His hand stilled.Notpulling away, but stopping the motion that was carrying me higher.Thesudden cessation was a shock—the peak was rightthere, shimmering just out of reach.Afrustrated, broken cry escaped me.
“Kor, please!”Imoaned.
“I can’t,” he repeated, his voice thick with regret and unsated desire.Heleaned down, his lips brushing my forehead in a kiss that was heartbreakingly chaste compared to the hot, dirty things he’d just been telling me.“Thelaw won’t let me.AndIwon’t break it for you,Vivienne.EventhoughIwant to.Eventhough it’s killing me.”
The ache between my legs was a throbbing, hollow thing.Thepleasure had been wound so tight, and now it had nowhere to go.Ifelt flushed, desperate, and utterly, painfully unfinished.Iopened my eyes to see him looking down at me, an expression of torment and restraint on his face.
I felt a surge of desire mixed with impatience.He’dbrought me to the very brink using only words and the ghost of a touch.He’dshown me a glimpse of a pleasureIwas forever denied.
As the sun lamp beat down on my damp, trembling skin,Iknew one thing with absolute certainty.Ihad never wanted anything—or anyone—more in my entire life thanKorwynJamison.
AndIcould never have him.
TWENTY-FOUR
VIVIENNE
I went to bed, empty and aching.Iwas so sexually frustratedIthoughtImight scream and yetIknew thatKorhad done the right thing.Ifwe had gone any further, we surely would have broken theUnbreakableLaws.
The thing was,Iwasn’t used to feeling sexually needy at all.Maybeit was becauseIhad suppressed that part of myself so fiercely for so many years, but even back whenIhadHeatCycles, they were so mildIbarely felt them.
I remembered hearing other woman in the pack whisper about how they got so hot they couldn’t help themselves—they had to beg their husbands to breed them at all hours of the day and night.
I had never been able to understand that.Thethought ofCarterbreeding me just made me vaguely ill.Evenon myCycle,Ididn’t want him.Ionly felt mildly irritated between my legs and once or twice my breasts ached.Inever produced the nectar that filled most femaleWere’sbreasts at that time—of whichIwas glad.Ididn’t want to askCarterto suck it out.Inever wanted any part of his body near mine and the thought of his mouth on my nipples made me sick.
But the thought ofKorsucking my nipples filled me with warmth.AsIlay sleepless in bed,Icouldn’t help remembering all the dirty things he’d told me he wanted to do to me.Theway he wanted to touch me, and taste me and knot me…
Stop it—stop thinking about it,Itold myself fiercely.Youknow you can’t have him—and you’ve already gone way further than you should.Justtry to forget it and get some sleep.
ButIwasn’t sleepy—Iwashungry—and not for food.Mywhole body was crying out for somethingIcouldn’t give it—somethingIcould never have.
I thought about trying to touch myself, but the lessonsI’dlearned as a child were too strong.Justthe idea of putting my fingers between my legs made me feel cold with guilt.
SoIlay there, tossing and turning and needing, until at last,Ifell into a troubled sleep.
I was in the woods again, running from the wolf.Thefull moon shone down overhead, gilding everything with silvery light.Icould hear it coming behind me, howling and panting andIknew it wanted to breed me.
And this time,IknewIwanted to let it.
ButIcouldn’t,Itold myself—Imust keep running.Itwas wrong to stop and let him mount me.Wrongto spread my thighs for his thick cock…his huge knot.Wrongto moan and gasp and rut in the grass with his huge form bearing me down, filling me…fucking me…
“Hey,Vivienne, are you all right?It’sa dream…just a bad dream…”
I woke up with a gasp and saw a large, dark shape standing beside my bed.Hewas leaning over me, and he had me by the shoulder, shaking me awake.
At firstIthought it wasCarteragain, shaking me awake, telling me it was “breeding time.”
“No, please!”Iscooted away from him, trying to hide myself in the covers, butIhad somehow kicked them off.“Please,Idon’t want to.Please, just leave me alone this time!”
“Vivienne, it’s me—it’sKor,” the shape said.
As my eyes adjusted to the light,Isaw that it was indeedKorand not my late husband.Ibreathed a sigh of relief that almost ended in a sob.
“I…I’msorry,”Isaid, my voice coming out wobbly.“Ithought you wereCarter.Heused to come to me at night and…and…”
ButIcouldn’t go on.
In the dim moonlight streaming in through the window,IsawKor’sface grow hard.
