“Show,” he grunts. The end of the word turns into a growl that reverberates through me. My spine goes loose. I lie back, shaking. The torn hem of my tunic rides up.
Hunter kneels between my legs, pushing the tunic up the rest of the way. There are thorns sticking into the folds; he plucks them away and tosses them aside. He’s gentle as he brushes my hair back from my face. His thumb doesn't touch my jaw but I wince anyway. There's a scrape there.
“It’s okay,” I whisper. “Just a scratch.”
He curls his blunt fingers into the neck of my tunic, and rips it clean in half. I start at the ripping sound but he’s tossed the folds back, baring me to his gaze. A pleasing shudder runs through my lower half.
Hunter stretches out over me, careful not to let his giant frame rest on mine. He nuzzles at my shoulder where a red scrape blooms on my skin. His lips brush the unharmed skin above the scrape. At his butterfly light touch, every muscle between my legs contracts with a sharp, delicious clench. I curl into him with a whimper, unable to rub myself against him because he’s pinning me down. He runs his nose down my neck, leaving goosebumps in its wake. So careful, so gentle. Taking his sweet time.
When I close my eyes, I see the snake rising up over me again. My breath shudders out of me.
Hunter digs his fingers into my hair, cradling my head, chafing my face with his beard until I open my eyes.
I stroke the furrows in his brow. “That thing was huge. You could’ve died.”
“No.” He doesn’t sound arrogant. He sounds sad.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t more help,” I say. “I looked for a dagger or something to fight with but…” My fighting skills are about as good as his talking ones.
“No,” Hunter says again. His growl vibrates through me, making me throb again. Slick pools hotly between my legs.
“You saved me,” I whisper.
He turns his head and kisses my palm. So sweet. He draws my fingers into his mouth, sucking hard. My clit throbs as if he laid his mouth on me.
“I’m okay,” I gasp, as he turns his attention to a scratch on my collarbone. I grab his head to pull him away. “You don’t need—”
He pins my wrists to the ground with a growl. My hips judder as a new spurt of slick soaks my core.
Vines creep across the ground, winding about my wrists and ankles to tether me in place. I’m spread-eagled, and open to Hunter’s ministrations. He kisses his way down my chest, pausing at a red mark on my hip. He bends and peppers kisses around the mark. More slick trickles out of me. My perfume blooms on the air. The combination of Hunter’s scent and mine makes my eyelids flutter.
I fight the vines, thrashing to press closer to him. I spread my thighs wide, lifting my hips to find his. “Hunter, I need…”
He rears over me, unfastening his breeches enough to let his cock spring out then lowering his hips to weight mine. Another growl triggers a sharp throb, and a gush of slick. He pushes inside, rocking back and forth until his shaft is fully inside, filling me to the brim.
The vines holding my arms snap, releasing me. I claw at his back as we shudder and rock together. I need him closer. I need more. When he pins me down and drives his cock into me with hard, punishing thrusts, my orgasm explodes. Pleasure sears my limbs. Hunter growls again and again, pulling wave after wave of sensation through my body. My inner muscles ripple, clenching down on his cock. The ferns around us shake and rustle with his roar. His fangs nip my bare shoulder, awakening a memory of the first time he bit me. Warmth pours through my body as my climax swells and breaks in a continuous, undulating tide.
* * *
The Hunter King
The force of my roar echoes around the grove. Haley’s as tight as a clenched fist. A few more rocking thrusts, and then I graze her shoulder with my teeth and release the pleasure burning up my back. My knot fills my Omega’s perfect pussy, pulsing in time with my thundering heartbeat.
Twilight has settled over the forest. The first moon has climbed above the trees, soon to be joined by her sisters.
The fern fronds dance in the breeze. I lie over my little lysia flower, sheltering her from the cooling air, letting my seed and her slick seal us together. Her eyes are half closed, her lashes tiny shadows on her face.
I kiss her smooth cheek and nuzzle her neck. Her eyes blink open.
“A fern grove wouldn’t be my first choice for a good place to hook up, but it’s kind of perfect.” Her fingers run over my face, finding my scars and tracing them as if reassuring herself that I'm here. They falter, and I nudge her hand until she keeps touching me.
A line appears between her brows. “What was that thing? she asks. “Was that a Slythin? Sian told me about them.”
I nod.
“Are they from the forest?”
I shake my head.
