Tight, brushing the edge of discomfort and flaring toward a heated sensation. Each time she flinched, he watched her recover, the stubborn line of her jaw tightening. He wanted herto fight him. He wanted her to stand tall in her defiance so he could break it, slowly, beautifully.
“Tell me to stop,” Rune said, voice rough. “That is the one word I will permit you. Say it, and this ends.”
“I said I won’t?—”
He struck her ass and she yelped.
Chuckling, he rubbed the sore spot, her skin hot beneath his palm. “Only one word, Alora.”
She didn’t answer. That refusal undid him.
And worried him, that this was too much.
Rune checked the bond, reading her defiant expression. Her cheeks were flushed, her chest heaving with shallow breaths, but the hint of a smile hovered at her lips. He really did underestimate her.
This was not the same Alora he knew.
Or could it be that he had never given them the opportunity to truly see each other.
The scent of her lust filled his lungs—sweet, wild, and threaded with the faintest trace of fear. He wanted to sink his teeth into that fear, to taste it until it melted into something else.
“Are you enjoying this?”
“No.”
He spanked her again and she squealed, and he scented the sweetness gathering between her thighs.
“I can sense your lies, Alora.”
Her lips curved, despite her trembling. She wanted him to continue, to do much more. His hands hovered near her hips but didn’t touch. He wanted her tofeelthe distance, to understand that what he withheld was more dangerous than anything he could take.
He leaned in, lips grazing her ear. “Do you know what I see when I look at you?”
She shook her head.
He smiled against her skin, a slow, sharp curve. “A creature trying very hard not to beg.”
Her breath stuttered. The shadows pulsated in rhythm with it, a heartbeat made of night. Rune’s control frayed another inch, but he reined it in. Barely.
This wasn’t about taking. It was about showing her how easily he could take everything, and how much he wanted to.
Every part of his being was feral to claim her, to sink himself so deep into her, she would never be rid of him. But he resisted. He would savor tonight. She was already his masterpiece, suspended between pain and pleasure, rebellion and surrender.
“Last time, I left you wanting,” Rune murmured as he drew her undergarments aside, exposing her heated slit to the cold air. A growl of satisfaction rumbled in his chest at the sight of her already sleek and glistening. Her breath trembled. “Tonight, I will drown you in pleasure until you can’t breathe.”
His shadows coiled up her legs slowly, caressing the curve of her waist, her ribs, every inch of her like a prayer he’d waited too long to answer. The pulse in her neck fluttered wildly, her lips trembling as the shadows drew near. At the first stroke, her hips bucked and she stifled a strangled sound.
“Every tremor, every moan, is mine tonight,” Rune said. “You can hate me for it in the morning.”
He didn’t need to touch her to make her come. His shadows were enough. They invaded her body, swarming over her breasts and delicate nub. He watched her twitch and moan, growing hard in his trousers but he forced himself to stay put.
Because the beast was out.
His horns were heavy on his head, wings looming at his back. His fangs ached from how much he wanted to bury himself into her.
Alora panted and he sensed her orgasm climb. But she squeezed her legs shut and said, “Do you intend to stand therewatching?” She bared her teeth in a sneer. “I thought this would hurt but all I have suffered is your mist. How disappointing.”
Rune laughed darkly and retracted his claws. “Patience, my dear. I have only begun.”
