Chapter 26
TWENTY SIX
Honey
I had so many questions about our half-finished conversation earlier that I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned and finally got up to go find some answers.
I guess this is one type of answer.
I groan into my fist as Gryff’s tongue laps between my cheeks, dragging along my folds and higher to tease at my hole. I know I didn’t make myself clear. I literally can’t when I get so tongue tied just being near him. When he’s offering to touch and hold me again. How am I supposed to refuse?
His hands spread me open, and he slicks himself through my dampness until I’m quivering with need.
I honestly don’t think I’m in heat anymore.
It doesn’t feel like it did before. I’m not trying to think through a haze of desire and throbbing emptiness.
Which means I should probably stop him, but I don’t.
I’m too relieved to have this Gryff back.
I thought for sure this Gryff had disappeared, never to be found again.
He keeps this side of himself locked down so tightly except when we’re like this.
Somehow this feels like the real Gryff. The man who speaks to me tenderly, who touches me with reverence but also with hunger.
This time I’m looking for the signs, and I can’t believe I didn’t see them before. It’s like his confession unlocked a new confidence in me. Because he’s not mindless. He can hold himself back, but he doesn’t want to.
The moment he pushes inside me his hands tighten on my ass and he lets out a deep groan.
He holds there for a moment, and I squeeze my eyes shut tight, hoping it feels as good for him as it feels to hold him there.
My body opens for him easily, but the way he moves inside me grazes every sensitive place at once.
I don’t think I could ever get used to the way he lights up every nerve in me, but this time I am also conscious of the puff of ragged breath on my neck when he leans over me, of the way his voice seems to drop an octave when he whispers in my ear.
“You’re a perfect little omega, aren’t you?
So fucking sweet. Gods, if I’d met you ten years ago—”
He breaks off, and I’m grateful he doesn’t finish the sentence.
I wish I was old enough to have known him before he was deployed.
I wish I could reassure him that whoever he was then—whatever good he saw in himself—it’s still there.
It’s stupid to wish I could be something just to please him, but god, I do.
As he moves inside me, pinning me to the firm bedroll, I do.
After a few more moments, his movements grow more erratic.
He stops and withdraws gently. “If I keep going like that I’m going to bust before you even cum.
Not that I’d want to stop, but I think my knot will force me to.
Come here.” He rolls onto his back, guiding me over him, and I know he means to encourage me to ride his cock, but as I look down at his thick, straight shaft jutting up, wet with my slick, I can’t help licking my lips.
I’d like to taste him. I’ve never given anyone oral sex before. I’ve always been curious. With Gryff I don’t have to worry about hurting him…
Decided, I crawl into position between his thighs and take him in my hand. He sucks in a breath, and I glance up nervously, worried I’ve done something wrong.
“What are you doing?”
I blush.
“Would you mind if I… is it OK?” Unable to say the words aloud, I lean closer, hoping he understands.
“You want to do that? For me?”
“Very, very much.” He pulses in my hand, and I can’t help the nervous giggle that escapes me.
“You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?”
“Oh.” I look down sadly.
A firm yet gentle hand at my chin lifts my gaze to his again. “Hey, if you want it, you take it, Honey. You take whatever you want from me.” He looks as if he might say more.
I hesitate, but instead he leans back, still watching me.
A little self-conscious now, I dip my head and lick lightly over the shaft toward the tip. The flavor is sweet and salty; it tastes like me with a note of something unfamiliar. Something that’s purely him. I lick him again, my hesitation forgotten. I want more of that flavor.
When I glance up his expression is pained, but he doesn’t stop me. Once more I lick up his shaft, but this time I lower my mouth over him and draw gently until my mouth is coated with salty flavor.
Oh my god. I draw harder, needing more of it on my tongue. I could live on his taste. My pussy flutters in agreement.
Feeling bolder, I take him deeper until I can’t take him any further. I suck on him again, and this time he lets out a guttural groan.
Laughing, I let him pop from my mouth. “Shhh.” I’m not sure what I was expecting from this, but Gryff’s response is at least a hundred times better. I don’t want him to wake my parents, though.
To my surprise, when I look up at him his eyes crinkle at the corners. “You think I have any control over myself when your mouth is on me? If you keep going, I’ll be howling so loud we’ll wake your parents and all the neighbors.”
I moan at the open acknowledgment that he wants me.
My hand tightens around his shaft. Gryff lets out a loud groan and takes me by the shoulders.
“Enough. I’m not made of stone. Get up here.
” He pulls me toward him, and rather than disobey, I climb awkwardly over him, wondering how on earth I’m supposed to do this.
Thankfully he senses my hesitation and takes charge once again, guiding me with a hand on each hip until I can fit him inside me again.
As soon as I do, I slide down his length with a gasp.
With his cock wedged deep inside me, all my restlessness returns with a vengeance and I roll my hips, trying to find a way to move without looking foolish.
I needn’t have worried. As soon as I start to move, he gives me a growl of approval and pulses inside me. It doesn’t seem to matter what I do. He praises everything.
“You fit so good on my cock. So good. You’re such a good girl.”
As I raise and lower myself over him, he lifts beneath me so that every motion is met with a thrust of his. I find myself speeding up until the slapping of our bodies marches to a frantic rhythm.
It’s harder and harder to hold on, but I want to. I don’t want this to be over. I want to look at him smiling up at me forever.
Then Gryff slips his thumb across my clit, and I buck with pleasure.
My body tightens around him. Unable to keep up, I lean forward, and he takes over.
My head drops lower until my hair curtains us, seeming to shelter us from the outside world and all my worries.
I gasp and my lips are so close they brush against his.
With a deep groan he lifts his mouth and captures mine.
I’m so shocked I don’t do anything for a long moment.
But as his tongue slicks against my lips, I unfreeze to kiss him back.
The kiss is everything I’ve wanted from Gryff.
It’s hungry, searching. It opens him to me even as he explores my mouth with his tongue.
I think it’s the kiss that sends me over the edge.
I gasp into his mouth as the pleasure overtakes me and my body begins to convulse. Then it’s too hard to keep kissing him because I can’t keep still.
He gives a shout, holding me close, forcing me down onto the thick bulge of his knot.
A moment later the hot gush of liquid inside me tells me he’s joined me.
His orgasm spills out his seed inside my body, and I lose the last of my control.
A wall I didn’t realize was between us collapses, and energy floods into me before I can stop it.
My pussy had stopped squeezing, but now a new wave of intensity hits me and I’m breathless.
The feeling is not centered in my pussy any longer.
Instead, this orgasm feels like it’s drawn from my very soul, from my deepest places.
Or from his. I gasp, trying to force the energy back, afraid of what it means for Gryff.
My pussy is still clenching with the last of that massive orgasm even as my chest seizes with worry.
His arms relax, and he falls back against the pillow with a broad grin on his face.
I lean forward, not breathing, afraid to ask.
He lets out a long, deep sigh, and then his eyes drift open and he focuses on me. “Not asleep. Talking is… hard right now, but I’m OK.”
A fat, wet tear runs down my cheek. “But I thought—You were supposed to be able to do this without getting hurt.”
He lifts his hand to cup my face and brush my tear away with his thumb. “Shifter, remember? We’re stronger than human men. And we heal faster too.”
“Oh thank god.” I lean forward and wrap my arms around his neck. He’s still wedged tight inside me, and I know his knot won’t recede any time soon. “Thank god.”
I sob into his shoulder, and he strokes my back. “Shhh. What are these tears? Are they for me? You don’t need to cry for me. I’m fine.”
I lift my head to look at him, even though it’s uncomfortable to hold his gaze. “Of course they’re for you. Because I care about you Gryff. How could I not?”
“Of course you do. You’re such a sweet girl. You care for everyone, don’t you?”
I frown. “No. I mean, I don’t think that’s true.
There are plenty of people I’m not so fond of, but, Gryff, you don’t get it.
” My cheeks flame, but I press on anyway, the intimacy of the moment forcing the truth from my lips.
“I care about you. I want you. I was too afraid to admit it before because I thought it was just me, but you want me too. I heard what Mabel said to you at the store today, and she’s wrong. ”
His brows shoot up, and his hand stills on my back. “What did you hear?”
It’s harder than ever to hold his gaze, but I do it. “When she told you that you were too old for me and all of that. And I heard what you said, that I’ll forget you, but I won’t—”
“Shhh.” He brushes his thumb over my lips, cutting me off. “Mabel was right, though I hate to admit it. I am too old for you.”
“How old are you?”
“Thirty-seven.”
“That’s only thirteen years!”
“Honey, listen to yourself. You have your whole life to live. It was my great honor to see you through your first heat. But you can do much better than a feral wolf like me.”
My throat tightens and I shake my head. “You’re wrong.”
“Shhh.”
I push at his chest, but we’re locked together by his knot and his strong arms trap me to him regardless. “You’re not like that. I don’t see that when I look at you. Those other people wouldn’t see it either if they could see how gentle you can be. How kind.”
“How I’ll hurt you and embarrass you at every chance to fuck things up, you mean?” There’s no gruffness in his words, but they sting anyway.
Tears stream down my cheeks, and I’m sure I look a mess.
He pulls me into his chest and holds me there. A now familiar rumble skitters through me, and I can’t help relaxing.
Despite my frustration, my eyes are drifting closed.
Gryff strokes my hair. “Sleep now. You can tell me I’m a stubborn pig in the morning. You’ll be right.”
“Gryff, you don’t understand.”
“I know. I’m a terrible listener too. Don’t worry. I know.”
“Gryff!”
“Shhh.” His purr is so soothing, and the soft stroke of his hand over my hair lulls me to sleep before I’m ready. Resigned, I relax into his chest and give in to it, determined to raise the issue again in the morning like he said.