Arabella’s POV
Luciano was asleep. We were in a bed that I had never seen before. It was much larger than Luciano’s bed and had larger elaborately designed bedposts. The duvets were also extremely heavy and I tried to wriggle out of them feeling extremely weak and sweaty for some reason.
The duvet wrapped around me tightly. Except this wasn’t the duvet. It was Luciano’s arm. Wow. If I had known the way to his heart had been through getting shot, I would have done that much earlier. Ha. Only I had and I couldn’t remember him being this clingy then. He’d merely informed me that I wasn’t allowed to participate in that sort of activity ever again.
I needed to pee. Badly. I finally managed to heft his body off my mind, then I hunted for the bathroom which was surprisingly close by. I took care of my business lamenting the lack of toilet paper. Men.
The water was running thankfully so I ran a bath for myself. I smelt weird. Like drugs, hospital air freshener and illness. And my hair felt greasy.
There wasn’t a conditioner. Just a three-in-one shampoo and I shuddered. I had no other option. I used it and took a long bath. There was no spare towel to use, I realized. I decided to use Luciano’s. As I was wiping myself down with a towel, I realized my injuries were healed already. I touched my smooth belly.
That was strange. How could it have healed overnight? I would talk to Luciano–
I heard a crash in the bedroom. I wrapped the towel around myself and stepped out of the bathroom.
Luciano’s hand was on the door, he was about to leave the room. He looked worried.
“Luciano?” I asked uncertainly.
He paused and looked at me.
I wish I could explain the look I saw in his eyes but I couldn’t quantify it myself. It was relief, happiness, want, disbelief, joy and another emotion I couldn’t place. I found myself blushing under the intensity of his gaze.
I was drowning in his towel and my dark hair fell flat as it was still damp from the shower. I was unsure of how I looked so fascinating that he couldn’t look away from me.
“Um, were you going somewhere?” I broke the intense staring competition as I asked looking away.
As if broken from a spell, Luciano closed the distance between us and took me into his arms.
I froze as he enveloped me in his embrace. Then slowly I lifted my hands to his back returning the hug.
I realized his shoulders were shaking. I pulled back slightly to see Luciano crying.
Was I having hallucinations from silver poisoning or was Luciano really crying?
Maybe he was drunk. Or poisoned. Or both.
“Luciano…” I broke off unsure of what to say as I lifted my hand to wipe his tears.
He caught my hand and kissed the centre of my palm. It felt unbelievably intimate and I fought the urge to squirm. When did he become so lovey-dovey?
“Arabella. I’m sorry.”
Those three words rocked me to my core. Did Luciano just apologize to me?
“What? Why?”
He didn’t seem to hear me as he sank to his knees. “I’m sorry.” He repeated again.
“I’m sorry that I punished you for your father’s sins. I’m sorry that I treated you so badly. From the very moment, I discovered you were my mate, I’ve made your life a living hell. I am not a good person neither am I good enough for you, Arabella. I have made so many mistakes. I hurt you so badly.”
A tear fell from my eye. I knelt next to him and took his hand. I couldn’t speak. There was so much between us. So much violence, hurt, tears and so much pain. Pain that threatened to swallow me up from the inside.
“Luciano.”
“No, Arabella. I… I need to tell you this. I wish I could blame my parents’ death for how I turned out. That seeing your father behead my father in front of me turned me into what I am now. That seeing my mother being raped before she took her own life made me so cold.”
I clutched his hand tightly. I didn’t know about the specifics of his parents’ death before. Margaret had told me before but I hadn’t trusted her at this point. I imagined what that would have done to a little boy.
I imagined a little Luciano with full dark hair and innocent blue eyes watching his parents being killed in such a manner. Tears sprang unbidden to my eyes and my lips quivered as sympathy for the child he had been filled me.
His tortured blue eyes caught my gaze.
“But I can’t. I feel this is me. Killing people comes easily to me. Torture, violence. Those things resonate with me. You are the first good thing I’ve ever wanted Arabella. The first good thing I want to keep. But I know I will hurt you and I will make you hate me because that is all I know how to do.”
His confession shook me to my core and I knew it would stay with me for the rest of my life. He wanted me. He thought me precious enough that he didn’t want to hurt me anymore.
I shook my head. “That’s not true, Luciano. I know you. You saved me the first day we met. You saved me during the ambush. You caught a knife for me. When I shot myself, you were there for me. You saved me from Anastasia. During this time, you repeatedly told me that you hated me, that you wanted to kill me but you always came through for me.”
“You have good in you, Luciano. So much good. And I believe in you. I believe you can be better. I forgive you, Luciano.”
How could I just forgive someone who had abused me on numerous occasions? Someone who didn’t value women. Someone who wouldn’t hesitate to say or do something that hurt me.
But I don’t know how to explain in words the connection we shared. I knew that he meant his apology with the same certainty that I knew that the sun would rise and set. Or maybe I was just stupid for believing him. Only time would tell. Besides, I had forgiven him even before he asked for my forgiveness.
Luciano looked astonished.
“Goddess, I don’t deserve you.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me closer then he kissed me.
In a way, it felt like our first kiss. It was exploratory, it felt like testing the water for the current. I moved with him as his hand in my damp hair guided our kiss. Luciano’s other arm dropped down my back and he drew me to him, deepening the kiss. The heat of his body warmed me to the core and I released a moan at his touch.
The kiss became feverish with want, with need and I felt his hand tug at the towel. It pooled to the ground at my waist unveiling my breasts to him. His lips left my lips and he kissed my eyelid, my cheekbone, he tugged on my earlobe. I shivered into his touch and then his head dipped to my chest and his mouth captured my right nipple, his hand massaging my left breast.
My eyes nearly rolled to the back of my skull as I arched into his pleasurable touch. I clutched his head to my chest, my hips arching, wanting, needing. He alternated between my breasts until he had me panting halfway to an orgasm.
“Luciano, please.” I begged. He raised his head to meet my eyes. His blue eyes were dark and his pupils were completely dilated.
He stood up and lifted me up leaving the towel on the ground as he carried me to the bed. We locked gazes as he took off the underwear he’d gone to bed in.
Luciano was handsome. Not the flawless kind. With his scars, his rough edges, and his tough attitude, he was imperfect but he was mine.
He climbed the bed and my breath caught. He was braced above me and our breaths intermingled. He kissed me again softly and I went loose and plaint beneath him. He parted my thighs and I spread even wider for him.
I was so wet that my thighs were slick with arousal. He slid two fingers into me and I sucked in a breath, he fucked me with two fingers, his fingers curling and uncurling. I trembled beneath him as pleasure clouded my mind.
His thumb found my clit, my vision went white as he massaged me skillfully while simultaneously fucking me with his fingers. My body became more excited with each ministration and in seconds I was on the edge.
“Luciano.” I said between gasps. He seemed to understand what I was asking for without me saying much.
He inserted an extra finger and locked gazes with me, his blue eyes silvery. “Come for me.”
His finger curled hitting an extra sensitive spot inside me and I came. I clutched the bedding and a scream nearly escaped me but I turned my head and buried it in a pillow next to me muffling my embarrassing moan.
Coming down from the high, my walls still quivering, I removed my head from the pillow to see Luciano settle between my legs. He looked at me and I nodded. I needed him, now. I arched as he entered me, it felt like it had been weeks since we’d had sex last.
He began to thrust slowly as if checking if I was still sensitive after my orgasm. I urged my hips forward as I moved against him. He took the hint and began to thrust harder, faster, rougher. It was like with every thrust he became less controlled and more animalistic.
The bed groaned beneath us as though in protest of the strenuous activity it was undergoing. The sounds of flesh meeting flesh and the distinct wet smacking sounds from our copulation filled the room and I would have felt awkward if I weren’t already carried away by the high I was riding.
I fumbled at his ass and his back, trying to pull him deeper inside her. I wrapped my legs around his hips and kept trying to get them higher up his back so I could feel even more of him. Get him deeper.
His body was blazing hot and sweating and his own uneven breathing turned into rhythmic guttural sounds-almost like grunts-every time he pushed inside me.
“Goddess,” I choked out. “Oh, Luciano.” My entire body had started to shake and waves of heat
bombarded me.
The speed of his rutting intensified and he was so tense I could see the tight sinews in
his neck.
It had never felt like this. This good, this connected.
I clawed at his back, knowing I was marking him, wanting him to mark me. Then my whole body arched back and my mouth opened in a silent
scream of pleasure as I came.
My inner walls clamped down around Luciano’s cock and he fell out of rhythm too. His thrusts were harsher than before. Fucking me out of an orgasm and into another.
Then he leaned in and I felt his hot, wet mouth at the hollow of my neck. Then I felt his sharpened canines. Could he, would he really…
He bit down hard as he climaxed, and I cried out in surprised release, coming again unexpectedly from the mingling of pleasure and pain. I pulled him close and bit him on his neck as well instinctively. He rocked back in my arms and as our bodies twitched and shivered, softened as the ripples of our shared orgasm finally faded. I looked at my mate as he looked at me as though we’d just discovered ourselves for the first time.
We were now marked and mated as true mates. I felt a bond snap to life between us tethering us together. Now and forever we were bonded.