Tempted by the Forbidden Mate, page 17
“Holter, please. Please now.”
I’m on her. I pump my cock twice and slide it into her. Her legs shake as they grab me around the waist.
“Oh Holter,” she cries and pants my name. Her lips graze my neck. Her nails dig into my back. And I’m inside her. At home. And I’m not going anywhere.
She wants it rough and fast, and I’ll get to that. But first, I need to feel every inch of her. I roll my hips, dragging against her clit with every rock of my lower body. Her pussy clenches around my cock, and her whimpers grow louder. I kiss the sensitive spot on her neck, just below the ear but above the mark Nico gave her. I could shoot her to the moon if I sucked on his mark. But that’s theirs, and I have some respect for his memory. Fuck.
“I love being inside you, Belle. I love how you smell, and I fucking adore how you taste.” I plunge my tongue into her mouth, letting her taste herself. I’m being too precious, too close to something that is a mate. “I’m going to fuck you hard now, Belle. And I don’t give a damn who hears me. We’re going to do this. Rough.”
A whimper hisses through her lips, and I pull her hands over her head, holding them tight in one hand while my other hand pushes her knees up. I dive into her. I slam into her until I hear her screaming my name, over and over again. Quick, hard thrusts. She’s shaking, her pussy clenching around me. She’s so fucking tight around me. She’s close, and I’m trying not to come, but it’s impossible. I’m already there.
“Don’t come,” she gasps. “Please don’t, not yet. I need more.” She’s begging, pleading with me to not stop.
I reach into a part of me I didn’t know existed. Over and over again, I thrust into her.
“Don’t come. Don’t come.” She’s panting, begging me to make her come, hard. “Please, Holter, please.”
In one quick movement, I flip her onto her stomach. My cock pulls free, leaving a sticky trail over her ass. She’s on her knees, her hands bound, her ass up high and perfect for me. My cock is aching for her, but I’m fighting the orgasm that’s trying to take me. Forcing myself to hold on. I plunge into her. And I can’t hold back anymore. I wrap my arm around her, my head on her back, and flick her clit as my cock jerks and the orgasm shoots into her.
She screams and clenches, taking us both higher. I collapse over her, my hand gentle on her ass cheek, stroking her. She rolls over.
“Wow, so good.” She’s shaking and rolls her head to the side. “Holter?”
My breath is gone, and I’m not sure I even recognize my own name. I smooth a braid back from her glowing face, and my eyes drift closed again as I answer. “Belle.”
“I . . .” Her voice trembles a little, and I can’t have her say anything else. I’m afraid she’ll say words I want to hear but that I can’t hear or have for many, many years to come. I kiss her, stopping her from talking. It’s slow and passionate. Too passionate, but I want her to know that while we can’t be together, I feel it too. This is a gray area. With or without Nico here, she’s not my mate. She’s not mine. No matter what my subconscious says.
We lie naked, her hair spread out over the pillow, her body curled up against me. I should get dressed, go back to my room, but I don’t want to.
She rolls over onto her belly, props herself up on her elbows. “I’m going to go make some coffee for us both. Because we deserve, it.” But she doesn’t move either. She lets out a giggle. A giggle. She never stops surprising me.
I never expected her to try to escape, and when Nico told me of how she saved him, it surprised me all over again. But then Nico surprised me too. Letting those who let Belle escape live? Yeah, that was shocking. My fingers are tangled in her hair when I see the shadows outside the pod chamber window. I lean up, but it’s just the shark trainers again. They couldn’t have seen us in here. I drop my head.
“What’s that?” Annabelle jumps up, the sheet clutched to her pale breasts. “Who’s outside?” She darts into the hallway, and I follow.
26
Annabelle
Every cell in my body that had been relaxed is now on high alert. The break-in from the other day has me listening to every creak, any rogue fish that slaps against the glass at night.
“Who is that out there?”
“That’s the training crew for the sharks.” Holter stands behind me, but not close enough to touch. Like he doesn’t want the mermen outside the window to see us together.
“Constantine’s?”
“Yes. He sent me a message this morning. They’re going to be here most of the day. They’re going to want to have you come outside later today.”
“Me? Outside?” I swallow, my pulse tapping out a frantic tune.
“Yeah.”
“But I don’t have a tail.”
“I know. But you can still go out there.”
“Won’t it get around?”
“No, there are some people who swim without shifting into their fluke. If they’ve gotten a tattoo recently, for one.” He smiles at me. “Do you want me to make you some coffee?”
“I said I was going to make it for you. You know you don’t have to do everything for me, right?”
“Belle, I like doing things for you. Besides I’m the guest here. I should be helping.”
I know he’s just trying to be nice, but it hits me hard. I don’t want him to be a guest. And at the same time, I don’t want this to be mine. My head is continually jumbled. “I know. That’s how you say it has to be.”
“For now.”
Those two words put a thrill through me, and I want to squeal. I shouldn’t want someone who doesn’t want me. But I can’t help it. I’ve gone from feeling wanted and cherished to something stored in the basement. Literally the basement.
The door opens up, and the one who most definitely doesn’t want me—or is even more confused than I am—stands there.
“You should knock, Drakos.” Holter frowns at Castor.
“I should,” he growls back. “But I’ve got news—”
“The shark trainers are already here,” Holter says.
“What? Oh, right, that. No. The governors can give him a new trial.”
“What?” I jump up, my feet leaving the marble floor. “Really?”
“Really, Annabelle.”
I turn to Holter, expecting to see him as excited as I am, but he’s grimacing at Castor.
“This is great news.” I wave my hands in the air, like a crazed back-up dancer. “Is it? Or is it just postponing the inevitable? Does Nico know yet?” I’m bouncing.
“I don’t know. He’s being kept in isolation.” Castor folds his arms over his chest.
“And are you going to tell him this was your family’s doing?” Holter cocks his head at Castor.
“What does it matter how it happened?” I ask. “This is good news, right?” Inside, I know this is good news. My internal battle over my feelings for Nico has been won over the last few days. What he did was wrong. But he did it for the right reasons, and he’s capable of change.
“If the Drakoses bought off other governors, there will be favors that need to be returned. It will cost the Glyden Dome more than gold but favors we might not believe in the future. Nico hates this type of transactional trade among the domes. How is he going to feel about it for himself?”
“He’s going to feel alive. That’s how he’s going to feel, Holter. You call him your brother. Maybe you should start acting like it instead of enjoying playing house with his mate.”
“Playing house?” Holter fumes. He takes two steps toward Castor, but I step between the two of them. “Belle,” he growls.
“Don’t you ‘Belle’ me. You’re both on the same side. You both don’t want Nico to die. So start acting like it. And if you’re going to start throwing punches, leave me out of it.” I leave the living room. There’s two new pieces of furniture I hadn’t noticed before. And a new rug. They must have come after I went to bed last night, but I’m not going to spend any time talking about them now. I march down the hall, my robe flowing open behind me.
“Belle, wait.” Holter is at my side.
“What? What do you want?”
“It’s just, before you get ready for the day. I thought you might want to go outside and get the training session done with the sharks.”
My chest heaves. I’m so angry with both of them. I want to lock myself in Kai’s old dressing room and read a book all day long. But I don’t have a dressing room. Or rather, there’s space for one, but it hasn’t been set up yet.
“How is she . . .” Castor begins.
“Exactly how am I going to go outside without shifting into a fluke?”
Holter tugs me into the bedroom he’s been sleeping in. “I’ve got it here.” He holds up a bandage gun like the one the medic on board the Centauri used. Only this one is smaller and not attached to the wall. “We use these bandages for tattoos.”
“Right, not to be literal, but I don’t have a new tattoo. And won’t it be suspicious if every time I need to been seen swimming, I have a tattoo bandage? And no old tattoos?”
Castor laughs. “She’s got you there. But Annabelle, I don’t think it’s such a bad idea.”
“Fine. I’ve always wanted one, anyway. But I never had the money for it.” I hold my arm out and then immediately realize my error when Holter stares at me like I’ve lost it. “Right, it will need to be somewhere that would shift.” I flap the robe open and give him my right leg. He points the bandage gun at my calf. “No, put it up here.” I point to the wide part of my thigh. “I won’t rub it when I kick.” More like flail, but whatever.
He waves the spray bandage gun back and forth over my thigh. It’s cold and stings a little. I suck in my lips.
“Does it hurt?” Castor takes my hand.
“No, it doesn’t hurt.” I’m irritated he even asked. But I temper my expression when I see the look of concern on his face. “I didn’t expect it to be cold.”
“That makes sense.”
I want to ask about the composite material used to make it, but I realize neither of them are that into science. “I need to find something to change into.”
“You don’t need to.”
“I realize I don’t, but I’m not going out there naked.” I leave the two of them in Holter’s room. Hopefully, they won’t kill each other while I’m gone. I dig through the clothes Kai and Ophelia have sent me. Most of it is brand new. But in it I find a short robe that will work. It’s made out of a fabric that feels like a bathing suit. I string the belt around my legs, keeping it secure from flying up.
The two of them are standing in the hall, naked, near the airlock. The air in my lungs is colder than the bandage gun’s sealant. The guys have stripped in preparation for shifting into their flukes. They’re stunning. Castor with his golden hair and tapered torso. Holter with his broad chest and blue eyes. It’s everything I can do to keep my eyes from dipping down.
“What are you wearing, Belle?” Holter runs his hand along the edge of the robe as it dips down my breasts.
“It’s a robe. It was Kai’s, I think, but I don’t think she’s ever worn it.”
“Well, it looks better on you.” Castor shakes his head. “I’ll have more things sent to you. When things have settled down, we can take you shopping.”
Both Holter and I look at him. We. There is no we.
Holter opens the door to the first airlock, and I follow him through. Castor hits the controls on the side, and the next door opens. He yanks the door closed, and we proceed to the last chamber, the wet one. The one that floods first. Outside, I can see the workmen setting up an enclosure.
“If you’d told me a month ago I’d be swimming in the bottom of the ocean with sharks, I would have called you crazy.”
“You can do this, Belle.” Holter squeezes my shoulder. “Are you ready?”
“As much as I can be.” My hands shake, and I hold my arms around my waist to still myself as much as possible.
Holter hits a button on the far side, and water fills from the bottom up, sloshing around my ankles, up to my calves and then thighs.
When the water hits my chest, Castor cocks his head at me. “You can do this. We’ll be right here.”
“Ready to shift into your gills?”
I nod. I’m not, but reflex has me agreeing. Stupid, stupid reflex. The little girl who just wants to please everyone, to keep out of sight, out of mind. Tension stings my fingers. I’m ready to burst.
Castor grabs my head. The water is at my chin. He holds me. His green eyes peer at me, and then his mouth is on mine as the kiss consumes me, tongues wrestling for control, until the water is over my head, my braid floating next to me. He pushes back from me. You did it.
I’ve shifted, and I didn’t even realize it. Well, I haven’t shifted like they have. Their blue and golden tails swish as the door to the outside swings open.
Holter wiggles his eyebrows at me. I never doubted you could do it. It’s a dig at Castor. Without Nico, it’s more obvious how much baggage they have with each other. There’s a lot. I don’t understand what’s going on between the two of them.
Holter takes my hand and leads me out of the airlock. Every cell in my body wants to explode, but not because I can’t breathe. No, oxygen is flowing to my brain without me thinking about it. And I even managed to push all the extra air out of my lungs without coughing like a crazy person. No, it’s day above, and a small amount of natural light filters through the ocean. The hidden lights of the dome shine upward, illuminating the coral. I’ve loved sitting on the sofa watching the fish swim around it. But being out here, seeing it close up, is something else.
My heart is pounding. I dropped Holter’s hand without realizing it. There are shadows above me, but I’m not paying any attention to them. There are sweet little pink and blue fish swimming around, and I’ve been wondering what their back fins look like. I head for the large reef right outside the dome. It’s not until I’m there that I realize I’ve been kicking like an actual mermaid, with my legs together, using my hands like a normal person instead of flailing about like a drowning rat.
You’re doing great, Annabelle. It’s a voice I don’t really recognize. I turn, and over my shoulder is Castor’s young brother Milo, but he’s not alone. A shark hovers at his side.
“Thank you.” I try to use my mouth, but then realize nothing is coming out. Thank you, I project instead. I’m a bundle of nerves, and I’m not looking at Milo but the large beast over his shoulder.
This is M32. I’ve already trained him on your scent. I’ve been working with my Baba for the last semester of college. Milo smiles at me.
Oh. I’m shivering, and not because the water is colder than an icy drink inside a hockey arena.
Really, he’s friendly to any scent he’s been trained on. Here, give me your hand. Milo reaches for me.
27
Castor
You’re letting your tattoo heal. So smart. When I got mine, I didn’t wait long enough. And poof, it was gone. Having to pay for the same tattoo twice was frustrating. Milo taps the side of his fluke and smiles at Annabelle. My little brother has no game.
Tattoo? I pretend not to know he has one. I’ve seen it.
Shh, don’t tell Mother. She doesn’t know. Milo shrugs.
I also know he paid for it not twice but three times. But I’m not telling him that because he told Kai and Kai told me. If my sister finds out I spilled the shrimp shells to him, she’ll explode. And I don’t have time for her mates knocking on my office door right now.
That’s what I thought, I say. I didn’t get my first tattoo until I was out of university. Mother is old-fashioned that way. When Nole got his in high school, she flipped.
Milo nods at me and turns to Annabelle. What did you get? Oh, I know, a starfish.
Starfish are the equivalent of a rose to humans, and Annabelle would never get a rose. At least, not one that wasn’t changed in some way.
So what is it? Milos’s eyebrows arch up.
It’s a surprise. Annabelle waves one hand around while using the other to keep the silly robe closed.
Gotcha. Milo nods.
I have no idea what he thinks he’s understood. But I would like to get that smirk off his face. Milo, give Annabelle some space.
I will, but Baba sent me to handle this. I need her to have the right training. You too, Holter. My youngest brother can be a bit over-excited about animals. But it’s the perfect job for him.
No, it’s fine. I can do this. The shakiness of her projection gives me some doubt. But then the way she swam over to the reef was impressive. Seeing her kick like she had a fluke, not two legs, is exciting. She’s definitely a mermaid.
I’m not going to let him hurt you. Holter is fluttering next to the beast.
M32 is really friendly if you work with him the right way.
But if you don’t? Annabelle grabs my hand.
I ease her back to my front, moving my fluke to keep the two of us in place.
He’s trained for protection. Milo nods. The youngling excels at his job—at least, that’s what Mother says. But then she says that about all of us.
Are you ready? I let my cheek rest on the side of Annabelle’s face.
Yes, I think so. She reaches out and runs her hand along the edge of M32’s flank. He’s so soft.
Yes, M32 is a good boy. Milo scratches the shark on the underside of his mouth.
I’ve never cared one way or another about sharks—great whites or nurse sharks. They’re all the same to me. Something I need to swim faster than. Orcas, on the other hand . . . I hate those vile deathmongers. I’ve got my trident at my side. Numbered shark or not, if it so much as flicks a tooth at Annabelle, I’ll take the beast down.
Annabelle moves closer to M32. He likes to be scratched like this?
Yes, and you can really get in there. Milo power-scratches the shark. Annabelle copies him. And the thing looks like it wants to roll over. His tail is wagging, but that’s more to keep it afloat. I think.
What’s that in your hand? Annabelle asks.
