Page 36 of Magic Claimed
Alerick stepped through the open doorway and into a bathing room. I forgot about my one-sided wrestle. A commode was situated in a corner, next to a long sink that ran the length of a wall. Fluffy towels hung over drying racks on the wall. In the middle of the room was a massive bath, big enough for four of me. Four of us. It was filled with steaming water into which stepped a naked Eike.
I couldn’t wrench my eyes away from Eike’s thick, muscular thighs and firm buttocks that flexed as he stepped over the rim and then sunk into the water. I glimpsed his sac and shaft hanging heavy between his legs. He tipped his head back, dipping his thick locks into the water at his back. The width of his shoulders filled the end of the tub. He smiled and my core pulsed with awareness at those twin dimples. “I’m ready for her.”
But I wasn’t ready for him.
Alerick placed me on a soft downy rug, grabbed the hem of my dress, and tugged it over my head. I shrieked, trying to cover my breasts and between my legs. “Give me back my dress!”
Alerick chuckled. “This dress is going to be burned. Now, into the bath with you. I’d like to see you without a coating of dirt on that beautiful, creamy skin of yours.”
I reached for my dress hanging in his grip, but he swept me off my feet and lowered me into the tub, between Eike’s legs. I grabbed the edge of the tub and tried to get away from him, but it was Eike’s arms that wrapped about me and pulled me towards him. My back met his chest with a slosh of water over the edge of the tub and his arm remained nestled around my shoulders.
“Does anyone listen to what I want?” I demanded.
Alerick knelt so we came face to face. “You will learn the feel of all your mates until you seek us out of your own accord. Once we trust you won’t run from us, we will relax our vigilance.”
“I will never do that.” I tucked my legs close to my chest and wrapped my arms about my breasts. From this angle, he was getting quite the eyeful.
“You will do it and more importantly, you will want to do it,” Alerick said. He kissed me before I could think and then stood. The front of his leather pants was tented with a massive bulge that made my mouth water, and damn him if I didn’t think he was right. I forced my attention from his crotch to his eyes, ignoring his smirk. Damn him.
I swallowed thickly. “I don’t see Jarom lining up to touch me.” I didn’t know whether to be hurt or relieved that he wasn’t here. My heart certainly didn’t pound as hard as when he was, but if he wasn’t here, I couldn’t work on his hatred for me.
“He is carrying out our duties for the wolves so that I could spend time with you while you slept. He wants you as much as Eike and I do,” Alerick said.
“He has a funny way of showing it. Maybe he can see what you both can’t.” Like an unwilling mate, although I thought I made that quite obvious. “Have you ever thought fate has it wrong?”
Eike’s fingers stilled on my arms. “Fate never brings mates falsely together. If we would have known you before now, we would have done our utmost to remove you from Esoti and you wouldn’t feel this way. You have to believe us.”
Eike was wrong. Fate had itsowrong, but it was clear they weren’t willing to listen. When I saw Jarom, I would have to do some fast talking. “If you don’t take my word, I think you should listen to your Second, Alpha. Maybe he knows something you don’t.”
“Don’t judge, Jarom. He will come around. He has his…reasons for being careful,” Alerick said.
“I’m Esoti’s slave and I’m putting the whole wolf Territory into danger by being here. Pretty sure he’s not going to come around,” I said.
Alerick pursed his lips and his eyes never left me as long moments passed. I thought for a moment, he was going to agree with me, that I’d finally found his weak spot, but my hope shattered when he said, “I’ll have Anise bring your breakfast after your bath and then she’ll help you with your magic.”
My hand trailed to the collar about my neck. “You will have to let me go sometime. Esoti will call me back, eventually.”
The look Alerick pinned me with glittered. “Make her feel pleasure, Eike. She has to learn that any touch from us will not be to hurt but to show tenderness. She will learn not to fear us. That we’re here to protect her and provide for her as the precious mate she is.”
“As if I would touch her any other way,” Eike said.
I felt the evidence of how much Eike wanted to touch me pressing into my back. Panic rose in me, twisting and fast. I tried to twist from his grip, but he held me fast.
“Shhh. I won’t hurt you, Serafine,” Eike said.
But how did I know that? They were wolves and I could no more fight them off than fight Esoti. I was as much a victim with them as I was with that maniac. I scrunched my body into a ball as tight as I could go. If I could make myself so small that I would blink out of existence, I would.
Alerick knelt before me, gently tracing the side of my face with the calloused tips of his fingers, while Eike twirled delicate circles on my upper arms with the pads of his thumbs. Both wolves had roughened fingertips, but the dichotomy of gentleness and roughness found a way through the worst of my trepidation.
“That’s it, Serafine. Relax. Your mates will look after you.” Eike nuzzled the space behind my ear, his warm breath tickling the sensitive place I never knew was there.
Alerick leaned forward, placing a kiss on my forehead, one on each cheek, at the angle of my jaw before trailing the hot, wet tip of his tongue to the corner of my mouth.
My muscles loosened and the whole body tremors that wracked my system eased as all I was aware of was Alerick’s mouth teasing the corner of my lips and the way Eike drew my earlobe into his mouth and suckled.
Eike’s hands dipped below the water, along the length of my arm to my elbow and back again. Alerick’s tongue traced the seam of my mouth. The tip of my tongue slid from between my parted lips and his unique, familiar flavour burst in my mouth. My heart still pounded, but for a different reason.
Oak and cinnamon merged with smoke and whiskey, working into my body and liquefying my limbs.
