Behind the Veil: 3 (Temptation Unveiled) (21 page)

Sheridan moved closer. “What? Tell me, please, because I
thought nothing could hurt the pompous bastard.”

He grimaced, holding Kyle higher, farther away from her. “Don’t.
I’m not human. I can’t be so easily fooled. Don’t pretend you haven’t been
begging him for more every night. That you could resist the perfect Prince
Finn. The favored son.”

“Who’s pretending?” She shrugged. “That doesn’t mean I like
him. Or that I wouldn’t want to know about one or two weaknesses for future
reference.”

People were fighting behind her. She heard Meara cry out,
drawing the Fae’s attention, and she pounced, knowing there wouldn’t be much
time. “Now, Kyle.”

She said a little prayer and took a few running steps,
jumping and aiming her booted feet at his chest. Maybe if she were human, she
couldn’t have done this. Then again—Kyle’s well-aimed kick caught the bastard
right in his eye, forcing him to drop her partner while he shouted in surprised
pain—humans did a pretty good job on their own.

Sheridan bent down to pick up her staff and knock the Fae
unconscious, but before she could she saw that Kyle had only achieved temporary
freedom. Two of the queen’s ladies were on top of him, sucking on his skin.
Sheridan could see the glow. She knew what they were doing. “Get off of him,
you wingless little life-suckers!”

She raced toward him, but Ceri got there first. Sheridan saw
the glint of a dagger an instant before one of the ladies scrambled away,
without two of her fingers.

Ceri’s smile was lusty. “Anyone else want to take what
belongs to me?”

The other woman flashed away before any of her body parts
could be severed. Sheridan swallowed. “Good job, Ceri. Is Kyle okay?”

“Traumatized,” he muttered, answering for himself. “But
okay.”

Her sigh of relief came too soon.

A powerful hand grabbed her ankle and Sheridan was falling
face first into the dirt. She reached for her staff, dug her fingers into the
loose ground, but nothing could stop her momentum as she was dragged back to
the center of the arena.

“Brother,” the Fae shouted, telling her she should have
bashed his head in when she had the chance. “I have your latest toy. Let go of
my wife and maybe I’ll give her back to you.”

“Your wife will pay for her crimes,” Finn growled. “As you
will. As we all must.”

Sheridan looked over her shoulder and saw a subdued Meara at
Finn’s side, looking much worse for wear. There were also several male Fae
lying still and bloody at Finn’s feet. Were they alive? And where were the
queen’s ladies?

Finn’s brother chortled. “You never paid. You branded
yourself and went off to live with
them
. To live away from your people
with your blinders still on. You couldn’t see our true path. The right path.
You couldn’t see that Fiona wasn’t wrong. She knew, like I did, that humans
didn’t deserve what they had. All that life they wasted. You never learned.”

“I guess not.” Finn’s voice was so sad, Sheridan almost felt
like crying. “I’ll let your wife go, brother. Just put Sheridan down.”

The crazed Fae was in no mood to bargain. Not anymore. “You
never learned, but I could teach you. If I kill all your friends here, if I
break this one, would that turn you? Would you lose your control? Lose yourself
to the darkness? We could do it together, brother. Make ourselves into what you
most despise.”

Finn didn’t answer, but Meara did. “He thinks the mongrel is
his
síorghrá
.” Her laughter was pained. “Killing her should be enough to
push him over the line.”

Sheridan struggled in his grasp, but he was strong. She saw
Ceri, still protecting her charge, and held out her hand. Understanding
immediately, the beautiful warrior threw the dagger in Sheridan’s direction.

She grabbed it just in time. Finn’s brother was lifting her
off the ground by her ankle. Sheridan could feel the bones creak as if they
would break, pain shooting up her leg.

“I’ll kill her,” he was saying. “I’ll kill her and then I’ll
watch you suffer.”

“Don’t bet on it,” she grunted, stabbing the dagger into his
shoulder with all her might.

She landed on the ground an instant before all hell broke
loose. In less than a heartbeat, Finn tackled his brother to the ground. Fighting—not
with magic—but with his bare hands, beating his face bloody.

“Was it you? After all this time, was it you all along?”
Finn was shouting. “What lies did you tell her? What did you say to make her
believe you? To make her kill?”

Sheridan saw Damon and the others move closer, as well as
several Fae holding those who’d attacked her in custody. Still, Finn couldn’t
seem to stop.

“Sheridan, you need to stop him.” Ceri was behind her,
whispering, “He must stop soon. His rage, his pain is too great. He is intent
on killing him, but if he does it this way, then his brother gets his wish.”

He would get his wish. Did that mean Finn would go crazy?
Turn Horde like Eonis? Oh God. “What can I do?”

Ceri squeezed her arm. “I will help you. But know that you
will have to give yourself to him. Submit. The state he is in, that is the only
way to pull him back. There is no time for niceties or private rooms. Give him
what he needs. His
síorghrá
. His other half.”

She couldn’t lose him to the
Dark
. Not now. Not after
all they’d been through. “Help me.”

She listened to Ceri’s whispers and repeated her words out
loud. “Finn of Aisling. Let him go and listen to me. Hear the plea of your
síorghrá
.”
God that sounded strange. “Finn,
please stop
.”

His hand, raised to deliver another punishing blow, stilled.
When he looked up at her his eyes were wild. Too wild. Scaring her. Reminding
her of someone else.

No. This was Finn. Her Finn. She knew him. Trusted him. “Please,
Finn.”

He stood, releasing the body of his unconscious brother and
staring at her in silence. Could he see her? Did he know who she was? “What
now?” she murmured to Ceri.

“Now Damon will take Meru away.” Ceri made a shooing motion
with her hand. “And you, Sheridan Kelly, will roll over onto your knees and
offer yourself to your lover.”

“I thought you said Fae sex
wasn’t
like Werewolf sex.”
Meru’s fading words made Sheridan blush. She’d thought so too.

Finn was growling.

Maybe they’d both been wrong.

Sheridan hesitated for a moment longer, her heart racing and
her body heating at the idea of what she was about to do. Her favorite fantasy.
Finn taking her here. In front of everyone.

She started to shake. It was overwhelming, the emotions
vying for supremacy inside her. Fear and heat, excitement and love. But at this
moment, the feeling in the lead was lust. Thinking about what might come
next—after she submitted—she groaned, rolling over to press her head on her
hands and her ass in the air.

Ceri leaned down near her head, speaking softly so she
wouldn’t distract Finn. “Spread your legs. Good, he’s responding. Now tell him
you are ready to join with him forever. Ready to know him. To share yourself
completely.”

“Are you sure this is the right thing to do?” Why was she
afraid? And why did her feelings of trepidation only enhance her need for him?
It must be another Fae thing. Oh hell, she hoped it was a Fae thing.

“I’ve only heard about it, so I can’t be sure. But I believe
I’m right.” Ceri’s words did nothing to reassure her.

And then he was there. On his knees with his hot hands on
her hips. Sheridan repeated Ceri’s words, adding a few of her own. “I’m ready
now, Finn. Ready to join with you. To know you. To share myself completely. I
trust you, do you hear me? I
trust
you.”

He groaned behind her. “Don’t pull away again,” he warned
roughly. “Don’t leave me.”

He was caressing her bare thighs and she couldn’t help but
shudder. “I won’t.”

She heard the sound of fabric tearing, saw one of the buttons
from his pants land beside her and she bit her lip so hard it bled. This was
happening. This was really happening.

Her arousal soaked her sex and the buttery fabric between
her legs. She felt his fingers curl inside it and heard the ripping that
preceded the feel of cooler air on her wet sex. Nothing to separate them, she
thought. Nothing ever could.

“No one move. No one look away,” Ceri cautioned when
movement behind her made Finn’s fingers tighten and the rumbling in his chest
grow louder. “He’ll see it as a threat or a dismissal of what he’s about to do.
Remember the old stories.”

What he was about to do. He pushed two fingers, then three,
deep into her sex. Claim her. He was going to claim her. Not like the temporary
claim Ceri and Dian had on Kyle to protect him. Like a mate. Forever.

She didn’t want to run away this time. She wanted to claim
him right back.

Sheridan rocked against his fingers and he used the palm of
his other hand to spank one bare cheek. Oh yes. She rocked her hips again,
waiting for his next reaction. Would he spank her like he had the night Kyle
was claimed? Make her come like that in front of everyone?

He didn’t spank her again.

“Oh God.” Her hands dug into the dirt around her, scrambling
for something to hold on to as he filled her with one long, hard stroke.
So
big.
She gasped for air. “Finn.”

“You are mine,” he moaned as he pulled his hips back and
rocked forward again. Slowly. Deeply. Completely. “Say it.”

“I’m yours. Fuck, please, Finn. I’m yours. Don’t stop.” It
felt good. Perfect. The hushed, breathless crowd only made each sensation
sharper. She could feel their eyes on her. On them. It was primal. Blood and
dirt and sweat and sex.

She looked down at her hands and noticed the faint sparks of
light beneath her skin. Knew her beautiful man would be glowing with energy by
now, lost in his desire for her.

Finn. The otherworldly Fae who wouldn’t take no for an
answer. The man who saved her and stole into her dreams. The one who drove her crazy.

She felt one of his hands leave her hips to slip between
their bodies. He pressed his fingers against her already stretched sex and
hummed. “So wet for me, love. Will you let me do anything? Claim you any way I
choose?”

She licked the blood from her lower lip, savoring the taste
on her tongue. “Anything. Yes.”

His next thrust was harder, more of what she needed.
Sheridan spread her legs wide, pushing back against him, begging without words
for more. Finn’s body jerked against hers, then he groaned again. His wet
fingers slid around her hip and in, and then they were pushing between the
cheeks of her ass. Going to that forbidden place that she’d loved. Pressing
inside her until she was filled front and back. Oh God, yes. This. In front of
everyone. Anything.
Everything
.

She trusted him.

“You’ll let me claim you here.” Finn wasn’t asking. “You’ll
come on my cock and then I’ll fill this sweet, perfect ass. Make you mine in
every way.”

A male groan that didn’t belong to anyone she knew made her
bury her face in her hands. But it didn’t make her stop. It didn’t quiet her
moans as he slung his hips against hers, harder and faster until she was
quivering.

Until she was coming. Shattering. Falling. “
Finn
.”

“
Yes
!” His shout was filled with triumph. A victor
claiming his spoils. The shocks of her climax were still rocking her body as
they had before, not fading but increasing, when she felt the wet head of his
cock pressing against her ass.

Her heart stopped. “Finn, I—” The head of his cock stretched
her ass so wide she swore she felt a small pop. A moment of sharp pain and then
relief. Sensation. Too much sensation. Pain and pleasure. Agony and need. Climax
after climax, one indistinguishable from the other, building on each other. Everything
was happening at once, making her head spin and her body quake against his.

Nothing she’d experienced had prepared her for this. His
size. The feel of him inside her. The feeling of being taken so completely. Vulnerable
because she was being claimed. Powerful because only she could give him what he
needed. She almost forgot how to breathe once he stopped pressing forward,
waiting to see what he would do next.

“I need to hear you, love.” His voice was almost
unrecognizable. Full of gravel and raw with emotion. “I need you to let me in.
Need you to say it.”

She didn’t understand. He wanted her talk now? How could
she? How could she form words? She just wanted him to do it. To fuck her there.
To fill her ass and make her beg. To give her everything, every last inch of
his cock. Make her take it. To take
her
, body and soul.

In the distance, she heard another male voice. This one more
familiar. “Sweet Jesus.”

Had she been speaking? She had. She’d been begging him out
loud. Pleading with him to fuck her.

Out loud.

She might care about that later, but not now. Now she needed
him.

“I’m here, Sher. I’m here, my love. You’re mine.” His words
were rough velvet against her shoulder. “I’ll never share you. Never let you
go. You belong to me.”

She wanted to say, “Ditto.” But it might have come out as a
whimper. They belonged to each other.

Finn sunk his teeth lightly into her flesh and pounded his
hips against her in a passionate, glorious rhythm. Deeper. Oh God, how could he
go any deeper? He slid a large hand around again and stroked her sex with his
fingers, rubbing and pressing in time with his cock. Filling her. In her.
Everywhere.

Her next climax hit her unexpectedly, and so violently her
knees almost gave out beneath her. Her world tilted. Her head spun. Everything around
her went dark. Heaven.

Sheridan was floating above her body. She could still
feel every sensation. The ground digging into her bruised knees. The scratch of
her throat as she screamed his name over and over. Every ridge and vein of Finn’s
erection as it pushed inside her. His breath on her skin. But she could also
see it all clearly. The crowd. The arena. Finn.