Paladin (Graven Gods Book 1) Read online

  “This is a waste of time,” Paladin decided in disgust. “Valak’s gone to ground beneath some kind of shield spell. I’ll never find him at this rate. Time to get behind the house wards, where we’ll have at least some warning if he mounts an attack.”

  He went back to the Kia. After disposing of the fallen elm and repairing the flattened tires -- God knew how, though I suspected it involved magic -- he headed home.

  The moment the door closed behind him, he chanted a spell, shielding the house in a bubble of power.

  Exhausted, drained both physically and psychically, Paladin fell across the bed beneath the lace canopy and fairy lights. And dropped into sleep like a rock in a swimming pool.

  Only to reach for me, drawing me from the depths of unconsciousness.

  “It seems we’re going to have to wait for the bastard to surface,” Paladin told me. “And I know just how to spend the time.”

  He pulled me into his arms, and I went gladly. For a moment he just held me, something desperate in his grip. As if he feared I’d be taken from him. “I’m sorry. So sorry to bring that fucker down on you.”

  “You’re not the one who hired the Legion of Evil to screw with me, Paladin. That’s on him.” I stretched to find his lips with mine. Kissed him, drinking the male taste of his mouth, savoring his hard strength against my smaller, more delicate body.

  He made a deep, low sound in his throat as he drew back. His fingers brushed the curve of my jaw, the rise of my cheek. His wolf-blue eyes began to glow. I looked into them…

  And fell.

  * * *

  I opened my eyes to sunlight and leaf-shadow dappling my nudity. I lay on a pile of dark furs that brushed my skin like whispers as I stirred. I drew in a breath smelling of roses. When I lifted my head, petals lay scattered over my skin, red as passion.

  I was surrounded by an arching bower of rose bushes, the blooms nodding in the spring breeze that played among thick, thorny branches.

  I wore chains. Golden shackles, links clinking gentle music, bound me to three of the bushes. My arms were chained to one plant, while my legs were spread wide and secured to two others. The base of each bush was as big around as my wrist. I wouldn’t be pulling free any time soon.

  As if I had any desire to escape. Nothing made me hotter, faster, than wearing Paladin’s chains. I licked my lips, feeling heat flood my cheeks, my nipples drawing tight, my pussy flooding with wet heat. I loved being helpless for him, loved his power over me.

  Hooves thudded on the leaf-covered ground. I raised my head, eager, already feeling the rise of need. Through the bower’s opening, I saw him.

  Paladin came to me on a great black destrier, its dinner-plate hooves beating the leaf-covered ground, mane flying with each dancing stride. Dark pauldrons made his shoulders look impossibly wide. The engraved shapes of running wolves dashed across the front of the cuirass protecting his broad chest. A fur-trimmed black cloak draped over one shoulder and under the opposite arm. He drew rein, and his stallion half-reared, then pranced in place.

  I lay there, chained and naked like an offering to some heathen god. Paladin considered me, though I couldn’t see his eyes in the depths of his helm. A horsehair plume streamed from its conical top, the motion of its floating tail echoing his mount’s.

  My nipples hardened. I licked my lips, heart hammering. I wondered if he could see its beat juddering my breasts.

  He dismounted with a warrior’s thoughtless ease. And a warrior was definitely what he was, for a sword swung from his left hip, and blood splattered his armor.

  Removing his helm, he tucked it under one arm. Pale, pale eyes scanned my nudity with possessive heat. “Who do you belong to?”

  I didn’t hesitate. “You.”

  Paladin grinned, hungry and wolfish. “Oh, aye, prisoner. And best you remember it.” He began to strip off his armor, mail ringing as he dropped his fur trimmed cloak, unbuckled his cuirass, tassets, greaves and pauldrons, letting them thump to the ground one by one, until he was as naked as I.

  He stood there a moment, staring down at me, letting me stare at him just as hungrily. Sweat gleamed on his tanned shoulders in the dappled light, rolling down the sliding muscle that flowed in thick ripples to his jutting cock. The big shaft arched upward, broad and tempting, long veins running its impressive length over heavy, furry balls. A pearl of pre-come dewed its mushroom head. I longed to lick that bead away, but when I tried to reach for him, my chains arrested the motion with a musical rattle.

  Paladin sank to one knee, his cock swaying in delicious temptation. I was thoroughly wet now, imagining the feel of him between my thighs, spread wide and ready for him.

  “God,” he said hoarsely, “You are so beautiful.” His hot blue gaze narrowed, and a hungry grin spread over the handsome line of his mouth, flashing white teeth. “I can’t wait to slide my cock into that tight, wet pussy of yours. I’m going to ram you so hard and deep, you’ll feel my balls bang your asshole.”

  The growling, possessive words only made me hotter. I licked dry lips.

  He dropped down over me, catching himself on powerful arms that flexed and rolled as they took his weight. “You’ll remember it all as soon as the spell shreds. But remember this too, when you’re feeling pissed off and betrayed. No man will ever know you as I do. He’ll never know your secret dreams, never know all the wicked things you’ve wanted me to do to you.”

  He kissed me again, and I lost myself in him, feeling the world spin away until the only thing that was left was Paladin. My conqueror. My demon lover.

  He suckled my lips as if he needed the taste of me to live, with an edge of desperation I was unaccustomed to feeling from him. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I knew he feared whatever it was, feared my reaction to it.

  But before I could ask him what he meant, before I could even think about it, his tongue plunged deep between my teeth, fucking my mouth as his cock would my pussy, until excitement scalded me. I loved this. Loved being stretched out beneath him, lusciously helpless. I was acutely aware of every inch of his glorious body, the hard heat of him, the springy chest hair that teased my nipples, the thick bulk of his cock against my belly.

  I stared up at him hungrily, watching the rolling bunch of muscle as he braced above me on his elbows. He slid a hand down between my thighs. I gasped as his fingers speared deep, using just the perfect force, balancing on the serrated edge between pleasure and too much pain. His thumb found my clit, circled precisely, making my hips grind up, hunching, seeking more, more, more. Wrists chained over my head, legs bound apart, I could only writhe. My chin jerked in involuntary reaction, yet I was unable to look away from his fierce hunter’s stare. Slowly, he pumped, each thrust of his fingers driving another spike of edged ecstasy into my cunt.

  “No other man will ever know how to make your body leap as I do. I’ve shared those secret fantasies, seen them unspool in that clever brain, a stream of need that makes my cock jerk.”

  “Ooooh, God, Paladin…”

  He dropped to one elbow as he went on finger-fucking me, head swooping, mouth covering mine. His teeth bit at my lips, tongue thrusting deep as his lips stroked and drank. I moaned, my hips dancing to the swirl of his thumb on my clit, the demanding rhythm of his fingers. I could hear my pussy making wet, ripe sounds with every thrust.

  I ground up at him, and he pushed the heel of his hand into my pussy, building the delight from hot to searing. “Paladin, please, please…” I moaned against his possessive mouth. I had no idea what I was begging for.

  Except for more.

  “That’s right, plead.” He deepened the kiss again, drank my throaty whimpers. Drew back. “I’ve known generations of women, mated them to the best men I could find, danced their DNA to produce child after child, each more powerful and talented than the last.” His voice dropped into a throaty leonine growl. “You are the greatest of them, but you’re more than power and talent. None of them ever touched me as you have. And none ever will.
Remember that when you remember the rest.”

  He began nibbling his way down the line of my neck, stringing biting, greedy kisses along its length. I threw back my head and gasped. The hand between my thighs still stuffed pleasure into me, three fingers now, stretching me.

  But not enough, I thought dizzily. I wanted his cock. I wanted that thick shaft like my next breath. “Fuck me! Oh, fuuuck me!”

  “Not yet,” he growled, his eyes glowing molten blue.

  Paladin pulled back a fraction to eye one of my nipples, drawn to a tight and aching pink point. He smiled slowly, as predatory as a tiger contemplating a lamb.

  He lapped it, laved it, until I tossed my head back and closed my eyes, whimpering. His tongue licked and swirled, then his mouth closed for a lingering suckle. Another tongue swirling counterpoint to the fingers thrusting in the depths of my pussy. Suckling again, a strong, rhythmic pull that matched the stroke of his fingers.

  I could feel my climax gathering, about to break, hot and incandescent in the darkness behind my eyes.

  Paladin lifted his head. Dazed, I stared up into his lupine smile. “No,” he drawled. “No, I don’t think so. Not yet.”

  I almost screamed in frustration as he pushed off me. “Damn it, Paladin! I’m so close!”

  His smile widened and cooled. Deliberately he reached down, wrapped a fist in my hair. Made me meet his feral blue stare. “Who decides when you come -- and when you don’t?”

  “You, sir,” I breathed, even as the muscles of my pussy tightened in an involuntary starved clutch for the cock too far out of reach. “Just you.” I gulped air. “Only you.”

  His upper lip curled. “That’s right.” He rose over me, moved to straddle my head as he took his thick cock in hand. I rolled my eyes, gazing up the rippling topography of his male strength, helpless and hungry.

  When he aimed that big dick at my mouth, I took him in with a greedy moan.

  When he pulled out, I gasped. “Paladin, my conqueror.”

  “Yes, by God,” he growled, reading the thought right out of my head even as he fed inch after inch of cock into my mouth.

  It was an awkward angle for fellatio, so he kept his thrusts shallow and careful. I sucked, eyes slipping closed, the better to concentrate on the feel and taste of him. Salt and masculinity and hard male heat, the contours of mushroom head and long smooth width, the snaking veins, the musk of his balls. I drank him in, loving him, loving the brute dominance of his fucking my mouth.

  He knew me so well. Knew precisely how to drive me to madness.

  One arm braced on the furs beside my head, Paladin used my mouth lazily, each thrust stoking my lust. “Elder gods, I love the sight of your mouth wrapped around my cock.” He paused. “A little too much.” Reluctantly, he pulled the shaft free with a deep groan of lust. “Not yet. You’re not ready yet.”

  I laughed, more bark of frustration than anything else. “I don’t know how much more ready you think I can be.”

  He grinned possessively down at me. “More.”

  Paladin moved down to settle between my bound legs, draping his arms over my spread thighs. His long hair brushed over my skin, a sweet tickle, as he parted the lips of my pussy with his fingers. Lowering his head, he raised his eyes, blue as the flame of a gas jet, and just as hot. His stare speared me, fierce and dominant, as his tongue found my most delicate flesh.

  Licked. Swirled. Danced. And each tiny, wet caress strummed over bundles of eager nerves, sending spears of delight up my spine. Making my bones vibrate with every delicious thrust, until I writhed like an eager cat. Wanting more of him. Craving the thick pleasure of his cock. Craving the exquisite release. “Paladin…” I whimpered. “Paladin, you feel so… God, please!”

  He reached up my body with both big hands to find the hard little points of my nipples. Began to twist and tug them as he licked, tongue dancing over my clit, then swirling to thrust hard into my pussy. Maddening.

  I threw my head back into the fur, grinding back and forth as I whimpered, pleading, begging for his cock, begging for him. “Please, please, please, Paladin, please, master…”

  “Aye, I am your master.” He sat up between my legs. A violent gesture sent sparks spilling down my body. I lifted my head to see the shackles disappear from my ankles.

  He grabbed my hips, jerked me off the ground as if I weighed nothing at all, and flipped me onto my face. The manacles still binding my wrists forced my arms to cross as he pulled me onto my knees. I cried out, shuddering, waiting for that first thick, merciless thrust.

  “Paladin,” I whimpered. “Master…”

  He bent over me, covering me with broad, hot muscle as he breathed into my ear, “You are mine, Summer St. Clare. Remember that!”

  And thrust.

  His cock felt as thick as my forearm, and damn near as long as he stuffed it into me, ruthless inch by ruthless inch. Painful and delicious, a sweetly vicious conquest that stretched my pussy wide.

  I threw back my head in a long sobbing gasp as his fingers dug into my hips, dragging me onto his shaft right to the thick root. He didn’t stop until I felt his balls touch my ass. Then he released my rump with one hand in favor of wrapping that fist in my hair, pulling my head up as he thrust into my raised backside.

  Then slowly, mercilessly, he began to fuck. Long, long strokes, slowly at first, then more quickly. Driving harder and harder, until he ground so deep in my juicy cunt, I wanted to yowl like a mounted cat. And did, my high cries ringing over his deep growling rumbles. Each impaling thrust made light flare behind my closed lids as I panted into the furs. Lost in my blind lust for him, overwhelmed by the pleasure he fed me with every sliding stroke.

  He was right. I would remember this. Wouldn’t be able to forget it even if I wanted to. His massive cock drove spears of pleasure into the base of my brain. Along with the hot knowledge that Paladin was my master.

  My lord. My dark Prince Charming and demon lover.

  I screamed into the fur, my voice spiraling into a shriek of pain and pleasure mixed.

  “Yes!” he roared, and slammed all the way to the root, filling me as he shot. I shook, blind with bliss, his groin plastered against my ass.

  When it was all over, I heard him say, voice low, “When you remember it all, remember that.”

  Chapter Five

  “Summer, wake up.”

  I opened my eyes and stirred in the warm circle of Paladin’s arms. There was nothing dreamlike about it. “Hmmmm?”

  “It’s time, Summer,” he breathed in my ear. “Time to remember. The spell has weakened enough. I can break it now, but I’m afraid it’s going to hurt. I’m sorry, but there is no other way.”

  “What?” I blinked in bewilderment. “What are you talking about?”

  “You’ll see. You’ll see now.” His mouth flattened, drawing into a hard line. His hand cupped the side of my head, cradled it. I felt the warmth of each long, powerful finger. Then they tightened.

  And began to sink right into my skull, penetrating bone and brain. Pain sliced across my consciousness as he gripped the spell and started pulling. “Paladin, stop!” I gasped. “It hurts!”

  “I know, darling. But I’ve got to do this if I’m going to free you. Don’t you want to remember your family?”

  “God, yes… but… it hurrrrts!” I screamed, arching against the vicious agony. It felt as if the spell was a physical cord, tightening until it cut. Tighter. Tighter, mental strain intensifying as I panted in bewilderment, trying to fight even as his hard arms pinned me. What is he doing to me?

  “Freeing you,” he growled. “Before your amnesia gets you killed.”

  The spell broke with a psychic Crack! that ripped through my spirit. I screamed, staring into Paladin’s anguished eyes.

  The pain drained away.

  I stared up at him helplessly, knowing everything was about to change. Something in his expression told me that it was only going to get worse.

  “Remember,” Paladin whispered, strokin
g my face. His expression was so sad, my chest began to ache in sympathy. “Remember it all, Summer St. Clare.”

  Fragments of memory started drifting to the surface of my mind, drawn by his magic like iron fillings to a magnet. At first it didn’t seem so bad.

  Hell, at first it was wonderful.

  Faces and emotions emerged from the fog first, accompanied by wisps of knowledge that gradually thickened like smoke from burning leaves.

  A dark-haired woman, her features delicate, eyes large and dark as she held me in strong, slender arms. A big, blond man, giving me a smacking kiss, his laughter a happy boom. A blond boy’s face, grinning at me with mischief in his eyes.

  Faces. Smiling, laughing, loving. Then crying out in determination, in rage, in grief. A storm of faces in every conceivable mood.

  And I knew them. Recognized them, but not in the distant way I knew the photos my aunt had shown me. I knew them in my gut and my heart, as the foundation of my life.

  My mother -- Barbara St. Clare. My father, Graham, and my brother, Richard, two years older. Each association triggered the next in a torrent of memory and knowledge.

  Somewhere in the midst of that, I realized everything I had been taught about the world was wrong.

  I was a Demi -- a demigoddess, a descendant of a deity, bred for intelligence, physical strength, and magical talent.

  Humanity had created the gods with the magic of their belief, magic that accreted over countless centuries the way an oyster forms a pearl. Eventually whatever humans worshiped became a god in reality, whether it was an object, an animal, or another human.

  The gods couldn’t exist without some kind of physical receptacle, even if it was only something inanimate, like a sword or a gemstone. To actually use their power, though, they needed a talented human host, or Avatar. They could survive in someone without talent, but such hosts lacked the neural pathways to work magic. So they bred talented hosts to get ever more powerful offspring they could then inhabit.

  Both my parents, Barbara and Graham St. Clare, had been Avatars. My mother had been Paladin’s host until her murder, just as my father had hosted a god of wolves named Ulf.