Pleasure of a Dark Prince (35 page)

“Need you tae… ride me.”

After a hesitation, she gave a shaky nod. “Sh-show me?”

He clasped her hips to guide her, easing her body forward until her breasts bobbed just above his hungry mouth. Then he worked her back down. Forward and back…

When she took over, he knew she was his.
This will happen. At last, I’m claiming my mate. My Lousha.

Each time she rocked over him, one of her nipples dragged across his waiting tongue. The fear in her disappeared—her eyes grew silvery and wicked as she rode him for her pleasure.

Lightning struck as her long hair lashed over her breasts and face. Rain misted her skin as she panted.

So beautiful. Mine.
And he needed
more
. “Harder,” he bit out.
Need to mark her neck… claim her forever.
“Ride me harder!”

She arched backward, hands behind her on his thighs, her hair sweeping over his legs. Breasts jutting to the sky, she frantically ground on his cock.

“Lousha!
Canna last.” As she continued to whip her hips in his lap, he rose up to meet her gaze.

With her eyes half-lidded and her voice a sultry purr, she asked, “Are you going to mark me?”

“The ever livin’ hell out o’ you,” he growled. “Right as you’re about tae come on me.” Seizing her arse with both hands, he shoved her down on his cock just as he bucked upward.

“Ah, gods! MacRieve!” Her breasts bounced against him. “You’re making me…”

She was already there? Gritting his teeth to keep his seed, he thrust up again, harder. The stone beneath him began to fracture.

“I’m… I’m…”

Eyes fixed on her neck, he leaned in, licking her, lulling… As he shoved up into her slick heat, he bit her flesh in a frenzy.

Claiming her… marking her… His eyes rolled back in his head as she cried,
“Coming!”

Desperate to feel it, he snarled into the bite, plunging her up and down.
Harder… harder.
As the stone cracked, she screamed with pleasure, her sheath contracting, milking him, demanding.

He followed her, ejaculating inside her with a broken yell against her skin, mindlessly pumping wave after searing wave.

She sagged against him, gasping, “It’s so
hot
….”

After-shudders. Arms wrapped around each other. Hearts thundering.

He reluctantly released his bite, but he remained aching and stiff inside her, still needing to drive into her. So he dragged her to the ground with him.

Just before he took her on her hands and knees, she gazed back at the rock they’d broken with a fierce look.

Cupping her waist and gripping her long hair, he bucked into her, roaring with pleasure as she moaned his name.

Then they both gave themselves up to the beast within him.

FORTY

What have I done?

When Lucia woke, her eyes opened wide— with realization. She was lying in MacRieve’s arms, her back tucked into his chest, both of them naked.

Ah, gods, he was still…
inside
her.

He roused then and gave a self-satisfied exhalation. The sound was so utterly masculine, and grated on her like nails on slate.

Job well done, conquest is complete, I came, I saw, I conquered her
.

His mark on her neck burned….

When he began hardening again, she stifled a cry and shrugged out of his grasp, disentangling her body from his.
Can’t handle this. Aching everywhere.

Without a word, she rose, unsteadily sifting through the clothes she’d worn last night. All ruined when he’d ripped them from her.

Once she found her pack, she dug for underwear, shorts, and a T-shirt. As she quickly dressed, she kept recalling that satisfied sound he’d made.
The conquest.
He’d gotten everything he’d wanted with her.
From
her.

I’ve gotten
nothing
I wanted.
She couldn’t be here, had to get away from him, away from the bow that had been a part of her for centuries.

She was no longer an Archer.
Do I feel different?
Dazed? Crazed?

I feel… wrong.

“Lousha?” MacRieve leapt up, snagging his jeans and stabbing his legs in them.

After shouldering her backpack, she staggered toward the levees. The statues along the cobble walk glared down.

MacRieve hurried after her, shoving the bow in front of her face. “You left this and your quiver, lass.”

She wouldn’t look at it. At him. She couldn’t. He’d done this to her. Ruined her ability. Now with no means to finally destroy Cruach, Lucia would be expected to sacrifice herself, to appease that monster.

Going back in that foul lair? Without an arrow trained on his heart? At the idea, Lucia couldn’t catch her breath.
I can’t do that! Even now that I have nothing else to offer…

Her neck burned, the pain seething, a constant reminder of her sins.
Can’t catch my breath…

“Uh, I’ll hold the bow for now.” He slung it over his shoulder. “Love, talk to me. Did I hurt you?” He scowled at himself. “O’ course I hurt you. But how badly?”

She didn’t answer.

“Where are you going?”

“H-home.”

He jogged in front of her. “What about the dieumort?” he asked, turning to walk backward. “Saving the world and all that? We’re so close.”

They’d never been farther away! “Nïx sent me down here for an arrow. Because I’m… I
was
”—her breath hitched—“an archer. All that’s different now.” Lucia couldn’t even stop Cruach from rising with one of Skathi’s arrows. “I have another job to do.”
And I’ll grow to hate you for it.
“This is where we part ways, MacRieve.
You
go retrieve the dieumort.” Hell, maybe that was why Nïx had sent him down here. Maybe
he
was the one on the quest.

“Lousha, it’s no’ over yet.”

“You have no idea what the repercussions from last night will be. No idea what will be expected of me now!”

“Nay, because you will no’ bluidy tell me!” He gripped her forearms in his fists. “Talk to me!”

She gave herself up to her outrage, to her need to blame, both preferable to this wretched fear. Imitating his accent and low voice, she said, “Lousha, o’ course the cuff will work. That’s why I got it from those bluidy witches. I would never hurt ye!” Flinging herself away from him, she screamed, “You shouldn’t have come for me! You should’ve let me do what I needed to.”

She can’t even look at me.

Maybe this was one female who shouldn’t have given up her career for her man. There was nothing in her eyes but… bitterness? It was as if a piece of her had died.

And he’d helped kill it.

She was no longer a Skathian. Thousand-year-old vows had been broken last night, and as she’d clearly told him, she hadn’t been ready for it. She’d also warned him that she would
hate
him forever if he pressured her to go against her beliefs.

When he reached for her again, she backed away. “In the beginning, I asked for one year, and you ignored my wishes, dismissed them so easily.”

“I know I fucked up.” He scrubbed his palm over his face. “Gods know this is all my fault. But would it be so bad to be with me? You’ve seen what we can have together—”

“You vowed to me that you wouldn’t hurt me, but you have! Permanently. I hope last night was worth it!”

His eyes widened.
Permanently?
“What did I do?”

“My archery, my ability, was based on the vows I took, you brute. Now I’m nothing!”

“What are you talking about?”

“I can’t shoot!” she cried. “My talent is gone—forever. I kept my power only as long as I kept my legs closed. And now, because of you, I will never shoot again. It’s
gone
.”

His own anger flared as the truth hit him. “I knew this was about more than just your ‘religion’!” Finally, he was putting the puzzle together. When some male—some soon-to-be dead male—had hurt her, she’d sought asylum with Skathi. In exchange for Lucia’s vows, the goddess had given her the ability to shoot as no other.

Practice hadn’t made Lucia this good.
A deal with a devil…

He narrowed his eyes. “You dinna give a damn about your beliefs. This was about ego, about being
The Archer
, best in all the world.”

“Didn’t give a damn? I lived nearly my entire life in service until you came along. Now I’m shrugging off an apocalypse and giving in to my basest needs! I’d aspired before, was selfless. Now I’ve committed my most selfish act in a thousand years.”

“You should’ve told me what was at stake!” He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this infuriated.

“When should I have? Maybe when you were going on about women sacrificing their careers for their men? I knew you’d react just as you are now, unable to comprehend why I would choose archery over sex with you.”

“
Why
did you no’ tell me? Why lie about this?”

“Oh, like the truth would have made
any difference
? Like last night wouldn’t have happened
if only I’d come clean
? As soon as you stepped on that boat, this was as good as done, events set into motion. You caused this! I asked you for time, and you wouldn’t give it to me.”

He hadn’t. She was absolutely right. But if she’d just told him why she couldn’t have sex… Garreth exhaled. He still would’ve done the same thing, still would’ve trusted the cuff.

“You forced me into last night!”

“Wait just a goddamned minute. You grabbed
me
for a kiss.”

“Because it was the best option in an impossible situation.”

“Doona forget, Valkyrie, that you screamed my name all night. You canna tell me you dinna want me.”

“I did—
then
! That doesn’t mean I can’t be sorry for my actions
now
. It doesn’t mean I’m not filled with regret,” she snapped, her tone laced with resentment.

Best night of my life, and she’s taking it back.
When he’d awakened, he’d been so relieved, believing she was finally his.
What a bluidy fool you are….

For the last year, he’d thought about her every second, from the moment he woke to the second he drifted to sleep. Even then he wasn’t free. Any night that he’d slept, he’d dreamed of her, dreamed of the life they could have—traveling the world, hunting together, eventually raising a braw pack of bairns. “Filled with regret, then?”

What he’d considered a culmination—and a
revelation
—she believed was a mistake.

Realization hit him. If she wasn’t going to be won from their night together—the most incredible one of his entire existence—then she
never
would. He’d spend the next nine hundred years of his life chasing her.

“You don’t know what I’ve lost, MacRieve. For the first time, I have no way to protect myself, no means to—”

“
I
will protect you.”

Her fists clenched; lightning struck. “I knew you’d say that!” she screamed. “I knew you wouldn’t understand why that would be like a dagger to the chest.”

His own fury ignited. “You knew I’d say I’d protect you? And that vexes you? Should I have said that you’re shite out of luck and all on your own, but thanks for the hot fuck!”

She narrowed her eyes, gazing at him with absolute disgust.
She’s never looked at me like this.

He raked his fingers through his hair. “By the gods, you’re the most maddening female I’ve ever known! If you’ve lost your archery, then we’ll figure something out. We’ll comb the ends of the earth to get it back. But we’ll do it
together
.”

“We won’t have
time
to figure it out. I’ve got no way to stop an apocalypse.” She turned to go.

“No, Lousha, doona turn your back on me.” He moved in front of her. “I will no’ follow you!”

When she sidestepped him, he blocked her way. Between gritted teeth, she hissed, “Let me pass.”

His crossed his arms over his chest. “Nay, Valkyrie, I think you’ll be stayin’ right—”

A slap cracked across his cheek.

“Bluidy hell, woman! Have it your way! You’d rather bemoan what you’ve lost than seize what we could have together? Then to hell with you! I’ve chased you over the world, protected you, offered everything I am to you. No longer.
I’ve reached my end
.” He threw the bow and quiver at her feet. “For once, you’re going to watch my back as I leave you behind.”

Stalking away from her, he headed toward the levee. And she said nothing. He hadn’t expected her to beg for him to return. But he’d hoped….

Five minutes passed, then ten, and still she didn’t run after him. She truly was going to let this end.
Just like that.

Crazed, cursing to himself, Garreth slashed his claws along tree trunks.

I’ll leave her arse in the goddamned jungle! I’m done!

He would return to Kinevane, spend some real time with his brother and sister-in-law. Help Lachlain acquire a mortal child for Emma.