Reaver of Souls Read online

  “You will have peace, my son,” Nello said as tears began to run down her face. “But not here. The spell was to send you far away in death, but I can change that.”

  Before he could even think to avoid her sudden move, Nello reached up and grasped the copper band around his neck.

  “Mother!” Torn cried as the buzzing increased and seemed to snatch the strength from his body. His arms wrapped around Nello instinctively as he felt the power flash from her to his adornment, and he fell to his knees. “Mother…? What have you done?”

  “I will not lose you to death, my son! But I have sent you far away…from me,” she cried, shudders racking her body as she forced her hands to move, to wrap around the baby she had not been able to rear.

  “Where?” he demanded before the buzzing grew louder, the world began to spin and twirl, and he held onto his mother like she was the only stable thing left in his universe.

  “Far away, my son,” she whimpered, the tears falling fast and furious. “But you will be alive!”

  So be it, he thought as he turned to face his sire.

  “Father,” he desperately called as his body began to flicker and fade, to go transparent. “Thank you, Father! You were right!”

  “Torn!” Terror called as he reached forward to touch his son, to say he loved him, to show him that he really loved him!

  But then he was gone.

  Terror stood watching the place where once his son had stood, where once the Reaver had protected the realm, for the last time.

  It took him a while to notice that he was on his knees and that his wife cradled his head against her bosom as he cried like a child.

  “I never even hugged him, told him that I loved him!” he sobbed, unashamed.

  “He knew,” his wife murmured in return, her own small body quivering with her grief.

  * * * * *

  “Terror!” Nello bellowed as her hands fisted in the sheets, her hair flying wildly around her head as she clamped her teeth onto her bottom lip. How could she have given this up?

  Pants and small screams erupted from her throat as Terror took fistfuls of his long, soft, straight hair to caress her nipples, causing her to buck against the caress.

  Terror chuckled, his hot breath wafting over her moist skin, sending shivers down her spine and wrenching another sharp cry from her throat.

  “Terror, please!” One hand left the twisted sheets to tangle into his hair, all pretense of gentleness gone as she tried to force his head lower, to her wet heat.

  “You smell so damn good,” he purred as his tongue lashed out at the muscles of her stomach, tracing down to her navel where he dipped his tongue into the small indentation.

  He shuddered as he buried his face into her soft skin, kissing the small pink stretch marks, the badges of honor that came with carrying a child, his child.

  Suddenly, desire to see her body trembling beneath his tool took a backseat to just the plain desire to have her in his arms once more. He settled his head over her stomach, his hands gently caressing her waist, as he pressed as close to her as he could.

  “Nello…” he began, but his voice broke.

  Tears burned the back of his eyes then made silvery trails down his face as sadness and loss warred with elation and joy.

  “Nello, I missed you so much. I love you so much. How could I ever give you up? Why did I let you leave me?” His massive shoulders shook as he struggled to hold in his emotions, to keep them from swamping him totally, but it was a wasted attempt. Tears began to flow as his throat-tearing sobs broke free.

  “Terror, I am here,” Nello whispered as she wrapped her hands around her man, determined never to let him go again. “I am not going anywhere.”

  “I know in my head,” he managed with his tear-ravaged voice. “But you promised me forever before, and then I had nothing.”

  “I’m so sorry, Terror. It was the only thing I could think of to keep you safe, both of you.”

  “I would rather have death with you than face eternity without you,” he whispered as he pulled free of her grasp to rise up and stare into her purple eyes. “I don’t want to be without you again.”

  He stared at her face, the beautiful face that he thought he would always wake up beside, and carefully examined it for changes.

  Twenty-nine years had brought few changes to her features, but there was a decided lack of youthfulness and innocence, in a face that had seemed eternally young. Not that she looked old, but her eyes had aged.

  The years of pain and anger were there in the deep depths of her eyes. The years of separation from her loved ones had stolen the life from her.

  “I’m going nowhere, Terror,” she whispered as her tears began to flow. “I would rather face whatever tortures my father would force onto me than to leave you again. I died so many deaths, Terror. I wanted to end my existence…”

  “NO!” Terror rose up and clasped her to his chest, to his heart, pulling her head to rest under his chin, safe. “Never even think it, Nello. Never!”

  “But I couldn’t,” she continued, snuggling in deeper. “I could not when I had a chance to be with you again, with you and Torn.”

  She shuddered and pulled herself in closer to her mate, listening to the slow steady beats of his heart, breathing in his scent, feeling his masculine heat surround her.

  “And then I heard what my father had done. When I heard, I crawled out of the hiding place I’d made for myself and confronted him face-to-face. And when I discovered what he had done to my baby… Terror,” she cried, her body stiff with tension, “I wanted him to die.”

  “No, Nello. That is not your way, love. Murder is not in you.”

  “It is in any mother who discovers her child has been harmed, Terror. He did this to us after I left you, after I took myself out of my child’s life to protect him. How dare he harm my baby? He did not have the right!”

  “Shh, Nello,” Terror soothed as he began to rock her side to side, gently comforting his mate. “Nello, you are not responsible for what he did. No one is responsible for his actions but himself.”

  “I know it in my head, Terror. But like you say, the heart refuses to believe.”

  “I know, Nello,” he breathed. “I know.”

  “And now all I have left to hold on to, Terror, is this body that feels like a mother’s, yet it has no baby to hold in its arms. I am in a body that had been denied what it naturally would have. I am useless, Terror. I’m a useless waste of a body that clings to hold on to what I gave up.”

  “Never, Nello. You are not useless, woman. You are my mate, my one and only true love, there has been no one after you, Nello. You own me mind, body, and spirit. There can never be another.”

  “You never…?” The shock made her pull back to stare into his beloved face, caressing the knife-sharp cheekbones and the strong stubborn jaw. “Never…?”

  “How could I?” he asked as his own tears dried up and a new heat began to pulse within his body. “How could I even think about taking another when you are imprinted, no, burned into my mind?”

  “But…but it is your right. I left you and Torn! I…”

  “You did what you thought was best for protecting your family. But you are the only one my body quickens for, Nello.”

  He pulled her in tighter as the warmth in his belly blossomed and expanded low to the base of his spine and then even lower. He felt the tingling in his balls that signaled that his erection was returning.

  Smiling, he breathed in the fresh scent of her. She smelled like moonbeams, and magic, and woman. There was no greater smell in the world, he decided, no more arousing scent than his Nello.

  Nello gasped as she felt his renewed interest as his cock swelled against her stomach. Her breathing became low and wispy as she felt the heat from his cock grow and grow.

  She leaned back so she could force one hand between their bodies, to touch and caress the thing she had dreamed about for years, the thing she coveted even though she had been far away
from him.

  “Make this body sing, love,” she whispered as her gaze dropped down to the swollen purple head of his sex. “Make this body worth something again. Bring me back to life.”

  “Nello,” Terror said softly before one hand slipped down her back to caress her ass, to pull her deeper into his body as he began to thrust his hardness into her stomach. A low growl emerged from his throat.

  The stimulation of her soft skin on his hardening cock was unbelievable. It was a sensation he never thought he would ever have again.

  “Oh Creator, Terror!” Nello gasped, arching into his touch. “Now, take me now!”

  “No, you are not ready.”

  “I’ve been ready for twenty-nine years.” Her heart beat wildly in her chest and her breathing grew rapid as her senses were overwhelmed with the touch of her mate.

  Her juices flowed freely as his hands dipped lower, pressing the sensitive skin of her rosebud before encountering the weeping well of her vagina.

  She shuddered as one broad finger invaded.

  “If I took you now, there would be pain,” Terror explained, his fingers circling her lower lips gently, pushing in slightly, feeling the drawing heat and moisture that told so much of her desire for him. “And I will never cause you pain, Nello.”

  That said, he urged her back among the pillows, mounding them up behind her to hold her in a sitting position.

  “Watch me,” he purred. “Watch me love you.”

  And his lips attached themselves to her right nipple.

  “Ah!” Nello gasped, arching up as his teeth took a nip of her swelling flesh, awakening it, making it sensitive, before his tongue laved away the minor hurt.

  “Watch me,” he urged again, lowering his body between her legs, grinding his hard cock against her thigh.

  His lips left one nipple and traveled to the next, his fingers plucking the shiny one his mouth left free.

  A keening wail filled the room as Nello struggled to keep her eyes on her mate, struggled to watch as he aroused her body, made her hotter than she had ever been.

  He drew in her nipple, suckling it, lashing it with his tongue, filling his mouth with the flavor of her.

  Almost unconsciously, his free hand dropped to his crotch, adjusting his long thick aching cock, then fisting it lightly to heighten his pleasure. The head rapidly moistened as liquid drops of his essence bubbled to the surface.

  “Creator, Terror! More!”

  His mouth left her nipple with a wet pop before he lapped the sweat that shined the skin of her stomach. He trembled as he felt the heat and energy from the center of her core churn and roil with his caresses.

  “It was always beautiful with you, Nello,” he purred as he dipped his tongue into the indention of her navel.

  Her hands tangled in his hair, pushing him down as she began a litany of pleas. “Please, Terror,” she panted. “Please. Put your mouth on me. Lick me. Please…”

  Unable to ignore her voiced commands, Terror slid his hands between her thighs, pushing them further apart with his sword-callused hands, making a wider space for himself in his paradise.

  “When you ask so sweetly,” he purred before he dropped a kiss at the top of her slit, his tongue peeking out to caress the hood of her clit.

  Nello felt that burning caress as a lightning bolt, almost delivering a powerful shock to where she needed it the most. “Please!” she gasped, then screamed as his tongue traced the lips that protected the seat of her pleasure.

  Terror growled as the taste, the smell, the sight of the swollen pink folds surrounded him. His senses were on high alert as he saw how delicate she was to him, how fragile. Then his hunger took over as he peered at the liquid readiness that poured from her, fragrant and thick.

  With his thumbs, he spread her lips apart and feasted his eyes on her glistening treasure. “Mine!” he growled, and then dropped his mouth where she most needed.

  Nello arched off the bed, a wailing cry erupting again from her throat as his heat touched her, the furnace heat of his mouth. She shuddered as those soft full lips took her clit between their hungry folds and began to suck.

  “Unnn,” she hissed as one hand left off holding her thighs apart and two fingers slid into her wet opening.

  “Terror,” she managed as they slid deep, scissoring to stretch her inner walls to accept an appendage that was significantly bigger.

  Terror moaned, the vibrations going straight to her clit, as he felt the heat of her enfold him and tried to suck him in deeper. The thought of those sugared walls gripping his cock made him shudder and flooded his mind with erotic imagery.

  He wanted her. She was his. He would claim his mate and take what was his by right, but had been denied him by circumstances and human sacrifice.

  With one final lick to her swollen and reddened clit, he pulled his mouth back, licking her juices from his lips as he added a third finger. He watched as she jumped and bucked on the bed, dislodging the pillows from behind her as her passion took control of her body.

  He slowly began finger-fucking her, watching as her temperature rose and the red flush of desire covered her body.

  He watched, maintaining his control while he slowly stripped her control from her.

  “Are you ready for me?” he asked, his voice little more than a growl.

  “Yes,” she panted, still lost in the feelings but knowing something greater was going to befall her.

  “Then take me!” Terror pulled his fingers out of the sucking heat and replaced the thickness of his fingers with the purple head of his dripping cock. He held himself motionless there, just for a moment, until purple eyes maddened with desire, looked onto his. “Mine, forever,” he whispered, then he began to push his thickness into her body.

  Heat! It exploded over his senses, clouding his mind with pleasure. He felt a tingling at the base of his spine and had to drop down over her to try to find his balance in the overwhelming storm of emotions.

  Nello gasped as his large cock filled, and filled, and filled her to the breaking point.

  Oh, Creator, how could she have forgotten it, forgotten the feel of his thickness parting her, making a home for himself within her?

  “Terr-rorr,” she moaned as his legs slid up along her thighs.

  Her eyes closed as sensation swamped her, her hands reaching up to grip his forearms. Terror became her only port in this wild storm of erotic sensation.

  Terror felt his muscles lock as he reveled in the feeling of her tight wet heat. He fought the urge to give in to his needs, to slam and pound into her until his soul found the release it had sought for so long. Instead, he eased out about an inch, testing her readiness, before easing that length back inside.

  “Terror, take me,” Nello managed. Now that the first wave of pleasure had flown through her body, she wanted more, she needed more; she had to have him moving deeply inside her pussy.

  Pulling out slightly, Terror eased more of himself inside, feeling her body adjust around him, softening to welcome him deep inside. Then he was moving, pulling out and pushing back in, the symphony of her cries music to his Nello-starved ears.

  Slowly, he created a rhythm for their bodies, and then increased it, playing on both of their reactions, making the screams and gasps increase in frequency and volume.

  Then his tension became too much.

  He looked down at Nello, her legs now wrapped around his waist, her heels digging into the flesh of his ass, urging him to move faster, harder, stronger. He gave in to her desires.

  Pulling out so just his head remained inside, he slammed forward, filling her with his power and energy, creating a magical flow that traveled from him to her.

  “Ahhh!” Nello screamed, arching up into his thrusts, demanding more.

  The pounding rhythm he set could not last, and before long, he felt a stinging in his balls that told of his impending release.

  Not wanting to leave his lover behind, he slid his hand between their heaving bodies, his thumb finding an
d pressing onto her clit.

  “Terr… Creator!” Nello screamed as this extra stimulation dragged her over the precipice.

  “Nello, Nello!” Terror bellowed as his balls churned, then slammed against the base of his cock, sending their milky fluid exploding through his cock. “Ahhh!”

  Seeing his trembling form, feeling his release course through his cock, he suddenly became harder, feeling that extra thickness rub her sweet spot in just the right way, Nello arched up and a gasp escaped her tight throat as spasm after spasm shook her body.

  Her inner walls rhythmically clenched around his cock, her nails dug into his skin as an almost painful pleasure swamped her senses.

  “Nello,” Terror gasped again as he settled carefully on top of the trembling body of his mate.

  As he watched her enter into the sexual afterglow, tears filled his eyes, and his vision of her became hazy, ethereal.

  “I love you,” he whispered as he eased his still swollen cock from her grasping heat and turned her to her side, pulling her protectively against his chest. “You are my life.”

  Nello nestled back against her mate, wrapping his arms tighter around her. Silently she echoed his sentiment. She was safe; she was in his arms. She was home.

  * * * * *

  Later that night, back in their rooms, after the confusion had settled somewhat and she was allowed to be alone with her husband for a time, she asked him, “What were you right about?”

  “Hmm?” he asked as he raised his weary head to glance at his mate. He had never before felt so tired, so old.

  “Torn,” her voice cracked as she said his name. “Torn said that you were right.”

  Terror looked down at his mate, the woman he loved more than life, and smiled.

  “I told him that settling was not enough to hold a man and that only true love will fill the void inside of him,” he said, praying that wherever his son was, he would find a woman to give him the love that he had been denied his entire life.

  “Terror,” Nello said and hugged him tightly. “You were right.”