The Heart of a Monster: The Complete Series

Chapter 22

Crag

How could I deny this woman, mortal or not, when she looked at me like that? When she spoke like that, with longing humming through her words?

And an answering desire thrummed through me as I gazed down at her—to possess her as fully myself, as no other being had ever taken her. To feel the softness of her mortal body against and encompassing the hardened planes of my true physical form.

But there was a brutality to that hunger, to the craving to claim and possess. I’d never experienced the urge this strongly with any of my shadowkind lovers, as little as I’d known or cared about them beyond the brief release of the encounter. That was exactly why I couldn’t give the beastly part of my nature free rein.

She was mine, but I had to preserve her as well as claim her. I couldn’t let her tenderness be damaged.

I was a monster, but I was her monster.

I bowed my head over her and let my gargoyle self rise to the surface. My skin tightened and toughened, my wings flared from my back, and my face sharpened. My ears lengthened alongside the horns that poked above them up into the warm air. My largest fangs jutted from the sides of my jaw.

I was a beast in every sense of the word now. I’d used this form to terrify more beings both mortal and shadowkind than I could count.

I was good at that. It was what I was made for. I had trouble imagining how Quinn could look at me and see something to appreciate.

But she did. She smiled up at me and trailed her hand down the side of my face, tracing the ridges of my brow and cheek. Then she hooked her fingers around my jaw and tugged my mouth back to hers.

Her lips felt even softer than usual against my stony ones. I kissed her back carefully, only giving myself over to my eagerness bit by bit, increasing the passion of the embrace. When my lips parted, my fangs sliding against her skin, she gave a quiver that would have worried me if she hadn’t tugged me even closer an instant later, giving every appearance that she was reveling in the sensation.

I hugged her to my chest as I kissed her harder, but the impression of her vest through her shirt sent a prickling over my skin that was much less enjoyable than the rest of this experience. She couldn’t risk taking it off, even out here.

So I’d just have to bring her as much pleasure as I could around it.

I laid her down on the sandy ground and braced myself over her so we weren’t pressed quite so closely together. With that bit of distance, the effect of the silver and iron was only a faint niggling I could tune out. It faded away completely when I captured her mouth again.

Quinn hummed encouragingly, her mouth slipping open so her tongue could twine with mine. As I teased my sinuous gargoyle tongue past her lips, she reached up to curl her fingers around my horns. Her grip on them, gentle and yet determined, inflamed me in ways I hadn’t expected.

I wanted every part of her. I wanted to show her I could bring her to the same heights she’d reached with my companions all on my own. I couldn’t resent the enjoyment and devotion they’d offer her, but right now she was only mine.

I let out a soft growl and trailed my fangs along her jaw to the side of her neck. Quinn whimpered and tipped her head back to allow me greater access. I had the urge to nip her to the point of drawing blood, to mark her and let the spark of pain fuel more pleasure the way Lance did, but I didn’t have the dragon shifter’s fiery breath to seal the wound.

Quinn was strong, but she was also fragile in ways even most mortals weren’t. The illnesses of this world could affect her so much more easily than most. I would ravage her, but never to the point of threatening her.

As I slicked my tongue over her throat, Quinn let out an impatient murmur and ran her hands down my chest. She couldn’t quite reach the fitted canvas shorts I normally wore in gargoyle form, but the arch of her hips toward mine told me exactly what her goal was. Her thigh brushed the erection already straining at the fabric, and I groaned.

I wanted to feel her on me, around me, everything—but she wouldn’t be ready for me all at once. We’d had to take it slowly even in my human form, and I was even larger now.

Besides, there were other parts I wanted another taste of now that I’d discovered just what a delicious delicacy my mortal woman was.

“I’m going to get you good and ready,” I murmured against her skin, and eased down her body to grasp her own shorts. Quinn squirmed out of them and her panties with my tugging fingers for help, and for a moment I just gazed down at her most intimate parts, the pale downy hair and the glistening folds that I was honored to witness.

A flush crept across Quinn’s pretty face. “I can handle you,” she said. “I’m sure I can. It just might take some… warming up.”

“I’m only admiring you,” I told her, which made her blush deepen. “But you’ll definitely be warmed up when I’m through.”

I bent down to lap my tongue over her slit. Quinn gasped, her hips bucking upward so I could devour her even more thoroughly. I gripped her hips, careful not to let my short claws dig into her skin, and lapped my long tongue right into her the way she’d enjoyed so much a few nights ago.

An even needier sound burst out of her. I drank in her tangy sweetness, like nothing I’d experienced with the few shadowkind women I’d dallied with, and my cock stiffened to the point of aching.

I was going to make her come at least once before I attempted to push that inside her. Let the rush of bliss relax her, and then we could find more delight together that much easier.

Lance had said once that it was easy to tell what would satisfy our mortal from her cues, and he’d been right. Quinn urged on every flick of my tongue and graze of my lips that inflamed her with her cries and growls and the swaying of her hips. She reached for my horns again, not holding on to them now but simply stroking them in a way I hadn’t realized could provoke such pleasure in myself.

I plunged my tongue deeper, pressed it against the spot that brought out the most sound in her, and rubbed my upper lip across the little nub nestled in her folds that gave her such pleasure. Quinn came with the most beautiful noise, a choked moan that reverberated through her whole body as it quaked around me.

My wings flexed over me in response, her bliss radiating through my own body. I was on the verge of exploding just like that, but I wasn’t going to rush this.

As she sagged back against the sand, I eased away only far enough to caress her with my hand now. Her muscles were looser with the release, but not quite enough that I was sure I wouldn’t hurt her.

“Fuck, that feels good,” she panted as I slid two fingers inside her. “I want all of you.”

“Soon,” I said, the word coming out in a hungry growl. “I’m going to stretch you so it’s good all the way through.”

I spread my fingers to stroke them around her channel, encouraging it to accept more and more pressure. Quinn sputtered another curse and rocked her hips, her juices coating my hand. I had the feeling that if I swiveled my thumb over her nub, she might come again just like that. But the next time she found her release, I wanted to be inside her properly.

Her overlapping shirts had ridden up to expose her stomach. I bent my head to kiss the soft skin beside her belly button as I continued working her over.

The swell of her breasts was too tempting even with the noxious materials that covered them. I couldn’t resist. I slipped my other hand under the fabric of her tank top beneath the vest, ignoring the sharper pang of discomfort, and reached up to cup one of the silky slopes.

Another moan tumbled out of Quinn’s mouth. She outright writhed beneath me, caught between my hand above and my stretching finger below. I massaged her breast and skimmed a claw over the nipple the way I’d seen Lance do to impressive effect. The gasping reaction I got was the perfect reward.

Her channel was so slick against my other hand, the muscles lining it gone increasingly pliant with each rotation of my fingers. I forced myself to stroke her a few more times before bringing those fingers to my lips and licking her arousal off them.

Quinn shifted up on her elbows with a ragged breath. “Kiss me again.”

I was more than happy to oblige. Our mouths melded together, our tongues tangling, and her hands skimmed over my chest. Then I drew back to yank off my shorts. Quinn’s gaze followed the movement, her eyes widening with obvious eagerness as she took in my thick shaft.

She showed no hesitation at all, spreading her legs wider in invitation, but I couldn’t help halting just to check. “Are you sure?”

This couldn’t have been how she’d ever imagined her encounters with men would go. When I had only my rock-like jaw as a reminder of my true nature, I was nearly as human as any of them. But like this…

“Right now, there’s nothing in the world I’m surer about than the fact that I want all of you inside me immediately,” Quinn grumbled.

There was no denying how much she meant that statement. A relieved chuckle spilled out of me. I tucked a hand under her hips to lift her to meet me and lined myself up.

Her channel expanded again to encompass me. Every inch I penetrated her, more pleasure raced through my own body, until I felt as if I were on fire with a heat I’d have happily burned up in.

Quinn groaned, pushing herself toward me as her fingers dug into the sand. The joy that washed over her expression and reverberated through her panting breaths set off a fresh flare of need in me.

I thrust into her, slowly at first and then with increasing speed as she showed no sign of pain. The sounds breaking from her throat now were nothing but gleeful. Sweat beaded on her forehead and glistened on her collarbone. I bowed over her to lick it off with a swipe of my tongue, and she clutched at me, holding me with her.

I kissed her on the mouth and then her neck, bucking into her even faster. A wild keening reverberated from her chest. She bucked in time with my rhythm with increasing wildness, her fingernails scraping over my stony skin, her breath fragmenting more and more. Pressure built at the base of my cock, but I held myself focused on her reactions, her pleasure, holding off my own final bliss until?—

Her sex clenched around my cock, and a shudder ran through her body. It was as if she were wringing my own release out of me. With a groan, I spilled myself into her softness.

Quinn shivered again with a giddy grin. She held my face, gazing up at me with affection shining in her sky-blue eyes, and beamed as if she were the sun itself. As I eased out of her and gathered her against me, a strange sensation wrapped around my heart.

I wasn’t ashamed of what I was, not generally speaking. I’d put my monstrousness to use to serve all kinds of needs. When things had gone wrong… it hadn’t been on purpose, and I’d made what amends I could. Every advantage had its downsides.

But I couldn’t say I’d ever felt outright proud to be the monster I was before this moment, holding Quinn in all her combined strength and fragility, knowing how much she trusted me to look after her. I would serve her for as long as she’d have me, and I’d put all my bulk and brutality toward ensuring she got every bit of life she deserved.