Mate for a King

Chapter Eight

When they arrived at the manor, Raed motioned for Lexi to park her car next to the large garage. After he parked his car inside it, he deftly extracted the suitcase from her grip and led her inside.

Brand crossed their path on his way out the door. He only took the time to say to Raed, "Going out. Be back later." He gave Lexi a nod on the way past.

Lexi shook her head and smiled. "That's the most words I've heard Brand say."

Raed returned her smile. "When the mood takes him, Brand can be as talkative as the next person, though he has to indulge in a large amount of alcohol first. Needless to say, Brand doesn't overindulge very often."

With her hand in his, Raed took her up the stairs to his bedroom. He closed and locked the door behind them, put down her suitcase then wrapped her in his arms. His mouth closed over hers. In between kisses he said against her lips, "I wanted to . . . kiss you . . . all the way home."

Lexi threaded her fingers through his hair at the back of his neck. "And I've done nothing . . . since you left this morning . . . but think about how good it feels . . . to have you buried inside me. I want more."

Raed growled low in his throat as he nibbled the side of her neck. He lifted her off her feet and laid her on the center of his bed, following her down. "I can't leave the lady wanting."

He swiftly undid the buttons on her short-sleeved blouse. Once he parted the two halves, he cupped her breasts and bit down on one taut nipple through her bra. As he moved to tug at the other, Raed undid the front clasp. Pushing the bra aside, he sucked a nipple deep inside his mouth. Lexi gasped and wetness pooled inside her pussy with each pull of his mouth.

He released her nipple then moved on to the other as she squirmed beneath him.

She bunched the back of his t-shirt in her hands and pulled the material up. Raed raised himself off her just far enough so she could lift the front as well. As he settled back down on top her, Lexi pulled his shirt all the way off.

Raed inched his way down her body. When he came level with the front of her jeans, he quickly undid them and yanked them down past her hips. He left her panties on as he made short work of pulling her jeans down her legs and off. Raed used his wide shoulders to spread her legs farther apart. He cupped her bottom then dragged the flat of his tongue along the crotch of her panties. Lexi moaned, a throbbing ache building between her legs.

She rocked her hips against his mouth as he continued to lap at her pussy through the thin material. Her panties grew wet, Raed's saliva mixing with her leaking juices. She yanked at his hair and groaned, needing a firmer touch.

Raed hooked a finger on either side of her panties and pushed down. Instead of pulling them down, he parted the material in half as if he'd cut them with a knife. What was left of her underwear ended up on the floor next to the bed.

Raed circled her clit with his tongue and she lifted her hips. She moaned loudly as two hard fingers delved between the lips of her wet pussy. He sucked on her clit and fingered her, driving her wild with desire. She lifted her head off the mattress. The sight of Raed's mouth on her pussy as he licked and sucked her clit was almost enough to send her over the edge.

Raed looked up and met her gaze as he pulled his fingers out and sucked them clean. Panting with need and without breaking eye contact, Lexi sat up and pulled off her blouse and bra. Raed sat up and undid his jeans. His cock sprang free as he yanked them down and off.

Lexi pushed at Raed's shoulder until he lay flat on his back on the bed. His erection stood up from his body. She moved to straddle his legs and wrapped her hand around his shaft. His cock jerked as she pumped up and down its full length.

She leaned forward and dragged her tongue from the base of his shaft to the very tip. Lexi continued to lick Raed's cock until he groaned and lifted his hips off the bed.

She sucked the tip past her lips and swirled her tongue around the head then stroked the sensitive spot just underneath. Wetness leaked onto her thighs as his cock jerked inside her mouth.

Giving his cock one last swipe of her tongue, Lexi rose up higher on her knees and positioned her pussy above Raed's engorged shaft. She took only the tip inside her and moved up and down until she had coated the head with her juices then she slowly lowered herself until his length butted up against her womb.

She closed her eyes as she sat up straight and started to ride Raed. The feel of his thick cock moving in and out made her bite her bottom lip. He filled her completely.

Only with him did her body soar. Joined with Raed like this, she couldn't tell where her body ended and his began. He was becoming an addiction. Her body craved the feel of him lodged deep inside her.

She angled her hips so his hard shaft rubbed her clit with each stroke. She moaned as she squeezed her inner muscles around him, increasing her pleasure. Raed placed his hands on her hips and urged her to ride him faster, harder. She panted, working his cock in and out of her pussy. Raed's shaft started to swell as he neared his orgasm. Lexi set a faster pace as he rocked his hips to meet hers.

Lexi let out a keening moan, her climax washing over her. As her pussy started to rhythmically clench around Raed's cock, squeezing his shaft in a tight fist, she felt it pulse deep inside her as he too reached his release.

Raed sat up and cupped her face in his hands. "Open your eyes, Lexi," he said in a husky voice.

She blinked them open and met his intense gaze. Lexi gasped. Lit by the sun streaming through the open window, she could clearly see changes taking place. The blue of his eyes had completely taken over the white. His pupils were round, but they looked more like an animal's than a human's. Raed held one of his hands up to her face—a sharp claw tipped each finger. As she watched, those claws descended beneath his skin with no mark left behind to show they'd ever been there.

Lexi met Raed's gaze once more. His eyes still looked like an animal's. Her heart started to race as she shook her head in disbelief. She would have pushed him away, but his cock was still locked deep inside her as he continued to come. "What . . . what the hell are you?"

Raed tried to hold her close, but she put her hands on his chest to give her what little space she could get.

"I'm a werewolf." Raed's eyes slowly shifted back to normal.

Lexi shook her head. "I don't believe you. Werewolves aren't real." A shiver of unease ran down her spine when she thought about the story her great-grandfather had told on his deathbed about his father turning into a werewolf and killing his mother.

The story couldn't be true.

Raed reached out to touch her hair, but she slapped his hand away. She tried to get off his lap, but he held onto her hips to keep her in place. "Don't. I'm still too swollen. You'll end up hurting yourself."

She started to struggle, but Raed all too easily kept her from pulling away. "Is that why your cock swells? Because you're a werewolf?"

Raed sighed. "Yes, but my cock has only done this with you."

Lexi gave a laugh which sounded this side of hysterical. "Aren't I the lucky one?"

she said sarcastically.

"I don't understand this any more than you do. You're not taking this as well as I thought you would."

He thought she would take the news of his being a werewolf—a creature that didn't even exist—without question? Who was he kidding? "Sorry, but I tend to panic when confronted with the news that the man I just slept with is a creature of nightmares."

"I'm not that type of werewolf."

"What, you don't bay at the full moon and thirst for human flesh?"

"No, only those werewolves sired by Fenris thirst for the flesh of mortals. I and my men were given the duty to protect mortals from their kind by the Anglo-Saxon god, Tiw. He gave us the ability to shift into what we hunt so we would be just as strong as they."

By now, the swelling in Raed's cock had gone down enough that they were no longer quite so locked together. Lexi pushed on his chest and quickly climbed off his lap. She moved away until her back hit the headboard. Her gaze skidded across his face. He didn't look like a killer, but that didn't mean there wasn't one lurking inside him.

"Your men are werewolves too?"

"Yes."

"And you are here to protect mortals from the bad werewolves because you are the good werewolves?"

"Yes." Raed inched closer. He stopped when she held up her hands to ward him off. "You have nothing to fear from me, Lexi."

"So how do you and your men fight these other werewolves? Do you turn into one and fight them to the death?"

"Sometimes. But we mostly exterminate them with our broadswords."

Lexi watched as Raed got off the bed and walked over to his closet. He reached inside and pulled out a large sheathed, sword. He pulled the weapon out of the scabbard and held it out for her to see. The blade gleamed like polished silver.

Raed swung the sword expertly through the air. "There's silver mixed in with the steel. Silver is deadly to all werewolves except for me and my men." As if to prove he spoke the truth, he sliced the blade across his palm. To Lexi's shock, the wound healed in a matter of seconds, leaving behind only the small amount of blood that had spilled from the cut.

Until that moment, she'd feared him insane. Delusional . . . caught up in some morbid fantasy he'd concocted in his warped mind. But she couldn't deny what she'd just witnessed with her own eyes. No one healed like that . . . at least, no human healed like that.

"Is it another werewolf thing, being able to heal like that?" Lexi knew she was asking a lot of questions when, if she really had her wits about her, she should have been running from Raed, screaming. But the questions wouldn't be silenced. A small part of her knew he could have hurt her at any time, but he hadn't. It had to mean something.

Raed sheathed his sword in the scabbard. He sat on the bed and placed the weapon on the mattress between them. "Partly, but mostly because I'm immortal."

Lexi's laugh sounded strained even to her ears. "You're immortal? Next you'll be telling me you're the King Raedwald of East Anglia." When Raed didn't so much as chuckle or deny what she'd said, she furiously started to shake her head. "You can't be.

That would make you well over a thousand years old. King Raedwald died in 627 A.D.

The ship burial at Sutton Hoo is supposedly his."

"It's mine. I faked my death. After my wife died, I wanted to permanently end that chapter of my life, make a new start. I'd already lost a couple of my sons. My body may not have been in that ship, but, for all intents and purposes, I died that day none the less."

Lexi wasn't ready to examine the reasons behind the stab of jealousy that shot through her at Raed mentioning he'd had a wife. Nor did she like the fact he'd had sons with her as well. She had to be losing her mind. Here Raed was telling her he had been a king from the Dark Ages and she was jealous of a woman who had been dead for over a thousand years.

She ran a shaking hand through her hair. "This is too much for me to take in all at once. The story I told you about my great-grandfather seeing his father turn into a werewolf was true, wasn't it? The tale wasn't part of some drug-induced dream?"

"No, he told the truth. I remember your great-grandfather as a teenager. I'm the man who cut down his father with my sword before he could attack him. I'm also the one who gave your great-grandfather the money to start a new life in Florida."

Black spots began to flash before Lexi's eyes as she started to hyperventilate. "I think I'm going to faint."

Raed closed the distance between them and pushed her head between her knees while he rubbed her back in soothing strokes. "Slow your breathing, Lexi. Take deep, even breaths and it will pass."

Once she got herself back under control, Lexi straightened and looked Raed in the eyes. "Can you shift whenever you want?" At his nod, she said, "Then shift. Now."

Raed shook his head. "I don't think my shifting would be a good idea. I think seeing me in my werewolf form, or even my wolf form, may be a bit too much for you right now."

"What's the difference between your type of werewolf and what my great-grandfather's father turned into?"

"I don't hunger for blood like our prey. We don't live to kill and maim. We protect."

"I need to see, Raed. All of this has been a lot for me to take in, but until I see you actually shift, I'll try to convince myself you aren't what you say you are."

He slipped off the bed to stand beside it. "All right. Whatever you do, if seeing me like this does end up being too much for you, don't scream. If you do, you'll have my men in here so fast you won't have time to cover your nakedness. I would rather none of them saw you like that. Only I get to."

"I promise." Luckily for Raed, she wasn't a screamer.

Lexi fisted the sheets in her hands when Raed's body blurred and took on another form. Between one second and the next, a creature that looked half human and half wolf stood where Raed had been. He had the face and ears of a wolf, along with a tail. His body became completely covered in dark blond fur, the same color as his hair.

He also stood taller, his body stronger than before. Raed's blue eyes stared back at her.

Then he spoke, and Lexi just about jumped out of her skin. "This is my werewolf form." Raed's voice sounded rougher and a tad deeper.

"You can talk," Lexi said as she gripped the sheets even tighter.

Raed's gaze followed her hands' movements. He then gazed back up at her and gave her a rough chuckle. "Only I'm allowed to rip my sheets." When her grip didn't loosen, he said, "Are you sure you're okay, Lexi."

She nodded. "Yes. Show me your wolf form."

He put his hands on his furred hips and stared at her for a few seconds. "If you insist; I'm not going to be able to speak to you in my wolf form, but I can still understand everything you say."

As before, Raed's body blurred as he made the shift. A large wolf with dark blond fur appeared next to the bed. He jumped up on the mattress in front of Lexi.

Again she looked into Raed's blue eyes. She recognized his wolf. This was the animal that had chased off the grey one that had cornered her. Her hand trembled slightly as she reached out and stroked the top of Raed's wolf's head.

She swallowed. "I can handle this form. You could almost pass for a dog." Raed shook his lupine head and sneezed. Lexi chuckled. "You don't like being referred to as a dog, I see."

Raed shook his head from side to side. He moved closer and lay down at her crossed legs with his head resting on her bent knee. Lexi ran her hand down his back.

His fur felt soft to the touch. She continued to pet him until her anxiety slowly started to pass. There was nothing scary about Raed in his wolf form. Yes, it happened to be way beyond the norm that he could shape-shift, but as she stroked his fur, she started to remember the close feelings she had for the man. How she felt about Raed hadn't changed.

No longer feeling as if she were about to freak out, Lexi bent and kissed the top of Raed's nose. "Thanks for letting me pet you, but I think I'm ready for the man to come back."

Raed's wolf body blurred and shifted. Now in his human form, he pulled her onto his lap. "Maybe I should have shown you my wolf before my werewolf."

"It may or may not have helped. The concept of you being a werewolf, as well as immortal, isn't exactly easy to accept."

"Well, I haven't had much practice at this. I've never told another mortal what I am."

Her gaze met Raed's. "Surely you told your wife and sons?"

"No, I didn't. I kept it a secret. I knew my wife wouldn't have been able to handle what I had become. She wasn't as strong as you."

"But she had to have noticed you didn't age as the years went by."

"To her, I did. You would be amazed how a few well placed streaks of charcoal on your face will make you look older."

Lexi chuckled then placed her forehead against Raed's. "Then why did you tell me your secret?"

Raed cupped her face and pulled back until he could look her right in the eyes. "I told you because I want you as mine. I want you to stay with me, Lexi. I don't want you to go back to the States when your four weeks are up."

"What are you saying, Raed?" Lexi asked quietly.

"I think I'm trying to tell you I've fallen for you. I know it's too soon for declarations of love, and I'm not ready to do that yet, but I don't want to give you up."

"I have feelings for you as well, but you're asking a lot. My parents are back in Florida, and I have my job to go back to."

"Can you at least think it over? You don't have to make your decision right this minute. There's plenty of time before you have to go back. Just promise me you'll consider it."

Lexi sighed. "I promise. Remember, you aren't just asking me to move in with you. I would be moving in with your men as well. They may not like the idea of me insinuating myself into their home."

"They won't have much say in the matter. I am their king, after all."

Lexi laughed. "Now I get why you can be so bossy at times, and why Algar told me old habits are hard to break. King or no king, you won't be ordering me about.

Remember, I come from a country with no monarchy."

Raed kissed the tip of her nose. "I'll try, but I may slip up from time to time."

"That's all I can ask."

"So are we good now? You believe what I am?"

"Yes. I can't refute the proof I saw with my own eyes. It's going to take some getting used to, but I'm over the freaking-out stage."

"Good." Raed grabbed Lexi around the waist and pulled her down on the bed.

"Because right now, all I can think about is having you again. Maybe if I keep you in my bed long enough you'll decide you want to stay after all."

Lexi moaned as Raed bent his head and nuzzled the side of her neck. "Mmm, maybe. I have a feeling it will take a lot of sex to do it, though."

"Then I better get to work."

And get to work, Raed did. By the time he let her up for air, night had fallen.