Heart thumping, I relax and let him return to his task. I don’t look away from him as he works, his face attentive. He tenderly cleans every spot of blood from my skin, even the bits in my hair and splatters on my neck.
It’s impossible to stop my already pounding heart from racing when he sets to unfastening my bloodstained jacket one button at a time. Or when he pushes the garment over my shoulders and lets it fall to the floor.
He takes my face in his hands. “You look so tired. I don’t sleep, but I would like to lie with you while you do. If you want that.”
I fold my fingers around his wrists. “You know what I want. I know I can’t hide it. I even took a dose of birthbane from Yaz’s apothecary. But now we’re here in the middle of nowhere, being hunted down like literal animals, and you’re injured. I’d say I have terrible luck.”
His lips quirk on one side as he slips off the table and, holding my hand, leads me across the room to the bed. Much to my relief, the bed linens look clean and well cared for, if still cold.
Neri kicks off his leather shoes as he reaches for the thick wool blanket and folds it back, revealing white sheets beneath. In truth, we would’ve slept in this bed, crushed together, regardless of cleanliness. But this makes the event far easier.
He crawls into the bed on his uninjured side, his back against the wall, and motions for me to join him. “Come here,” he says softly.
He looks so inviting lying there, and though the room is still warming, I don’t want a barrier between us. I want to feel his skin on mine.
I let down every ward around my mind and remove my tunic, hanging it from the short bedpost. Underneath, I wear nothing but the green silk undergarment I took from my things at Starworth Tor.
Neri’s eyes turn molten at the sight of me, and I can see his fangs extend by their simple push against his upper lip. The lowest growl rumbles in his chest. “You’re trying to murder me.”
I smile. “Actually, I was hoping to entice you to my bedchambers once we reached Winterhold,” I tell him, my chest rising and falling on shallower breaths. “I wanted to invite you to do all those depraved things you mentioned.”
When he looks into my thoughts, he offers a small smile when he finds nothing but honesty. “Come here,” he says again. Gruffer this time.
I kick off my boots and slip beneath the covers, facing him. He folds his arm beneath his head, staring at me as he trails his fingertips back and forth across my collarbone and up the curve of my neck.
“I’m telling myself I need to let you rest,” he says. “That we have a dozen worrisome things to discuss if you’re going to stay awake. That I’m in no condition to do the things I want so badly to do to you.” He slides his fingertips from my collarbone down to my breast, lingering at my nipple where his thumb circles the hardened tip through the silk. “I tell myself these things, yet I can’t stop touching you.”
I close my eyes as he pinches me hard, the way I like it. “I don’t want you to stop.”
“I know.” He flicks his fingertip over my nipple. “Your little heart is flying, and you smell like the most delicious want.”
Unexpectedly, Neri slips his hand between my legs. I gasp as he rubs me, then sets to loosening the laces of my trousers.
“Your side,” I remind him, as though he needs me to do so.
He works deftly at the laces. “There are many ways to fuck, little bird.”
I shove out of my pants and undergarment so fast it’s almost embarrassing, but the moment I’m facing him again, he drags me close and slides his hand back where I need him, gripping me hard as he looks into my eyes.
“This is already my pussy.” An even firmer grasp. “You understand that, yes? Mine.”
My heart stutters, and something inside me that feels as ancient as the grove unfurls with glee at the thought of being claimed by him. Of being marked as part of the God of the North’s territory. Of being taken and had and fucked by the White Wolf. It might not happen the way I want tonight, but it will soon, and I am ready.
“Take it if it’s yours,” I whisper against his lips. “Give me relief.”
With our eyes locked, he slides a thick finger through the slick heat gathered between my legs, then deep into me.
“So fucking wet.” He pulls out and sucks his finger into his mouth, savoring every drop, growling at the taste before plunging back inside me, then tasting again. “Gods, you’re even better than I dreamed.”
He kisses me then, finger slipping back inside my pussy, and I suck on his luscious tongue, tasting myself, my need. I curve my hips toward him, unable to stop the absolute feral sound that escapes me as he curls his finger repeatedly over that tender spot deep within, making me want more, making me want to take him so deep it hurts.
Injured or not, he leans down and bites my nipple through the silky green fabric, tugging the sensitive flesh between his teeth over and over as he begins pumping his finger in and out of me in more punishing thrusts.
I reach for the strap of my undergarment and slip it from my shoulder, offering him my breast, needing him to ravish me while he fucks me, wishing he would bite down and drink.
Neri drags his teeth more roughly over my bare nipple, and I realize he can hear my thoughts, my every desire. I show him the fucking I ache for, to be taken in every way by him. In response, he groans as he licks me, swirling his tongue over the taut peak of my breast, sucking it into his mouth as he inserts another thick finger, stretching me wide. His cock twitches against me, and I stroke my hand along its length through his pants, reveling at the unyielding hardness and that throbbing, swollen head.
“I can give you what you want,” he whispers, just before he licks his way up my neck, his fingers fucking me with an expert touch. “You are my every fantasy, too. Every single godsdamn one. Believe me when I tell you that I can be yours.”
