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On his upper right thigh, he had a tattoo of my face, of me as an adult, not as a child. A circle of silver roses and purple skulls surrounded my face. The same roses and skulls scattered through the vine near my wolf tattoo.
"That's me! How long have you had that?" I asked, breathless, reaching out to touch my face inked onto his skin.
"You aren't the only one linked in this relationship," he said, gazing down at my finger as he smiled. "Since long before you were born. I didn't let you see it last time. You had to make decisions on your own, without me influencing you. I told you, Cicely, I've been waiting for you. And someday I'll tell you more, when you are able to remember."
My wolf whimpered, a pleading cry, and I pressed against him.
"Make me forget the day. Make me forget everything except your touch." I wanted out of my head, out of my thoughts, out of the bloody sleaze I'd been forced to witness at Regina's party.
Grieve pulled me into his arms again, sliding one leg between my knees and I opened to his touch. As we went tumbling onto the bed, all I could hear was the rushing of winds, the soft hooting of owls, the howling of wolves, and my own heart racing. His hands slid over my body, down the length of my legs, and I let out a sharp cry as his fingers gently rubbed me into a frenzy of my own.
Every time he kissed me, white-hot fire--sizzling to a burn--raced through my body. I let out a cry, then another but he refused to stop and kept circling with one finger, driving me crazy with desire.
This is what you've been waiting for, Ulean whispered, and a wind, desert hot and sultry, bathed me in fire. This is why no other man seems to attract you. Dangerous or not, you were bound, you and Grieve, long before you were born into this lifetime.
Shaken, spinning, unsure of where my body left off and where Grieve's touch began, the night became a blur of touch and motion and movement. His lips on my lips, on my body, licking, kissing, nibbling, grazing me with those sharp teeth that hurt so good. His hands were a vortex of motion and my own mirrored his hunger.
I reached out to touch him, then--suddenly needing to lead. I pushed him back on the bed and slid down his body, my tongue tasting the sweet musk of his sweat. I trailed down the center of his stomach, over his abs, down toward the fulcrum of his delicious V, down to meet his rising passion, to take him in my mouth, to taste the fiery autumn night that clung to his energy, his very flesh.
"Cicely." His whisper was rough, his voice harsh, but behind my name was a plea for me not to stop, not to push him away.
I licked him full, licked him long in one stroke, my tongue tickling over the long pulse of his cock, circling the head and teasing him hard and harder still. And then, suddenly I was on the bottom, and he was over me, head between my thighs, and the sting of his teeth made me cry out in a choked voice.
"Let me in." He rose above me, hips aiming, and I shifted to meet him as he slowly forged his way into my body, into my heart. The slow rhythm of his movements lulled me into a flower-shrouded haze. The scent of spicy carnations wafted over me and I caught the brief glimpse of a dark grove, where our bodies lay entwined on the ground beneath a mossy tree thick with leaves. Only we were not ourselves--but two others--and yet, they were us.
And then, we were back in my bedroom and he was driving harder as the intensity heightened. I tried to remember what he was, who he was, but all I could think of was--he was the right one. He was the one I was meant to be with, we were bound. I had no idea how or why, but here we were.
He lowered his lips to my neck and sliced the skin. Our bodies entwined as he lapped at my blood and a brilliant indigo mist began to swirl around us. He sucked harder and I whimpered as he tasted my most hidden secret self, my very essence. After a moment, he moaned, then pulled his face away. I was afraid to look at him, suddenly flashing back to Lannan's bloodstained mouth and chin after he'd fucked the girl.
But Grieve's face was clean, with just a single drop of blood on the corner of his lip, and the look in his eyes was one of life and desire and exquisite joy, and I forgot myself as he began to pump harder. My wolf growled, brazen and feral, and I slid into Grieve's flame. All thought dropped away as the spark became a blaze, and the blaze crowned into a raging fire and there was nothing left but Grieve and me, and our passion.
After, long after, I was lying in his arms, dozing. He tapped me on the shoulder and kissed my forehead.
"What is it?" I gazed up at him, realizing that while, yes, I was enthralled because of the venom in his teeth, there was also some energy far deeper beneath the surface working between us.
"I have to go. I don't want them to ask where I've been." And by them, I knew he meant the Indigo Court.
"Good idea." Sliding out from between the sheets, I slipped on my bathrobe. "Do you . . . I . . . I'm not sure what to say." Should I ask him when he'd be back? Keep it casual? Everything inside me screamed this couldn't be casual and that if he wanted it that way, I was already a goner.
He pressed his finger to my lips. "Hush for now. We are meant to be, Cicely. Let it go at that for now. There are many problems to work through, considering who holds my chains, but we will find a way. I promise you that. You are mine. Never forget that."
And considering who now holds my chains, there are more problems than you think. I thought it, but kept my mouth shut, foreseeing so many land mines ahead of us.
He leaned down and kissed me again. "One other thing. I will tell you something even though it puts me in danger."
"What is it?"
"Heather's alive. And so is your friend Peyton."
I stared at him and his glamour fell away, leaving him looking vulnerable and weary. Could he be telling the truth? Was he toying with me? Hesitating, I touched my hand to my throat. "Alive? You're sure? Where are they?"
"I'm certain, yes. I don't dare try to help you rescue them, but I will tell you that they're deep within the forest, past the ravine, being held captive in the Marburry Barrow. I don't know how long they'll remain alive, but right now, they're there and relatively unharmed." His eyes narrowed and he leaned toward me. "Myst is holding them captive."
"Where is the Barrow? How far into the wood?"
"You can't just walk up to it. You have to find the portal, otherwise it will just look like a large mound of dirt and grass. But if you want to go there, follow the path to the stand of red huckleberries. You'll see a Faerie ring of toadstools on the left." He traced a diagram on the bed for me.
"Faerie ring? Aren't those dangerous?"
