Enslaved (Brides of the Kindred Book 14) (55 page)

“You
saw what happened with my old Master—saw it in that fucking dream.” He sighed.
“I thought that was one reason you were pushing me away.”

“I
was pushing you away because of the blood curse the high priestess laid on me—not
because of your past,” Trin assured him. “It’s a death sentence and I didn’t
want to drag you down with me.”

“A
death sentence?” His black brows raised in surprised concern. “What are you
talking about?”

“It
was
killing
me,” Trin said softly.
“It saps your will to live—makes you just want to lay down and die. That’s…”
She took a deep breath. “That’s what I’ve been doing these past few weeks.
Dying.”

“What?”
He took her by the shoulders and looked into her face anxiously. “Baby, is
there anything I can do? We have to get you help—have to lift the curse
somehow!”

“It’s
already been lifted,” Trin assured him quickly. “In the Sacred Grove. I’m okay
now. It’s why I finally dared to come and see you.” She looked at him
earnestly. “I wanted to say how sorry I was for pushing you away. But I did it
for your own good—I was afraid if I died and our bond was strong, I’d take you
with me.”

“Baby…”
He stroked her cheek, looking into her eyes. “Don’t you know I’d rather die
with you than live a single day without you?”

“Don’t,
Thrace.”
Trin shook her head and looked away from his intense, silver-blue gaze. “I
don’t deserve that from you. Not after all I put you through—not after the way
I pushed you away.”

“You
were doing what you thought you had to do,” he rumbled. “I just misinterpreted
it. I thought after you saw my past…”

“That
never had anything to do with it,” Trin assured him. “I think it’s horrible
what happened to you, but it doesn’t affect how I
feel
about you. I hope…” She looked down. “I hope you won’t let
what I allowed to happen to me at the temple affect how you feel about me
either.”

“You
might have gone there of your own free will in the first place but you’re not
to blame for what they did when you got there,” Thrace growled. “That whole place
is completely fucked up—especially the female who runs it!”

“Betina…”
Trin sighed. “She truly made me believe I deserved everything that was done to
me—even…” She swallowed hard. “Even what happened to Swift and Silk. Not to
mention my skin…my hair…” She put a hand to her head. Becca had done her best
to trim it into a more attractive shape but it was still much shorter than Trin
liked.

“Your
hair will grow back,” Thrace
said firmly. “Or you could keep it short—makes it easier for me to see your
gorgeous face.”

“Not
so gorgeous anymore…” Trin put her fingers to one scarred cheek.

“Yes.”
Thrace
took her hand in his and kissed her palm gently. “Still gorgeous. Still
beautiful—
always
beautiful to me,
baby.”

Trin
gave him a tremulous smile. “That’s how I feel about you, you know. You’re
still the same male I came to care for so deeply and your past doesn’t change
that. And it also doesn’t change my desire…” She cleared her throat, feeling
the hot blood rush to her cheeks. “My desire to…to give myself to you.”

The
pain on his strong features cleared.

“So
you want to try it then? Renewing our bond?”

“More
than anything,” Trin said softly. “But, well…I don’t really know how to begin.”

“I
think I can help with that,” Thrace
murmured, pulling her close. He took her mouth in a long, lingering kiss and
Trin moaned as his tongue slipped gently between her lips. Goddess, she could
taste herself on him! Taste her own secret, feminine flavor still clinging to
his lips and it made her hotter than she would have thought possible.

“Thrace,”
she whispered softly when the kiss finally broke. “Goddess, I want you so
much.”

“How
do you want me, Mistress?”

“I’m
not really sure,” Trin confessed.

“Well,
how about this…” He stroked her cheek. “Last time I was in charge—I
had
to be since you were drugged out of
your mind on the third drink of passion berry wine. How about if this time, you
call the shots?”

“How
do I do that?” Trin asked.

“You
be in charge—take control.” He spread his arms. “Do whatever you want with me.”

Trin
bit her lip. “And…you don’t mind? I mean after…” She didn’t want to bring up
his past again since he was obviously so sensitive about it, but she also
didn’t want to bring back any bad memories as she had when she had almost
penetrated him with the heart stone phallus on Yonnie Six.

“I
know what you’re asking but no, I don’t mind,” Thrace rumbled. “You’re nothing
like my old master was—he tried to force my love. You won my heart without even
trying—just by being you.”

“Oh,
Thrace…”
Trin didn’t know what to say.

“It
will be a pleasure to serve you, Mistress.” He gave her a lazy grin. “In
any
way you desire.”

“Well,
then…” Trin eyed him, considering her options. “For starters, I think you have
too many clothes on,” she pronounced.

“You
want me to disrobe, my lady?” he murmured, his fingers going to the buttons of
his deep red shirt.

“No.
I want to do it.” Getting up on her knees, Trin pushed his hands aside and
began unbuttoning the shirt herself, just as she’d wanted to earlier. She
couldn’t stop the desire that rose in her as his broad, muscular chest was
revealed.

“Gods,
I love your little hands on me,” he growled hoarsely as she finished
unbuttoning the shirt and tugged it out of his waistband. “Love how soft they
are and the contrast of our skin.”

Trin
liked it too and she also liked the feeling that she was allowed to do anything
she wanted with him. She was used to being in charge as a captain of a ship but
she’d never taken sexual charge in the bedroom before. And the fact that Thrace
was such a big, powerful male who was completely under her control, ready to do
anything she asked of him, made her feel safe and sexy and confident in a way
she never had before.

As
she pulled the shirt off his broad shoulders, his warm spicy scent filled her
senses, making her long to bury her face in his neck and breathe him in.
Well, aren’t you in charge?
whispered a
little voice in her head
. Why shouldn’t
you? Do what you want—whatever feels good.

“I
love the way you smell!” she murmured, pressing her face to his strong throat
and taking a deep breath. “Is that your bonding scent again?”

“Sure
as hell is, baby,” he murmured. “I’ve never wanted anything so badly in my life
as to bond you to me.”

“A
bond is forever though, right?” Trin risked a glance at him.

“It
can be.” His voice was low and guarded. “If you
want
it to be.”

I want it to be!
The
words hovered on her lips but she lacked the courage to let them slip out.
Instead, she leaned forward and licked a long line from his collar bone to just
under his ear.

Thrace
groaned
deep in his throat and shivered under her oral assault.

“Gods,
baby—you don’t know what that does to me!”

“I
know what it does to me,” Trin told him. “You were driving me crazy the whole
time you were healing me.”

“You
like my tongue on your body? Between your legs?” His eyes were blazing but his
voice was a soft, lazy drawl.

“You
know I do.” Trin was tugging at his trousers now. She’d gotten his belt unbuckled
but the front fastening of the black leather pants was eluding her. Frustrated,
she gave up trying to pop the trousers open and simply slipped her hand inside
instead.

“
Gods
.” Thrace stiffened when she grasped
his rock hard shaft in her hand. Trin enjoyed the sensation of power it gave
her to caress his long, thick cock and feel it throb in her palm as she wrapped
her fingers around it and stroked. His skin was surprisingly soft and hot, and
she loved the feel of him thrusting against her hand.

“Easy,
baby,” Thrace
groaned as she continued to stroke him. “You keep that up and you’ll make me
come in my trousers instead…”

“Instead
of inside me, where you belong,” Trin finished for him, smiling a little.

“Exactly,”
he growled. “Which is where I want to be—where I
need
to be. But not until you’re ready.”

Trin
could feel how wet and hot her pussy was getting and she knew she was already
ready—but she wanted to explore him a little more first. She’d always felt
guilty about wanting to touch his big, muscular body before but now she intended
to throw caution to the winds and do whatever she wanted.

“First
let’s get these off,” she murmured, tugging at his trousers again. Thrace
helped her and soon he was as naked as she was, sitting on the edge of the bed
with his legs spread and his hard shaft rising from between his thighs.

Trin
got off the bed and sat between his legs as he had when he pleasured her with
his tongue earlier.

“Mistress?”
Thrace
was clearly surprised by her actions.

“I
want to touch you and learn you,” Trin explained a little shyly. “I…I was never
able to before but now…I want to know you the way you know me. I want to taste
you. Is that all right?”

He
groaned low in his throat. “Gods, to hear you talk like that…hell yes, it’s all
right!” He gave her another lazy smile. “You’re in charge here, Mistress—do
whatever pleases you.”

Trin
returned his smile and then pressed closer, getting between his thighs so she
could grasp the hot, hard shaft in her hand again.

He
was so long and thick there was no way she could wrap her fingers all the way
around him but she delighted in trying. She also took pleasure in the low moans
that came from his broad chest when she stroked the petal-soft skin of his
shaft up and down in a slow, leisurely pumping motion. How could he be so hard
and so silky soft at the same time—like a bar of hot iron covered in velvet? It
was a mystery she longed to solve.

Experimentally,
she leaned forward and rubbed her cheek against his shaft. His bonding scent
was strong here—dark and spicy and entirely masculine. It filled her senses and
made her want him even more—made her feel like she would die if she didn’t have
him in her soon. But there was still one more thing she wanted to try before
she was ready to make love.

The
thick shaft of his cock ended in a broad, flaring head with a small slit at its
crown.
That’s where it comes from—his
seed,
Trin thought.
When he fills me
with himself and pumps me full of his cum.
The thought gave her a deep,
pulling ache in her lower pelvis—the desire to be filled completely by her man.
First, though, she wanted to taste him as he had tasted her.

There
was a small pearly droplet at the small slit in the head of his cock. Trin put
out her tongue and lapped it up. It was salty and delicious and it tasted like
his bonding scent smelled—she
loved
it. And she wanted more.

Thrace
jerked
a little and moaned her name as she dared to take the entire broad plum-shaped
head between her lips. He was too big to get much more into her mouth but Trin
didn’t mind. She liked the sensation of being filled by him, even in this
manner which her people would have considered especially degrading.

But nothing is wrong or degrading when
done by people who truly love each other,
she told herself firmly.
And this feels good—feels
right.
I love him and I want to show
him how much.

Pulling
back, she started at the base of his cock and dragged her tongue upwards,
caressing his throbbing length, tasting the salty essence of his manhood and
loving every second of it.

“Gods…baby…Mistress…”
Thrace’s
hands were fisted on his thighs and she could feel the tension in his big body
as he fought to hold still while she tasted him. When she looked up, she saw
that his silver-blue eyes were half-lidded with lust and trained on her with a
focused intensity that made her pussy throb with need.

“Does
it feel good?” Trin asked, delighting in teasing him a little. “Do you like to
watch while I taste you?”

“Couldn’t
stop watching if I knew it’d make me go blind,” he rumbled. “You don’t know
what you do to me!”

“I
know what I
want
to do.”
Deliberately, she took another long, slow taste of his hard shaft, holding his
eyes with hers the entire time. “I want to push you down on the bed and ride
you—the way you had me ride you when you saved me from the passion berry wine.”

Thrace
groaned
again.

“Yes,
Mistress—your will is my pleasure.”

“Good,
then lay on the bed on your back,” Trin directed.

Thrace
did as
she directed, lying in the center of the bed with his legs spread.

“Now
what?” he murmured.