I slipped closer, anxious to get warm and to see him better.
The muscles of his back rippled and in the darkness, and it was then I realized that he looked almost human too. He tensed, almost as if he could sense my movements and I chewed at my lip. I paused, watching, only now noticing the fabric pants around his waist. Saleos had been naked, untamed, raw, and wild. Something about Axel was different and I wondered what it was. I had half expected to be on my back with my legs spread wide, his cock spearing into my depths, but he hadn’t done anything like that. Yet.
He’d rescued me and brought me here instead. I didn’t know what to think.
This dumbfounded me.
“Axel?” I whispered, almost afraid to hear the sound of my own voice.
“Stay away,” he said gruffly. Again, I heard the strain in his voice and wondered what it meant. His muscles seemed to tense even further as I moved closer and his breath echoed a bit more loudly. I stilled for a moment, before I continued moving closer to him.
“Don’t. I won’t be able to stop myself,” he warned. “Stay over by the mattress.”
“What do you mean?” I whispered.
“Your scent, human. It’s potent and exceedingly clear that you’re ready for me to mount you. It makes me want to throw you on the ground and fuck you so hard that you would feel it for days. Even if you don’t want it, I’ll take you anyway. So. Stay. Where. You. Fucking. Are,” he growled, and I stopped moving, the power of his words weighing heavy on my shoulders. I leaned against a large boulder beside me, sitting down on the hard surface for a moment.
“You saved me from him,” I breathed.
“Saleos is unstable. He would have ripped you open within minutes of mounting you. He’s done it before and will do it again if given the chance,” he answered.
My body pounded with heat. None of it by my own choosing.
“You won’t kill me, right?” I asked carefully, my arms curling around my chest. For the first time in my life, I felt entirely uncertain of what to do. If I should run, stay where I was, or move closer to him. No matter what I chose, I felt like I was doomed.
It had been a good long while since I’d been with a man and for some strange reason, my body was warming to him. It definitely wasn’t by choice. My mind was sending every single to me to run. Flight, definitely not fight. My body, on the other hand, had a very different idea and was extremely curious about what he threatened.
What if he did kill me? What if he was as much of a monster as Saleos was? What if he was someone I should be even more afraid of?
“No. I won’t kill you,” he sighed, his voice still full of as much strain as before.
My breath caught in my throat and I swallowed, my mouth quickly becoming dry. I licked my lips, parted my thighs, and he froze. His nose twitched in my direction.
Did I dare trust him?
I was naked. I had no doubt that with his heightened senses he could smell the sweat on my skin and the arousal between my legs. There was nothing stopping my scent from the cool cave mountain air. Nothing except a few feet separating me and him.
I pressed my legs back together nervously, feeling a trickle of moisture seep down my thighs. The glow of the fire cast shadows all around us, setting an almost vaguely romantic scene despite the danger I was in. I took a deep breath, tensing from the heat coming from my body. What the actual fuck?
I flushed with embarrassment as my core throbbed with unwanted desire. I should be ashamed of myself. I’d never reacted to a male as strongly before. He hadn’t even touched me, hadn’t even kissed me or given me any indication he was even remotely interested and here I was shaking like a goddamn cat in heat.
Axel’s shoulders rose and fell with constraint. He shook with it.
I dropped my hands, brushing them over my breasts, and noticed the hardness of my nipples. My pussy tightened with need.
It was like my body was calling to him, despite everything I’d seen tonight. The blood, the slaughter, the horror of it all and my own death close at hand. I should be more shaken, but I wasn’t. Instead, it was like my blood was humming for him. Wanting him to mount me and take me hard, just like the animal he was.
I closed my eyes and took another unsteady breath.
Fuck.
What was I going to do? How was I going to get out of this?
He turned toward me then, his red fiery eyes finding mine. Dark, possessive, and entirely seductive. I found it hard to breathe as we stared at each other.
Finally, when we broke eye contact, I noticed the wounds on his chest once more.
“You’re hurt,” I murmured. The injuries looked worse than before, more black blood smeared across his chest.