Cursed (Warriors of Light Book 6) Read online

  “I love the idea of a very, very long life with you.” She practically moaned as she spoke to him. Reaching out, she let her tongue run over the head of his shaft and smiled. “I need,” she said simply. “So very much I need,” she admitted.

  “You can have it for a couple more minutes,” he said. “After that, I plan on putting it to other uses. So enjoy it quickly, sweetheart.” Tugging lightly on her hair, he slid his staff over her tongue when she opened for him.

  She took him into her mouth, greedily accepting everything he gave to her. She licked him, slurped at him. When he finally pulled away she wanted to pout, but didn’t. “How do you need me?” she asked softly, her gaze downcast as she spoke those words.

  Easing back to straddle her hips, he stroked a finger slowly down her torso. “Spread your legs wide,” he said as he moved to sit on his knees between her thighs. “I think it’s only fair that I get to taste you as well.”

  That had her shuddering in reaction. She spread her legs for him and watched him as his head moved. She saw the look on his face when he realized that her pussy was bare. The tattoo on her mound was a small butterfly with highly stylized Norse symbols as the wings.

  Eric lifted his head enough to give her a quick look. “When did you get this?” he asked, tracing the shape with his finger. Lowering his head, he slid his tongue over the tattoo before giving it a small kiss with a hint of teeth.

  “I had just turned eighteen,” she told him, shivering as his tongue slid over the marking. “I liked it. It spoke to me and now I understand why. It was because I’ve been waiting for you all of this time.”

  Turning his face into her inner thigh, he sucked lightly on her skin. Nipping at her flesh, he slid his tongue down to her pussy and along the seam of her leg. Flicking his tongue out, he brushed it over her clit.

  “So I take it that you like the tattoo?” she asked with a knowing look.

  Gently sliding his hands under her ass, he rested his chin on the tattoo. “I adore it, actually. I do have another question about it, though. Man or woman?” He gave her a hard look. “If it was a man that marked you, I will want his name, his location, and we should plan his obituary while we’re at it.”

  That had her grinning. She stroked her fingers over his hair and said, “A woman. Aside from my gynecologist and the tattoo artist, you are the first one that has seen me like this.” She had always known that there was someone out there for her, waiting for her. She saw the look of question in his eyes, however, and told him, “When you can literally see all of the dead around a person, it kind of loses the whole mood for making love, you know? All but you.” She had peace with him, calm with him, and she was happy. For whatever reason, the ghosts didn’t seem keen on interrupting her private time with Eric, and Krista was grateful.

  His lips curled up, giving him a smug look. “Are you telling me that no other has had the pleasure of ever being right here like this?” Sliding his chin over her skin, he began to place little kisses over her mound, his tongue darting out occasionally to flick her clit.

  “Yes, you are the first one to ever be there like you are right now.” She braced a foot on the bed and lifted up slightly to give him better access to her body. “Please, do that again?” She had her hand back on his head.

  Laughing softly, he used his thumbs to pull her folds apart. He blew a breath down her wet slit. His tongue stroked over and around her clit slowly as his eyelids drifted down. Eric let out a happy sound before putting his mouth to her and sucking hard.

  Her fingers tightened in his hair the moment that his mouth closed over her clit. She arched up with her foot on the bed and whimpered. “Eric, God yes.” She sobbed his name aloud as she twitched under his ministrations.

  He began to hum while sucking on the tight, needy, throbbing bud. His hands weren’t idle either. One slid up her belly to cup and squeeze a breast while the other moved to tease her opening.

  “You are so good at that.” She was lifting and moving her body along with him. “For an old man you are seriously freaking awesome at this.” She was smiling as she spoke and shivered time and time again, building closer to her orgasm.

  Her smart-ass words earned her a glower from him—and the scrape of his teeth to her flesh. Eric eased a finger into her sheath to begin a slow thrust while rubbing his tongue over her nub. His other hand squeezed and massaged her breast between tugs on her nipple.

  “Eric.” She kept repeating herself, but she couldn’t seem to stop it. She tried, she really did. She tried to be better than she was giving him but was failing time and time again. “Tell me what you need, what you want from me. Please,” she begged while lifting and lowering her body against his delicious assault.

  “Busy,” he muttered. Lifting his head, he licked his lips, but his gaze wasn’t pointed her way. He was watching his other hand. She could feel him withdrawing, then pushing back in, stretching her more. It took a moment, but her brain clued in to the fact he’d added a second finger and was now pumping them in and out of her body in a way meant to drive her insane.

  “Holy mother of the gods.” Krista sobbed aloud while he twisted and turned his fingers, stretching her. “Eric, oh God. There, perfect. So good.”

  His lips brushed over her folds. “You are so tight,” he said in a husky voice. “You’re going to feel like a glove when I slide my cock into you. I’m pretty sure that I’ll come before I’m even fully inside of you.”

  “I feel like I’m already ready to come,” she told him with a moan. He added a third finger to her pussy, which had her arching her back. “Eric!” She screamed his name.

  His hand pressing to her lower belly kept her from coming off the bed. “You are so wet, so hot, fucking amazing,” he told her. He pressed his thumb to her clit to rub at it.

  “Holy Christ.” She moved along with him. “Please, so close to coming again. More, just a little more.” She was ready to go flying.

  “Pinch your nipples,” he ordered. “Give them a good tug and you’ll fly right off that edge, sweetheart.” Scraping his teeth over her thigh, he nibbled at the soft flesh by her groin and curled his fingers inside her pussy.

  Krista moved her hands and did as he instructed. She pinched her nipples, then did what she had been waiting for. She screamed as she flew off into the atmosphere with her orgasm.

  “Beautiful,” he whispered. He gently pulled his fingers from her body and proceeded to lick them clean while she fought for air. Eric then pushed up to crawl over her, slowly dropping kisses to her belly and breasts. “So very beautiful.”

  She reached out with shaky hands and touched her fingers to his cheek. “I seriously am finding myself addicted to you. Never let me go.” Because she was never going to let him go.

  “I don’t plan to,” he said. Lowering over her, he pressed a kiss to her lips. “You are mine for the rest of time, Krista. There is no going back from this,” he told her. Rubbing his hard member to her pussy, he adjusted his hips enough to press the head to her opening.

  “Good, because I don’t want to let you go.” She had just met him mere hours ago, but he was already more important to her than her own well-being was. He was everything to her, and that was a little terrifying as well as a lot satisfying. “I’m happy to have you on this ride with me,” she confessed.

  “There’s nowhere I’d rather be,” he told her. Giving her another kiss, he pulled one of her legs up over his hips and pressed slowly into her body. “Wrap your legs around me tight and relax for me, sweetheart.”

  She was thankful for the fingers that he had used to prepare her body, because he was very large. She wrapped her legs around his waist, holding on to him and trembling in reaction to his powerful body starting to move inside of her. “There, that’s perfect,” she told him, trying to relax as he’d told her to.

  His dick slid in and out of her smoothly and slowly. He was taking his time, she knew, letting her get used to the intrusion and find her own rhythm with him. With a smile, he low
ered his head to brush his lips to her cheek, then lower to her neck.

  Krista’s legs wrapped around his hips. “That feels so good.” She rubbed her cheek to his. “It almost feels like you’re becoming a part of me.”

  “I am,” he whispered against her ear. “As you are becoming a part of me, the most important part. Our souls recognize one another, are reaching for their other half, and when it all comes to a head they will grab hold, twist up, and never let go.” She moaned and moved along with him. “I’ll never let you go.”

  She could practically feel threads pulling them together and holding them close to one another. “Will it always be like this?”

  “From what I hear, yes and no.” Biting her neck, he flicked his tongue over her pulse several times before pushing up on his arms to stare down at her. Eric was thrusting faster and harder now, a look of concentration coming over his face while he met her gaze.

  She arched into his touch again and shuddered. “Please,” she whispered in desperation. “So close.” She felt her body burning, the tightness in her abdomen squeezing hard, and knew she was going to orgasm soon.

  A droplet hit her breast and slid down to the valley before tracking along her ribs. “Soon,” he growled out. Moving first one, then the other leg up to his shoulders, he leaned in more and took her even harder than before. Their flesh slapped together loudly while the bed creaked in time to his frantic, almost desperate fashion. She clung to his shoulders while he fucked her. “So close. Please. More.” It was a demand, pure and simple.

  Eric bared his teeth as he pressed her legs up higher to her body, changing the angle. Another drop of his sweat hit her breast and slid off. “Pinch your nipples hard and come for me. Come for me now, Krista,” he demanded in a voice so rough it was another layer to their joining.

  She let his shoulders go and began to pinch and roll her own nipples. Then, without another second passing, she screamed with her climax. Her toes curled, legs pulled him closer, and her eyes rolled back in her head from the sheer pleasure.

  His large body was shuddering against hers even as he continued to drive his cock into her spasming pussy. Suddenly, he stilled, and with a loud, incoherent bellow, he spilled his seed deep into her sheath. Letting one of her legs fall from his shoulder, he collapsed over her as the other leg slowly slid down his arm to land with a boneless thud to the mattress.

  She wasn’t surprised when he rolled them and she was on top. She was draped fully over him and closed her eyes. “That. Was. Spectacular.”

  He let out a deep chuckle, his hand landing on her ass to give it a squeeze. “Hell yeah,” he said softly. “As soon as I have some energy back we’re doing that again, only slower. There’s still a lot of your body I have to explore.”

  “Oh hell yeah.” She couldn’t help but say that. She closed her eyes. “I think I need a nap first,” she told him softly, and without another hesitation she was out.

  Chapter Five

  Eric passed her a glass of juice before going back to the stove. The man was making her breakfast, a first, she’d had to admit to him. “Scrambled, sunny side, or over easy for your eggs, sweetheart?”

  “I like scrambled with a bit of cheese in them, please.” It grossed her out to see the runny yellow of eggs. “What can I do to help out here?” She didn’t want to take advantage and that’s what she felt like she was doing.

  “You can sit there and look adorable,” he told her. Throwing Krista a wink over his shoulder, he started to whistle softly while he cracked some eggs into a bowl. After flipping the bacon over in the pan, he moved to toss the chopped vegetables into a hot pan and gave them a flip with a quick snap of his wrist.

  “You are seriously good with that knife. I guess you’ve had a lot of practice, haven’t you?” She was sitting there and found herself constantly reaching out to touch him. She needed that connection to him.

  “A little bit,” he said. Laughing, he gave a shrug that had the muscles of his back rippling to draw her attention. How he could cook bacon without a shirt on baffled her. He gave the sizzling vegetables another toss before he began to beat on the eggs. “Most of my training was with an axe, sword, and anything else we could lay hands to.”

  “You lived in a time where a man lived and breathed by the sword. The fact that you are here, it is surreal to me. Having you here with me. Having you as a part of my life. I’m happy. I do have to ask, though,” she put her chin on her fist and watched him, “will you teach me how to use a sword, too? Guns, I can handle. Swords, not so much.”

  Shooting her a surprised look, he gave a nod. “If it interests you, of course I’ll help you learn. We’ll have to find a blade that works for you. A long sword, for example, wouldn’t work because of two factors. Your height being one, and the weight of the sword itself being the other. You’d have the same problem with the great swords, bastard swords, and likely even the falchions. It may come down to us having one specifically made for you. Not a problem, either, since we do all our own blade making here. The shit you can get today really doesn’t hold up against the old ways.”

  “Do you think that maybe something like a Samurai sword only smaller would work for me?” She pulled back and laughed. “You guys make your own swords, really? That’s pretty freaking awesome. Can I watch that?”

  “We’ll need to make you one once we determine which style works best for you. The single edge, like a Samurai, or a dual edge like a broadsword. We have some replicas cast out of a hard plastic, no sharp edges, that we train the Marines with. We’ll get some time in with those to figure out which works best. They are all weighted, but we can pull the weights out so you aren’t struggling to lift them while we experiment.”

  Turning back to the counter, he slid the bacon from the pan, dumped the eggs on top of the vegetables, and moved to put the bread down in the toaster. After patting the bacon dry, he put pieces on each of the plates and went to get the coffee carafe, which he set on the hotplate in the middle of the table.

  “How in the world are you able to cook all that without getting splattered?” she asked suddenly. “If I were making bacon or veggies, I would have little burns all over me if I tried to do it naked.”

  “I still get hit on occasion, but I barely even notice it anymore. It’s a minor and fleeting pain considering some wounds I’ve suffered. I also have a pretty tough hide, actually,” he told her. Giving her a grin, he moved to mix the eggs up in the pan, then shifted over to grab the toast as it popped up.

  She nodded, looking at the scars on his body. “I have a feeling that if you were harmed I would be a basket case.”

  “Really? I would never have guessed that,” he said in a dry tone. “Given how you reacted when Billy showed up in your town, I get the distinct feeling that you’d raise hell if I got even a paper cut. The goddess protect my brethren after we go head to head in training matches.”

  “What, wait, you guys fight and draw blood?” she asked with wide eyes. “No. I never, ever want to see that, okay?”

  “We don’t always draw blood.” He paused, then looked thoughtfully toward the ceiling. “Though I will admit the best sessions usually have drawn some blood. But it is never our intention. We tend to be mildly competitive, and we also for the most part all are from a time period where you trained with whatever weapon you took with you into battle. After all if you train with only wooden swords, you cannot respect the true danger of a sharp blade.”

  “Heavens.” She shook her head and took in a deep breath. “Right, okay, so I will make sure that I am nowhere near when you boys train.” She liked the people she had met so far and wouldn’t like it at all if she saw one of them harming her man. “Just make sure if you do get hurt that you don’t tell me who did it, and no one else does either.”

  “Uh, yeah,” he muttered. Shaking his head, he returned his attention to what he was doing at the stove. “That usually doesn’t work so well around this place. The grapevine is a living, breathing, speed-of-light organism he
re. Word gets around faster than any of us could ever move. Be prepared to hear the nitty-gritty details of things long before you see me.”

  “Well, please make sure they know that I never, ever want to know who has hurt you. If I find out, I would do nasty things to them. Knowing their dead helps, so yes it wouldn’t be good at all.”

  He scraped the eggs onto the plates, then brought both to the table and set hers before her as he sat down. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said dryly. Picking up the carafe, he poured a cup of coffee before holding it out in her direction.

  Nibbling on a piece of bacon, he leaned an elbow to the table. “So what all did the spirits tell you about me?”

  “Just a bit here and there. They told me to trust you,” she said simply. “And I did. I trusted you. I trusted you with everything that I have and everything that I am because they told me that you were worth trusting. They told me a bit about Robert, too, and the guardians in general.”

  “I’m extremely glad you listened to them.” Easing sideways, he pressed a kiss to her lips with a smile. “Eat your breakfast. Then I’m going to show you around. I’ll even give you the keys to the kingdom and teach you the code for the corridors so you don’t get lost.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I wouldn’t like for you to have to send a search party out for me.” She was teasing, mostly. “And I look forward to learning more of my new home,” she confessed. “And learning more about the other guardians here.”

  “I’ll introduce you around,” he told her. “I should likely warn you, there have been a few violent deaths here. So if you are alone and walking around, stay out of the lowest levels. That’s where most of them occurred. Though I guess they are ghosts, so they’re not exactly restricted, are they?”

  “No, they aren’t. Sadly. If they are trapped, it is because there isn’t a way for them to finish whatever they were caught doing, in the case of deaths of heroes and such. More than once they would hang around until I finally got the message they were giving me so that they could finally rest in peace. It’s harder for heroes and such because they have the strongest moral compasses of all. They can’t leave any tasks undone. It’s the same with the young, only with them it’s more of an uncertainty because they don’t understand what’s happening to them. Same with those that have been murdered. They don’t always understand what happened to them or why.”