Veyka’s hand curled around my cock one more time, guiding me to her slick center. Then she shoved her hips down, seating me to the hilt in one brutal stroke. There was no memory or thought of past, present, future. There was only this moment, this female, this excruciating perfection and pleasure.
I reached for her for the first time. Ancestors, how had that happened? How had I not taken every second to explore her glorious body? But she swatted my hand away, pinning a hand to my shoulder.
I could have fought her. But then I felt her other hand between us, her nimble fingers tangling in the thick curls, stroking her clit as she rode me. She could not see my face, I could not see hers. And yet, there was no doubt of who and what we were as we drove each other toward climax.
Mates.
The word sang through my veins, embedded itself in the sinew of my muscles. For the first time since awakening, the bond in my chest did not ache. It glowed. If I blinked, I might see that golden thread between us come to life. Conjured by this—by us.
The walls of her pussy clung to my cock tighter with every thrust. I wanted to reach for her hips, to slam her down harder, or to warn her. But some instinct told me that if I touched her, the magical suspension between us would be broken and we’d come crashing back to reality.
It was too late anyway. I exploded inside of her, spurt after spurt of my hot seed coating the insides of her cunt. Veyka did not slow at all, the thrust of her hips milking every last drop of seed from my length. I realized why a second later as she gripped around me again, her climax so intense I felt my cock hardeningin response. It should not have been possible, not so fast, so soon.
But I was spilling again, and she was crying out, screaming as she rode me through wave after wave of pleasure. I clung to it, to her. Nothing had ever felt so perfect, so right.
She was shaking as she lowered herself back down, her breasts pillowing out against the hard planes of my chest. I caught her, unafraid to touch her now. Unable to stop myself. I eased her onto the bed until she was in my arm, her face buried in my shoulder and her body still half-draped over mine. I did not dare try to kiss her, not even to press one to the top of her silky hair.
Only when she finally stopped shaking did I close my eyes.
The sleep that came for me was dreamless.
58
ARRAN
I woke again in the liminal hour just before dawn, when light begins to seep back into the world and creatures of the night retreat back to their dark refuges. My arm reached across the bed, seeking without conscious thought or intent, only to find the space cold. Empty.
But the scent of primrose and plum lingered.
The room was dark, the fire gone to nothing. But I could hear faint movements near the foot of the bed. Another second, and I knew from the slide and cadence that it was Veyka.
She was dressing.
“You are leaving.”
The sounds ceased, but silence did not come. Was that Veyka’s heart beating wildly in her chest, or my own?
“I will be back by sunrise, Brutal Prince,” Veyka finally said. She resumed her careful movements, the soft scrape of leather and fur giving way to the harsher sounds of metal as she strapped on the harness she wore over her chest—the one that as coincidentally showcased her magnificent breasts.
As if anything Veyka did was coincidental.
“No harm shall come to me,” she said into the darkness between us. An offering, after those last words of concern I’d given. My own weakness, exposed.
A sharp pain stabbed into my gut, as real as if someone had shoved in a blade. Where was she going—to who? Barkke was beyond, waiting in the forest, but with her void power Veyka could be at his side in a matter of moments.
My mind may not remember her, but my beast and my body did.
“Hush,” Veyka whispered. I could imagine her lips pursing together, the soft hiss of her breath between those luscious lips. But I felt it in my chest—the thread that was wrapped so tightly around my heart, surging, shining. She was not speaking to me, but to my beast. “You know that I am yours.”
I was gripped with need—not just to be inside her again, though I could feel my cock tightening—but to have her.Possessher. Every part, not just her body.
The sex had been… less than I expected.
It had eased the primal ache in my chest, the climaxes real and more visceral than any I’d ever experiences.
But I knew there was more, something we had not touched.
Maybe we were both too afraid. Maybe I was a coward, after all. The Brutal Prince, High King of Annwyn, too terrified to be honest with himself or his mate.
