A Howling Heart
Chapter ten

A gentle swaying motion rouses me from sleep. There's no more pain, just the rocking and the deep breaths of whoever is holding me. I sigh gently, fingers spreading against the firm surface.

Wait.

My fingers meet the familiar soft chest hair and masculine scent.

Am I being carried?

Not by my mom.

Unless, am I dead?

"I will not let you die."

It is him!

I slowly pry my eyes open, the tattooed flesh of his chest and shoulder coming into view. My cheeks are warm. I've been gently stroking his chest.

Did Matias come? He saved me? "How?"

Matias sighs, his grip tightening on me. He continues walking, but I can't fully see my surroundings. The sky is only slightly lit as morning slowly settles in, but the cool air slides over my exposed flesh, causing goosebumps. I hope it's the air causing the goosebumps. Not the way we're touching or the pulsing heat from his skin that makes my head foggy.

I firm my lips, a million questions on my tongue, but I don't know how to organize them enough to say something. I don't know why he's carrying me or where. Nor why I'm so calm as he is, but somehow I know I'm safe with him. How did he even find me? Or know I was in trouble?

I swallow the saliva pooling on my tongue.

I swear to god he can read my mind. It sounds wild, but ever since we moved here, crazier things have happened than have happened since I was born.

I laugh inwardly. Matias stiffens.

"I know you want to ask me something."

Just his voice... does things to me.

It makes me dizzy.

The deep cadence also makes me yearn for him, but I don't want to acknowledge that, especially within his arms.

"Deus malum sit! Ask me."

His dominance evokes a growl from my lips that I smack my hand over my mouth to cover. I'm startled when his chest shakes with deep laughter before his voice softens. "Fae. Vos anima mea. Ask me anything." "Why did you save me? How did you know I needed someone?"

"You needed me," He states matter-of-factly, and the certainty makes me quizzical.

That's awfully cocky.

"You? What are you talking about? I was at home... How did you even know what was happening?"

He's silent. The silence isn't unproductive. I feel his contemplation. It's a tension in his grip that shifts my body slightly away from him.

I guess 'ask me anything' is a little bit of a stretch now, isn't it?

"We are connected."

I didn't expect him to answer. Now that he has, I feel even more confused. I twist my neck, attempting to get a feel for my surroundings. By the trees, the smell of moss, the crunch of leaves, we must be in the forest. "W-where are you taking me?"

"Home."

"What?" My tongue goes dry, and I begin to wriggle in his grasp. "My home is the other way..."

Is he going to hurt me? He's taking me in the woods. I don't even know the guy, and he's kidnapped me! "Ventura interrogate me fides? Regina meis. I will never hurt you. Nor will I let anyone lay a hand on you." Intense...

My need to know why is loud. A monstrous thought that invades my mind and pushes everything else out. "Why?"

"Because..."

My eyes move to the clearing of trees that surround a giant mansion.

"You are mine. Body, mind and soul."

His.

I test that word on my tongue. "Yours."

"Yes."

"How? You just met me..." I peer up at him, inhaling a sharp breath when his eyes level with mine, and I get a full view of their darkness, but they aren't black. They're a deep red. Like the blood that pools in the body after death. It's so dark it deceives the naked eye into thinking it's black. His eyes rattle me.

"You've been my destiny from the moment you were born."

I have no clue what he is talking about. Maybe he's crazy?

"You will see."

My foreboding anxiety makes my chest tight.

"You think I'm lying?"

I nibble anxiously on my lip.

"Feel." He hisses the command. "Place your hand over my heart."

Hesitantly, I lift my hand, wanting to appease his expectations of me. I settle my hand over his chest.

"Calm. I have no reason to lie to you."

"I will need more of an explanation."

He snickers, and like his laugh, I'm alarmed by the humor.

He doesn't seem like one to enjoy jokes.

"My life is devoid of much amusement."

Well, that doesn't seem like a life worth living.

"It does have a purpose, though: To lead. To protect." He clears his throat. "And that is enough."

After a few more minutes, he closes the distance between me and the house, climbing the steps and moving to the front door. "Can you walk?"

I don't know. I just hope the pain doesn't come back.

"The pain's gone."

Mind reader.

"I am."

What?

I realize I didn't say that aloud.

"What? Can you hear what I'm thinking?"

Matias ignores me and lowers my legs to the ground. "If you cannot walk, do not hesitate to tell me. I will carry you, Fae."

I don't understand where this need to take care of me has come from or why I've even let a stranger guide me into the woods, but somehow, I trust that he will keep his word and keep me safe. This is so unusual.

I test my weight on my feet, releasing his arm, and watch as he wades into the house-the muscles in his back ripple with each step. The longer my gaze lingers on them, the more I come to admire him.

So manly.

I can only imagine....

Unwarranted images of him and me locked in a passionate embrace fill my head, and he stops a few feet ahead of me, his fingers flexing until his hands are closed fists and he's breathing deeply.

"Fae..." His warning tone doesn't knock the thoughts out of my head, and they only heighten with the way he utters my name. He says it passionately, like he would have if he had completely surrendered to our shared desire. "Oh, Fae."

I love the way he says my name... and I know I shouldn't.

I imagine those powerful hands gliding along my bare skin, contouring each voluptuous ridge and edge, until he's committed my body, heart, and soul into his memory to indulge in any time he thought of me.

"Your thoughts are too distracting. We aren't even in the bedroom yet."

A bedroom...

A treacherous moan leaves my lips, and I feel a feathery touch along my jaw. But no one was touching me, and the feeling came out of nowhere, and yet, I let it take over, stroking my neck, moving downward as if there were fingers actually touching me intimately.

"Oh wow!"

He whips around, his chest pronounced with heavy breaths. My gaze greedily drinks in his sculpted pecs, the rigid abs and downward until I get to that sweet passion I know he has reserved for me. This is all new to me. I'm still a virgin.

"Intactus. No man will ever have you but me." He stalks toward me, his erection swaying in his jeans. Its length is shocking. Mid-thigh. "No man will be inside this sweet little flower. Only my shaft will feel you blossom and drool that nectar all over me."

Where did he learn such dirty things?

My cheeks heat from his words, eyelids fluttering closed out of embarrassment. I gasp from his hand, moving to my chin, tilting my head until he commands me.

"Look at me. Show me those innocent eyes." I slowly open my eyes, aware of how close he is and how his heat ignites my entire being.

"So naive... I will wipe that away. And then you will fully be mine." He strokes my bottom lip softly, and the feeling makes my nerve endings fire.

"I'd like that."

"Not until it's time to have you."