Realm Walker's Awakening: Realm Walker #2, page 15
I stiffened for a second but relaxed as he murmured, “It’s only me, beauty. I’ll never hurt you.”
Lost in the pleasure and enjoying the mixed sensations of his fingers in me and on my ass, I rode through the extended orgasm. I wasn’t sure how he drew it out and made it as long as it was, but I didn’t care.
I whimpered and squirmed from the increasing pain from the sensitivity of my clit as he kept rubbing while shocks of pleasure joined.
“Too much,” I gasped out and bucked my hips to get away from his touch.
Moving my legs, he leaned in to capture my lips with his as he dragged his fingers out of me. Before I could get lost in the kiss, he ended it and watched me with hazy eyes as he brought his glistening fingers with my cum into his mouth. His eyes slid shut as he enjoyed my taste with a rumbling moan.
“Just like ambrosia,” he groaned after pulling his thick digits out and opening his eyes.
I panted, unable to form words. Pretty sure I still didn’t know my name right now.
My body tingled, half sated from his touches. I’d always been able to go multiple rounds with my BOB until I could roll over and sleep when the meds didn’t hit fast enough. My body was used to the rounds and thrived off them.
My fingers dug further into his arms as I squeezed my legs together without them touching. I was cramping, but I still wanted him to fuck me in this position. But I couldn’t tell him.
Holy shit . . . he cummed me senseless.
I didn’t care that I was sensitive. Having him inside me was a need because it was familiar. I wasn’t sure if it was because of that and knew it’d make me feel here in this world or because I was running away from facing things.
“I need you,” I rasped, hoping he wouldn’t tease me anymore and give me what I wanted.
Rune’s fingers dug into the soft flesh of my ass while he gazed at me. It wasn’t more than a second that he hesitated, the wheels turning in his head. I didn’t know what made him pause, his dark eyes flicking over my face and the tip of his pink tongue peeking out to wet his bottom lip. But he quickly recovered and adjusted us as he worked his pants undone.
“We’re going to make this quick, beauty,” he said, his voice low and husky, keeping his darkened eyes, clouded with desire, on mine. “I don’t think I’ll last long once I’m buried deep inside your tight pussy.”
My breath caught, and I wiggled my hips, my heart pounded because of his confession.
Did I make him close to coming in his pants then?
The sound of his zipper was louder than our heavy breaths and the sounds of the night. I sucked in a sharp breath. My spine straightened, and my shoulders went rigid.
With his throbbing dick pressed against my core, Rune paused at my sudden change in reactions.
“Isa?” The way he murmured my name, barely above a whisper, was like he feared if he spoke any louder than that, the gates of Hell would open, and the demons would run free.
I stared at Rune like a deer in the highlights, unable to move or blink. All lust and pleasure were washed away; the one sound playing on a loop was like a bucket of ice water.
The sound of the zipper coming undone echoed in my head, loud enough that it fooled me into believing it was happening outside my head.
My heart fluttered like a dragonfly, my breaths quick and loud as my whole body trembled with pins and needles sweeping through every nerve ending. At any moment, I was sure I was going to burst at the seams from how tight my skin was.
The zipper echoed, followed with, “But when I have my cock in your arse, scream out the name Callum for me.”
“No. Please . . .” My voice sounded far away, like falling asleep while I murmured things that didn’t make sense. “Please don’t do this.”
Callum’s coal eyes narrowed as his lips curled into an evil smile. His tongue swept out and licked along his lips as his large hands grabbed me, pulling me into him. At my cries and screams, he laughed as he kept his hold on me while pulling me against him so we were chest to chest.
“And I’m the nice one,” he mocked with a chuckle.
I shook my head as I stared up at him wide-eyed while I fought against his hold.
Where was Rune?
Why wasn’t he here with me?
How did Callum get here?
What was happening?
Rune sitting across from me in the restaurant he took me to on a date popped into my mind. The look of utter frustration as he leaned back in his chair while he said it was hard to tell me things since I didn’t know much about anything.
My heart dropped to my stomach, tears stinging in my eyes while I fought in Callum’s hold. I opened my mouth, trying to scream anything. But for whatever reason, my vocal cords wouldn’t make a sound as my lips parted on a scream. Though in my mind, I heard my voice like my head was under water and everything was garbled.
“Rune, I’m sorry! Please . . . oh god, I’m sorry!”
“He’s not here,” Callum said, shaking me by my shoulders. “It’s only me.”
I wiggled in his grip and kicked at him that felt like I was moving as slow as I did when running in a nightmare. My chest squeezed until it became hard for me to breathe.
“Come back to me.” Callum’s Scottish accent morphed into Rune’s heavier Old Norse one. His voice changed from a snarl to deep and soothing. It broke through my frantic and muddled mind, bringing me peace and warmth. “Good girl, keep looking in my eyes.”
My heart stuttered over the beats as I gasped for breaths, clutching at the broad shoulders of the morphing Callum to Rune. Coal eyes brightened to an ocean blue and the black beard lightened and shortened to Rune’s dark brown. Black hair faded to brown hair with light gold pieces intricately braided on the sides of his head. A few long braids mingled with the rest of his long hair that hung past his shoulders to his chest.
I dug my nails into Rune’s armor until the pressure was enough to help me come back out of my mind. My breaths were loud in my spinning head. My wide eyes never stopped moving as I glanced around us, searching for Callum to make sure he wasn’t here.
Rune gently pinched my chin, bringing my attention to him. He was eye level with me, one of his knees on the ground in a crouch. His eyes were a shade darker than his normal ocean blue, and he wore a mask of calm.
“There you are,” he murmured to me like I was a frightened baby bird, which yeah, he wasn’t far off.
Blinking rapidly, I hoped it’d chase away the awful memory or whatever the hell that was. But I didn’t miss that Rune couldn’t hide the horror in his eyes as he watched me. I knew the look all too well because I often found myself gazing around with the same eyes.
Swallowing hard, I worked on calming my breaths as my eyes jerked away from his, searching for any signs of Callum again.
Rune turned my face again with his two fingers on my chin, his free hand grabbing one of mine and laying it on his warm neck. My breath shuddered as I kept my hand on him while he let go of it to work on fixing my pants back up. The whole time, he kept eye contact. His blue ones changed, filling with a burning rage that made the lighter blue specks of his eyes dance in the darkness. His jaw worked as he struggled with whatever he was thinking of saying.
The silence between us was heavy until he finished fixing my pants and tenderly cupped my face.
“He’ll never hurt you again. I promise.”
My heart picked up its pace—if that was possible—while my stomach twisted until it felt like I was about to hurl. I didn’t have anything more to retch up, and I didn’t want to puke anyway, let alone stomach acid.
“I know,” I said with a crack in my voice. My throat was raw like I’d been screaming for hours.
Rune’s eyes hardened but still held tenderness for me. His fingers twitched at the back of my head.
“Do you?”
Those two words shut me up with the weight of his question. It echoed in my mind and sunk me further into the dark abyss I’d been in since . . . my whole life.
I’d been in the cold ocean with turbulent waves crashing against the cliff, leaving me no way to swim to shore. My whole life, I’d been kicking my feet and waving my arms as I fought to keep my head above water. And since Rune came into my life, he was my life; he was the lifeboat that fought against the waves with me as he yanked me to the safety that was him.
He brought me to life with his smiles, laughs, and kisses. For a while, everything was all right until I was attacked and now hunted.
And I was thrown back into the ocean, fighting for my fucking life.
Everything around me wasn’t what it seemed. It was all dangerous.
Did I know Callum couldn’t hurt me anymore?
Yes and no.
Yes, because Rune wouldn’t ever lie to me. I knew deep down in my bones Rune killed him and made his last few seconds painful while he stared into his seething eyes.
No, because for whatever reason, my mind played tricks on me and firmly believed Callum was coming back to finish where we last left off.
How could I tell Rune that? He’d take that on and blame himself for everything else that happened to me.
“That’s what I thought,” Rune murmured.
Chapter
Twelve
I didn’t want to people.
While I was lost in the darkness with the whispers and having a flashback that was all too real, the others had found a small cottage home for us to hunker down in for the night. I didn’t know how much time passed while Rune and I were apart from them, but I hoped it wasn’t more than the half hour it felt like more.
Before I hid away, I had to make sure Harper was okay.
My eyes stung, and my chest constricted so badly that it hurt to breathe. I still wanted to sob after coming out of it with Rune’s help.
After everything that happened back-to-back, it was all becoming too much. Not that it wasn’t already before, but the cracks in me were getting deeper. I was still shattered, my pieces not fitting back together that great.
I could still hear Harper’s screaming and cussing while we went through the portal. What stood out the most was Callum’s voice and his gleaming eyes as he talked about raping me. Then letting his friends do worse before they killed me.
With each step to the small home covered in moss and ivy, I felt like a robot toy. I didn’t want Rune carrying me because the thought of being touched made me want to scream. What was worse was that I wanted him to hold me, which went against my repulsion of having his hands on me.
If I was already a complete mess that couldn’t breathe without wanting to break down, I’d be a sobbing wreck with Rune touching me and opening the floodgates.
Rune must’ve known because every time he moved his hand to my lower back, he’d stop mid-reach. Every time, the side of my face tingled when his gaze landed on me.
As my lower back tingled when his hand hovered over it, I held my breath and bit the inside of my cheek. The two sides of me warred against each other, with one needing him to touch me in comfort while the other felt like bugs were crawling beneath my skin at the thought of it.
Once we reached the small wooden door covered with green moss and ivy hanging over, Rune stepped ahead and opened the door with one hand while holding the other out in an offering.
Instead of accepting it, I lowered my eyes and woodenly walked around him inside the dusty structure. I wanted to kick my ass for rejecting his touch. Deep down, I believed it would help me out of whatever was happening to me.
But I was scared and didn’t want to admit that to him. Hell, I didn’t want to admit it to myself or linger on it to make it that much more real.
It was like what they said, “If I can’t see it, it isn’t real.”
“Isa,” Harper said, sounding calmer now than the last time I heard her.
My gaze shot up, and I froze for a second as I looked her over. She didn’t have any injuries that I could tell from here, and she didn’t look as upset as she sounded when Hluti carried her over his shoulder.
She was fine. No blood or bruises. No scowling or cussing anyone out.
My stomach took a nosedive.
Was she upset with me? Did she think I was okay with her being kidnapped? Because I wasn’t. Did the guys fill her in on what was happening while they waited? Why was she acting calm and not freaking out on all of us? Why wasn’t she angry and bombarding me with questions?
Hluti was leaning against the wall next to her with his arms crossed over his chest, and his signature scowl still marred his scarred face. His ankles were crossed, making his legs longer and thicker than a tree trunk. I tried to ignore that I caught the abnormally large outline on one side of his thigh. Instead, I snapped my eyes to his. They glowed like a fire within and swirled like golden magma.
What the hell was going on?
I glanced around for Slátra, but he wasn’t here.
Where did he go? Was he okay?
“Hey, easy . . .” Harper said soothingly. When my eyes came back to her, she shot a glare at Hluti like she was making a point about something she said to him before I showed up and took easy steps toward me with her hands stretched out for me in a gesture she wouldn’t hurt me.
Why would she do that? I knew she wouldn’t harm me.
Why was everyone treating me like a frightened animal about to tail it out of here?
Tingles and heat spread on my lower back.
Harper’s eyes flicked past my shoulder where Rune stood. She took another step toward me and one of her hands came up in a stop motion.
“Don’t touch her,” she said in a rush. I stiffened and my heart galloped in my chest as ice spread through my veins. The tingles and heat disappeared where Rune was about to touch me. “She’s in distress.”
Hluti straightened, his arms unfolded and dropped to his sides. His amber eyes landed on me, searching for something. The way he watched me made it seem like he could see past me and into my soul. Like he could see my every dirty secret and knew why I was freaking out.
My face flushed, and I averted my gaze.
“Distress?” he said with genuine concern.
I swallowed hard.
“Hey,” Harper said soothingly. I peered back at her, unable to find my voice. She took a step toward me, then another, until she closed the space between us carefully so she didn’t spook me. “Focus on me. What happened?”
I opened my mouth to answer but stopped when my words became strangled in my throat and only a squeak came out. My lips trembled, which I quickly covered with my hand, swallowing around the lump thickening in my throat.
I was so close to sobbing.
My gaze went past her, noting the narrow entryway that led to a hallway. That meant a room could be back there for me to retreat to. I wanted to escape here and be alone. My heart was galloping in my chest, becoming painful enough that I was trying so hard not to gasp for breaths.
My chin trembled as Callum’s touch and words repeated in my mind. My piercing screams and begging for Rune played along with it like a god-awful soundtrack to a horror movie.
“Fuck this,” Rune growled from behind me.
His hand landed on my shoulder and whipped me around, pulling me into him. My breath caught in my chest, my eyes widening. Immediately my knees gave out, and the floodgates opened. I muffled my piercing cry as he wrapped me in his arms and picked me up, cradling me to him.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured, his voice lower than usual but soothing.
I barely registered him walking as I clung to him and cried my eyes out. Hluti’s deep voice was drowned out by my cries, and I couldn’t make out what he said. I didn’t care right now anyway.
The lighting around us changed, and I didn’t care about that either because being in Rune’s arms let me know I was safe. He’d never let anything or anyone harm me if he could help it. And from the recent events, I knew he’d take the bigger blow for me. As much as I wouldn’t forgive myself if he were hurt, I still found safety in it.
How selfish of me.
I cried into his shoulder, wailing things that didn’t make sense even to me. But it made me feel better, and deep within, I knew what I was crying out made sense. They were things I didn’t want to face or accept but were bubbling over, and I couldn’t keep them beneath the surface anymore.
Rune understood. He didn’t judge me and held me as I released everything that had been building inside me.
The sexual assault and being so close to being raped. How I was scared and blamed myself for it. How I shouldn’t have left him at the restaurant and that I was sorry.
Then the endless attacks and learning what I thought wasn’t real, really was and how that scared me too.
Discovering Rune wasn’t human and was a god made me so fucking insecure, wondering why he’d want me of all people. Then learning I was his reincarnated soulmate who I’d been hearing and seeing, which threw me into an identity crisis.
All the people hurt because of me. All the people who died because of me. Then I died trying to save a friend who ended up dying anyway.
And the worst . . . having the awful flashback of Callum and thinking Rune was him.
Jesus, Rune watched me freak out, and who knew what all I said at that time, but I was sure he heard it all when I screamed for him.
I didn’t realize how badly I needed him to hold and comfort me. All I needed was to let go and let him touch me when I was too scared. Too repulsed. But now, I didn’t want him to let go of me, ever. With his arms around me, he brought all my broken pieces together and held me together.
“I’m here, elskan mín,” he murmured as he petted the back of my hair, soothing me further. “I’ll never let you go.”
I must’ve said my thoughts out loud and didn’t realize it.
My fingers dug into him as I buried my face more into his shoulder to muffle my cries. After a while, they lessened, then stopped. My throat was scratchy and thick with the lump that wouldn’t go away for a minute. My temples and forehead hurt from the pressure. My nose was stuffy while dripping at the same time, and I felt so gross.
