“And why would I ever do that, Beasty?” he asks softly, but it feels more like a purr.
“Because it’s enough,” I snap, every part of me drawn entirely too tight to hold the weight of the rising tension between us. “I’ve had enough with the three of you looking at me like something you need to conquer. I am not yours to own, Riall. I never will be,” I declare, grateful that I hear hard determination reinforcing my words and not the breathy invitation I was worried might show up in that statement.
“And what makes you think any of us want to own you?” Riall counters, the confident smile he’s wearing not dimming in the slightest as his gaze traces over my face like he’s looking for something hidden beneath my frustrated scowl.
“Isn’t that how all of this works? The world we live in,” I supply, mocking Tarek’s words from earlier.
“I’dloveto show you how all of this works, Beasty, but you’d have to let go of the bullshit preconceived notions you have about us…and yourself, for me to do that,” he asserts, and I’m slightly thrown by it.
“Me?” I challenge.
“Yes,you, Auset. You live in a world where horrible things happen to everyone, and yet somehow you have this fucked-up notion of whatgoodshould look like. But when hasgooddone anything for you, or for us, or anyone else you’ve ever known for that matter? You know better, Beasty. You know what you crave. What gets your heart racing with excitement, and need dripping down your thighs. It’s notgoodthat’s doing any of that for you, is it? You just don’t want to see the truth yet.”
“You don’t know shit about me,” I retort, but even I can hear how weak that argument sounds.
“You’d like to think that, but it would just be another thing you’re too afraid to admit,” he growls back, caging me in as he presses his palms against the counter on either side of me. “I’ve never met a being in this land or the next that doesn’t take, that doesn’t snatch up what they need and want, because that’s our very nature as fae. You understood what it took to come out on top in the ludere; you need to understand it again now that you’re out.”
His heated gaze drinks me down, and despite myself, responding warmth moves over me. I want to pretend it’s only anger, but with the muscles of his arms barely brushing mine, and the way his mouth edges closer with each breath, I know I’d be lying. I try to shake free of his words—of the grip his proximity and presence has over me—and lean into him, needing to show him that he’s wrong. I’m not scared to admit anything; there’s simply nothing to admit. But the moment I press against the hard planes of his body and the warmth of his skin, I know I’ve made a mistake.
I pull in a shocked breath as the sudden contact sends a flare of undeniable awareness shrieking through me. And then the next thing I know, our lips crash together in a violent, passionate frenzy.
ChapterTwenty-Nine
Ican’t say which of us moves to the other first or if we’re both pulled together at the exact same moment. All I know is that Riall’s large hands cup the sides of my face, and his long fingers thread through my hair as our mouths and tongues clash and fight and demand everything the other has to give. I want to battle for dominance. To take, exactly like he just said I should, but he nips and strokes and sucks at my mouth like he was made for this and this alone, and it stokes an unyielding need in me to see what it would be like to follow instead of lead.
Riall’s hands drop from my face, and I moan as I feel them dip lower and grip my ass tightly. He lifts me up on the counter, stepping into me as plates of food and jars are pushed out of the way. Something falls to the ground, shattering loudly, but Riall parts my thighs with his thick body, grinding his hips into me, and I’m lost to anything else but him.
My tunic is pushed higher by our position, and I gasp at the delicious sensation of his leathers against my bare cunt. My nipples harden and my breasts grow heavy as desire blazes through me. He’s hard as a rock against the seam of me, and I suddenly can’t decide if I want to shove my hands down his pants or continue to grind against him while I feel the taut muscles of his torso.
I palm the back of his head, his short shorn hair scratchy against my skin in a way I want to feel everywhere. Riall growls into my mouth, pulling me tighter against him. Our tongues dance and stroke, and I feel the hint of a sharp canine that sets everything inside of me alight while also terrifying me. I want to feel his fangs against my neck, and yet that animalistic yearning unsettles me more than anything else.
It would be brutal and rough between us, but that’s not what makes me pause. It’s what something between us might do to me and my plans, because what if he’s right? What if I am ignoring the glaring truths in front of me? What if I am afraid?
As though my doubt starts to flavor our kiss, Riall responds by kissing me even harder. He drives his hips into my spread thighs and sucks on my bottom lip, like he’s showing me what it would feel like to have his lips wrapped around my clit. I’m lost to him once again, need drowning out every logical objection trying to form in my mind.
Fuck, he feels incredible.
Riall is large and hard in every possible sense. I feel dominated and yet protected in a way that’s both confusing and invigorating. With Leto, I always led. I took what I needed, how I needed it, and he was happy to let me. Riall is different. He’s pure unfiltered fervor. He’s manic need to dominate and claim and wrench every drop of desire out of every touch and stroke and thrust. It’s all consuming, powerful, and I want to drown in it even though I know how dangerous that could be.
“I’m going to fuck you here on the counter, and then again on the table. I’m going to fuck you on every stair that leads upstairs until you’re in my bed where I’ll have you screaming my name long past the point when your voice gives out,” he declares against my lips, threading his hands back through my hair to angle my mouth the way he wants before drinking me down in a kiss so deep and intense that my toes curl and the first signs of release start to collect at my center.
Bless the realms, can he make me come from this alone?
Something about that realization makes all of this feel entirely too intense. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. I’ve had needs and desires, butthisis on another level. What I’m feeling right now is beyond not wanting to feel lonely. It’s consuming in a way that could burn everything I know, everything I am, to ash when it’s all so tenuous.
What would be left in the wake of the detonation that’s building between us?
I’ve barely gotten a grip on what I want for me, and now I’d have to factor in Riall? How am I supposed to know how he fits into a life I’ve barely had a chance to peek at? I wanted to find connection, to feel tethered to something again, butthisis entirely too potent to think I’ll walk away unscathed, and I have to be able to walk away.
“No,” I manage to get out, but I don’t know if it’s a declaration meant for me or for Riall.
I push against his bare chest.
“No, what?” he demands, swallowing my panted word down as he nips at my lower lip with his fangs.
Shit.
Riall runs his tongue against my own sharpened canines, moaning at the sensation. I don’t even know when my fangs came out to play, I’ve been so wrapped up in…everything.
