S.A. Price (23 page)

Nodding he stood lifting her with him and taking her effortlessly up into his arms. "I think that’s a good idea, after all we did come all this way."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, snuggling her face into his chest, inhaling deeply.

He walked silently up with her to the center enjoying the feel of her in his arms. She always did fit so well against him. "The way the legends tell it there should be a stone bench here somewhere."

“Hell they way they are told this should have a few shackles on one of the trees too.” She giggled and flexed her fingers against his neck, drawing across his skin in a lazy manner. “Well you do have me...”

"I do..." He kissed behind her ear nuzzling in her scent. "My prize." He whispered glad of the shivering response her body gave him.

“Ummm and what will you do with your prize?” she asked.

"Hmmm... What to do indeed." He crooned in her ear as the reached the dead center on the trees.

Her thigh was soft as he stroked up it idly with his thumb.

She giggled and squirmed in his arms.

"It would be a shame to let such a fine prize go unclaimed now wouldn't it?"

“That’s up to you John... seeing as I have been unclaimed this long.”

"You have... but not for much longer." he nibbled on her ear as he turned leaning her against a tree trunk long enough to switch her weight onto it.

Elise grinned and wrapped her legs around him and squeezed.

He pushed her back against the rough trunk grinding himself teasingly into her.

She whimpered and closed her eyes, shuddering. “Ummm...”

"Hmm... feels good." He whispered and lowered his mouth to hers pressing against her soft, ripe lips.

They kissed, Elise clutching to him rolling her hips into his thickness. She whimpered, moaned and gasped as his mouth fed from hers, and she unwound one leg and set it down, her other leg still firmly around his waist holding him to her.

He used the scant inches to press her further into the tree, his body knew where it needed to be.

Growling softly he broke off the kiss trailing his lips back behind her ear and down to her throat.

She gasped again; putting her hands down his sides and groaned. “Gods Merrick... still know every button to push don’t you...”

~93~

He lifted her gaining better leverage to her body. "Like I could ever forget."

“You’re telling me all this time you haven’t had anybody else?” she nipped on his neck and licked a line up his neck.

"Not one." he murmured into her neck. "I didn't want anyone else... nobody could ever compare to you."

“Truly? Well that’s damn romantic. Poor baby... so long to have any sort of relief... serves you right...” she sucked his ear into her mouth and rolled her hips again.

"It does serve me right." he agreed worrying the sweet soft flesh on her neck. "And I didn’t even have the luxury of those vibrators you mentioned, though I certainly would like to be introduced."

Grinning up at her he slipped his hands down to her waist squeezing her towards him.

“To my vibrator? Honey you won’t get along.. Trust me...” she giggled and arched. “God I missed your touch.”

"Coincidence...I missed touching you." He told her stroking his way to her hips.

“You don’t leave anymore... I mean it...”

"Never again, I swear it."

She grabbed him then and kissed him hard. “I love you John...”

He pulled back long enough to whisper, "I love you too Elise, with all my heart." against her lips before kissing her again.

“I won’t be mated to a man who won’t stay with me John. If you can’t make the promise of staying... I need my mate all the time, forever.” She cried out as he ground into her harder.

"I already covered that, my love, when I said that I'd never leave."

“Ummm true, but I won’t be left again for any reason. I don’t care how it works out. If I carry your mark, you don’t leave my bed.”

"Surely I'm allowed to leave to go to the bathroom..." He chuckled against her. "Surely you’re not that harsh a mistress."

“It’s been a long time Merrick... I have had to keep busy...” she giggled.

He laughed pulling away to look up at her, "I'm not going to leave you Elise, I promise. If you want to discuss this seriously then I may have to make the occasional trip away but it should never be for longer than a few days at a time and you’re always welcome to come with me provided that you follow my lead."

“I never wanted to be a traditional archon John, if I did I wouldn’t have ever agreed to a betrothal between us. We were meant to be a partnership John, no matter how long you have chosen to fight it...”

Conceding her point, he decided, was better than arguing it with her. The fact was that he hadn't been fighting their partnership but staying low until having one would be safe for both of them. Of course it didn’t matter how many times he told her this she'd always see it as she did. "I know, and so it doesn’t matter if I go away because you'll come with me. I'm sure we can find you something to keep yourself amused with."

“You amuse me, and I don’t care how, this has to work. Your nest can integrate with mine, I think that is already happening anyway, but Knossos is big enough to accommodate everyone,” she moaned as he squeezed her hips. “Gods I love your touch.”

"There’s no rush to integrate everyone love. As I said most of them don’t play well with others."

“I just don’t wanna leave any avenue open John. They can always come to Knossos; it has been and ever will be, a refuge.” She purred as his hands stole under her shirt.

"I'll let them all know." Her persistent hands drew a groan from him.

“See that you do... Ummm you are a tease, and I’m surprised you haven’t ripped my clothes off and tried to ravish me already.”

"Hmm..." He grinned, "What a good idea." His hands moved up to cup her breasts squeezing them before undoing the buttons on her shirt.

She moaned and shuddered. “Ummm John... We shouldn’t... Ummm I like that,...”

~94~

"I know you do... and why shouldn’t we?" He kissed down her collarbone and freshly bared chest.

The lace of her bra felt rough against his lips and tongue as he sucked a hard nipple into his mouth nibbling it over the lace. "It was your idea..."

“Ummm Yes I know...” she panted arching into him. “But really... We should stop... not here..”

He paused, breathing hotly up onto her. His instincts were warring within him. On one hand he wanted to take her, ravish her and make her his after so long. On the other hand he wanted it to be special when he finally mated her, he always had. "Stop? Is that what you really want?"

She shivered. “Do you think you can do as you have done before? Have my body without giving me your heart? Gods I want you...”

"I won’t lie to you, no matter how much I want to, I'm not going to be able to separate the two now... not after so long." He buried his face in her chest.

“Nor I. I need you, Druis... but I won’t be your whore...”

"I would never ask that of you..." He smiled weakly pulling himself away from her.

She panted and sighed. “It has to be special Merrick... I won’t settle for anything else.”

"It's all you deserve Lise." He whispered up to her. "It will be special." Taking a deep breath he took a step away from her gently lowering her leg to the ground. "Besides we're not teenagers anymore, we can wait a little while longer.

“Not much longer.” she righted her shirt and closed up the buttons, looking around. “This really is an Eden. My snake is longing to explore.”

"It is a jungle. Though, to be honest, my snake is longing to hunt back at Knossos again. It always considered those grounds as its home."

She looked at him beaming. “Really?”

"Really, and it certainly missed hunting with you."

“So does mine. She misses the lazy coil time. I miss our times when we would just coil in bed.”

"Me, too... we’ll have those days again." He held his hand out to her. "Come on we should head back. No telling what mess everyone’s getting into without us there to supervise."

She took his hand and grinned pulling close to him. “So a coil soon... but after I wear your mark my love.”

He nodded leaning forward and kissing her. "You're such a little tease my love."

“I have every right John. And you’re not staying in your room tonight.”

"Oh no? Love you'll have to shackle me down to the bed if you expect my control to last that long lying next to your warm naked body."

“Shackles? Umm who’s the kinky one now?” she giggled and kissed him. “And who said I would be naked?”

"What? You won’t be?" He pouted jokingly letting disappointment show in his voice.

“Only if you beg, on your knees.” she tugged him along out of the center towards the southeast sector.

"Mmm... That sounds promising." He followed her moves keeping her close.

“I bet...You still that horny teenager just waiting for a stolen moment in your mother’s hall?”

"Horny maybe, but I'm not a teenager and we're far away from my mum's."

She grinned and turned jumping into his arms, wrapping herself around him. “No, you’re not a teenager anymore...” she stroked the grey hair at his temples. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Smiling softly he sighed. "Which is a good thing because it's too late to have me any other way."

“Yeah I know, and maybe this is a good thing.”

"Maybe it is." He placed his hand around her waist and started walking them out of the maze.

"Only time will tell."

~95~

TWENTY-ONE

Elise and Merrick walked into the Orpheus through the back doors, greeted by the sounds of some very irate snakes coming from the formal dining room. She wasn’t surprised they had come back to pandemonium, with everything as tense as it was, but the din they were now privy to was a bit much.

She looked at Merrick squeezing his hand. “What do you suppose is going on?”

"I think the kids have arrived back..." He chuckled.

“Meaning?”

"Meaning that we're about to find out where the girls are."

“Ah. Then we should bust in don’t you think? The sooner this can be remedied, the better.”

He nodded motioning her to the door. "After you, my love."

She smirked. “Thanks.” Taking the expanse of floor between their position and the double doors leading into the dining room quickly, she opened the doors with a flourish, and all the conversations and yelling stopped abruptly. They entered, side by side, and Elise stood at the head of the table looking everyone over. She knew they could scent Merrick on her, and she didn’t really care. It was something that was going to have to be addressed at some point, but with the assurances that Merrick would be with her at Knossos, and her mate, they wouldn’t bitch overly much when it came down to it.

“Ok, now why the hell are you all pissing a fit?”

Aiden looked up at her and smirked shrugging his shoulders. "Nothing to do with me, boss lady, I'm just doing what I'm told. As for them," he gestured to the others in the room. "They're getting a little out of hand. See Rose here is staying tight lipped about all that is cultish and the others are seeing it as a grave insult. What with them reckoning that they're higher than her and all."

Elise bit back a laugh and then looked over to Olivia who was turning purple with anger. “And well she should. None of you are her Archon.” She turned to Evelyn, who was sitting in a chair, a drink in her hand and a sandwich before her, Myra standing close. “Evelyn, I’m glad you’re here, and in good health. Merrick?” she turned to the man at her right, indicating for him to start the proceedings.

With a sigh Merrick stepped forward a grave smile on his face. "Evelyn it's good to see you. I hope nobody’s been causing you too many problems, especially after everything that’s happened over the past few days."

Evelyn shrugged managing to make the gesture look graceful. "I was kidnapped and locked in a dog cage Merrick. Trust me after that nothing they could do to me would be problematic. Even the car ride with Aiden was a breeze although his choice in music is appalling. I'm not into mullet rock."

Myra giggled and nodded, apparently agreeing with Evelyn. Elise watched as Myra caught Aiden’s eye and winked. “While I’m sure we all want to sit here and discuss Aiden’s musical tastes, I believe the subject at hand is the extraction. Evelyn, how much time do we have?”

"Not long. I had about forty-eight hours, maximum, from when I first escaped. My guess is they'll start covering their tracks tomorrow sometime, once they've determined that I'm not still running around in the woods."

“So we have under eight hours to mobilize and get them out. How far are they from us?” Marcus asked her, pulling out his cell phone.

~96~

"Not far." She told them noncommittally crossing her legs under the table.

“Well that doesn’t help Ms. Rose. We need to form a plan, and for that we need a location.”

She nodded. "I know and I'm sorry I'm not being very forth coming with coordinates but I do have one small request before handing over the location, and by request I do mean condition."

Elise smiled. This was indeed interesting. “What’s that?”

"I want you go with you..." She smiled taking a dainty bite of her sandwich.

Elise looked at Merrick. Sending Evelyn back into the lion’s den wasn’t even a condition, not when they had taken such great pains to abduct her and the one man had taken even more pains and possibly mortal risk to himself to set her free. The thought dawned on her and she shook her head, realizing that that was the reason why she wanted to go back, the guy. “Merrick?”

"Absolutely not." Merrick’s tone was serious, the finality of it absolute.