14. Fennik
Chapter 14
Fennik
I take one more pass through Frenzy, but only Delia and a server are there, finishing out the close of the bar. The blood at my pulse points throbs, my alpha rising to the surface.
Randi better not have gone back to her nest alone. Not again. Not after yesterday.
After our signals practice and talk in the woods yesterday, we needed to split up to finish preparing for our trip today. We planned to meet back in her lair, but she was still gone when Gunnar and I returned an hour ago.
I’ve been patient. Hell, I’ve been more than patient. But I’m done with this game of chase. I’m her mate, and she will stop running from me.
Winding through the hallway behind the bar, I make my way to Randi’s office and knock once on the closed door before sliding inside.Vandera and Randi are bent over her desk, their backs to me and their eyes trained on a book open between them. I clear my throat, and two heads whip my way.
The witch takes one look at me and packs up, a smug smile on her lips. “I’ll finish strengthening the wards tomorrow. We’ve got it under control.” She passes by me in a cloud of herbs and flowing fabric, her laughter carrying on her way out.
Randi closes the book and shuffles through the papers on her desk, looking for something. “Let me finish putting these?—”
“Enough,” I grit out, though I want to bellow. “I’m done with your running.”
Randi pauses, papers in hand and a small O of surprise on her lips. “I—” She looks at the papers on her desk, then back to me, her face a cloud of confusion. “I’m not running. I was finishing out plans with Vandera?—”
“Never again,” I promise. I eat the distance between us, cutting off Randi's explanation. “You will never run from me again.”
“I wasn’t?—”
Her protest dies with a hard press of my lips against hers. She gasps, and I swallow the sound. It’s a kiss fueled by my desperation. Randi knew and chose not to trust me or let me take care of her. She chose to do it alone.
And here she is in her office. Stalling. Pulling away.
Her confession gutted me and shook my foundation. I’m hurt by her actions, disappointed that she didn’t feel she could trust me with what she knew or why she was waiting. Most of all, I’m pissed at myself.
I let her play this game of chase, let her pull away over and over even though I could see she was hurting. This could have been different if I had stepped up. I’m not the same boy who came to her wide-eyed and ready to yield, yet I never changed our dynamic. Randi has pushed me away, but I let her.I was afraid if I pushed, I would lose her altogether.
My hand clasps her neck, my voice wrecked by the emotions sitting in my throat and pounding in my chest. “If you run, I will chase you. Find you. Catch you. And each time I do, I will remind you.”
She opens her mouth to speak, but I shake my head. The time for talking is over. I whip her around, folding her onto her desk and trapping her beneath my weight.
“Fennik,” she says, the slightest hint of citrus teasing the air.
My tongue traces the shell of her ear before I take a sharp nip on her neck, hoping to draw out more of that delectable scent. “Little dove, you’re caught. And this time, I’m not letting you get away.”
Her body goes lax, and I know this reminder is what we both need.My mouth waters at the promise, even if I can’t bond with her now. Mark my words, my bite will live there one day, claiming her as mine for all the world to see. My dick goes hard, but I ignore it. This isn’t about pleasure or even the bond. This is about my mate and what she needs.
I lift her black leather dress and tear her panties down past the swell of her ass. “Who is your mate? Say it.” My wolf’s possessive desperation fuels each growled word.
My palm strikes her ass, and she cries out on a surprised moan.
“Who?” I ask with another sharp smack.
“You are,” she whimpers. Randi closes her eyes, her nails digging into the wooden desk. “You are, Fennik. You’re?—”
“I’m your alpha.” My palm makes the flesh of her ass jiggle, and my dick twitches at the sight. “And you will come to me when you’re scared.” I spank the same spot again and again, watching with satisfaction as my marks bloom on her pale skin.“You will learn to use your words.” Randi wiggles restlessly as I palm the abused flesh. “We will find a way as long as you trust me.”
Randi’s eyes pop open, and she cranes her neck. “I do trust you, Fennik.”
It’s said as a plea, and I answer it as I should have every time before when she ran from me.
“You haven’t, but you will,” I promise.
Randi tries to prove she doesn’t need anyone. I let us both believe that lie. I let her spiral in her fear and doubts even though I saw how losing the guard nearly broke her. I doubted myself. When I should have pushed back, I crumbled.
I was worried about Gunnar, but it was me she needed to be strong.
She needs her ass spanked for running, for denying us both. But more importantly, she needs a firm hand to anchor her when she feels as though the world is spinning out of control. I give it to her, each slap of skin a promise of my claim and a reminder of what that means between us.
She moans, her nails becoming claws that shred the wood. Scales appear and disappear, making the skin on her neck shimmer. She is perfect like this.
“You’re mine to care for, baby girl. I won’t fail you again,” I vow, the desperate edge in my voice giving way to an aching tenderness. I soothe her heated flesh, rub my hands along my marks, and dip my fingers between her legs. The slick glide down the length of her pussy makes my wolf rumble in approval from deep in my chest.
“Alpha—” she whispers, the sound cracking.
It’s the longing in the title that breaks my control. My middle finger finds her clit, grazing it while I cup what’s mine. “That’s right. I’m your alpha, and I won’t let either of us forget it again.” I smack her pussy. Once. Twice.
“Yes,” she moans, her voice full of the same desperation I feel.
Her hands reach around to grope for my cock. I trap them between us, pressing my weight into her with a pleasured groan. She twists, her mouth reaching for me. The kiss is messy and full of all the pent-up tension that’s been strumming between us for too long. It’s a hungry, unruly tangle of teeth and tongue that makes my cock throb and my wolf howl.
I pull away, breathless, and drop to my knees, staring at her reddened ass and her pretty pink pussy. She is swollen and wet, so fucking perfect for me. “This is mine.”
“Yours,” she mewls.
I spread her with my fingers and watch how her honey pools. My thumb grazes over her clit, and I lean in, covering her with my mouth. The first fucking taste of her is so sweet. My wolf makes a feral sound, the noise full of savage hunger.
She shivers in my arms, arching into my touch.I reward her eagerness by burying myself between her legs, licking and sucking and nipping at her until she’s slick and needy. My hands dig into the flesh of her ass, spreading her wide as I fuck her on my tongue. Her hips rock back and forth, trying to get me where she wants.
“Please, Alp—” she cries.
I fill her with two fingers, then three. She moans, her pussy so tight it makes my dick ache.
“Come for me,” I demand with a sharp slap with my other hand on her already tender ass.
It makes her quake, and her pussy clamps down on my fingers. I fuck her through her orgasm, loving the rush of slick that drips down my hand. Nuzzling between her legs, I feast on my reward until she’s shaking.
The sound of my zipper is lost among her sharp, panting breaths. I take out my cock, already weeping for her, and fist my length.
She flips around, hopping onto the ruined desk as she sheds her clothes. When she’s naked, she braces herself on her elbows and drops her knees. Her skin is flushed, her small breasts jostling with each heaving breath. Nudging into the space between her legs, I stare at the beautiful woman beneath me.
“This sweet pussy is mine.” I rub the crown against her clit.
“Yes,” Randi echoes, her body arching to meet me.
I drag my cock through her slick, pausing at her entrance to hold her eye. “And I’m gonna fuck you until your body knows it. Until you’re unable to forget.”
“Show me.” She rubs her knuckles along my scruff.
At her words, I slam into her slick heat. A moan gets caught in her throat as her body freezes in pleasure. She sucks in a breath, and like a wave meeting the shore, she breaks for me, softening into the desk beneath her.
My hands grip her fleshy hips for purchase, and I pull her toward me, filling her to the hilt. She’s wet and sweet, so tight I want to howl. I drag my cock against her walls and snap my hips, bringing us to the brink.
It’s raw and sharp, full of hurt and heartache and the sweet ache of reunion.
Her gaze finds mine, her golden dragon eyes piercing. She reaches for me, and I clutch her back with everything I am, letting her clawlike nails dig into the flesh of my back. It burns where she’s scratched me, the fire so deep it aches to my bones. I relish the flash of pain, take it as a hard-won sign that she’s finally mine.
My forehead falls to hers. “We’re real. I’m your mate. No matter what happens. That will always be true.”
“Mine,” she promises.
That returned claim calms my racing heart. I slow my strokes, making her feel every inch and the sharp, stinging slap of our thighs. I grasp her neck, pushing my thumb in to mimic my bite while my knot teases her entrance.
“Show me how much you can take,” I growl, giving another ruthless thrust. “Open for me.”
She freezes, her body bowed and her sweet breath panting in my ear as she comes on my cock. She’s so fucking snug, feels so good beneath me that I can’t hold back.
“That’s right, baby girl, cream on my cock.”
I give a final thrust, lodging my knot inside her as I moan my release. The urge to claim her is so strong my fangs drop, and I clamp my jaw together so hard my fangs draw blood. One day, it will be her blood in my mouth and her bond in my chest. Until then, this will have to be enough.
“Say it,” I demand.
Randi reaches for me as she mewls, “Alpha.”
I kiss her palm. “That’s my good girl. You’re mine. Now and always.”