He let the tip of him put pressure against my entrance. Letting me feel him.
I know what’s coming now. I closed my eyes and prepared myself as much as I could. Still, I was nowhere near ready when he abruptly entered me. Burying deep into me. Making my hips feel as though they needed to part to allow him to probe my depths.
My mouth opened and my head reflexively tossed up as I struggled against the urge to scream at the sensation of him filling me. But I knew Warlord was close by and knew that everything I seemed to do was wrong and everything Hawk did was right.
And I remembered him telling Hawk to “fix me.”
“I doubt when he told you to ‘fix me’ he was telling you to mount me.” I hissed.
Hawk caught the ends of my blonde hair along my lower back and rolled them around his fist. Then reached forward to scoop one breast before letting his chest drop against my back so his heat surrounded me entirel
“What are you doing?” I asked.“Feeling your soul.” He said under his breath.I frowned at him. What’s that mean?“Hawk?”“I told you, you’d understand eventually, Mary Mage. When mages link, they exchange magic. Enhancing their own.”“I don’t understand.” I shifted slightly. Feeling achingly vulnerable with him still resting inside me but unmoving.Seeming more interested in sensing me than in filling me.“Every mage has magic.” He lifted a hand with fingers spread wide to symbolize one’s magic.“It has gaps in the things it can’t do and the knowledge the mage doesn’t have.” He outlined the spaces between his fingers with the pointer of his other hand. “But when they link then her magic can seep in and seal those gaps.”He linked his other hand upside down through the firs
The impact of Hawk’s statement wasn’t lost on me. It implied that training and leading the mages was awful.“Why is it so dreadful?”“Because when I fail. One dies.”I stared at him, jaw agape. My blue eyes blinking widely. I’d never considered what it must be like for Hawk to train us. Only how insufferable he was to endure the instruction of.“Come.” He caught my shoulder to turn me. “It’s time we return to the Training Gardens.”It was the last thing I wanted to do.No, that’s inaccurate. I don’t want to be alone with Hawk again.The only thing worse than enduring his cruelty was experiencing his vulnerability.***I heard Magus giving bold instructions even before we rounded the last turn, and they came into view.Mages were back to practicing casting arrows.In Hawk’s absence, Magus commands were
Hawk stood motionless near the trees behind me, waiting for me to react to his nearness.Or to his baiting.“Be careful with Magus.” He cautioned.“Why?”“Because he likes difficult women. And I’d not favor him growing fond of mine.”I stiffened. Mine?I’m not his. Did ‘mine’ mean plural? It dawned on me for the first time how the other women looked at him. Wanted him.There could be more.It’s unlikely I’m his only toy. But something in me coiled and tightened at the image that the night I’d taunted him and left him, he’d rose and gone to another’s bed.Would I have really expected otherwise? I glanced at his hard features over my shoulder. Is there anyone colder?“How many do you have?”“Not nearly enough.” He returned. Catching my
I walked back to my bed with a groan and flopped down to commence staring at the ceiling.The last thing I needed to consider, was the most dangerous on my mind.Especially when I don’t know who is peering in on my thoughts.Magus had spoken about fleeing the Guild as if he knew a way. And he’d talked about Hawk wanting to go.But if I brought it up and it was a trap, Hawk could have me killed.Warlord would destroy me for even perpetuating such an idea.But if it was true and I said nothing, no one would take me with them.And I could hardly remember how sweet freedom had tasted at this point...***But it came down to how much I truly trusted Hawk.The man who’d violated me.The man who was training me.The man who’d unlocked my power. Who’s sharing his with me.Yet, he was still the devious, dark bully.Bu
Stumped by Magus’ rationale, I left the Main Room on numbed feet but as I reached the stairs to head up toward the girl’s dorm, I caught wind of voices speaking low from the dark next to the stairs.And one of them is Hawk.His voice speaking in a confidential tone is what caught my attention. He was always so loud.Dominating and confident. He doesn’t sound like that now.“I’m trying everything.” Hawk reiterated. “She isgetting better.”“Not soon enough.” The commanding tone was unmistakable. It always sent scared shivers down my back.Somewhere in the back of my mind I could recall hearing it the night my parents were slaughtered, and I was brought to the Guild.I don’t know if he did it. But nonetheless his mere presence or his voice never failed to remind me of that evening. To send chills quaking down my body. Making even m
“What are you going to do when you find her?” Hawk asked quietly.“Everything I can to protect her. Like I promised her.”“Yes, Commander.” Hawk acknowledged.“And, Hawk?”“Yes?”“Send Magus to meet me in the secret hall. I have direction for him as well.”“Yes, Commander.”I realized Hawk’s footsteps were drawing near the base of the stairs.I fled up them. Catching my mage’s robes to run as fast as I could. Swinging around the banister and trying to make it behind the wall before he saw me. Reaching it I flattened against it to catch my breath.When I didn’t hear his darkly taunting voice, I knew I was safe. Sighing as I straightened and quietly walked down the corridor to my small chamber.Unaware Hawk still stood at the bottom of the steps. One hand on the railing as his shrewd green eyes had watched me vanish
Because King Detry is already leaning toward having me put down. I understood Hawk’s meaning.He wasn’t pushing me so hard because he was an ass. He was pushing me because he didn’t want to have to kill me.Or any of the others. I was shocked at the revelation.“You always had my attention. From the moment I realized how clever a mind you were hiding behind the fumbling practices. You lack confidence but what you miss in that you have in spades of strength.”I was searching for his shadow in the blackness. Peering around, as I wondered.“Haven’t you figured it out yet, Mary Mage?”“What?”“What is so obvious I have to work every moment to hide it.”“What?” I was blinking into the night dark chamber.His voice seemed to be moving around rapidly and I was having a hard time keeping track of him.Where i
I’d never thought I’d have hungered for Hawk’s touch. But feeling it now was a heady sensation. I was afraid I could find myself addicted to it.A tiny part of me admitted that I had always wanted his hands on me. Despite how much I’d resented his cruelty.But everything has changed. Especially considering everything I know now.He’d stripped me of my nightdress and in moments I felt the heat of his nude body sliding over me. The scent of him was wild and untamed.Like an animal caught in the woods.A creature fighting for survival. Willing to hide or fight…Whatever…Just to live.As he settled over me, I found my legs instinctively parting to allow his hips to rest between. His hard, pulsating length already ripe and ready to fill me. I could feel his eagerness rising in heady swells which rolled over me.He kissed my temple and I was intimately touched by the smal