Temple of Luna 4: Savage Healing Read online

  It hurt, because it resonated with her own secret fear. Celine stepped to the side and moved past him, back toward the seat in front of the mirror. “Maybe you’re right. And that would be my failure.”

  After too many long, silent moments, he stepped up behind her. “Do you want me?”

  She reached for the brush and jerked it through her tousled hair hard enough to bring tears to her eyes. “Does it matter? I’ll never be a woman, even if I want to be.”

  His hand fell over hers, stilling the brush. “Do you need me? Really need me?”

  If she told the truth, he’d stay. He’d take her to bed and give her what she needed until it broke him. “I don’t deserve you.” She freed her wrist and dragged her hair over her shoulder to make it easier to braid. “I didn’t give up everything for you. That’s what love is, isn’t it?”

  He reached out again, this time grasping her wrist to hold it still. “I didn’t ask whether you love me or not.”

  Celine closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see his reflection. “I’ve always needed you. But I’m used to doing without the things I need.”

  Karim released her with a ragged sigh. “Turn around.”

  For the first time in her life she had no idea what she’d see when she looked at him. She turned slowly and opened her eyes, fixing her gaze on his bare chest.

  “Take me in your mouth.” The words fell just shy of a command. “Suck my cock.”

  Blunt words, out of nowhere. She jerked her gaze to his face and found him watching her with a look she knew too well, one she’d seen in the mirror every time she’d prepared to take a man to her bed to soothe his pain. It was an offering to let them resume the awkward shell of their relationship, even if the roles of priestess and warrior no longer fit.

  Maybe she wasn’t strong at all, because she wanted to accept it. They could drown their troubles in lust and pleasure and pretend they weren’t still broken inside.

  She lifted her hands and pressed them to the warm flesh of his stomach before sliding them up to his chest. “If you want my obedience, you’ll have to demand it as if you deserve it.”

  Something hot sparked in his eyes, and he clenched one fist in her hair. “I haven’t come yet, and I want to. I want to find my pleasure in you.”

  It was reckless and weak to fall into the easy, familiar pattern, but at least with this she knew where she stood. She shoved away doubt and confusion and scratched her nails down his chest until she could rub her palm against his cock through his pants. “You know what I can do with my mouth. What are you going to do with yours?”

  He jerked her closer. “Tell you exactly how to make me come.”

  Celine laughed and bit his stomach. “Does that still make you hot? Whispering dirty words?”

  His fingers tightened, pulling her hair. “Only if you’ll listen.”

  She curled her fingers into the waistband of his pants and jerked hard enough that the fabric tore, freeing his erection. Fisting the shaft, she stroked up to the tip before lifting her gaze to his. “And how will you soothe me, when I’m hot and needy from watching you come?”

  His eyelids dropped, and he sucked in a sharp breath. “Pull you to me, your back against my chest, and stroke my fingers inside you — slowly, so slowly, and talk to you the whole time.”

  It had always been his favorite thing to do, to drive her slowly mad. “That had better be a promise,” she whispered, then lowered her mouth to take him inside.

  His whole body tensed, and he groaned his pleasure as her lips slid down his cock. “Yes, Celine. Slow, like that.”

  She went faster.

  His fist yanked at her hair. “Slow.”

  He was getting rougher. Wilder. Maybe her feral warrior wasn’t entirely tamed. Satisfaction warred with heat as she tightened her grip and slowed her pace, teasing his shaft with slow, wet laps of her tongue.

  Then he began to guide her head, slow and fast in turn, moaning when she licked him with every bob of her head. “I dream about fucking you.”

  She groaned and scratched his stomach again, hard enough to leave thin red lines, and he jerked in her mouth.

  “Just like that,” he encouraged again. “I could close my eyes and see this, darling, all the time. You, your lips around me, fucking me with your mouth.”

  It was so easy to fall into him. Her body heated as his words washed over her, bringing with them memories of a hundred trysts. He’d come to her bed a warrior, steeped in pain and blood, and she’d give him peace as he stole another bit of her heart.

  Time after time after time.

  Karim touched her cheek. “I remember too.”

  How had she forgotten the magic in the royal family? Rais, who sometimes glimpsed the future, and Karim’s sister, Zahra, who could see into the hearts and minds of men.

  She closed her eyes and took his cock deeper. I dream of you, too.

  A shudder rippled through him. “The past… doesn’t matter. All that matters is this. Now.”

  One last surge forward and she’d taken his entire length. Arousal pulsed and she dug her fingers into his hips and let her thoughts drift to the surface, where he’d be sure to hear them. I want to hear how you plan to take me.

  “I don’t, not at first.” His voice deepened, and his hips began to thrust against her mouth. “Not until you’re shaking, wild. Then slow, just enough of my cock to drive you wilder.”

  She wanted to touch herself now, drive her own fingers into her cunt until she came with him. He chuckled and pulled her hair. “Yes, darling. Hurry.”

  It wouldn’t take much. His scent and power curled around her, and she slipped one hand down her body, trying to imagine the fingers wider, rougher. His. With his taste on her tongue and his fingers in her hair, everything was magic. She sucked hard and rubbed her fingers across her clit, frustrated by the smoothness of her own skin.

  “Celine.” He tensed and moved faster, almost thrusting into her throat now. “I’ll make you come. So hard —”

  She moaned and let go. Let her hand fall away and concentrated on his body, his pleasure. Her own would come, a thousand times more satisfying, because Karim would focus all of that concentration, all of his strength, and unleash it with her ecstasy as his only goal.

  Just this once, she didn’t need to orchestrate their bodies and their actions. She didn’t need to time her release to his, to hold strictly to control.

  This once, she could trust pleasure to take its own course.

  ———

  Celine had opened a door, he was sure of it, and he’d have to think about that more when helpless pleasure wasn’t dancing up his spine, threatening him with an explosive orgasm.

  Karim drew her head closer, seating his cock deep in her mouth and throat. “Look at me.”

  Dark eyes drifted open and she stared up at him, her usual teasing faux-submission replaced with a wild, needy hunger.

  Mine. Control vanished in the face of the sudden thought, and he had no idea if it was his or hers. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was the pleasure building in his balls.

  She moaned her encouragement, and her thought curled around him. Come for me.

  That was all it took after all, a simple, heartfelt plea. Pleasure ripped through him, a thunderous release that weakened his knees. Yes. My love.

  Celine worked him until he could barely stand, then pulled back with a satisfied noise, her hands shaking as she lifted them to his hips. “You’re magnificent.”

  He hit his knees. “No, I’m not. I’m just… the same man, the same wolf I’ve always been.”

  “I know.” Her fingers framed his face. “Magnificent.”

  His chest ached, and he caught her hands in his. “On the bed.”

  “Put me there,” she whispered, the words holding a wild, reckless challenge she never would have issued as a priestess.

  He had his hands on her before he realized he’d moved, and feral satisfaction blazed through him. This was what he wanted — Celi
ne, giving no thought to what she should do. Just what she wanted.

  He spilled her to the bed and loomed over her. “Touch yourself again.”

  Dark eyes watched him with undisguised need as she slid one hand down her body, until her fingers slicked over her clit and her hips lifted restlessly.

  Karim trailed his own hand after hers, watching her face as he pressed her fingers down more firmly. Her lips parted, a soft moan escaping, and her eyes fluttered shut. “I want to feel your fingers.”

  “Shh.” He eased two of her fingers into her pussy and pushed them deep.

  “Karim!” The muscles of her forearm tensed, and she shuddered and twisted, frustration bubbling up in her thoughts. “I’ve had nothing but my own fingers for five months.”

  There it was again, the fierce, primal satisfaction that she’d wanted him. Needed him. He whispered another soothing noise and slipped his fingers against her, thrusting one in to join hers.

  She made a low noise as her cunt clenched around their fingers, tight and hot. She was so wet that their fingers moved easily as she thrust her hips up, one thought rising to the surface. Make me come.

  “I will. Like this…” He urged her fingers to curl, to brush against the swollen, sensitive spot that would send her over the edge.

  Her body went taut. She arched, gasping, and he felt her orgasm start deep inside her. She cried out as her body spasmed, her voice shaking with honest, uninhibited release.

  He’d just come, and still the sight stiffened his cock, made him ache. “Don’t stop there. Do it again.”

  “I can’t…” A moan, and she twisted, one heel coming up to dig into the mattress. “Not so fast.”

  He held her still with his free hand. “You can. I remember.”

  Panting gasps lifted her breasts as she shook under his touch. “Karim, please —” Hold me.

  If only she knew how much he’d wanted to. Karim slipped his arm under her and drew her closer to his chest, his fingers still inside her. “I’m right here.”

  Celine eased her fingers free from her body and lifted her slick fingers. “This is what you do to me.”

  He guided them into his mouth and laved them gently with his tongue before releasing her. “I know.”

  “Every time.” She sank her fingers into his hair and dragged his mouth to hers, kissing him so desperately her teeth dug into his lower lip.

  Karim had spent entire restless nights dreaming of the taste of her, and his memory had still fallen short of how good she was. He groaned and kissed her harder.

  He felt her response in her pussy, muscles fluttering around his fingers. A second later her hand bumped into his, and she moaned as her fingers slipped over her clit. She tore her mouth away and pressed it to his cheek. “For you. I’ll come for you. As many times as you want me to.”

  It was the submission he needed. He kissed her cheek and chin and mouth, his own lips parted and questing, as he rocked his hand against her. He wanted her to collapse in his arms, exhausted and sated, and he’d do whatever it took.

  My love.

  Chapter Three

  Karim awoke to a knock at the door. He carefully untangled himself from Celine and padded naked to disengage the lock.

  Simon, his trusted valet, stood on the other side. “This has just arrived, sir. Bearing the royal seal.” He flipped it over for Karim to see.

  “Thank you, Simon.”

  The scant moonlight filtering through the window was inadequate for reading, so Karim flipped on the bedside lamp as he dropped to the edge of the bed and broke the letter’s seal.

  Celine stirred, rolling away from the light with a soft murmur of protest. “Too early.”

  “It’s a letter from Rais.”

  “He moves quickly.”

  Karim scanned the words, written in his cousin’s own hand. No doubt he’d known that a missive generated by dictation or comlink would not be trusted. “He sent his guards to your hometown. Turns out, the council there was collaborating with humans.”

  So close to the border, it was to be expected. There were those who felt the wolves would eventually lose this war against humans. They were all too often willing to go against their own kind, providing the enemy with support and intelligence in order to ensure their survival after the last battle had been fought.

  Rais would deal with them. Perhaps he already had. Normally, Karim would have left for the palace immediately, but Rais had better advisors than he. His cousin did not need him.

  Not for this.

  Celine stretched her arms over her head, her eyes still closed. “The woman who raised me, did she reach the palace safely? They captured me while I was seeing to her interests.”

  “She’s there. Zahra and Jarek are caring for her.”

  A subtle tension eased as she rolled onto her side, her hand drifting up his back. “She’s in good hands, then. I’m so relieved.”

  “They’ll take care of her.” The rest was done, and Celine was safe. “There’s no one after you now.”

  “I hadn’t realized I’d be a target at all. Perhaps I should remember that next time I want to venture too close to the border.”

  She seemed to have missed his meaning — she could go now. Nothing held her by his side. “You couldn’t have known you’d run into something like that.”

  “Still, it was reckless.” Her fingers skated down his spine, then slid around his waist. “Come back to bed?”

  He wanted to. All he had to do was spill her back onto the pillows and ride her until she forgot everything but the sensation of his cock deep inside her. “Celine.”

  Her fingers tensed. “If you wish for me to leave, I can go back to the palace with the messenger.”

  It wasn’t what he wished at all. “You could if you wanted. You realize that, right?”

  She curled her fingers until the nails scored his abdomen. “When have I not been capable of doing what I wanted?”

  He caught her wrist. “When you’re trying not to hurt me.”

  The easy openness of her mind faded, replaced with prickly defensiveness. “I hurt you. I hurt you by choosing my duty over my love. But did I truly treat you so poorly that you think I’d use you like this and discard you when I was finished?”

  “No,” he said quickly, “but this wasn’t exactly a planned reunion. And perhaps you were only trying to help a warrior last night.”

  “I was trying to help my warrior last night, Karim.”

  The words wove together the lingering threads of hope inside him… but he couldn’t risk it. Not again. “I don’t want to be your warrior. I never did. I wanted to be your mate.”

  Her thoughts were too carefully guarded, but he tasted sadness in the touch of her mind. “I don’t know how long it will take me to learn to be a woman before a priestess. You’ve already made it clear you don’t think I can. So I ask again — do you want me to leave?”

  He should, but his instincts railed against the notion. He’d waited too long to let go just yet. “One more day. One more night. Will you give me that?”

  “Yes.” Her breath fell hot on his hip. “One more day. One more night.”

  “Come here.” He drew her around his body, sheets and all, to lie on his lap. “What shall we do now, Celine?”

  A slow smile curled her lips. “Do your servants keep that delectable soaking pool in your basement prepared when you’re not around?”

  “Mmm, of course. It’s fed by a spring.”

  “I could use a nice, long soak.” Wicked intent shone from her eyes. “With company.”

  He rose, keeping her in his arms, but the sheet slid free as he stepped away from the bed. “Feel like walking down there naked?”

  “I don’t care.” Her arms slipped around his neck. “Maybe we can go for a run today. It’s been so long since I had the chance to really run.”

  “Whatever you want.” She looked right in his home, as if she belonged there. As if it was hers, as well.

  She tugged at his hai
r. “You’re being terribly accommodating. What about what you want?”

  He had what he wanted — or as close as he was going to get for now. “I want for nothing, and you are the guest.”

  “So we’ll bathe. And we’ll run.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “And I’ll take shameless, endless advantage of your body, if you persist on being naked in my presence.”

  Karim arched an eyebrow at her. “Do you expect me to bathe in the pools with my clothes on?”

  “No.” She settled her cheek back against his chest with a soft sigh. “One day, one night… anything we want.”

  The dreamy note in her voice made him feel just as wistful, which was ridiculous — they were still there, still together. He bounced her a little and cleared his throat. “Bathing pool,” he said sternly.

  Then he shouldered open the door and headed down the hall.

  ———

  The polished stone that formed the basement pools should have been cold, and would have been, if it had not been for the thermal heat from the hot springs that fed it from the far end of the room. The water cooled as it flowed down to the near end of the room, allowing one to choose the most desired temperature.

  The floor warmed as he walked midway down the length of the room, and Karim set Celine on her feet near the middle of the system of pools. Her tousled hair fell around her body, but it didn’t hide the mark of his teeth on her throat. She smiled lazily at him and dipped her toes into the water. “Perfect,” she whispered, then slid in.

  “Not warmer?” he asked as he stepped in after her.

  “Soon enough.” She lifted a hand and beckoned to him. “Come here.”

  He dipped his head under the surface first and enjoyed the heat in her gaze as water sluiced down his chest and shoulders. “Where? Here?” He eased into the deepest part of the pool and treaded water.

  A smile curled her lips as she floated after him. Her fingers brushed his hip, then curled around his cock. “I wonder how long I could hold my breath for…”

  “Hmm. If memory serves… a minute, to be on the safe side.”