#jennablack

We took rides around the city on his motorcycle, and he even started teaching me the basics of riding. We’d spin around an empty old square, him still behind me on the bike. His body pressing so close to me and his rough voice murmuring instructions right in my ear sent delicious shivers down my spine.

We also took a lot of walks together, in the parks and the wooded area behind his house. He’d slip my hand into his and run his thumb over the back of mine as we walked. I preferred the woods because sometimes when there were other people in the park they drew stares, although one look from Arawn and they’d scurry away with their head down.

As promised, I once dragged him to Starbucks; the look on his face after trying espresso was priceless. I cackled the whole way home.

Home. I realized his house had come to feel like it, more than any place I had ever lived before. The gross, decrepit apartments that my mom had been able to afford had certainly never felt like a home, with the scent of stale tequila and vodka hanging in the air, her sprawled drunk on the floor half the time.

I spent every night in Arawn’s bed. I had basically moved my stuff into his room. And I spent most nights shrieking his name as I soaked his sheets. We bathed together and ate together. One time I asked him to let me brush his hair and he allowed it, after rolling his eyes. But he let me do it whenever I wished after that. In fact, I think he secretly liked it.

My perception of him had changed so much. This huge male, rumored to be vicious, who touched me so gently. Who kissed my forehead and called me baby girl. Who worried if I was cold. Who could play my body like a musical instrument.

He also let me sit and talk with Connor. In the parlor, sitting near the fire, my brother spoke about what his life was like. His regrets that he had tried to overthrow the Erlking. Connor’s eyes were wide and haunted as he spoke, his speech halting as if he hadn’t spoken in a long time. And in turn, I talked about my life before I came to Avalon, though I glossed over the ugly parts.

After we had talked for a while, and Connor muttered that he had to get back to work, I wandered the halls before finding Arawn at his piano, playing something soft and sad.

He didn’t falter in his playing as I came up behind him and ran my hands over the muscles of his back, then rested against him, laying my head on the back of his neck.

“Thank you,” I whispered to him after the final notes of the piece faded. “Thank you for letting me talk with him.”

Arawn drew me around the piano bench to sit at his side. He hummed in answer, kissing my temple. “You can again, if you’d like,” he offered. I smiled, nodding.

He asked, “Sing something for me?”

And of course I did, nudging him down the bench so I could reach the pedal. He often requested that I sing, and always seemed enthralled, listening to the sound of my strange half-human, half-Fae voice.

Finn came to visit sometime in those weeks, about a fortnight after he and my dad had first shown up. Finn knocked on the door sometime mid-morning, and when Arawn answered it he didn’t miss a beat.

“Finn of the Daoine Sidhe,” he said respectfully, “Please come in.”

Finn walked in cautiously, on high alert, his eyes darting around. When I heard Arawn’s greeting, I rushed out of the library where I had been engrossed in a book.

“Finn!” I greeted him happily, and gave him a hug.

“You doing okay?” he asked me quietly, returning it.

“Yeah,” I said, smiling, “I’m great.”

He looked at me closely, as if trying to see if Arawn bewitched me or something.

I raised my brows. “Really, I’m doing good.” He nodded, accepting that, I suppose. “How have you been?”

He shrugged. “Okay. Been worried about you.”

“You don’t need to worry. I’m where I want to be. And I’m happy.”

He nodded again, warily.

“Your father’s been really worried too.”

I ignored that, and did the English thing and said, “Will you come sit and have tea with us?”

His lips parted, his eyes darting to Arawn and then back to me.

“Please?” I said.

He finally acquiesced, saying, “Alright.”

Arawn led us into the parlor and I took Finn’s arm and followed, saying to him, “I’m glad you came to visit.”

He gave a small smile. “You’re going to have tea?”

I laughed as he settled into the chair I led him to. “Of course not. I’ll have coffee. But he drinks the same swill that you do,” I said, jerking my thumb at Arawn who sat down on the opposing couch, rolling his eyes.

One of the Huntsmen brought in a tea service, setting it on the table between us. I sat on the couch next to Arawn as he poured a cup of tea from the steaming silver pot and handed it to Finn, who looked absolutely dumbfounded to be served tea by the Erlking.

“It’s just tea, Finn,” I said, “We don’t do any of that class shit here.”

His eyes flicked between us, then after a beat, he took the cup, murmuring his thanks faintly.

Arawn poured me a cup of coffee from the other pot, and I leaned forward to stir milk from the miniature pitcher into the coffee while he poured his own cup of tea and sat back on the couch, surveying Finn.

My coffee properly milky, I scooted back on the couch against Arawn with my legs folded beneath me, shifting closer to his warmth, his arm draped over my shoulder.

Finn’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly at the casual intimacy between us.

Trying to put him more at ease, I asked, “Is the tea properly disgusting?”

Arawn huffed a laugh into my hair, shaking his head. Even Finn was clearly trying to hide a smile.

“It’s fine tea, thank you,” he said, nodding at Arawn.

I decided there was no point in beating around the bush. “So did you come here because my father wanted you to check up on me or because you wanted to visit me?”

He was quiet for a moment, considering my words, his face inscrutable. “Why can’t they both be true?”

“Are they?”

“Yes,” he said softly.

“I suppose he wanted to make sure I wasn’t hanging from shackles or something?” I said.

Finn’s mouth tightened and I turned to Arawn and fake-whispered, “You remembered to put away the shackles, right?”

He twisted his lips and rolled his eyes. “That American sense of humor is hilarious,” he said drily.

“I know,” I said, grinning.

Finn cleared his throat. “So what have you been doing lately?”

Mine and Arawn’s eyes met, and I could feel the heat in them. I knew what he was thinking of.

I turned back to Finn. “Well, hanging from shackles takes up quite a bit of my time.”

Arawn looked at the ceiling in fond exasperation, shaking his head. I laughed at him.

“We’ve been doing a lot of things,” I said to Finn with a shrug. “Arawn’s been working with me on self-defense almost every day. There’s an amazing library here, so I read a great deal. Sometimes I talk with Connor. Arawn plays piano for me a lot. And he’s started teaching me how to ride a motorcycle.”

“Ride a motorcycle?” Finn echoed.

I shrugged. “Yeah.”

“Do you find it difficult?”

“Well, I’m terrible at driving it so far, but I’m used to big things growling between my legs.”

Finn choked on his tea while Arawn snorted. I angled my head and smiled innocently up at him. He bit down on his own smile and brushed a kiss over my brow.

Clearly some of my prudishness had started to wear off with the things Arawn and I had been doing in bed. And in the bath. And maybe in some other places.

Finn’s mouth was hanging open before he recovered himself, looking down at his half-drunk tea.

“Have you told Keane I’ve been carrying on with self-defense lessons?” I asked.

“I did.”

I waited for more.

After a beat of silence I said, “I guess he didn’t take it very well?”

Finn sighed. “There was a lot of swearing. And name-calling.”

I snorted. “So, not much different from our lessons.”

“He always meant well, you know.”

I grunted. “Maybe. But I prefer Arawn’s manner of teaching. Also he’s a whole lot better than Keane.”

Finn didn’t say anything to that, probably because he knew it was true, and instead he changed the subject. “Ethan’s come round, saying he’s been trying to call you for a while.”

I shrugged, uninterested in this topic. “Never turned my phone on.”

“He said Kimber’s also been trying to reach you.”

I didn’t give a damn about Ethan, but guilt bit into me at the mention of Kimber and the fact that I hadn’t called her. The truth was, I didn’t know how to explain why I was there with Arawn or the way I felt with him.

So I gave a small nod and we left it at that.

When Finn had finished his tea he said, “It’s time I’m off.” He rose. “Thank you for the tea,” he said, looking at Arawn. “And for letting me see her.”

Arawn’s brows went up. “Dana’s a guest here, not a prisoner,” he said, “She decides who she wants to see, not me.”

Finn nodded, glancing between us, and then headed for the door.

So the weeks passed. And I was happy. Just one thread tugged against my happiness. It was soothed by the fact that Arawn had made no attempt at or suggestion of penetrative sex, and he seemed perfectly content with what we had been doing, but I could feel that thread pulling at me. Knew I’d have to face the music sooner or later.

One rainy night after we’d finished dinner and were lying together on the couch in the parlor watching the roaring fire, I turned to him and said, “There’s something I need to tell you, but I’m—I’m scared.” I swallowed. “I’m scared you’ll be angry. I’m scared you’ll hate me. I’m scared you’ll kick me out.” I couldn’t even look at him, afraid to see his reaction, instead looking down at my fingers twisting together. “But most of all I’m scared you won’t care.”

Finally I looked up. His blue eyes were fixed on me, full of tenderness and concern.

“You can tell me anything, baby girl,” he whispered, “I promise I won’t be angry. I promise I won’t kick you out. And if it's something important to you that you want me to care about, I’ll care.”

The knot in my stomach loosened every so slightly. I hooked a piece of hair behind my ears with a shaking hand.

Arawn caught it and kissed the back of it, holding it between his own two callused hands. “You can tell me anything,” he repeated slowly.

I took a breath, watching him kiss my hand again before rubbing circles over my knuckles with his thumb.

“I told you about how my mom and I moved around a lot, and when I was thirteen we were in a new place, Indianapolis. A couple weeks after I started at my new school, some girls invited me to a party. I guess because I was new. And I didn’t really want to go, but it was so rare for me to be invited by people from school that my mom told me I should go. So I did. Of course, she probably just wanted a night to herself to drink alone.”

Arawn didn’t take his eyes from me, his full attention focused.

I went on. “I wasn’t all that social, and I didn’t want to drink because seeing my mom wasted has kind of put me off drinking, so I just wandered around the house while everyone else was partying. Plus I didn’t really know anyone yet. I wandered into this one room looking at the weird art on the walls, and I heard the door shut behind me.”

I had to stop and take a deep breath, my heart starting to race as I recounted the memory. I leaned into his chest, inhaling his spicy smell deeply, letting it warm all the dark corners in me. You’re safe, I told myself. You’re safe.

I kept my eyes on our entwined hands, unable to look him in the face.

“Standing in front of the door was some guy I didn’t know. He asked me my name, what I was doing in here, who I came with, that sort of thing, and he kept walking towards me, closer and closer. I tried to give short answers and just get out of the room, but he—he was so much stronger than me…and before I knew it, he had me pinned against the bed, and ripped off my clothes, and—and—shoved himself inside of me—”

I pulled my hand out of Arawn’s and covered my face, sobs wracking my body.

“Oh, baby girl,” he whispered, his voice desperate and wrecked. He pulled me close, lifting me up onto his lap and cradling me against him. He rocked me back and forth, pressing slow kisses over my brow.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” he murmured, “You didn’t deserve that.”

He held me for a while as I cried, rocking me and tracing circles over my back.

Eventually I finally calmed down enough to ask hoarsely, “Are you angry with me?”

“Of course not,” Arawn said fiercely, “What happened wasn’t in any way your fault.”

“But,” I said, my voice small, “You can’t—can’t take my faeriewalker magic because I’m…not exactly a virgin.”

“I know,” he said quietly. “I suppose I made an assumption. When we made our agreement. I never bothered to ask if you were a virgin.”

He sighed. “The truth is, I’m a little relieved that I can’t take anything from you. I’ve been deeply conflicted about it lately. Torn between wanting the magic and not wanting to take anything from you.”

I finally dared to lift my head to look into his face. His blue eyes shone with sorrow and tenderness, but also rage and hatred swirled with them.

I recoiled at that, stiffening in his arms and pulling back. “You are angry with me,” I exclaimed tearfully.

“No, no, no,” he soothed me, pulling me back close to his body and pressing another kiss to my forehead. “I’m not angry with you. I swear it, baby girl. I’m angry with him.” Arawn’s hands curled into fists. “In all my years, I have never wanted to hunt down and kill someone as much as I want to hunt him.”

I relaxed into him, letting out a deep breath. I mumbled into his skin, “Maybe one day I’ll let you.”

He grinned against my forehead. “You just say the word, baby girl.”

“I want him to suffer a lot before you kill him,” I muttered.

He chuckled darkly. “That can be arranged.”

Silence fell between us, and he kept rubbing circles over my back.

After a few moments he said, “Can I ask you something?”

I nodded against him.

“Why would you think I wouldn’t care?”

I shrugged. “I tried to tell my mom afterwards and she didn’t really care. Of course she was pretty drunk but that was her standard state. We moved to another place a couple months later and never talked about it again.”

Arawn went still, shocked. “She didn’t care?”

I shook my head.

He kissed my forehead again, holding me even tighter against him, and resumed the circles over my back.

“I care,” he whispered softly into my skin. I started sobbing again, silently. “I care,” he repeated.

He held me as I cried into his chest, rocking me gently again.

When I finally calmed down, he said quietly, almost to himself, “I should have known.”

“What do you mean?”

“The night I put a finger inside of you—the way you reacted. I should have known right then.”

I nuzzled him. “It’s okay.”

He dropped another kiss over me. “Thank you for telling me,” he whispered.

I looked up at him, my eyes still wet. “Thank you for caring.”

He held me for a long time, until my eyelids were drooping.

“You ready for bed?” Arawn whispered into my forehead.

I yawned, nodding.

He stood without letting me go, still cradling me in his arms, and I let him. He carried me up the stairs, my arms wrapped around his neck and my head resting on his shoulder.

He took me into his room and set me down on my feet, and I went to change and brush my teeth.

Exhausted, I slid into bed next to him and finally met his eyes, shyly, uncertainly, not sure what to expect now after my revelation. Maybe he wouldn’t want to touch me now that there was no endgame for him. Maybe he didn’t want me in his bed anymore. Granted, after recounting my terrible story, I didn’t think I wanted to do any sex stuff tonight anyways.

I looked away from his eyes and up at the ceiling nervously instead.

“Come here, baby girl,” Arawn murmured, his hand outstretched toward me. “I want to hold you.”

My heart broke open at his words, and I shifted over, closing the few inches between us. He pulled me in close, wrapping his arms around me.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he said.

My voice was small. “Do you still…want me?”

Arawn stroked my hair back from my face, his eyes tender as they looked deep into mine.

After what seemed like an interminable, heart-wrenching silence, he said quietly, “I think I’m in love with you.” My eyes widened. “I’ve never loved anyone before,” he said, “But I think that’s what this feeling is.”

I could feel tears glistening in my eyes.

“When I told you that I cared…I do,” he said, “I care so much it scares me.”

The tears in my eyes spilled over, and he wiped them away with his thumb over my cheekbone.

“I love you, too, Arawn,” I said, my voice shaky with emotion.

A smile broke across his beautiful face and he kissed me, deeply, fiercely.

“You know, you didn’t actually answer my question,” I said, pulling away.

Arawn smiled, huffing a laugh. “Yes, baby girl,” he said, “I want you.” He rested his forehead on mine. “I want you,” he repeated softly.

I bit my lip, my eyes fluttering down and then back up to meet his. “I’m still not…ready yet. But I think I will be. And I want it to be you, Arawn. I want you to be the one I choose.”

He stroked my cheek with the back of his knuckles, smiling at me. “I will be honored if you do. But there’s no rush. None at all. And I like all the things we’ve been doing.”

I blushed. “Me too.”

We lay quietly in each other’s arms, kissing, stroking hands over skin.

Finally I had to ask another question burning in my mind. “What does this mean for Ethan? And for Connor?”

He raised his brows. “Do you want me to bring Ethan back into the Hunt?”

I twisted my lips. “That asshole certainly deserves it. But I really don’t want to have to see him at all. So no, I don’t think I want that.”

“What exactly happened with the two of you?” he asked curiously.

I blew out my breath. “He cheated on me with his ex.”

Arawn was quiet for a beat before saying softly, “He didn’t deserve you.”

“So you’re not going to take him back into the Hunt?”

“Not if you don’t want me to.”

“Are you just going to do everything I say?” I teased him.

He snorted. “Everything is a big word.”

Sobering, I asked, “And what about Connor?”

His eyes looked a million years old as he considered my question. “I meant what I said—Connor’s been with the Hunt for so long, I don’t know that he could leave. But…I’ll let him and your father talk, and if Conner wants to leave the Hunt, then I’ll release him to your father.”

“Just like that? I don’t have to do anything?”

“No, you don’t have to do anything.”

“Why?” I demanded.

He pursed his lips in amusement. “I find myself…” His brows drew together as if he were confused by something. “…wanting to…do things for you.”

I grinned at the look on his face. “Is this a new concept for you?”

A wry look took over his expression. “Maybe.”

I laughed, which was cut short by a yawn, and Arawn took that as the sign to turn out the lights. I fell asleep in his arms, fast, dragged down into sleep immediately.

I woke up screaming, the nightmare jolting me out of sleep, worse than it usually was. I hadn’t had it in weeks, not since the first few days when I first arrived.

“Dana!”

I shot upright in the bed, the screams dying in my throat, sheets tangled around me, my whole body vibrating.

In a second the bedside lamp was on, blinding me, but chasing away the dark grip of the nightmare.

“Breathe,” Arawn commanded me.

He was sitting up, too, bare-chested, eyes wild, just inches away from me but not touching my shaking body. His hand was outstretched, hovering over my back.

“Breathe,” he said again, and I tried to obey, sucking in a shallow breath and letting it out in a stuttering burst.

“Slowly,” he ordered, counting out breaths for me, “One, two, three, four. Hold it. Now let it out, one, two, three, four, five, six. Good girl. Do it again.”

Gradually my breathing slowed, evened out, and the shaking started to subside.

“That’s good, baby girl. Keep breathing like that. Is it okay to touch you?”

I nodded, and he ran a huge hand down my back, then pulled me into him gently, and I collapsed against his chest. His hand traced a slow pattern up and down my back.

“I’m sorry,” I managed to get out.

“Shh,” he soothed me, “There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

“But I—I—”

“It’s okay,” he said, when I couldn’t say anymore, “I’ve got you, baby girl.”

Tears rolled down my face, and dripped into his chest. He kissed me and held me tighter.

“I’m never going to be free of him,” I sobbed.

“Yes, you will,” he said into my forehead, “We’re going to get there together.”

The tears were still flowing. “You’re not—not—going to leave?”

Arawn tilted my head back, forcing me to look into his eyes. “I’m not going to leave,” he said firmly. “What makes you think I would?”

“Why would you even want this?” I flung out, still sobbing, only half-coherent, my voice cracking again and again. “Why would you want someone this damaged and fucked up and—”

I broke off.

“Because,” his voice rumbled, “Because I do. Because you’re my Dana. Because I love you.”

I buried my head in his neck and he stroked my back again in calming circles while I tried to focus on breathing.

And I must have passed out from exhaustion, because when I opened my eyes it was morning. I was still cradled tightly against Arawn’s chest and he was already awake, if he had even gone back to sleep after my nightmare.

“Hi,” I whispered hoarsely.

“Hey, baby girl,” he whispered back, pressing a kiss to my forehead and giving me a tender smile. He ran callused hands over my bare arms, down my back, smoothing my messy hair back from my face.

I didn’t move, just enjoyed the safe feeling of being in his arms, watching him quietly, still tired from the night’s ordeal.

Finally I asked, “Did you sleep?”

“Some.” He shrugged. “Enough.”

I swallowed. “I really am sorry. It’s never been that bad before.”

“It’s okay,” he said, his voice so gentle it rent my heart. “Yesterday was a hard day.”

I didn’t say anything, but nuzzled my head deeper into his chest, as if to say I agreed.

“All those nightmares,” he murmured, “That’s what they were all about, weren’t they?”

I nodded.

He sighed. “I wish I had known.”

“What would you have done differently if you had known?”

Arawn shrugged. “I would have...taken better care of you…” The faintest tint of red colored his cheeks.

I shook my head. “You took really good care of me,” I whispered, “Really good care of me.”

He brought me coffee in bed that morning, and took care of me again, the whole day. And things were better the next day.

I woke up with my core aching after two days of no action. Arawn’s hard-on was pressing into my thigh that was thrown across his body.

I lightly ground my clit down on his bare leg, slipped between mine.

“What are you doing down there, baby girl?” Arawn’s voice floated above my head, rough and slurred with sleep.

“Nothing,” I said innocently, smiling up at him.

Suddenly we were flipped, Arawn’s weight half on top of me. His eyes glinted with arousal. He kissed me hard, pressing me down into the mattress, his tongue on mine sending hot strokes of need up my spine.

He broke away, his neck angling down to bite and tease at my nipples poking through my thin tank top, as my fingernails scratched gouges down his back.

By the time he was through, both my nipples were standing proud at attention, twice the size they usually were, and my hips were lifting uncontrollably, desperately trying to find some friction.

Arawn left a trail of kisses as he made his way down my body slowly. Very slowly. Probably to drive me crazy. Hovering over my panty-covered slit, he inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring. Our eyes met and I blushed.

He nosed over my clit lightly, making me jump and moan. Then he did it again, more insistently, before nibbling at my clit through my panties.

“Please,” I begged, mewling, after he had teased me like that with his teeth and lips for too many minutes.

“Please what?” his guttural voice asked, as he teased his lips over me again.

“Please, please, please,” I moaned, my hips jittering against his face.

“Say it,” he ordered, “Tell me what you want.”

I broke. “Please let me come, please, please let me come, let me come,” I wailed out, desperate and lost.

Arawn shredded my panties in one movement, his tongue working over my clit in hard, firm strokes, drawing circles around it, sucking it out its hood and making me shriek.

I came fast, already close to the edge even before his tongue touched me, my thighs tightening like a vise around his head and shaking uncontrollably.

He licked me again and again, through one orgasm and then caught me on the way down and pulled me up, climbing to a second release.  

I leaned up on my elbows watching him work, his long shining hair swept to the side.

“Arawn,” I said, getting his attention.

He stopped immediately, looking up at me from between my legs. He pressed a kiss to my thigh, not breaking our gaze.

“You can—” I swallowed. “You can put your finger inside of me,” I said softly.

His eyes searched mine.

“You’re sure?”

I nodded, nerves flowing into my veins like lightning. He kissed my thigh again.

“You want me to stop, you say, ‘Stop,’ okay?”

“Okay,” I whispered.

Arawn put his tongue back on my slit, swirling around my clit before sucking it into his mouth. Slowly, one of his fingers traced my entrance and pressed gentle circles over it, just the barest hint of pressure, until I was both wound up and relaxed, my cunt opening to draw his finger inside.

His finger carefully plumbed my depths, pressing in slowly and then curling towards my front as it drew out, scraping over something rough that made me squeak. Then he did it again. Again. All the while not taking his tongue off my clit.

“Do you like that, baby girl?” he asked, his lips brushing against me.

I moaned yes incoherently.

He gave another lick to my clit, making my whole body jerk.

“Do you want a second finger?”

Yes. Yes, I wanted it. I wanted everything he could give me. I was burning up, breaking apart.

I moaned again, clenching around his finger. “Yes,” I babbled, “Yes, yes.”

“Yes, what?”

Guess my dad was right: Arawn was indeed evil.

“Yes, I want a second finger.” My words tumbled out, falling over themselves.

Evil he might be, but he was generous too, and on his next stroke in, a second finger joined with his first, and I clenched harder. They curled together on the outstroke, scraping over the rough patch again, making liquid gush across my thighs.

I could feel my flesh clinging to his fingers as he dragged them out of me, then slowly glided them back in. Over and over.

His tongue on my clit quickened, lapping frantically, sending waves of heat billowing out from my stomach, growing, tightening.

Suddenly I orgasmed again, squeezing tightly around his fingers while I shook against his vibrating tongue. My neck arched back, my mouth open in a silent scream.

He finally let up when I shivered away from his mouth, completely spent. After dropping a kiss over my clit, he lay back on the bed next to me, our limbs entangled.

I could see his cock still standing hard and high, and after I’d caught my breath I sat up, gripped his length, and in one motion took it into my mouth, surprising Arawn.

I went low, then pulled back, circling my tongue around the head, then back down again, deep-throating it.

He let me carry on for a while but then surprised me when he pulled away from my mouth and had me get on all fours in front of him.

“Trust me,” he murmured at my momentary hesitation, and the knot inside me relaxed and I obeyed, getting into position.

Arawn kneeled behind me, then drew me backwards onto his lap, his cock springing up between my legs. I caught the member between my hands, stroking it, drawing the foreskin back, thumbing over the head, still slick with my saliva.

“Grind down on me,” he said, “I want to feel your clit running over my cock.”

Relying on his arm circling my waist to hold me up, I swayed my hips forward, dragging my clit down the long length of his cock, sending shivers up my spine. I did it again.

“Is this alright?” he murmured in my ear.

I moaned out a yes as his free hand came up to roll one of my nipples between his fingers. My head dropped down on his shoulder, exposing my neck, which he plundered with rough kisses.

His hips began to move beneath mine, his cock thrusting up between my inner thighs. Lifting my head to watch, I shifted my hips so that with every stroke the head of his cock brushed against my clit, and I reached out my hand to press his throbbing length harder against my slit, grinding down on it.

His dick was now fully slick with the wet from my cunt, the liquid seeping down my thighs, which were clamped tightly around his huge girth, and his head pistoned up and down between them.

Arawn slid his finger down to my clit, fingering it in hard, tight circles until fireworks passed over my vision and I screamed out my release.

Coming down, I realized the hard length of his cock was still throbbing in my hand. Frankly, I was surprised I hadn’t gripped it to death while I was in the throes of orgasm.

I twisted over his body, pushing him back on the bed and taking his cock back deep into my throat.

He hissed. “Fuck. Fuck, yes, baby girl.”

I worked his cock with my tongue, rippling my throat around his length as I swallowed it, tugging at his balls the way I had seen him touch himself. And before long I heard the sound of his release as spurts of come painted the back of my throat and I swallowed.

Later in the bathtub, Arawn picked me up and lay me back on the edge of the tub. He kissed my breasts and stomach. “I love this body,” he rumbled, then dipped down lower between my spread legs and kissed my clit, making me jump, “Especially this beautiful cunt.” He licked me over and over, and I squealed, the sound devolving into a moan.

“I can never, ever get enough of this cunt.” He growled up at me from between my legs, his huge arms wrapped around my thighs, “I want to spend eternity worshiping you on my knees.”

And I was perfectly fine with that.

Arawn was true to his word about Connor, sending for my dad a couple days later. He showed up warily at Arawn’s front door, Finn at his side.

Dad seemed pretty quiet. Maybe he had resigned himself to me staying with the Erlking. He certainly didn’t try to argue with me about it again.

Arawn showed my dad into a small sunlit room where Connor was waiting. Dad gasped when he saw him, Arawn, apparently, having given him no warning.

“You can talk. Take all the time you need,” Arawn said to him quietly. “We’ll be in the parlor when you’re through.”

While my dad and Connor talked, we had tea and coffee in the parlor with Finn, much to his discomfort. Even though he already knew about us, he seemed far from relaxed watching Arawn’s arm around my shoulder, his calloused fingers stroking my skin casually.

We made awkward small talk before I gave up and started telling Arawn about the latest book I was reading.

But I was interrupted soon after by my father at the door. His eyes darkened at the sight of Arawn’s possessive arm around me, and how closely I was tucked into his side. My dad glared at Arawn first, and then Finn too, as if it were his fault that he allowed such things to occur.

Arawn gave a soft snort at my dad’s look. Like a giant dismissing a fly. He pressed a soft kiss to my brow before bypassing the subject completely and saying to my dad, “If Connor wants to leave, I’ll release him to your care.”

My dad was shocked, his face pale.

“But be warned,” Arawn went on, “It will take time before he seems more like his old self. And he may never fully be as he was before.”

My dad was stock-still, as only the Fae can be. “Why—why would you do this?” he asked, uncertainly.

Arawn shrugged. “Dana wishes it.”

My dad’s mouth hung open, his gaze darting back and forth between Arawn’s and mine.

I gave him a small smile.

He closed his mouth, obviously still shell-shocked. Then cleared his throat.

“Thank you,” he managed to get out in a strangled tone.

He rearranged his face to be more orderly—more the dad I was used to—and looked at me. “You’re really happy here?” he asked.

“Yes, Dad,” I said, “I’m really happy here.”

He sighed heavily. Disappointment shone in his eyes.

“Will you at least come over for dinner sometime?”

I weighed his request. “Can Arawn come, too?”

He glared at me, then at Arawn. His mouth closed and opened like a fish; it was clear that even processing this request was causing his brain to short circuit. I could tell Arawn was trying to hide his smirk.

“I—I—” My dad huffed air through his nostrils. “Fine.”

He was most definitely not fine with it. But I took what I could get.

“I’m ready,” I whispered, late one evening.

We were lying in bed, reading, me only half-heartedly, my head sprawled on Arawn’s chest, our legs tangled together.

He dropped his book to the side and turned to look me in the face closely. He searched my eyes for what seemed like a long time.

“You’re sure?”

I nodded. “I think so. As sure as I can be.”

“Okay,” Arawn said slowly. “Well, I’d like to do some things first to get you ready, and if you’re still sure afterwards, then we will.”

Swallowing, I asked shyly, “What kinds of things?”

He grinned and his eyes glowed with arousal. “First I want you to ride my tongue.”

My thighs squeezed together involuntarily at his words.

“Then I want you to ride my fingers.”

Now I was already soaking wet. His nostrils flared and I knew, blushing, that he could smell me.

“So you’ve, um…given this some thought…” I raised my brows.

“Yes,” Arawn agreed, smiling, “I’ve given it some thought. Especially after you told me what happened to you. I want it to be good for you. I want you to feel safe.”

My heart surged and I closed the gap between our faces, my lips sealing over his. His tongue slipped into my mouth, caressing mine, making my heart pound. Our makeout session went on and on, Arawn’s hands stroking over my arms and back, his fingers tangled in my hair, but going no further than that. He kissed me until I was relaxed as hot taffy, and at the same time desperate for him to do something more.

Finally I thought maybe he was waiting for me to make the first move, and so I tossed a leg over his torso, straddling his hips and giving his rock-hard cock a firm stroke.

“I’m ready,” I murmured, running my hands down his muscled chest.

“Okay,” he replied, smirking. “Get on my face, baby girl.”

I crawled up his body so my cunt was over his mouth. My clit was already pounding in anticipation.

Arawn began with teasing licks, driving me crazy. Light licks over my outer lips, my entrance, up and down, but avoiding my clit.

I bore down on him in frustration but Arawn’s thick arms were wrapped around my thighs, controlling how much I could push down. I moaned.

At last he took mercy on me, swiping his tongue firmly across my throbbing clit, again and again, sucking it into his mouth and circling with his tongue.

I could have easily come from that but he pulled away too soon, his tongue dancing down my slit and then finally dipping inside my cunt. At first it was slow, but then his tongue thrust inside me more steadily. It was surprisingly strong, and long, stretching deep inside me.

I rode that long muscle, matching his rhythm, at first clumsily, then more smoothly. Sparks of pleasure burst across my pelvis.

Arawn’s right hand came around over my thigh and his thumb pressed down over my clit in circles. Now the sparks had burned into an inferno that swirled inside me, around and around, like every thrust of his tongue in me fueled it.

And within a minute I climaxed, clenching hard around his tongue, shaking, my mouth open wide, my head tipped back. His thumb didn’t stray from my clit, its fast strokes drawing out my release in breathy moans.

When I had pulled back at last, his tongue giving one last lick across my slit, Arawn picked me up from that position like I weighed nothing, guiding me on the bed to my hands and knees, while he kneeled behind me.

Pulling me back onto his lap, he ran his hands down the front of my body possessively, tweaking my nipples and flicking at my clit. It made the sparks glow again, as if a wind blew through to kindle them back to life.

“Did you like that, baby girl?” he asked in my ear.

“Yes,” I choked out, my head dropping back onto his shoulder with the unspeakable things his fingers were doing to my clit.

“You going to come for me again?” His voice was a low growl.

I’m pretty sure I made a noise that was somewhere between a moan and a squeal but was too lost to care.

“Tell me, baby girl, are you ready for my fingers?”

Those fingers were circling and pinching my clit. My knees shook.

Finally my brain found its words. “Yes—please—please—Arawn—”

His thumb remained on my clit, drawing circles around the pink nub, while his other fingers brushed over my entrance. He angled his head, watching me closely as one finger slipped inside me, curling to trace over that spot in front that he had touched last time. A second finger soon joined it, and he slowly pumped them in and out.

Arawn’s mouth trailed over my neck, biting and licking. “Ride my fingers,” he said, encouraging me to use my knees to move up and down.

As I did so, I could feel his fingers spreading and stretching me, massaging my inner walls.

“Can you take a third finger?” he murmured.

I felt full with two, but still craved him, craved so much of him, so I nodded.

Without stopping the fast strokes over my clit, he pulled his fingers out of my dripping cunt to add a third, and then slowly, so slowly, pushed them back inside of me.

They moved and flexed inside me like a tripod, stretching me further. When I glanced down, I could see my juices running over his hands and wrists in glistening streaks.

The image sent me tumbling over the edge, scrabbling my hands at his broad shoulders behind me, and I wailed his name while stars flew past my eyes.

I collapsed on the bed. Arawn was still on his knees, slowly licking all my juices off his hand. He smirked at my blush.

He took his time, and when he had finished, he spread my legs with a push of his knee, and kneeled between them. Smoothing his hands up my legs, my belly and breasts, he said, “Well, baby girl, do you still want to do this?”

I looked up at him towering above me: huge, muscled, powerful. I shivered with the feel of that power, that dominance, looming over me. But good-shivered.

“Yes,” I croaked out.

“Alright,” he said softly. “If you need me to stop, you say the word.”

I nodded.

Arawn dipped his head down and licked my cunt a few times, stirring the embers again before rising.

Kneeling again between my spread legs, he put another pillow under my head, running his hands over my skin on the way back down, mouthing and tugging at my peaked nipples.

His thighs angled outward so our pelvises aligned; my legs were draped over his. Without warning, he dragged his cock through my folds and I gasped when he ran the head over my clit. Then he did it again. Again.

He lined up his cock with my entrance, and I looked up at the ceiling, my hands twisting beside me in the sheets, and forced myself to take deep breaths.

“Look at me, baby girl.”

My eyes found his.

“I’ve got you,” he said, picking up my hand and stroking across my knuckles. “I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you.”

I let out a long slow breath, nodding at him, the anxiety ebbing.

Gripping his cock, Arawn dragged it over my clit again, making my body jerk. Then he circled my entrance with the head in easy movements, gradually pressing deeper on each pass.  

He stroked a hand down my belly. “Relax,” he said, “Relax, baby girl.”

His hand trailed lower, thumbing gently over my clit as he slowly pushed inside my cunt. Moving inch by inch, he took his time, sometimes waiting, sometimes pulling back a little before easing forward. His eyes didn’t leave mine and his thumb didn’t leave my clit.

I felt full, so full, but there was very little pain, probably because of all the stretching he had done. Finally, I could tell he was fully sheathed inside me by the feel of his hips pressed against my ass.

My legs tightened and flexed as I tried to accommodate his huge size.

“You doing okay?” he asked.

I swallowed, my mouth dry. “Y-Yes…I just—just need a minute.”

He nodded. “Take your time.”

I closed my eyes, trying to breathe, almost embarrassed to look at him in such a vulnerable position. Suddenly his nose brushed mine, his body leaning over me to nuzzle my face before kissing my lips softly. A tightness that was lingering in my chest lifted and I kissed him back, my hands tangling in his hair.

I was breathless by the time he pulled away, his forehead still pressed against mine. “Okay,” I murmured, taking slow inhales, “You can keep going.”

Arawn straightened, and seeing his huge form rise over me I again sensed that dominance and power, and my lower belly curled deliciously.

He pulled out a few inches and slowly pushed back inside me. Again. Again.

His thumb was moving over my clit once more, and every thrust of his cock inside me got progressively smoother, slicker. I watched, transfixed, as his sharp abs flexed and rippled with every movement. Warmth began to spread across my core.

He grinned. “You going to come for me like this, baby girl?”

I swallowed. “Um, I…” I trailed off. To be honest, I wasn’t sure, between the nerves and the newness and the faint lingering edge of discomfort.

Somehow Arawn knew what I was thinking. He pulled out completely, leaving me feeling oddly empty, then dropped his head down to devour my cunt, sucking hard on my clit. The now-familiar heat quickly began to build in my core. He licked me over and over, bringing me close to the edge where my legs started shaking. Leaving me suddenly, he shifted back up to his knees and slowly but firmly slid his cock back inside me, setting a steady pace that he matched with his thumb on my clit.

His strokes fueled the heat rising in me. Twisting up my spine.

I moaned. “Yes,” I gasped out, “I’m going to come for you.”

Arawn smirked down at me, male pride shining in his blue eyes. His thumb on my clit sped up.

“Tell me more, baby girl. Are you going to scream for me? Are you going to chant my name?” His grin widened. “Are you going to be a good girl and beg me to let you come?”

Fuck. He knew me too well.

He licked his thumb before putting it back on my clit and flicking with a relentless speed, accelerating the tightening spiral in my belly that heralded an oncoming orgasm. My legs gripped his waist. Arawn’s other hand reached to roll one of my nipples, making me squeal, the sound interspersed with broken fragments of his name.

I moaned again. The fire had burned away the last traces of discomfort and all I felt was a white heat rushing through me, up my breasts, my chest, my neck, my face, spilling from my mouth in the form of a garbled stream of words. “Please, Arawn, please, please, Arawn—Arawn—please let me come, please let me come, pleasepleasepleaseplease—”

“Come for me now,” he commanded me roughly.

With one last flick of his thumb over my clit, blessed release washed over me like a rushing river, and I clenched around his cock, screaming, my head angled back. Arawn bit down gently on my exposed neck, sucking on the fragile skin. With one last thrust, I heard him groan, and knew he had climaxed too.

We lay there like that for a moment, unmoving, just breathing, him on top of me, his weight held up by his biceps.

He lifted his head from my neck and kissed a trail across my cheek before capturing my lips and kissing me tenderly.

Brushing the hair back from my face, he looked at me closely and asked, “You okay?”

I nodded, the concern in his eyes making me smile.

“I didn’t hurt you?”

“No, you didn’t hurt me,” I said. “There was some tightness but it went away.”

He hummed, kissing me again. “You’ll be sore tomorrow, I expect.”

I shrugged. “I’ll let you kiss it better.”

“It would be my pleasure,” he replied with a smirk as he slowly pulled his softening cock out of my cunt. He dropped a kiss over my stomach before settling down beside me.

Lying on our sides, legs all tangled, he held me to his muscled body and traced lines over my skin. I couldn’t stop the smile splitting my face.

“What?” he asked, smiling in answer.

I shrugged, laughing. “I know it was all you but I feel so…accomplished.”

His smile widened. “It was you too. And you should. I’m proud of you, baby girl.”

I burrowed closer into his chest, something in me tingling with his praise.

“Thank you for…how you did it,” I whispered into his skin. “It was perfect.”

“Good,” he replied, kissing the top of my head.

I tried to get closer, warmth and exhaustion growing over me, a contented silence lulling between us.

“Arawn?” I asked sleepily.

“Yeah, baby girl?”

“I’m definitely taking you on a rollercoaster ride.”

Fin…for now.

I also couldn’t stop thinking of his words in the tunnel after he killed Aunt Grace. I’m sorry I could not get here sooner to spare you some of what you’ve been through. There was a gentleness to his words, a tenderness. Despite everything he had done to me, I felt a sense of safety wash over me. I had never felt safe before in my whole life, and here it was, from a male who seemed to be a monster. The day I had gone to his house to bargain for Ethan, when Arawn knelt before me and ran his thumbs over my knuckles—I realized I had felt it then, too. I just hadn’t recognized it for what it was at the time. Not when the concept of safety had been so foreign to me. My mom certainly never did anything to make me feel safe. And though I think my Dad tried, in his own way, from the moment I arrived in Avalon it had been one terrifying thing after another. Plus I worried my Dad wanted to use me for his political ambitions. So even though he was light-years better than my mother at trying to protect me, I never really felt safe.

I forced myself to think of Ethan during the day to distract myself. I missed him, and the dreams made me feel almost like I was cheating on him, though I obviously had no control over them.

After two weeks, when I couldn’t take it anymore, I decided to use the brooch to go see him. Even though I had serious misgivings about using it again, the feeling of being trapped had begun to outweigh it.

So one evening after Finn thought I had gone to bed, I dressed in jeans, pricked my finger, and walked out the door. As with all the other times, Finn didn’t even notice the door opening, his attention fully fixed on the soccer match blaring on the television.

I found my way through the darkness with a flashlight and made it to Ethan’s apartment, invisible to everyone that walked by. When I got to his doorstep, I was planning on waiting a few minutes for the spell to wear off, timing it on my watch, but I became distracted by his door, which was slightly ajar.

A worried feeling came over me. What if something had happened to him? What if the Erlking had come to take him back?

Without thinking too hard about the terrifying possibilities, I eased the door open on silent hinges and slipped inside. There was a low moan coming from Ethan’s bedroom. Maybe he was hurt? My heart pounded in my chest and I tiptoed across the carpet to his bedroom door.

And when I looked inside, my heart nearly stopped. There on the bed was Ethan and the girl he had danced with at the party. Fucking.

“What the FUCK?!” I screamed, seething, enraged.

But they completely ignored my outburst, engrossed in each other. Ethan was fucking the girl from behind and she was moaning, her face buried in the bedspread.

“ETHAN! WHAT THE FUCK!” I hollered again. And then realized that I was still invisible. They had no idea I was there. And couldn’t hear me.

I looked at my watch. Two more minutes. I debated waiting for the spell to wear off so I could confront Ethan properly, but then changed my mind and just stomped out. Really, I was afraid if I stayed and screamed at him that I’d cry, and I didn’t want to give him that satisfaction. Fuck him. I didn’t want to give him anything anymore.

I left his front door wide open. Stabbing my finger viciously with the brooch to reactivate the spell, I made my way back towards the tunnels.

How many times did I have to learn this lesson? How many signs had Ethan given me that he wasn’t trustworthy? I should have learned with the first red flag when he basically tried to magic-roofie me into kissing him. And probably would have done more if I hadn’t realized and stopped it. Well fuck him. Never again. I was done. He could go and rot in the Hunt for the rest of his immortal life for all I cared.

Somehow through my blind rage I found my way back to the safe house. My prison. Past Finn who was already snoring.

It took me a long time to find sleep that night. I tossed and turned, seeing the image of Ethan fucking that girl over and over. Seeing red again and again. But eventually I fell into a fitful sleep.

That night I had a strange dream. As usual I dreamed of Arawn, but it was a different kind of dream. He was sitting in the big armchair in front of his fireplace and I was on his lap, cradled in his huge muscled arms. He rocked me back and forth, pressing gentle kisses to my forehead, and murmured tenderly to me that I was going to be okay.

And when I woke in the morning, I was. Sure, I still hated Ethan’s fucking guts and vowed never to speak to him again except with my middle finger. But there was a calmness in me that wasn’t there last night. A warmth.

I carried that warmth inside me all day, replaying the dream. The feeling of safety and security. When my dad came by with more groceries that afternoon, I didn’t even try to argue with him about letting me out of the safe house. It was like I was floating on the cloud of the dream and nothing could bother me.

That night I pricked my finger again. Crept past Finn again. This time with a pack of clothes and other necessities on my back.

I walked through the tunnels and the quiet streets of Avalon until I got to the huge house that was the home of the Erlking.

He opened at the first knock. “Dana,” he started, surprised.

He was as huge and imposing as ever. Tall, so tall, with broad shoulders, his powerful arms and chest. I felt heat stir low in my belly, remembering some of my dreams from the past few weeks. The ones that left my panties sticky. I prayed I packed enough pairs.

Arawn’s eyebrows went up, a smirk playing at his lips. “Have you come to fulfill our bargain?”

I rolled my eyes and pushed inside. He closed the door behind me. Turning to face him, I said, “I’m not having sex with you yet, if that’s what you mean. I’m not just going to knock on your door and do it.” I swallowed, gathering my courage. “If I’m ever going to agree to sleep with you, I want to get to know you first.”

“Get to know me?” he echoed.

“Yeah, it’s this thing that people do sometimes before jumping into bed together.”

His eyebrows went higher. “And how do you propose to do that?”

“I think you should let me stay here for a while. We’ll get to know each other.” My audacity astounded even me. “Plus I can’t stay in that prison for one more second or I’m going to lose it.”

“Your father’s been imprisoning you?” Disbelief coated his deep voice, and his eyebrows drew together.

“Well, he’d call it a ‘safe house,’”—I put the word in air quotes—“But yes. It has no windows and he hasn’t let me leave in weeks and I’m this close to losing my damn mind.”

Arawn stared at me a moment, his massive arms crossed, a finger running over his bottom lip. I tried not to remember all the things I’ve done with that lip in my dreams. All the things I craved doing.

“Okay,” he said at last, “You can stay here for a while.”

I had to ask. “Will I—will I be safe here?”

“Yes,” he said, a gentle look in his eyes, “I guarantee your protection while you are here.”

I dipped my head in thanks.

He stared at me, a small smile on his face. “Come,” he said finally, “I’ll show you to where you can sleep.”

I gripped my backpack tighter and followed his massive form up the sweeping staircase. He led me down the hall and as we passed one doorway, he motioned to it and said, “That’s my room.” He smirked again at me. “In case you feel like coming by.”

I rolled my eyes. Arawn continued down the hall and stopped at another doorway, opening the door and flipping on the lights to reveal a beautiful suite with what appeared to be an adjoining bathroom. There was a huge four poster bed in the middle of the room, and the carpet was so thick and luxurious that my shoes sank into it with each step.

He lingered in the doorway watching me assess the room. I turned back to look at him. His form filled the entire doorway.

“Thank you,” I said, “For letting me stay here.”

He nodded. “Does your father know you left?”

I shrugged. “I’m sure my absence will inform him of that.”

Arawn’s lips quirked. “I imagine he may come looking for you.”

“I think your house is probably the last place he’d look.”

“He cares for you.”

“Yeah, so much he locked me up.” My mouth twisted. “I think he cares more for what I can do for his political prospects, anyways.”

“He’ll still come looking for you.”

I shrugged. “Let him. I’m not going back to that prison. If you kick me out I’d rather go back to the mortal world.”

Arawn grinned wickedly. “Perhaps I’ll come with you.”

“Yeah,” I said with a snort, “So you can kill all the mortals.”

“Not all. Just some.”

“You know, normal people who like to hunt go out and hunt animals for eating.”

A smile played around his lips. “What’s the difference?”

“You’re not eating them!”

“No,” he agreed, “Mortals taste terrible.”

My eyebrows shot up. “You’ve tried them?”

Arawn laughed. “Once, long ago. Never again. It was awful.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. “I’d like to go to sleep now, if that’s alright.”

“Of course,” he said smoothly. Then his smirk was back. “Would you like a goodnight kiss?”

I’m sure he expected some flippant retort. Or me to cringe. Or look away in disgust. But I had experienced his kisses in my dreams for weeks now, and I really, really wanted to feel the real thing again. Our first kiss haunted me and something in me craved feeling it once more.

So I looked at him evenly and said, “Okay.”

His eyes widened in surprise ever so slightly, then gleamed. He took one step toward me, into the room. Then another. I stood my ground, watching him, dropping my backpack to the floor.

Then he stood in front of me, towering over me. I didn’t take my eyes from him. My palms grew moist. So did my panties, but he really didn’t need to know that.

One of Arawn’s huge hands went to my waist, pulling my body into his. The other hand threaded through my hair, pushing my head back and cradling it at the same time. He lowered his head and gently brushed his lips against mine, once, twice, and when I kissed him back, he deepened it, his tongue tracing my lips. I opened to let him in, gasping, and his tongue stroked against mine. He held me firmly against him and I could feel his erection through his leather pants. My nipples pebbled against his hard chest. His lips were burning hot, burning through me, as they caressed mine. I finally pulled away, breathless, our foreheads leaning together.

“Was that okay?” I nodded at his question. “I didn’t hurt you?”

“No,” I murmured.

He leaned in and gave me one last soft, gentle kiss. “Good night, Dana.”

I was still catching my breath a little as I responded, “Good night, Arawn.”

He growled and said, “I like the sound of my name on your lips.”

I glanced down at the evidence of his arousal and said, “It seems you like a lot of things.”

He grinned, unashamed, and pulled away, sauntering out the door. “Sleep well,” he tossed out over his shoulder as he closed the door behind him.

Just to be sure, after a moment I went and checked the door to make sure I wasn’t locked in. It wasn’t. Closing the door softly again, I locked it from the inside for good measure. He said earlier he’d guarantee my safety, and I didn’t think I had anything to worry from him because he said I’d have to come to him of my own free will, but I thought of all the other males in the house and shivered.

I brushed my teeth and washed my face in the adjoining bathroom, which had a huge sunken tub in addition to the large shower. I couldn’t wait to bathe in that tub.

Climbing up into the huge bed and turning off the lamp, I slid between cool sheets. I thought of the kiss and it made me press my legs together. The feel of his tongue against mine. His huge hands holding me close to him. That sense of safety that I had felt before was still present, had washed over me in waves when he kissed me. I fell asleep with a smile on my lips.

I woke to light shining on my face from the window. It was like a breath of fresh air to wake to real sunlight. Even still, I buried my head in the soft pillow, trying to stay with the delicious dream of Arawn kissing me, kissing my mouth, kissing down my body, lingering over my breasts. My core was tight and aching.

Sighing, I rose from the bed and took a shower and got dressed. I wandered through the house—the mansion, really—until I came across Arawn in the dining room, drinking tea and eating toast and scrambled eggs.

“Good morning, Arawn,” I said.

I swore I could see his eyes darken at my words. “Good morning,” he replied. “Did you sleep well?”

I nodded, and couldn’t help the slight blush that rose to my cheeks. His blue eyes darkened even further.

“I had coffee made for you,” he said.

“Thank you,” I murmured as I took a seat at the table across from him.

He picked up a mug and poured coffee from a silver carafe and placed it in front of me. I took a sip. It was delicious.

He sipped his tea and stared at me. The air practically crackled between us.

“Do you want eggs? Toast? Pancakes?”

“Yes,” I said faintly, not really hearing him. I think I was drowning in his blue eyes.

“You’d like all of them?” He asked skeptically.

“Sorry, what was the question?”

His smirk was back. “I asked what you wanted for breakfast.”

“Oh,” I said, embarrassed. “I’ll just have toast.”

He passed me some on a plate and I tried to gather my wits about me as I buttered it.

I cleared my throat. “So what does the king of Faerie do all day?”

“You mean besides hunting and killing people?” Mirth shone in his gaze.

“And eating them,” I deadpanned, making him laugh.

“I’m the king of Faerie, I do whatever I want.”

I took a bite of my toast and he watched my mouth move. Which made it quite hard to swallow, let me tell you.

“What do you want to do today, Dana?” His voice rumbled like thunder and made me shiver. In a good way.

I finally managed to swallow my food, and licked my lips. He didn’t miss a move. I’d have felt like prey if it weren’t for the fact that I couldn’t take my eyes off his lips, the masculine shadow of his stubble, like I was stalking him right back.

“I want…I want to feel free. I want to feel the wind and sun on my face.”

Some emotion flickered briefly in his deep blue eyes. “Would you like to go for a motorcycle ride?”

My lips parted. “Would the Hunt be with us?”

“Not if you don’t want them to be.”

“Just around Avalon?”

He nodded.

“How can I trust that?”

Arawn smiled softly, kindly. “I swear it. And I have an interest in keeping your trust, as well as your safety.” He held out his hand over the table, palm up. Something in me compelled me to place my hand in his. He held my hand gently, running his thumb over my knuckles as he had the first time I was here.

“You deserve to feel the wind and sun on your face, Dana.”

“Okay,” I breathed. “Just you and me. No Hunt.”

“Alright. Finish your breakfast and then we’ll go.”

I wolfed down the rest of my toast and finished my coffee. Something in me was strangely excited at the thought of being on a motorcycle with him.

We went out a side door from the house and there a long line of motorcycles were parked. Arawn was dressed in leathers, but without the scary spikes all over it. He pulled out a smaller leather jacket from who knows where and held it open for me, indicating I should put it on. With his help I put one arm through, then the other, and when it was settled on my shoulders he smoothed his huge hands down my arms. I could have sworn he was smelling my hair too.

He forewent his helmet this time, and when I hesitated without one, thinking how stupid it would be to get on a motorcycle without a helmet, he said, “I promise your head will be safe with me. You can wear one if you’d like, but it makes it a lot harder to feel the wind on your face.”

I bit my lip. “What if I fall off the back?”

He shook his head. “I want you to be in front so you don’t.”

He mounted the bike, waiting patiently for me to come closer. The thought of his arms around me like that made my heart race. I stepped forward, close to the bike.

His hands reached for my waist and lifted me like I weighed nothing, placing me in front of him. His thighs pressed into mine sensually, his chest a furnace against my back.

His lips at my ear whispered, “You ready?”

At my nod, he kicked up the kickstand and raised his hands to the handlebars and revved the engine, making me jump. It was louder than I thought it would be, and the seat vibrated between my legs. But after the initial shock, I relaxed against him, and we pulled out and onto the road. Despite the thrill of it, I had never felt safer, ensconced between his legs and arms.

I held onto his muscled thighs as we rounded the first corner, since there was nothing else I could grab onto. I could hear his soft laugh in my ear over the roar of the motor, and felt his erection against my ass, which was tucked tight against him. Between that and the vibrations, my center tingled pleasantly.

As we gained speed on the curved roads, my heart lifted. It was extraordinary. It was a rare clear day, and the sun beat down warm on my face, a strange contrast to the cold wind that whipped at me. We drove through the streets of Avalon, up, up the winding hill, until we finally got to the very top. The wind was fiercest up here. We were alone at the top of the barefaced hill.

Arawn cut the engine and helped me off the bike. I closed my eyes and tipped my head back, feeling the sun on my whole body. He stood beside me, looking out at the miles and miles of view that could be seen. I opened my eyes and found him staring at me, which made me blush. I averted my eyes and looked out at the landscape. That, of course, was a huge mistake, because I saw the glimmerglass, its moving transparent ripples immediately sending a wave of nausea through me.

I swung around quickly, hand over my mouth, my head nearly buried in Arawn’s leather-clad chest. His hand came up and cupped the back of my head.

“Dana, are you alright?” Concern laced his voice.

I leaned forward an inch and my forehead rested on his chest. I moaned briefly against the nausea, unable to shake my head without making it worse.

“Sorry,” I mumbled into him, “It just—just made me nauseous.”

His hand stroked my hair, and the other came up to rub circles over my back. “Breathe,” he commanded me gently. In the cool darkness of his leathers, the nausea began to ease.

“Was it the ride?” he asked.

“No, the ride was fine. Looking at the glimmerglass turns my stomach.”

“Ah,” he replied. His hand didn’t cease rubbing soothing circles on my back. “Keep breathing. It’ll pass.”

I focused on my breathing, inhaling the smoky, spicy, deeply masculine scent of him. And after a moment the nausea was gone. But I kept my face buried in his chest anyways, reveling in the feel of his arms holding me with such gentleness.

“Thank you,” I sighed into him. “It’s gone now.”

I still didn't move away from his body, and felt him lean down and press a kiss to my forehead. Another small sigh escaped me.

After a moment I pulled back an inch and looked up at him.

“What?” he asked, looking down at the slight smile on my face.

I didn’t think I had anything to lose, so I confessed it. “Being in your arms is the only place in my whole life I’ve ever felt safe.”

There was a softness to his brilliant blue eyes as he stared down at me. He ran his fingers down the side of my face, tracing his thumb over my cheekbone.

“What about your parents?”

I shook my head. “Never. Certainly not my mom. And I really just met my dad recently.”

His mouth tightened and his thumb stroked my cheek again. My knees trembled a little.

Arawn’s head dipped down, his eyes smoldering, as he angled my head back. His lips lingered mere millimeters from mine, as if he were waiting for my permission. I surged up to meet his lips and he kissed me back passionately, taking control. His hands were at the small of my back, pulling me close and I could feel his erection again. He seemed to have a perpetual hard-on and the thought of that made my underwear soaking wet. Or maybe it was his kissing prowess. I didn’t have a whole lot to compare it to, but it was certainly more intense than kissing Ethan. It was like he was consuming me. My cheeks were flaming and I was nearly dizzy with it.

Arawn pulled back as I gasped for air, then kissed me softly once, twice, brushing his lips across mine tenderly.

“I’m glad,” he whispered.

“About—about what?” I stammered.

“That you feel safe with me.”

I frowned at him. “Don’t think this means I’m automatically going to let you into my pants.”

He grinned. “A male can dream.”

I glanced down at his pants, still taut with his hard cock. “Yeah, well, keep dreaming.”

His grin widened. “I think you like it when I kiss you.”

“Clearly you like it when you kiss me,” I retorted. “Or is that just the thought of you getting my power?”

“Baby girl,” he rumbled, “It’s all you.”

My nipples peaked and hardened at his words, but I scoffed, narrowing my eyes. “Are you saying you like little boys?”

“Excuse me?”

I shrugged. “That’s basically what I look like.”

Arawn raised his brows. “You do not see yourself clearly.”

“My vision is perfectly fine. I think it’s my power you’re interested in and nothing more.”

I made to pull away, but he grabbed my waist and pulled me back tight against him, our faces close.

“You’re beautiful,” he said tenderly, fiercely.

I scoffed again, opening my mouth to give him my best retort, but before I could get a word out he laid a finger on my lips, silencing me.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered again, smoothing his thumb over my bottom lip, tracing down my chin.

I stood frozen, drowning in those deep blue eyes for eons before I found my voice. “You’ll have to kiss me at least fifteen or twenty more times before I’ll believe that.”

He burst out laughing, his head tipped back to the sun. He was the most glorious thing I had ever seen in my life. How could someone like him possibly be interested in a sixteen-year-old half-Fae girl? Seventeen, I reminded myself. My birthday had been a few days before, not that anyone noticed.

Arawn’s laughter finally died down. “Is that an invitation, sweetheart?” His voice was like thunder. I just rolled my eyes at him, hiding my embarrassment.

I pulled away from him, catching a glimpse of the glimmerglass before quickly turning my head back into his chest before the nausea could take hold of me again.

“Easy,” he murmured, his hand cradling my head. I took a deep breath. “You okay?” he asked, his voice gentle.

I nodded.

With one last stroke down the back of my head, he suddenly picked me up, my arms automatically grabbing his neck, and walked back over to his bike.

“Keep your eyes on me,” he ordered, not unkindly.

“You just like to be looked at,” I muttered, making him smirk, but I curled in close to him all the same.

He set me down on the leather seat of the motorcycle, my legs straddling it, and then swung his leg over and seated himself behind me, our legs pressed together.

I readied myself for the jump of the motor, but instead one of his arms snaked around my stomach, the other hand twisting my chin towards him, and he angled his head and kissed me, without any tongue, but so tenderly I thought my heart was melting.

He pulled away half an inch, smirking at me. “That’s one,” he teased me.

I slapped his thigh. It was like slapping a boulder, his muscles were so hard. He laughed and kickstarted the motor, making me jump and grip his thigh tighter.

We rode fast, the wind beating at my face, my hair blowing wildly. Arawn expertly maneuvered around the hairpin turns back down the huge mountain, but even still my legs were shaking by the time he pulled up to the side of his house and parked the bike next to the row of others.

He dismounted first, then helped me off. I almost collapsed to the ground, my legs were trembling so badly, but he caught me, his brows twisted in alarm.

“I’ve got you, baby girl,” he rumbled, carrying me into the house, down the hall with the crystal chandeliers and into the parlor.

A fire sprang to life as he approached and without letting go of me, he sat down in the big chair in front of it. He held me to him, one hand on my back, the other on my knee, his thumb stroking soft circles.

“You doing okay?”

“Yeah,” I mumbled into the crook of his neck, “You really know how to make a girl’s legs shake.”

I could feel his silent laughter over his chest and I buried my face in my hands. “I did not just say that.”

Arawn kissed my forehead, and I could hear the grin in his voice as he said, “I’m pretty sure you did.”

“Maybe your hearing’s going in your old age.”

He snorted, his arm curling around my shoulders, holding me closer. Our position was so eerily similar to the one in my dream the other night that I shivered in pleasure.

“You cold?” His face had a look of genuine concern.

I wasn’t, not really, but I leaned in closer to him and said, “You’re warming me up.” Technically it was true. Especially between my legs.

Later, one of the Huntsmen—not Connor, who I hadn’t caught a glimpse of yet—served us lunch, and then Arawn spent the afternoon teaching me how to play chess in front of the fire in the parlor. I was atrocious and he beat me handily every time.

While we were playing, somehow the subject came up that Keane was teaching me self-defense and how it had actually come in handy when not-Lachlan had tried to kidnap me.

His brows went up, and I think he was a little impressed. “Would you like to continue while you’re here?”

I stared at him in confusion. “You mean, have Keane come here?”

Arawn laughed. “No. I doubt he’d have the balls to come anyways. I meant I could teach you.”

My lips parted, thinking of Arawn’s hands on my body, putting me in positions, holding me, straddling me.

I bit my lip. “Okay.”

A little while later, after I dressed in leggings and a tank top, he led me downstairs to a room that seemed to be like a workout room, and had a section with lots of pads on the floor.

Arawn was in his usual leather pants but had stripped off his shirt. I was never going to learn anything with that distraction in front of me. The muscles of his torso were practically a work of art.

He smirked at my stare. “You want to learn something or you want to drool over me all day?”

I blushed hotly.

After he had me run through the things I had learned so far, we started. His teaching was wildly different from Keane’s. The lack of verbal abuse, for one. Arawn’s abilities also clearly outweighed Keane’s by leaps and bounds.

Instead of throwing me in the lion’s den and just tossing punches my way the way Keane did, Arawn’s teaching was much more methodical, more thoughtful. He showed me new ways to get out of holds, and then we’d practice just one move, over and over, until I could do it fluidly, and then would practice it again in a sequence, and then again in a more improvised, free form sparring.

I was sweating profusely before long, and some of the positions we were in made me blush like a fire engine. We stopped after an hour, but even in that short time I thought I had improved and felt more optimistic about my abilities, or potential ones at least.

Violent tremors rocked my body, the nightmare’s tendrils still wrapped around me.

“Deep breaths,” he commanded me, and a thread of dominance in his voice made me obey, every slow exhale wobbly.

But gradually my breathing evened out and the panic ebbed as he murmured softly to me, tracing circles over my back, kissing my brow.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered into his chest.

“It’s okay,” he mumurmed back, “You’re okay.” His hand lifted my head up to look me in the eyes. “You had a nightmare?”

I nodded warily.

“What happened?”

I buried my head back in his chest. “I don’t remember exactly,” I lied. “Just that I was scared, and in pain. Someone was hurting me.”

Arawn pressed three kisses over my forehead, slowly. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. You’re safe.”

I let out a deep breath, curling closer to him, that feeling of safety and security wrapping around me like a blanket.

The next thing I knew it was morning and the sun was rippling over me. Arawn’s arms were still wrapped around me, my head pillowed on his chest.

I slowly lifted my head and met blue eyes.

“Hi,” I whispered.

“Good morning,” he replied, a glint in his eyes. “You doing okay?”

I nodded. “Thank you for…being there.”

He kissed my forehead and said into my skin, “Any time.” He pulled back, the glint still present. “I didn’t realize it would be this easy to get you into my bed,” he teased.

I rolled my eyes and made to move away, but he caught me, pulling me back to him, and brushed his lips over mine softly.

“I mean it,” he said, his voice low. “Any time.”

I worried at my bottom lip with my teeth, staring at him. “You said last night that you—that you wouldn’t let anyone hurt me.”

“I won’t,” he said tenderly.

My eyes dropped down briefly, then back up to meet his. “Does that include you?”

He stared into my eyes a moment, and I thought I’d drown in the blue that was deep and vast as the ocean.

“Yes,” he said solemnly. “That includes me.”

I reached a hand up and curled it around his neck, dragging his head down to mine and kissing him with a confidence I didn’t realize I had. He deepened it, his tongue sliding into my mouth. I wondered if I had morning breath and should be embarrassed by it but he didn’t seem to care, his tongue stroking mine, my teeth, the roof of my mouth, devouring me.

A moan escaped me, making him growl and kiss his way over my jaw, my neck. I shivered in pleasure and he smiled against my skin, as if victorious.

I ducked my head and curled into the crook of Arawn’s neck, hiding my red face. He held me there, his thumb running over my bare shoulder blade, his lips skimming my forehead.

We lay cuddling like that for a few moments—although cuddling was a word I couldn’t ever have imagined using with the Erlking before this—when a sudden knock at the door startled me, and I jerked closer to him, feeling exposed.

“Easy, baby girl,” he murmured, smoothing his hand across my bare shoulders. “It’s just breakfast.”

One of the Hunt who I didn’t recognize came in bearing a tray with tea service and steaming plates. He placed the tray at the foot of the bed and left without saying a word, or even looking at us.

“You eat breakfast in bed?” I asked curiously.

“Not usually, but I thought since you had a rough night that you might like it.”

My breath caught at his thoughtfulness. His care.

“Is that okay?” he asked.

I turned my head a couple inches and boldly pressed a kiss to the muscle of his upper arm. Nuzzling my nose into his shoulder, I asked, “How is it you can be so cruel and so kind at the same time?”

His brows went up. “How have I been cruel to you?”

“You’re cruel to your Huntsmen. You’re cruel to those you hunt down and kill.”

His lips quirked and he sat up, reaching for the tray and brought it closer. I sat up too as he poured me a cup of coffee and handed it to me.

“Thank you,” I murmured.

He poured himself tea and I watched him take a sip.

“Do you really like that crap?” I asked him.

Arawn grinned. “It clearly requires a refined palate.”

“It’s clearly astonishing how something can taste like nothing and be completely revolting at the same time,” I retorted.

He laughed, then sobered, staring thoughtfully at me.

“I wouldn’t say I’m cruel to my Huntsmen.”

“Then what would you say?”

“I control them, yes, but I’m not cruel to them.”

I glanced down at the steaming coffee cup in my hand. “They’re your slaves,” I said carefully.

“They’re my prisoners,” he corrected. “Most committed offenses that deserved death, and instead I gave them the opportunity to serve me rather than face that. If I didn’t control them, they probably wouldn’t hesitate to commit them again.”

I was almost afraid to ask. “What did Connor do?”

Arawn looked at me for a moment. Then he said, “Connor tried to overthrow me. Tried to kill me.” His lips twisted. “Of course I can’t be killed. But he tried.”

I didn’t have anything to say to that. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear any more details.

After breakfast, Arawn offered to give me a tour of the house. We walked down the huge sweeping staircase and he pointed out various rooms—the kitchens, living quarters for the Hunt, an enormous library with floor to ceiling shelves of books and a mezzanine and huge comfy chairs. My eyes lit up at the sight of it.

“You’re welcome to use it any time,” he said.

We moved on. There was a room with a billiards table, the workout room that I had already been to, and a small sun-drenched room with a piano in it.

“Do you play?” I asked him, as I walked over and fingered the ivory keys, playing a few notes.

“Yes,” he said. “Do you?”

“Not really,” I replied. “I can play chords and accompany myself when I sing but that’s about it.”

He seemed intrigued. “Will you sing something for me?”

I looked at him warily.

“Please?” he added.

I snorted. “When was the last time you used that word?”

“It’s been a while,” he said, grinning.

“Alright.” My lips quirked. “Since you said please.”

I sat down at the piano, thinking through what songs I remembered the chords to.

I decided on a Taylor Swift song, playing through the chord sequence a few times before starting.

Arawn was quiet, listening to me sing. He leaned against the piano as I played, watching me with a strange look in his eye.

And I hope the sun shines and it’s a beautiful day And something reminds you you wish you had stayed You can plan for a change in the weather and time But I never planned on you changing your mind

So now I’ll go sit on the floor wearing your clothes All that I know is I don’t know how to be something you miss

I never thought we’d have a last kiss Never imagined we’d end like this Your name forever the name on my lips

After I sounded the final chords, he smiled, saying, “Your voice is beautiful.”

“Thank you,” I murmured.

He came and sat down next to me on the piano bench, our thighs pressed together.

“I liked that song,” he said, “So lovely and sad.”

I smiled. “It’s your turn. Play me something.”

He grinned. “Are you going to say please?”

Figuring I could tease him right back, I gave him a doe-eyed look and skimmed my lips over his muscled arm, over his shoulder, his neck, up the rough stubble of his cheek, and pressed a soft kiss to his skin there.

“Please?” I breathed.

He inhaled sharply. “You’re the most dangerous creature I’ve ever met.”

I gave him my best evil smile. “Takes one to know one.” _____________

That night, the same nightmare found me. It often happened this way, that I’d go for a while without having it, and then when it would come again, it lasted several nights in a row, as if one night triggered the following night.

As soon as I woke up, shaking, I crawled out of bed and my feet took me to Arawn’s room, as if of their own accord. As if they knew that’s where I was safe. And just like the previous night, he awoke and pulled me into his arms, and I quickly fell back to sleep with the soft murmurs of his deep voice in my ear. _____________

The nightmares usually lasted several days, so the next night, something in me didn’t want to go to sleep. Knew it was coming.

I lay staring at the ceiling for a few minutes but quickly gave up. I already knew where I wanted to be. I crept down the hallway yet again, the route now familiar.

A light shone through the crack in Arawn’s door and through it I could see him reading in bed, bare-chested, sitting up against the headboard. I slid inside, hovering in the doorway. He looked up from the tome he was reading and smiled. The kindness in his eyes made my heart twist.

Lifting his hand toward me, he said, “Come here, baby girl.”

I scampered across the room and climbed into his bed, curling under his outstretched arm and laying my head on his chest. The spicy, masculine scent of him wrapped around me. I could tell he was wearing dark undershorts but nothing else.

He kissed the top of my head. “You doing okay?”

I lifted my shoulder that his thumb was gently stroking. “I’m worried I’ll have nightmares again.”

Arawn hummed and dropped another kiss on my head. “Anything I can do?”

I looked up at him through my lashes and asked, “Can I stay here with you?”

“Of course you can,” he said tenderly.

“And will you…” I trailed off, embarrassed.

He smirked at my hot cheeks. “Will I what, baby girl?”

“Nothing,” I muttered, looking down.

He skimmed his lips across my forehead, making my heart flip over, before he repeated. “Will I what, baby girl? Tell me.”

I rolled my lips, looking up at him shyly. “Will you—will you kiss me?”

He tossed the heavy book off to the side and dragged me closer, flush against him, growling, “There’s nothing in the world I’d rather do.”

And then his lips were on mine, and my blood boiled. His hands were in my hair, and he bit my bottom lip softly, making me gasp and then recapture his mouth. I couldn’t get close enough. Couldn’t get enough, period. Our tongues dueled, teeth grazing. I thought I’d happily drown in his mouth.

He dragged a hand down my side, gripping my thigh and pulled it over him, so I was half-lying on top of him. Our kiss was hard, frantic, and I could feel my heart pounding in my core, could feel the hot, hard length of his erection against my center, which only made me feel more frantic. I craved him. Craved something dark and powerful.

“Arawn,” I gasped mid-kiss, my voice high and needy. I could feel his growl rumbling against me. My hands explored his broad, heavily muscled chest, his impossibly wide shoulders. His bare skin was hot and burned me hotter.

Arawn’s mouth didn’t leave my lips, his tongue stroking mine. His hands roamed over my back through my thin tank top, up underneath it, caressing my skin. Leaving trails of fire in their wake. Those huge hands moved from my back to my sides, gripping my hips and drawing me up and against him at the same time, his hard cock dragging against my aching clit and sending sparks shooting up my spine. I moaned.

“This okay?” he whispered against my mouth.

“Yes, yes, it’s okay, please, Arawn, please…” My voice was guttural, garbled, moans spilling from my lips.

He did it again, using his hands on my hips to drag me over his length. Over and over. The head of his cock hit my clit on every pass, nothing but my thin sleeping shorts and our respective underwear between us. His cock felt huge between my legs.

Heat blossomed and pulsed low in my stomach, lightning shooting through me. I wanted more of him. This. I craved this.

“Please,” I whimpered into his mouth as his lips savaged mine delightfully. He pulled me against him faster, harder, and I used my knee on the bed to leverage myself, my hips bearing down over him.

The lightning shooting up from my core spiraled and lengthened, tighter and tighter, until it exploded outwards, pleasure ripping through me, and I cried out his name.

He held me close as aftershocks lanced through me. I shivered with them and tried to catch my breath as his hands smoothed over my back.

Arawn’s nose nuzzled against mine and he pressed a soft kiss to my swollen lips. “You okay?” he whispered.

I nodded. I could still feel his hot, hard length against my thigh.

“Was that—was that an—” I couldn’t even get the words out.

His face drew back an inch to look at me, surprise rippling across his features.

“Was that the first orgasm you ever had?” Disbelief coated his voice.

I went red as a tomato. “Don’t make fun of me,” I muttered, looking down.

His voice was soft. “I’m not, baby girl. I swear it.” He kissed my brow. “I’m honored to have your first.”

I looked up at him shyly, my cheeks still flaming. “Is there something,” I swallowed, “Something I should, um, be doing?”

Arawn shook his head. “This was all about you.”

“You’re sure?”

He smiled down at me. “You could say my name again.”

I huffed a laugh and shifted so I was on my stomach, half lying on him. I put my hands on the planes of his chest and rested my chin on my hands, looking up at him. I felt giddy. Like I was flying.

“Arawn,” I whispered. His hands on my back tightened and his eyes darkened. A slow smile spread over his face as he threaded his fingers through my hair.

I asked, “Did you mean what you said, that few dare to call you that?”

He hummed in affirmation. “Most are too scared.”

I raised my eyebrows at him meaningfully. “You don’t think you’ve given them a reason?”

He smirked. “Most of the Fae that the queens have given me leave to hunt and kill fully deserved it.”

“You’re saying you’ve never killed anyone innocent?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” He stretched his arms behind his head, leaning back on them. “But in recent centuries, mostly not. Not unless they attacked me first, and of course then they’re not really innocent.”

“But now you want to go into the mortal world and kill innocent people?”

“You really think all mortals are innocent?”

I snorted. “I know they’re not. But would you actually make that distinction?”

He pursed his lips thoughtfully. “I don’t know. I’ve never been to the mortal world.”

“Do you get enjoyment out of killing innocent people?”

“I get enjoyment out of the hunt. The chase.”

I was quiet for a moment, looking into his eyes. “Is that what you’re doing with me?”

I could feel his intake of breath, his chest expanding underneath my hands resting on him. His lips parted briefly, then he seemed to collect himself, his smoldering cockiness returning.

“I thought we were getting to know each other.”

I didn’t say anything.

Arawn sighed, sobering. “No, Dana, I am not hunting you. I promise, if I were, you would know it.”

I still didn’t say anything.

“Come here,” he whispered, pulling me up his body so our heads were closer, kissing my forehead, my cheeks, then my lips, softly. I lay my head in the crook of his neck.

“If I were out in the mortal world, would you hunt me then?”

I could feel his jaw tighten, pressed up against my skin. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re—you’re my—my—” I had never seen him struggle for words before. “Dana,” he finished, almost lamely.

I raised my brows at him. “Every single person in the mortal world is someone’s Dana.” His blue eyes were unfathomable. “There are certainly people who deserve to be hunted down, unquestionably, but everyone is somebody’s Dana.”

He was quiet at that. I curled closer to him, burying my head into his warmth, sighing, and before I knew it I had drifted off to sleep. _____________

The next morning the doorbell rang as we were finishing breakfast. Arawn rose to answer it as I finished my coffee.

“Did you take her?”

My dad’s voice, demanding and accusatory. Well, shit. I glared down at my coffee.

“I did not take her,” I heard Arawn say in an ominous voice as I got up from the table, dreading this conversation. “She showed up.”

I came to the door. Arawn was on the front stoop and at the bottom of the two stone steps stood my dad and Finn.

“Yeah, I showed up,” I echoed, coming out to stand next to Arawn.

“Dana!” my dad exclaimed. “We’ve been searching for you for over three days! You can’t just run away.”

“And you can’t just lock me up. Also I didn’t run away, I walked.”

“Dana,” my dad sighed in frustration.

“Are you aware that locking up your daughter is considered abuse?” I demanded. “I told you over and over that I couldn’t handle being imprisoned.”

“I was trying to keep you safe.”

Glaring at him, I spat, “You locked me up when I begged you not to.”

His eyes darkened and a tic fluttered in his jaw. “Dana, we’ll talk about it. Just please come home.”

“No, I don't think so.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“You can’t be out on your own, Dana. You’re sixteen years old.”

“I’m seventeen.”

He looked surprised. “When was your birthday?”

I glared at him. “A couple weeks ago.”

“I didn’t realize,” he said stiffly.

I raised my brows pointedly, as if to say, that’s the kind of info you’re supposed to know about your daughter.

He sighed heavily. “Even at seventeen, you’re still a child,”

A harsh laugh escaped my lips. “I haven’t been a child since I was five years old and had to turn Mom over onto her stomach every other day so she wouldn’t drown in her own vomit, and I had to make sure the rent got paid so we had a roof over our heads, and the electric was paid so we had heat, and there was food in the fridge to eat. So don’t talk to me about being a child because I never got to be one.”

Shock and sadness colored my dad’s eyes. The heat in my voice turned to ice.

“I’ve learned one lesson, over and over, since I was old enough to walk. That I am the only one who will look out for me. So that’s what I’m doing.”

I stepped closer into Arawn’s body and he slid his arm around my shoulder protectively.

“Seamus,” he said evenly, “She came here of her own free will, and asked to stay of her own free will, and stays now of her own free will. And as long as this is where she wants to be, I won’t turn her out.” He didn’t take his eyes from my dad. “I promise you that no harm will come to her while she’s here.”

My dad’s eyes hardened and shifted back to me, ignoring Arawn’s words. “Really, Dana? You’re going to choose him over your family?”

“Haven’t you been listening?” I said. “I’m choosing me. This is where I want to be.”

“He’s evil,” my dad said, gesturing to Arawn.

I raised my brows. “And yet, when he met Finn, Arawn spoke to him with more respect than I’ve ever seen you accord Finn.”

Finn, who had so far been silent beside my father, shifted uncomfortably. My dad had no comeback for that.

“Keane misses you,” Finn said to me quietly.

“You mean he misses his punching bag.”

Finn’s mouth opened slowly, like he was thinking of what to say. But I beat him to it, adding, “You can inform Keane that Arawn took over my self-defense lessons. And he manages to do it without resorting to verbal harassment.”

“What about your mother? What about Ethan?” Dad demanded. “Don’t you want to see them again?”

I laughed. “You can tell my mother that she can find someone else to hit. And then you can tell that fucking asshole Ethan that I don’t ever want to see his ugly face again, and if he asks why, tell him to look down at his stupid, tiny, cheating dick. And that I hope it falls off.” Arawn let out a huff of laughter beside me.

I was gesticulating wildly in anger, my arm outstretched, and my dad grabbed it by my wrist.

I yanked it back but his grip was strong, his fingers digging into me.

“Let me go!” I yelled.

Faster than I could blink, Arawn had my dad by his neck. Fear shown in my dad’s eyes.

“Take your hand off her,” Arawn growled, “Or you’ll lose it.”

My father released me, and after a second, Arawn let go of his neck. His blue eyes flashed menacingly.

I held my arm to my chest, the other hand massaging my wrist. Arawn turned around towards me and stroked his hand over my cheek.

“You okay?” he asked me, his voice gentle.

I nodded. Arawn took my wrist carefully, examining it for any bruises, and then dropped a kiss on my fingers. Without letting go of my hand, he turned me around by my shoulders, and tossed behind him at my dad, “This conversation is over and if you ever hurt her again, you will regret it. If you ever lock her up again, you will regret it.” Arawn’s voice was dark as thunder and promised violence.

As we turned to walk through the door, I looked back. My dad’s face was hard, set, but I ignored him and said to Finn, “Finn, you’re welcome to visit me sometime if you’d like.”

Finn pulled a phone out of his pocket and held it out towards me. My phone, I realized, that I had left behind in the safehouse. “At least take your phone,” Finn said, “So you can call if you need anything.”

I looked at him for a beat, then slid out from under Arawn’s arm and took a step towards Finn standing at the bottom of the stoop, the phone outstretched towards me. I took it from him and then threw my arms around his neck.

“Thank you for everything you did for me,” I whispered in his ear as his arms enclosed me. Finn had always been good to me. “And I’m sorry if I caused you any problems. But this is where I need to be.”

He hugged me briefly before I pulled away, stepping back into Arawn’s chest.

“And I meant it about visiting me,” I said to Finn with a small smile. His head dipped.

I took Arawn’s hand again—my dad and Finn no doubt catching sight of that—and walked ahead of him back into the house.

Closing the door behind him, Arawn didn’t let go of my hand. Somehow he could tell that I was a little shaken.

“Come,” he said, tugging me towards the parlor, “Let’s sit in front of the fire.”

“I need another cup of coffee after that,” I grumbled. “Hang on a sec, I’ll meet you there.”

I walked back to the dining room and poured more coffee into my mug, taking it back with me to the parlor.

Arawn was sitting on the couch that faced the fire, arms spread over the back. Careful not to spill the steaming coffee, I sat down close to him, tucked into the crook of his arm, which wrapped around me, his thumb stroking my skin. I tossed a leg over his casually and let out a deep sigh.

He dropped a kiss on my brow. “You doing okay?”

I curled closer against him. “I am now.”

He kissed me again as I took a much-needed sip of coffee, humming in contentment.

Arawn grinned down at me. “Okay, let me try this hell-tea.”

He reached for my mug but I held it away from him, a mock-glare on my face. “How dare you denigrate the good name of coffee by calling it tea.”

He burst out laughing. “My apologies, baby girl. Now let me try it.”

Biting down on my smile, I handed him the mug. He took a sip and pulled a face. “It tastes like dirt.”

“It tastes amazing. Besides, do you think tea tastes like rainbows and unicorns?”

“What’s unicorns?” he asked, his eyebrows drawn.

I snorted. “It’s a mortal thing. An imaginary animal.”

“I see,” he said, sounding like he didn’t really see at all.

“One day we’ll go to Starbucks and you can try a latte. Maybe you’ll like that better.”

Arawn didn’t look convinced but he didn’t argue.

With a serious face, he asked, “Was it true what you said to your father, about the things you had to do when you were young?”

I nodded, taking another sip of coffee.

“You had that much responsibility at that age?”

Shrugging, I said, “Someone had to do it. My mom was certainly too wasted to do any of it.”

He was quiet. “Has anyone ever taken care of you?”

“You,” I replied, smiling up at him. “You’ve been taking really good care of me these last few days.”

He returned the smile, tender and shining. _____________

We did another self-defense lesson later, which I was glad for because I was buzzing from the coffee and the painful conversation with my dad.

After the previous night in Arawn’s bed when he had made me orgasm just by rubbing against him, I was hyper aware of his body as we proceeded through different holds and blocks, aware of his hands on my skin, the way he held me, the way he moved around me. My skin tightened over my bones, wetness gathered between my legs.

He asked me to sing again after dinner, and I happily obliged him, sitting down at the piano, this time choosing Sia.

Ouch I have lost myself again Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found Yeah I think that I might break Lost myself again and I feel unsafe

Be my friend, hold me Wrap me up, enfold me I am small and needy Warm me up and breathe me

Arawn stood with shirtsleeves rolled up and his muscled forearms leaning on the piano. He didn’t take his eyes from my face while I sang, something like wonder in his expression.

But even singing didn’t ease the electricity that had sizzled over me since our defense practice earlier.

After I had brushed my teeth, I didn’t even bother getting in my bed, instead going straight to Arawn’s room. He smiled at me when I entered, and I crawled into his bed and curled under his outstretched arm. That feeling of safety that washed over me was gradually becoming familiar.

Bravely, I pulled his face towards mine, kissing him. Our tongues tangled together and  my fingers twisted in his long glossy hair. Mid-kiss, he shifted us, and his huge body half-pressed me into the mattress. His knee slipped between my legs, grinding up against my clit in a way that made me moan his name. Repeatedly.

“Please,” I murmured into his lips, “Please, Arawn.”

He drew back an inch, the blue eyes gone dark, “Please what, baby girl?”

“Please…” I moaned again, his lips on my neck. “Please—please—I—” I was babbling now.

Arawn lifted his head, his smile sinful. “Tell me what you want.”

“I don’t—I don’t…” My face was hot and I tried to breathe. “I’m not ready for sex.”

His smile turned gentle. “I know,” he whispered.

Something in me relaxed. Eased.

I found my voice. “What do you want to do that’s not…that?”

He grinned wolfishly. “I want to taste these delicious breasts and then I want to feast on your cunt.”

I think I squeaked. He leaned back in, sucking a spot on my neck that made my stomach hot.

“Okay,” I whispered.

He made his way back to my lips, kissing me fiercely before pulling away and looking me in the eye. “Yes?”

“Yes,” I breathed.

He drew me up into a sitting position and slowly pulled my tank top up over my stomach, my breasts, my head, so slowly, as if waiting for me to change my mind.

But I didn’t stop him, my heart racing, and let him lay me back down.

Arawn kissed his way down my neck, down my chest. Dropping a kiss between my breasts, he looked up at me. “You’re beautiful,” he said solemnly. Kissed me again. “You’re beautiful,” he repeated.

I thought my heart might beat right out of my chest.

He kissed over my small breasts, taking one nipple into his mouth and swirling his tongue around it in a way that made me moan and wetness gush between my legs.

While he teased the bud with his teeth, his other hand came up to gently squeeze my other nipple, rolling it expertly between his fingers.

His mouth switched to that one, laving it with his tongue and then blowing air across it, watching it swell and peak even more before taking it back into his mouth and sucking hard. My clit throbbed and pulsed, and I didn’t know what to do with my hands.

My hips lifted involuntarily and he took that as a sign to pull off my nipple, grazing it with his teeth as he did, and then kissed down the taut skin of my stomach, which fluttered in anticipation.

When his mouth reached my shorts, he dragged his nose across my clit, over the shorts, making me gasp.

Looking up at me, he met my eyes, asking again silently for permission and I nodded.

In one smooth movement, he pulled my sleeping shorts and underwear down my legs, while I lifted my hips to help him.

Arawn’s eyes devoured the sight of me, his nostrils flaring as his face hovered over my center. A wave of embarrassment threatened to sweep over me, but before it could take hold, his long tongue licked up my cunt and I forgot my name.

He licked and sucked over my outer lips, over my entrance, his stubble scraping against me deliciously, and then when I was about to lose my mind, took my clit between his lips, sucking it hard out of the hood, his tongue tracing tight circles. A fire burned low in my belly and he stoked it as he nibbled and worked my aching clit.

I was climbing higher, higher, as his callused hands gripped my hips and traced patterns up my thighs. I whimpered his name, over and over, while my hands alternated between twisting in the sheets and in my hair.

Then one of his fingers slid inside my entrance and a darkness rose inside me, a wave of cold that doused the fire, a sickening feeling that spread through my stomach and limbs. No.

But I couldn’t get the word out. Couldn’t move. I was clenched and frozen, staring at the ceiling. Staring at nothing. Tears leaked from my eyes and trailed down my face into my hair.

“Dana,” he whispered, immediately pulling back from me.

Suddenly I could move again, and I covered my face with my hands.

“I’m sorry,” I gasped out, nearly hyperventilating.

I felt him shift and then he was beside me.

“Dana, sweetheart, please look at me,” he begged.

I dragged my hands down my face, wiping away my tears, then covering my breasts with my forearms.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” I sobbed again.

“Breathe,” he commanded me. I was still half-hyperventilating. “Deep breaths,” he said, and I obeyed. His eyes were wide with concern.

My breaths started to even out as he stroked his hand over my forehead and hair.

“What just happened?” he murmured gently.

I swallowed, closing my eyes, trying to keep breathing.

“I—I—” I took another breath. “I just—I think I wasn’t ready for anything…inside of me yet.”

“Shit,” Arawn swore, “I’m sorry, baby girl. I knew you weren’t ready for sex but I didn’t realize…” He trailed off.

“It’s—it’s okay,” I got out.

He interrupted. “It’s not okay.”

He looked so distraught that I picked up his hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it, whispering to him, “I’m okay.” His fingers curled around mine. “I was just startled.”

His other hand was still stroking over my forehead, smoothing my hair back with each pass.

“Shall we stop for now?”

I took a deep breath and let it out, assessing how I felt, turning over his question. My heart rate was back to normal, and despite the cold water effect of how I reacted, my center was still aching. And I trusted him. Knew what just happened wouldn’t happen again.

“No,” I said. “I’m okay, really. I’d like to keep going…if you want to.”

Arawn searched my eyes deeply for a moment. “You’re sure?”

I nodded.

“Other than putting a finger inside of you, did you like everything else?”

Flushing red at the memory of it, I gave another nod.

His smirk flashed for a split second.

“Okay,” he said, “We can keep going. I promise I won’t—”

“I know,” I interrupted. “I trust you.”

His blue eyes went soft and serious, almost vulnerable. He lowered his head and kissed me, gently at first, then gradually fiercely, more demanding. Heat seared through me, sizzling all the way down to my center.

He kissed and kissed me, until I was pulling him closer, over me, running my hands down the muscles of his chest, his huge biceps, my nails scratching him. He kissed me until I was moaning for more. Begging for more.

As he mouthed over my breasts, teasing my nipples with his teeth, he shifted, spreading my legs with his rough hands on my thighs, and kneeling in between them.

Retracing the trail he had made earlier, his mouth finally left my nipples and travelled down to my center, which was burning and throbbing again.

He wasted no time, tonguing my clit side to side, alternating soft and hard, sucking and licking over my cunt lips, then rubbing his stubble over my clit, eliciting a tiny shriek from my mouth, before he sucked the little bud back in his mouth and soothed it with his tongue.

He drew me up, higher and higher, as his tongue traced fast circles over my sensitive flesh, licking firmly, until my thighs, flung over his shoulders, began to shake.

Reaching his hands up, he gently twisted my nipples, and at the same time sucked hard on my clit, humming, sending vibrations ricocheting. My climax ripped through me and I cried out his name.

Arawn didn’t stop licking me through the tremors that wracked me, licked me over and over, and I came a second time with a scream, shuddering in pleasure.

As I came down, he gave one last tender lick to my sensitive clit before pulling off and pressing a kiss to my inner thigh. He was grinning like the cat that got the cream.

“You did so good, baby girl,” he murmured, “I’m so proud of you.”

I flushed at his words, my limbs still trembling a little.

He kissed his way back up my body, then kissed my mouth and I could taste myself on him, sharp and sweet.

Arawn pulled me against him. I glanced down at the hard flesh I could feel against me, but he shook his head at my look. “Another time,” he said. “You doing okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” I responded with a shy smile. “Really good.”

He smiled back, pleased, and held me against his chest, running his hands over my bare skin, kissing me.

Drowsiness came over me quickly, and Arawn gave me one last kiss before he put out the light with magic, and I fell asleep against him, my head pillowed on his chest.

I dreamed the nightmare again that night, shaking awake, but Arawn’s lips at my forehead, his low, soothing, murmured words, coaxed me back to sleep quickly.

And when I awoke in the morning light it was from a different kind of dream, a good dream, where I was grinding against his hard cock in my hands, and I awoke to wetness between my legs, a smile on my lips.

I buried my face in his warm chest and felt his hands cupping the back of my head, smoothing down my bare back.

“Good morning, baby girl,” he said, his voice hoarse and roughened with sleep.

I bit down on my grin as I lifted my head from his chest. “Good morning.”

He kissed me, and his nostrils flared, and I wondered if he could smell how wet I was.

He pulled away, raising a brow and his mouth twisted into a smirk. “Want to tell me what you were just dreaming about?”

Dammit, he could definitely smell me.

I guessed there was no point in beating around the bush. “You,” I said shyly, blushing.

I buried my head back in his chest, embarrassed, and he kissed my forehead. “Tell me, baby girl,” he rumbled.

Biting my lip, I glanced up at him and felt myself go even wetter, my clit feeling like a tight knot between my legs.

“Um,” I stuttered, “First I was…touching you. And then…” I trailed off, more embarrassed than ever. Which was ridiculous considering he had his tongue all over my cunt last night.

His voice was like gravel. “Do you want to show me?”

I nodded, my face hot.

He spread his arms and grinned, “Have at me.”

I didn’t even know how to begin. My eyes were wide, darting around.

“Do you want to start by touching me?”

“Y-yes.”

He looked at me closely, eyes narrowed. “You’re sure this is something you want to do?”

“I’m sure,” I said firmly, the dream still half-wrapped around me deliciously, making me bolder.

“Alright, baby girl. Shall I take off my underwear?”

“Yes,” I hissed.

He slipped his underclothes off beneath the covers, then waited, a smirk on his face and gentleness in his eyes.

Gathering my courage, I slid closer to him, running my hand down the muscles of his chest and abs, then lower. His cock was hard. Of course.

I tentatively ran my hand over the ridges of his flesh. It was like silk over steel. His cock was so big that my fingers couldn’t meet when I wrapped my hand around it.

I squeezed him a little harder, slowly pumping up and down, watching the muscles of his abs jump while I did so. It was…erotic, I realized. My heart beat faster.

“Am I—am I doing it okay?” I asked him.

He nodded, smiling at me. “You can go harder,” he said, “Rougher.”

I squeezed a little harder, worried that I’d hurt him.

“Like this?”

He brought his hand down over mine, showing me how to twist it roughly, to squeeze the thick head, to drag the foreskin down and slide it back up.

Then he released his hand, letting me drive. I curled closer to him, my head on his chest looking down, and used both hands to work his cock up and down.

Arawn’s head tilted back, sighing, his dark hair spread across the pillow. “That’s it, baby girl.”

I stared at my moving hands, fascinated. As I stroked him, a bead of liquid appeared at the tip of the dark head, and I gathered it on my fingers, experimentally rubbing it over him.

He began to run his fingers over my bare back, his calluses rasping over my skin.

He rumbled, “So what happened next in this dream of yours?”

My eyes flickered from his cock to his face. His gaze was locked on me, dark and aroused, and for a moment I felt like a deer in the headlights.

But I gathered myself, the pounding in my core emboldening me, and without letting go of his cock, I swung my leg over him so I was straddling his body, the base of his cock lined up with my cunt.

Arawn’s eyes glowed electric, his grin broad.

I moved my hips up and forward, dragging my clit up and down the ridges of his cock while I simultaneously stroked him, twisting his head.

“This,” I said, my voice hoarse, “This is what we were doing in the dream.”

His grin widened.

“How delightfully dirty,” he purred.

He put his arms behind his head, watching me work his cock and grind myself against him.

“Are you wet, baby girl?”

I moaned at his words. “Yes.”

“How wet?”

Heat was rising in my belly. “I’m so wet, Arawn, so wet for you.”

He growled at that, then said, “I want you to take your hand and gather some of your wet and spread it over my cock.”

His words made me jerk against him, and I did as he said, taking one hand off him and using it to scoop the thick liquid that was seeping out of me, and slicked it over his cock, over the head and down to the base where my clit was dragging against him.

Gripping him again, the glide was easier on both my hand and my clit, and I picked up the pace. My hand twisted over the head of his straining cock, now a dark red.

Breathing hard, I could feel the heat rising in my belly, up, up, my chest and neck and face all hot and flushed as I ground down hard on him.

I went faster, feeling my release approaching. Arawn surged up to a sitting position, his arms wrapped around my back, holding me, and took one of my nipples in his mouth, biting gently while he pinched the other one.

Release crashed over me like a wave, and I held onto his cock like a lifeline, jerking myself against it over and over, my head tilted back, his arm holding me up, nothing but his name on my lips—“Arawn, Arawn, Arawn, Arawn—”

And then he came with a roar, his face buried in my neck, hot come erupting from his cock and coating my hands.

He stayed there a moment, his face in my neck, our breathing coming down, before he raised his head and kissed me tenderly, nuzzling our noses together. His hands at my back were still holding me up as my knees trembled.

“That was some dream,” he murmured into my lips. I cracked up.

Arawn glanced down at my hands still on his softening cock, and in a second we were magically clean. He lay back and tugged me down with him, so I was sprawled over his chest.

He ran his hands up and down my back as the sweat cooled on our bodies. I was completely boneless, wiped out.

We were quiet for a moment, just touching each other, then he angled his head to look down at me and asked, “How about a bath?”

I hummed and said, “I’d love to but I don’t think I can move.”

His chest under my face jumped with his huffed laugh, and before I knew it, I was in his arms. He carried me across the room to the adjoining bathroom, where there was a bathtub filled with steaming water. It was sunken into the floor just like mine was, but much bigger and more ornate.

Without letting go of me, he walked down the four steps into the pool and submerged us in the hot water. I moaned softly at the delicious feel of it on my skin.

Even though there was plenty of room in the huge round tub—more like a pool, if I was being honest—Arawn didn’t let go of me, pulling me against him so my back was against his chest. I lolled my head back so it was resting on his shoulder and he pressed a kiss to my temple.

“So was that the first dream you’ve had about me?”

I snorted. “Not even close.”

“Are you saying you’ve had more?”

I could hear the grin in his voice without even looking at him.

I cracked open an eye. “Maybe.”

He kissed my exposed neck. “Tell me.”

I bit down on a smile, shaking my head.

“Tell me,” he repeated, kissing my cheek, my temple, nibbling my sensitive earlobe.

Finally I laughed, confessing, “I’ve been dreaming about you nearly every night since the first time we kissed.”

Male satisfaction gleamed in his eyes, and he lifted me up onto the lip of the tub, spread my legs, and ate me out until I climaxed again, screaming his name.

Fortunately magic seemed to keep the water hot indefinitely, because it was a long time before we got out of it.

Later that night in bed, I turned to him and asked, “You’re not, like, implanting those dreams with magic, are you?”

He snorted. “You don’t give your imagination enough credit.”

I went red.

He curled around me and purred in my ear, “But if I can make a suggestion, I think you should dream tonight about riding my face.”

Now I was scarlet. But I found my courage and said boldly, “I’ve already had that dream.”

“Oh, have you?” he said wickedly, “Was it any good?”

I covered my face in my hands and he burst out laughing.

He kissed his way up my arms, over my hands, any part of my covered face he could reach. I removed my hands and his lips immediately captured mine, tasting me deeply, sending tickles of lightning down my spine. Anticipation coiled in my belly.

Finally he pulled away, both of us breathing heavily, and growled, “Want to show me?”

I moaned in response.

“Tell me, baby girl, you want to ride my face?”

‘Yes,” I gasped out. “Please, Arawn, I want to ride your face.”

He pulled off my tank top and then dragged my panties down my legs. Then he flipped us over so I was on top, and pulled me up roughly by my thighs to align my cunt over his mouth.

His wicked eyes glittered as his gaze raked over me, my breasts peaked and high, my stomach flexing in and out as I clenched my core together.

Arawn started licking my cunt with tiny, teasing licks, while also rolling and pinching my nipples, making me squeal. I bore down on his face, trying to get his tongue to stroke me harder, and finally he did, pressing up with a rigid tongue and swirling it tightly around my clit.

He sucked it hard into his mouth, running his tongue over and over the very tip of my bud. I was riding his face in earnest now, my hips undulating.

My legs at his ears were shaking uncontrollably and my hands were gripping the headboard like my life depended on it.

After a few minutes, with a powerful suck on my cunt and a final squeeze to my nipples, I came hard, wailing out my orgasm. He licked me through wave after wave, until finally I pulled away, my clit oversensitive.

Leaning back on his chest, I tried to catch my breath, aftershocks still twisting through my legs.

Arawn turned his face to kiss my thigh, then mouthing over my cunt, making me jerk in a final shiver of pleasure. He rolled us so he was lying on top of me and I stretched up to kiss him. His hard-on pressed against my belly, igniting the fire in it again, and I deepened the kiss.

“Roll over,” I mumbled, and he rolled onto his back. I followed, straddling him. I grasped his dick and gave it a twisting squeeze. Fire bloomed in his eyes.

He rumbled, “What do you want to do to me, baby girl?”

I looked down at the thick flesh between my palms and felt my mouth water at the same time I felt my cunt go wet again.

I bit my lip. “I want to taste you. To suck you.”

My words made him growl. “Do it,” he said.

I got even wetter at the dominance in his command, and the way his huge hands gripped my thighs.

I backed away down his body until my mouth was at his cock.

Looking up at him, and this huge cock right at my mouth, a wave of uncertainty and naïveté rolled over me.

He must have sensed it, because his voice went soft and tender, whispering, “I’ve got you, baby girl.”

Everything in me went loose, the familiar feeling of safety washing away the uncertainty. I dipped my head and took a tentative lick to the straining head.

Arawn groaned. Emboldened, I licked a long stripe up the back, then on the down stroke took his cock into my mouth.

I stayed up around the head at first, bobbing my neck over it, and then as I got used to the sensation, gradually took him deeper and deeper. He hit the back of my throat, which instinctually made me pull off a little, but the reflex passed and I swallowed around him.

“Fuck, yes, baby girl, that’s so good,” he groaned.

His cock was slick with my drool, and I realized my cunt was dripping just as much. With one hand around the base of his cock, as I sucked and swallowed around it, my other hand snaked down between my legs and furiously rubbed my aching clit.

“Hands out of your cunt, baby girl,” he said to me, catching sight of my movements.

I moaned around his cock in frustration.

“Not yet,” he said, the note of dominance back in his voice making me obey.

I took my finger off my clit and wrapped it around his cock, pumping harder with my mouth, squeezing and twisting with my hands around the base at the same time.

After letting me go on another moment, Arawn pulled away from my mouth, his cock making a popping sound as my lips left it. He tugged me up against him, turning me so my back was to his chest, and thrust his cock between my slick thighs. He used his free hand to tweak my nipples before trailing down to rub my clit with two callused fingers.

“This okay?” he whispered in my ear, slowly pumping his cock between my thighs.

“Yes—” I breathed out, feeling like I was on fire.

The arm I was lying on snaked tighter around my chest and teased my nipples as the hand in my cunt worked harder over my engorged clit.

I reached past his hands to catch the dark head of his dick as it slid through the slick between my legs, massaging it, running my thumb over the top again and again.

His fingers moved faster over my clit and he growled in my ear, “You look so fucking beautiful like this, baby girl, all flushed and ready to come all over my hand and cock.”

His words pushed me off the edge of the cliff, flying into my climax, as the V of his two fingers blurred back and forth over my clit. My release poured over his hand, down to where his cock was frantically chasing his own orgasm.

Arawn ejaculated with a groan in my ear, coming all over my hand. We didn’t move for a moment, and I felt his chest rise and fall against my back, his nose dragging along the line of my neck. He was still half-hard.

Soon he dragged his hardening length through my folds, teasing my quivering clit with the head of his cock. I jumped in pleasure and he asked, his growl low with arousal, “Do you like when I do that, baby girl?”

He did it again, sliding the tip against my clit, smearing our releases together. I jerked again. He went slow as molasses, doing it again, his cock even harder.

“Yes, I like it,” I moaned, nearly babbling.

He did it again. Again. Again.

The sensation had me climbing again. He was teasing my nipples and I squirmed deliciously. His cock pressed harder against me, but still not enough pressure. He did it again. On the downstroke, the head brushed my entrance and I jumped, surprised.

“Easy, baby girl,” he said in my ear, soothing me, “I’m not going to do that.”

With one more thrust against my clit, Arawn abruptly pulled his cock away from me and pushed me onto my back. He buried his head between my legs, sucking hard, teeth scraping down my lips, grazing my clit. He licked me again and again, and I could feel another climax building in my belly.

Getting up on my elbows to look down at him, my thighs spread wide, I said to him, surprising even myself, “I want to watch you touch yourself at the same time.”

His eyes flickered up at me, shining with arousal and pride, and he untangled his right arm from my thigh and reached down to grip himself. I widened my legs to watch him, his mouth still working furiously at the knot of my clit. He tugged hard on his cock, working the shaft and balls, twisting viciously over the head, and pumping up and down quickly.

Arawn’s show made all the blood in me rush to my center, and a wave of heat rose up my chest, my neck, my face. I screamed his name over and over as I shook with an orgasm that hit me like a freight train.

The vibrations from him groaning into my cunt spread through me, escalating the feeling, and I knew he had just come himself.

I finally pulled back, mewling through his soft licks, and he sat back on his heels, his eyes shining down at me like blue diamonds. All of our fluids disappeared with a wave of his hand, and he crawled up my body, dropping kisses as he went.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered up at me from between my breasts. He grinned. “Do you believe me yet?”

I smiled, remembering our conversation up on the top hill of Avalon, and briefly wondered how many kisses we had shared since then.

I hummed. “I more than believe you. I feel it. When I’m with you, I feel it.”

He dropped another kiss in the center of my chest before leaning up and capturing my mouth with his. He kissed me softly, all gentleness and tenderness after the dominance of moments before.

I peered up at his face, breaking the deep kiss. “Well you used up that dream you wished on me, so what’s next in line?”

He burst out laughing. Turning out the light with magic, he pulled me under the covers and up against his chest.

“Maybe,” he whispered in my ear, his voice sinfully rough and gravelly, “You’ll dream about me watching you touch yourself and you make yourself come for me when I say you can.”

I shivered against him, warming at the image that sliced through me. I could feel him grinning at my reaction.

But he only ran his hand through my hair, pushing it back from my face, and kissed my brow. “Good night, baby girl,” he murmured to me.

I was asleep before I could even respond.

_____________

I glared at him in the morning light when I awoke to his blue eyes watching me. “Are you really telling me the truth when you said you aren’t putting these dreams in my head?”

He smirked. “I swear, baby girl, I’m not. It’s not my fault that your mind is susceptible to suggestive images.” He leaned closer. “Does this mean that my suggestion last night worked?”

I rolled my eyes, my red face fixed on the ceiling. “Maybe,” I mumbled under my breath.

“Well, you tell me if you’re ever interested in doing it,” he said before rolling away from me, up out of the bed, and sauntering naked towards the bathroom.

My mouth dropped, not sure if he was teasing me or rejecting me or what.

He glanced back at me, a smile playing around his lips. “You want something, baby girl?”

I flopped back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. “No,” I muttered sullenly.

I felt the bed dip under his weight as he climbed over me and kissed up the column of my neck.

“You want something, baby girl?” he asked again.

My clit started to throb. Yes. Yes, I wanted something.

The images from the dream washed over me: My legs drawn up and cunt exposed to his gaze. My finger working my clit, then pumping slowly inside of me as I clenched around it. Arawn watching closely, giving me his undivided attention. Me playing with my clit for him, spiraling tighter and tighter, and his rough voice saying, “No coming until I say you can, baby girl,” sharpening the edge of pleasure I was riding, until I was babbling, begging him, “Please, please let me come, I need to come so bad.”

And when I could stand it no longer he said, “Come for me, come for me now, baby girl,” and I climaxed like a siren.

I blushed thinking about the dream now as he looked down at me. His nostrils flared, eyes glittering, and I knew he could smell my arousal.

“Tell me about this dream,” he crooned in my ear.

I went even redder, if that was even possible. For as much as we had done together, I was still kind of a prude about talking about it.

“Um,” I said nervously, “Exactly what you said to me last night.” My gaze hardened on him. “Which is why I doubt that you’re not putting these dreams in my head.”

He smirked down at me. “I don’t need to resort to magic to get you in my bed.” I rolled my eyes, but my legs pressed together.

His voice went on, rumbling like low thunder, “I don’t need to resort to magic to get you to scream my name.”

My clit pulsed with my heartbeat.

“And I certainly don’t need to resort to magic to get you to drench my face.”

I couldn’t stand it any longer and rose up to meet his mouth, kissing him hard, his stubble rasping over my skin deliciously. Our tongues dueled, licked each other, until I was moaning.

“So, baby girl,” he said, pulling away from me with blown pupils, “You going to show me what happened in this dream?”

I was red again, looking around nervously.

He saw that and his voice went soft. “Did you like watching me touch myself last night?”

I nodded, pressing my smile down shyly with my lips.

“Would you want to watch me touch myself while you touch yourself?”

I inhaled, a wave of arousal sweeping through me, and my lips parted.

I nodded. “Yes,” I swallowed thickly, “I want to do that.”

Arawn maneuvered me around so we were lying back on pillows and facing each other, our bare legs tangled together.

I took a couple deep breaths, a little nervous to touch myself in front of him. It seemed different when he was touching me. Somehow doing it myself felt in front of him…more exposed.

He saw my nerves and just as he had last night, he whispered, “I’ve got you, baby girl,” and the now-familiar feeling of safety washed over me.

I nodded to indicate I was ready, and he wrapped a hand around his already-hard cock and started pumping slowly, watching me watch him.

He didn’t rush me, and soon I slid my fingers down my slit, my legs falling open shamelessly. I circled my clit with a finger, feeling all my inexperience, but his pupils expanded as he watched me, his arousal feeding back into mine, fueling its fire. I added a second finger, stroking up and down my slit and coming back up to trace slow circles over my clit.

Arawn’s voice was guttural. “Don’t come until I say so. When you’re close, I want you to tell me, and to beg me to let you come.”

My arousal surged and I nodded, my mouth hanging half-open, his words making my fingers speed up on my clit. I dipped a finger down into my entrance, collecting the wetness there and bringing it back to my clit.

I couldn’t take my eyes off his hands. One was stroking up and down the shaft roughly while the other rolled his balls. His chest rose and fell as he worked his cock, the muscles in his arms standing out.

My fingers left my clit, brushing down my slick lips, and my middle finger traced and circled my entrance. Closing my eyes briefly, I slid my finger inside my tight cunt, and breathed through it, relaxing and then clenching deliciously around my finger. I didn’t go far inside, or go too hard, just slowly drew it in and out, building up a white heat.

Opening my eyes, I saw Arawn’s hand had slowed some, watching me work my finger inside of myself. Then he said in a low gravelly voice, “Put your thumb on your clit at the same time.”

I did as he said, the double stimulation sending another wave of heat through me. His hand on his cock tightened and sped up.

My bare calf slid against his as my breathing got faster.

“You're going to wait and come for me when I say so, baby girl?”

I moaned. I didn’t know why the thought of him telling me I couldn’t come yet turned me on so much.

“Yes,” I replied, and barely even recognized my own voice, high and breathy, strung tight like a bow.

My finger pulled out and I focused them on my clit, using two fingers and brushing back and forth over it the way he had the previous night. The white heat bloomed and rose, up, through my stomach and torso and up over my breasts and neck and face.

I could feel my release rising with it and I tried to hold it off but it was moving too fast. “Please,” I moaned brokenly, nearly delirious, begging, “Please let me come, please let me come, I need to come, please, please—”

“Come for me, baby girl,” he commanded, the roughness of his voice sending me flying over the edge, my fingers moving fast over my clit as lightning sparked up and down my spine, my head tipped back and my mouth opened in a silent scream.

When I opened my eyes, Arawn had climaxed too, strings of thick white release coating his fingers, but then disappeared with a flick of his hand as he surged toward me, burying his head between my legs.

He feasted on me, sparking the flame in my belly back to life with his tongue over my clit, the briefest glide of teeth up the side, sucking the little bud into his mouth and pushing the hood back with his tongue over and over until I came a second time, this time screaming his name, my release flooding out of me and soaking his face.

Arawn licked his lips with a predatory, satisfied look in his eyes, and rested his head on my belly, pressing a kiss to my skin. I was still trying to catch my breath. My legs were shaking, and he smoothed his hands over them, kissing my stomach again.

He smiled up at me, his eyes gentle.

“I can’t wait to hear about tonight’s dream,” he said wickedly.