Oak, Sophie - Beast [A Faery Story 2] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic) (24 page)

Kaja took one last look at Meg, her smiling face turned upward as gentle rain kissed her skin. If she heard Dante, she didn’t show it. She was lost in her husbands’ love.

Kaja followed Dante, her feet shuffling behind him. The grass beneath was soft on her bare feet, but her mind was in a different place. Meg was so loved.

It was easy to lose herself out here. The intimacy of the woods made Dante feel like the only person in the world. And she’d been the only female available to him. He was young and in his prime. He was male. She’d heard about young males. They mated at every given opportunity.

Was that all she was to him? An opportunity to mate—to fuck? What did any of it mean? Did he feel even the smallest bit for her that she felt for him?

Dante stopped once they were completely surrounded by thick trees. It was isolated, though they would be able to hear Meg if she needed them. Dante immediately pulled her into his arms. She could feel the line of his erection nudging her. “Alone at last.”

Would she be alone again once Dante’s passion was expended?

His lips pressed against hers, his tongue languidly invading her mouth. He kissed her, his hands pushing at the clothes she wore. “Baby, I promise I won’t let you out of bed for a week once we get home. I’m going to fuck you six ways from Sunday.”

Her body was already responding to him. He’d taught her so much in the days they had been together, but almost all of it was about how to receive and give pleasure. Kaja wanted more.

“What does it mean?”

Dante chuckled. His hands clutched at the globes of her ass, pulling her into the cradle of his thighs. “It means I’m going to be all over you, consort. We’ll say a quick hello to the family. I’ll receive praise for finding a gorgeous consort, and we’ll disappear for a week or two. I’ll have the staff bring you food, and I’ll just take my every meal from this lovely neck of yours. Although, there is a really nice vein that runs close to your pussy. Damn, I need to try that one. I’ll be able to smell it when you come. You always come when I feed.”

“That is not what I meant.” Kaja pushed at his chest.

Dante stopped as though he finally figured out that she was serious. “What the hell is going on, Kaj?”

Kaja bit at her bottom lip. “I do not understand what I mean to you.”

His eyes rolled, and a long-suffering sigh heaved from his chest. “Women. Kaja, do we have to do this now?”

She wasn’t sure what “this” was. “When would we do this?”

His shoulders came up, bunching in frustration. “I don’t know. If I had my way, we wouldn’t do it at all. Can’t we just have a good time?”

Kaja thought about Meg. She hadn’t been having a good time. When she’d realized her husbands were with her, seeking her, she’d looked blissful. She’d looked transcendent. Kaja would bet that Beck and Cian had never told Meg that their relationship didn’t have to last forever. They had never offered to buy her a nice house when they were finished with her. They would never be finished with her.

“I do not think this will be a good time.” Her heart was starting to hurt.

Dante’s face became hard, his jawline a razor’s edge. “Don’t try to tell me you don’t enjoy fucking me, Kaja. I know that’s a lie. I can still feel your cunt squeezing me.”

And she could still feel his arms around her. They still spoke two different languages, wanted two very different things. It was easier when she could feel his mind, but he’d shut that down. The last time they had made love, she’d felt the wall come down between them as though he’d slammed a door in her face. “I like the mating. I just don’t like the way I feel when I know it’s only for now.”

His body relaxed, his arms coming out, coaxing now. “Is that all, Kaja? Baby, don’t worry about that. I promise the future is going to sort itself out.”

Perhaps. Perhaps not. “I have lived my whole life hoping things would work out. They never have. Things do not work out, Dante.”

He smiled down at her, smoothing back her hair. “Of course they do. They work out all the time. Just relax, and it’s going to be fine. One way or another, you’ll be taken care of.”

But she didn’t want to be taken care of. She wanted to be loved. Perhaps he had taught her more than pleasure. If someone had asked her what she wanted weeks ago, she would have told them she wanted a warm bed, enough food to fill her belly, and peace. Dante was offering her all of that, and now she wanted more. She was worth more.

His hands moved to her shoulders, gentling her. “Kaja, it might have already been decided for us, you know. The way we’ve been going at it, you might be pregnant.”

A pup. Baby. Dante’s people called them babies. She might be pregnant, a baby growing in her belly. The idea had panicked her before, but now a strange tenderness filled her. She’d worried that the pack wouldn’t accept a child from her belly any more than they had accepted her, but the world was so much bigger now. Kaja was bigger than before. She could make her way in this world.

And if she could not, then she would find another. She would never stop searching. She would walk the planes until she found the place where she belonged.

She loved Dante.

“Kaj, don’t cry,” he said. His face had fallen.

She felt the tears coursing down her cheeks, but he didn’t understand. She wasn’t sad, not exactly. She was more than she’d been before. She was stronger, and it was because she loved Dante. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t love her back. Her love for him made her better.

A baby. She could have his baby. She could have a child to hold and love and show the world to. The thought blanketed her heart in warmth. It scared her before. Now it was something to want. A child with Dante’s green eyes. A child to pour her love into.

“Kaja,” Dante said, his voice achingly quiet. “I’ll stop. We don’t have to make love again until I can get you on birth control. If you really don’t want to risk it, I can get you some medicine that will take care of it.”

She shook her head. That was the last thing she wanted. “I don’t want medicine.”

The wolf she’d been still wanted to run from him. He could break her so easily, probably would, but the woman she was becoming stood her ground. If she didn’t fight, would she always regret it? How did one fight for a man? Would it even work if he didn’t want to be with her?

She wrapped her arms around Dante, her decision made. She would spend this time with him. She would make all the memories her heart could hold. When the time came to leave, she would do it with dignity. And she wouldn’t slink away to the woods. She would find a home. She would build a life.

“Kiss me.” She turned her face up as Meg had done to the sun when she’d realized her husbands were there. Dante was Kaja’s sun for now.

Dante gazed down at her, his eyes searching hers. “Are you sure, Kaj? I really don’t want to hurt you. That was never, ever my intention.”

“Why did you buy me?” She needed to know the truth.

His face flushed slightly, but his hands tightened around her waist. “I needed a wife. You were the first one I found.”

She’d been convenient. She could accept that. She’d gotten something from the deal, as well. Her life. “But you don’t need a forever wife.”

He brought their bodies together with a little bang. “Damn it, Kaj. I explained this to you. I’m crazy about you. I just don’t think I’m going to be very good at the whole marriage thing. Look, it’s not like I’m going to toss you aside. We’re married forever. There’s no going back, but one day we might want to go our separate ways. I don’t want to lie to you. I just want to be happy for now. Now is all we have.”

Yes, it was. The present was certainly all they would ever have if Dante wanted it that way. She couldn’t force him to feel for her what she felt for him. She couldn’t make him accept her forever. She could only control what was in her heart. She could only want what she wanted—and she wanted him. For as long as she could have him.

“Then kiss me.”

His face bunched up, his forehead wrinkling. “I really am crazy about you, Kaja.”

Crazy wasn’t love. Even she knew that. “Kiss me.”

He lowered his head, his lips brushing hers. “I know you don’t believe me. I’ll show you.”

His hands gripped the cheeks of her ass and hauled her up. Kaja wrapped her legs around his body as he walked her to the nearest tree and placed her back against the huge trunk.

“Gods, I really hope my cousin isn’t hanging around in this one,” Dante muttered as he took her mouth again.

She loved the way he kissed her. No one kissed on her plane. She allowed her mouth to flower open under his. His tongue caressed her own, and Kaja sighed. She was pressed between the hard bark of the tree and Dante’s body, but she didn’t want to be anywhere else. When he kissed her, they were the only two people in the world.

Of course, when he bit her, when her blood flowed into his body, it felt as if they were one person. She loved that above all else.

He pressed in, his erection shoving against her pussy. His hips moved as though they couldn’t help themselves. “Gods, I want you, Kaj. I want you all the fucking time. How can I want you so much?”

He kissed her, his mouth dominating hers. One hand found her breast, and he cupped her, playing with her nipples. His mouth ran down the side of her neck. There were still tiny holes from where he’d fed this morning. They seemed to close quickly, but the healing bumps were still there. He licked at them, seeming to find them endlessly fascinating.

Kaja’s whole body threatened to light up when he touched her neck. She’d never thought of her neck as being particularly sensitive, but now she squirmed every time he touched her there. When he licked her neck, she felt it in her pussy.

“Please,” Kaja said, well aware she was begging. She wanted that bite. She wanted to feel him. “Please don’t shut the door between us. Please.”

His head came up. “You feel it, too?”

She clutched his shoulder, staring into his eyes. The irises were wider, but the green hadn’t totally taken over. “I need it. I need to feel it. I’ve never felt so good as when I feel those flashes of you. I don’t know what it is, but I need it, Dante.”

“It scares the fuck out of me,” he muttered.

Maybe her soul wasn’t as nice as his. If she caught glimpses of him, then he most likely saw her. It wasn’t nice to be her. It was ugly and lonely. She was being selfish.

She let her legs drop.

“Kaja?”

“Just kiss me, Dante. You can teach me later how to keep our minds apart.”

His hands softened, cupping her cheeks. “What’s wrong, Kaja? Why did you shut down?”

“I wasn’t thinking,” she admitted. “I believed I was the only one who felt our joining in my mind. I understand. I don’t want you to see those parts of me. I am so sorry.”

His fangs suddenly seemed larger than before. “You want to hide yourself from me, consort?”

Yep, that other part of Dante had come out. His eyes were huge green orbs now. “You cannot wish to see me. It’s ugly. I didn’t understand. I will learn to shut it off, as you do. You can teach me.”

His hands tightened around her arms. “I will not teach you to hide yourself from me. You’ll be open. You’ll give me everything. You look at me.”

She got caught in those eyes. She felt her whole body relax. She knew she should fight him, but it felt far too good to let Dante take control. She trusted him not to harm her physically. Her heart was another manner entirely.

“It makes no sense, Kaj.” He sounded more like Dante now. “It scares the crap out of me, but the minute you start talking about putting up barriers and walls between us, I go a little crazy. Baby, you’re making me so crazy, but I can’t help myself. I fucking need you, too. Gods, you taste like sunshine.”