Fates Fulfilled: Halven Rising

Garrin’s eyes glimmered in the soft glow filtering through the translucent ice wall. “I want to show you everything, but are you ready? Perhaps another—”

“I’m a twenty-one-year-old virgin with not only the hottest guy I’ve ever known, but also a man I’ve come to care deeply for. You’re kissing me and touching me and setting my body on fire. I want this.”

It was precisely what Garrin needed to hear. Even so… “Are you certain?”

“Yes, now stop talking and more of the rest of it.”

He quirked his brow and slowly drew her top up her stomach, his knuckles grazing her soft skin. “Okay?” Lex nodded, and he pulled her tunic over her head and tossed it to the side.

Her teeth started to chatter as he kissed her brow, making his way toward her lips. “Cozy as our love cave is,” she said, “it is nowhere near warm.”

“Allow me.” Garrin eased her down on top of his coat and leaned over her.

Lex cuddled into his body. “Mmm, this was how I stayed warm all those weeks traveling across the Land of Ice.”

Garrin thought back to their treacherous journey and the reason he’d meticulously planned their return trip. He’d been so fearful of losing Lex that he hadn’t thought about keeping his distance, often tucking her against him at night.

“I haven’t begun to warm your body.” He ran his hand up and down her back and over her soft curves, sending heat to her limbs with his magic.

Her eyes widened. “Oh, now that is a nifty trick. A perk of commanding fire?” She glanced at his hand on her rear. “You’re very thorough.”

He took her mouth with a fiery kiss that set his own blood racing. “Tell me to stop and I will.” He moved his hand over her thigh, warming her.

A soft, breathy gasp escaped her lips. “If you stop, I’ll singe you with your own power.”

His mouth pulled into the beginnings of a smile, and then he stilled. “Can you do that?” The wonders of Lex’s power were never-ending.

She grinned. “While you strategized our survival in the Land of Ice, I might have practiced creating a fireball or two with Elena and Reese.” Her mouth twisted and she glanced up. “It looked more like a spark, but just you wait. I’ll get there.”

If his father knew what she could do—

Lex ran her hands over his chest, causing heat to simmer beneath his skin.

His mind went blank and he looked down at her beautiful face to her neck and lower. “Perhaps we can test it out later when we’re not busy,” he said. “They say the best way to stay warm is skin to skin.”

Lex laughed, and he frowned. “Is there something funny?” he asked.

“That is the oldest pickup line in the book. Even I’ve heard that one.”

He sent her a crooked smile. “I may have heard it in the Earth realm a time or two.”

“Did you seduce many humans with that one?”

He nuzzled her neck. “You’re very cute when you’re jealous. I didn’t partake in what the human female who delivered the line offered. I was too busy searching for you.”

“Such arrogance.”

“So you’ve told me. Shall I take off my clothes?”

She glared at him as though trying to decide if she should argue. “Yes, but do it slowly.”

Garrin reached over his shoulder and eased off his tunic the rest of the way. He sensed his hair sticking up in the back, but he didn’t bother to smooth it. Because Lex was staring at him with lust in her eyes, which caused desire to pulse through his veins.

She swallowed and cleared her throat, scanning him from head to waist. “You Fae are well built.” She ran her fingertips over the muscles of his shoulders and chest, setting off fireworks beneath his skin.

Garrin inhaled, his breath catching when her fingertips reached his lower abdomen. “Some more than others.”

“Again with the arrogance,” she murmured, but she seemed to be enjoying herself, because her next words were, “Maybe you should take off your pants? You know, to keep my lower half skin to skin.”

“You’re using my line.”

“Do you have a problem with that?” she said distractedly as he unfastened his pants and pulled them down.

Garrin felt the shiver that ran through Lex’s body.

“This only works if you’re naked too, yes?” He kissed her mouth and placed his hand over her heart.

“My fingers are numb,” she said, staring at his manhood.

Garrin didn’t wear human underwear, and Fae men were larger than human men. Everywhere. “Your shock at my masculinity is understandable.”

Her gaze lost the distracted look, and her mouth twisted. “I’ve seen naked men. Not up close and personal, but I’ve watched nature channels, for goodness’ sake. And none of those men were built like you. Good heavens, give a girl a moment, will you?” she said, her gaze returning to the part of him that was straining toward her.

Garrin eased down her body and looked up at her with hooded eyes. He unbuttoned her pants and slid them down her legs, kissing her thigh and lifting her leg to kiss her calf, his tongue darting out and touching the back of her knee. “Take all the time you need.”

Lex’s eyes widened. “Moment’s over—keep going.”

“Indeed.” Lex’s skin was incredibly soft, with the intoxicating sweet scent of brune and wildflowers.

He looked up, and her face scrunched as though she were perplexed. “You’re very good at this.”

“Shh, I’m working.” He discarded her pants off to the side and inched up her body, taking his time and kissing her as he went. He kissed the crease between her leg and sex, and Lex’s breath caught. He glanced up. “Anytime you wish me to stop…”

“Why would I want you to stop?”

“This is your first time. I don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

She let out a breathy sigh as he kissed her breasts through her bra. “Pretty comfortable. Don’t stop.”

Lex ran her hands over Garrin’s body as he unclasped her bra one-handed.

Fae women didn’t wear bras, so she really didn’t want to know where he’d learned that trick.

Her breasts were larger now, her body taller and slightly different after the magic that hid her true self had dissipated. And Garrin worshiped every inch of her until she was shaking with want.

She felt his body, hard and warm against her chest—his erection against her thigh—but he didn’t press forward. He kissed her mouth, her neck, her stomach, and finally began to slide down her panties with talented, sensual fingers.

Lex’s heart pounded, and she arched toward him. She didn’t realize until now how much she’d craved Garrin. This was the man she’d waited for all her life.

He shifted and centered himself at her entrance.

“Wait.” She pressed her hand to his chest. “What about birth control?”

He kissed her jaw and ran his nose over her cheek, sending a shiver through her. “Fae don’t reproduce easily. It takes hundreds of years to sire a child. The chances we would conceive this day are nearly zero.”

Okay, she’d heard something like that. It made sense. Still, it had been programmed into her that you never had sex without protection, and now her brain was battling Fae conception problems with Earth’s birth-control practices.

Lex kissed him and ran her hands down his back, pulling him closer. “Fae don’t carry diseases, according to Elena, who fought the only known one. But pregnancy? You don’t understand how much it’s been hammered in my brain as a human to never have unprotected sex.”

He lifted his head. “But you’ve never had sex.”

“Exactly! I don’t know what I’m doing, and I feel like we should use birth control.”

Garrin flinched. “That is an appalling notion. However, if it pleases you, there are…precautions I can take. Given my potency in everything, it would not surprise me to get you with child the first time.”

Lex frowned, then jerked his head down and kissed him, nibbling the corner of his mouth. “I can see how well those precautions worked, since we are allied with several Halven.”

He slid his hand along the side of her breast. “Not all Fae are as gentlemanly as I.”

Garrin didn’t rush things, even though Lex was ready to explode. He touched her with practiced hands and kissed her passionately until her desire bordered on frenzy. And then, in slow increments, he entered her.

Lex stared into Garrin’s fathomless blue eyes. His mouth was tense, and she leaned up and kissed it. “Are you okay?”

“I’m trying to go slowly, and it is a lesson in patience.”

Nothing he did hurt her. “Don’t go slow.”

She didn’t need to tell him twice. He dropped his head and moved deeper until he was fully seated, which should have blown her mind, given his size, but she felt too good to think clearly. He was kissing her and moving, and her body clenched his.

He ran his hand over her breast and down her stomach until he touched her where they connected.

Soon Lex’s head tilted back, and her breathing increased. The sensation he elicited made her feel out of control.

And then her body convulsed and she moaned, falling from the highest high she’d ever experienced.

Lex clung to Garrin as he kissed her and balanced his weight on his elbows, continuing the rhythmic motion like before, only less controlled and more urgent.

He pulled away, and a low moan of pleasure vibrated from his chest as he touched himself and found his release.

Lex felt the loss of him immediately.

After a moment, Garrin rolled to the side and pulled Lex with him, tucking her close to his heart. “I wish to be with you always, Lex. To protect you as long as you will have me.” He leaned back and looked down at her. “You’re the only woman I’ve loved and ever want to love.”

Her breath caught. She touched his jaw, the growth of stubble tickling her fingers. “I love you too. And don’t think I won’t protect you back.”

He laughed softly. “Given your inclination to disregard my orders, I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

Lex snuggled against him, her limbs more languid than they’d ever been.

Soon she sensed the telltale signs of him falling asleep, his breathing low and measured, his body twitching every few seconds.

He’d told her he loved her. She’d felt it for weeks, but now she knew.

And there was no way she’d let him send her back to the Earth realm.