She reached down to her boot, to grab another dagger I assume, but my fist knotted in her hair, pulling her back up painstakingly slowly. She eyed me furiously, her lip pulled back in a snarl. Once she was standing, I tipped her head back to look at me, exposing her throat. Lowering my face to hers, I slid my lips along hers, down her chin, along the curve of her neck.
“I know you feel this. This hunger that’s eating at us. My fire burns to be inside of you, Ara,” I said and she inhaled sharply. Bringing my mouth towards her ear, I whispered, “You’re mine, just as I am yours. That feeling pulling you towards me? That’s our mate bond.”
She jerked back, horror written into her face. I gripped her hair tighter, holding her in place, licking the curved shell of her ear. She shivered, melting into me ever so slightly.
So strong willed, my mate.
“Tell me you don’t want this.” I paused, waiting for her response, but there was none. I pulled back and brought my gaze to hers, my hand still tightly wound in her hair.
An internal struggle played out behind her eyes, but there was also hunger. It warred with her restraint and hesitation, pulling her in two opposite directions.
She swallowed hard.
“Get out of your head,” I whispered, bringing my face closer to hers. “Tell me you don’t want me as badly as I want you. Tell me and I’ll release you right now.”
Even as the words tumbled from my mouth, I regretted them, sure she would take the opportunity, but her eyes darted to my mouth and back. My heart raced, a dark hope blooming in my chest. The seconds felt like years as the answer I so desperately craved to hear danced along her lips.
A heartbeat later, the intensity shifted in her gaze as she made her decision and nodded. A grin tugged at the corner of my mouth.
“Say it. Tell me you want me, need me, deep inside of you. Filling you.”Where I was meant to be.
“I want you,” she rasped, her cheeks flaming.
“Want what, Ara?” I purred, smirking at how her cheeks flushed when I teased the words out of her, needing to hear her say them. When she hesitated, I started to release her hair.
“I want you… Inside me.”
I groaned, crashing my lips to hers. Walking her back to the tree with one hand on her cheek, angling her to me, I kissed her fiercely, releasing my other one from her hair and sliding it down to her neck.
Her back hit the tree. She brought her hands to either side of my face, grinding her hips into me. My hand slid down her shoulder, her side, to her hip, slowly lifting her shirt and skimming the soft skin of her belly. She whimpered into my mouth and I groaned at the sound.
I could only imagine how sweet her moans would sound when my cock sunk into her.
My fingers trailed up her torso and cupped one breast. She arched into my touch and I hardened even further, almost to the point of pain. I brought a thumb to her nipple, circling it, and she moaned into my mouth. A sweet, sweet moan that sent the rest of my self-control crumbling.
I tore my lips from hers and her eyes snapped open in protest. Undoing the clasp of her soaked cloak, it dropped to the ground. I grabbed the hem of her shirt, pulling it over her head. Her long hair spilled over her naked form like a frame, a halo.
I stepped back to admire her, throbbing at the sight. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. To ever exist.
Nothing, no one, had ever deserved to be worshiped more. All men should be made to kneel before her.
But she would have to settle for me.
Dropping to my knees, I slid my hands up her waist slowly, taking my time, scorching a trail up her body to her breasts. I cupped them both before bringing my mouth to one nipple and sucking. She moaned, pushing her chest into me, arching off the tree.
She wound her fingers in my hair as I moved to the other, flicking with my tongue before slipping my hands down. She lifted her hips for me as I slid her trousers down to the ground, lifting one foot and then the other as I pulled them off, flinging them to the side.
Sitting back on my heels, I raised one leg and placed it over my shoulder, repeating with the other until I was supporting her weight with my arms wrapped around her backside, holding her to me. Lifting her, I propped her on the tree and shifted her hips, revealing her sex to me.
The smell of her arousal nearly drove me feral. I couldn’t see straight through the strength of the mate bond. It demanded I continue—as if I could ever stop.
She jerked, screaming, as I ran my tongue across her center to her clit and I groaned in approval.
Fuck. She tasted better than she smelled.
“You’re already so wet for me,” I said, giving her another long swipe with my tongue. “Such a good girl.”
She whimpered and I slid two fingers in, reveling in every shift of her hips, every sound she released. My fingers moved faster, matching pace with my tongue as it devoured her, curling against her sensitive spot mercilessly until she unraveled in my grasp.