Page 19 of Fae Divided
“Come with me, baby,” he rasped, reversing the direction of his fingers as he pulled out and then plunged back in. “Now, Sarah. Come now.”
She bit her bottom lip, teetering on the cusp of climax. James grunted his release and drove deep, his hips digging into hers. Sarah toppled over the brink on a long, drawn-out moan, the unbearable tension that had been building since their reunion kiss uncoiling with a snap. Heat licked a path from her stomach to her breasts. Her inner muscles convulsed, and James’ forehead dropped to the bed, growling his satisfaction into her ear. The primal sound sent a chill over her skin, cooling the thin film of perspiration. She tightened her limbs around her mate, nowhere near ready to lose the intimate joining.
“Sarah—” he said in the soft, gentle voice that Sarah loved but was so at odds with a hardened Ferwyn warrior.
The mating bond pulsed with crippling sorrow, and Sarah fought to breathe past the sharp pain in her chest. Past constricting lungs and the lump lodged in her throat. She understood why her shoulder remained Mark-free, why her Ca’anam hadn’t bitten hard enough to pierce the skin.
James wasn’t home to stay.
Chapter 9
It was almosttime to go.
James slid his palm along the graceful lines of Sarah’s waist and hip, his mate sprawled naked across his torso. He savored the sleekness of her skin, the warmth of her slow, even breaths tickling his neck, and the softness of her breasts pressed against his chest. Unraveling what remained of her once neat braid, he combed the silken strands with his fingers, careful not to wake her. She needed her rest.
The guilt was suffocating, relentless remorse an invisible noose strangling him slowly. Sarah’s thinness, pale skin, and circles beneath her eyes verification of the suffering the separation had forced her to endure.
That he’d forced her to endure.
The heaviness in his heart threatened to crush him, but he pushed aside the shame and reopened the mating bond. He dropped the blocks erected to protect Sarah from his dark mood, allowing nothing but love and devotion to shine through their link.
Sarah stirred, mumbling in her sleep. James prayed it was fond memories and not recent failings that caused her to mutter his name. She shifted to nuzzle her nose further into the bend of his neck, the loving caress raising his hopes.
James stroked her blond hair from crown to tip before twining a fistful around his hand and bringing it to his nose. The subtly saccharine odor of sex and sweat commingled with the cool, crisp balsam of his wolf and his truemate’s cacao and spiced honey. Every Ferwyn female’s smell was unique, unlike the males of the race who all carried the remembrance of snow-dusted forests and the Wilds of Faery in their scent.
He rolled the captured locks over his stubbled jawline, massaging Sarah’s fragrance into his pores, wanting it to linger on his skin for as long as possible.
“James?” Sarah’s voice was husky with sleep. She lifted her head and crossed her arms flat over his chest, propping her chin on her hands. Eyes the color of fine cognac leveled on him. “How did you get on the island without getting caught?”
“I hid alongside a city ambulance that was returning for another transport run.” His wolf kept pace with the emergency vehicle easily, the security at the bridge less vigilant during the extraordinarily unusual circumstances at Chess. He’d need to inform the commander of the breach when he was speaking to Samuel again. Although not part of the region’s Guard, the gate staff were highly trained and should have noticed his crossing. “And I’m smothering the tie with your brother.” Choking himself off from his Alpha as well as his truemate.
“Right,” Sarah said with a heavy sigh, the bond thrumming with sadness but no condemnation. “But won’t he notice now that you’re within range?”
Fifty miles, give or take, was the limit of an Alpha’s ability to accurately track a member of his pack; closer was needed to compel obedience.
“The emotions of the local shifters will be intense and unstable for at least several hours if not days after the events at Chess. Samuel would have to wade through the heightened mental noise to single me out. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t forced to muffle the magical network for the sake of his sanity.” He was counting on the continuous clamor of hundreds of agitated clanmates pulling at the edges of Samuel’s consciousness to distract his savvy Alpha. At least long enough for James to complete his short visit undetected.
“And Abby was hurt during the attack,” Sarah said, biting her lower lip. “His attention will be diverted by his concern for her.”
“Abby?” he asked, unable to put a face to the name.
“The queen’s new personal assistant and my brother’s potential Ca’anam if I’m reading him right.” Her nose scrunched adorably, lips pursing.
James grinned. Sarah must have gotten a whiff of her sibling’s mating pheromones in action.
“Human, shifter, or witch?” However strained their current relationship due to James’ deception, he wanted his brother-in-law to find what every Ferwyn male craved: a truemate. If Abby was Samuel’s female, James would miss out on the unmitigated joy and certain amusement of watching his commander, his Alpha—his friend—navigate the turbulent waters of the Mating Dance. Another sin to lay at the prince’s feet. They were piling up rapidly.
“An Untouched.” Sarah answered and then hummed, her brow furrowing.
“Hmmm, what?” he asked, smoothing the frown with the pad of his thumb.
“She smells odd. Not in a bad way, but stillodd.”
“Odd how?”
“She wore perfume, but something about her scent was still strange. Almost familiar, even though we’d never met before tonight. I’ve never smelled anything like it on a human.” She shrugged and fell silent.
James glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table.
