by Ann Aguirre
“Lady Silver, you’re on your knees, caressing a naked man’s chest. How can you not know your own intentions?”
When he put it that way, everything clarified in her head. She raised her chin. “Then…I suppose I’m seducing you. Any objections?”
For a moment, Raff didn’t think he’d heard correctly. Teasing this woman almost never turned out the way he expected. Take now for instance.
Instead of scuttling away like a nervous crab, she was magnificent on her knees before him, eyes like a night sky full of stars. Hesitantly, he reached for her hair and realized she was serious when she let him take it down. The strands spilled like quicksilver into his hands, light and silken. He brushed it back from her face and breathed her in.
She’s serious.
Her scent was subtly different, spiced with pheromones, and he reacted instantly. There was no faking this, no chemical substitute for real desire, and he had spoken honestly when he told her nothing got him hotter than being wanted. His cock perked at the promise of enthusiastic sex, and she watched it happen. That only turned him on more.
“Your interest is powerful,” he said softly. “Shall we go to bed, my good wife?”
He offered her a hand up, which she accepted gracefully. She surprised him again when she pulled off her shirt and skimmed out of her trousers in careful, precise motions, then she folded her clothes and set them on the chair he’d vacated. The air in the cabin was still chilly, not enough to make him shiver, but her skin was delicate.
Raff pulled her to him, warming her with his body as they moved toward the bed together. She also tried to lend him her strength, though his leg was just a residual ache now. A night’s rest would put him to rights, but if she wanted to coddle him—well, he wouldn’t say no.
Does that make me the wolf that cried wolf?
“Are you all right?”
“Well enough to make you feel wonderful, I’ll wager. I wish this wasn’t happening in a stranger’s bed, but here we are.”
Climbing in beside him, Thalia seemed relatively unconcerned about that. “You’re excited this time,” she observed.
“Is that surprising?”
“Well, we’ve been together before, and you didn’t—you weren’t—”
“The difference is you, Lady Silver. You didn’t want me then. Now your body is soft and sweet and silky-hot. It seems you like a little misguided heroism.”
“Don’t tease me.”
He felt her flush, felt the heat shimmer up from her shoulders past her neck into her cheeks. With gentle fingertips he traced her fey features: sharp cheekbones, elegant little nose, pointed chin. Before he got to her soft mouth, she bit him.
“Is it all right if I kiss you?” he asked.
“You have my permission for…everything.”
That was heady, carte blanche to touch her, but it left him oddly tentative. He already knew her stomach was sensitive and that the idea of being caught turned her on…ah, I can work with this. Raff swept aside her hair and set his mouth on her throat, just below her left ear.
“Hope the cat who used this cabin last doesn’t circle back because of the storm. Might be shocked by the deliciously dirty things I’ll be doing to you.”
A small sound escaped her, and he’d barely touched her yet. She’s so responsive. This will be fun. He didn’t tease her further, taking her mouth in a kiss that was softer and sweeter than he planned, first just a series of pecks that deepened when her lips parted and clung, when she let out a breath that he drank in.
When she raised a hand to touch his beard, he pulled back a little. “Does it bother you?”
Eldritch males were hairless bastards from what he’d seen, so it startled him when she shook her head swiftly. “I like how it feels.”
The cabin was dark apart from the orange crackle of the fire, but it seemed to give her courage. Thalia trailed her fingers lower, brushing his shoulders and settling on his chest, flexing her nails like a cat. He drew in a breath and let it out as a groan as she tested his pectoral muscles. His nipples responded to each tease and scrape. Before, he wouldn’t have said he was especially sensitive, there, but her light, experimental touches made his abs tighten and his toes curl.
Passive acceptance wasn’t his style, so when she paused to nuzzle her cheek against his chest, he tangled his hands in her hair and kissed her. From the little gasp he swallowed, she liked the tug that brought her mouth to his. This time, he went slow and deep, tasting her while he ran his hands over her back, long, luxurious strokes that made her squirm. Her scent bloomed all around him, a deepening arousal that went to his head like strong liquor.
“You really want it,” he whispered, right against her mouth. “You’re so hot and hungry. If your loyal soldiers could see you now…”
That little nudge at her secret predilections sent a shiver through her. Thalia’s eyes closed, and Raff thought she’d never been more beautiful than with her breath coming fast, lashes fluttering against smooth cheeks. He kissed a path downward, skimming over her breasts toward her stomach, such a sweet, strange erogenous zone.
“Oh, you wish they could. See you. You want them to watch you take my cock? I bet you do. It would be the sexiest thing they’ve ever seen.”
“Stop,” she whimpered.
“Stop what?”
“Saying such—”
“Don’t pretend. You’re trembling, that’s how much you like it.” Raff bit down on her shoulder, gently. “I don’t mind if you fantasize about people watching us. I’m not shy, I’ll make that dream come true someday, if you want.”
“Oh fuck.”
“That’s the idea, princess. But I’ll make you come a few times first.”
She startled at what he guessed sounded like a bold claim and then her entire body arched when he pressed his mouth to the silky skin at her hip. Raff kissed a path across her belly, gauging her response by the way she twisted and shivered and finally sank her hands into his hair, not trying to tug him away, but silently pleading for more. He used his mouth and his teeth, slowly working lower, until she was writhing under him, hands urgent on his back.
“You’re too slow!”
“Calm down, we have all night.”
“Unless that cat interrupts us…or the Eldritch who are hunting us see the smoke. We need to…do it, so I can think straight again.”
“I’m flattered,” Raff said. “I think. And your complaint is noted.”
He buried his face between her legs then, and she shrieked, a breathy, shocked sound that turned him on so fiercely that his dick throbbed. A little trickle of precome slicked the head and he shifted it carefully. No squeezing, no friction, not yet. Her thighs parted around him as he kissed each labia with tender precision.
Thumbing her sex open in a soft motion, he went in lightly with his tongue, learning her tastes by the way she squirmed and sighed and moved his head. Soon, she was rolling her hips upward, whimpering sexy little incoherent sounds. Thalia wrapped her legs around his head, gasping, moaning, and it was like nobody had ever eaten her before, like each lick, each caress felt brand new.
Her soft sounds got louder, taken on a frustrated edge. “You’re driving me crazy, but…I can’t go like this,” she finally panted out.
He lifted his head and planted a kiss on her quivering belly. “What do you need?”
16.
“For you to ask that question. Let’s switch things up.” Thalia had seldom hovered at such a fever pitch for so long, and it made her voice ragged.
“Then just tell me…or show me,” Raff said.
“You wanted me to come, right? Before we do it.”
“If possible.”
Part of her couldn’t believe she was about to do this, but she just went for it, straddling his face with her thighs. “It’ll be better like this, from this angle.”
Raff couldn’t answer readily, but from the eager way he put his mouth on her sex, he must be enjoying himself. Leaning forward, she moved tentative
ly against his chin, his lips and tongue. Thalia moaned over the scrape of his beard on her thighs, the feel of his hair on her belly. Need tightened her muscles; it had been so long—
He sipped at her clit, and her back arched. The orgasm spilled over her in quick, convulsive waves; she rode his chin, hunching against his face until the pleasure receded. His hands were gentle on her hips, steadying her, but never trying to control her. Thalia milked the last shivers from the experience and then slid off his face to tumble beside him.
“Good?” Raff trailed a fingertip between her breasts, so light and teasing that she lifted her hips, though she’d just finished.
“Very.”
She half-expected he’d go straight between her legs again, but instead, his teasing touch meandered to her belly, where he scraped little patterns on her skin with his nails.
It shouldn’t feel this good.
Her nipples had softened, but they perked up again in direct response to the game he was playing on her lower abdomen. Normally partners took that as a cue that she wanted her breasts touched, her nipples sucked, but Raff didn’t make a move. Thalia turned on her side, curious.
“Are you ready for more?” His voice was midnight dark, so deep that she felt it like a sexy growl in her bones.
“Yes. I want to fuck you now.” She’d never said it so explicitly before, in such raw language, but from the flash in his dark eyes, it was the right move.
Raff took her hand and guided it to his cock. Beneath the covers, she couldn’t see what she was touching, so she learned him with delicate fingertips. Hard, so very hard, and long, too. Too thick for her to encircle completely with her thumb and forefinger. Thalia explored further, found the fleshy head slick with precome. He jerked in her hand and rubbed against her fingers, his breath coming faster.
“See the difference, Lady Silver? That’s because you want me.”
“I do.”
Pure curiosity, she put her fingers in her mouth to taste him, and his lips parted as she sucked the salt from her own skin. Raff swallowed a groan, eyes locked on her lips. Then he moved, slow enough that she could’ve rebuffed him at any point. He was such a tender, gentle wolf.
Never would’ve guessed.
He also surprised her by lifting her leg and nudging closer. It was absolute seduction when he nudged her labia open and snugged the tip of his cock against her, luxuriating in the friction between their bodies. She sucked in a sharp breath over how good it felt and how impossibly patient he was, watching her face for each nuanced reaction.
“If you want my cock, take it.”
At this angle, it wasn’t easy to do alone, but she arched and wrapped her thigh over his hips, and then he pushed. His cock stretched her to perfection; once he slid inside fully, he paused to assess her response. Evidently encouraged by what he saw, Raff lifted the leg she’d draped over him, making room for long, slow thrusts. He held her close with his other arm, so that her breasts nestled against his chest.
Each time he pushed, measured and rhythmic, he kissed her throat, her clavicle, her shoulder. As his pace got faster, he bit down on her neck, and she trembled, wildly unable to process how purely good it all felt. His cock, working inside her. His mouth, hot and open on her skin. His teeth sinking in.
“Oh.”
Thalia had no experience in this position, no frame of reference for how intimate it was. Before, she’d taken her pleasure from him, but now there could be no mistaking that he was giving it, with each push and pull, each luxuriant slide. Even when he angled her hips to provide the perfect pressure inside, it was in response to her moans.
“Getting there, princess?”
“Yes.” It was all she could do to speak.
“Let’s go together.” He took her mouth, tongue sliding over hers as his cock stroked inside her.
She bit him when she came, savaged his lower lip, but he didn’t withdraw from the kiss. He held still while her body tightened on him, gasping in her ear so it sent shivers all down her spine. Once she quieted, he pulled free and fisted his cock once, twice, quick and vicious, and then liquid heat spurted against her bare belly.
“Why…?” Thalia tried to whisper the question, but her voice was too unsteady.
But he knew what she wanted to know, offering a lopsided smile as he eased down beside her. “The way I understand it, you can’t just decide to have my baby. That sort of thing’s left up to fate among your people, isn’t that right?”
“Well, yes.” She’d heard that Animari could decide when to reproduce, and until then, there was no risk in sexual pleasure.
“Then I shouldn’t take that choice away from you.”
She raised a brow. “It’s unlikely that one encounter would do the job, even assuming we’re a fertile pair.”
“Even if the chance is slight, we should decide to try together, or avoid the risk. It shouldn’t be a whim of mine since it’s your body at stake.”
Understanding broke over her at last. This was a measure of his concern. “You’re trying to protect me.”
“As best I can.”
Softly she kissed away the trace of blood from his lower lip. “I appreciate it. If you like, we can ask Dr. Wyeth about the probability of conception, and in the meantime, there’s medicine I can take for prevention.”
“If that’ll put your mind at ease.”
Sighing, she said, “You’re too casual about this. Aren’t you supposed to want to—”
I can’t say it.
“I already marked you, Lady Silver. Maybe your people won’t be able to tell but the wolves at Daruvar will have no doubt at all what happened here today.” The wolfish grin curved his mouth, tugging at the scar half-hidden in his beard.
Irritated with his smug teasing, she got up and scrubbed her stomach, trying not to blush. “That’s not funny.”
“It wasn’t meant to be. They won’t bother you about it, and I’m sure Janek will be relieved that we’re getting along so well. He likes you.”
That revelation caught her by surprise. She laid down the damp cloth and came back to the bed, mostly because it was so damn cold. The fire in the hearth could only do so much against the ice storm outside. “He does?”
“Indeed. Just the other day, he called you a tactical genius, in fact.”
“And what’s your opinion?”
“You need to get under the covers before you freeze your pretty tits off.”
It wasn’t obedience, Thalia told herself. Just common sense. Yet it still gave her more joy than it should have to comply with his suggestion and snuggle up against his hard, hot chest. His arms felt so nice around her that she could’ve purred.
Maybe a marriage of convenience to a wicked wolf wasn’t so bad after all.
Raff could hardly believe his eyes.
The soon-to-be Eldritch queen lolled in his arms, her mouth slightly open and so completely unconscious that it was impossible not to take it as a compliment, either to his sexual skills or his trustworthy nature. Either way, he found her faith endearing if a little puzzling. After all, reliable wasn’t the word that usually sprang to mind when people described him.
Idly he ran his fingers through her hair, marveling at how the silver strands caught the firelight and shone like platinum. Her body felt so fragile to contain so much determination, and damn, from what he’d seen, the odds were not good. The Eldritch didn’t like coming straight for conflict; instead, they lingered in the shadows and winnowed away at the foundations, until suddenly, your house toppled over.
He spared a moment to wish his phone hadn’t been smashed in the cave-in. It would be good to touch base with Janek and Skylett, maybe even call to see how things were going in Pine Ridge. Through technology, it would also be possible to check on his traps and drones to verify the status of the holdings around Daruvar, though the storm might jack up the signal. Raff sighed.
Ah, well. No point fretting over what couldn’t be changed.
Pulling up the rough, thick covers,
which had been stitched together out of random fabric and then stuffed with bird feathers, Raff closed his eyes. Their body heat made the strange bed feel cozy, and with his belly full, it was a decent place to ride out the storm. In time, he slept, and then—
I’m on the floor, bleeding. I can’t remember when the beating stopped or when the next one will begin. Nobody says anything. It’s all right, because I can heal the hurt and shake it off. It’s not like I’m a Latent or a pup in need of protection.
Nearly grown, that’s what everyone says.
The room is cold and dark, Father paces in the hall. I can hear his curses, the half-coherent rantings. He’s calling me the devil that killed his mate? That means he’s had far too much liquor, enough to kill a Golgoth, and he’ll be coming for me soon. Evert will try to stop him. He’ll try.
I should take the punishment, even if I don’t exactly understand why.
“Stupid accursed whelp, where are you?”
I know I shouldn’t, but I can still feel the belt and my mouth is still bleeding. If I’m fast, I can escape to the woods and live for a few days, until my father’s in his right mind again. When the door opens, I bolt, shoving through to the corridor. Hard hands reach for me, but Evert is there, struggling. Behind me, they’re struggling—
He jolted awake, heart hammering hard in his chest. It had been a long time since he had the nightmare, but he could still see his brother at the base of the steep steps, sprawled at unnatural angle, blood spilling from his cracked skull. Such accidental deaths were rare among the pack, yet another reason for his father to hate him. Sometimes he wished the old man would simply die, but he wasn’t gone, even now. Instead, the pack had called for a vote of no-confidence and quietly confined him, and the outside world heard from Rand Pineda no more.
Wonder how she’ll take that news.
“Raff?” Her hand was suddenly on his cheek and he pulled it away before he could stop himself.
Even between normal lovers, there were boundaries, and the dream left him feeling like he was one raw wound, bleeding freely beside her. “What’s the matter?” he asked, trying for his usual tone.
