.

  Like I was enough for her.

  She moaned again, accepting my tongue as it slid inside her mouth. Claiming her. Tasting her. I broke off the kiss, both of us breathing hard. For a moment, I was lost in the lines of her face, standing atop that chair like my very own goddess.

  Carefully, I removed the pins holding her hair up until her long hair flowed down her shoulders in shades of burnished copper. Another tear of blood dripped from her cut, and I couldn’t stand it. So I reached for the last piece of my humanity that still pulsed with warmth. Though I lacked the power to heal her wounds completely, having sacrificed much of my power to become what I was now, I could at least close it.

  I brushed my fingers over her skin and called to the very last of the magick that I had reserved for our treacherous journey through the mountains. It would be two weeks before I could recharge what little power remained to me.

  Once it was done, she said, “How could you ever think you’re bad?”

  I lifted a brow. So, she wanted to see just how bad I could be? I backed up a few paces and turned the lock on the door, ensuring no one would interrupt us. Standing on that chair with a dress half-ripped, I admired my mate.

  “Take off your dress.”

  The order was firm, and I enjoyed watching her eyes widen in surprise. “What if someone hears us?”

  I smirked. “This is the consort wing. All these rooms have silencing enchantments on them.”

  Claire returned my smirk, then carefully stepped off the chair and undid the remaining buttons on the front of her gown, teasing me inch by inch. She slipped off one sleeve, then the other, and the dress easily fell to the ground. Showing me what was hiding beneath the heavy fabric.

  My beautiful wife. With all her edges and curves.

  “Claire,” I gritted out. My jaw clenched. “Just look at you.”

  My hungry gaze raked over black nylons and up to the thin straps holding them to the belt around her waist. Then to the lace wrapped around her sex. My breath caught, but I didn’t look away. Slowly roving up her stomach to the swell of her full breasts. Nipples taut and hard for me. The moonflower was still tucked behind her ear, making her look so innocent.

  She smiled at me. Her smile. Not one of a demon. And it reassured me that I was right. Just because she had his power didn’t mean he was influencing her. It was just magick. Magick, she didn’t know how to control.

  “Turn around,” I said. “Let me see the rest of you.” Claire spun in a slow circle, doing as I asked. “Did you put on that scrap of lace just to tease me?” I asked, throat dry.

  The wry smile on her lips told me the truth. Without breaking eye contact, she lifted herself onto the edge of the table. Legs spread. Then beckoned me closer.

  Chapter 13

  Fantaisie

  BASTIEN

  “What are you waiting for?” Claire asked.

  Truthfully, I was savoring the view. With one foot propped up on the table and a hazy smile on her face, it was an image I never wanted to forget.

  “Tell me what you want.”

  With a cheeky grin, she pulled the scrap of lace to the side, revealing all of herself to me. “I want you to watch me.”

  She slid her finger over herself, trailing down until it disappeared inside. A moan escaped her lips. One corner of my mouth curled up. Tomorrow, we’d ride into danger. The weight of responsibility pressed on me, but she was the reason I carried it.

  She played with herself for as long as I could stand. But after a few minutes, I couldn’t take it any longer. I shoved the back of the chair against the table and took the seat in front of her.

  I gripped her ankles, guiding her feet onto my thighs. My lips trailed gentle kisses along her knees, then up the insides of her legs to my prize. I dragged her hips closer, mouth hovering above her heat. She gasped, but I held back.

  “You have all my attention,” I told her. Tilting my chin to look at her. Taking in the wild waves of red hair falling down her shoulders. The soft bow of her lips. Exquisite. Mine. “What does my wife want now?”

  My fingers dug into the soft flesh of her ass, squeezing. She stammered out a few incoherent syllables. “J-Just you. I just want you.”

  “You already have me.”

  I bit softly into the soft flesh above her knee, teasing. A contented sigh escaped her lips, and by the gods, it was delicious. I didn’t merely want her—want was too simple a word.

  “Tell me what you want.”

  She tensed. “I’m nervous to say.”

  “If there’s something you want,” I told her, “I will give it to you.”

  “I don’t want to start another argument.”

  My curiosity was piqued. But more than that, I wanted her to feel safe with me. “You won’t. Just tell me.”

  She hesitated, then met my eyes. “I know you have your reasons for not wanting a baby, but just for right now… can you set that aside?”

  “What do you mean?”

  She let out a sigh and ran her fingers through her hair. “Bastien, I want to hear you say you want to come inside me. Just like you did that night I found you in the feeding tent. Something about it really turned me on.”

  It seemed we shared the same fantasy. I studied her face, waiting for her to continue.

  “Can you pretend that you do want a baby with me? Can you pretend that you’d love nothing more than to get me pregnant?”

  Standing, I pulled her against me and held her. It took a lot of bravery for her to bring this desire to me, especially considering our earlier argument, and I was proud of her. I kissed her cheek, then leaned back to look at her.

  “Claire, I don’t have to pretend that I want a child with you.”

  Her eyes widened. “You don’t?”

  “Of course I don’t. I’ve always wanted a child.” A knot formed in my throat, and I found this part was hard to say. “But I went unmated for centuries. And after watching my brothers marry and remarry their mates, and have more and more children, I put that dream aside, and committed myself to my job.” I touched the side of her face. “I want to have a child with you. But if anything happened to you. If you were hurt because of me. Because of something I did to you…”

  She placed a finger against my lips. “If you want it, and I want it, can we just pretend?”

  “I already told you, I don’t have to pretend. I think about the same thing.” I pressed a kiss to her temple. “As long as you understand where my boundary is. Because as much as I might want to, I’m not going to risk it. Not right now.”

  “I understand.”

  “Good. And… one more thing before we get started.” I remembered the way she rubbed the relic over her breast last time we were together, and even though I knew it wasn’t him, I didn’t want to see that right now. I needed more time to get used to it. “No horn. I just want this to be the two of us.”

  She hesitated, and I could tell she didn’t like this condition. “I feel stronger when you touch me while I’m holding it. I can feel my power opening.”

  “If we’re really going to try this, then I don’t want magick involved. Let’s pretend that we’re just two humans who can do whatever we want. Who are leaving tonight to take a boat to that tropical island, free to live our lives for us.”

  For a moment, I wasn’t sure if she was going to agree. I saw that dark flash in her eyes. The desire for power. The need to make herself stronger. But I wasn’t going to give in. If we were going to do this, I would be taking on all the responsibility. It was on me not to slip, no matter how badly I wanted to, and I had no idea how her magick might influence me.

  Finally, she relented. “I can agree to that.”

  She pushed the horn further away, and a sense of relief coursed through me, along with the desire to drop fully into this role as a man who not only desired his wife but wanted to give her a child.

  Her fingers raked through my hair like she needed something to hold on to as I moved to her breast. Licking and sucking. Lavishing her with attention. I moved to her stomach and lingered there, pausing to look up at her. “I’m not holding anything back tonight,” I whispered. “You’re about to find out just how depraved I am. How I’d give anything to cum inside you.”

  “Bastien,” she moaned.

  I drank in the sound, as if it were my first sip of blood, letting it fill every corner of my being. My mouth returned to her skin, feathering kisses over her hips and along her legs. I was about to kiss her center when she tugged on my hair and pulled my face up to hers, smiling wide. Cheeks pink. I realized I was smiling, too.

  “Before you take over, I want a turn.” Her gaze dropped low, and I knew what she was asking for. I was loath to give up my turn between her thighs, but I wanted to encourage her to keep asking for what she wanted.

  “You want me in your mouth, chérie?”

  “Yes,” she gasped.

  With one more kiss to her inner thigh, I helped her off the table and gave her my seat. She looked up at me, eyes wide. She was so beautiful it was hard to breathe. Hard to believe someone like her had come into my life. I cupped the curve of her jaw, stroking a line across her cheek. “Then take what you want.”

  Claire unlaced my trousers, and I watched her with eager eyes. Her obedience was only a false sense of control. I was hers to command. And I always would be. My trousers fell to my ankles, revealing the hard length of my arousal, and Claire didn’t look away.

  I stepped out of my clothes and boots, fisting myself once before returning my hands to her face, gathering her silky hair in my hands. She sank her teeth into her lower lip, and I had to restrain the monster inside of me.

  “Look at you,” I rasped. “Are you ready for a taste?”

  She nodded, and her pink tongue skated across her lips, wetting them for me. I stroked her cheek gently. “That’s it, darling.”

  I readjusted my grip on her hair as she took the tip of my thick sex inside her mouth, her lips stretching around me. “That’s good. That’s so good. Take as much of me as you want.”

  Claire took me deeper, sucking me in and out, letting me fill her up with every piece of me. My body. My heart. My wretched soul. She moaned around me, and by the goddess, it felt too good.

  I pulled myself out, and she looked up at me with lust in her eyes. Pupils blown wide. Unable to conceal her smile. “If you don’t stop, I’m going to cum in that pretty mouth of yours.” I brushed her wet lip with my thumb. “And we don’t want that, do we?”

  “No,” she said eagerly.

  “Get up and turn around for me.” She stood slowly and spun around. Her long red hair flowed down her back. “Now bend over and grab the table.”

  Glancing over her shoulder, she gave me a wicked smile and did as I asked. Giving me the perfect view of her gorgeous ass. I hooked a finger around one of her garter straps and let it snap against her skin. She gasped. “When I’m done, you’re going to be dripping wet. So full of my cum.”

  A wave of unadulterated pleasure spread from her and crashed into me, mixing with my own desire for her. For this. For the wish that our lives weren’t complicated by magick and war.

  I kissed my way down her back and over her curves, then shifted her damp panties aside, angling my hips to slip between her legs. I slid through her heat, massaging her sweet spot with my cock. With our connection open, I could taste the red-hot desire racing through her.

  It took every ounce of self-control not to bury myself inside her.

  “Please,” she begged.

  “Easy, my love,” I said. “Not yet.”

  “Why?”

  I ran my fingers over her, playing with her clit, soaking up each little moan, then dragged those same fingers across my tongue, sucking the taste of her off me.

  “Because I said so.” I walked around her and put one hand on the table. “And because I’m not done with you yet.”

  I shoved the dishes off the table, sending teacups and scones clattering to the ground. Porcelain shattered. I didn’t care.

  “Breaking things?” she said with a grin.

  However, I was not smiling. “I’d break anything in your way.”

  Her smile melted into something darker. The space between us warmed. Lifting her up by the waist, I set her on the table and eased her back until she was lying down for me. Then I plucked the moonflower from her hair and slowly dragged the soft petals down her body, starting at her lips and gliding down her neck. Between her breasts. Over the smooth line of her stomach. Watching as goosebumps rose over her skin. I let the blossom follow the lines of her body. The soft V between her thighs. The curve of her hips.

  “Bastien, please,” she moaned. “I want it. I want you.”

  I set the flower down. “I like it when you beg for me.” I dropped back down in the seat and set her legs over my shoulders. “Does my greedy wife want more?”

  “Please.”

  I licked over her lace panties with slow strokes. She was warm and wet and oh-so-sweet. She squirmed. Her nails biting into my arms. “Hold still for me. Or I’ll have to stop.”

  A soft whimper left her lips as she forced herself still. “Look how good you are for me.” I slid the lace aside and found the place that made her melt. Each stroke of my tongue built the pull of desire in her. I could feel it. Inching her closer and closer to the edge.