บท 39: Chapter 39: Heartfelt Moments

Melisande POV

Surrounded by stone and carvings of the Dark Goddess, Melisande shouted, "What happened to you?"

Mars, bruised and bleeding from claw marks on his shoulder, shivered uncontrollably. "THEY happened. I'm so sorry." Fat tears ran down his thin nose. "I failed."

Hustling him over to a healing bed, she helped him lie down. Inside her body, Hades recognized the angry wounds from shifter claw marks. "The two Alphas tortured you?"

"And Ravyn and Daxius and Lilia," Mars blubbered. "I'm going to freeze to death."

Melisande/Hades wished she'd had someone more powerful in her debt to send after Daxius and the others. But none of the other young mages were as vulnerable to her.

Warming Mars with a spell in the Dark Goddess' hidden temple in Lugdunum was simple. There was a time when Hades would have warmed him in more pleasurable ways, but he'd learned from his mistakes with his followers. Entanglements with them had turned his potential victory into a stinking pile of refuse.

"How did they know? Did the Shadow Stealth spell not work?" Melisande/Hades chose to treat him politely after his ordeal.

"Jude's wolf nose and senses," Mars said, smelling ashamed.

"You fool!" Melisande/Hades held back a firestorm of rage. "What happened to your scent masking enchantment?"

"It didn't work." Mars flinched. "Please … please don't stop helping my family. I did learn that Jude and Daxius are at each other's throats over Ravyn."

As an apprentice, Mars couldn't even shine Cyran's crystals. Hades still felt his blood boil at Cyran's betrayal, but couldn't deny his sheer brilliance.

"That may yet be useful," Melisande said, trying to be generous. "But now that you've failed in your attack, they'll only be more on guard. Are they still headed for the islands?"

"Yes … yes." Mars drank the potion Hades/Melisande offered. "More determined than ever. I … I didn't tell them our plans."

"I know you didn't. And I know from now on you'll do better." Melisande stroked his hair and watched his eyes grow hazy as the drug fogged his brain.

* * * * *

Jude POV

Picturing Mars' eager face when he teleported to meet Melisande, Jude couldn't help worrying about the young mage. "What will she do to him?"

Dane shook his head. "He assumed the risks, Jude. He's a brave person. We'll take care of his family's problem when we get back to Wildefell."

Jude had been skeptical about the plan to send Mars back to Melisande to throw off her plans and delay her journey long enough for their party to get to the Heartless Isles first.

"And in the meantime, let's not let his sacrifice go to waste," Ravyn added in a spirited voice. "Melisande or no Melisande, we're going to the island … after our powers recharge and we prepare to depart. Mars should buy us time. Daxius, you'll have to do the teleporting."

An attack of warmth and desire hit him, and he put on a serious face. Ravyn and the other magicians could probably drink potions to restore their energy. However, his romantic moment with Ravyn was rudely interrupted, and as a result, Dane's and Lilia's probably was, too.

Daxius shivered. "Trapped twice in one evening. Yes, I need to recover from that before we reach our destination. How long do you all need?"

"I think an hour or two," Ravyn said, and Lilia agreed.

Daxius accepted this. "Duffy? Have a drink with me?"

The gnome grunted. "In your room, not downstairs in the bar."

The door shut behind them, and Jude mused, "Strange how fighting side by side bonds even those who are at odds."

Dane grabbed Lilia's hand. "If we've only got an hour or two, let's not waste it."

The couple left the room, arm in arm.

Jude gathered Ravyn into his arms. He hungered to resume what they started, but now was not the time. He'd felt Daxius' urgency, even though the man went along with their slight delay. And honestly, his wolf was on the scent now, too.

"Thank you," he said huskily. "You stopped me from doing something foolish."

She gazed into his eyes, her violet gaze captivating him. "I was foolish too–I felt something that I swore was in the past."

"Well, when you put it like that, yes, you were reckless–and Daxius paid the price."

Ravyn huffed. "Oh? Are you two friends now?"

Savoring teasing her, he smiled lazily. "I think we just might be."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I was upset that you said I was foolish–but the truth is, I hadn't really faced my feelings for Daxius. Do you remember in our favorite dwarf opera when the romantic rival for the hero's affection tries to give him a beautiful and expensive helmet, and he's tempted, but then he realizes that he already has a beautiful helmet given to him by the heroine?"

He grinned, recalling. "Since very few things win a dwarf's heart more than good metalwork, he has quite a dilemma."

"But the romantic rival is part of his past. He realizes that the heroine is his true mate," Ravyn said softly.

"Before or after he throws himself off the Obelisk of Doom for no good reason?" He really shouldn't tease her, but he couldn't resist.

She ran her arms down his shoulders and stroked his biceps. "Before! He understands that he's done protecting his heart by clinging to the past, and that he loves the heroine."

Her touch made him wish they had more than an hour … but they would have endless tomorrows when this mission was finished.

He'd thought the same about Emer …

No.

He couldn't just keep holding onto his loss, and the fear of what might happen.

"Just as I love you," Ravyn said with feeling.

He nearly fainted with joy.

I love you. She'd said the words.

"Oh Moon Goddess, how I love you, too, my Ravyn, my mate."

He pulled her to him and his mouth landed on hers, heated but tender, hungry but giving, lustful and loving. Why hadn't he told her how much he loved her before?

"And I intend to tell you that every day of our lives, and show you as well," he whispered, nipping her beautiful long neck.

"I believe you. I trust you completely." She moaned as he staked his claim by nipping every inch of her neck. "Jude … do we have time for this?"

"Probably not–but we need it, desperately." He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed. "I'm afraid it'll be quick … but it will restore your energy, better than any potion."

"Well, when you put it that way …" She let him lay her down on the bed once again.

Somehow her robe disappeared, and his robe did too, and there was nothing between them. Her soft, yielding curves and flesh seemed made to cradle his hard-muscled body. Nothing could feel finer than her skin. Her thighs welcomed his hot manhood between them.

* * * * *

Ravyn POV

She'd declared her love and she felt free to fly, so light that she could float up to the stars.

Jude licked his lips. "Ravyn, you feel so good beneath me. Your enchanted vault has treasures beyond anything in your shop."

"It's waiting for you," she said in a sultry voice. "It's always open to you. Fill me, Jude."

He parted her thighs and stroked between them gently while kissing and sucking her increasingly sensitive breasts that ached for his mouth. "Love, you're so wet for me. I'm going to fill you so full you'll still feel it when we return to Faolan Castle."

In one quick thrust, he plunged inside her to the hilt. Their joining felt explosive and urgent in a way that the four days of constant mating at Cresta House couldn't match. It was volcanic, wild, untamed, all-consuming. His eyes turned to hazy, golden glowing orbs, mysterious and yet full of raw, naked desire for her.

Her body shuddered with waves of pleasure whenever Jude moved, chasing his pleasure and hers as eagerly as hunting game in the wild. He felt like velvet, rubbing against all her most intimate and sensitive places. The friction and heat overtook her and she melted. Her entire body felt like pure ecstasy.

"Jude, please," she begged, "Take me, love me, have me."

He paused inside her.

"Jude!"

"Ah, ah. You froze me so that I'd make peace with your former mate." He nipped her shoulder. "I'm still a little frozen."

She squeezed him with her thighs, making him growl. "Forgive me?"

"Always. You are so beautiful," he murmured, his voice bewitching her. "Your breasts taste sweeter than the ripest fruit. Your skin is finer than any silk. When I'm inside you, it's like being inside the sun–so hot and life-giving."

Moving once again within her, he kissed her slowly and deeply, tormenting her lazily while his hips enchanted her with their masterful rhythm. She gripped the globes of his buttocks. "These are mine." She pressed her lips to his chest, close to his heart. "And this is mine."

Smiling seductively, she clenched her muscles around him, drawing him even deeper inside her and wringing a howl of pleasure from him. "And this is definitely mine."

He gazed down at her possessively and took her nipple between his talented lips while pinching her female folds. She went up in flames, and her screams of pleasure joined his howls of ecstasy as they reached their fulfillment together.

Afterwards, he lay on top of her, still blissfully joined with her, playing with her hair. Ravyn kissed his lips and stroked his back. His sandalwood smell was the scent of home to her. His slick, heated skin felt glorious.

"You're incredible," he said in a husky voice, covering her face with warm silken kisses.

"You, too. Assuming we survive whatever awaits us–"

"You doubt your former husband?"

She felt his concern, sharp as a blade. "No. I do doubt whatever held him prisoner, and Melisande is ruthless."

He nodded solemnly. "And with the Dark Goddess behind her, she's capable of anything. But we've triumphed before over her and her pawns. We freed Cyran and all of Hades' slaves, and destroyed Hades. We can do this. We can do anything as long as we're together, fighting side by side. Who would dare stand against us? We are mates."

The ghost of fear lurked around her, putting doubts in her head.

Courage! Jude was right. They were a team now, just like Dane and Lilia. Just like the other Cresta couples. Together they were greater than they could be on their own.

She would fight for Daxius, and she drew tremendous strength from knowing that Jude would battle until he was exhausted and risk his life, possibly give his life, fighting for what was right. And she would protect him with all her strength.