Chapter 8

“What do you mean you need to leave?”

Sylvie sat in Elias’ lap while Kian packed a small bag on their bed.

“Only for the day,” he assured her. “I’ll gather the rest of my belongings from storage, and I’ll be back before you know it.”

Sylvie stared up at Elias’ stern face and jiggled into him. “You think it’s safe for him to go out there alone? Through those winding roads and forests. What if he gets attacked?”

Kian tutted. “I’m a trained warrior, princess. I’ll be fine. Besides, if anything happens, I’ll portal back here. The whole house is warded from every creature you can think of now.”

She humphed and pressed her back into her other mate’s chest. His silence unnerved her. Ever since he returned that morning, he hadn’t spoken more than two sentences to her, just gruff sounds, one-word commands and a lot of gentle manhandling.

“Is it selfish of me just to want us all together for one fucking day?” How was she supposed to tell them everything if they kept ditching her? Elias refused to hear anything of her abduction, claiming he just wanted to be near her before her story forced him to murder every creature that touched her. While one of those beings maybe deserve it, the other might not. Which one was which was another issue entirely.

Kian shook his head with a lopsided smile. “I’ll be back tonight; then we can all have time together. I promise I wouldn’t leave you if it weren’t important.”

She grunted at that, squirming and crossing her arms. Elias’ grip around her waist tightened, and she sighed, relaxing into him. Even without words, his message was clear. Stop squirming.

The slight stiffening of his cock beneath her thin shorts made her want to wriggle more. But instead, she settled for a subtle kegel and hoped he could feel how she throbbed on him as they watched Kian zip his bag.

The thick length of him pressing against her sex proved her wishes coming true, and she pressed her lips to hide a smile. Kian’s knowing smirk warmed her as he pressed a kiss to her temple and strode from the door. “See you tonight.”

“See you,” she called after, waiting for the telltale start of Kians’ Harley. She only learned he had one the day before, and she only felt comfortable with him using it because of his fae heritage. Those things were death traps for humans.

As the roaring and pop-pop-pop of the motorcycle faded from earshot, Elias moved, flipping Sylvie on the bed and hovering above her.

He stared at her face in silence for an unbearable few seconds before his face scrunched, and he stood.

“Every time I look at you, I see my failure to protect you.”

“Elias-”

“No.” He buried his hand in the long dark curls covering his forehead and paced the length of the bed as she sat and stared at him.

“This is why I wanted to tell you what happened this morning-”

“I can’t right now. If I hear it, I’ll lose myself. I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Sylvie slid from the bed and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I’m right here. I’m back home and safe because of you and Kian.”

“You wouldn’t have been in the position if I hadn’t been a fucking fool, leaving you unprotected.”

“Elias-”

“I should’ve torn their heads from their bodies-”

“Elias! Stop!” She startled herself as she craned her head towards her mate. “Do you think I’m some pathetic damsel?”

His eyes flickered before taking a deep inhale. “After seeing how you fought for me yesterday and the punch you landed on Hex, no. You are no damsel.” He sat on the bed and pulled her onto his knee. “But you’re also a half-breed with defensive and healing abilities. Your offence needs work.”

She huffed and rolled her eyes. “You didn’t see my fight with Rowan. Trust me; my offence is pretty good.”

“Oh yeah?”

The hint of curiosity and pride in his expression made her belly flip. Then, wriggling closer to his body, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her nose to his.

“I broke his nose.”

Elias’ chuckle drew out a soft laugh of her own before she frowned, rubbing her chest. The damned marks wouldn’t stop aching. In fact, they had started to itch sporadically for the last two hours.

“Perhaps I do want to hear what you got up to...”

Sylvie scoffed and shook her head. “Now you’ll have to wait for Kian to get back because I will not be repeating myself.”

She smiled as the tension slowly ebbed from Elias’ face and body. She was safe and in his arms again; he needed to get over his ego. She was okay. Her physical injuries were healed, and the mental turmoil from her twelve hours of torture even lessened.

Back with her mates, the past few days started to fade like a bad dream. Like every other trauma in her life, she could compartmentalise her experience and put it away in the darkest hardest to reach corners of her brain, never to come out again. She would be fine. Everything was fine.

The hand trailing atop her thigh was attached to another fine thing. Elias-fucking-fletcher. God, she missed him. Her pussy missed him more than anything, though, and she quickly grabbed his wrist, dragging it towards her entrance.

Freezing in her grip, he gave her a look. His brow lifted in a quizzical arch, almost disappearing in his perfect obsidian curls.

“You’re not ready for-”

“I’m fucking ready,” she cut him off. “I want you, Elias. Make me feel something, please.” The unspoken words that replayed in her brain as he tossed her into their thick duvets moistened her eyes, but she hid them by fluttering her lids shut.

Make me forget.

He tore her clothes from her hips, nipping and kissing her ankles to her knee to her clit, suctioning his tongue to her as if she were made of water and he had been stranded in the desert.

“Yes,” she sighed, reaching for his dominating hands, kneading her plump ass. Gripping her wrists, he raised above her, pinning her arms over her head and drinking her in with blood-red eyes.

“Even days from you have felt like an eternity.”

Blinking up at him, she lifted her legs and linked them around his back.

“So let’s make up for the lost time.”

Instead of ravishing her right then, he smirked and drew back, walking towards the closed closet door opposite the bathroom. Propping herself on her elbows, she observed his graceful movement and the slight rummaging he was doing with his back to her.

“What’s in there?”

Without answering, he turned and showed her. Knotted ropes the thickness of her pinky. Lengths of it.

Her brows and pulse shot up. “What’s that for?”

Again he just directed his eyes to a stout beam above the bed, a small carabiner clipped to a thick screw through the middle.

Heat flushed her chest, and she sat up more, pulling the soft comforter across her naked lap.

She didn’t know his plan, but she could guess.

“Have you heard of Shibari?” he asked, padding closer to the bed and slowly unravelling one end of the thin ropes.

She gnawed on her lip. “no. But I’m guessing you’re about to tell me.”

“No, kitten. I’m going to show you.”

Grasping her ankles, he dragged her across the bed, and she yelped, drawing the duvet closer. His eyes cut to her, and he shook his head.

The idea of being half-naked and so exposed to his whims sent a thrill and a shiver through her.

“Off, Sylvie. Now.”

With a groan, she flicked off the blanket, but he only frowned again.

“Singlet too.”

Completely naked, then. Got it.

She sighed, undressing and crossed her arms.

“Safeword?”

Her eyes almost rolled when he lashed her thigh with the rope’s end.

“Ouch! Strawberries.”

“Good.”

His eyes narrowed at her covered breasts, and he gestured for her to place her hand in his. With a deep swallow, followed by a shaky breath, Sylvie gave him her wrists, palm facing up.

“Good girl. Because you listened so well, you get a choice. Behind your back or in front of your chest.”

“What does that mean-”

“Choose. Or I will.”

She grumbled and shrugged. He wasn’t explaining well, but she found his gruff commands exciting. She always had trust in him, and this experience was no different.

“In front of my chest.”

He nodded, pulling the end of the plaited rope free and starting an intricate binding around her wrists. Round and round, he wrapped, drawing her arms together until they melded as one. Three identical knots at inch intervals doted her wrists, and her mind jumped to a man she didn’t wish to think about right then.

Three knots. Three mates.

No. She shook her head, and Elias hummed. “Place your wrists against your chest.”

“Okay.”

Copying his order, she shuddered as his cool touch caressed her shoulders and back, followed by the rough jute ropes.

“Stand.”

She obliged, spying herself in the bedroom vanity, thoroughly flushed as he bound her tighter with more twists and ties, glueing her arms to her body. She wriggled, but nothing shifted, and Elias’ stern look froze her again to the spot.

He pulled a small knife free and cut the final section of the rope before knotting it and creating one last tie at her navel. The bindings warmed every area of skin, as did Elias’ silky touch along them.

“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

She flushed deeper, wanting to melt into the floorboards. How could a man as sexy as him be hers? Then, as if hearing her thoughts, he hooked his fingers through her bindings and pulled her closer to the mirror before rounding her and trailing his fingers down to her hips.

“Look at yourself. And feel what you’re doing to me,” he said, pressing his stiff cock into her lower back.

The silence between them slowly filled with heavy breathing and borderline whines as he wrapped his hand around her thigh to brush her clit.

“Elias, please,” she panted, leaning back into his solid body. His strength made her feel small, secure, protected... pleasured.

“Not yet,” he murmured lowly into her hair. Then, with a promise of pure ecstasy, she followed him back to the bed as he pulled the rest of the rope from the floor and started binding her ankle.

“Just one for today. Perhaps we can try a more exposed position once you lose your shame.”

Her lower lip was nearly bruised from the pressure of her gnawing teeth. She was utterly incapacitated and naked. How much more exposed could she get?

Elias smiled, letting his sharp canine steal the limelight. “Stop thinking so hard. Just be here with me.” His tender words pulled a smile from her worrying lips, and her eyes glued to his deft fingers, creating a masterpiece up her leg, binding ankle to ass, her knee bent sharply. Her other leg jostled lightly as nerves spun a web in her belly.

“Lie back,” he growled, tying off the last knot and leaving the room again.

With her one free leg, she pushed herself further onto the bed and lay back, keeping her tied leg upright: knee to ceiling. The likelihood he would ask her to let it fall and expose herself was high, but she had to keep some bratty appearances up. Now that Shibari was no longer a complete mystery to her, she vowed to put up more of a fight next time. Just to see what he would do.

He returned with a denser rope, thick red liquid in a glass and a perfect bare torso.

“Fuck,” she breathed, wriggling to get a better look. His rippling abdomen caught the light, itching to be touched by her. But alas, her hands were useless. The tight wraps around them forced her to keep them fisted.

Elias grinned, took a sip of blood and offered her some.

“No thanks,” she said, scrunching her nose. The idea of drinking blood repulsed her, and she didn’t know if it was because of her very human upbringing or something else.

Placing the rope down, Elias slinked across the bed towards her, his shoulders shifting like a prowling leopard.

“Oh god.”

The second he reached her knee, he threw it to the side and dipped his mouth to her dripping entrance.

“You’re perfect,” he moaned against her clit, suctioning and using his tongue to flick lightly. After a few delicious seconds filled with Sylvie’s panting, he lifted his head. “And I plan on showing you until you can’t take another second.”