She tried to lift her hands and gasped, an unseen force holding her firmly in place.
His massive hands splayed across her rib cage and stroked upward until he palmed her breasts. His gaze was ravenous, almost fevered. Even through her tunic, his touch resonated with tiny sparks of barely leashed power. He scraped his thumbs across her spiked nipples, the soft fabric unbearably yet perfectly rough. “You wanted the beast. You’ve got him. Now I want what’s mine.”
The sound of ripping fabric registered a second before cool wind swept across her bared torso. He cupped her breasts, drawing them together and working their peaks with his wicked tongue and lips.
She undulated, needing more, but pinned in a way she couldn’t make contact.
“Not yet.” Back and forth, he licked and sucked, tormenting the aching peaks and building the escalating pulse inside her with relentless focus. “I want you to ache. To burn and beg.” He latched hard onto one nipple and drew so deeply it speared straight to her core.
“Ludan!” She arched deeper into the commanding sensation, and her muscles trembled. “Please,” she whispered, clenching her hands as the tantalizing ripples built stronger and deeper between her legs, release so close she could taste it. “Please don’t make me wait.”
A low, prurient growl rolled past his lips. “You’ll wait.” Slowly, he sat back on his heels. His hands spanned her hips, thumbs teasing the sensitive stretch above her hipbones as he surveyed her well-tended nipples. He licked his lower lip, and her core fluttered as though the velvet stroke had traveled between her legs. “You’ll wait and thank me for it after.”
Wind coiled around her tight breasts and teased the still-wet peaks.
She bowed upward, so captivated by the natural yet unexpected caress that she startled at Ludan’s physical touch atop her mound.
“So pretty.” He stroked downward, rasping the soft cotton against her sensitized labia then back up again. “I love the way you whimper. The way you strain for my touch.”
Unpinning her legs from beneath his, he yanked her leggings off and splayed her knees up and wide, held open to his gaze with nothing more than his thoughts. He shucked his jeans, eyes locked on her throbbing center and the undeniable wetness lining her folds. “You’re mine. All of you.”
Slim streams of air coiled around each ankle and wound their way to the tops of her thighs. “Ludan!”
His unrepentant, almost devious chuckle surrounded her, and the wind-borne caress shifted. She couldn’t see it, but oh could she feel it. More tangible and depraved than before. A cross between sparking energy and physical touch. He stroked his thick cock in languid pumps, a hunter planning his attack.
So erotic. So perfect she’d go to her grave remembering every detail.
“Change your mind? Want the tame side of me back?”
God, no. She might be pinned to the ground and buck naked in broad daylight, but she’d never felt more alive. Primed for the fight of her life. “What I want is you. Inside me. Deep.” She lifted her hips, inviting him with the subtle flex as much as her splayed legs allowed. “However you want me.”
He groaned and palmed the inside of her thighs. The pads of his thumbs teased the seam where her thighs met her core. “Anything?”
Tingles scampered down her torso. This was it. A crossroads between them. How she knew it she wasn’t sure, but it resonated with a certainty she felt to her soul. As if some intrinsic, deep-seated aspect to her being had flared to life, ready and waiting. “Anything.”
He slicked one finger through her sex and a low, gurgling growl clawed its way from his chest. He notched his fingertip inside her entrance and his eyes slid shut. “Drenched.” Slow but firm, he pumped once. Twice. “For me.” He added another, the intensity of each thrust growing stronger. “All mine.”
The words washed over her, beautiful and perfect. “All yours.”
With one hand anchored beside her head, he held himself over her, still building a release that threatened to swallow her whole with the other. His long, wavy hair hung loose around his face, strain etching the corners of his mystic eyes. “You want to know what I want? What I’ve fantasized about?”
At his neck, his pulse hammered to match her own, and a tempting sheen of sweat coated his tan skin. The heat generating from him and the wicked streams still swirling across her sensitized flesh jumped another notch. She ground her hips upward to meet his rhythm, bit her lip, and nodded.
“I want you on your hands and knees. Want to see your knees wide and that perfect ass of yours in the air. Want to cover your back and sink my teeth in that sweet spot you like me to kiss.” He circled her clit with his thumb. “And when I feel your pussy quiver, I want to grip your hips, pound my cock inside you, and push you over the edge.”
Sweet, unrelenting climax gripped her sex, cinching her muscles around his devious fingers. Colors to match Eden’s landscapes danced behind her eyelids, and every muscle in her body contracted at once. Dimly, she registered a shout. Hers given the clawing ache in her throat, but she didn’t care. Couldn’t care with the powerful waves pulsing through her.
“That’s mine.” Ludan kept his tempo, bringing her off the edge but refusing to let her land. “I want it.”
“Okay,” she whispered, not at all clear on what it was he laid claim to. After that release, he could have whatever he wanted. Her mind. Her heart. Her life.
She sifted her fingers through his hair, only realizing they were free when the soft waves tickled her palms. Rolling her hips against his steady moving fingers, she pried open her eyes and gasped.
Possession. If a single look could convey an unequivocal meaning, that was Ludan’s. Pure, animalistic ownership so potent every nerve ending buzzed on high alert.
He eased back and sat on his heels, slowly easing his fingers from her entrance and skimming his palms down the tops of her thighs to her knees. His touch was gentle, but a barely banked intensity burned beneath it. His powers crackled and popped with the force of a fast-approaching thunderstorm, snapping across her flesh in intoxicating zings. His gaze bore through hers and anchored in her very soul. “Offer yourself to me.”
Tiny aftershocks fired in her sex. Spasms that shouldn’t be possible after the release he’d just given her.
“You said anything.” Slowly, he brushed mesmerizing circles with his thumbs on her knees. “Give me what I want. Offer yourself to me. Show me what’s mine.”
As in, on her knees. Vulnerable and exposed in the most hedonistic way possible. Her breath left her on a rush, and insistent need ramped from indolent to critical. Tucking her shaky legs under her, she rose to her knees, facing him. She skimmed her fingers through the soft scruff of his beard and cupped the side of his face, needing the connection, the strength that came from his presence. She could do this. With him, she could do anything. Be anything. Learn anything.
She trailed her hand downward, along the pulse at his neck and farther to his heart. She savored the powerful beat. Primitive but restrained. Asking instead of taking. As she dropped her hand, her own heart lurched. Her breath came shaky and short as she shifted, the world around her a little hazy from the rush of adrenaline jetting through her veins. The black mountain range stretched wide ahead of her, the huge expanse and the lavender-topped trees driving home just how exposed she was. Not just to Ludan, but to the universe.
Movement sounded behind her, and Ludan’s heat registered at her back. Not touching, but close. His scent blended with the open world around her, earth and spice against crisp air and sweet grass. This was where she was meant to be. Physically and emotionally. Whatever sparked between them was nothing short of perfect. A divine gift worth any risk.
Even her heart.
Focusing on his presence, she drew on his strength and leaned forward.
A low, approving rumble sounded behind her, a masculine purr that vibrated against her skin. The cool grass tickled her palms, and gravity’s pull against her heavy breasts made her arch her shoulders
for more.
“Beautiful.” His huge hand coasted from between her shoulder blades to the small of her back. “A faultless gift.”
Faultless. All this time she’d thought herself damaged and dirty, but under his touch she felt clean. Whole for the first time in years.
He skimmed his callused hands over her ass and down the backs of her thighs, his thumbs skating along the inner seam.
Craving more of his touch, she widened her stance and lifted her hips.
He hissed in response, his fingers tightening against her legs and urging her further. “I wish you could see what I see.” He ghosted the pad of one thumb down her center. “Your pretty pink pussy. Swollen and ready. Wet with your release.” He increased the pressure, sliding his fingers on either side of her entrance. “You screamed my name when you came. Did you know that?”
Oh, she knew. And with the way he was touching her now, she’d do it again in record time.
His lips nuzzled the base of her spine, and he splayed his hands on each side of her ass. “I want to hear it again. Louder.” His breath fluttered against her drenched sex. “Then I’ll take you.”
Contact. Hot and demanding, his lips and tongue devoured every inch of her, savoring every drop of her climax as though he’d die without it, demanding she provide more. Erotic was too tame of a word to describe it. Carnal and wanton, maybe.
He squeezed her ass and moaned against her flesh. His finger circled her clit, and his tongue speared inside her.
“Ludan!” She threw her head back and tried to catch her breath, all her senses focused on his wicked ministrations and the steady pressure he lavished on the throbbing nerves between her legs.
His mouth disappeared, but his powerful thighs brushed the backs of hers, and his raging staff pressed against her core. “Almost.” He ground his hips against hers, teasing her with the delicious ridges that lined his velvet length. “But you can do better.”
A slow, tingling sensation brushed her rib cage, lifting inch by inch until it cupped her breasts. She moaned and let her head loll back, pressing her ass into the cradle of his hips.
“That’s it.” He slicked his cockhead through her folds. “Give in to it. Let me take you there.”
He wasn’t taking her anywhere. Catapulting was more like it. Rocketing her into universes she’d never known existed.
“Let it out.” He teased her entrance, barely notching himself inside. The sensation he’d created with his energy grew, centering on her nipples and sharpening even as the energy speared down her belly to her clit. “Give me my name.”
The force tightened on each pleasure point and gave a none-too-gentle tug.
“Ludan!” She felt more than heard her shout, its lingering tone reverberating around her as his thick cock plunged inside her slick channel. Release slammed home, fisting her sex around his pistoning shaft and obliterating all thought in its path. Now was all that mattered. This moment. This man and what burned between them.
His heat blanketed her back, and he fisted her hair. His voice growled behind her ear. “No more hiding.”
His hot breath sent shivers rippling down her spine. She whimpered and tried to nod.
He tightened his hold, and the tiny stabs of pain where he tugged her hair laid a fresh siege to her still-spasming sex. “Say it.”
“No.” She shook her head and angled her head farther, offering the last vulnerability she had. “No more.”
He licked and sucked a path down her neck, his heavy pants streaming across her tender skin as his hips slapped against her ass. “This is real. This is us. This. Is. Hope.” He rammed deep and sank his teeth where her neck and shoulder met.
Marked.
In her womb. In her skin. In her soul.
She trembled beneath him, her sex clenching around his jerking shaft. Gone was the preternatural sensation he’d created beneath her skin, replaced with reverent caresses from his hands. Cupping her breasts, smoothing across her abdomen, slicking between her legs where they were joined. Nothing mattered but his touch and their connection. Nothing but him.
Slowly, he eased back to his haunches, pulling her with him. His lips roamed everywhere. Neck, shoulders, lips, every touch filled with devotion and care. A beast sated from his feast and languorous.
He curled one hand loosely around the front of her neck, a claiming gesture that once terrified her, but now brought peace. It felt right. Comfortable and soothing. “What you gave me, I won’t let you regret it.”
She rolled her head and kissed the tender skin beneath his jaw. His beard tickled her nose and his scent saturated her lungs. His energy coursed through her, as though it no longer understood the physical barriers between her body and his, very much the same way her heart seemed tied to his. “I hope not, because I am well and truly yours.”
Chapter 32
Darkness engulfed Ludan’s room, broken only by moon glow through the solar tubes overhead. He’d doused the bedside candles an hour ago, but their tallow scent still lingered. Brenna lay naked beside him, her legs tangled with his and her head pillowed against his chest. Since the first night they’d lain together, she’d slept deep, but tonight she was dead weight. Exhausted from hours of training and relentless, soul-wrenching sex.
He fingered the mark he’d given her. Crescents from the primitive bite had formed long before nightfall. He couldn’t see it in the dark, but just knowing it was there calmed the beast. It wouldn’t last more than a day, maybe two, but that was okay. Soon she’d have another mark. One that would only dim upon his death.
His mate.
If you had to save me or Brenna, who would you choose?
Praise the Great One, he’d been an idiot. Eryx had known all along. So had Lexi. And his father. And Ramsay. Histus, everyone had accepted it before him.
Did Brenna know, too? When he asked her, would it be a surprise? Or had she already deduced what the Fates had tried to tell him?
He skimmed his hand along her hip, then over her ass. So soft and firm. If he dipped a little lower he’d find his seed still coating her thighs, the most gratifying mark of all. He didn’t dare indulge. One slide through her folds, feeling his cum against her flesh, and he’d take her again. Already she’d given too much, tirelessly welcoming that dark, ugly part of himself inside her body and making him whole.
He should have tended to her after. Cleaned the remnants of his release and let her soak, but he couldn’t do it. Just this once, he wanted a part of him left behind. A reminder and the promise of what would come.
The image of Brenna round with his child flashed in his thoughts. She’d be a brilliant mother. Patient and giving. As tireless and instinctive as his own mother.
They’d need a home. Something private and modest like his father’s cottage. Not too modest, though. Brenna had wanted for enough in her life. She deserved to be spoiled. Not that she’d make that easy on him. Maybe he’d buy them a home in Evad, too. Someplace near the ocean with a stunning view.
His cheeks strained beneath an unexpected smile. Praise the Great One, he’d turned into a whipped little puppy. He was plotting out his future. He’d never once in his life considered he’d do such a thing, but here he was, staring into the dark and doing exactly that.
As quickly as it came, his smile slipped. Brenna wasn’t safe. Not yet. Until she was, nothing else mattered.
“Are you ready now?”
He stilled at the feminine voice in his head. No link accompanied it, but the tone was familiar. Similar to his mother’s, but softer. Airier than the rich, honeyed tone he’d grown up hearing.
His Spiritu.
He tensed beneath Brenna, instinctively shielding his soon-to-be mate as he cast his senses throughout the cottage.
What was he supposed to be ready for? An attack? A clue?
“The Black King told you. All that’s left is to listen. Are you ready now?”
Answers. How could they even ask if he was ready? He’d been ready for weeks, chasing every lead.<
br />
“But you didn’t listen.” Such a peaceful sound, yet laced with reprimand.
He opened his mouth to argue into the darkness, then hesitated. The voice was right. He’d acted, searching countless memories and rerunning them until his head throbbed. One scenario after another, always trying to think as he imagined Serena would. The one thing he hadn’t done was listen.
The muscles at his neck and shoulders slackened. Maybe it was the darkness or the stillness that came when one day crossed to the next, but an otherworldly awareness sparked across his senses. As powerful as what he felt mid-battle, only grounded in something more profound. Divine.
A memory surfaced. The day he’d scanned Reginald after Serena’s disappearance. On reflex, he zeroed in on the images and let them play across his thoughts.
Something had intervened. A presence halting the flow the same way a person or object might block his line of sight.
“Not what you saw. What you felt.”
What he felt? What the hell did feelings have to do with answers?
“Perhaps you’re not ready.” The voice dissipated toward the end.
“Wait,” he whispered into the shadows. He swallowed and tightened his hold on Brenna, drawing her sweet, cleansing scent deep to ground him.
That morning he’d been agitated. Pissed at Eryx for digging into Ludan’s response to Brenna and hating the need to add more memories on top of all the others.
No, wait. That hadn’t been everything. He’d been kicked off balance the second he’d stepped up to Reginald. Like someone had disconnected his will from his actions, especially when he’d touched on the memory of Reginald and Serena in their kitchen. Every second had registered, but his focus had been off and the words were muddied. What in histus was that? He’d been sucking down memories for over a hundred and thirty years. Never once had he felt such a sensation.
He reached for his father via link. “You got a minute?”
Eden's Deliverance (The Eden Series Book 4) Page 27
