Dark and Damaged: Eight Tortured Heroes of Paranormal Romance: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (118 page)

Seeing the stubborn jut of Aurora’s lower lip, he sensed she would not be so docile. Such a strong will, especially for a slave. He would enjoy sparring with her in the future and showing her his dominant side in the bedroom. Robert sensed she would not be meek nor frigid, but fiery as dragon’s breath.

The thought amused him as he walked off with the other males. After several minutes of walking, they arrived at the curved archway covered in thick vines, with thick bamboo stalks and trees flanking it. He walked up to the archway and touched a vine. The vines rustled and parted, admitting him into the clearing.

Silently he led them into a grotto filled with thick bamboo and ferns. In the center was the stone dragon Aurora had found earlier.

It sat upon a squat pedestal of smooth, white, polished quartz. Its tail was curled up like a sleeping dog’s, its wings were outstretched, and its upper lip curled away to show two long fangs and a hint of a red forked tongue.

The sacred dragon, where the rite would take place.

He went to a wood chest hidden among the bamboo and thick greenery and opened it. One of his men knelt down and began to sort out the contents.

The alpha glanced upward at the nearly full moon. He took the carved mask offered by his pack member and dangled it from one hand.

“Yes,” he murmured. “It is time.”

Something was going on, something mysterious and secret. And Aurora was determined to find out exactly what.

Did it have to do with the dragon’s hiding place?

But she could not shake her babysitters. Susan and Louis stuck to her. Each time she rose from the table, on the pretext of selecting another treat from the dessert tray, or stepping outside the tent to gaze at the moon, they followed.

And then an idea struck her. Louis drank very little absinthe. As Louis and Susan turned to talk with another couple, Aurora poured out the ice water. It was cold and touching the handle made her shiver.

When the couple came back to the table, Aurora picked up her absinthe glass. “A toast to the bride and groom.”

Susan hesitated, then went to dilute the mixture. No ice water. Before the Lupine could fetch another pitcher, Aurora smiled brightly and raised her glass. “Just a taste. No need to dilute it. I’m sure you, a powerful Lupine, can handle this better than I can.”

Oh yeah, challenge that pride
.

Susan bristled. She and her mate picked up their glasses and sipped. This time as Aurora drank, the room did not spin. Instead, a feeling of tremendous power overcame her. She felt sexy, wanton.

Supremely confident, as if she could run for miles and leave the pack behind her, panting and exhausted. But Louis and his mate barely sipped theirs.

“Oh come on,” she coaxed. “A little more.”

The male gave the drink a dubious look. “I don’t know…”

Hmmm. Time to prick the ego
. She’d seen the flicker of envy in his eyes when he glanced at Robert, so handsome in his black tuxedo, his silver hair making him look distinguished.

So virile.

“Robert drinks it straight,” she said. “Then again, he’s Robert. Strong, handsome, so virile, and alpha.”

Her admiring sigh added a bit more push. Determination came over the male. Louis drained his glass and set it down. He looked at his mate as a man looks at a woman he desires, and then tugged her upright. Susan giggled like a girl.

They vanished in the direction of the lodge.

“Have a good time, you two,” she murmured, watching them.

It had worked. She didn’t know how, but wasted no time pondering.

Aurora’s ears pricked up. She glanced at the bridal table. Guy had vanished with Robert and six other males. Now six women approached Helen. The bride left with the women, their long gowns trailing behind them.

Silent as mist, she followed them into the lodge. They vanished into one of the downstairs bedrooms. Murmurs of “dragon” and “sacred circle to honor” and “the ceremony” drifted through the door as clothing rustled within.

Excitement filled her. Something important was about to take place, something to honor the silver dragon. The lodge’s kitchen door opened. Aurora hid behind a bookcase and saw Robert enter, along with six other men and Guy.

She left the lodge, heading quietly for the grove she’d found last week.

At the grove’s edge, she found a place to sit while hidden by the thick bamboo stalks.

The stone dragon sat upon a low pedestal made from smooth stone, about three feet off the ground. As she remembered, it had a red mouth and outstretched wings. The back of the dragon was level, smooth stone that curved around into a tail tucked beneath the dragon’s body.

Aurora hid in the bamboo and steadied her breathing. She did not have to wait long.

Six couples, clad in the traditional black ceremonial robes of Lupines, entered the clearing, each holding hands. They wore silver dragon masks that fully disguised their faces, leaving only their mouths showing.

The six couples were followed by Guy and Helen, accompanied by a tall, silver-haired man - Robert. His mask was silver, with twisted cobalt horns emerging from the top, the mask tapering into a triangle shape at the bottom. Silver scales and intricate curls of flame covered the mask. The eyeholes were large and triangular.

Guy and Helen were masked as well. Guy held a small jar, which he set uncapped and set down on the ground near the dragon.

Aurora settled down to watch.

Six white stone pedestals holding candles surrounded the outside of the circle. Among the thick bamboo stalks, palms and gumbo limbo trees sat a tall mango tree, its trunk wider in diameter than a truck tire. Its gray branches stretched over the grove like ghostly arms. Obviously the tree had died, yet it remained standing. Robert went to the tree and touched it.

“I loved that mango tree,” a tall, redheaded female said, her voice filled with sadness. “It used to bear such wonderful fruit. Why did it die?”

“Everything dies,” said the male holding her hand.

“But the tree was healthy until last month.” The woman looked at Robert. “Can’t you heal it? Is the magick waning?”

“Hush,” the male whispered.

Robert dropped a hand on her shoulder. “My powers must be preserved for the greater good, Dahlia.” He looked at the couples.

“Purify the air,” Robert commanded.

The six robed couples picked up bundles of sage and lit them, then walked in a circle. She recognized the spicy scent.

Then they extinguished the sage by immersing it into a bucket filled with sand.

Robert walked around the circle, his tall body towering over the others, his grace as lethal as a wolf’s. Six candles rested upon the six stone pedestals that came to his chest. He picked up a white candle that rested upon the dragon itself.

The alpha flicked his finger and the candle ignited.

Aurora bit her lip. Fear coagulated in her chest and her breaths came in short, stabbing gasps. Never had she seen such power from a Lupine. Mages could not create fire, and for this Lupine alpha to do so? It petrified her.

Was Robert like her? She once could create fire with her fingertips, but the power had been muted at the placement of the slave collar.

Impossible. He was wolf, pureblood.

Using the now-lit taper, he touched it to the first white candle upon the pedestal. “Power of the air, endow this mating and this couple with your strength and let them never know want.”

At the second candle, he murmured, “Power of the earth, endow this mating and this couple with your fertility and let them conceive and bear strong young.”

At the third candle he recited, “Power of fire, endow this mating and this couple with your passion.”

At the fourth candle, he said, “Power of water, let this mating and this couple be healthy and awash in a flood of life.”

At the fifth candle, he added a spell to all the earth elements for honor and loyalty, and strength of balance, and love of pack. But at the sixth candle, he seemed to hesitate. It was taller than the others, a red candle with a silver circle at the top.

The six couples standing in the circle looked at him. Guy drew in a deep breath and squeezed Helen’s hand.

Robert removed his mask, as did the others. “Power of the dragon, I bare myself before you. Protect my people with your life force and your strength. Make them fertile, and our land prosperous. Let our eyes be opened to the wisdom of the ages, and let us remain true to ourselves, and enable us to fight this evil that has cursed our people and our land.”

When the lit taper touched the candle’s wick, Aurora stifled a gasp. The flame burned bright silver.

Surely this was wizard magick. She’d never seen anything like it.

Robert blew out the taper, set it upon the last pedestal and turned to the circle. He donned his mask again, as did the others. Then he lifted his long arms and looked up at the nearly full moon, shining down upon them.

“By my right as alpha of this pack, I purify this space and this mating of Guy, my beta and my right hand, with Helen, daughter of the earth, and bless it with my blood.”

The candles flickered, casting ghostly shadows around the circle.

Robert took his silver dagger and made a small cut in his palm. Blue-black in the silvery moonlight, his blood dripped upon the dragon’s head, then fell to the ground.

Wonder filled her as the blood, black in the moonlight, suddenly turned bright silver. He lifted his head and for a moment she felt fear, for he seemed to look directly at her. “I speak to the power of the Goddess Danu. Let this union be blessed, and as these two come together as one to consummate their mating, endow them with the strength of our people, the Lupine.”

Guy and Helen came forward. Robert placed a hand on their heads. “Take Helen, Guy, to be your forever mate, and fill her belly with your seed. May she conceive strong, healthy offspring.”

The six couples laid their hands upon Guy’s and Helen’s heads and then stepped backward.

Legs cramping, Aurora rubbed her calves, but didn’t dare stretch out. Instinct warned her that this very mysterious and formal ritual was not meant for her eyes. It rang of ancient magick, the kind she’d read about in the old texts. Most Lupines had discarded the old ways in these modern times. Why had Robert instituted this ritual?

She should leave, before someone spotted her. Aurora wasn’t certain what punishment she’d face for spying. But then the six couples dropped their black silk robes.

All of them were naked.

Aurora sat, riveted. She could not tear her eyes away.

Robert stood at the head of the stone dragon and disrobed as well, but left his mask on, as did the other couples. His powerful body gleamed with life, each line of muscle and sinew seeming as strong as the earth itself.

Guy led Helen over to the dragon. He removed his mask and shed his robe.

“I bare myself before the old ways, as I take this female for my forever mate, to mother my young,” Guy said in a loud voice.

Helen also removed her robe and her mask, though her voice quivered. “I bare myself before the old ways, as I accept this male as my forever mate, to father my young.”

Guy helped Helen to lie on her stomach on the stone dragon’s back. She gripped the dragon’s outstretched wings.

The beta dipped his fingers into a jar. He smeared an oily substance on his thick, erect penis.

Then he seized his mate’s hips, guiding his penis between her legs. He gently pressed forward once, then again while kissing her back. Helen cried out. “It hurts, Guy,” she whimpered.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he soothed. “It’ll fade. Just hold onto me.”

Helen clasped his right hand as he laced his fingers through hers. Guy thrust harder. Cheeks flaming, Aurora stood immobilized by the bamboo, hidden by the thick stalks. Then came deep male grunts and high-pitched female squeals.

“Guy,” Helen called out, her cries growing shriller.

“Oh, sweetie. Helen, fuck me, you’re so tight and wet.”

Guy’s deep voice sounded like Robert for a moment. Aurora sagged against the bamboo stalks, her body trembling. Her mind envisioned Robert naked, straining over her as his thick male flesh pounded hard inside her, his thrusts growing more and more frantic as she pumped her ass upwards to meet him, the pleasure spiking higher and higher…

The air grew heavy with the scent of sandalwood and cedar. Robert’s scent. The heady mixture made her bite back a moan. Anticipation rushed through her loins, making them heavy and full. With each grunt and cry of pleasure, she felt open and aching and very much aroused.

The copulating Lupines endowed the space with a sensual allure. Her gaze went to Robert, who stood straight and alone, the only male who was not erect.

It did not take much longer. Six hard, deep, strokes and Guy threw back his head, shouting Helen’s name.

He withdrew from her body, her virgin’s blood staining his penis and smearing upon the stone dragon.

Then Guy lifted her into his arms and kissed her, as Helen snaked her arms around his neck. He was still erect.

Still kissing, they went down to the soft bed of moss. Helen opened her legs and he settled between them.

Guy began making love to his mate again, her cries now of ecstasy, echoing his as she pumped her hips upward to meet his urgent thrusts.

The six couples began to copulate as well, the males bending the females over on the smooth white rock. It was an orgy, but she, who had been taught by Mages to regard group sex as repulsive and disgusting, found the rite fascinating. It was beautiful, watching the couples move in rhythmic unison, in sinuous grace. Loud grunts and excited female cries filled the air.

Only Robert stood alone by stone dragon. He looked aloof and strong, but she sensed a hint of loneliness, of vulnerability about him.

He had no partner in this sacred rite. No one to give him pleasure and take pleasure in return. Indeed, he remained flaccid. Cool. Aloof.

She longed to see him lose control, see all that power unleashed. Aurora stared at him, her loins feeling full and the space between her legs aching to be filled.