Page 52 of Broken

Then he ran his lips down her chest and belly again, breathing in her scent before he dove his head between her legs, lapping at her wet pussy, making sounds of pleasure deep in his chest.

Her body was on fire, every touch almost too much. Cole began kissing her clit, using his tongue, licking her until she was shaking. Her nails dug into his shoulders, she couldn’t stand it, she couldn’t—

And then she was exploding in an orgasm, losing herself in the sensation, the feeling of his strong arms still wrapped around her thighs. He sat up, on his knees with his legs folded under him, his the tip of his dick right against her pussy.

“Cole, please,” she whispered.

Hands around her legs, he pulled her toward in and plunged into her slowly, as if he were savoring every second. His head tipped back, and he let out a breath as if everything inside him was coming to rest.

Then he began moving, pulling out and thrusting inside her, filling her with himself, his desire, his passion. She reached up and pulled him down until he lay on top of her, elbows on either side of her head, driving into her with a relentless intensity that brought her to the brink again—so fast—but then he kept her there, the rhythm letting her go just so far and no farther.

She wrapped her legs around him. “Harder,” she murmured. “Deeper.”

That finished his control. She felt the wolf let loose, driving into her, and he cupped the back of her head and kissed her deeply. They were kissing when they both came, exploding together with an intensity that made her see stars.

Cole was buried deep inside her, throbbing. He kissed her again, more slowly, gently, again and again, until he settled down on top of her with a long breath.

They lay holding each other for a long time. Cole had no words—he’d never imagined sex with her being like that. Making him feel like that. Wild, crazy, almost out of control—and at the same time, deep inside this feeling of… he didn’t even know what. Gentleness?

Eventually, Ireland fell back to sleep. Cole wasn’t surprised—she’d had a rough couple days, and not much sleep for the last couple nights.

And he was just as glad. Besides not knowing what to say to her, or how to deal with the newness and strangeness of the way she made him feel, there were things he needed to think through.

The first was what to do with Ireland’s damn books. He still suspected that Thanatos could sense them—and there was that little “do you have anything else to share with the class” comment he’d made before he left.

Cole needed to look through those books before Thanatos got tired of waiting and came and took them.

He put his pants back on and built up the fire, so it would stay warm for Ireland while she slept. He didn’t care one way or the other—his wolf didn’t feel the cold much—but she might.

Then he got the books out of her bag and sat down at the table with them. The first time he’d looked at them, the Fae writing made no sense. But he hadn’t been wearing the bracelet then. If it could give him knowledge of ancient Fae customs and translate the words into English, it ought to be able to help him understand what was in the books.

He opened the Book of Bright Moon first, since that was the one Ireland believed would tell them how to remove the bracelets. At first, the writing was just incomprehensible squiggles like before, but as he focused on it, it seemed to shimmer and rearrange itself, so he could understand it.

He’d expected a collection of spells, like a recipe book. But it wasn’t that. It was more a book on the theory of magic—more specifically, the theory of Bright magic, interspersed with spells.

And there was a whole section on binding magic. The frustrating thing was, it kept referencing other sources, as if the spells were incomplete. Why not just add the material from the other sources in here?

He was still puzzling through it when Ireland woke up. As she pushed back the blanket over her, her scent washed over him, setting his nerve endings glowing, and filling him with that odd tenderness.

After a bit she came over and slid her arms around his neck from behind, which made him smile deep down inside. She’d also put on her clothes, which was a little disappointing but probably for the best, since they had work to do.

She gave a little gasp when she saw the book, and pulled back to look at him. “Can you read that? Since when do you read Fae?”

“Since this.” He held up his wrist. “I figured that if we’re going to do this mission—or even just get out of these bracelets—we better take a look at these books before the Eye of Sauron figures out we have them, and tries to take them away. I found the section on binding magic, but it seemed strange to me. Take a look.”

She sat down and pulled the book over to her, handling it reverently at first, and then getting absorbed in what it was saying. While he was waiting, he pulled the Dark book over and started looking through it. It, too, had a section on binding magic. Why repeat it in the two different books?

He was just getting into it when Ireland looked up from the Bright Book. “You’re right,” she said. “This is weird. Only half of the information seems to be here—and it keeps referencing other works.”

Cole looked up from the section he was reading. “Not other works,” he said. “This work.” He tapped the Dark book. “The bracelets are designed to bind both Bright and Dark magic—your Fae side and your wolf. To do that, they needed to use both kinds to make them work—Bright and Dark magic.”

Ireland stared at him. “That can’t be, though. Because it would mean that when the Bright Fae Council put them on me, they used Dark magic to do it. Besides their own magic, I mean. Every time they bound a new Protector, they did Dark magic. And every time a Protector used the bracelets to control me…”

“They used Dark magic.”

Ireland’s eyes went wide. “That’s why Jorem went crazy,” she said. “My last Protector, just before he was killed. He—he just lost it. Started to hurt me. Either the Dark magic did that to him…”

“Or being forced to use Dark magic when he’d been told it was evil did it to him,” Cole finished. “That Bright Council is really a piece of work.”