Page 160 of Settle Down, Princess

“More?”

I let out a helpless little laugh, the feeling inside me swelling and swelling.

“Gods, more, more.”

I was sure this would be the end of it, that she couldn’t possibly want to give me what I needed, but then the knife was spun in her hand, the edge now presented to me. I saw every nick in the blade, remembered each fight that put them there, right up until she scraped it across my stomach.

The sensation, the noise was like that made when sharpening a blade of a leather strap, but rather than the pelt of some long-dead cow, it was my skin that turned to fire. Every single nerve ending came awake to scream at me the danger I was in. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, turning my muscles to iron, but Roan had tied me down far too well. They’d had to do it before, for my safety or for the girl we were messing with, but it was only now that I felt the surrender I craved.

I couldn’t fight this.

I couldn’t fight her, not when she bent her head, her nightdress dropping down over one shoulder, baring all of this golden skin to my eyes. I never could. It’d taken everything in me to stay quiet, still when my brothers kissed and caressed this strangely beautiful girl back in Stormare. I’d kept my distance as best as I could on the ride back to Khean, but every scrap of restraint in me burned away in this moment.

We could die tomorrow. Gods, even tonight when we returned to the palace. I could never understand why the king continued to allow us to freely walk the halls. There was a foetid cell under the castle with our names on it, and I’d run into its damp confines if that meant I had this. Had her for just this moment.

“Jess…”

I realised then I’d been chanting her name over and over, her gaze locking with mine. I stared into her soul, trying my damndest to share my own. Apologies were required, obeisances made. Fuck, after this, I’d throw myself at her feet and not rise before she gave me leave, even if that took days. Her gaze didn’t waver as I told her just that, over and over until her lips pressed together.

“I think I understand now,” she said, my eyes widening as I saw her draw the knife away. Her eyes were like bars of moonlight, cutting through the dark of night and straight into me as she loomed, more goddess than woman. “It has to hurt for it all to come out. The pain is the only key that fits in the lock that will open you up.”

The knife was tossed to one side, but I didn’t whine for more. Her gaze was far sharper as she rose above me, her hands plucking at my clothes, tugging at my shirt, refusing to allow anything between us until Arik stepped in.

“Like this,” he told her, his eyes burning into the side of her face until he was forced to use the knife to slide up the seams of my sleeves, the fabric falling apart with a sigh. Jessalyn took over, her hands finding my other knives, my belt before she undid the buckle and tossed them aside. There was a moment’s pause as her fingers traced the tight lacing of my breeches, her eyes sliding up my body, tracing the scratches she’d left there before she met my eyes. There was a question there, about what I wanted, what I permitted, but I needed her to know. I had no boundaries when it came to her, she’d smashed through every single one.

The feel of my pants being peeled away was almost painful, my cock so hard, so hot, it felt like the cooler air of the room caressed me in a way that had me jerking.

“Careful now.” Arik was like a hound straining on the leash. There was no knife play, nothing in the world that would have him tossing that collar aside. “There’s some important veins in a man’s groin.”

“Which is why I don’t intend on cutting him.”

Jessalyn’s announcement had a pang of disappointment rocketing through me, right up until I felt the cool, hard press of the knife handle into my length.

“Oh gods…”

I was wound too tightly, my muscles aching in a way that would lay me low tonight and the next day, but I couldn’t seem to release them for a second. Her hand, hot and firm, her fingers tightening around me, forcing the metal of the hilt to bite into my shaft while her other hand was raised. The scab on her finger had broken open again, a single scarlet droplet rolling down her hand.

“Blood?”

My vision started to darken around the edges, my heart beating too fast for the blood to be pumped properly, my mouth bone dry. I swallowed I don’t know how many times, trying to moisten it, only managing to croak out this.

“Mine, not yours…” My chest heaved. “Never yours.” That’s when my focus snapped sideways, catching Roan’s stricken expression and Arik’s carefully contained one. “Release me,” I snapped. “Release me!”

“I’m not letting you bleed yourself…Oh.” Roan’s expression grew mulish as Arik leaned forward, shooting me a warning look before undoing the belt around my wrists. “So we’re doing this then. Fuck, I better get the bandages out of the saddlebags.”

“No.” I flicked out my wrists, encouraging the blood to return to my fingers, because I’d need it. “If we’re successful, Jessalyn. If we kill the king, if Creed brings an army to fight for your honour, then there’s to be more blood.”

“More?”

It was only now that she paled, her eyes flicking from my hands to my face and back again, which made me smile.

“Just a little.” I picked up the knife, a small, sensible voice telling me it should be cleaned thoroughly before using it to prick my skin, but it wasn’t in control, I was. “A symbolic amount the wolf shifters use to signal a bond. Blood is very important to them. It represents life, the turn of the wheel, bringing forth each new generation. It symbolises a pack bond. Your blood and mine, and Arik’s and Roan’s, but especially Creed’s. We’ll mingle them all together, just like we did when we created our pack bond.”

“Creed will have important words to be said while we do it.”

Roan looked a lot more relieved now he was in familiar territory.

“But the meaning will be the same.” Arik crouched down beside Jessalyn, staring into her eyes. “I know you must be bitter about being ripped from your homeland, but the wolf shifters believe that every step a pack of fated mates take is the will of the gods. That means you, Jessalyn, were never meant to be some veiled princess.” He reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You were always meant to be the mate of a shifter and the malcontents he bound himself too, just as wild, just as fierce as the beast men of Khean.”

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