Destiny Calls (21 page)

“The half of our soul that cries for the other knows she’s out there. What our eyes cannot see, our hearts know. My heart knows yours, Cybil, but my waking mind does not. My eyes do not see you as my mate because you’re still only a child. The day you say my name is the day clarity will come, and I will finally understand that my destiny has arrived. It will kill me to wait for you to come of age, but I will because only then can you be my salvation. I will know your soul is the other half I’ve been waiting for.”

Cybil liked the idea of having such purpose in life. Since her mother died, she had felt no peace. There were only small pockets of the world in which she could hide. Safe places to run. Playing with Dane was safe. Tending to the baby kittens with Gracie was safe. Cain was safe. Sometimes her dreams were safe. When he talked of God’s plan, she felt safe.

She hated when Cain left the farm. She hated when Dane was busy and he and Gracie bickered and left her out of conversations. Sometimes she felt so alone. Felt as if she were screaming for someone to notice her, to see her as something more than the sad orphan that nobody wanted to completely claim, but when she screamed no words came out and nobody saw her.

He would eventually claim her. He promised to wait, told her she would know when it was time, but also warned her that if she waited too long he would take another. She was his, and he should belong to only her, but it was still too soon.

All she needed to do was speak his name, and all would become clear. She yearned to say his name out loud, but it wasn’t time yet. She was unsure how she would know when the time was right, but he told her in their dreams that when that time came, she would know, and the moment his name crossed from her lips to his ears, she would save his soul.

Chapter 16

Cain awoke with a feeling of peace. He had a sense of accomplishment as if some sort of barrier had come down. He felt…hopeful.

Destiny made a snuffled, sleepy sound and smiled. He turned and pulled her warm body closer to his. Her cheeks wore sheet prints, and her lips still appeared swollen from his kisses. He nibbled her soft shoulder and snuggled closer to her warm, plush curves.

He thought about the previous night. He hadn’t intended to sleep with her. He had only wanted to kiss her, but then she had been so surprised, almost shocked, but also so daring, that he found himself teasing her just to see how far he could push her outside of her comfort zone. Turned out Destiny Santos was a woman who liked being pushed and was more than capable of pushing back.

When he first scented her arousal, it was such a potent aphrodisiac he couldn’t help but strip her down to her undergarments. Unlike the dresses of the females on the farm, Destiny’s form-fitting clothing left little to the imagination about the body her attire concealed, and somehow Cain had still not been prepared to see her in all of her naked glory.

After the incident in the woods and his inability to read her, Cain acknowledged that he had been more than a little distracted in the cabin, but his surprise was not about his memory. There was something entirely different about seeing Destiny in a state of undress and then seeing her body writhing and begging for fulfillment. She was intoxicating.

Her skin was as smooth as satin and as creamy as the frothy topping on a banana cream pie. She tasted slightly of jasmine, so faint it was as if the scent were being carried on the tails of a breeze, but when he kissed her and licked at every swell and dip of her supple figure, he tasted the deep spice that was Destiny.

He loved the way her breasts spilled over his hands and filled his mouth. Her chocolate nipples were like twin peaks, once anointed by the heavens. And then there was the valley between her thighs. Never had he seen a female so exposed, so beautiful. She reminded him of some sort of dark angel, and he had worshipped her well.

His body stiffened at the memory of her taste and the softness of her hips under his palms, his fingers curling under her sides. So curvy, his hands itched to hold her again, to push himself deep within her heat. He wanted to bury himself between those warm, soft thighs.

Cain pulled her closer and pressed his length against the tenderness of her rear. His hand curled over the curve of her hip and glided upward until he found her supple breasts. The nipple was soft and flat. He gently played with her sleeping flesh. Her slow-waking welcome matched his memory of how she had responded to his touch the previous evening.

At first he told himself to be gentle. He always took care not to rut too roughly with his mortal lovers. However, the moment he had relaxed his touch, he sensed Destiny’s arousal wane. That sweet spice that had filled the air and called to him had dwindled, and he wanted it back.

It took him a moment to figure out what had caused the sudden change within her. Had he gone too far? Done something to spook her?

Recalling the previous night and how she had bloomed under his command, he quietly followed suit. “Open for me, Destiny.”

It wasn’t until he gave her a stern command the night before that he scented her arousal come flooding back. He tested other commands and soon discovered the more dominating he was with her, the more aroused she became.

He fit his way between her plush thighs. Her heat scalded his length and he dragged himself over her folds, drawing her arousal and slicking her opening.

Cain had always been an extremely domineering male. He practiced restraint with every lover he had ever known, and sometimes still was told he was being too rough or his intensity was simply too much.

Cain liked to be in control, needed to call the shots. If his female companions couldn’t cope with that dynamic, then they would call themselves friends and that would be all. There was a certain quality he required of all his intimate partners. Some understood, some didn’t, but Destiny, she not only understood the kind of lover he enjoyed, she seemed to crave the kind of lover he was.

If someone would have told him this mouthy, independent, stubborn little reporter was really submissive beneath all that bark and bite, he would have never believed it. He doubted anyone had ever really known this side of her as intimately as he had last night, yet it had been such a natural response he found it curious that she tried to hide it. Once he broke through her barriers, she had become so frantic, so under his command, she was practically begging for him to take her. She
had
begged, and he loved it.

Destiny Santos could be a dangerous woman. She did things to him he wasn’t sure he was ready to deal with, things he couldn’t deal with. Yet, remembering those big brown eyes looking up at him, glazed with lust, the way she obediently awaited his command and elicited every bit of discipline she possessed in order to surrender, in order to please him. It was a heady, powerful feeling. It was intoxicating, holding that sort of command over a woman, yet not having to exert force. She didn’t require any display of his authority. Somehow she simply accepted that he was the natural alpha of the two.

He would never take more than a female was willing to offer. He had never needed to. Cain had plenty of women interested in keeping him company, yet there was something so incredibly different about Destiny.

They fit. He was dominant, and she was submissive. She was only here for a short visit, but he wanted to milk her stay for all it was worth. And why shouldn’t he? He had spent the last several months trying to do right by those around him, and all he had done was alienate himself even more.

Adam was furious with him. Annalise was upset. Gracie was disappointed. Even Larissa, who had always been one of his closest peers, no longer had time for him. He had no mate, was no soldier, and in all truth, felt his tie to his Amish order fading with every dawn.

Being Amish was a devout commitment founded in faith and family. His family no longer needed him. When Gracie eventually married, he would be the only one left. And where was God when he needed Him? He certainly hadn’t done Cain any favors when selecting his mate. Anna would never belong to anyone other than Adam.

Cain decided then and there he deserved far more than the lot he had been given. He wanted to play with Destiny, and so long as she didn’t object, he decided to do just that. What was the harm in having a little fun while she and her brother were visiting the farm? It wasn’t as if sleeping with her could endanger Anna or the baby or would take time away from his other obligations. Aside from some overlooked chores, Cain really had no pressing obligations.

He was supposed to be hunting a rogue vampyre at that moment, but that had backfired. He smiled the first genuine smile he had displayed in a long time. He would much rather be passing his hours between a gorgeous woman’s thighs than out in the cold woods chasing his hairy uncle. Let the others have their band of brothers and true called mates. Cain was going to start making his own destiny, the destiny he had been denied, and he was going to start right now.

He sat up on his knees and pulled the sheet slowly off of Destiny’s body. Although her eyes were still closed, she was awake. Her fingers gripped the sheet, and her body tensed. He chuckled. “Do not deny me, Destiny.”

She opened one eye and frowned at him. “What time is it?”

“A little past dawn.”

“It’s too bright in here.”

“Ah, all the better to see you, my dear.” She laughed nervously. He tugged the sheet again, but she wouldn’t let go. “Are we shy this morning?”

“I need to shower. Where are my clothes?”

“Oh, no,” he said and grinned. “I have no intentions of letting you out of this bed for at least another hour or four.”

“Cain—”

“Destiny,” he mocked. “Stop playing shy and let me see you.”

She whined.

“What is this aversion you have to daylight? You’re much more amicable once the sun goes down.”

“What can I say, black is my color.”

He frowned. “Enough playing. I want to see you.”

“No,” she said with the hint of a smirk that belied her faked conviction.

He raised an eyebrow. Enough playing. “Destiny,” he said sternly. “Place your hands at the headboard, and do not let go until I give you permission.”

Her lip trembled as if she wanted to object, but she said nothing. Cain gathered her reaction wasn’t actually due to her desire to object as much as it was about her conscience telling her it was improper to surrender willingly.

Her cheeks turned a shade darker and her pupils dilated, changing the warm caramel pools of her irises to onyx. This was an entirely different kind of compulsion. This was obedience by choice, surrender because she somehow knew he would take care of her needs.

Could she actually trust him when she really knew nothing about him? He wondered if she was this trusting with other men, but found the thought of her with someone else immediately repugnant and pushed it away.

Slowly her arms rose to the headboard. Cain leaned forward and closed his hand over hers, anchoring each one to a thick wooden spindle. “Don’t move.”

Her chest lifted, and he heard the increase in her heart rate. Ever so slowly he pulled away the white sheet. Her nipples pebbled, and her breath was coming faster. Her blush spread down her cheeks, over her shoulders and across her chest. What was she embarrassed about? He looked at her face once she lay before him in nothing but the pink of her blush. Her eyes were screwed tightly shut, and her brow creased with tension.

“Destiny, open your eyes.” She did as he instructed, but wouldn’t make eye contact with him. “Look at me.” Her eyes slowly opened wider and there was an emotion there he couldn’t name. It was a certain show of vulnerability he had never witnessed from her before. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I don’t like being naked.”

“Oh, I disagree. I think last night you enjoyed it very much.”

“It was dark.”

“And?”

She clamped her lips shut tight then suddenly expelled a frustrated breath and quickly mumbled, “I’m not skinny.”

He laughed. “I know.” Her jaw clenched, and he slowly developed a suspicion of what this was about. “Do you think skinny is the only thing that’s beautiful?”

“Fat is ugly.”

He scowled at her. “Destiny, you’re
not
fat.”

“Yes—”

“No,” he snapped. “You are not. You’re beautiful. Whoever made you believe you’re anything but beautiful should be strung up by their thumbs.”

“Cain, I know what I am. I haven’t been a size—”

“What does size have to do with anything?” He was appalled she actually felt anything other than pride for her body. Didn’t she see what he saw when she looked at herself?

She scoffed. “Well, where sex is involved, I’m pretty sure size accounts for a lot.”

He had to admire her spunk. “Yes, well, where it counts, between the two of us, I believe we have it covered. Your body’s perfect just the way it is. I look at you and want to spend days buried in those warm thighs and between your big breasts.”

“Fine, maybe some guys like big boobs, but my ass—”

He groaned and tipped his head back. “I could spend days there, too.”

Her mouth opened and she frowned at him. “But most men—”