Her Legacy (Reigning Folklore Book 1), page 6
“Have you…have you ever tried to…” She felt his head shake fiercely over her. “Nevermind. Do not answer that. I should not have asked.”
“It’s okay. And yes…I have. Several times.”
She didn’t know what made her do it, but Addie pulled up her left sleeve and showed him the long, pink scar running up her arm from inner wrist almost to her inner elbow. The amount of sutures it had taken to close the wound was quite large. The dosage of meds they’d pumped into her while she healed to keep from reopening it had been even more astronomical.
This wasn’t a part of herself she hid. She could wear long-sleeves her whole life, but what good did that do her? If someone saw, they saw. But she never deliberately showcased it. She didn’t crow about her failed suicide attempts and claim that she’d grown from those efforts to be a better person. She didn’t claim that she was cured or regretted what she did.
It wouldn’t make anyone comfortable to hear that she lamented over the fact that she hadn’t been successful and that there was a strong likelihood that she’d one day complete the process.
No. No one liked to hear that sort of morbid talk.
Daire’s hand shook finely as he traced the scar with utmost care and gentility. The tattooed script walking that line and accented by cherry blossom petals was her own brand of healing. The script read, in Sanskrit, ‘colorblind in a world of color’.
“This was the last time. Jude was nineteen.” Addie puffed out a breath. “Having depression is like being caught in a never-ending cyclone of darkness. Every negative thought and bad thing in the world just spins around again and again and again and I’m standing in the path of it. I feel it hit me, feel it pierce right through my very soul. It’s hard to hear anything in that place. I can’t speak there. But I can feel. I can feel pain in every fiber of my being. I can feel it tearing my mind and my body to shreds. I was so ready for the pain to just stop that I was willing to kill myself to be free of it.
“You can’t explain that to people. They all say you’re weak. They say that you took the coward’s way out by trying to die. But they don’t know. Depression is like cancer and acid and putrid, revolting despair – the worst agony you could ever face – all wrapped into one tidy ball that never…shuts…up. It beats at you every moment of every day. It sucks every ounce of joy and beauty and happiness out of life until it’s nothing more than a shriveled husk. Worse, it turns every breath you take into a curse.”
Addie tugged the sleeve back down, hiding her mark. Daire’s right hand locked around her left unshakably. She was pulled more securely into his chest. She could hear his breathing rattle as he fought with some inner demon of his own.
“Jude was the one that found me the last time. Wrapped a tourniquet around my arm, dragged me out to the car, and drove me to the hospital. Cop tried pulling us over, but Jude wouldn’t stop.” A sardonic smile touched her lips briefly before she continued. “After I healed, Jude made me swear to every deity out there that I would never leave her like that. She was so…destroyed when she confronted me. I did that to her and I knew after that that I couldn’t do that to her again. It’s not that I don’t occasionally have the urge to do something – that I don’t still want the pain to go away – but I can’t kill myself knowing that Jude will suffer for it. I just can’t.”
“Oh, my little one,” Daire’s lips found her crown and he kissed it tenderly. His nose nuzzled her hair. “Regardless if you believe me or not, there is more than just Jude who would suffer you if you were gone. Please, please, Adeline, I know that we do not know each other well, but if you ever feel like you cannot keep going…find me. Come to me.”
“Okay,” she replied automatically. Flatly. Daire shook her roughly in retaliation and when he spoke again, his tone was tortured.
“No, Addie. No. Come to me. No matter what happens, no matter what you are feeling, come to me. Please, dear Goddess, come to me.”
Addie tipped her head back and gazed up into Daire’s handsome face. Her heart wrenched to see the glisten of tears beginning to show in this stranger’s eyes. His jaw was locked down tight and his entire expression was wretched. For some reason she couldn’t understand, this man cared. Cared about a woman he knew almost nothing about. A singular flash of icy blue in his eyes caught her attention before his lids slammed shut.
“Okay,” she hushed more sincerely. She lifted her right hand from between them since he still gripped her left and stroked his coarse goatee. The vow settled into her soul and she knew that she’d never consciously be able to break this promise to him. “I’ll come to you.”
“Thank you,” he rasped earnestly, a wealth of gratitude bathing her with that simple response.
The silence stretched between them for several minutes, but it wasn’t strained so much as contemplative. Addie stayed leaned into his bulk, still gently scratching his chin. Slowly, he began to emit his rumbling purr again and she cocked a brow at the sound.
“What’s with the purring?”
“Men do not purr, Addie.” He sounded remotely offended by her verbiage.
“You do.” Her hand dropped from his chin to knock her knuckles against his firm chest. The cotton of his shirt was soft under her fingers. “Would you prefer if I say you growl softly? Cuz you know that’s the same as purring.”
“Adeline,” came his familiar warning.
“So why do you do it?”
“Later, woman. I will explain later when you are…”
“Feeling better. I know. You’re repeating yourself.” With a dejected huff, she let her head fall back under the shelter of his squared jaw. Her eyes drifted back over to the fifty-inch TV and the movie playing on it, but she didn’t remove her attention from the man whose lap she was sitting on. “So, what’s a mechanic like you doing in a place like this? Aren’t you Mister Hotrod McSexiness? I’d think you’d be parading around Durham or Halstead with a pretty girl on each arm.”
His laughter came in a loud, rolling boom. Her whole body shook on his lap and she couldn’t help but giggle along with the infectious sound of his mirth.
“Mister Hotrod McSexiness? Goddess, that is a new one! Ha!” Endearingly, he snorted in his laughter. “No, Addie-girl, I do not feel comfortable in the city. I like it out here in the wilderness – or at least close to it – and I have not made a habit of hooking a girl on each of my arms as of late. Even with these muscles of mine, they tend to get heavy when they sink their claws into me.”
“Gold-diggers, huh?” This line of questioning should have been awkward, but it wasn’t. Even despite her inarticulate way of delivering her speech, he was receiving her like she wasn’t a complete loser. “Seems like too much of a hassle to me. I’d hide out here in the boonies, too.”
“Do you find me sexy, Adeline?”
“Of course.” Quick and easy. She wasn’t going to lie about it, but judging by Daire’s gobsmacked expression, she guessed that he’d thought she would demure at the very least. “Oh, come now! You’re a grade-A beefcake. Choice cut. I don’t know of a single, straight female that wouldn’t jump your bones in a heartbeat! Now, that’s all you’ll get out of me. No more taking advantage of my feverish rambling.”
Her waggling eyebrows set him to laughing again, though these were more controlled guffaws.
As she sat on his lap, Adeline marveled at this titan of a man. He was inarguably attractive, kind, caring, and had a good head on his shoulders. Beyond that, he obviously did well for himself, which could be attested by several legitimate news stations and business magazines across the state. She hated arrogant, cocky assholes, but Daire Hudson wasn’t one. He wasn’t what she’d expected at all.
Richard had been little more than a boy-man when they’d been together. He was young and still learning what he wanted in life. Addie spent an abundance of time – too much of it, in fact – second-guessing herself and knew she needed and desired a man that knew what he wanted. A man that went out and got what he needed. A man that was decisive and strong. Too many men her age were like Richard still; trapped in an adult’s body with the immaturity of youth dogging their heels.
Of course, what sort of decent man would put up with her? She was too flawed and broken. The best ones always went for the best women, and she was far from that.
A niggling worry sprung up in her mind suddenly and she knew she had to voice it. If she didn’t, it’d eat her alive.
“Do you have a girlfriend, Daire?”
The query took him by surprise. She felt it in his body as his upper half jerked as though struck. She didn’t believe for a single second that he could be as great of a catch as he seemed and still be single. If he was, though, there had to be some epic, cosmic flaw in his genetic make-up. She couldn’t imagine anything being bad enough to keep him from having to watch his back every time he stepped out of his home in order to keep a flock of women from descending on him like vultures.
He was back to booming with laughter.
“No! Absolutely not, little Addie.” He was laughing so hard that tears were coming out of his eyes. He hugged her tightly against his wide chest and continued to hoot with gaiety until he had exhausted himself. Once he was done and could breathe once more, he gave her an indulgent look. “I have not had a partner in years. Even then it was not anything serious. Consider it a quirk of my DNA that makes it impossible for me to connect with anyone that isn’t the right woman.”
The glance he gave her then suggested that she might be the exception to the rule.
“Well, good then.” She took to scolding him with a hint of a blush touching the apples of her cheeks. That and a bit of fever, because why else would she be mouthing off to this man like she was? “Because if you were seeing someone, the way you’ve been holding me is completely inappropriate.”
She gasped as she suddenly found herself shifted in Daire’s hold. Her arms reached up to brace on his broad shoulders. He maneuvered her fluidly so that she was straddling his thick waist with the only things separating them being their clothes. The blankets he’d brushed open so that the weight of them only covered her back and shoulders. His chest and abdomen warmed her front decadently. His meaty hands fixed firmly on her hips and squeezed lightly.
“Wha-what are you doing?” She demanded shakily, her wide eyes meeting his own blazing ones. She gulped at the pure, raw desire shining in them.
“Would you be jealous if I had another woman, Adeline,” he rumbled out. The vibrations sent a heated wave of desire through her. “Would you want to shred her eyes with your cute little claws?”
“N-no.”
“Liar.”
He thrust his pelvis up into the V of her legs and she gasped. His hardened erection pressed firmly into her crotch directly over her clit. She just barely resisted sighing at the glorious feeling of his sizable shaft rubbing against her cleft. It was a near thing.
It had been far too long since she’d been with anyone intimately. Even sick, her body wasn’t immune to the perfection of this man.
“Do not worry, little one. You will see soon what you mean to me,” he swore in a gravelly voice that oozed sex.
Before she could fully comprehend what was happening, she felt his lips connecting with her own. Her senses all centered onto him and the sensations he aroused within her. His mouth devoured hers with such fervor that she might have thought he was starved for her. She could taste him. Coffee and something almost like tobacco. It had her absolutely quivering. Automatically, she responded with a heat all her own.
Her right hand cupped the back of his head to keep his mouth attached to hers while the other clawed into his neck. Daire snarled into her mouth and consumed her. The world faded away like a cry on the wind. She let herself fall into a blessed haze induced by one drunkenly slow kiss after another.
Oh God! She had never known it could be this good!
His teeth, almost sharp to her overactive senses, nipped and bit at her lips until she’d opened her mouth to allow his tongue in. His flavor was uniquely him and reminded her of home. Liquid heat like molten honey burned through her veins. Her hips undulated into his erection even though she knew that he could not pierce her with them both fully clothed.
She moaned into his mouth and he ate it up. One of his hands rose to hold her back tightly to his chest and prevent a retreat while his other hand cupped her bottom; hard. Her nipples beaded into his rock-hard pecs. Lights spun behind her eyes as she gripped him as closely to her as she possibly could get him. She wanted to fall into him. She wanted never to escape him.
It was Daire that pulled away first despite her tight grip and she was left panting for air. Before he pushed her head down into the crook of his shoulder, she saw something dark and nearly frightening in his eyes. She could see his lust, but also a dark, haunting need within him that had her heart rate beating even more rapidly despite no longer being in the addictive lip-lock.
Blue. His eyes had sparkled ice blue again.
“Great Goddess, Addie.” Daire growled, his breathing equally uneven. It pleased her to know that she wasn’t the only one left panting.
She didn’t have the wherewithal to even think of uttering anything besides a contented sigh, which morphed into a cough at the very end. Daire shifted under her and she noticed that there was a distinct wetness between them. She flushed so completely that she felt the blood course all the way down into her breasts which were still tingling up against his chest. She’d been so aroused that her natural lubrication had wetted right through her panties and pajama bottoms and into his jeans. She groaned ashamedly.
“Shh. It is okay, little one.” Daire cooed into her ear, his hot breath sending a new set of chills down her spine. One of his hands cupped the back of her head as hers had done to his only moments before while the other stroked lingeringly down her back. The motion was relaxing. “There is nothing to be embarrassed for. I was just as taken by you as you were for me.”
“We shouldn’t have done that,” she retorted breathlessly.
“And why not?”
“Because…” She didn’t know how to voice her thoughts without sounding like a total bitch. Or a whore.
“Because,” he prodded gently, his warm hands still working to calm her as if she was a skittish foal. Addie bit her lip, held her breath for a few beats, and then exhaled. She could do this.
“Because we’re too different. That’s it. You shouldn’t be with a mess like me.” Tears leaked from her eyes and onto his shirt, but she couldn’t pull her head away to prevent it from getting saturated due to his restraining hand on the back of her skull.
She was all over the place with her emotions. Being sick was really sending her into a tailspin.
“Shh,” he shushed her quiet sobs once more, his stroking hand moving to band tightly across her back. He cuddled her as close as physically possible. “Calm down. Shh. You will not shake me that easily, my little mate. You will never be without me again.”
“No.” She shook her head as much as she was able, her voice now scratchy because of the choking sobs seeking to be free of the confines of her chest. So consumed in her inner grief, she never noticed Daire’s slip in words; how he’d called her ‘mate’ and implied that he would never leave her. “Everyone leaves. Everyone! You will, too!”
Daire moved her into a new position so that she was more or less slung sideways over his lap so that he could rock her silently. An occasional brush of his lips against her temple while his hands caressed and kneaded her arms and legs became her whole world. Her hands fisted in his shirt to the point that her nails dug through the material and pierced her palms on the other side.
The beast of a man let her cry herself into exhaustion before standing with her in his arms, turning, and placing her fully onto the sofa. He bent forward to place a chaste, almost brotherly kiss to her swollen lips. He brushed her hair out of her face with care. His eyes held sympathy for her plight, but she also saw raw determination, a healthy dose of adoration, and possessiveness that would have unnerved anyone else.
“I am not going anywhere, Adeline,” he assured her, swaddling her back into the blankets once more. His eyes shone with his intent even as his hand fell to cup above her crotch and over-sensitized clit. His heat zinged through the blankets like they weren’t even there in the first place. “Make no mistake, Addie-mine, I intend to be more than a friend to you. I will not leave you, little one. You will be mine and I will be yours, but for now you need to rest.”
“But…” she whimpered only to have his hot lips press back onto hers. She was effectively silenced as the languid, coffee-tobacco flavored kiss fried all of her synapses. When he pulled away, she knew that her eyes would be glazed over because her vision was blurry with the exception of his face.
“No buts, Addie. Sleep now. I will be right here when you wake.”
She really didn’t have the strength or willpower to fight him on this. She watched him stalk silently from the room and into the kitchen before exhaling deeply. Almost as soon as she began to breathe in again, she was asleep, the memory of his possessive touch creating a warm glow in her so strong that it eclipsed the pain of her uncertain future.
Daire
Daire paced in the kitchen, his eyes in half-shift as he relived the sweet, blissful moments with his little mate straddling his thighs.
He had been harder for her than he had ever been for any woman. He had been tempted to rip her bottoms off of her as she ground her wet heat into him, unzip and unbutton his fly, and jam his engorged cock into her welcoming womb. He knew, though, that if he had done so that she would have had more regrets than she did now. He also would not have been able to control himself. His wolf wanted her as much as the man did, maybe more, and the wolf would not have retreated until he had mated her so completely and so fully that she would not be able to walk for a week without assistance.
