In the Flesh

  She arched like a bow as her climax rocked her. Her pussy convulsed around him, milking him, rippling along his plunging cock. He held her captive with his gaze, watching her come apart with tangible masculine satisfaction, flooding her greedy body with violent spurts of white hot semen.

  “Katie,” he gasped. “Katie…”

  Shuddering, he wrapped himself around her and buried his damp face in her neck.

  As Wulf pulled free of Katie’s body, she whimpered in her sleep. He understood the loss she felt because he felt it as keenly. His response was disturbing. He’d never felt the desire to linger in a woman once his physical needs were met. What would be the point?

  With Katie, the point was simple—it was an undeniable claim. She couldn’t belong to anyone else when his body was inside hers.

  Frustrated by the emotional remnants of the encounter, Wulf stood with the intent to reengage the Guardian, but his legs faltered beneath him. She’d sapped his energy and will to leave. He had never climaxed so hard in his life.

  He looked at her now, still spread on her back, lost in sleep. Impatient, he waited for the strength to return to his limbs so he could dress and return to his life in D’Ashier.

  She turned, curling onto her side, unconsciously seeking his warmth. Her sun-kissed skin was flushed from his ardor, her hair tangled all around her. She sighed his name.

  “Katie.” Without thought, his hand extended toward her.

  Even now, he wanted her. Wanted to hold her close and share the warmth she was seeking.

  Clenching his outstretched hand into a fist, Wulf pushed to his feet and retrieved his pants. He drew them on, tied the drawstring, and refused to look at the bed as he twisted the face of his signet ring. Instantly he stood on the transfer pad of his palace in D’Ashier.

  His eyes burned, but he told himself it was caused by exhaustion and the relief of being home.

  Chapter 7

  Sapphire awoke and reached her arms over her head, her legs stiffening in a full body stretch. She winced at the soreness that plagued various parts of her body, but her mouth curved in a feline smile. Wulf had been a dominant lover, but his touch was so gentle, his focus so completely on her pleasure, that she relished the experience.

  Turning her head to the side, she expected to find Wulf beside her, but he wasn’t there. Frowning, Sapphire lifted her head to search the shadows of the room.

  “Guardian?”

  “Yes, Mistress?”

  “Glad to have you back. Open the drapes.” The gold velvet parted, letting sunlight drench the room. She blinked, hurrying her blurry eyes in their adjustment to the brightness.

  “Wulf?”

  There was no reply.

  “His Highness is no longer in the residence.”

  Wulf had left, just as he’d promised.

  Sapphire swung her legs over the side of the bed and paused a moment to collect her thoughts. She would have to relegate Wulf to a distant corner of her memory. They’d shared a stolen moment and indulged in temporary pleasures. Now, it was time to move on.

  Easier said than done, she realized as her eyes began to sting. She held on to the edge of the mattress as she dropped gingerly to her feet. The tightness in her chest made breathing difficult, and she forced herself to inhale deeply and exhale slowly.

  “Should I send for a mästare?”

  “No. I’m fine.”

  A moment later the doors to her room slid open. Rapidly becoming accustomed to a computer that did whatever it wanted, Sapphire reached for a sheet to cover herself. “I told you—”

  “Good morning, Sleepyhead.”

  She paused at the sound of the familiar, deeply commanding voice and stared at the man who filled the doorway.

  Wulf’s smile weakened her knees. “I was going to feed you breakfast in bed.”

  Relief flooded her and Sapphire found herself sinking to the floor.

  He was kneeling before her in an instant, lifting her chin with gentle fingertips. “Are you crying?”

  She shook her head violently and scrubbed at her eyes.

  His grin turned roguish. “You missed me.”

  “You weren’t gone long enough to miss you.”

  Scooping her up in his arms, he draped her in the red silk robe waiting on the dresser and headed out to the atrium courtyard. “Liar.”

  “Arrogant bastard.”

  “Ah, Katie, I love the way you talk to me.”

  “Because you’re too used to having women kissing your—”

  He cut her off with a quick, hard kiss.

  Turning away, she buried her face in his neck to hide her smile and breathed in the scent of his skin. “You broke your word.”

  “I said I would leave today and I will, but the day is still young. We have hours left.” He nuzzled his cheek against her hair. “Now open the door.”

  She raised her head and saw they were standing in front of the healing room. The lock pad disengaged with a wave of her hand. “Why are we here?”

  His emerald gaze was hot; the intimate timbre of his voice was hotter. “Because you have to be sore after last night.”

  As he lowered her to her feet, heat suffused her cheeks. She, the most famous courtesan in Sari, was blushing. It was an outward sign of how deeply intimate their lovemaking had been.

  Sapphire felt like a new woman, when she exited the healing chamber moments later. Wulfric waited with an outstretched hand, and when she accepted it, he led her out to the courtyard.

  “Let’s bathe together,” he suggested when they passed the bubbling outdoor pool. “Then we’ll spend the rest of the day in bed.”

  “Is this an exercise in making our parting as difficult as possible?” She descended the steps and sank into the hot, steaming water.

  He reached for the drawstring of his pants. “Will it be difficult for you?”

  Sapphire was contemplating the best way to answer when Dalen came running through the courtyard, startling them both. Without a word, he grabbed Wulfric’s arm and started to drag him away.

  “What are you doing?” Wulf asked, remaining rooted.

  “Come, Your Highness.” Dalen’s face was grave. “We must hide you. Now!”

  “Mistress. Forgive me,” the Guardian said in hushed evening tones.

  Instantly apprehensive, Sapphire looked at Wulf. “Go. Hide yourself.”

  The anxiety in her tone prodded Wulfric to move. He allowed Dalen to pull him behind a thick patch of vegetation. Then, Dalen pivoted and ran a few feet away to prostrate by the pool.

  Moving on instinct, Sapphire leaped from the pool and folded into a low bow. There were only two people for whom such deference would be paid. Neither was someone she wished to see.

  Not now.

  “Karisette.”

  Her eyes squeezed shut at the sound of the king’s voice.

  “I told your Guardian to keep my arrival a surprise. I knew you would be as pleased to see me as I am to see you. Rise. I’ve missed you.”

  Stunned, she stood and met his gaze. “Welcome, my king.”

  Wulf watched through the cover of man-sized fern fronds as the King of Sari approached Katie with covetous eyes. Two dozen royal guards entered behind the monarch and spread out to encircle the atrium, their deep blue uniforms embellished with gold threads that glimmered in the sunlight.

  The six royal guards who lived with Katie wore silver thread—apparently, the queen’s guards. An interesting development.

  As Wulf watched Katie become enfolded in the arms of the king, envious fury filled him. Earlier that morning, when he’d returned to his own palace, he had intended never to see her again. But the thought of her naked in bed, her skin scented of his sweat and flushed by his passion, had been irresistible. Just a few more hours, he’d thought. More time with her would dull the most biting edge of his craving.

  Now, watching her with her former lover and burning with jealousy, he knew he’d deluded himself. He couldn’t leave her in the grip of another m
an. Not when it would be so easy to claim her, to make her irrevocably his, to have her near at hand whenever he felt the need to touch her.

  He’d been truthful when he told the Guardian that he could give Katie more than the king had—in bed and out. She would want for nothing as his concubine and she would be restored to the position she’d recently lost, a position she had trained years for. Of course, there was the matter of logistics and familial ties…But he would benefit there, as well.

  Katie’s throaty voice drifted to him, and Wulf clenched his fists. Her beautiful curves were bared to the king’s ravenous gaze. Regardless of the contingent of guards around her, Wulf was dangerously goaded to leap from his hiding spot and cover her, shielding her from any other eyes but his own.

  “My king, what brings you to me?” she asked.

  “My heart.” The monarch dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around Katie’s hips, burying his face in the tautness of her stomach as if she were the ruler and he the servant.

  Wulf’s reaction to the sight was not what he would have expected. Instead of seeing the king’s affection as a vulnerability, he saw it as a threat.

  Katie’s fingers drifted into the king’s tousled blond hair. She crooned so softly Wulf couldn’t hear what she said.

  The king urged her down, and when she sank to her knees, the monarch pushed her onto her back and climbed over her.

  Wulf lunged forward, but was restrained by a desperate grip.

  He’d been so focused on the scene before him, he’d failed to notice Dalen moving stealthily into position behind him. The guards, too, were riveted by the unfolding drama.

  The mästare shook his head and mouthed, They’ll kill you.

  Wulf was prepared to take the risk regardless, but he was arrested by Katie’s outraged cry.

  The king, equally stunned, was easily thrown from her.

  “You must return to your queen now, Your Majesty.” Leaping to her feet, Katie backed away, her arms wrapped around her naked body.

  “You think I haven’t tried?” He rose to his feet in a ripple of sapphire blue robes and seething frustration. “I’ve tried everything—total darkness, your perfume and bath oil, aphrodisiacs. Nothing works. She has no passion, no fire, and she arouses none in me.” He held his hand out to her beseechingly. “I ache for you.”

  The rigidness of her shoulders softened. “I’m sorry.”

  “Come to me,” the king ordered.

  She shook her head.

  “I am the king.”

  “With a duty to your people.”

  “What of your duty to me? I have loved you to the exclusion of everyone else for the last five years. You belong to me, Sapphire.”

  “I was contracted to you. You never owned me.”

  The king’s gaze narrowed. “Our contract is void. You must come to me of your own free will. Come now.”

  “No.”

  “You deny me?”

  “Yes,” Katie said simply.

  “You love me,” he stated. “You’re angry with me for setting you aside.”

  “How could I love you, my king? You belong to one woman and are in love with another, and I am neither of them.”

  “It will never be over between us.” The king began to pace with a powerful, agitated stride. “If I must court you anew, I will. If I must bend you”—he jabbed a finger in her direction—“I will. Whatever it takes, Sapphire.”

  Katie dipped her head in an elegant acknowledgment of his threat. “You will do as you wish, Your Majesty.”

  He glared at her for a long, tension-filled moment, then spun in a flurry of robes and stormed away, the guardsmen filing out behind him.

  A moment later, the Guardian advised, “His Majesty has departed, Mistress.”

  Dalen released Wulf just as Katie sank to the ground.

  Wulf went to her. “If you hadn’t stopped him, I would have.”

  Dropping to his haunches beside her, he tried to pull her into his arms, but she recoiled. He frowned. “Don’t be afraid. No one will take you against your will.”

  She didn’t meet his gaze when she spoke. “Go home, Your Highness. The Guardian has the information you’ll need to cross the border safely and she will arrange your transportation.”

  Wulf yanked her toward him. “Talk to me.”

  “I’m no longer in the mood to take you to bed,” she said without inflection. “You should go.”

  He tensed, insulted. “Don’t punish me for another man’s faults.”

  Katie opened her mouth to argue and he took it, gripping her by the elbows and lifting her to meet him halfway.

  For endless moments she hung motionless in his arms, her lips unmoving beneath his. He changed tactics, revealing his need in soft, deliberate licks. Soft, coaxing sounds rumbled from his throat. He rubbed his furred chest against the softness of her breasts until her nipples peaked hard, and strained for his touch. He obliged, lifting one hand to cup the full flesh, his thumb and forefinger tugging the taut point in just the way she liked.

  Katie surrendered. She opened her mouth to him with a growl of hunger, sharing a passion so potent it enslaved kings and princes alike. Wulf’s tongue swept inside and tangled with hers.

  His hands cupped her buttocks and pulled her into his lap. She whimpered. He tore his lips from hers, pressed her to the ground, and settled between her spread thighs.

  Wulf gazed down at her flushed features and sad eyes, and asked, “How can you send me away after last night?”

  “You act as if there’s a choice, as if there’s an option for us to be together. You know there isn’t.”

  “I know I want more. So do you.” He suckled and nipped along the column of her throat. Rolling his hips, he urged the hard length of his cock between the damp lips of her pussy.

  He didn’t want her thinking right now. He didn’t want to think right now. It was impossible to want something this badly and not have it.

  “The time when we could’ve walked away has passed, Katie.”

  “You would give up your kingdom and your freedom for sex?” she argued in a husky voice. “You’re not the man I thought you were.”

  Wulf lifted his head to meet her gaze. “I wouldn’t give up D’Ashier for my life. But you…Nothing you have is truly yours, not even your body. The king can come for you at any time. You’ll never be free as long as you stay here.”

  Katie snorted. “Don’t act as if life with you would be better. I wouldn’t be free with you either. You would treat me just as he does. You are no different.”

  “I am entirely different, because you crave me and what I can do to your body. I see the way you look at me, I feel the way you touch me.” His mouth lowered to her ear. “I promised I’d leave today. And so I shall.”

  His tongue swirled around the shell of her ear. “But I’m taking you with me.”

  “My father would hunt you down,” Sapphire snapped, “and finish what the mercs started. The king would use my abduction to incite a call to arms. All hell would break loose—”

  “If they knew where you were,” he murmured, “you might have a point.”

  Wulf’s hands moved together at the side of her neck and suddenly the ground beneath her back was cold. Startled, her head jerked to the side, her wide eyes taking in her surroundings. She was pinned beneath him on a transfer pad; her atrium and the familiar surroundings of her home were gone. Panicked, she noted the shield on the wall and recognized the same crest that embellished Wulf’s signet ring—the D’Ashier royal family crest.

  “I’m going to kick your ass,” she bit out.

  Wulfric shielded her with his body until a servant came forward bearing a thick talgorite-red velvet robe, then he rose and covered her. Gaining a seated position, Sapphire clutched the rich material to her breasts. Royal guardsmen dressed in red and gold uniforms lined the walls of the transfer room. As they prostrated themselves respectfully, she realized that Wulfric’s return had been expected, as evidenced by the ready ava
ilability of the royal garment she was draped in.

  “What the hell have you done?” she breathed.

  He extended his hand to her. Sapphire ignored it, jumping to her feet and deliberately leaving the robe on the floor.

  Stepping in front of her, Wulf blocked her nakedness from the guards behind him. He kicked up the robe with his bare foot, caught it in his hand, and held it out to her. “Cover yourself.”

  Her chin lifted. “No.”

  He moved so quickly, she had no time to avoid him. Within the space of a gasp, Wulfric had her swaddled in his royal robes and tossed over his shoulder.

  “Damn you, Wulf.” She struggled to free her arms. “You’re starting to piss me off!”

  He ignored her. Moving toward the exit, he barked orders en route. “Send a platoon to the return coordinates. I’ve adjusted the Guardian system to allow transfers from this pad’s signature, so you’ll have to instigate the engagement from here. Collect the servants and guards, and bring them to D’Ashier. Retrieve the home’s computer chip—undamaged. Nothing and no one that would betray my recent presence in Sari can be left behind.”

  Sapphire screamed in frustration. “Put. Me. Down. Before I hurt you.”

  Wulfric’s voice rose to drown out hers.

  She bit him.

  He swatted her buttocks with his free hand. “Stop that.”

  “You know you can’t do this, you arrogant ass!”

  She felt laughter rumble through him and saw the shocked expressions on the faces of his men. She glared at them.

  “Tell the king I have returned.” He strode toward the door. “But I am not to be disturbed until tomorrow.”

  Wulf cupped her backside possessively. “I’ll be busy a while.”

  Wulf’s long-legged stride ate up the seemingly endless length of white stone hallway with ease. The guards stationed at various intervals bowed at the waist as he passed, their eyes wide as they stared at Katie squirming and swearing loudly over his shoulder. She had the vocabulary of a hardened soldier and she didn’t hesitate to use it. He’d never been so verbally abused in his life. Coming from Katie, he found he enjoyed it immensely.