Chapter 13: Chapter 13

An eerie, silent wind blew through his hair when Ben turned into the driveway. A cold shiver shot through him as he climbed down from the carriage and tied the horse to the post.

The screen door to his parent’s kitchen was the only skin-crawling sound as it screeched when he opened it. The metallic stench of blood was thick in the air, along with the spent fumes from the oil lamp that barely flickered over the table. “Momma? Dad? Where are you?”

The cool plaster of the wall on the stairway made the thumping of his pulse even more pronounced as he pressed himself against it and the prickly hairs on his arms stood on end.

The bedroom door swept open before him, and he stepped across the threshold where his parents’ butchered bodies lay on the floor, and he clutched at the doorframe to keep steady.

He inched out of the room and stumbled down the stairs, then threw his shoulder into the door. He burst out onto the ground as Imara’s screams pleaded with him from the cottage. “Ben, please help me!”

Stuttering and struggling to spit the words out of his dry lips, Ben wrestled with the dirt below him before he made it to his feet. “Imara! Baby, I’m coming!”

No matter how hard he willed his legs to move or how fast he swung his arms, he couldn’t get to the tiny four-room house quick enough. The dark spirits pleaded for him to take notice of the scene unfolding, but all he could think of was Imara.

Approaching the house, his heart was a cluttered jumble of rhythms, and his hand trembled when he pressed it against the half-open door.

A faceless man wearing a black cloak straddled his wife’s pregnant belly as her blood spread across the floor underneath them.

Sensing Ben in the doorway, the man rose to his feet and looked back over his shoulder. The bone-handled blade was wiped clean on his cloak as he strolled to Ben, then he plunged it into his chest. “How much pain can you endure, Ben? Well, we shall see.”

“No!” The stabbing, gnashing pain ripped through his soul, and Ben shot up in bed, his hand clinging to his chest as he fought to catch his breath.

Suddenly realizing his wife wasn’t next to him, his whole body broke into a tremor as he frantically darted his eyes over the room. The thin, knit blanket was like a slab of cement as he fought to free himself from it. “Imara! Baby, where are you?”

Hearing him crash to the floor, she rushed through the kitchen to find him coming through the door, naked as the day he was born. “Go back in there and put on some drawers.”

His arms were around her before she finished her sentence, and her hands slid up to his cheeks. “What is it? Did you have a nightmare or something?”

With his chin pressed against her forehead, his chest shuddered against her as he rocked her back and forth. “Baby, it was awful. I was so scared.”

She pulled away and tucked his messy hair behind his ears as she examined the worry on his face. “What happened? Tell me.”

He bit the inside of his lip and shook his head as he tried to fight away the vision of Imara on the floor right beside where they stood now. “No. Just a dream, that’s all.”

“So, are we having another go this morning, or were you going to work?” Her eyes fell between their bodies, and she poked at his cock with her fingertip. “Because your friend here looks like he wants to say hello to me again, and, to be honest, I’d love to invite him in for a while.”

Even though he wanted nothing more than to take her up on the suggestion, he groaned and rested his hands on her shoulders as he peeled himself away. “Don’t think I wouldn’t rather stay in bed with you for the next week or so making house calls to you, but I got cows to milk.”

Her fingers wrapped around him, and she pressed her lips to his chest, and he decided right then that everything else in the world would have to take a number. Imara was the only thing that mattered anymore. “Fuck it.”

An arm wrapped around her waist and tossed her over his shoulder. “I got my own critter that needs her titties handled.”

She giggled as she bounced around on the way to the bedroom. “Ben! You put me down right this instant!”

A hot hand smacked against her ass cheek. “Oh, I will in a minute.”

He flung her on the bed and climbed between her legs as he hovered over her. Starting at the soft curve of her belly, he left no unloved space as he kissed his way up her body.

With his fingers wrapped around her chin, he pushed it aside and continued pressing his lips against her skin until he met her mouth.

In all her life, Imara never felt so safe and loved as she did wrap up underneath Ben’s muscular body. The warm musky scent of balsam seeped from his skin, and she breathed him deeply into her memory.

His fiery breath covered Imara’s face, and an ache ignited in the deepest, most secret places inside her.

A hand slinked down to her soft curly mound, then rubbed circles on her as he continued to weave his wet, soft lips and tongue with hers.

Imara moaned in his mouth, and time stood still for Ben. So lost in becoming one with her, the universe faded away. He lingered above the only thing that he ever desired in his life, and nothing else existed.

His lips grazed her face, and her eyes fluttered closed when the blissful peace washed over her as his hips moved up and down.

When she cried out against his cheek, Ben wrapped his arm around the back of her neck and braced his other against the bed while he grunted and drove into her harder.

She shuddered under him, and her thirsty body squeezed out the last drops as Ben sunk his teeth into her neck. The sounds of her whimpers vibrated against Ben’s teeth while the wolf growled a warning that she belonged to only him now.

His essence surged through her veins and took over control of the witch’s body while she collapsed helplessly into the bed.

With his head resting against his hand, he pushed her hair away from her neck as he admired his mark. “When you’re feeling better, you can be mad at me if you want. I deserve it; I should have warned you first.” A sigh came from his chest that made his heartache when her tears of pain fell down her cheek, and he wiped them away. “You’ll be alright, I promise, but I think Shaw might actually kill me for this.”

Her tired eyes bobbed up and down as they tried to focus on him. “I won’t say a word.”

“Let me show you something, though.” His fingertips crossed his bite, and Imara’s hips dug into the bed as soft gasps fell from her lips. “Yeah, that’s not so bad now, is it? That should help with the pain for a little while.”

His lips pressed against her hand, then his fingers patted against the mattress. “Alright, let’s straighten you out.”

Little moans came from her lips as Ben slid a gown over her, then placed pillows under her head and arms. “You’re probably going to sleep for a while. I’ll come to check on you as much as I can, and I’ll get Momma to come to sit with you.”

A finger lifted into the air and motioned for him to come closer. Happy that she didn’t appear to be angry, he dug his knee into the bed and hovered over her body. “Yes, Baby?”

She pointed to her lips, and Ben lowered his mouth to hers. “Is that what you wanted?” When she nodded and closed her eyes, he pushed her hair off her face. “I’ll be back soon. Don’t you go nowhere?”