He sat up feeling around for the ropes and cloths his father had left on the bed, and bound her wrists together, with the cloth to cushion her raw skin against the binding. “Roll onto your side.” He threaded the rope through the bedframe, securing her facing towards the bars.
She felt him sink back down behind her.
“I can’t lie on the other side yet,” he explained the position with a sigh. “Too sore.”
“I’m sorry Raiden,” her eyelids were too heavy to keep open. “I seem to be a lot of trouble.”
He kissed the back of her shoulder. “No, Lia.”
The shaking was getting worse, and her breath unsteady. He stroked his hand under the edge of the singlet top, across her stomach.
“Breathe with me Lia,” he murmured, his voice soft but the alpha command present.
She focused on his breathing and the warmth of his hand against her stomach, but she could feel Lucian on the edges of her mind, his grip tight, summoning her, and with it, flashes of him, his wrist to her mouth, his body above her, his lips on hers. She writhed, trying to escape the shade of him.
She was aware of William returning and reconnecting the IV line and heard him close and lock the door behind him.
“He’s locked us in,” she whispered, fear picking up the beat of her heart.
“They are going to cook breakfast, I imagine,” Raiden replied, his voice soothing. “Shower, and all that. They can relax if we are secured.”
“He raped me,” it burst from her, a confession, vivid with the memory of Lucian above her, his hands on her skin, and his tongue in her mouth. “Lucian. Many times. I don’t… I don’t know how many,” she added, as if having a number would make it better.
“I know,” his grip around her tightened. “It is what they do to blood slaves, Lia. I’m very sorry.”
She nodded, tears sliding down her face, and dragged in a breath on a sob.
“Lia,” he leaned over and kissed her cheek. “My mate. Focus on my breath.”
They lay, breathing together, and she drifted on the edge of sleep, but fought against it, as every time she slipped under, she could see Lucian against the darkness. She was keeping Raiden awake with her restlessness, but he did not complain, just murmured comfortingly.
She could feel the throb of him against her. “You are hard.”
“Lia,” he murmured with a hint of shame. “You are my mate, in my arms. Yes, I am hard, but I am not a threat to you.”
“I want you,” she whispered it and heard him draw in his breath sharply. “I can’t think past the memory of his touch, and him… Every time I close my eyes he is there. I want you to make him go away.”
“Lia,” it was a broken sigh. “I don’t know if anything can do that.” She felt him rest his forehead between her shoulder blades and breathe in, and then he lifted his face, kissing her shoulder. “But I will try.”
He reached over and released the rope that held her wrists to the bed frame and guided them up over her head. His mouth came down on hers, his lips gentle, tentative, testing her response before he groaned and deepened the kiss, his tongue stroking against hers as he lifted himself over her.
She lowered her tied wrists over his head, to rest around his neck and lifted her mouth into his as she wrapped her legs around his hips, keeping her grip loose, mindful of the bruises along his side. He reached between them, and she took an unsteady breath as he entered her.
“Lia,” he murmured, anxiously.
“Please.”
His sigh as he sank into her made her heart release, and she began crying again as he rocked into her, his motion gentle, and his kisses capturing her tears, so that she could taste the salt of them on his lips.
“I love you,” she sobbed it out against his cheek.
“Oh, Lia,” his voice broke. “I love you, too. Look at me.”
She lifted her eyes to his, and he rested his forehead against hers, the golden-brown pulling her in, a different coercion to that used by Lucian, this one used to comfort, and not to take.
“Ah, there,” he whispered as the pleasure of him against her rose, and he cried out as she came, pushing deep as he followed her. He kissed her as he sank over her, resting his weight on her body. “Am I too heavy?”
His lips were against the pressure point of her neck, and she recalled hours of Lucian lying in such a way with his lips grazing her skin there in between biting her. Raiden was not Lucian, however, and his lips and breath were hot against her skin, and his chest rose and fell heavily against hers as he regained his breath. The scent of lavender and citrus replaced the metallic bite of blood. She tightened her grip around Raiden’s neck and pressed her face into his shoulder.
“Don’t move.”
“Are you okay, Lia?” He murmured.
“Yes, I am,” she was. The ache in her had faded, and the pressure on her ribs and heart had eased. “You make it better.”
“Perhaps it is the plasma,” he suggested.
“No,” she was certain of it. “It is you. Lucian and Elior said the wolf bond might be interfering with the blood bond. When I was there, it was like my mind was wrapped in cotton wool. I could not think straight, but the one thing I could think clearly of was your name. I think if I hadn’t had you, I would have just… surrendered.”
He drew in a deep breath and released it heavily. “I hope that’s right, Lia. I would like to think that I could be able to help you heal.”
She turned her head until she could kiss his lips. “You are mine. My wolf.”
“Always.”
She could tell from his breathing when he drifted into sleep, his body becoming heavy over hers as his muscles relaxed and stopped holding his weight. She breathed him in and savoured the feel of him against her. She closed her eyes hoping her mind might now be full of Raiden, and empty of Lucian.
The door at the top of the stairs opened and Tara and Wade came down quietly, carrying a tray. Lia bit her lip as she watched their approach, embarrassed to be found with Raiden over her and still in her, their position evidence of their activity, although the blanket covered them decently.
She felt Raiden inhale, and wake, his instincts triggered by the entry of his father and sister. He lifted his head from the cradle of her neck, the Other flashing in his eyes as Wade unlocked the cage. Tara smiled at them, as she slid the tray onto the ground.
“Thanks,” Raiden said, his voice thick with sleep.
“You are welcome,” Wade locked the door again. “Be careful of Lia’s j line, Rai.”
“I will.”
“Thank you,” Lia whispered and watched them withdraw. “That was embarrassing.”
Raiden lowered his face back into the curve of her neck with a sigh. “We are werewolves, Lia,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. We aren’t as reserved about sex as humans are. It is part of life, part of taking a mate, part of starting a family. Natural. If they think anything of it, they will be happy that we are healing together enough to have sex.”
“You should eat,” she stroked her fingers through his hair, and then cried out as her body jerked, the pain shooting through her like an electric shot. She clung to his shoulders, sweat beading across her forehead. She saw quite clearly Lucian’s face, his bright blue eyes reflecting a red inner glow. “Lucian.”
Raiden caught her chin in his hands, the golden flare of the Other luminescent in his eyes. “Mine, Lia. Not his. Mine.”