Page 105

She couldn't help but clench around him. She felt his lips nuzzle against the nape of her neck before he bit down, marking her. She didn't see the smile of possession that slid across his face.

"I'm going to fuck you just like this, slowly, until we both cannot move."

She whimpered, her cheek pressed against the rug. He pulled back almost to the tip and slid back in, slower. "Tell me what you want me to do."

"Blaidd...don't...don't stop..." she said, her fingers digging into his thick wrist as his hips began to move faster.

"You're going to feel me for days. Every time you move, you will feel what I did."

She cried out, hips pushing back into him.

"You'll beg for it," he growled, breath hot on her neck as he felt himself lose control.

He dragged his thumb down her spine again, then pressed it between her cheeks, spreading her wider. Her voice was wrecked when she whispered, "Please..."

He thrust again, deeper and harder. "Yeah?" he growled as he sat up with her on his lap, still joined and thrusting. "Like this?"

She gasped, nearly collapsing.

There were no more words as one hand reached around her and found her clit. He pressed a finger against it and gave a brutal thrust with his hips. That was all it took for her to come undone, her mouth open in a silent scream. Her inner muscles tightened around him to the point of pain. His hips moved erratically, unable to hold back, and he followed her with a growl. Tired to the point of collapse, he held on to her before falling sideways, cushioning her body from the fall with his own. Still, he refused to let her go. They both gasped in each other's embrace, each not ready to pop the bubble.

But the floor was cold. Fae was barely aware as he slowly disengaged and then carried her to bed. She was vaguely aware of him spreading her thighs and lazily tracing patterns there with the wetness before probing her wetness with one thick finger like he couldn't help himself. She protested, sensitive now, and he hushed her before cleaning her with a wet cloth and tucking her in. He then slid into bed beside her, and they snuggled on the narrow pallet. She was drifting away, so she might have been dreaming, but she thought she heard him whisper his love into her hair. His thick arms were tight around her as if he worried she would disappear if he let her move an inch.

Chapter 43

Later, they lay tangled together in the dark. He had rearranged her boneless body to his liking, draping her over his waist and pulling her close to squash her breasts against his chest. Then he made love to her, face to face, watching every reaction, absorbing every groan, learning her body slowly, like he always wanted to. He parted her thighs to feast between her legs as he watched her come undone. Later, he locked her legs around his waist and held himself inside her while she begged and pleaded for him to move.

"Please…please," she gasped. His eyes bore into hers as he held still while she fluttered restlessly around him.

"One more… Give me one more… " he grunted, and she did with a strangled cry which he drank down with a kiss. She was almost asleep when he came seconds later with two hard thrusts.

Fae's head rested against his chest while his arm arm laid heavy and possessive around her waist. For a while, the only sound in the room was the steady rhythm of their breathing. There was an unfamiliar peace between them, but it didn't last.

There it was…a subtle shift.

Her body moved beneath his arm, not to get closer but to create space. A small tension gathered in her shoulders, like she was breathing more measured and controlled.

He tightened his hold instinctively as she tried to ease away.

He did not let her. Through the bond, he caught fragments of her thoughts—confusion flickering through her, a sharp bite of anger at control lost, and beneath it, something that had the now familiar panic rise within him, doubt.

Will he go back to being distant?

Will he be off on yet another quest?

Will this heat and harmony fade by morning?

And worst of all, a quiet, cutting thought that she had let herself down. That she had given in too easily.

He buried his face in her hair, breathing her in. Her scent was unlike anyone else's—wild and soft and solely hers.

"I won't ever let you go," he murmured into her hair. "I will be by your side as long as you let me."

She went still before she tensed even more.

Carefully, he released her and rolled away, sitting up on the edge of the bed. The cool air touched his skin as he reached for his trousers.

Fae propped herself up on one elbow.