Nothing cool or calm about him, he powered into her, filling the air with the sounds of grunting, snarling, and the slap of flesh. Every thrust was brutal. Forceful. Unrelenting. She went wild beneath him as his cock slid over the brand again and again, her moans a mix of both pleasure and pain. “Want me to stop?”
“Don’t you fucking dare stop!” Spine arched, Devon pushed back to meet each hard thrust as he slammed in and out of her. The friction that came from his cock dragging over the hypersensitive nerve endings of her newly branded flesh was like nothing she’d ever felt. Already her body was wound excruciatingly tight as the friction built and built. And then her pussy began to quake.
Tanner groaned. “Yeah, kitten, fucking come. Milk my cock.”
A shockingly powerful orgasm barreled into Devon, sending an avalanche of sensation washing over her. She came with a scream, bucking and pulling at the bedsheets, as rope after rope of hot come splashed her quaking inner walls. And then she was floating.
She slumped to the mattress, mouth dry, chest heaving, body shuddering. And one-hundred percent sated.
Dropping beside her on the bed, he pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “You okay?”
She opened one eye. “Not happy with your demon,” she slurred.
The corner of his mouth canted up. “You like it when the demon brands you.”
Yeah, but … “Not when it weirdly and inappropriately brands seriously sensitive places. And God only knows what the brand looks like.” At least she wouldn’t have to worry about anyone seeing it.
“My hound sent me a telepathic snapshot of it.” He took her palm and pointed at the mark there. “It looks like this, but it also has my fingerprint layered over the little tribal-like lines in the center of the circle.”
That was just weird, whatever way you looked at it. “Speaking of fingerprints, are these ever going to fade?” she asked, gesturing at the ones on her wrists.
His mouth twitched into a wider smile. “No.”
“I can’t walk around with fingerprints on my damn wrists, Tanner. I’m going to have to ask Raini to tattoo over them. You know that, right?”
The smile slipped from his face. “There’ll be no tattooing over them. Imagine if your feline branded me and I wanted to cover it. How would you feel?”
As if he were rejecting its claim on him, which she’d hate—psycho or not, her feline was part of her. Dammit. She sighed. “Fine, I’ll leave them be.”
“Good girl.” He laid a soft, languid devastating kiss on her that melted her bones.
She bit her lip. “You’re sure about this? About us?”
“You wouldn’t even think to ask that question if you knew what I feel for you. There’s nothing soft or soppy about it. It’s dark and intense and scares the shit out of me.” He cupped her neck. “I told you that I own you, but you own me just the same. You never leave my mind for even a second, no matter how much is going on around me. I don’t like leaving you. Don’t like other men being near you. Don’t like that you have an anchor because I selfishly want to be all you need.
“It should be annoying that you’re on my mind so much, but it’s not, and I don’t even know why. What I do know is that there’s no going back.”
Warmth bloomed inside her and the backs of her eyes prickled. She took a deep breath. “You have to be one-hundred percent certain about this, Tanner. You say I’m on your mind all the time. Well, right back at you. You made yourself important to me a long time ago. Now you’re offering me something I never thought I’d have. I don’t mind admitting I’m scared to believe you won’t change your mind. If you ever stopped caring for me or wanted to end this, it would absolutely destroy me.”
“You don’t ever have to worry that I’ll stop caring about you, just as you don’t ever have to worry that I’ll leave you. I’m going nowhere. You’re mine. All rights reserved.”
“Even if I can’t give you kids?”
“Even if,” he replied without hesitation. “The female hellhound from my lair went to see a specialist, you know. He told her that the causes of these things can sometimes be psychological. Maybe that knot of guilt sitting heavy on your stomach for not saving that baby has had an influence of some kind over this. We’re demons, our minds are seriously powerful things.” He palmed one side of her face and swept his thumb over her cheekbone. “You’ve got to let that senseless guilt go, kitten.”
She swallowed. “It’s not that easy.”
“I know, but my guess is that you cling to it because you’d feel cruel for laying to rest what happened … as if that’s the same as saying it didn’t matter. It’s not the same. Just as it’s not bad to live and enjoy your life. You don’t need to cart these memories and that needless shame around with you. You’ve got to find a way to let it go. Especially because I won’t tolerate anything or anyone—that includes you—causing my girl pain.”