I gasp when he grabs my hair and yanks my head back, his cheek flush against mine. “I’m in control here, remember?”
“But—”
“Now lay the fuck down.”
With a jerk, he lets go of my hair, and my skin is an inferno of sensation, my pussy aching and nipples yearning to be touched, the sheets brushing against them as I lie down, propping myself up on my elbows.
“Spread your legs,” he commands behind me, that familiar low tenor forcing shivers up my spine, and I can hardly breathe right while doing what he says.
“Wider.”
The muscles in my inner thighs stretch as I spread my legs as wide as I can, my pussy lips open and sensitive as the cold air laps against my heated, wet flesh.
“I love looking at your cunt, watching it glisten, growing wetter the longer I stare at it.”
My fingers claw at the sheets, and I lean my forehead against the soft silk when I feel his touch on my calf.
“Is this what you want, stray?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not talking about sex.” His fingertip drags over the back of my knees. “I’m talking about this. Us.” His finger slides down to my ankle again. “Me.”
“Yes,” I repeat, this time with more conviction. “You are what I want.”
“Even after everything I’ve done?”
My heart hiccups, and I clutch the sheet tighter. “Yes.” My answer is soft, but it’s true.
“Are you sure, stray?” I hear him unzip his pants and the swoosh of fabric as he drops them to the floor. “Are you one hundred percent sure? Because this is who I am,” he says. “I will never stop being obsessed with you. I will never stop being a possessive, jealous, and maddening bastard when it comes to you.”
I flip my hair to the side. “What are you saying?”
The bed dips, and I whimper when he takes my right leg, lifting it so he can plant a gentle kiss on my ankle. “I’m saying…I’ll try.” Another kiss. “I’m not saying I’ll succeed and that I won’t fuck up, but I’ll try.”
“That’s all I’m asking for,” I murmur, and he eases my leg back down. “I love you, Alexius. I fell in love with all of you, even the possessive, jealous parts.” His hand glides across my skin up the back of my thigh. “You warned me that loving you would be a burden, but it’s a burden I’ll gladly carry for the rest of my life because being without you is just no longer possible for me.” Tears sting the back of my eyes, his touch a leisurely ripple of sensation as he continues over the swell of my ass. “I just…I want to be someone to you and not some…thing.”
“You are so much more than that.”
“Can I turn around? I want to look at you.”
“No.” His fingers bite into my thighs. “I need to say it like this. You’re not just someone to me, stray. You’re everyone. Everything. I could lose everyone else in this world right now, and I’d be okay because I have you. But if I lose you, every other person in my life would mean nothing to me because it’s all you. Just you.”
I settle back down, a tear slipping onto the sheet, causing a dark circle to spread through the silk. “And I’m nothing if I’m not yours,” I whisper.
Both his hands cup my ass, sliding down, his fingers tightening around the arc of my ass, squeezing and easing them apart. “Good, because you will never be anyone else’s. Not in this lifetime or the next.”
His thumbs brush along the outline of my pussy lips, and a moan slips from my mouth.
“This cunt is mine. And this little hole,” he presses a finger against the tight ring of my ass, “will be mine, too. Soon.”
I shiver, an ache spreading to every corner of my body, and I don’t know if it’s the weight of the moment or desire. Maybe a little of both. It’s been too long since he’s claimed me, and paired with his heart’s confession, it has catapulted me into a frenzy of emotion and desire. I’m already writhing on the sheets, and he’s barely touched me.
“Alexius?”
“Yes, stray.” His fingers prod and play everywhere except where I yearn for it.
“Please, I need you.”