Fire stabbed my heart. Left her? Rose had all but told me to get the fuck out of town. Didn’t she get that? “Was I supposed to take you right there in front of Rose and Miles? Would you rather I be dead? I would be if I’d tried to take you.”
“No,” she said, her tone rising.
“Shh.” I stepped forward and pulled her into an embrace. The neighbors would hear her if she raised her voice much louder, and I needed to feel her against me. Feel her heart beat. Feel that in this moment she was safe and removed from the greedy hands of the human male who had sought her body.
I breathed in and out, vaguely noticing my pulse syncing to hers. “Gretchen. I’m sorry. You don’t know what I went through today when that bus arrived. I wanted to murder all those men. I wanted to tear them apart, pluck their eyeballs from their skulls so they wouldn’t even be able to look at you.”
“Their eyeballs?” The question came out followed by a giggle and a half-sob.
“Yes. You are mine, Gretchen, but I also want you to be safe. Above everything else, above any claim I lay on you, I want you safe and protected. The castle is where you are safe. Xerxes and his soldiers cross the town boundary every other day. They wait just outside the barrier the Batemans have created. It’s not safe for you here.”
“One night, Alek, please.” Her pleading tone shredded the resolved I’d mustered. “No one will know tonight. Then we can discuss tomorrow.”
Discuss? Unless I left—ran like a traitor—we could never be together.
“Alek.” Her soft breath whispered across my chest, igniting an overwhelming hunger I’d never before experienced. Her skin sizzled with an energy that pulsed between us. “Please.”
“I want all of you, Gretchen.” My voice rumbled, deepening as more of my blood rushed south. “I don’t know what being with you means for my Gryphon, but I want you in a way I’ve never experienced before. You are special to me. To my beast.”
“You are special to me. You are mine, the beast and the man as one.” She ran her palm along my chest, up to my neck, and settled it against my cheek. Her fingers curled, beckoning me closer. The energy flitting between her skin and mine increased, flipping a switch deep inside me. We’d touched so many times before, but it’d always been in innocence. Not until I’d seen her for the woman she was…and then everything had changed.
I slipped an arm around her waist and lifted her from the floor, pressing her luscious body against my hard lines. She submitted, melting into the embrace. I covered her mouth with mine, and she moaned, setting off fireworks in my brain. She tasted like honey and candy and woman. All woman. All mine.
Our tongues tangled inside her mouth, and then she pushed back, moving the dance to my mouth. She tasted me and pressed and took what she desired. She was no meek little girl. If she’d been a paranormal, she’d have growled and dug her claws into my back, and I would’ve welcomed it. Her fingers kneaded and scraped my shoulders, and her teeth settled on my bottom lip, nipping ever so slightly.
“Hungry, aren’t you?” I mumbled and consumed her mouth again, covering it completely and driving my tongue deep inside, claiming what was mine and everything she was offering—giving to me.
“So hungry.” Her words spilled out in a gasp for air when I moved my lips to the curve of her neck. I bit gently, basking in the little moans and whimpers of pleasure coming from inside her. Her body was warm against mine, but I couldn’t feel her through the thick wool coat and men’s dress shirt she wore. The shapeless pants hung low on her slender waist.
I let my talons slide out on my right hand and slipped them inside the hem, shredding them with one downward slice. She made a tiny surprised gasp and took a step back, watching my hand—my claws.
“Do I frighten you?” I dragged the tips of my talons up her bare thigh, watching her shiver from the contact. Her pulse sped in her chest…she met my gaze, but there was no fear.
“No.” Her steel blue eyes had darkened to match the color of Texas storm clouds. Desire rumbled and lightning sizzled within us both. There was no fear, only a hunger that matched mine. “Never.”
I slid my hand beneath the hem of the dress shirt until I reached her collarbone, being careful to avoid scraping her breasts. Those would feel my mouth before I teased her with anything else. I turned my palm away from her, curling my razor-sharp talons against the fabric of the shirt and yanked down. The fabric barely made a sound as it fell open, allowing my eyes to feast upon the vision of her perfect, petite breasts.
I relaxed my hand, calling the talons back inside me, leaving human fingertips in their place. Stopping myself from reaching for her breasts, I knelt in front of her then slid my hands around her hips and up along the curve of her back, pulling her forward until her breasts swung just in front of my face.
Air puffed in and out of her lungs. She didn’t speak. She just waited, her gaze pleading for me to do more. I opened my mouth and latched onto her right breast. She was small enough that I could fit nearly the whole breast into my mouth. It was heaven. She was heaven. I suckled her breast like a man who’d reverently waited his whole life for a pleasure like this—like her.
Her head fell forward, and her knees quivered, straining to hold her upright. She dug her fingers into my shoulders, and I reveled in the slight pain her fingernails inflicted. My beast wanted her to mark me. I wanted it. Between her pants, whimpers slipped out. I lavished one breast and then the other. They pebbled under my tongue, perfect and rosy and pink. Her scent filled my lungs, and I drank it in until I was sure I’d never forget. I never wanted to forget.
I scraped the edges of her nipples with my teeth, and she sucked in a startled breath. Her fingers tensed on my shoulders, and the scent of her arousal filled the room.
“I hurt for you, Alek.”
“There is so much more to come before I soothe that ache for us both, my sweet, sweet Gretchen.” I followed a path down the curve of her breast to the soft lines of her ribcage. Her abdominal muscles tightened beneath my lips, and I chuckled, taking note of where she was ticklish and storing it away for later.
I rose from my knees to slip an arm under her legs and another around her back. She cuddled against my chest, nuzzling my neck with her lips until a fog inhibited all thought. I stood with her in the center of the living space, just holding her, just letting her press feather-light kisses along my neck and shoulder. I’d never have enough of her. Never be willing to let her go. We would have to leave Sanctuary.
She’d hate me if I sent her back. Fuck, I’d hate myself. I’d never survive wondering what they might force her to do. They claimed nothing was forced. Rose promised. The Oracle promised, but masters of persuasion could make any man—or woman—believe an idea was their own.
“I’ll never let you go again, Gretchen.” My voice rumbled from deep within, soothing the anger my beast had held against me earlier that day.
“I’m only yours. I’ll only ever be yours.” She cupped the back of my head, pulling my mouth to hers, and crushed our lips together. There were no sweeter lips on the face of the Earth. I drove my tongue into her mouth, groaning at the sweetness of her taste.
I moved us quickly through the house, up the stairs to my bedroom, to my bed. Not willing to release her mouth until I absolutely had to, I laid her across the blanket, so ready to taste her I was nearly coming in my pants. Not happening. I was more than four thousand years old, not some over-excited teenager. There would be no rushing tonight, none at all.
She was worth savoring. Every second would be pure bliss, and I wanted to bask in every moment. Savor every kiss and taste and breath she gave.
I spread her on my bed, her long, coffee-colored hair lay across the red blanket in a waterfall of silk, and her skin glowed under the soft lamplight.
“You are exquisite.” My words choked in my throat, emotions overwhelming me. I leaned down over her, putting one knee on the edge of the mattress. My heart lurched from the way she looked up at me. Trusting me. She was naked
and open, and by the gods, I wanted her to know how much I cared. How much this gift meant. “You are my heart and soul, Gretchen. I couldn’t see it until I nearly lost you, and now the idea of ever being without you is unthinkable. Please forgive me for being so blind.” The apology stung, but she deserved it. I’d been oblivious. Too caught up in this town and my goal to get home to pay attention to what was right in front of me.
The scent of salt tickled my nose just before tears rolled from the corners of her eyes. No. No. No. Don’t be sad. “Gretchen?”
“I have waited for this day for so long. I was so scared that I would get to your house, find you, and you would turn me away.”
I shook my head. “Never again, I promise. We are in this together, no matter what happens.”
A shiver ran through her body and her lips parted. “Make love to me, Alek. Please.”
“All night.” I whispered, leaning down to kiss her tears away. My mouth traced the line of her jaw to her neck down to her collarbone. Skin like velvet quivered beneath my lips. She put her hands on my head and stroked through my short hair, rubbing it back and forth until every nerve that wasn’t already awake woke up.
My teeth grazed one of her nipples, and she hissed, trying desperately to grab a handful of my short hair. I nipped again, this time a little harder, and then soothed the burn with my tongue until she relaxed beneath my mouth. Her other breast received the same treatment before I traced a path down her ribcage with my tongue, circling her navel and working my way down.
Sliding off the edge of the bed, I sank to both knees on the floor and slid my hands up the insides of her thighs, pushing her legs apart until I could see her glistening folds, slick and wet and waiting for my tongue. She tried to close her legs, and my beast growled before I could gain control. “Don’t. I want to see all of you. Taste all of you. You are mine.” Her legs relaxed, and I gently kissed the inside of one of her thighs. “Say it.”
“I’m yours.”
“Which part?”
“All of me.”
“Good girl.” My voice rumbled, my beast soothed that she wouldn’t try to hide herself from view. “You should never be ashamed to share yourself with your mate.” She is my mate… Something deep inside me knew it. Whether I understood my Gryphon side completely or not, I knew Gretchen was mine.
“I’m not ashamed.” Her voice hitched, fear stopping her before she finished her thought.
“Tell me.” I kissed the inside of her other thigh, a little closer to the goal.
A shiver slid through her, and I smiled.
“I’ve never done…this, any of this.”
Reality hit my face like a right hook from Jared. All the air in my lungs fled. Virgin. Of course she was…I knew that, but I hadn’t considered how new everything we were doing was to her.
Everything.
“I was your first kiss?” Honor swelled in my chest, and my Gryphon wanted to strut with pleasure. No man had touched her. Not even with a kiss. I straightened between her legs and caught her sideways glance down at me.
“Yes,” she answered, her tone unsure. “I know you’ve probably—”
“Been waiting for you my entire life. No woman I’ve been with in the past compares to what I feel for you. You are what I’ve been looking for my whole life, though I didn’t even realize.”
Her eyes brightened, joy replacing her doubt.
“Trust me.”
“I do.”
Those two words shattered what remained of the walls I’d erected around my heart. She’d broken every barrier and had my heart in her hands. I’d do anything for her. She was more important to me than any fantasy of going home to avenge my family, family that’d been long dead for millennia. Gretchen was my future.
“Just lie back, relax, and try not to scream.”
The wicked smile that flashed across her face only drove me higher and harder. Gods, how had I lived this long without touching her? Fuck Rose’s rules. This was bigger than that. One seer in the scheme of things wasn’t going to ruin the damn prophecy.
I slid an arm under one of her thighs and sank my face between her legs, letting the sweet scent of her arousal fill my lungs. My body leapt from pleasantly interested to full-hard-on. I wanted to bury myself in her sweet pussy and take her until she cried out my name in desperation, but she deserved better than that for her first time. I wanted it perfect, even if it killed me.
Using my other hand, I traced the silky edges of her folds and slid one finger inside her feminine heat. She gasped and tightened under my grip. I waited, allowing her to adjust to the intrusion. Her body shuddered and finally sighed, releasing the tension that had frozen her at first. Moving my finger unhurriedly in and out, foreshadowing what I would be doing with my dick later brought forth gratifying little mewls of pleasure from her mouth.
I added a second finger, curling them up toward the ceiling and against that extraordinary place inside a woman’s body that ignited them. Gretchen’s muscled shivered and tightened, and a low moan slipped from her throat. Then I dipped my tongue to her clit, firming my hold on her hip, prepared for the inevitable bucking reaction.
She did. Her hips surged up, her back arcing from the bed, and her hands flailed in the air until they came to rest on my head. Her fingers grasped for a hold in my hair, but it wasn’t long enough. Instead, her fingers dug into my scalp, and I growled, both myself and my Gryphon, pleased by her pleasure. Pleased by her sweet taste. Pleased that I had been granted this chance to show her what it meant to be with a man who loved her, even if that man had been an idiot for years and hadn’t seen what’d been right in front of him. I was going to make up for it now. She would know how much I loved her, how much I cared.
I slid my fingers from her body and replaced it with my tongue, drinking her deeply as the intoxicating scent and taste permeated my consciousness. I was drunk on her.
“I’m never letting you out of this bed.”
“I—ahhh—”
She trembled and quivered with each drive of my tongue. In and out. In and out. Then I circled that soft bud of pleasure several times, bringing her just to the brink of ecstasy before plunging deep again into her body.
“Alek,” she said, her voice low and husky and needy. “I need—”
I came up for air, kissing her thighs as I went along. “Have you ever orgasmed before?” I asked, sliding two fingers inside her slick hot body.
“I-I’ve p-played with myself, but n-not—” She gasped for air and clutched at the bedcovers, fisting them and pushing her hips farther onto the fingers I was spearing her with. “Gods, it n-never felt this g-good.”
I curled my fingers inside her again and covered her clit with my mouth, pulling it slowly between my lips. She was so close, just a little more. I let the edge of my teeth scrape her clit, and she soared.
Her body clamped down hard on my fingers, locking them into place. Had it not been for my arm wrapped around one of her thighs, she would’ve arced right off the edge of the bed. I held her tight. She dug the heel of her free leg into my back, urging me deeper and closer, and then she screamed.
Not like the loud piercing scream of a banshee, but a strained gasp so completely overwhelmed by pleasure that it’d paralyzed every cell and muscle. She sat up on the bed, my mouth still attached to her clit, and curled over me, trembling.
“Mercy,” she said, finally managing to force out a single word.
A chuckle shook my chest. I withdrew my fingers, relishing the whimper she uttered at the loss. “We’re only getting started, my sweet, sweet Gretchen.”
I got off my knees and scooped her into my arms, moving her to the center of my bed. Then I shucked off my t-shirt and slid off my heavy jeans.
Her gaze lowered to my fully erect cock and her eyebrows rose slightly. I grasped the base of my aching cock and stroked a couple of times, relieving just a bit of frustration. I wanted to be balls deep inside her, but she wasn’t ready. Not yet. I wanted her back on the brink of
climax before I claimed her fully.
I crawled to her from the foot of the bed, positioning myself between her long, slender legs. Her scent was all I could smell. All I could taste, and I wanted more. “You doing good?” I was on all fours, hovering over her, my hands on either side of her shoulders and knees between her legs. The tip of my cock slid along her mound and then up to her navel. I leaned down to put my mouth on one of her breasts, taking most of it into my mouth, gently kneading it with my lips until she moaned.
She raised her legs from the bed, grazing my hips with her thighs. She arched her body, positioning herself perfectly.
I could’ve driven straight into her right then, but I held back. It would be better if I waited. The more I could play with her before we joined, the less sore she would be afterward. At least I hoped. At this rate, though, I wasn’t going to let her have much sleep.
“Alek, please, I ache for more.”
I moved to the other breast, lavishing it with my mouth and the edges of my teeth until she writhed beneath me, begging and pleading and panting all in the same moment. Her skin burned, stoking the fire within me even hotter. My cock stabbed at her soft stomach, but I released her breast and withdrew to feast upon her again.
Her thighs squeezed, trying to hold me in place. I pushed them up to her chest until her calves rested on either of my shoulders. Then plunged my tongue inside her again. She shuddered and moaned and dug her heels into my back. Her fingers raked over my scalp.
The slight pain only edged me further into the need swelling inside me. She wasn’t the only one that wanted more. I drew her clit into my mouth and sucked gently, gauging her breaths and the tension in her body, waiting for just that moment before she ignited.
Her legs tightened around me, and I released, dragging in a ragged breath. Then I moved up the bed, shrugging her legs off my shoulders, and pressed the tip of my straining cock against her warm, wet center. I kissed her, loving the taste of her mixed with her arousal.
Sanctuary, Texas Complete Series Box Set Page 107
