She felt Seth put his arms around her and she buried her face in his chest, the familiar scent of him comforting her on a level deeper than she’d imagined possible. He held her for a long moment, and she breathed him in a few times, feeling her dragon purring in her chest as her whole body seemed to release the tension she was holding.
“How’d you do that?” she murmured into the lapel of his jacket. “How’d you make everything seem like it’s going to be fine?”
He didn’t answer her. She didn’t want him to, if she was honest—it would have led to a conversation she wasn’t ready for. Instead, he kissed her, and in the immediate shock of his lips against hers it was as though the weeks they’d been apart had been some passing dream. What did any of that matter? Her worries about the kingdom, about the prophecy, about being Queen, even about not being able to get home—they all melted away like morning frost in the heat of Seth’s body against hers.
They made short work of their clothes, Lana barely noticing as Seth kicked his shoes off, tugged her dress down over her shoulders, his nimble fingers finding the relevant clasps and fastening without hesitation. She’d had plenty of practice tearing his clothes off, too, and made short work of his shirt, his pants, his underclothes… and though his naked body was a familiar sight, that didn’t mean it was any less overwhelming to sit back on her heels and take in the sight of the Alpha, half-lounging on her bed with an insouciant smirk curving his lips and lighting up his silver eyes. There was a whole different side of him that came out when they were alone… something playful, and cocky, and just a little reckless. A spark she just occasionally glimpsed through the calm, stoic leader he had to be for his people… a spark, she knew, that brought as much to his leadership as that masterful self-control. Two sides of the same coin… two opposites, fused into one magnetic man.
She’d been staring for longer than she realized, but Seth didn’t seem to mind. His silver eyes were roaming hungrily over her body, too, and she felt a shiver run down her spine at the hunger on his face, the raw desire that he was visibly holding back, even now. She crawled across the bed to him, unwilling to let another minute go by without touching him, even another second… and then his lips were on her throat, her chest, pausing just long enough to tease a gasp out of her with the flicking of his tongue against her sensitive nipples. She fell back against the pillows as he moved steadily lower and wondered dizzily how she’d survived as long as she had without his touch. How had she lasted weeks? How had the ache not driven her out of the cavern and into the forest to find him? With how badly she needed him right now, she knew she’d have searched every last inch of the valley to find him.
But she didn’t have to. He was right here, his silver eyes gleaming as he kissed a thoughtful trail along her hipbones, deliberately ignoring her whimpers and the helpless bucking of her hips. There it was—the other side of the coin, the patient leader, the man who would take as long as he needed to get his point across. And beneath it, half-hidden, that mischief, dancing like a flame… she groaned, arched her back, bit back the urge to beg as she felt his breath ghost across her sex.
“Seth—”
“Mm?” She could have screamed. His lips brushed against her, just enough to send the vibrations of his voice tingling through the nerve endings there. She reached down, buried her hands in his dark hair, though she knew from experience that he was far too strong to be yanked around. She tugged hopefully at his head anyway, whimpering again… and with a flash of that grin that made her whole body melt, Seth finally buried his face between her legs.
She wouldn’t have been surprised if her orgasm struck her right then and there, so overwhelming was the sensation, so thunderous the pleasure that blasted through her as his lips and tongue devoured her. But somehow, she held herself back. She didn’t want to rush the moment she’d been dreaming of since the awful, hollowing realization that he and his wolves had left the cavern during her coronation. He’d been on her mind that whole day… he’d been on her mind every day since.
He drew her right to the edge over and over, and she was soon grateful for how isolated her room was—she couldn’t have stifled her cries of pleasure if she’d tried. She lost herself to the sensation, to the pleasure that he was coaxing so expertly from her body, pleasure like nothing she’d ever felt before. There was no room in her mind for any of the politics, any of the diplomatic tensions, for the grim truth that the two of them could never be together… that didn’t matter. Right now, all that mattered was that theyweretogether. And if after this, they never saw each other again… well, all the more reason to treasure every second of this.
And with that thought glowing in her mind, she finally sat upright, finding the willpower she needed to push him away and draw him up to claim his lips in a deep, searing kiss. She could taste herself on his lips, hear his ragged breathing speeding up as her hands slid across his body, across the hard muscle of his back, the jut of his hipbones as her fingertips strayed down to where his manhood was straining. He’d been holding his desire back, but when her hand brushed it, the choked-off moan he uttered told her that he was right on the edge of losing that control completely.
That was exactly what she wanted. It only took a few moments of teasing. She grinned against his lips as her fingers danced lightly across his cock, his hips jerking erratically as his body demanded more contact, more friction, more of her. Well, she wasn’t going to just hand it to him. He was going to have to take what he wanted from her. And with a low growl that sounded like it came straight from the wolf inside him, Seth lunged. He pinned her down on the bed with a suddenness that made her gasp, his strong hands parting her thighs with an exquisite roughness. She threw her head back and moaned as he pressed his open mouth against her throat, not sure if he was kissing or biting her, only knowing she wanted more of it, more of him, wanted everything he had—
And then, finally, she felt him bury his manhood inside her to the hilt, and it was all she could do to stop herself from digging her nails straight through his shoulders to the bone. She wrapped her legs tightly around her waist, flexing every muscle she had to draw him more deeply inside of her with every thrust. Both of their bodies were slick with sweat as their rhythm grew steadily and inexorably more intense, the inevitability of their climax building on the horizon. Lana could still feel him holding himself back, though this time it was his orgasm, not his desire, that he was fighting… and it wasn’t long before she felt her climax beginning to peak, too, his thrusts growing frantic as he groaned against her throat—
And then, she felt it, as inevitable as gravity—her back arched and her head thrown back against the pillow, for a dizzy moment Lana was convinced she was going to lift straight off the bed with the orgasm that had hit her with the force of electrocution. She could have sworn she could feel the exact same ecstasy shivering under Seth’s skin as he groaned against her throat, aftershocks of pleasure sparking with each final, shaky thrust of his hips. They lay there, bodies hopelessly tangled, and for the longest moment, Lana couldn’t tell through her half-lidded eyes which sweaty limb belonged to which of them. Nor did it matter. Her body, his body… a meaningless distinction, here in the aftermath of the most exquisite reunion she’d ever had.
That was the last thought she had before a thick, deep blanket of sleep rose up to claim her. When they woke, neither of them had moved an inch… the sweat on their bodies was dry, though, and when Lana shifted blearily, she hissed a little at the twinges she felt in unfamiliar muscles, protests from a body not used to being pushed quite so hard.
“Are you alright?” Seth, still half-asleep but blinking with concern. She smiled softly, reaching out to stroke his tangled hair.
“Better than alright. I think I discovered new muscles last night.”
A sleep grin spread across his face. “Oh?”
“Mm. They’re complaining.”
“Only one cure for that, you know,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the inside of her wrist that lingered long enough to send sparks racing up her arm. “You must keep using them.”
“Is that right?” she murmured, already feeling her body responding. But as she woke, so too did her memories of everything else that had happened the previous day, and she felt a jolt of worry run through her. “I need to get to the library. If they’ve found something—”
“Of course,” Seth said immediately, releasing her wrist and sitting up. “Duty calls.”
Lana sighed, part of her a little disappointed he hadn’t argued the point a little harder. But he was right. She was glad they’d both gotten some rest—neither of them would be any use to their people if they were too sleep-deprived to function—but it was time to head back to the real world. They both dressed quickly, Seth quietly borrowing a comb to repair some of the damage her over-eager fingers had done to his hair. She watched him tug a few knots out, unable to help the wicked grin that spread across her face. He studiously ignored it, but she could see the mischief dancing in his silver eyes.
“I probably don’t need to say this,” she said carefully when they were both ready to leave the room. “But—”
“All of this waits until after we’ve gotten them back,” Seth said firmly, with a small gesture that seemed to encircle the two of them. She nodded, feeling a pang of worry in her stomach. “For the record, I hope we find Conrad alive and well. But I’m glad I don’t have to watch you marry him today.”
The small smile he gave her told her she didn’t need to respond… a small mercy, given that she had absolutely no idea what to say. After, she told herself, a strange mixture of joy and trepidation bubbling in her stomach. After the current crisis was resolved, they’d talk about all of this.
And maybe by then, she’d have figured out some way of telling him what he meant to her.
Chapter 22 - Seth
It was downright inappropriate, how good Seth felt as he strode down the palace hallways with Lana at his side. It wasn’t right that he should feel on top of the world, when the situation was so serious… but every time he looked down at Lana, he felt a fresh surge of joy. The curve of those lips he’d dreamed so regularly of kissing, the knowing glint of those blue eyes he’d seen glow with desire for him, the incredible body that lay beneath the elegant gown she’d hurriedly pulled on when they’d woken up together… what he wouldn’t give to wake up like that every morning. He’d never had a problem sleeping alone until he’d spent a night with Lana. No wonder he hadn’t had a single good night of sleep since he’d been home. He’d blamed his worry about the pack, about the disappearances, about the situation with the dragons… but last night had proved that the real problem was being without Lana.
But when they reached the library, he had to force himself to put that out of his mind.