More vines joined the invasion, one finding that bundle of nerves and circling with perfect pressure, another tracing her lips until they parted and let it slip inside her mouth. She was being claimed from every angle, filled and touched and possessed by the forest itself.
The vine in her mouth tasted of green things and earth, moving shallow so she could breathe but deep enough to make her aware of its presence. Of her helplessness.
"If anyone could see you now," Eliam murmured, pinching her nipple hard enough to make her moan around the vine. "Taking my forest so beautifully, every inch of skin marked by my touch."
The vine inside her began moving faster, the one on her clit circled tighter, pressure building. She was climbing again, faster this time, with no way to slow down or control the ascent.
"Not yet," he commanded, and somehow the vines obeyed, easing their pressure just enough to keep her balanced on the edge. "You haven't earned it yet. Haven't shown me complete submission."
She made a desperate sound around the vine in her mouth, and he chuckled darkly.
"What's that? Hard to beg with your mouth full?" His hand tangled in her hair, controlling the depth of the vine between her lips. "Then beg with your body. Show me how it surrenders."
She stopped fighting entirely. Let her muscles go soft, let the vines position her however they wanted. Became nothing but a vessel for sensation, for his will made manifest through wood and leaf.
"Better," he approved. "Much better. No resistance. Just acceptance."
The vine inside her changed its rhythm, taking her with deep, claiming strokes that made thought impossible. Her whole world narrowed to the fullness, the pressure, the way every nerve sang with need.
"Now," he said, and it was permission and command both. "Come for my forest. Show me how completely you submit."
The vines worked in perfect unison, the one inside her curling at the same moment the one on her clit pressed exactly right, the one in her mouth pushing deep enough tomake her feel thoroughly used. She came undone with a muffled cry, her whole body convulsing in the vines' hold.
They worked her through it, drawing out the pleasure until she was sobbing, overstimulated and shaking. Only then did they slow, though they didn't withdraw.
"Beautiful," Eliam said, pressing kisses to her shoulder. "Now..."
The vine in her mouth withdrew, and she gasped for air. But before she could speak, Eliam was moving, the vines adjusting their hold to turn her, to present her differently.
"Now," he repeated, and she heard the sound of his belt coming undone, "you get what your body has been crying out for since you called me home."
She was already oversensitive, already wrecked, but that warmth in her chest pulsed eager anticipation. Because he was right, despite the intensity of what just happened, she still felt empty. Still needed him, not just his forest.
"Please," she managed, voice hoarse.
"Yes," he said, hands settling on her hips. "Beg for it. Show me you understand the difference between what my forest can give and what only I can provide."
The vines held her open, ready, as he positioned himself. And despite everything, despite the exhaustion and oversensitivity, her body welcomed the first press of him with embarrassing eagerness.
"That's it," he growled as he pushed inside. "Take what you really need. What all the vines in the world can't replace."
He was right. The vines had been incredible, overwhelming, but this, the solid weight of him, the heat, the way he filled her, was what that warmth had been reaching for all along.
"Mine," he said with the first real thrust, burying himself deep. "Every part of you. The resistance you show, the fire you keep, all of it. Mine to claim. Mine to break. Mine to rebuild however I choose."
And as he set a rhythm that made thought impossible, as the vines continued their gentle touches around them, Briar realized with sinking certainty that he was right.
Whatever fire she kept, whatever small rebellions she managed, her body would always betray the truth.
She was his. Completely. Devastatingly.
And the worst part? She could no longer blame the strange warmth for wanting it.
She was lost in sensation, in the feeling of being completely claimed. Every thrust drove deeper, harder, and the vines pulsed in rhythm with his movements. She couldn't tell where he ended and the forest began—it was all him, all overwhelming possession.
"This is what you needed," he growled against her neck. "Not gentle touches. Not careful exploration. Complete domination."
His hands gripped her hips hard enough to bruise, holding her steady for each punishing thrust. The vines adjusted their hold, keeping her at the perfect angle, opening her to everything.
