Page 58 of The Rat King
Chase. Had I been such a fool worrying over nothing? My mind had immediately twisted it into something dread inducing when maybe it hadn’t been a name after all. Maybe she’d murmured something from a magically blocked memory, the one of our pursuit the night she’d tried to run from Xavier, and it was threatening to seep through in her dreams. It was too good to be true.
Dread and elation coiled in my chest, weaving tight braids around my stuttering heart. I should be grateful to have this exquisite woman look upon me so adoringly, but I knew when she fell and the curse was lifted, dissolving with it the magic’s power, she’d see me and feel about me as she had before. Damn witches and their curses. A woman always knew how to hit you where it hurt. I really hated them. At least the consolation would be that my people would be free, but I’d be a tattered scrap of a man left in her aftermath.
I shouldn’t be so dire. My heart would be shattered, but I’d find a way to win her back. I’d vow my life on it, and she’d promised.
She gave me the sweetest look, and I sank a little deeper under her spell. “Husband, you look so desperate. Why, when I’m your wife now?”
There would be no hesitation. Though my heart was a thundering war drum, I wouldn’t flinch. “Because, Avery, I’ve fallen desperately in love with you, and I’m terrified you won’t feel the same. I’ve never wanted anything more in my pathetic life.”
“Nighval, I…” she said, raising a hand to her throat.
I tugged on her other hand, so she met me on her knees. “Shhh,” I said. “You don’t need to say anything. Just let me make love to you.”
I kissed her then, fingering the edges of her slip, lifting it over her head so she was bare before me on the forest floor. My magic created a soft bed of bright green moss that I carefully laid her down on. I made quick work of my clothes as she watched me as I lowered myself over her. When I planned this hunt, I imagined I’d chase her through the forest and take her as roughly as I did that first night, but the love welling in my chest demanded I savor her. Savor every second gifted to me.
She was ready for me as I entered her familiar warmth with a gentle stroke, and she gasped. Then I kissed her, in slow languid motions, kissing and licking her lips, her jaw, her neck. Her fingers threaded through my hair, and I slid into her again and again. Her tremors started, and I moved in the way I’d learned she’d liked stroking over and over until she seized up beneath me. I pressed our foreheads together and breathed in every exhale as I guided her through her orgasm. When she settled, opening her eyes, I started moving again.
“More?” she asked, her voice still breathy with need.
“Yes, my love, more.” I rocked, nudging against that deep spot that sent her over the edge, making sure my pelvis ground into her deliciously swollen clit. “Like that?” I asked.
“Yes, please,” she said. Soon her body jerked, and she bowed off the ground. I held her still, moving as she rode out her pleasure once again.
She was shaky when she came down and she looked up at me with glazed eyes. I nudged my cock, still rock hard, deep inside her and her eyes widened. “More?” she asked again, but this time a hint of a giggle laced her voice.
“Yes, wife, more. I’m going to make you come until you believe you can’t live without me like I can’t live without you.”
A lust-addled grin lit her face. “Why?” she asked.
I chuckled and thrust into her, wiping the smile from her face. Leaning down, I said, “Because I love you, Avery. And I would do anything to keep you.”
Her face was full of wonder as she stared up at me and in that moment, my chest had never felt so full, like I could soar. “You make me feel like I could—”
She cut me off with the most earth-shattering words I’d ever heard. “I love you, too, Nighval.”
I felt the truth of her words as the air around us began vibrating. Building. Then a tidal wave of magic burst through the clearing. The momentum of the curse blowing apart threatened to lift us off the ground, so I clung to my wife, letting my full weight press her naked body into the moss bed. I tried to take in what was happening. My heart jumped to my throat as blue streams of light, much like my own magic, lit up the area beneath the canopy radiating out from where our chests touched.
We’d done it. I could hardly believe it. A hot tear traced down my cheek, as relief flooded through me. I buried myself in her hair, keeping perfectly still as the last waves of it rolled out.
It had to be past the time when the third bell would have rung, and while the moss was still coating the forest floor, my power had been gone. It rushed back to me in a flood that had me thrusting my hips forward into this glorious creature underneath me. For fear of what she would see, I said, “Close your eyes, my love, and let me finish inside you.”
She obeyed, and I started pumping into her with renewed vigor. With the elation I felt from her love, from my freedom, from all the good things that would come of this. I’d never felt happier in my life, and it was all because of her.
I leaned over her and kissed her neck, murmuring the words I needed her to hear. Needed her to never forget. “I love you, I love you, I love you.” Her body shuddered underneath me and broke and this time I erupted with her, surging my release deep inside my wife’s clenching walls. Deep inside the woman who loves me.
When the pleasure subsided, I leaned up on my forearm. It might have been foolish, but I was curious if she’d felt the release of the curse, too. I grinned as her eyes fluttered open, landing on me.
Then she screamed.
Part 3
Chapter 42
Avery
“Getawayfromme,”I screamed, backing away from the monster that was above me. A flood of memories crashed into my mind, and my brain was an instant tangle. Crab crawling far enough away, I scrambled to my feet. I bent over to snatch my discarded nightie and held it to my breast to cover myself from him.
“That fucking pill.” I staggered back and my hand flew to my chest. “My fucking heart, you monster.” And he was a monster. A scarred, devious, deceitful, wicked man, more than any rat-man I’d ever encountered. There he was on his knees in human form, curse fully broken, having captured my shattering heart with his trickery.
