Dream of Me (19 page)

Just as her tightly clenched muscles began to calm, she felt him within her. At first she thought she’d imagined it but there it was again. Inside her, she could feel his shaft growing wider and longer, filling her to her ultimate capability. Again, pleasure began to surround her stronger than before. Gasping through the desire that was taking over her senses, she clung to Kieran and he drove faster into her.

“Kieran!” she cried once more. As though sensing her confusion as what was happening, his arms released her hips to wrap under her shoulders. Crushing her breasts against his chest and he continued to move, his lips whispered against her.

“Be still. I have you,” he gasped out between breathes.

She cried out again with bliss as desire shot down his spine through his shaft like liquid fire. Burying himself to the hilt, he snarled as his seed was ripped from him as he found rapture with his mate. His second orgasm rushed through him as the head of his shaft swelled impossibly more, locking him within Elena as his seed was emptied into her.

Elena gasped at the feel of his cock swelling further. Every nerve ending inside her sang to life. At the sound of his snarl of bliss, her gasping cry was torn from her as her channel clamped down on his throbbing shaft. Black circles began dancing behind her eyes as her senses overloaded with pleasure. In the back of her mind she felt Kieran’s strong embrace surround her, pulling her closer to him.

“You are mine now,” his voice whispered with promise as sleep overtook her.

“What did Rurik mean when he spoke of what he offered you?”

Raising her head from her comfortable spot against Kieran’s chest, she sighed wearily, “You sure do know how to destroy a good cuddle mood.”

Ignoring his question, she curled back into the side of his body. In her mind she savored the memory of awaking just an hour earlier. Surrounded by his warm embrace, she opened her eyes to find herself at peace for once. No dread of her life or pain of the past or even the loneliness at the remembrance of her mother’s death. For once, she felt warm, protected… loved.

On the bedside table she found a wooden tray layered with more
flur’si
fruit along with others that were still unknown to her. Together they had lain under the fur coverlet, feeding each other fruit while he tempted her to taste some Garmorian wine or the closest thing to wine that they had.

Nuzzling her face against his chest, she embraced the drugging happiness that flooded her being. A wave of concern entered her mind that seemed foreign to her. Before she could question it, Kieran repeated his question.

“What did Rurik mean,
Rai Yan
? What did he offered you?”

Taking a deep breath, refusing to meet his perplexed gaze, she smoothed her hand over his chest idly as she softly replied, “He offered me something if I would agree to consider becoming his mate.”

His fingers tipped her chin up, forcing her avoiding eyes to meet his. “
What
did he offer?”

Pulling her chin from his grip she sighed, shaking her head. “What does it matter? I’ve claimed you, remember?” she asked with a teasing grin.

Brushing his lips against hers, Kieran felt his chest swell with pride at her words, but concern over Rurik’s motivations to win Elena weighed heavily on him. “Tell me what he promised you.”

Rolling her eyes, she pulled the fur coverlet up as she rose into sitting position. Shoving at her untamable tresses, she pulled her knees to her chest before answering, “He offered me a way back home.” Instantly she felt a wave of emotions cloud her mind all at once. Fear, worry and anger; but what confused her was that these feelings were not hers.

Her eyes jerked to his, startled as he shoved out of bed with livid movements. “Kieran?” When he stood, jerking up his pants without responding to her, she began to worry. “Kieran, what’s wrong? Where are you going?” Her question was thrown at his retreating back as he moved onto the balcony, freeing his wings.

“I’m going to go and do what I should have done before. I’m going to kill him for thinking he can take what’s mine,” he snarled as he approached the balcony railing, his wings spreading wide behind him.

Quickly crawling off the bed, Elena wrapped the fur coverlet around her as she ran after him. “What does that matter now?” she asked with a scolding voice.

Turning around, his expression was dark and violent, nearly causing her to take a cautionary step back, but she stood her ground. “You’re my
sou’tali
. I warned him to stay away from you. He knew better and now he will pay with his life,” he snarled before turning away from her once more.

Crossing her arms stubbornly over her chest, a single red brow rose at his words. “
Really?
Like you should have known better than to promise me something that you could never have given me?” she bit out.

Slowly his wings folded against his back before he spun around to face her. Striding towards her his brows furrowed in confusion as anger still swam within the dark pools of his eyes. “What are you referring to?”

“Your promise that if I allowed to you court me for a time, afterwards if I still wished to go home, you’d let me.”

“I meant every word of that promise,
Var’da
,” he argued slashing his hand through the air.

“Oh, shove it!” she yelled back. “I went to see your friend, Sera. She told me everything.” Pausing, she felt her eyes burn with tears with the memory of Sera’s words. “Why didn’t you tell me that if I left you could die? Are you really that big of a moron?!” she shouted.

“It was my choice to make. If it meant you would be happy back in your world, I would willingly lay down my life for that,” he stated honestly. His eyes softened as he took a step closer.

“It isn’t your choice to make, Kieran. Do you even know what it would do to me if something happened to you?”

Inhaling through his nose, his eyes narrowed slightly at her. “Do you?”

“What the hell is that suppose to mean?”

“I love you, Elena. For me you are the single, most important thing in this world. I know your beauty runs deeper than what others can see. But your fear prevents you from loving me.”

“Kieran, this isn’t about me. This is about you and you
lying
to me. How can you claim to want something permanent with me if you’re making life and death decisions without me?”

“This
is
about you,” he insisted firmly. A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he took a step back from her. “Answer me this: if I hadn’t seen Rurik touch you and hadn’t shown up, would you have accepted his offer or would you have chosen me?”

She rolled her eyes at his question. “First off; you had no business attacking him over that. Had you not shown up when you did I was planning on handling it myself. Furthermore; I am not some possession that you get to decide who I talk to or what decisions I make.”

A low rumbling vibrated the back of his throat as he turned to the side, his hands coming to rest on his hips. “Answer the question,” his low voice ordered.

Had she been tempted to take Rurik up on his offer? She didn’t know. Deep down she knew that Rurik wasn’t as nice as he led others to believe. But then neither was she. She didn’t trust Rurik and it didn’t take a genius to see that there was a rivalry between him and Kieran. What she did know for certain was that the idea of never seeing Kieran again caused her heart to squeeze with immeasurable pain. Since last night their bond had become stronger. She would have taken a chance to go home. But to take it and never be with Kieran again left a hole in her heart.

Pausing, her lips pressed together into a flat line before speaking. “Kieran…” Without possessing the right words she knew he wanted to hear, her lips clamped up again. At her silence, she watched as a light within Kieran’s eyes dimmed. As though fear of answering him had snuffed out his very hope that he held so close to his heart.

Slowly his eyes dipped down before jerking back at her once again. “You would have left,” he realized.

Closing the space between them, her hand gripped his arm beseechingly. “No, Kieran. I’m here aren’t I? I’ve committed to whatever this thing is between us. Doesn’t that count for anything?”

His eyes turned cold as he brushed her hand aside. “You only accepted my claim because of what Sera revealed to you. It was out of pity and guilt. I believe you would have taken the chance to go back to your world, where everything is uncomplicated and easier for you.”

“Will you stop being so bullheaded?” she nearly screeched. “I gave myself to you; do you think that was an easy thing for me to do? Since I got here you’ve managed to shove me out of every comfort zone that I possess. The last time I took this much of a leap of faith with someone they threw it back in my face, and the worst part is: it hurts a whole lot more coming from you than it did him.” Her eyes filled with tears of shame as she recalled what her first love had done to her. She’d never spoken of Scott to anyone. Not even Angel or her mother had heard of him and what he put her through.

Another tear slowly trailed down her cheek as her hard gaze turned from him. Crossing her arms over her chest, her voice whispered hauntingly. “It was years ago, before my mom first got sick. Scott was my college boyfriend — or suitor,” she amended at his confused expression. “He treated me like no one ever had. Men from my world have a hard time looking past my shape, but Scott didn’t. He accepted me or at least I was foolish enough to think he did.” Her breath shuttered as she built up her courage for the cold truth of her shame. “Anyhow, I thought he was
the one
and I gave myself to him. It wasn’t until the next day that I discovered what type of person he really was. When I was leaving his apartment, he was waiting outside with all his friends. Everyone was laughing showing pictures of us together that night that he’d taken without my knowledge.”

The memory of the ugly taunts about her body, still threatened to crush her heart. It had taken her years to get comfortable to walk around on campus after that. However, her trusting heart had never fully recovered.

Kieran watched as pain and shame washed over his mate’s face as she spoke. His chest tightened with distress, knowing that he’d hurt her with his words. Every instinct within him demanded that he comfort her as her inner pain sliced through him. He understood very little of her words of this male of her past. What he did understand made him wish he
could
return to her world if only so he could rip the beating heart from this male’s chest.

“Why have you never told me this?” he asked taking a small step toward her.

Reaching up, her hand wiped away another stray, shameful tear. “It’s nothing I’m proud of. The only reason I told you now is because you need to follow your own advice, Kieran. You want me to trust you, but you don’t trust me. If I didn’t feel something from you, I wouldn’t have claimed you.” She indicated over her shoulder toward the bed with her thumb.

“Technically, it is the male that—”

“Shut up; I’m still lecturing you!” she snapped pointing a warning finger in his direction.

His brows lifted in surprise at her outburst. Unsure how dangerous human females could become when upset he slowly nodded his head before mumbling, “Sorry, Please continue.”

“It’s true that I do not yet know what I feel for you. You may be sure your feeling because of some inner Garmorian compass, but it’s not like that with human women. You asked for time and now I ask for the same. The truth is I don’t know if I would have accepted his offer, but what I do know is that what I feel for you scares me more than my fear of heights. But I’m more scared of never being close to you again.”

She watched as his shoulders relaxed some, but his eyes were still guarded against her. His chest expanded as he drew in a deep breath before exhaling through is parted lips. She was quickly jerked forward as his arm snaked around her hip, plastering her body against his. Tilting her chin upward, his lips slowly lowered over hers. The heat of his breath against her lips as he leisurely kissed her made desire flood every cell in her body.

Lifting his face enough so that he could meet her gaze straight on, Kieran growled lowly, “I will not let anyone take you from me. In a few days the Malrai Hin will end with the rising of the new moon and you will be mine forever.”

Rolling her eyes at his possessive tone, she smirked up at him, teasingly, “I don’t know.” She shrugged her shoulders mockingly. “You denied me my after-sex-cuddling.”

Smirking at her teasing, Kieran rested his chin against her soft hair, pulling her deeper into his embrace. For the moment he was content in just holding his mate, savoring her calming presence. In the back of his mind primitive nature still demanded to taste Rurik’s blood and to assure himself that no one would take his mate from him. Pushing his thoughts aside he latched onto the wise words of his mate,
“You want me to trust you, but you don’t trust me.”
Perhaps he needed to push his warrior instincts aside and do as she said. He was the only male for her and he was determined to prove it.

“I will be the only one to ‘cuddle’ you,” he promised with a grin.

“Cian—”

His arms tightened around her as she mumbled another male’s name. “Cian will never touch you either,” he stated firmly.

Scoffing, she shoved at his chest until his arms reluctantly fell away. “No, look.” Walking around him, she cautiously came to stand at the balcony railing. Coming up behind her, resting one hand on the railing beside her, he gazed over her shoulder. His eyes immediately took in what had caught her attention.

Below them was a group of five Kelithians. In the center of the group was a tall, willowy man dressed in golden robes with a jeweled crown. At the gate of the stronghold Cian stood with a stiff posture, at his side was Arlen and several equally displeased warriors.

“Zyaid,” Kieran hissed out with an inner rage that was barely concealed. His wings twitched at the sight of the smug expression on his enemy’s face.

Turning to look over her shoulder at him, Elena’s brows rose in question. “
That
is King Zyaid?” This king wasn’t at all what she had pictured. For an alleged tyrant, she’d pictured someone more befitting of the word.

“
He
is no king,” he whispered in a low and dangerous tone. He watched the interaction taking place below. Sadly, he wasn’t close enough to hear what was being said, however from the expression on the faces of the
Gu’an
and the
Li’r
told him that it wasn’t friendly words they were exchanging.

Seeing Kieran’s hard gaze focused so intently on the people below, she turned her gaze back as well. “Why is he here?”