Vindicated by Bella Klaus

Chapter Four

Fenrir set me on my feet and leaned me against the wall. He rushed ahead into the living space, his hands balled into fists. “Shit!”

I slumped against the bathroom doorway, my gaze darting around the room. Where did Grog go? The coffee table where his headless corpse had lain was empty, and all the blood he’d spilled was gone. And there was no sign of his disembodied head.

Even the crossbow bolt Fenrir had torn out of his chest was gone.

Shallow breaths whistled in and out of my nostrils. It was almost as though Grog had never been there.

My throat thickened. “I don’t understand. Do you think he was playing dead?”

He turned to me, his features twisted into a rictus of rage. “When I left his body, the heart had stopped beating.” He shook his head and snarled. “I smashed his skull. There were no signs of life.”

I clutched my belly. “Marchosias must have resurrected him.”

Fenrir raked his fingers through his damp curls. “But how? The wards were supposed to be able to protect Lunaris from the forces of Hell.”

“We need to speak to the Supernatural Council again,” I said.

He grunted his approval. “Or turn up at their doorsteps. What’s the point of paying taxes to those bastards when they can’t even keep the city secure?”

A wave of hot desire surged from where it had receded and swept through my insides with a force that made my head spin. My knees buckled, and I stumbled forward.

“Lydia.” Fenrir rushed across the room, catching me before I fell. “Is it the heat again?”

My throat felt like parchment, and every bone in my body trembled with need. Bloody hell. He’d just had sex with me in the shower. What more did my body need? I met his turquoise eyes, which were dark with concern, and nodded.

“I don’t know why it’s so bad,” I rasped.

He scooped me into his arms and carried me across the living area to a doorway to a chamber Beowulf sometimes used as a bedroom. Its slate gray walls, walnut parquet, and floor-to-ceiling blackout curtains gave it the look of a bachelor pad.

None of the room’s prior activities bothered me. The fire in my veins incinerated my judgement of what the previous alpha had done in this room and with whom.

“The first heat is always going to be the worst,” Fenrir murmured. “Especially considering I couldn’t tend to your needs when it first started.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and threaded my fingers through his damp curls. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Fenrir’s lips tightened. “If my wolf had been free, that shaman’s poison would have burned through my system in an instant.”

As he carried me to the massive bed, questions flitted through my mind. They were mostly about the state of Fenrir’s wolf and how something he’d described as multiple times the size of the average lupine could be compatible with mine.

Spasms seized my insides, replacing my curiosity with a desperate need. “Fenrir,” I moaned. “Grog’s disappearance is more important than my heat. Get Randel or Mum and ask them to search the grounds. Also, see if they can contact the wardsmiths.”

He pressed a kiss on my lips and laid me onto the soft mattress. “That’s out of the question.”

“What?”

“I can’t leave you alone for even a minute when he’s out there, trying to get at you.” Fenrir straddled my body, pressing kisses onto my jaw and neck and collarbones. “If a creature like Marchosias uses your body to birth his vessel, it will mean the end of you and the integrity of the Supernatural World.”

My lips parted with a harsh chuckle. “So, we’re saving everyone by staying here and fucking?”

Fenrir rolled me onto my front, so I lay face-down on the mattress. The muscles of my core clenched and spasmed in time with my clattering heart. Another heatwave flared through me and squeezed out a ragged groan.

“Fuck me,” I whispered, all thoughts of unkillable shamans evaporating into the ether.

He positioned himself between my spread legs and lined up the blunt head of his erection with my opening.

Molten desire pushed its way to the surface, turning my breath to shallow pants. “Please, Fenrir,” I murmured. “I need you, now.”

Fenrir pushed into my wet heat, his bulbous tip feeling larger from this angle. With the slowest and most delicious of slides, he stretched me open until he’d fully sheathed himself within my channel.

My insides adjusted and rippled around his girth as he entered me even deeper than before. It felt so good, I bit down on my bottom lip to suppress a howl.

“Lydia.” His deep voice rumbled over my skin, making every nerve ending tingle. “I love how you grip my cock in your slick heat.”

Pleasant shivers skittered across my body, and I exhaled a happy sigh. “This feels so good.”

“I could stay inside you like this forever.” He cupped my breasts and rolled my nipples between his thick fingers.

Sparks of pleasure traveled down my body and reached my core, which pulsed and clenched around his thick length. I parted my lips to tell him to move, but all I could utter was an incoherent moan. I pushed against him, wanting him to thrust, needing him to pound into me.

Fenrir took the hint. He drew back until the thick tip of his cock-head reached my opening. A whimper reverberated in the back of my throat. Just as I thought he could pull out, he slammed back into me with a smooth thrust that hit the burning core of my heat.

Molten ecstasy exploded across my belly, and the furnace inside me receded, bringing with it a sense of deep relief. My eyes rolled to the back of my head, and every muscle in my body turned limp.

“I love fucking you,” Fenrir growled in my ear. “You’re so perfect for me, so beautiful, so brave, so sexy.”

He made love to me with long, even strokes that quenched the furnace burning deep in my core. I exhaled a long breath and relaxed, my body memorizing every ridge, every bump, every vein of his glorious erection.

Fenrir groaned in my ear. “I could fuck you like this the entire week.”

A whimper reverberated in my throat. Right now, the prospect of spending days beneath him sounded delicious.

Elation thrummed across my body, making me feel like I was truly alive. It was more exhilarating than running through the forest, more ecstatic than flying or breathing fire.

His magic crackled against my skin and expanded with his every thrust. Fenrir was everywhere—in my head, inside my body, around my skin. The scent of wild earth, ancient woods, and musk filled my nostrils, and my mind expanded with a sense of eons. Eons of pain, of loneliness, of wanting a connection.

My breath hitched.

This was Fenrir.

And we were connecting souls.

The moment I realized this, his power engulfed my senses, seeming to consume me from the inside out. I pushed against the onslaught, my mind spiraling out of control, but it was like trying to fight a whirlwind. Fenrir’s soul was larger and more powerful than I could fathom.

“Lydia.” His deep voice echoed through my skull, filling me with a sense of calm, and the magic around me settled. “You’re my mate. Say it.”

“I’m yours,” I whispered.

“Who do you belong to?” He slammed into me with a snap of the hips that made me see stars.

“You,” I cried out. “Fenrir. I belong to Fenrir.”

I bucked my hips to increase the delectable friction, but there was no need—I was nothing compared to Fenrir.

Fenrir’s weight settled on my back, and his relentless thrusting kept me pinned to the mattress. My muscles trembled and shook, and my nerves ignited in his presence. I couldn’t move, could not even buck my hips. All I could do was take the unending pleasure.

My muscles clamped around his thick length in time with my pounding heart. Each spasm brought with it a pleasure higher than the previous, taking me to a pinnacle of rapture.

I breathed hard, trying to process the sensations, but Fenrir brushed against a spot inside me that sent a ripple of ecstasy through my core. I cried out, my muscles spasming around him.

He groaned. “I won’t last much longer if you keep doing that.”

“I can’t…” I said through panting breaths. “I can’t help it.”

He held my hips with a grip that bordered on pain and continued pumping into me, hitting that spot over and over. The pleasure intensified as my nerves chose that moment to spread the sensation across my entire body.

Pleasure coiled around my core like a constrictor and tightened with each of Fenrir’s powerful thrusts. I felt it low in my belly, deep in my chest, on the tips of my nipples, and on my fingers and toes.

My breath turned shallow, and I clenched my teeth, and whispered, “Please.”

“What do you want?” His hot breath warmed my ear.

“I need to climax.”

With a feral growl, Fenrir’s teeth clamped onto my neck. The sharp pain triggered an explosion of euphoria that burned through my insides like a firestorm.

His length swelled inside me before he came with a roar. Warm liquid spurted deep into my core, and he continued thrusting into me as he came.

My body shook with violent tremors, but my mind floated above the inferno, like a breeze.

Fenrir wrapped both arms around my middle and held me tight, his breaths slowing. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” My voice sounded far away.

As exhaustion pulled me into slumber, Fenrir’s low voice filled my ear. “You are my mate and I am yours. We'll be together until the end of time.”

I slept for a few more hours before the heat rose to the surface and forced me awake. The room was dark, with a shard of light shining in through the door that led to the living area.

Fenrir lay fast asleep at my side, looking like an angel with his golden hair. I slid my hand over his bicep and placed it where he’d been shot in the heart. The skin was smooth, as though the incident with Grog had never happened.

He cracked open an eye. “Need some attention?”

“Not yet,” I murmured. “Have you been here with me all this time?”

“Mostly.” He exhaled a shuddering breath. “When I wasn’t dozing, I was on the telephone, giving out orders. Everyone knows you’re not to be disturbed.”

“Any updates about Grog?”

“The enforcers scoured the grounds for signs of Frida, Grog, or anyone not authorized to be in the alpha’s compound,” he said, his voice harsh with frustration.

“Let me guess.” I said. “He left no trace.”

“Even the crossbow bolt he shot through me disappeared,” Fenrir growled. “It’s almost as if it never happened.”

I sat up, shook out my hair, and tried to shrug off the impending surge of heat. “It was real. He’s got a way of working with magic that reminds me of a light mage.”

“Oh, it was him all right,” Fenrir snarled. “If he came here to take advantage of your heat, he wouldn’t have sent an illusion.”

“True.”

He sat up and pulled me onto his lap. “That’s why I refuse to leave your side.”

We continued like this for another four days, having sex, sleeping, and occasionally taking breaks for food and drink. It was like a honeymoon but without the sightseeing. I lost count of the amount of times we made love, but Fenrir had me every way imaginable.

At one point, the ground beneath us shook, and Randel called to inform us that we were under attack by demons, but the wards held, thanks to the angels who had reinforced them and to Mum and her team of shamans in training.

By day five, the heat was less intense, and I felt able to exist for an hour before the need became overwhelming. Fenrir helped me through it, just as he had satisfied me during the frantic days.

On day six, after a particularly strenuous session, we lay in bed on our sides, facing each other and in a tangle of limbs, the sheets damp with our sweat. Fenrir stared into my soul as though he could see my wolf and wanted to address us both.

“I’d always wanted a mate, but until now had no idea how satisfying it could be,” he murmured. “As a wolf, I was completely devoted to my father, and when the Great Divide happened and I developed this body, I thought it was the worst thing that had ever happened to me.”

“You spent two millennia imprisoned.” I stroked my fingers down his cheek.

“I did,” he said.

“How long did it take to get used to a human body?”

He closed his eyes, seeming to consider his answer. “Centuries? Possibly a thousand years.”

“That long?”

“I pined for my old life and pined for my imprisoned wolf.”

“What made the difference?” I asked.

“Watching humans interact,” he said with a wistful smile. “The sacrifices in my name were my one chance at freedom from the pocket dimension. I saw Norse villages, shamans, and wolf packs. I saw births and marriages, rites of passage and deaths and afterlives. I saw the whole spectrum of human lives and wanted that for myself.”

“Now you’re free.” I pressed a hand over his chest, feeling the gentle thrum of his heart.

Fenrir smiled. “And now I have a mate of my own with a voracious appetite for sex.”

My eyes narrowed. “You realize I won’t be like this all the time.”

He chuckled. “I don’t know about that.”

“What do you mean?” I gave him a playful shove.

His eyes twinkled with mirth, reminding me of polished gemstones. “When we first met, you couldn’t keep your eyes off me.”

I snorted, remembering how Fenrir had dumped me in front of the fire and proceeded to strip. “What did you expect when you yanked off your tunic and breeches? I didn’t know where to look.”

“You had no trouble studying my cock,” he said with a snicker.

I slid my hand down the contours of his muscled chest and abs and down his treasure trail of silken hairs. Fenrir’s thick penis lay flaccid but hardened at my touch.

“Could you blame me?” I ran my fingertips over his length. “It’s a glorious dick.”

“And that’s why you’ll remain the same after your heat.”

I snorted. “Even if I love your body, I couldn’t do this all day every day.”

“How about every night?”

“As long as I get to sleep.” I pressed a kiss on his lips and tightened my fingers around his growing erection. “And if we didn’t have any pressing engagements, I’d want it in the morning.”

Fenrir nodded. “We’ll spend the days managing the pack, and the rest of the time fucking.”

“When would we eat?” My lips curled into a smile.

“In between fucks.” He bucked his hips and groaned.

A giggle burst from my chest. “You’re ridiculous.”

His turquoise eyes sparked, their corners crinkling with his smile. “I can’t wait for the days when our biggest worries are running the pack and dealing with the dicks at the Supernatural Council.”

I rested my head on his shoulder and continued stroking his length. “Once this heat is over, we can handle the situation with Grog and Marchosias, and see what we can do about your sister.”

He shuddered. “Let’s not talk about her when you’ve got your hand wrapped around my cock.”

“Sorry.” I gave him another kiss. “But we need to fix the situation with your family.”

Fenrir grunted. “But let’s wait until after the heat.”

“Agreed.” I murmured.

He pressed his lips to mine with a soft kiss that made me feel the depth of his love. His caresses were sweet and gentle, reminding me of the softer side of his personality. As I slid my free hand down his broad back and caressed the tight muscles of his glutes, the kisses became more heated.

“Sometimes, it feels like I’m the one who’s got the heat,” he growled. “I want to be inside you so badly it hurts.”

Parting my legs, I tilted my hips so he could slide into me in a single thrust. Instead of the frantic pounding that had made up most of my heat, he made love to me so slowly and with a tenderness that brought me to happy tears.

“I love you so much,” I murmured into his ear.

“I’m yours for as long as I exist,” he replied.

We moved against each other, hugging, kissing, exchanging words of affection until the pleasure brought us to a simultaneous climax. Afterward, he rolled onto his back and pulled me on his chest, where we both fell into a peaceful slumber.

Moments later, my vision filled with black, and the scent of brimstone filled my nostrils. Instead of lying in bed with Fenrir, I was on my feet, surrounded by dry heat.

My stomach tightened. “Fenrir?” I asked into the bond. “Are you there?”

The snap and crackle of flames sounded from my right, and light flared from nowhere, illuminating the interior of a cage. I squeezed my eyes shut, but it did nothing to block the image of the fire.

Shit.

After six days locked in a room with Fenrir, the dream suppressant had worn off. Now, I stood in the lair of Marchosias.