Bound

or whoever the hell can negotiate a little trade agreement.”

  The goblin’s face approximated a version of friendly. He still

  looked like he wanted to eat her, but he was obviously impressed with

  her as well. He looked at Cian who was openly gaping at his bride.

  “Have the Seelies finally found a decent queen?”

  Cian walked forward and took her hand once more. “Remember

  that she is the Queen.”

  The goblin scratched his belly and gestured around the forest. “I

  don’t think she’s the queen of much yet, sidhe.”

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  “She is my wife and my brother’s wife.” Cian seemed much surer

  now. “That is all that matters. Beckett Finn might have lost his throne,

  but he did not lose his sword. Remember that, unless you want to feel

  it in your back when he avenges her.”

  Meg smiled fiercely. She walked up to the goblin. “Beck won’t

  need to avenge me, Ci. Goblin Boy and I have an understanding.

  Don’t we?”

  The goblin bowed, but only slightly. “Yes, Your Highness. I have

  come to realize you are insane and a little vicious, and you can handle

  your liquor. I respect that. Come, the chief will be interested in

  meeting you.”

  Cian’s hand tightened around hers. He leaned over to whisper in

  her ear. “He is right about the insane part, my lover. I hope goblins

  like cookies, or you might find yourself being eaten as a snack.”

  She grinned and leaned back to her nervous hubby. It was time to

  give him a reason to believe they would live. “Ci, I’m saying yes

  tonight.”

  Cian gave her a short, hard kiss and then pulled her along to

  follow the goblin. “Let’s get this over with, then. Tonight starts early

  today, my lover, and I promise I’m the only thing eating you this

  day.” The goblin was looking back at them. Cian’s face became

  gorgeously arrogant. “Lead on, goblin. I want to get this over with.

  I’ve got better things to do with my day.”

  * * * *

  Three hours later, the chief of the goblin clan burped and slapped

  Cian on the shoulder. He was incredibly drunk. “Tell that brother of

  yours we’re ready to negotiate.” It came out in a low growl. The

  goblin’s eyes were watery, but serious. His hand reached out and

  tugged on Cian’s shirt. “But I have to ask you to leave your queen at

  home. She is unreasonable.”

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  Cian wanted to laugh, but was diplomatic enough to keep his face

  straight. He looked into the goblin chief’s eyes and tried to convey a

  kingly presence. “I can’t promise you anything. The queen is

  formidable, as you have seen. I can only promise that you will get

  your ten dozen cookies tomorrow.”

  “I’ll have them ready, damn it,” Meg said irritably.

  She clutched the two pounds of coffee grounds she’d gotten for

  her basket of cookies. She was jittery because she had sat with the

  goblin chieftain, matching him shot for shot until the goblin had

  finally fallen out of his chair.

  Cian had been amazed at how much she could drink. Somewhere

  in there, the goblin chief had asked for her hand in marriage. Cian had

  been forced to pull a knife to persuade the chief that he wasn’t willing

  to give up his claim on his wife.

  “Make sure you do.” The goblin chief looked longingly at the

  empty basket.

  The cookies had gone quickly. After the first had been tried,

  negotiations had begun at a swift pace. Meg had been hard-nosed.

  Cian had actually felt a little bad for the goblins. He could have told

  them that Meg had a backbone of pure steel.

  She had held out for two pounds of coffee, a bolt of some sort of

  blue fabric she called satin, a six-pack of something she called Dr

  Pepper, and a pair of brown boots she said reminded her of Uggs.

  Cian didn’t know what Uggs were, but the boots looked warm.

  Altogether, it had been a phenomenally good deal.

  Cian would have been really impressed if he hadn’t been so damn

  sexually frustrated. His wife handled the goblins with pure diplomatic

  grace. She had known when to be charming and when to beat the

  goblins over the head with her fists. She had negotiated to give the

  goblins a second shipment of cookies in exchange for a set of sheets.

  She was very excited about the thread count. Cian didn’t know what

  that meant. The other part of the deal was something she had

  designated as a player to be named later. Again, nothing Cian

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  understood, but if it got him out of these caves and into her bed, he

  would support the deal all day long.

  He was supposed to be the intellectual half. He should have been

  extremely interested in the negotiations. But today, he couldn’t take

  his eyes off his wife’s breasts. He was going to see them, touch them,

  get them in his mouth. His cock swelled again, and Cian had had

  enough.

  “I am very interested in chocolate,” Meg was saying to the small

  goblin who served as a clerk. He was writing down the Seelie

  Queen’s demands. “It’s sweet and brown. You’ll find it in bars. It’s

  bitter in powder form. I’ll take that, too. Surely, some other plane has

  to have discovered chocolate.”

  “I will ask around, Your Highness,” the goblin promised.

  Cian reached over and took his wife’s hand. If he let her, she

  would stand here all day negotiating. She was a little drunk on her

  own power. She was getting more confident. It was wonderful for her

  to discover her power, but he didn’t give a shit. He wanted to discover

  her pussy, and he’d been sitting in a dank goblin cave for hours

  wondering when his hard-on was going to get relief.

  “I will let my brother know you request our attendance when he

  returns.” Cian managed a courtly nod of his head. “I expect him to

  return by the end of next week. I assume you will be staying here for

  a while?”

  The goblin chieftain staggered to his massive feet. His eyes were

  sleepy. “Yes, Your Highness. We will stay while there is trade to be

  had.”

  “Well, we need to discuss a deal for you to distribute my baked

  goods,” Meg began with an entrepreneurial gleam in her eye. He

  knew that look. It would cost him another hour if he let her get

  started.

  “And we can do that at a later date,” Cian said, hauling her bodily

  out of the cave. “Good day to you.”

  Meg blinked in the light of day. “Hey, I wasn’t through in there.”

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  Cian strode forward, pulling her behind him. “Yes, you are, my

  lover.”

  It was far past time to make her his wife in every sense of the

  word.

  * * * *

  Meg looked back at the caves where the smaller goblin children

  were standing, looking at her longingly. They raised their little

  gnarled hands in sad goodbyes.

  At one point, while Cian had done some manly sort of thing with

  the chieftain, she had found herself surrounded by the goblin
children

  and their mothers. Meg had won them over with cookies and stories.

  She had rapidly discovered that all faery creatures loved stories.

  The sidhe children liked heroic stories, so she had been telling

  them the plot line from Star Wars by the village fire at night. The goblins were a bit more blood-thirsty. She told them Nightmare on

  Elm Street. They didn’t get that Freddy Kruger wasn’t the hero of the piece.

  “I was having fun.” She waved to the little goblins. She had to

  wave with the boots she was holding because Cian wouldn’t let her

  free hand go.

  He turned to her. “Now it’s my turn. I heard a yes, Meggie. I told

  you, a yes changes everything.”

  Meg grinned at him. “I said I intended to say yes, Ci. I didn’t

  actually say it.”

  Cian stopped in the middle of the forest, and when he turned to

  her, Meg almost took a step back. The playful, flirty man she had

  gotten to know over the last days was gone. In his place was a man

  who didn’t look like he would take no for an answer.

  His eyes were dark as he stared at her. “What are you saying,

  Meg? Think carefully before you answer, my lover. I might not be my

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  brother, but I assure you, right now, I’m feeling a bit of his rage. If you’re telling me no, then I need to get away from you.”

  Everything in her softened. She had pushed him hard over the last

  week. In some ways, she had made him pay for her anger with his

  brother. Meg stepped into his arms and let her packages fall to the

  forest floor.

  “Yes, Cian,” she said, loving the feel of his body pressed to hers.

  She had slept beside him each night, taking his comfort and

  holding herself apart from him. Every single night she started out

  telling herself she would stay away from him, and every night she

  ended up wrapped in his arms.

  She was done with pretending. She wanted to know Cian in every

  way possible.

  Cian acted as though his leash had been thrown away. He pulled

  her into the hardness of his body, pressing his swollen cock against

  her belly as he kissed her roughly. He rubbed against her and seemed

  a little out of control. The bond between them gave her his thoughts.

  He needed her in a way he had never needed another human being

  before. It made it so easy for her to submit to what he wanted. When

  he thrust his fingers in her hair and held her still, she didn’t fight him.

  She simply went passive beneath him and waited for his command.

  Her heart sped up as he stared at her like a starving man looking at a

  meal.

  “Open for me,” he growled as he took her mouth.

  Meg didn’t have to ask what he wanted. He wanted everything she

  had. She opened her mouth, and his tongue immediately invaded. She

  opened her mind and was swamped with his desire. It overwhelmed

  her. It made her groan in response. Her hand trailed down his chest,

  seeking that part of him that needed relief. She stroked him through

  the fabric of his pants.

  “Harder,” he commanded as his hands went straight for her

  nipples. He shoved the soft linen of her shirt aside, baring her breasts

  to the cool afternoon air. He looked down at her chest, his eyes eating

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  her up. “You’re gorgeous, wife of mine. Do you have any idea how

  long I’ve wanted you?”

  “Well, you’ve only known me for a week, Ci.”

  He cupped a breast, his hand skimming her sensitive skin. He

  leaned in and spoke to her. “Don’t joke now, Meggie. I’ve waited my

  whole life for this. I might not have known your face, but I knew you.

  You were made for me. Everything I’ve suffered through, I did it to

  bring you to me.”

  Tears welled in her eyes. She reached up and cupped his face.

  He’d gone through hell, and yet she had the distinct feeling he meant

  every word he said. He would go through it again if it brought them

  together. She suddenly realized that she would do the same. She

  would make all the same choices, go through the same pain if it meant

  standing here with this man.

  “I want to be your wife, Cian Finn. I am so proud to be your

  wife.”

  Her nipples were hard pebbles as he rolled them between his

  thumb and forefinger. He closed his eyes for moment as he cupped

  her breasts. She felt his deep satisfaction at the contact and knew he

  could sense how much she enjoyed it, too. He molded her breasts with

  one hand as he pulled her close with the other. He kissed her, his

  tongue singing with his need.

  Meg cupped her husband’s erection. She pressed against his cock

  as his hips moved helplessly against her hand. He was huge, and she

  could already feel his pre-cum beginning to seep from the slit, wetting

  his trousers. “Ci, we need to get home.”

  “No time,” he said. She found herself on her back looking up at

  the green canopy of trees. Cian towered over her. He started to work

  on the ties of his pants, his hands shaking slightly. His voice was

  perfectly clear, though. It was dark and rich and flowed over her with

  command. “Lift your skirts.”

  Meg struggled to sit up. He couldn’t mean to do this here. They

  were on a well-used trail. “Ci, we’re out in the open.”

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  She tried to be reasonable, but it was hard. He wasn’t guarding his

  thoughts. He was pushing them toward her. She could see an image of

  what he wanted to do to her, and it was dark and nasty and so

  tempting she wanted to cry. It made her wet and ready for him. He

  wanted to lie back in the grass and grip her hips. He wanted to skewer

  her with his cock. He wanted to pound into her so hard her breasts

  bounced. She could feel her pussy start to pulse, desperate to have

  him inside. His need had started an ache in her, but they weren’t that

  far from the goblin cave. Anyone could come walking along.

  “I said lift your skirts,” Cian growled. His beautiful face was

  slightly savage. He’d gotten his cock free, and he was his brother’s

  twin. Cian’s cock was huge. He stroked it as though trying to placate

  the monster. “I want to see my pussy. Megan, I won’t ask again. I

  won’t accept anything less than what you’re willing to give my

  brother. I’m in charge of this, and you’re going to obey. Is that

  understood?”

  He was trying to give her exactly what she’d said she wanted. He

  was trying to top her, and Meg responded. It felt good to chuck her

  inhibitions and concentrate on pleasing Cian. Meg spread her legs and

  pulled her skirt up. She wasn’t wearing underwear. It was so much

  easier because she could feel how much she pleased him. It radiated

  off of him.

  “You have a gorgeous pussy, Meggie mine. Now turn over and let

  me see that ass. I need to make a few things clear to you.”

  Meg had to force herself to breathe. She turned over, the grass soft

  under knees.

  “Higher, Meg. I want that ass in the air.”

  Meg leaned over, putting her face in the grass, f
orcing her

  backside high.

  His hand came down in a stinging slap. “That’s for keeping me

  waiting.”

  Meg had to smile. She’d disobeyed him all day, but she got that

  little slap for making him wait for sex. That was Cian.

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  “You won’t make me wait again.” Cian slapped her other cheek

  and then spread her wide. “Now, look at that, won’t you?”

  Meg hissed as Cian ran a fingertip around her anus. The pressure

  of his invasion felt dark and dirty. He pressed in.

  “I’m going to fuck you here, Meg. Not today, but eventually. I’m

  going to rub oil all over my cock, and I’ll fuck this asshole. And

  you’ll let me, won’t you?”

  Meg closed her eyes. He didn’t push his finger in very far, merely

  massaged the rim. “Yes, Cian. I’ll let you.”

  “Damn straight.” He pulled his finger out and slapped her ass

  again. “Now turn back over.”

  Meg rolled in the grass and immediately opened her legs so he

  could see his pussy.

  He looked down, and she could feel something inside him relax.

  She could guess what had worried him. He had probably been worried

  she wouldn’t respond to him as she had Beck.

  “I love you, Ci,” she said, and she meant it.

  If he was worried that she wouldn’t care about him the way she

  did his brother, then she needed to put that out of his mind. Cian had

  quickly become her anchor in this world.

  She had seen deep into his soul. It was ridiculous to try to hold

  herself apart from him. Cian’s soul was lovely and generous. He held

  back nothing. He had shown her the dark parts of himself. She knew

  he was jealous of how seriously everyone took Beck while they

  viewed his contributions as unnecessary. Cian had longed for his

  father to give him half the attention he lavished on Beck.

  “I love everything about you,” Meg said, pushing her emotion

  outward so he would know it was true.

  Cian fell upon her, done with any sort of play. “I love you,

  Meggie mine. Goddess, how I love you.”

  He was ferocious in his need, and Meg softened under him. His

  big body pushed her into the hard ground, but she didn’t care. She

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