“Is that why you never…had a relationship?” Ugh, why was she torturing herself by asking this question?
“I’ve never had a relationship because the only draw I’ve felt to anyone was superficial. The few times I’ve forced myself out into human society, I’ve had relations with women, but nothing came of it other than fleeting mutual pleasure.”
Adalynn’s jealousy reared within her and roared. It was furious; it was consuming. Her brow furrowed as she glared at the dancing fire. She’d known even when she’d brought up the subject earlier today that she had no right to be jealous, but damn it, she was. She hated every single faceless woman who’d ever touched him, who’d been touched by him, who’d experienced even a fraction of the pleasure Adalynn experienced when she was with him.
Merrick’s chuckle was deep, rumbling, and rich; Adalynn felt it as much as she heard it.
“Is my little Adalynn jealous?” He slid his hand from her arm to her hip, trailing it up her side until his fingers brushed the underside of her breast. “No one has ever made me feel like you do.”
Her hold on his hand tightened involuntarily, and her breath hitched. The raging flame inside her intensified and became a different kind of heat—a heat fueled by her desire, a heat that stoked her need to a feverish degree.
He leaned his head toward her until his mouth was near her ear and whispered, “If I’ve not made it clear by my words, I suppose I’ll have to show you.” Dipping his head farther, he pressed his lips to the place where her shoulder and neck met. The light scrape of his teeth against her skin sent a thrill directly to her core.
He released her hand to settle his on her right breast, cupping it through her shirt. His fingertips brushed over her nipple briefly before he moved both his hands down, over her stomach and to the waistband of her pants.
Her breath quickened. “Merrick…”
“You are the first to be mine, Adalynn,” he rasped. “The only.”
That thrumming, tingly sensation spread across her entire body as he unbuttoned her jeans.
“And you are the first and only to receive all of me,” he continued.
Adalynn’s eyes widened, and her heart fluttered as her body floated up off the sofa as though she were weightless. Her position remained unchanged, but she was now hovering several inches above the sofa cushion; it felt like his hands were her only anchor, the only thing keeping her from drifting all the way to the ceiling.
Merrick hooked his fingers beneath the waistbands of her jeans and panties and slowly slid them down her hips and past her ass. Something unseen tugged on her underwear and the cuffs of her jeans. He spread his fingers, running his fingertips over the small patch of hair on her pelvis, and guided her back down effortlessly as her pants seemingly removed themselves. The rasp of their material against her sensitive skin left delicious fire in its wake.
He stopped her before she was fully down and moved his hands upward, slipping them beneath the hem of her shirt. Tiny, thrilling electric arcs pulsed off his fingers, sending pleasurable jolts straight to her sex as his hands trekked over her stomach, followed the swell of her breasts, brushed over her hardening nipples, and finally settled on the backs of her arms. She lifted them up instinctually.
His hands returned to her breasts as another unseen force drew off her shirt, obscuring her vision for several seconds. Merrick’s fingertips moved slowly, deliberately, dancing around her nipples without quite touching them.
Adalynn grasped his forearms and squeezed as a moan escaped her. She arched her back. It felt strange to be floating above him, to be uncertain of what to do with her limbs, to be naked and ungrounded, wholly exposed. But those thoughts were fleeting in the face of the desire suffusing her, could not stand against the liquid heat gathering in her core.
Merrick hummed appreciatively, squeezing her breasts. “Hungry, aren’t you?” He moved his hands down again, cupped the insides of her thighs, and parted them. One of his fingers dipped between her folds, sliding over the sensitive flesh to sample the wetness gathered there. “Mmm. Yes, you are. So am I, Adalynn.”
Slowly, he lifted that finger to his mouth. She turned her head to watch as he slipped it between his lips and sucked on it for a moment. A satisfied rumbling rose from his chest. It only turned her on more. She wanted his hand back between her thighs, wanted his fingers stroking her, his tongue licking her.
“But I can wait to sate my hunger,” he said, returning his hand to her thigh. Both his hands drifted away from her core, away from her need, to trail over her skin. “I believe I owe you from earlier, don’t I?”
“What?” she asked breathlessly, eyes locked on his hands.
The energy of his touch only intensified with each passing moment, and little blue arcs of it crackled over his flesh, but he didn’t move faster, didn’t touch where she needed him to. Instead, he continued to explore her with his hands, running his fingertips across the backs of her knees and along the backs of her thighs.
A flash of blue engulfed his body for an instant, creating delicious heat along her back and bottom. He pulled her down once the light had faded—down onto his bare lap and chest, his clothes having seemingly vanished. The hard length of his erection throbbed against her lower back, teasing her with its warmth.
Setting his hands on the tops of her knees, he spread her legs wider. Despite the heat radiating from the fireplace, the air touching her exposed sex was cold in the absence of Merrick’s touch. A moment later, there was a hum of energy, and Adalynn gasped when several shadowy, subtly starlit tentacles appeared on either side of her. They brushed her arms, her hips, her stomach, and thighs, and one slithered toward her sex. Their touches were both cool and hot, vibrating with power.
Merrick lowered his head to her shoulder, pressing his cheek against hers. His beard rasped over her skin, enhancing the sensations fluttering through her. His hands moved back up and settled over her breasts, leaving the tentacles to caress the flesh near her sex—still teasing her, taunting her.
“You’re going to feel more pleasure tonight than you’ve imagined possible,” he said, “but it will be only at my whim.” He squeezed her breasts and caught her nipples between his forefingers and thumbs, pinching and twisting just enough to blast her with another wave of pleasure that made her sex clench.
Adalynn gasped louder. Her pelvis undulated, and she caught his wrists with her hands but didn’t pull him away.
The tentacle between her legs swept through her wet folds and touched her clit. It stopped in place as though it had latched onto her, and its vibration intensified.
“Oh, God. Merrick!” Eyelids fluttering closed, she caught her bottom lip between her teeth and tilted her head back. Little sounds of pleasure escaped her, and she writhed upon him, panting as the sensation grew, forcing her closer and closer to her peak until suddenly…it stopped. Her eyes snapped open. “No!”
Merrick chuckled and pinched her nipples again, making her hips buck, the movement driven by an instinctual need for him.
“It’s not going to be that easy, Adalynn.”
She released one of his wrists and reached toward the apex of her thighs; she needed to touch herself, to keep the sensations going, needed to feel.
One of Merrick’s shadowy tentacles coiled around her arm, halting its motion, and Merrick clucked his tongue. Despite looking so insubstantial, so wispy—no more solid than smoke—that tendril was impossibly strong.
“You are cruel,” she breathed, forcing her eyes open and turning her head to look at him.
His eyes glowed bright, and his cock twitched against her back as though in response to her gaze. “As were you when you teased me without a modicum of remorse and left me without release.”
The tentacle between her legs latched onto her clit again and resumed its vibrations. Adalynn held Merrick’s gaze as her limbs trembled, as she panted, as her eyelids fluttered once more. He swept her rapidly toward a climax, but she knew, oh she knew, that he wouldn’t give in to
her.
Adalynn cried out in frustration when the tentacle trailed away and caressed her thigh as though in apology. She wanted to curse the thing, to curse Merrick, just as much as she wanted to beg him for more. She was so damn turned on, so wet, so aroused, that she was sure she’d come if that tentacle so much as tapped her clit again. Her slick was running down to her ass, but she didn’t care. All she wanted was for him to touch her. The torment he was subjecting her to was equal parts pleasure and pain, each as maddening as the other.
His other tentacles continued their dance over her limbs, leaving her skin abuzz; she was aware of every point of contact, no matter how faint. Her every muscle quivered with anticipation—with that consuming need for release.
Merrick’s hands eased on her breasts, and he gently stroked his thumbs back and forth over her hard, sensitive, abused nipples. “You are so beautiful, Adalynn. So wild, so passionate.” He trailed his lips over her forehead, her cheek.
The tentacle on her thigh glided back toward her sex; instead of returning to her clit, it delved inside her.
Adalynn arched her back at the sudden fullness, at the fire and ice swirling within her, and moaned as the tendril drew back and pushed in again.
“You’re going to give me everything, Adalynn.”
The tentacle thrummed inside her as it thrust in and out, and Adalynn rocked her hips with it. She clutched Merrick’s wrists as the pleasure at her center wound tighter and tighter. A shudder spasmed through her.
The tentacle slipped out fully.
“No! No, no, no!” she cried, squirming as her sex pulsed and clenched around nothing. She was right there. “Merrick, please! Stop teasing.” She turned her face toward him, her chest rising and falling with her quickened breaths, and met his eyes.
As much as she wanted to come, she didn’t want it to be from his magic, no matter how corporeal it could be. She wanted him. Just him. And she knew he wanted her, too. She could feel the tension in his body behind her, around her. Could feel the slickness on her back from his seeping pre-cum. Could see the need brimming in his glowing eyes.
“No more,” she begged. “Just make love to me.”
Merrick caught his lower lip between his teeth and released a slow, shaky breath. His entire body thrummed with arousal and magic. Unfulfilled desire raged through him, threatening to consume him despite his struggle—and now she was begging him to give in. Begging him to stop fighting.
And he couldn’t deny either himself or Adalynn any longer. His cock ached with a deeper pain than he’d ever experienced, having been teased by her warm flesh and writhing body, and his abdomen was wet with his seed.
Magic flared along his arms, racing from his fingertips toward his shoulders in ever changing, lightning-fork paths, but he wasn’t going to use it on her now. No, he wanted to touch her with his own hands. He wanted to pleasure her with his own body. As much as he saw the power dwelling within as a part of himself, it was not the part he longed to use right now.
He dropped his hands to her hips and lifted her off his lap, spinning her to face him; she swung her legs to the sides, straddling him, and looped her arms around his neck. Merrick looked up into her face. Her cheeks were flushed with passion, her gleaming eyes half-lidded, her lips parted with her quick, shallow breaths. Her mana song flowed high and strong, weaving itself through his, emanating from every inch of her delectable body.
With her knees on the sofa cushion to either side of Merrick, she held herself over him. Her eyes repeated her plea from a moment before—just make love to me.
Merrick dropped one hand from her hip and grasped his cock around its base. He angled his shaft to press its head against the entrance of her sex. Slowly, so slowly, she lowered herself upon him. Merrick’s hand returned to her hip. It took everything within him not to pull her down, not to thrust up and bury himself inside her warm, wet sheath. Her inner walls gripped his cock, and he groaned as she rose and eased back down, working him steadily deeper and deeper until she was fully seated upon him.
He tightened his hands on her hips and held her down, throwing his head back as he fought the immense surge of pressure threatening to make him spill his seed. Adalynn dropped one of her hands to his shoulder and smoothed it down to his chest. She trailed it back up again, along his neck, and cupped his jaw. Her hair brushed over his skin as she leaned forward to slam her mouth against his.
Lifting his hand to bury his fingers in her hair, he pulled her deeper into the kiss. Her lips parted without hesitation, and he slipped his tongue between them to meet with hers in a dance that followed their twined mana songs perfectly.
Adalynn lifted herself again and dropped down, repeating the motions over and over. She moaned softly against his mouth, not breaking the kiss even as her tempo increased. Each slide of her sex blasted Merrick with pleasure and thrilling flares of magic, intensifying the energy crackling over his skin, but he was aware of its increased brightness only through his closed eyelids. His world was Adalynn now—nothing else made a difference but her taste, her feel, her scent.
Adalynn’s muscles tensed, her breath sharpened, and she was wracked by sudden shivers. Her sex clamped around him. Her mana song swelled to a crescendo as her nails dug into his skin, the little pricks of pain only heightening Merrick’s pleasure.
Taking hold of her hips with both hands again, Merrick seized control, continuing what she’d started in pushing their pace faster and faster. He pulled her down to meet his rising hips, a little harder with each thrust, and she cried out against his mouth as she shuddered in bliss.
“Merrick,” she breathed between moans, her arms slipping around his neck to cling to him.
He clenched his teeth and battled the inevitable explosion in himself, struggling to hold on, to keep moving, to prolong this as much as possible—he never wanted this moment, this intimacy, to end. But between the movements of her body and the power of her mana song, he’d never stood a chance.
Even with his eyelids closed, his vision was filled with electric blue as he climaxed. The pressure that had been building in him for most of the day finally burst, and his body trembled with the force of it. Pleasure assailed his mind, annihilating conscious thought to leave only pure sensation. His fingertips pressed into the flesh of her hips, his back arched, and he released a ragged, desperate growl as he pumped his seed into her.
Finally, Merrick sagged against the sofa’s backrest. Adalynn went limp atop him, her cheek resting on one of her arms, her soft lips settling against his jaw. Their ragged breaths gradually eased, and a bit of the heat from their bodies faded. The lingering pleasure was slower to diminish; every tiny movement of her sex was nearly enough to rouse him back to action, but he didn’t allow himself to move. This was another part of the intimacy he craved—holding one another through the aftermath with bodies, hearts, and souls still connected.
She drew in a deep breath and released it with a soft, contented hum.
His own contentment was disrupted as his mind wandered to a jarring thought—this moment could be the last they shared together. Any moment from this point forward could be the last. Fate had brought Adalynn to him, and fate would take her away whenever it pleased, with or without forewarning.
Unless Merrick changed her fate.
He trailed his fingers absently down her spine. She’d opposed him the last time he’d raised the subject, and they’d avoided it in the days since. Things had been happier that way, but he knew it loomed, dark and ominous, in her mind, just as it did in his own. Merrick had no idea how much time she had left—but he was acutely aware of it dwindling with each passing moment.
“What if there was a way to heal you, Adalynn?”
Her body went rigid. “Merrick, don’t. Don’t ruin this.”
“If not now, then when?” he demanded. “Am I supposed to wait until it’s too late?”
She pulled away from him and slipped off the couch. The cool air blasted his skin—his now exposed cock—with arctic forc
e. As much as he regretted bringing up the subject in that moment, as empty and alone as he suddenly felt, he would not back down. They had to address this. It couldn’t be left as an unspoken thing lurking between them.
Adalynn snatched up her shirt and pulled it over her head. “This was supposed to be purely physical,” she said quietly.
“It never was. We both knew that.”
“It can’t be more.”
His nostrils flared with a heavy exhalation, and he clenched his jaw before shoving himself off the sofa and onto his feet. He closed the distance between them and caught her by her upper arms. “Don’t tell me it can’t be when it already is. Denying the truth doesn’t change it, Adalynn.”
Her features tightened as her eyes met his. “You’re denying the truth just as much, Merrick.”
He held her gaze, unable to contain the emotions swelling inside him—many of which were too intense and jumbled to sort. “The world does not operate based on the rules you knew before. This is my world, now. And you were mine from the moment I laid eyes upon you.”
“That still doesn’t change the fact that I’m dying! I’m on borrowed time, Merrick, time you’ve given me!”
“And I may be able to give you eternity if you’d stop being so damned stubborn!”
Adalynn pressed her lips together. She was quiet for several moments, her gaze unwavering, before she finally spoke. “At what cost, Merrick? How badly would it hurt you? How much damage will it do to you?”
“I will be fine, Adalynn. I always am.”
“Swear to me that it won’t hurt you.”
The words gathered on the tip of Merrick’s tongue, but they refused to come out; he couldn’t lie to her now, even if he felt he should. “It doesn’t matter, so long as it saves you.”
The Warlock's Kiss Page 24
