Watching his face, she stroked his cock from its base up to the first of his studded piercings, keeping her grip firm and her movements slow and steady. He felt so good. He was hot tristeel covered in soft velvet. Her sex clenched, and she squeezed her thighs together. What would it be like to have his length inside her, to feel his strength as he pumped in and out of her body?
Yuri imagined him between her thighs, thrusting his powerful hips, taking her, claiming her as his.
She wanted that. She wanted that so damned much.
Thargen’s lips drew back to bare his teeth. A low growl rumbled from his chest, vibrating into Yuri and teasing her nipples, which were tender from his attentions last night. He shifted his arm, clutched her bare ass, and began pumping his hips in time with her hand.
The head of his cock bumped into her belly with every thrust, coating her with his seed. If his leg weren’t draped over both of hers, trapping them, all she would’ve needed to do was hitch her thigh over his hips and open herself to him—then he’d be there, right there, where she needed him most.
Thargen’s grip on her ass tightened. Ragged breaths huffed out of him as he quickened his pace, thrusting harder and harder into her hand, and another growl rumbled his chest. That bestial sound only made her wetter.
Thargen’s eyes snapped open, gleaming with faint reflections of the weak light. Before Yuri could react, before she could so much as smile at him, he snarled and burst into motion, quick as lightning.
She was on her back in an instant, and Thargen was looming over her. He wedged his hips between her thighs, forcing her legs apart, and tore down his pants with one hand, finally freeing his cock. His other hand caught her by the throat, pinning her down.
But it was the feel of his thick cock shoving into her that made Yuri stiffen and gasp. He stretched her inner walls, evoking a sharp, stinging burn. Those piercings felt so much larger inside her than they looked as her too tight sex clenched around him.
His teeth were bared, his brows sharply angled down, and his nostrils flared, and his intense, wild eyes were fixated on Yuri. The gloom only made his visage more savage. He looked down at her as though he wasn’t there, as though he didn’t know who she was. She had the sense that she might’ve been staring into the eyes of a beast.
Yuri placed one hand on the arm he was using to pin her and settled the other on his chest, over his pounding heart. “Thargen?”
Thargen stilled. He blinked, and his eyes ran over her with quick, erratic movements. They cleared slowly, the reflected light in them softening, but his expression didn’t ease. When he glanced down at his cock, and Yuri followed his gaze with hers. He had his fist clamped around its base—firmly enough that it was trembling. Her sex clenched around him again, eager to draw him in deeper.
For a moment, the hand around her throat squeezed harder, and he shut his eyes, bucking his hips and pushing himself farther into her. Her breath hitched, and she dug her nails into his arm.
“Fuck,” he growled, shoving away as quickly as he’d mounted her. Just like that, his hand was no longer on her throat, his hips no longer between her thighs, and his shaft had withdrawn from her sex. All physical contact broken in an instant.
She snapped her thighs together reflexively, but it did nothing to ease the empty feeling left in Thargen’s wake.
Yuri rolled onto her side, propped herself up, and watched Thargen—reduced to a big, dark silhouette by the gray dawn light—storm out of the cave.
She stared at the opening long after his form had disappeared, speechless, motionless.
Numb.
No, that wasn’t right. There was a terrible ache in her chest, one that spread with every passing second. Her eyes stung, and the light from outside became a blur as tears filled her vision.
“What’s wrong with me?”
Yuri took in a shaky breath, sat up, and drew her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. She didn’t understand. She was confused. She was…
Hurt.
Every sign, every look, every word from Thargen was proof of his attraction to her—that he wanted her. So why hadn’t he taken her? Why hadn’t he, after all the times she’d made it known that she wanted him in return? Oh, he’d touch her, kiss her, lick her. But…fuck her?
She recalled all the ways he’d changed the subject or denied her, and the pain in her chest only intensified.
A short, humorless laugh bubbled up from her throat, and she wiped her eyes with her palms, shaking her head. “I finally decide on a guy I want to have sex with, and he doesn’t want to have sex with me. Go figure. Just my luck.”
But it was more than sex. She wanted him to be hers. Hadn’t Thargen claimed her as his, as well? Hadn’t he even said mine the night before?
What’s wrong with me?
Yuri dropped her hands and frowned as she looked at the cave entrance again.
Maybe it wasn’t about what was wrong with her, but what was wrong with Thargen. What if there was something troubling him, some hang up or past trauma that had left an invisible scar on him? Something he hadn’t told her…
Whatever it was, Yuri wasn’t going to give up. She was going to find out what was keeping him from fully taking her, what was making him run from her—though she had a sense that it was more about him running from himself, somehow. And once she knew, she’d help him work through it so they could be together.
Yuri groaned and fell back onto the pallet of rumpled clothing, staring up at the dark cave ceiling.
She wasn’t going to let this keep happening. She wasn’t going to let their relationship turn into some stupid, overly dramatic romance story where the only thing keeping the leads apart was a lack of communication. She didn’t care how big or bad he was—she’d get him to talk about his emotions, damn it.
“I’m yours, Thargen, and I’m going to make you understand that you’re also mine.” Muttering under her breath, she added, “And I refuse to die a virgin.”
Thargen stalked away from the cave, eyes open but unseeing. His skin was taut and hot, his muscles tense and thrumming with unspent energy, and—above all else—his cock and balls were throbbing with an ache so deep and pervasive that he could focus on little else.
Rage and pressure—they had become his existence. The former demanded he turn around and finish what had begun in the cave. He could almost feel her tight, wet sex clamped around his cock, creating pleasure so pure and powerful it hurt.
It still fucking hurt. Even the hand currently grasping his shaft provided no relief. His seed was hot as magma, and his cock was a volcano that had been building pressure for a million years—well fucking overdue for an eruption.
He was going to explode.
Thargen staggered to an abrupt halt, dropping his shoulder against the rough bark of a tree trunk. His limbs trembled, and his ragged breaths were just as shaky, coming out through his bared teeth in hissing snarls.
He could turn around and be back in the cave within a few seconds. He could be back in her heat…
Growling, he strengthened his grip on his shaft. His knees buckled against a surge of that tortuous, thrilling pressure, and only the tree held him upright.
Rage roared in his head, unleashing a sound of such fury and unbridled desire that it threatened to shatter his mind. It wanted the same things as him—Yuri and release—but those things were one in the same to his Rage.
He pressed his left hand over his abdomen, dug his nails in, and dragged them across his skin. The pain, dulled by Rage, offered no clarity.
Thargen growled again and pumped his fist along his shaft.
A shuddering breath escaped his lungs. The sensation was overwhelming, pleasure and pain coiled together so intricately they could not be distinguished from one another, and it wasn’t at all what he craved. It wasn’t at all what he needed. The phantom sensation of Yuri’s sex around his shaft resurged, taunting him, further rousing his Rage and building that impossible pressure even higher.
&nb
sp; She was so close…
But so was Thargen.
He stroked his cock quickly, mercilessly, fueling his arm with all his frustration and longing. His hips bucked to match the wild rhythm of his hand. The ache in his groin only grew further, becoming as massive and dense as a fucking star. Thargen squeezed his eyes shut and moved his fist faster still.
Yuri’s face appeared in his mind’s eye, her half-lidded eyes gleaming with lust, her cheeks flushed, her lips kiss swollen. She spread her supple thighs, offering her sex with its glistening pink petals and sweet nectar.
His body shook, rocked by spasms from head to toe, perched on the edge of that ultimate release. So fucking close, this whole time so fucking close… The pressure consumed Thargen, strengthening the tremors coursing through him, heightening his desperation, threatening to drop him to his knees.
He felt her sex around his shaft, tight, hot, smooth, and slick—unlike anything he’d ever imagined, better than anything he’d ever experienced.
Thargen’s muscles seized, and a raw growl tore from his chest, clawed up his throat, and escaped through his clenched teeth. A heartbeat later, he finally exploded. Thick streams of seed sprayed from his cock, pushed by waves of unbearable pleasure. He couldn’t stop the movements of his hands and hips. No matter how good it felt, no matter how much it hurt, he couldn’t stop.
His legs gave out. He fell to one knee, scraping his shoulder on the bark, without missing a stroke.
When his spasms finally eased and his twitching cock was no longer spurting, Thargen stopped his hand. He leaned more heavily against the tree and bowed his head, panting. His throbbing pulse served as a reminder that all he’d done here was release a little pressure. He hadn’t satisfied any cravings, hadn’t appeased his Rage.
Even with the immediacy worked away, his cock ached for Yuri.
And he’d almost fucking had her a few minutes ago.
“Fuck,” he rasped, lifting his head only to tip it against the trunk. Slowly, he opened his fist and moved it away from his shaft. His fingers were stiff, and the muscles along his forearm ached with strain. His hand was slick with seed. He let his arm fall to his side as he caught his breath and willed his heart to slow.
What had happened back in the cave should’ve been ecstasy. He couldn’t think of a better way to wake than with Yuri’s hand—or her mouth—on his cock. But he’d fucked it up, just like he’d known he would, just like he did most things outside of winning fights. He’d fucked it up because he was broken, because he had no control. Because of Rage. It wouldn’t settle for a handjob or a blowjob. It wouldn’t be satisfied with merely tasting her, no matter how much pleasure he gave her in the process.
Maybe his biggest mistake had been in thinking he could be satisfied with those little tastes, too—in pretending Rage was a separate entity rather than something that had become an integral part of him.
He clenched his jaw as Yuri’s cry of pain echoed in his mind. The sound had been small, easily forgotten or barely noticeable outside the context, but it had broken through to Thargen’s buried consciousness, had pierced that veil of lust and Rage that had roused him from his slumber. His awareness had faded in over the course of several seconds, and his mind had pieced together the scene with building horror.
His Yuri, his sweet, soft little terran, had been under him, and he’d been inside her, and she’d been so, so tight. So much so that he’d hurt her just by entering. And he knew he would’ve kept going. He would’ve pushed deeper, deeper, as deep as he could go and then more, and he would’ve done it fast and hard because that was the way he did everything—especially when Rage was at the forefront.
Had my fucking hand around her throat…
Thargen’s fingers twitched at the memory of being closed around her delicate neck. A little rough play was fine—it was, in fact, exciting—but he could’ve harmed her so easily, could’ve crushed her fucking windpipe if he’d squeezed just a little harder.
All those what-ifs he normally ignored assaulted him now, battering his already wounded mind as relentlessly as he’d battered his cock a few moments ago. They bore down upon him with immense, crushing weight, like boulders in a rockslide.
If Yuri’s reaction hadn’t shattered that haze, he would’ve ravaged her body. At the very least, she would’ve been bloodied and bruised by the end. And the worst case…
Even Thargen, with more bodies piled behind him than he could ever count, couldn’t bring himself to reflect upon that worst-case scenario.
Maybe back on Arthos they could find some way, but out here… If he hurt her, he had neither the resources nor the knowledge to help her. He knew terrans could be tough as hell, that they could take a surprising amount of punishment, but he also knew they were just as prone to being fragile.
This had to stop.
Everything inside him roared in displeasure, creating a violent chorus led by Rage, as he forced himself to stand up on shaky legs. He flattened his hand against the tree to steady himself. His nostrils flared with a deep breath; he tried to ignore the fact that her scent, clinging to his skin, permeated the air and was overpowering every other smell that should’ve taken prominence.
Resisting Yuri was the most difficult challenge of his life, and it would have remained so even if she weren’t throwing herself at him constantly. But failure was not an option. His priorities were the same as they’d been this whole time—keep her safe, get her home.
Thargen wasn’t like his friends. He didn’t have Arcanthus’s cleverness and focus, didn’t have Urgand’s stability and calm, didn’t have Drakkal’s patience and ability to see the larger picture. All he had was a body built for war and his Rage. If he meant to protect Yuri and get her back to Arthos, he needed to throw everything he had at those goals.
He finally opened his eyes. Little spots danced across his vision; he shook his head sharply and blinked to clear them away. Twisting, he looked back at the cave. Only darkness greeted him from within…but he knew Yuri was in there, too.
His cock pulsed, as though eager to return to her.
Thargen curled his hand into a fist—only to be reminded of the now-sticky seed coating it. His balls already felt heavy with another load. At this rate, he’d blast through all the protein from last night’s meal in a few hours of jerking himself off. That was definitely an elite-tier survival strategy if he’d ever heard one.
He couldn’t trust himself to go back to her yet, especially not in this state. What the fuck would he say?
Sorry, Yuri, but I just thought the forest needed it more than you. Been looking dry out here.
Yeah, calling this a fuckup would be an understatement.
Focus, asshole. You have a lot of other shit to worry about at the moment.
And yet none of those other concerns—almost all life or death matters—felt as immediate, pressing, or dire as his need for Yuri. How did that make any damned sense? Why, if presented with the choice to eat or fuck, did he feel such a heavy pull toward the second option?
“This is your problem right here,” he muttered. “All this fucking thinking.”
He pushed away from the tree, meaning to walk to the river to clean himself up and cool off—he’d freeze his dick into flaccidity if that was what it took—but his feet refused to move, and his gaze lingered on the mouth of the cave. Everything inside him was all tight and hot and uncomfortable.
Thargen swore he’d figure out a way to kick himself in the balls if he didn’t get moving.
Fortunately, his body received the message. He strode away from the cave, forcing his eyes to ceaselessly scan his surroundings for signs of danger, while trying—and failing—to ignore the tingling itch on his back that intensified with his every step away from Yuri.
Going out unarmed and leaving her alone again. That skeks hit you harder on the head than you thought?
Shut the fuck up already. I’ve heard more than enough of your shit.
The ensuing silence in his head was restless a
nd uneasy, soured by the maelstrom roiling just beneath the surface, but he accepted it, nonetheless. At least that silence made it easier to pay attention to the environment.
When he reached the river, he tore off his pants and waded in. The cold water was a welcome shock to his heated body, sending a shiver up his spine and finishing off his ailing erection. He submerged himself fully for a few seconds. The quiet but consuming sound of water flowing around him was almost soothing—almost. Deep down, he knew there’d be no extinguishing the fires that Yuri had lit in his heart. All he’d ever have were temporary releases of pressure, and those would always have to come at his own hand.
He scrubbed himself clean after surfacing and returned to the shore, pausing as he reached the bank. Something stood out amidst the mud, stones, and tufts of red grass—something pale. He crouched and dug up the object, expecting a stone unlike the rest in its color. But he knew as soon as he pulled it from the muck that it was no stone; it was an egg, as wide as his palm and almost perfectly round, with a solid, slightly yellow shell covered in little blue spots. A bit more careful digging turned up five more of the eggs buried just under the surface.
Thargen rinsed them off and set them aside to pull on his pants. This was good—an unexpected meal that had required no effort. He was still annoyed with himself about the meat from yesterday. He’d had to throw so much of it away because there’d been no time to dry it out or smoke it and he hadn’t wanted to leave it near camp for fear of attracting other predators—including skeks.
Whatever, Thargen. You had time. You just wanted her more, and since you couldn’t have her, you forced yourself to go to sleep.
Pretty sure I told you to shut up.
He returned to camp with the eggs cradled in the crook of his arm. Yuri wasn’t outside when he arrived.
He’d need to get the fire going again, and it would be wise to put on a shirt to help them both avoid temptation, but he wanted to show her the surprise haul first. She deserved something to be happy about after he’d stormed out on her, and breakfast was the perfect thing.
Savage Desire (The Infinite City Book 4) Page 27
