Trust Ch. 05

I'm sorry for taking so long to submit this chapter. Life happens and then too, something I call writer's fear. I must have written and rewritten this particular chapter a thousand times. I'm still unsure, but I hope you enjoy it and that I've done these amazing characters justice. No, the next update will not take so long for me to share. Promise. Thanks so much for hanging in there. ~ABG

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If the heat that consumed them was from fire, then it could be said that what covering she did wear merely disintegrated from the intensity.

Kieren needed skin. He needed to feel her as close to him as possible. He needed the warmth that only Iona could provide. His body needed to touch hers, not just on the surface but on the inside. As his lips devoured hers mercilessly, Iona surrendered completely to the searching of his tongue and he reveled in what he found. To Kieren there was nothing sweeter than the taste of her, nothing more satisfying than the feel of her softness against his strength. This is what he had waited so long for. He felt her body answer the heart of the question that thundered within him.

"Are you mine?"

Iona's very being susurrated, "Yes."

Kieren could feel the hum of it sing to him as he laid her across the bed, his lips hungrily gliding down the column of her neck.

Iona had yearned for so long to feel the weight of his body atop hers. She had dreamt of it, visualized and imagined every possible scenario. And now, he was in her arms, the heat of him against the palms of her wondering hands. The shifting of sinew and honed muscle was now beneath her touch. Nothing she had ever foreseen could possibly compare to the actuality of what was happening. She knew from the first moment she encountered him that Kieren was like no other man. Yet, everything she thought she knew was still so little. On this night, Iona would bury her self within him, absorb all she could and emerge a new woman.

She drew her hands over the strength of his upper arms and the curve of his shoulders, feeling the grooves and the definition of his body. The tips of her fingers had just barely grazed the edge of the corded skin at his back when, with one swift movement, Iona found both of her curious hands held roughly above her head—pinned to the thick wood of the headboard by the vice-like grip of his own.

The wild blue of Kieren's eyes, the most heated portion of any flame, flashed.

Iona had no fear. She did not recoil from his threat. There was no part of him that she was not ready for. What she did not know, she was ready to learn. She had not forgotten about the markings on his back or her words. She had not forgotten about the anger that she had caused him. She knew that there would now be time to melt away anything that dared come between them. To this she was most dedicated.

However, if he thought the binding of her hands a deterrent, he was most mistaken. Her smile was wicked and laced with lust as she raised her face to his. She ran her cheek alongside the collection of fine hairs that spread from the line of his jaw upward. Instead of sharing a tender kiss of submission, her lips stopped short, barely touching his and Iona whispered, "You grew shabby while away from me."

Kieren raised an eyebrow, a look that she so loved. The look in her eyes was as dangerous as the look in his.

His cock twitched and grew harder.

"Thoughts of your displeasure make a man weary and careless with himself," he returned, placing his hands back where they belonged, on her body.

"Be not..." Her tongue reached out to taste his lips and she let the tip follow its line, "weary of me."

As she kissed him, Iona lost more than just her fingers in the thickness of his hair. Grabbing a section close to the root, she pulled. Accompanying the unexpected jerk of his head was now a bite to his bottom lip and the sexiest of purrs from her chest.

A primitive surge of ownership coursed through Kieren. He shifted his weight and slid his hand up over her rib cage. He felt the underswell of her breast and did not stop until its fullness rested in his palm. Then, he squeezed.

Iona moaned and arched her back.

Kieren smiled devilishly as he avoided her need for his lips and let his kisses fall back down her neck, then across her collar bone. His lips covered the peak of her breast after teasing it with his tongue. Pulling from it, he let her feel the threatening touch of his teeth.

Iona released a deep tortured moan, the sound of which hit Kieren's senses--sending another shocking alert down his spine and to the tip of his cock.

His returned growl, thick with frustration, was the only sign of how difficult it was for Kieren to suppress the wildness of his nature. This woman and the lushness of her bronzed body provoked him in the greatest of ways. But in the haze of his strong need, he knew that this was just a beginning, a door that he must ease open and they must step through together. The harshness of before must be erased from her mind. He wanted nothing to recall the memory of him that did not involve the joy of his touch, the pleasure of his nearness. This calmed and slowed him as he spread her legs wider with his own.

Kieren moved down her body skillfully. Each movement, touch, lick and bite was designed to heighten her desire. He was sensitive to her every response--no matter how small, and fed off them.

The feel of his tongue across her torso caused Iona to tighten and quiver uncontrollably. Just when she thought she might recover, she discovered that sensation was nothing compared to the feel of the next one. Running his tongue up her weeping slit and teasing her swollen lips was only a beginning. With his face between her thighs and the resting of her legs over broad shoulders, she was enraptured. Iona gasped for air when he dragged the texture of his tongue across her throbbing bud. When he sucked it in, her lips formed a perfect O and released a rush of air. When he flicked at it, the sensation was so overwhelming that she found remembering to breathe hard.

It was too much; she attempted to escape his delicious assault.

Kieren growled once again, hooked his strong hands firmly around her upper thighs to hold her steady, and increased his exploration. Finding her body's rhythm and recognizing the spots that guided her to the heights of pleasure gave him pleasure. Just when he felt her entire body constrict, on the cusp of climax, he pulled back—each time enjoying the control. Her sounds were intoxicating.

Iona felt as if she could die now, life could become no better. Even the graze of his teeth at her flesh, produced a unique panic that left her gripped by her own carnality. Just as she felt that she could no longer survive this over powering of the senses, when she could feel the oncoming fissures before the completeness of shattering, he would retreat—leaving her entire body pulsating in small waves that were infuriating promises that he was not finished.

"Please Kieren..."

Her mewling had made her voice weak but thick with passion, "I...I can bare this no longer."

Kieren laughed quietly.

"You would be amazed at what the body can bare." His voice was a rumble in his chest, low and promising.

"Kieren," she sighed.

"I love the sound of my name falling from your lips," he crooned before letting his tongue dive inside her.

When he looked up, Iona's eyes were tightly closed as she grabbed at the bedding. He could feel the beating of her heart with his tongue, her walls grasping and pulsating against it. He could taste this new sweetness as she came.

With deliberate gentleness he worked his way up her body, finally sucking and teasing each breast. This was done with great difficulty considering how her trembling affected him.

"What do you want Iona," he whispered, finally looking down into her glazed eyes.

She did not hesitate. Iona ground herself against his inflexible solidness.

Kieren had to close his eyes and fight himself harder. By capturing her lips, he steadied himself. When he finally pushed at her door, Iona was wide open and begging to be filled, to be completed.

Kieren paused for the slightest of seconds.

Iona pressed her heals into his back and gasped against his mouth. "Kieren," she cried out as he filled her in one swift movement.

The stretch around this invasion set every nerve in her body on fire. She buried her face against his neck and tightened the hold her arms had around him. She expected some pain. The joy of just having him inside her made her not fear but give in to it. Almost in tears, she once again called out his name.

To hear his name called out in such a way would have driven any man crazy. However, her cry was only a pale echo in Kieren's ears as he released a fierce roar of satisfaction. It rose up within him and shook his chest when he felt his thick head strike at the gate of her womb. The grip of her channel made him lose control. Before his descent, he had paused in expectation, but still he proved unprepared for just how good she felt to him. He was more than aware of what challenges his size presented to a woman. By her own admission, she was no virgin and he expected no sign of such. It was, however, obvious that Iona had only known lesser men. Although having no wish to inflict pain, Kieren reveled in that thought. It gave him pride. She was truly all his and this feeling compared to no other.

Kieren closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head in an attempt to gain more control.

He pulled back to search her beautiful dark eyes. They glistened, so wide and scared, searching his own.

"Trust me," he whispered to her, smoothing back her hair.

Iona did not become the one floating above, deadening her body as she waited for the experience to end. She did feel lightheaded and as if floating, but she was one with Kieren here and now. She did not want to even close her eyes for fear of missing one single thing. All of her participated in what this man was making her feel. All was different. She felt every part of her body fill with this man that lay between her thighs. She was dripping wet with expectations already surpassed, overheated in the pursuit of gifts yet to be given.

Her response was breathy and filled with raw emotion.

"I do," she declared, spreading her legs wider and drawing up her hips.

Kieren's hands immediately cupped her firm ass.

With a degree of gentleness alien to this man, Kieren made love to her. At the suctioning of the pull, Iona inhaled with a hissing sound. With the glide of the descent, she exhaled with a thick moan. Kieren enjoyed the sound of both as they found their rhythm together. With his lips on hers, he encouraged her with endearments and she met him in every way. She was so wet and sweet. The mounting of desire made it impossible for him to maintain this measured control. Soon he was pushing faster, deeper and harder with each thrust.

Iona was submerged in a wonderment of sensations. The ache and throbbing started to accentuate something new. A rush of pure freedom flooded through her body. The force of it took her breath away. The entire world was circling around her—faster and faster. She held on for pure life. His lips and tongue became more than delicious, they were necessary for survival. The way his body shifted above and against hers, giving and drawing satisfaction made her want to offer more, yet take as well. Kieren was so deep inside of her, pressing against parts of her that had never been touched and caressing those hidden places, all she could manage to do was feel. Her sounds were not even familiar to her. She clung to his powerful form to somehow anchor herself to time and space. He was now the creator of everything. She felt everything expand.

Suddenly Iona pulled her face from the crook of his neck and looked into the blue sea of Kieren's eyes in absolute shock.

Kieren gave her a gentle smile. He knew what she had yet to understand, and whispered, "Yes."

The very word seemed to reach across some unknown barrier within. It clamped down on her body and she shook fervidly, bursting open. Each muscle and nerve was brought alive. They constricted and expanded, to the powerful sound of her heart beating.

Before Iona had a chance to recover, Kieren rose up onto his knees, raising her up into him as he fucked her harder. Primal instinct overtook him. The words that left his lips were oaths of the old world, enflamed and guttural as he came.

The feel and force of what he emptied inside of her only amplified what had already engulfed her, sending fierce aftershocks. Iona was left barely conscious. Her legs were locked around him and her thighs trembled as he held her close. She felt the soothing of his lips at her temple and the security of his hands spread across her back. When he finally pulled out, she whimpered from the loss and tears eased down her cheeks.

With both hands cupping her face, Kieren rested his forehead against hers. Her tears concerned him and an odd sense of guilt made him vulnerable.

"Iona?" he whispered.

"I...love...you," was all she could manage to say with a weak and tender smile.

Kieren crushed her against him in relief.

In her lover's arms, Iona laid--draped across his chest and listening to the beating of his heart. She fell to sleep thinking that if there were Gods maybe they were finally smiling down on her. Kieren fell to sleep feeling like one.

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In what she thought to be the morning, Iona opened her eyes and stretched. Never before had her body felt so ideally spent. She ached, yet the feeling was different from any ache she had borne before.

But, Kieren was gone.

Panicked, she threw her covers to the side and stood. Then, noticing that there was some type of an attempt to fold her things over the large chair, she smiled. Bath water had already been poured for her and still warm. A full bottle of her oil stood beside it. This was Kieren's doing and she loved it.

Soon Iona realized that it must be later in the day than assumed. She could hear the men, much too rowdy for their morning gathering before she had even entered the great hall. She was surprised to see them so wound-up. The hall was overly crowded and as she drew closer the noise was deafening.

Following the eyes of a few men, she knew that something unusual was happening at the hall's center. However, Iona could not see through them, and definitely not above them. Squeezing between the backs of those on the perimeter, she attempted to make her way to the kitchen. On the way, she thought she saw the color of Brenna's shift through a sudden repositioning of a few men. She forced herself in that direction. Two or three men looked down, realized who she was and moved to let her pass.

Finally standing behind Brenna, a bit sapped, she shouted over the ruckus, "What is going on?"

Once realizing it was Iona, Brenna laughed. "Why don't you see for yourself?"

She grabbed Iona's arm, threw her own weight around forcing a few of the men to have no choice but to move, and pulled Iona to the front.

Once Iona gathered herself, she looked at what was before her. Immediately, she covered her open mouth in horror.

"Could it be about you?" Brenna teased, close to her ear. "What reason could they possibly have?"

"Oh no," Iona shrieked, her chest tightening.

When Iona started toward the two men, Brenna quickly yanked her back. It was no easy deed. The girl was determined. Iona's strength could not match Brenna's.

"This is madness," Iona exclaimed. "I can't just let them..."

"Calm down girl." Brenna cut her off before she was overheard saying too much. "Everything is not about you."

Iona fought her nature and somewhat quieted, but now she was confused.

"You do not understand," Iona cried out.

"Not about you," Brenna emphasized the words as if disciplining a child.

"Then why is one seeking to murder the other?"

"I suppose it looks that way." Brenna turned her head sideways and considered the two men with another hearty laugh. Then she dismissed the idea with the hunching of her shoulders. "But Russ lives each time. Kieren spares him."

"Spares him? What would happen if Kieren decides to spare him no more?" Iona said, stunned.

"Then child, both men would die," Brenna said with reflective confidence, "one by the sword, the other by self-reproach."

Despite Brenna's words and obvious amusement, Iona watched in fear as the crowd roared on.

Kieren was holding Russ up by the front of his shirting now. Russ' feet were almost off the floor.

"Why did you not confer with Gunner for council then?" It was more of a command than a question.

"He would have found a way to negotiate," Russ struggled to answer. "Power was the question here brother, not the need for politics and its solicitous talk."

"You do not know wisdom when it is offered to you."

With those words, Kieren lifted Russ higher and threw him onto a table.

Russ immediately did a flip that left him standing at the far end. Kieren had already turned his back to leave when Russ did what Iona considered the unthinkable.

Iona screamed. If they did not kill each other, Iona thought; they would definitely end up killing a by stander.

Kieren's reaction was quick. He moved his head slightly to the side as the knife went by. He was turned around before the sound of the knife hitting the wall completed and he swiftly returned the favor with the distinct sound of something piercing the air.

Russ attempted to avoid it, but was caught. He looked at Kieren in disbelief, touching himself and then looking at his own blood.

From where Iona had stood, it had looked as if Kieren's aim was for the center of Russ' head. She was relieved when she realized it was just the top of his ear that had been grazed.

Kieren gave him a cruel smile.

Russ then jumped on a table in one sweeping movement. Steady on his feet, he quickly jumped onto another before propelling himself toward Kieren.

Kieren crouched low and as Russ flew over him, Kieren rose up beneath Russ, flipping him over and slamming him on another table—which then crashed to the floor.

The crowd went mad.

Russ took a minute to gather him. Before that minute had completed, Kieren was dragging him by one boot.

"You are guaranteed to be defeated if anger is the only thing that drives you brother," Kieren pointed out with his usual voice of authority and exemplary control.

Letting Russ go, Kieren stepped back, gifting his younger brother the time to stand.

An enraged Russ went for Kieren again, aiming for Kieren's waist. Russ somehow ended in a choke hold. The two moved so quickly. However, instead of fighting Kieren's hold, Russ moved into it.

"Long Sword," a few men shouted with support due to the smartness of the move.

The two battling men fell to the floor. It appeared that Russ was at some advantage from the way they had fallen. All Iona could see was a random lifting of a table or chair because of the cheering and jeering of the other men.

Suddenly the room silenced as both men rose with surprising caution, facing each other. Kieren held the tip of a dangerous looking dagger in his left hand and under Russ' chin.

Kieren then leaned forward and whispered in Russ's ear without removing the dagger.

Irritated, Iona thought, "Why is the man always whispering something in someone's ear--such drama? Could he not issue his threats aloud?"

Kieren removed the dagger from the throat of his brother and flipped it in the air, catching it by the butt.

The audience roared.

"I believe this is yours," he said, turning the knife as if for safety and handing it to Russ.

"I am the leader here. The power is mine to restrain or issue. I advise you to not forget that," Kieren announced over his shoulder as he calmly strode away. "And, your knife is top heavy. The sound it makes in the air is deafening."