He drew back to look at her. He had to know if this was okay. Flirting with a mating bond was dangerous. They had to both understand what they were getting into.
She placed her hand on the center of his chest and surely felt the rumble there. Her lids lowered. “I’m sorry, but this is never going to work.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Marius’s pained reaction made Harlow regret her choice of words immediately. He pulled away as if she’d punched him. Smiling, she caught his face in her hands. “What I mean is, it’s never going to work around this dress. It’s too bulky, and you feel way too good to have it between us.” Quickly, she stood and reached for the neckline.
She unbuttoned her top slowly, then unfastened the clasp holding her skirt. The fabric pooled around her ankles. Females of her species traditionally wore a one-piece undergarment under their dresses. She slid the straps off her shoulders and peeled the fitted fabric from her body. Totally naked now, she locked eyes with him as she kicked the pile aside, almost tripping over the garment. He didn’t seem daunted by the ungraceful display.
Marius’s hungry gaze raked over her, his mating trill a deafening hum in her ears. Pure male need turned the corners of his mouth, and he stalked toward her again like the predator he was. When he kissed her this time, it wasn’t gentle. He grabbed her waist and crushed her to him, claiming her mouth in a way that stole her breath.
He kissed her like the king he almost was and the man who was so much better. He kissed her with all the heat of Hades and the power of heaven. This kiss was honey-coated promises and silken daggers. She absorbed it all, all the passion and the fear. She needed him closer. Every inch of him.
Desperately, she tore at his shirt, only satisfied when he shrugged it off and the tips of her breasts finally skimmed his bare, tattooed chest. While her mouth worked, she grazed his wings with her nails, stroked the mounded muscles of his shoulders, and traced the deep groove of his collarbone. And when she worked his breeches over his hips and he was finally naked in her arms, her exploration of his physique could only come to one conclusion: the man was a god.
A high-pitched warble started in her own chest. It was a sound she’d never heard before, and it startled her. Was that her mating trill? It was different from his. Lighter. Silvery.
He broke from the kiss and looked at her like she was the reason the moons hung in the sky. There was no hiding the sound, and they both knew what it meant. For a moment, he lowered his chin and closed his eyes, just listening. When he opened them again, the smile on his face was equal parts wicked and possessive.
With one powerful beat of his wings, she was back on the settee. The tray clattered to the stone floor, and he stretched her out on the blue velvet, stroked her hair back as he gave her one long, unhurried kiss. He tilted her chin up. “Watch the stars.”
She obeyed, losing herself in the purple velvet night and the smattering of light above her. The diversion of her gaze only served to make her skin hypersensitive, her body wishing to feel what she couldn’t see. Hot breath traveled along her neck, between her collarbones. A kiss landed between her breasts, then on her navel. Fuck, she was a raw tangle of nerves. Her core throbbed as he kissed his way closer to her center. She glanced down, and he stopped abruptly and pointed at the stars. She snapped her gaze back to the heavens.
And his tongue lapped up her folds.
The feeling was so intense she nearly came. Electric sparks ignited in her blood. His tongue dipped into her and flicked over her most sensitive flesh, the vibration from his trill buzzing against her, drawing her out. The stars grew brighter. Her hands clawed into the velvet chaise as his mouth swirled and sucked. All at once, the stars seemed to rain down around her. A howl escaped her throat as she pitched over the edge. For a moment, she was soaring, glowing brighter than the moons. Her back arched off the settee as pleasure rolled through her body, sending her inner dragon into a frenzy.
She’d just started her descent when he entered her. Her body convulsed around the invasion. He was thick, massive. In one perfectly slick thrust, he buried himself in her, stretching her to the limit. All the air left her lungs. The sheer intensity threatened to throw her over the edge again.
Slowly, steadily, he began to move, the even rhythm teasing her higher until her need to come made even the feel of her hair against the velvet sweet torture. She tried to speed the pace, but he grabbed her hips and ground into her.
“More.” She wrapped her legs around his hips and dug her fingers into his ass. “Mine!”
His fingers tangled in her hair, supporting his weight on his elbows as their gazes locked. The full weight of what she’d said settled between them. She hadn’t planned to do it. But here, under him, she couldn’t fight nature. Her dragon wanted him. Wanted him desperately with a wanton hunger she couldn’t control. She’d claimed him as her mate. As foolish and crazy as it was.
“Mine!” The growl of possession that ripped from his throat left no room for misunderstanding. It was done.
He quickened his pace, sweat gathering at the base of his neck. She licked her way to his ear and bit gently. That earned her a barrage of quick, hard thrusts. The legs on the chaise gave out, and they crashed to the floor. He didn’t quit. His wings hooked into hers, just as they had that first day she’d fought him in the pits. The tug against her wings ignited the same inner violence. The same luscious edge. A hair split between pleasure and pain. He thrust harder, faster.
She cried out and soared into the stars again. He followed her into oblivion, his body shuddering over her. She couldn’t get enough. She pulled him closer, deeper. Her body milked his, her desire demanding, squeezing every ounce of pleasure from the moment. Time became meaningless. There was only this tangle of limbs, this endless indulgence.
A long while later, she lay tucked into his chest, under the shelter of his wing. Her thighs were coated with him. The air was thick with their mingled smoky scents. By the Mountain, she’d never experienced anything like that before. She wasn’t a virgin before tonight, but she might as well have been. Nothing in the world could compare to this.
Their gazes locked.
“I think we broke your sofa,” she whispered.
He chuckled. “More where this one came from.”
She stroked her nails gently over his ear. In the shelter of her arms, he closed those haunting silver eyes and slept.
Harlow woke from a deep sleep, unable to breathe. Someone was choking her. She opened her eyes but couldn’t understand what she was seeing. Marius was over her, his hands wrapped around her throat. She grabbed his wrists and dug her nails into his skin. Spots swam in her vision. He was strangling her! Hurting her! Why was he doing this?
His eyes were open, but it was like he couldn’t see her. Was he… doing this in his sleep? She tried to make sense of it while pain needled her throat and lack of oxygen addled her brain. A symbol on his chest blinked and rippled in the dim room. Or was that her mind playing tricks on her?
Survival instinct finally kicked in just as darkness nipped at the corners of her vision. She threaded her arms between his and punched him in the throat with everything she had, while at the same time digging the talon of her wing into his shoulder.
She gasped as his grip loosened. Above her, he blinked with such confusion on his face she’d feel sorry for him if she weren’t so busy trying to fill her lungs with air. He staggered off her, onto his feet, tearing his shoulder free of her talon. Blood sprayed across her chest, her face. She blinked against it, her breath whistling.
