Part 1
Beth’s Agony

Light was fading as the sun fell beneath the rolling hills.

He couldn’t stop staring at her swollen face, her right eye closed, her eyelid purple, angry black bruises beneath both eyes from her broken nose, lips distended. Her fine blond hair framed a hideously disfigured face. Her fragile form remained still beneath the hospital blanket. The constant rhythm of the respirator was the only sound in the room.

A nurse arrived and hung another bag of fluids to be drained into her arm. The nurse fidgeted with the drip in girl’s left arm.

The nurse looked at the man. Sandy blond hair with a strong jaw now covered with stubble as he’d been at the hospital for nearly 36 hours. His eyes frightened her. They were gray with hate and anger. His hands clenched into a ball and then released – over and over again. He stood just less than six foot and appeared to be around 30 years old, though he was actually 39. Lines from years of outdoor activities were etched on his face. He was in excellent shape – not the kind of shape to parade for approval – real shape – tough, strong, lithe and quick. He had a military bearing, standing rigid at the foot of his daughter’s bed.

As she glanced over, the nurse thought, ‘a handsome man, but he scares the hell out of me. Those pricks that did this to that poor little girl better find a place to hide!’

A soft knock on the open door. One of the largest men the nurse had ever seen ducked his head in. He had hair so short he appeared to be bald. He had weathered, brutal features, but spoke with a softness that belied his violent potential.

“Michael…. Michael,” a bit louder.

The man standing looked over.

“There’s a woman here who wants to see Beth. She said she also wanted to see you. She’s the mother of one of those fraternity punks that did this to Beth.”

Michael’s lips quivered with rage, but a slender, dark haired woman with regal bearing squeezed into the room, looking briefly at Michael and then at the frail form that was so still. Her hands flew to her face and gasped, “Oh my God…Oh my God!” She stared for a long time. Tears came streaming down her face, marring her makeup. She staggered a little and reached out to the girl with her small hand.

She was strikingly beautiful with her dark glossy hair pulled back into a bun, an aquiline nose and small, pouting lips with a pale lipstick. But it was her large brown, almost oriental eyes that drew Michael as they registered pain and sorrow. Honest eyes. She was small, perhaps 5’2-3” without heels. He could not really see her body in her overcoat, but she did have delicate hands with buffed nails.

Her eyes widened as she looked to Michael and seemed to gain some composure back.

“I am so sorry.” Michael was accustomed to fakes and liars, but when he looked at her it was clear that this woman was sincere. Her eyes spoke of unimagined pain.

Time seemed to stop as she stared deep into the angry, gray eyes.

“I’m Rachael Walsh. My son, Thomas, was one of your daughter’s attackers.” Direct, but with incredible sympathy. “I am so, so sorry.”

He saw the waif on the bed move slightly and her left eye opened slowly. Michael ignored Rachael and swiftly went to his daughter’s side.

“Try to stay still, Baby. You’re gonna be OK. You can’t talk right now. They had to do a tracheotomy, but once the swelling in your throat goes down, they’ll close it up.”

She began to cry and her mouth opened in a silent scream as the memories came flooding back. She jerked upright as the pain registered. Rachael gasped and whispered again, “Oh my God…” The girl’s front teeth were gone! Her swollen, sutured lips had hid her bloody gums.

The clean white sheets darkened red from ripped stitches in her lower abdomen.

Michael spun with incredible speed. “Jake, get the nurse, NOW!” The giant launched himself using the doorframe for added acceleration. No hesitation. Clearly Michael was accustomed to giving orders and having them obeyed.

Within seconds the nurse appeared, slightly out of breath. The girl should be deep in a medicated sleep. She checked the settings on the pain med dispenser and realized she had forgotten to turn it on. She saw the blood and looked fearfully at Michael.

“I’ll get the doctor…” She fled the room, fled the hard, angry gray eyes that she could feel in the pit of her stomach.

As Michael sought to comfort his broken little girl, Rachael’s slid to the other side of her bed and took the girl’s other hand in hers. Between the two adults holding her hands as they clenched as wave after wave of pain ripped through her. Both adults stroked her cheek, trying to drain the pain. She seemed to calm, but continued to whimper silently in agony.

The doctor arrived with almost as much haste as the nurse and shooed Rachael and Thomas out.

As the nurse swung the overhead curtain in place, Michael heard, “Damn it.” The doctor looked at the pain dispenser. It was off! “Did you forget to turn on her pain meds?”

“I didn’t expect her to wake up so soon. I’m sorry….”

He held up his hand to shut her up. “Get the operating room ready again. She’s bleeding internally again.”

The nurse ran past Michael but felt those gray eyes boring into her.

Another nurse, a large black woman came over and gently took Michael, Rachael and Jake to the waiting room.

Rachael sat in a single chair while Jake took a loveseat that seemed to groan beneath him. He was not fat. Indeed, he looked like an older athlete, still capable and determined to hold off time. He was just huge!

Michael just stood at the window and stared out into the night.

After a time, Rachael reluctantly rose and approached him. “Mr. Shannon, I am so sorry.” She reached and touched his arm, feeling the steel of the muscle and the heat of his fury. “I will do anything to help. I’ve contacted the best doctors and they will be available for Beth…Thomas’s trust will pay for everything. ”

He turned at the mention of his daughter. She saw raw, burning hatred in those gray eyes and realized her son had hurt the wrong little girl.

“Your son was the one responsible for her smile. He used pliers to rip out her teeth so he could shove his dick down her throat.” The voice was soft, but the intent was clear. He wanted her to feel Beth’s pain…and his.

In a whisper, “I know.” Her head drooped in shame.

“Rachael. You should know that I’m a lawyer. And that broken little girl is all I have in this world that means anything to me. I know you have money. All the parents do. You might want to ask around about me. I am not going to back off because he’s your son, but thank you for helping Beth…”

She had checked. Many of the lawyers she and her family used were haughtily dismissive as Michael had graduated from a night school, but she had detected a grudging respect. The judges she spoke with were overwhelming in their praise. Tough. Honest. Relentless. They had nicknamed him, “the Terminator.” His partner, Peter Gardiner, was renowned among real trial lawyers.

She looked at her watch and realized it was after midnight. “Please let me know how she is…. I have to go. I’ll be back early in the morning.” She slowly walked to her car, her thoughts of Michael’s steel arm and frightening eyes.

After she left, Michael turned back to stare into the night. Gradually the night turned to a wet Monday morning, the skies weeping gentle rain. A fitting mood for the terror coursing through him.

There were now four men in the room.

Jake Courson had arrived first. The old “God” from the team, the man who carried and fired the 40 pound Garrett .50 caliber rifle that had kept his teammates safe from afar.

Matt Smith was a small man with brown hair, quick, blue eyes and an engaging smile. He had delicate features and slender short stature that belied his deadly skills. They thought of him as the “assassin” for his prowess with a knife, but never said that name aloud.

Grey hair topped the final man. He wore custom blazer and crisp, ironed slacks. Clearly he was not a contemporary of Michael. Yet his concern was written on his face. And anger lived in his eyes. It was Michael’s law partner…and Beth’s unofficial Godfather. His name was Peter Gardiner and he was probably the most feared civil trial lawyer in the state.

Michael took Peter aside. “Tell me,” Michael said.

The old man paused, deciding what to tell Michael he had learned over the past 48 hours of digging and interviewing. The raw hatred in Michael’s eyes frightened even Peter.

“They were high on coke. They thought she was just some “townie” they could use. She fought them. God did she fight them. A couple of them had to go the ER. Then things got out of hand and they thought, fuck it, let’s teach her a lesson. The pulled her teeth with pliers, jammed a broom handle up inside her that ruptured her uterus. That’s why they almost had to do a hysterectomy. They burned her clit with cigarettes. They ripped her sphincter. At least seven of them and one girl. She was probably the worst! Her fingerprints were on the broom handle they shoved inside both her vagina and her ass.”

He saw Michael tense, but he went on. “We took triple samples in case the state labs have a convenient lapse in protocol. We’ll keeping chain of custody clean. You know the families involved?”

Michael nodded. Then added, “Rachael Walsh was here.”

“Why? What did she say? Did she want you to do something to help her son?”

Michael thought for a moment. “She just said she was sorry and that she knew what her son had done. I got the impression that she empathized with Beth. Maybe she was a rape victim. I don’t know. She helped me calm Beth when that moron nurse forgot to turn the pain medication on and Beth sat up” Michael’s eyes flashed fury again.

Peter’s eyebrows rose. “Beth hurt herself because the nurse forgot to start her pain meds?”

Michael nodded silently.

“You stay here.” Peter strode off purposely. This was now in his world. Now he could do something to help Beth.

Time had no meaning. The steady rain outside seemed to mirror the mood in the waiting room.

Jake and Matt were in conspiratorial whispers. Without hearing, Michael knew that they were planning an operation – and the seven-frat boys and one girl would welcome hell after they were finished. Beth had been a kind of mascot and niece to his team. Each considered her family. And you don’t mess with the family of a SEAL.

Michael went to them. He was tired. 48 hours without sleep and in terror for his little girl had drained him.

“Guys. Nothing until she is safe.” He said softly.

Matt smiled. “Y’know Tim has his own security firm. He’s on his way. Jack is coming too. Even Frank is on the way. We’re going to have a reunion.”

Michael stared them down. “Not until she is safe.” Firmer. An order.

Jake and Matt simply nodded.

It was nearly 8 AM when the doctor arrived.

He was dressed in scrubs and seemed very tired. He introduced himself and led Michael to the window.

“She did a lot of damage when she sat up. She should be OK, but we had to do a complete hysterectomy. I’m sorry. It was the only way to save her.” He truly seemed sorry. “She’s in recovery right now, but you can see her in about an hour.”

The doctor could smell the 48 hours of nervous sweat that had bathed Michael. “You might want to get cleaned up before you see her. You’ve been here a long time.” The doctor smiled wanly.

Michael turned to leave, smelling his own fragrance as though in a dream. He went to Jake and Matt to tell them the news just as Peter returned. “They said she’ll live, but they had to take all her plumbing out. No babies.”

The look in all four men’s eyes was frightening and grim.

A few minutes later, they saw Rachael coming down the corridor. She had on form fitting jeans that showed off her athletic thighs and firm, rounded ass. The jacket she had on hid the rest of her body. Still she was a stunning woman. Seeing the men together staring into the rain, she quickened her pace, terror fueling her steps. Their look was not lost on her.

Her eyes showed fear as she rushed to Michael. “Tell me. Please God, let her be OK.” Grabbing Michael’s hands, she looked wildly around to each of the four intimidating men, feeling their helpless anger.

Michael looked at her and then pulled back his hands and turned away, unable to control his emotions, tears running down his face.

Peter took her hand. “They had to do a hysterectomy, but she will live. As to whether she will ever be OK….” His words dramatically trailed off. He searched her face and eyes to see if she was sincere. In all his 60 years, he had never felt such empathy and concern.

Rachael’s hand flew to her face. She cried, “Dear God, NO!”

Michael turned at her muffled scream. He was back under control. His eyes showed no emotion. Inside, he felt deadly rage. His little girl was broken and could not be fixed. She would have to live her life unable to bear children.

Beth stayed in the hospital for the next 8 days. Michael stayed as much as he could, but even he had to take an occasional break. Fortunately, Tim, Frank and Jack had arrived, so Beth was never alone. And each day Rachael came and sat with her, read to her and cried with her.

On the fourth day, as Beth slept, Rachael pulled Michael aside. His normally ruddy complexion was almost gray, but his eyes still burned with an incandescent fuel.

“Michael. Please let me finish before you say anything. I need your help. I want a divorce from David,” she paused and then continued, “He and Tom have repeatedly raped and sodomized Susan and Lynne…and me. I had to send my girls to boarding school to keep them safe, but now Susan is becoming the campus tramp and Lynne is having real trouble adjusting to what’s been done to her. It’s a lot more complicated, but seeing you and your friends…well, you could stand up to David. He’s stolen millions from my trust and more from the girls. He’s sick…”

He looked into her terrified brown eyes and knew he cold not face himself if he said no.

“I assume your husband knows you come here every day.” She nodded. “What does he think you are doing here?”

“Trying to get you to drop the charges against Tom.” Honest, direct, but the terror remained in her expressive eyes.

“Let him think that. We’ll open talks with your lawyer about settling before we file a civil suit that would ruin Tom’s life.” A feral light was in his eyes as a plan began to form.

“Are your kids safe?” She nodded and said, “Tom’s under house arrest and scared shitless now that he knows who and what you are. David is hitting the bottle a lot and he has a young slut on the side. He knows I am not going to let him hurt Shoshana and Lynne again.” Her eyes alight. A lioness protecting her cubs.

Michael had a quizzical expression. “Shoshana?”

She smiled weakly. “My family was Jewish. Shoshana is Hebrew for Susan. It means rose.”

“OK. I’ll talk to Peter and Frank.”

Now it was her turn to look confused. “Frank is the best tactical operations man I’ve ever seen,” he explained, “Tell him a problem and he’ll find the way around it. Tell him the objective and it’s taken. He has a rare gift and I think this may take more than courtrooms.”

She pulled him into a hug. Even through their clothing, he could feel her breasts against his chest, firm and soft.

The next weeks and months were a tour of hell. Michael took a leave of absence from the firm to care for his daughter. Beth endured four major and two minor operations and the implantation of new front teeth. Beth insisted that first they would replace her teeth and immediate plastic surgery on her face to repair her eyelid and nose. Then the belly muscles cut during the emergency hysterectomy and the vaginal and sphincter repairs. Next would be the plastic surgery to hide those scars if needed. She “celebrated” her 18th birthday in the hospital after the vaginal repairs, nearly seven months from the rape.

The very best surgeons attended her, always with Michael and Rachael at her side.

Michael and Rachael never spoke of her son. The court had taken his passport to prevent flight. He had apparently transferred to another school near their home in the Hamptons. He was under constant companionship of several security personnel. The Walsh family was now well aware of the nature of Beth’s unofficial family.

Beth gradually healed and regained her strength under the watchful eye of her “uncles”. The lawyers for the 8 rapists continued to play the system, claiming Beth was a slut and had consented to the “rough sex” despite the rape shield laws, challenging the evidence and destroying even Michael’s name alleging incest. And the judges allowed it! The wheels of justice moved slowly. Only Michael and Peter knew the whole plan.

Beth had the best of medical and psychiatric care, but was constantly in tears. Michael was willing to spend the entire settlement from her mother’s death just to bring his Beth a smile. Each time he went to pay for the surgeries, he found it already paid. Rachael was true to her word.

One day, nearly nine months after Beth’s attack, Michael received a call from Peter. “Tomorrow we’ll file. We’ve found it all.”

Michael had been dreading the call. He burned for revenge, but this would be a major step and it could endanger Beth. Little did he know how seismic the next months would prove to be.

He went up the circular staircase to Beth’s room. They had to leave in the morning. He heard her sobbing in her room – just as she had for nearly every night since the attack. He couldn’t bear it. Beth’s body had been repaired to the extent it could, but her psyche was still in pieces.

He knocked softly on the door.

“Daddy, go away.”

He would never know why, but he simply stepped back and kicked the door in. He could not bear her pain any longer.

He swept into the room. Her eyes screamed with fear as she retreated to the other side of her bed, clad in a thick robe.

Then she saw his eyes. Pain. Concern. Love. For many months she had been punishing him for being male – snide remarks, manipulating tears, feigned pain. Only now did she see that she was trying to destroy the one man who loved her above all else. All because some entitled pricks had hurt her.

She reached out to him like she had as a little child, arms open, trusting.

He scooped her up from her bed and looked intently into her eyes. She could see fear in his eyes. She had never seen fear in those eyes before.

“I can’t stand your pain. It’s time, Baby girl. Let it go. Get on with life.”

“I can’t do it without you. I need you.” She said softly.

“You think I’m going somewhere?” He said, trying to lighten the mood.

Then something seemed to move behind her eyes and for an instant she was Beth again, strong, impish and determined.

“I know what you’re planning, Dad.” She whispered softly, “and before I go with Uncle Jake, I need you to do something for me. I need you to make me a woman.”

He remembered the talk after she had first left the hospital when he told her that she was still a virgin, as she could only become a woman when she gave her body and soul to her man.

He looked at her then. Her facial injuries had healed. Her smile had been restored with the teeth implants. Plastic surgery for the scars, but nothing could heal the loss of her ability to make babies or the nightmares that seemed to come far too frequently.

“I want to wake with your arms around me and feel your dick hard inside me.” The words shocked him a bit, but he was trying to understand the return of his Beth.

It shocked Michael as Beth giggled, a genuine smile on her face for the first time in many months.

Confusion. The minx in his arms wanted him to make love to her. The logic was clear. He was the one male who she trusted. She knew he would care for her and do everything possible to make love an incredible experience.

She looked at him and said, ”Take me to bed, Daddy. Make me your woman.”

His head swam for a moment, but only a moment.

He carried her to his room. Michael decided to bring Beth to his bed. After Beth’s mother had been died, he had bought a new bed to sleep in, thinking no woman wants to sleep in the bed shared by another lover. Only he had not found another lover. He had spent nearly two years pursuing the hospitals and doctors responsible for the death of his wife. When the legal combat ended, he and his daughter were “comfortable”.

After the battle, he had moved to a small community with a renowned college sitting stately on the top of the “Hill”. Safe and happy he thought bitterly.

He had been beating himself up for moving her near the jaded college community. As the plan had become real, they discovered numerous incidents covered up by the school to protect the children of the affluent.

These thoughts flooded Michael as he lowered Beth to his bed.

She lay waiting, knowing he would make her whole. It was as though a door had opened for her. She was at peace with her decision. She shrugged out of her robe.

Her blonde hair was spread over the pillow, her long legs bent and folded, but slightly open in clear invitation. Her breasts, though small, had puffed pink nipples, straining to be touched. Her abs showed the result of nearly 6 months of therapy and swimming. Her pussy was shaved naked. The aroma of her sex flooded the room.

Her eyes searched Michael’s, longing for approval.

“God, you are beautiful, Honey…”

His conscience fought with his needs. His desire would never win. He would never hurt her. Until she spoke.

“Dad…. please. I need you!”

The three words he could not resist. I need you.

Her pale skin glistened in the faint light of the moon. Michael hastily dropped his clothes. Beth gasped as she saw his phallus for the first time. It was large and getting larger as he approached her.

Beth’s pink aureoles and nipples hardened as Michael slid into the bed beside her, his shaft painfully hard and demanding. He fought a short battle of wills between his need for release borne of years of deprivation and Beth’s need. Her need for gentle slowness was the easy winner.

His fingertips caressed her breasts, causing electric currents to flow through her pussy. Her natural lubricant began to flow. His lips captured her mouth, gently caressing her inner palette with the tip of his tongue. Her tongue darted into his mouth as her lips pressed ever more firmly on his. Michael’s mouth replied, feeling both their passions rise. Happily, she opened her mouth to him as her legs spread wider, opening her womanhood to him.

He moved with a maddening pace, slowly exploring her body with the tips of his fingers, his lips and tongue. Her pleasure was immense, but frustrating. She wanted more. When his mouth reached her breast, he licked the bottom, while his fingers gently twisted and tugged at her nipple. When the nipple was hard, he moved to the other. He started to move lower.

Time seemed suspended.

His lips moved down her body. She whimpered with impatience. She needed him NOW.

Still he explored her pierced naval. Then lower, across the thin scar. Then lower still.

She had shaved all her pubic hair. He remembered an offhand comment he had made to Jake about how he loved shaved pussies. He wondered if she had heard him.

His tongue traced the inner lips of her labia. A gasp and then her hands on his head, pulling him forward, urging him to please her as her liquid excitement covered his face. She had never been aroused like this. She felt like an innocent little girl.

She realized that Michael was right! She really was a virgin. She smiled as her happiness mixed with the waves of pleasure his tongue created.

She abandoned her needs and desires to her man, to her daddy. She let him set the pace, trusting him to please her.

He moved lower, gently licking her starfish, her asshole. Even in the dim light, he saw the scar between her pussy and asshole. His erection flagged because of his anger at those who had hurt her.

Blocking out his anger, his tongue moved to her pussy. He gently spread her labia outward as his tongue traced the interior. He gently pulled the clit hood back. Another scar, another flash of anger he overcame. He suddenly sucked her clit into his mouth, his tongue swiping back and forth on the little pea of her sex.

He could feel her body arching above him, words and sound of passion and agony mixing together. She was close.

He took her clit between his lips and sucked hard, is tongue flicking over the engorged organ.

She screamed her delight! I’m CUMMMMMMINNG! Her body bucked as she drew his face forward….

As she came, she screamed, “I love you Daddy.”

He continued caressing her labia with his tongue, slowly bringing her down from the massive orgasm. She gently pushed him away from her pussy and pulled him beside her.

His face was wet. He did not know if she squirted, but it sure seemed like it.

He levered himself above her, his face covered with her juice and looked into her eyes. He found love, lust, happiness and fear in her eyes. She needed him inside her to be complete.

“Guide me into you.” he whispered.

She reached between their bodies and rubbed the head of his cock between her labia. She was desperate to join with her man. Her eyes opened wide with the thought. My man.

He was a large and very excited man. She could feel his heat, his desire and his love. She aimed his cock at her pussy.

As he moved forward, Michael fought his desire to plunge into her, to take her instead of receiving and cherishing her gift. He looked into her trusting green eyes and found the strength to move slowly, to be gentle. Beth needed him to be gentle.

Slowly he entered her. Her surgically repaired vagina was tight. He pushed forward, carefully watching her eyes. When she squinted with pain, he stopped. When her eyes closed and her lips opened, he moved forward. Neither knew how long before he was buried in her. Both knew that it was an act of love.

When he was fully inside her sheath, Beth looked into the eyes of the one man she loved and trusted. “Make me your woman.” It was both a demand and a plea.

Michael looked into her trusting eyes and began thrusting deep into her and withdrawing until only the head remained in her. Her breath became ragged as she drew gasps of air. He could feel her climax building again.

“NOW! Cum with me Daddy!”

He began to jackhammer his cock into her tight pussy, her eyes wide open, staring into his. After several thrusts, her eyes began to sparkle then to cloud with lust. She was near and began crying out. Over and over, ”yes” with increasing volume until it became a scream of pleasure.

First it had been about love. Then about sex. Now it was about fucking.

He could feel her pussy fluttering and then grip his manhood as she cried out incoherently.

“Baby, take my cum in your beautiful cunt. Take it all. AHHHH!”

On a primal level, she felt him squirt rope after rope of cum deep inside her, extending her climax to match his.

Her eyes stared into his in wonder. She felt whole. Her man loved her and was forever a part of her.

He did not get soft, but was not completely hard. He stretched his leg out and rolled over, bringing her above him, still impaled on his cock.

She looked down at her father, her beautiful breasts hanging above his mouth, their hard nipples begging to be sucked.

Her focus was on his eyes. She could see into his soul. And he could see into hers.

She began a dance of lust with him inside her, swaying her hips to make that magnificent cock stretch her pussy. He grew harder with each movement. His hands cupped and teased her breasts and nipples. He took her hand and led it to her clit as she rode him rodeo style, letting her determine when she would come.

She frigged her clit hard. In a few moments, she began to moan. The moans got louder as he cupped her ass cheeks. The moans became a scream of pleasure when he pressed his thumb on her starfish. Not into her ass, but to caress her anal nerves.

Her climax was explosive! Her hands grabbed his shoulders, nails biting into his flesh. Screams of delight. She howled her desire and then seemed to crumple atop Michael. Spent.

After several minutes, she recovered enough to look longingly into his eyes, feeling the incredibly hard cock still lodged in her pussy.

“Incredible, Dad,” she whispered almost shyly as she lay atop him. She was far from spent, though. She knew she would be away from him for some time and wanted memories.

“Do you want to be my slut?” he asked, knowing the answer.

She did not speak, but moved off his cock. It glistened from her juices and his cum. She moved down his body, kissing his chest then belly keeping her eyes locked with Michael’s, lust written plainly in her eyes.

When she got to his cock, she threw her blonde mane over one shoulder and took his dick in one small hand while the other gently cupped his heavy balls. She began by licking the underside up to the sensitive triangle below the tip, a sensual massage, filled with love. And her eyes remained locked on his.

She took the head between her lips and into her hot mouth; her tongue caressing the underside while her hand gently pumped the shaft. She tried two hands now, each twisting in opposite directions – a Jenna Haze move, she thought bringing a smile to her sparkling eyes.

Michael was moaning as his climax built. The sight of his little girl with his cock deep in her mouth was too much. He felt the climax start.

“I’m cumming Honey!!!”

His torso raised up, as the primal need to thrust caused him to jam his cock into her sucking mouth.

Their eyes still locked, he loosed his first string of cum into his daughter’s mouth. She pulled back a little to make room in her mouth for the discharge, but kept his dick locked in her lips as she increased suction on the head.

When he finished, she slowly pulled away and opened her mouth to show him all his cum. Her eyes still locked on his, she sensuously closed her mouth and swallowed, opening her mouth again to show she had swallowed it all.

He flopped back on his pillow when she finished, breathing unevenly, gulping air. He reached down and pulled Beth to him.

He took her face in his hands and gently kissed her, trying to put all the love he could in that moment.

She lay in his arms. Neither of them wanted to speak as it might break the magical spell.

Still. It was time to hide while the worlds of her attackers were destroyed.

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