Samuel's Pride: Hawk Part 10

"Sirs, there was a being at the gate. She had come through it before I could have it opened, had I wanted to, and is now on her way here. I have summoned Miss Kennedy and the others home. Master Stephen and Lady Clar are bringing them here now."

Halmar looked at Hawk to plead with him once again.

"No. You tell her, or there will be no bonding or whatever you call it. I won't lie to her or make a decision for her. She will know as much as you do or it's over." He started to walk away, and Halmar looked at Samuel. He knew then there would be no help from him. The man was practically beaming with pride.

Awnia watched as her mother and Rysdan came toward them. Awnia felt her body heat up with anger that Temptress couldn't just leave them alone. Who was Awnia bothering by being here? No one.

"You're not welcome here." She smiled at Hawk when he stepped off the deck to stand in front of Temptress. "Why don't you haul your nasty self back to where you came from and leave us alone? No one here wants a thing to do with you."

"Do you have any idea who you are addressing? I am Temptress, G.o.ddess of-"

Awnia nearly burst out laughing when Hawk cut her off. "Yeah, a G.o.ddess. So what. I don't care who you are or what you think you might be. I have a vampire, a bear, a lion, a wolf, and a dragon here that don't give a f.u.c.k who you are either. So as I said, get on back to where you came from." Temptress took a step in his direction, and Awnia stepped beside him.

"This is your mate?" Awnia was shocked by her question. Not what she'd asked, but that she claimed that Hawk was her mate. He really was her mate. "He's nothing."

"I think he's everything." Awnia looked around. "These people have come here to protect me. But I'm pretty sure that I can take care of you myself, can't I? Your magic is all but gone. And we both know why, don't we?"

"I am your sire. I...this man, this being, will not be your mate. I will not have it. I have told you before, daughter, that if you find one, I will destroy him."

"Like you tried to do to the male of his pride?" Awnia knew that Temptress was afraid now. She'd not known that she'd hurt a male. Killing a leader of any creature was against their laws. It was the same as trying to kill one of their own. "Samuel is only alive because I took you from him, the evilness that you put into his head. You would have killed his family, his pride, had you defeated him. Do you have any idea what his kind would do to you if they knew?"

"Like I care at all what some s.h.i.+fter thinks about what I do or don't do." But she did, and everyone there knew it, Awnia would bet. Samuel came to stand beside her and Hawk, and Temptress backed up. "He doesn't look any worse for wear. Perhaps you lie about this. Just to make me look bad."

"You've done that all by yourself. Looking bad...looking really bad seems to be what you do best. And I don't lie, unlike you." Temptress moved Rysdan in front of her, and Awnia smiled. "She has not the power to do what was done to the male. You know that as well as I do. And I told you, I took you from him. I know it was you."

"Lady Awnia, you mustn't think that I did anything but follow her rules. I'm not a bad person. I was just following her commands." Rysdan dropped to her knees as she continued. "I will serve you, my lady, for all time if you would spare me."

"No." Rysdan looked up at her as if she hadn't heard her. "You will not serve me...you'll not serve anyone. You are to be held over in accordance with the laws of our kind. Halmar will return you to the cells where Temptress found you."

As soon as she disappeared, Awnia took a step closer to Temptress. She wasn't afraid any longer. The time she'd spent with her father was coming back to her. The rules of their kind. The punishment of each crime. Temptress would never leave this world alive, but she would suffer greatly when she was no longer living.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you. You're nothing right now. You will die and I will rule."

Awnia knew what she had to do as Temptress continued, backing away as she spoke. When she was backed as far as she could get her, Awnia turned and looked at Hawk.

"You are my mate. My love. My heart. I give to you the piece of me that no other being will ever have. I entrust to you all that I am and all that I will ever be." The pain in her back had her look at her chest. The knife protruding through it made her ache and drop to her knees. "Russel Hawkmen, take what I offer you."

She saw her father move. The pain was taking her breath way, and she turned her head to look at Temptress. The look on her face was of joy. She thought that she had won. Going to her hands now, Awnia looked at Hawk. Her vision was blurring when she saw him take the medallion from his pocket and put it over his heart.

"I accept."

The power lifted her from the ground. She heard Temptress screaming, but not what she was saying. Her body burned with power, her heart pounding as it seemed to overwork with her blood. When she felt as if she might explode from it all, she was lifted higher still and felt arms wrap around her. Hawk held her as they were pulled into a heated vortex.

"I have you." His love wrapped around her as if they had been created to hold her. As they lowered to the ground, sparks of magic surrounding them and falling to the ground, Hawk kissed her, touching something so deep within her that she knew that he'd love her forever.

Their feet touched the ground and still he held her, his mouth fused to hers. When he lifted his head, his smile gave her the most amazing feeling. Love. She knew what it was-pure love.

"You think this changes anything?" They both turned to Temptress. "It changes nothing. You're still going to be destroyed by me."

"I think not." Hawk put out his hand and touched it to Temptress's forehead. She stiffened and tried to pull back from him, but it was as if she were being held in a bond. When Hawk took Awnia's hand into his, she knew through the connection that he was holding Temptress, and that everything she knew, all her memories, were being transferred to them. And none of them were good.

When she dropped to her knees, Hawk let Temptress go. She sat there for several moments before she looked up at them. There was nothing left in her. She looked as if she'd been drained, which Awnia supposed she had.

"I hate you."

For some reason Temptress's admission of her hatred for Awnia hurt her. Awnia knew that she had hated her all along, but to have it said aloud made it all the more real. Awnia had spent her entire life, decades and decades of her existence, on the run from her or someone she'd sent for her. But it still hurt her. There was no way now that she'd let her know.

"I've no love for you either. We've never been...I was going to say close, but had not Halmar found me when he did, you would have killed me as well." Temptress nodded and smiled. "You're going to pay for those crimes. You'll relive them all."

"They'll be but fond memories to me." She stiffened then, her back becoming ramrod straight and her arms stretched from her side. "They begin now. The first babe I tossed away. How it screamed as it fell to its death."

Awnia knew that, despite all she'd said, they were not fond memories for Temptress. The pain etched across her face said all that she was feeling...pain, horror, and even the last breath taken by the child. Over and over she felt it, each one a flash of harsh pain across her face. Suddenly, Halmar was standing in front of them.

"That's enough." When he moved, Temptress was gone. In her place was a circle of burnt earth that Awnia knew nothing would ever grow on again. Kneeling down to touch it, she felt not heat as she had expected, but cold. The ground was ice cold.

"As her heart was." She looked up at Halmar. "You should not have to witness her death. It is bad enough that she thinks this but a joke. I have sent her to the pit to die."

"Thank you." He nodded and walked away. Awnia leaned into Hawk as they stood in the yard alone. "You were right."

He laughed. "You'd probably do well to remember that I am always right. On most things, anyway."

Hawk continued to hold her until Yve came to them. She bowed low, then smiled when Hawk put out his hand for her. Another bow, and she looked around.

"The faerie would like to know if you will need them today. There is a matter of your magic, my lord and lady." Awnia asked her what she meant. "They have...there is...your magic is very powerful, and they wish to...they need to.... They wish to have s.e.x."

Awnia tried her best not to laugh. Yve was blus.h.i.+ng so red that she was sure that the reddest rose paled in comparison. Hawk, however, was not even trying, and he was laughing hard enough to shake the poor faerie.

"I have no problem with that. I'm curious as to why-"

Yve put up her hand and incredibly, her face heated more. "Do not ask me for details. We will have a profusion of babes born in a few weeks, and I will have to a.s.sign them work when they are ready to leave their nests." She growled low at Hawk when he laughed harder. "We already have over a hundred faerie to each plot of ground. They are to keep the flowers safe, water them with dew in the morn and night. There is barely enough work for them all to keep busy. I will have more than...what am I to do with them all?"

"Send them to our realm." Awnia turned when Halmar spoke beside them. "I can take as many as would like to go back with me. Can you have them ready in a few hours?" Yve nodded and thanked him. She was gone in seconds.

"You're going back?" He nodded at her, and Hawk walked away. "I thought you'd stay for a while. At least some time for us to visit."

"I must return and see to her." Awnia nodded. "But you...Hawk and you must come to live with us. There is no safe place for you here. Especially when you have children of your own. They will be sought after by all kinds of beings, simply for the little magic they are born with."

Awnia wanted to go home. To her home in the other realm. But she knew that leaving here would be hard on Hawk. He had so many friends here. His life was here. When Halmar said her name, she looked at him. He stared at her intently, as if he were looking deep within her.

"I'll speak with Hawk." He smiled and nodded. "I don't know what's to happen to us if we go there. I've no...there is nothing really there for me but you. I know no one, have no friends. I'm not even sure of the magic that I have now."

"You have a great deal more than either of us had to give you, I can see that now. Combined with your own magic, I would say that you're stronger than any other demi-G.o.d in our realm. Having a mate, one such as Hawk, has also given you a great deal more than we would have thought. You're very powerful. More so than I had.... If you stay here-and I hope that you'll think of coming with me-you could...I believe that the two of you could keep your children safer than we could."

"I do as well." He looked at the couple on the front deck. Samuel and his mate were leaving as well. "They have some of my magic too. I wonder if they know how much rained down on them when Hawk and I came together."

Everyone that had been in the yard when they were floating above them was sprinkled with magic. Even the child of Samuel was glowing with it. She looked at her father, Halmar, when he didn't say anything, but only stared at Samuel and Kennedy.

"They will be happy, I think, with the results of today. They are a couple deeply in love, and this will...this will only deepen their love for each other." Awnia told him of the faeries. "Ah, so that's what she meant when I happened upon you. I will take them back with me. There is a great shortage of magical beings such as them. I wondered for a long time if Temptress had anything to do with that."

She had, but Awnia didn't say anything to him. Temptress's memories were hers now. Every deed, small or large, was there for her to see. And Awnia knew that there was going to be a lot of work done in order to restore some of the things that had been nearly wiped out because of her.

As they made their way to the house, he told her what he was taking back with him and some of the things he would send her. Awnia was only half listening to him, and when he left, she went to find Hawk.

Chapter 13.

"Did your father get away all right?" Awnia nodded at him, and Hawk noticed that she seemed to not be paying attention to him. "He said that when he gets back he's sending you a unicorn to ride. We'll be the hit of all the kids in the pride with one of those."

"I suppose." He nearly laughed, but decided to have some fun with her until she got whatever was on her mind straightened out.

"What about the statue of him? He wants us to put in in the front of the house with a large plaque with his name on it. I was thinking that it should say something like...Halmar the Magnificent. Then there are the pots of coins. Do you suppose they'll be gold? I'm kind of partial to gems myself. They're much more colorful and have such a nice s.h.i.+ne." Still nothing. "And the trees that when shaken leave money in their wake. I don't know about you, but I'm thinking that it might need extra protection. Not the condom kind of protection. We'd want that to make as many little money trees as it wants. Perhaps we could sell them. How much-?"

"What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?" He burst out laughing, and she glared at him. "What do you mean, money tree? And condoms? Are you on something?"

"Yes. I'm in love with you and it makes me sappy." He pulled her into his arms. "What has you so upset? Is it your father leaving?"

"No. He said that he'd be back." She looked up at him. "He didn't tell you he'd give you his tree, did he? He loves that tree a great deal, and to share it with you is a great honor."

"He has one?" When she grinned at him, he smacked her on the bottom. "You had me there for a moment. Now, tell me what's wrong."

"Do you want to go to the other realm?" She pulled away, and he let her. "We'd be...well, treated like G.o.ds if we went. There would be no need for us to do anything at all. Everything, including our food, would be made for us. I've just learned how to make a proper cup of tea. Though Kennedy calls it a cuppa for some reason. And all the things that I can learn. Summer is teaching me to knit. Knit. I've never had anyone show me that before."

"Awnia." She looked at him and he could see the excitement in her face, and knew it was for the idea of learning something new rather than going back home. "We can stay here. I have no problem with that. Samuel said that we could stay for as long as we want. By the way, he's sort of p.i.s.sed about the magic stuff. He just figured out that he can move between his house and ours with just a thought. He showed up naked in our kitchen an hour ago."

"I bet that was a sight." Hawk nodded. "I want to go, but not forever. And as I said before, forever is a very long time. I think...I would think that you'd find it boring compared to all this."

Hawk made his way to her. They were in his work shed, a large barn really that he stored his cars in. He'd been talking to one of them when she'd come to him. The cars were not all that thrilled about him leaving either. They had told him if he left them again to lay rot and die, he would have to live with himself over it. Cars were not all that sympathetic.

"Nothing is boring where you are." Awnia smiled up at him. "You're beautiful, have I told you that lately?"

"Just about two hours ago when you left to come down here. Which, by the way, was only supposed to be for a few minutes." He had lost track of time. "And there I was, all naked in the bathtub, thinking that at any moment you'd come into the bedroom and find me all wet and clean for you. I was very disappointed."

"I can't have that." Hawk picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around him. "What about me not coming to you disappointed you first? The fact that I didn't get to kiss you?"

He did that now, tasting her need. Sitting her on the work bench he'd had made just for his tall frame, Hawk stood between her legs and rocked into her. He started to unb.u.t.ton her blouse as he told her what he was going to do to her.

"I have a chair that I sit at when I'm working here. It'll be the perfect height to pull here and feast on you. Eating your p.u.s.s.y until you come so many times that you'll beg me to stop." Her moan had him tearing a b.u.t.ton lose. "I need to taste your b.r.e.a.s.t.s, suckle at your nipples while I f.u.c.k you."

"Hurry." Another b.u.t.ton went flying, and he couldn't wait any longer. Ripping the rest of them from her, he tore open her bra and took as much as her warm flesh into him as he could. Working at getting her pants off, he finally had to take a step back. "You need help?"

Nodding at her, he watched her s.h.i.+mmy out of the pants and nearly whimpered when she lay before him in just her panties and torn s.h.i.+rt. When she reached for his pants, Hawk took another step back.

"If you free me, I'm going to f.u.c.k you. And as much as I can't wait to be buried deep inside of you, I really want to eat you." When she nodded and leaned back, Hawk took a few moments to appreciate the glory before him, and he decided that there was not a luckier man in the world than him. Reaching blindly for the chair, he rolled it to him and sat down. Her p.u.s.s.y was so wet that her juices were staining the wood beneath her. He rolled forward and licked her from gate to c.l.i.t.

"Please." Her scream of a plea had him smiling, and if he wasn't so needy right now, he might have teased her a little bit. But he wanted her to come, wanted to drink from her while she did so. So he slid his fingers into her sheath as he suckled her c.l.i.t hard.

The sound of her scream was m.u.f.fled by her legs tightly around his head. He continued to taste her even as she tried to pull him from her. He was determined to have his fill. Hawk drank her through another, then a third climax before he stood up. Christ, he was so hard that he felt as if he would shatter if she touched him.

"I'm going to f.u.c.k you." She whimpered again and reached for him. "No. Christ if you touch me, it's over. I'm coming over you instead of in you."

He stripped the zipper from his jeans as he pulled free of them. His shoes were thrown behind him as he kicked them away and he moved to her, holding his c.o.c.k. Her nipples were small stones on her full b.r.e.a.s.t.s, a sheen of dewy sweat glistened on her body, and her legs were wide, her p.u.s.s.y showing for him. Hawk slid the tip of his engorged c.o.c.k into her.

"I need to f.u.c.k you." He slid just a little deeper. "A hard, fast f.u.c.k that leaves us both sated but needing more."

"Yes." He moved his c.o.c.k deeper still and put his hands on her hips when she continued. "f.u.c.k me, Hawk. Now, please f.u.c.k me."

He slammed forward, his c.o.c.k buried to the root. As he pulled free again to take her, she wrapped her legs around his hips, and her hands dug into his shoulders. He watched her face as she looked him in the eyes. Hawk felt a connection so tightly bound to her that he knew the exact moment when she came. And f.u.c.king her hard, he joined her when she screamed out her release.

Making their way to the house, she held his hand in hers like it was a lifeline. She supposed it was in a way. She loved him, and needed him more than she did anyone else. When they entered the kitchen, they were told to have a seat as lunch was served. Margo put a large plate of food in front of both of them. Awnia looked up at her.

"You might thank me for this later. That father of yours...he sent you some things to go through. I had Deacon put it in that room your daddy had when he was here. Did you know that he moved it around a bit? What was he thinking we'd do with it all?" Awnia wanted to go look now, but Margo only pointed to the plate and said to eat. She knew better than to argue with the woman. She glared at Hawk next. "And you. You should see what that lawyer sent over for you to look over. Those people that raised you-and I refuse to call them your parents-were into about everything. She said she'd be on call for the next three days just for you. I bet she's not free either."

"She and I have something worked out." Hawk was sort of nervous, Awnia could tell. But he finished his lunch and even took a part of hers. When he stood up, he put out his hand. "We'll see what mess you have first, because I'm sure mine is just a lot of reading. Then we'll tackle mine. You can help me decide what we keep and throw out."

She nodded and followed him to the back bedroom. Her father had been staying there when he'd visited, and she could see where he'd made some improvements. She had to laugh when Hawk stopped right inside the room.

"The room is not this big." She laughed harder when he started to pace off the room. "I'm pretty sure that this room alone is as big as our house. How the...? I'm not even sure I want to know how he did it. Do you think he'd mind if we asked him to do this to our room?"

"I'll ask him." There was a b.u.mp on the floor above them, and she grinned at Hawk. "Or maybe we'll just go and check it out later. I think he mentioned that when we're in this room, we have a direct line to him. We should be careful what we do in here."

Hawk nodded and picked up a large book. "What's this? It looks...I can read this. I know it's not in any language that I've ever learned. It looks like a book of spells."

She took the book from him and looked it over. "It is. It says that it was written for the G.o.ddess of magic. I wonder why Halmar...my father might have given this to us. I mean, this should be with him, at least."

Awnia set the book down when she saw a small stuffed animal. It was a unicorn, and she showed it to Hawk, laughing. "Did you put this in here? It looks old, but I thought you were trying to prove a point from earlier."

"No. I've never seen that before." She handed it to him when she saw a bed across the room. "It's yours. It says here 'for my darling daughter on her fifth birthday.' This is from your father."

She took it from him and held it to her nose. The memories came flooding back to her then, and she smiled at Hawk. It had only taken that small scent to take her back to being that young again.

"We were going to have pudding, my favorite. The kitchen had been working on it all morning, and I spoiled the surprise by going in when they were dis.h.i.+ng it up. I can't remember why I'd gone in there, but they were so disappointed. I remember telling them that I loved them very much for doing this for my papa and me."

He hugged her to him, and she turned again to the bed. She wasn't even sure why she thought it was one, but knew that she had to see it. As she pulled some of the larger boxes from around it, she realized it was a crib. Her crib. Hawk wrapped his arms around her as she stared down at it.

"He told me when I was younger that someday I'd fill it with my own children. Father told me that it was magical and that all I had to do was tell my child that I loved them and the crib would cradle them in love." She leaned down and put her hand over the small pillow and blew across it. "Watch."

The bed began to rock gently, swaying back and forth in a slow movement. The designs on either end came alive then, the small animals seemingly pulling from the wood and beginning to dance above it. The animals, some of them real to this world, others only to her own, played in gra.s.s and low suns.h.i.+ne until it faded to night. Then as they moved to their beds, clouds of gra.s.s, bales of hay, and even a branch from a tree, the sky above them darkened to a lovely hue of blue with thousands of twinkling stars above.

"I remember this bed, even though I've not slept in it for so long. It gave me hope, fueled my dreams, and made me realize how much more was out there beyond Temptress's room and my father's." Awnia turned in his arms. "I want a child with you. Maybe as many as a dozen, but I want one soon."