Chapter 34 This Shifter Bites Too
THIS SHIFTER BITES TOO
RAYA
The next morning dawns far too early, and I groan at the aches and pains wracking my body. I’m smiling at the same time though, relaxed and warm where I’m still held tightly in Ash’s strong arms and surrounded by everything that is him.
“Morning, sunshine,” he says, his voice hoarse with sleep as he stirs behind me.
“Morning,” I whisper.
Asher’s hand on my hip clenches and he nuzzles his nose into my hair.
It’s impossible to miss the morning wood he’s sporting when it presses into my backside.
I wiggle my hips into him, eliciting a barely there moan low in his throat.
The sound arrows straight between my legs and I clench my thighs in response.
His mouth finds the shell of my ear and he skates his lips across it, sending shivers down my spine.
I arch into him, adjusting my position so the arm circling under my neck and over my shoulder lines his hand up with my breast, and he squeezes appreciatively.
Asher nibbles my earlobe and moves to the spot right behind it, sucking gently, then his fangs scrape along my neck and my entire body stiffens.
Asher freezes, muscles going rigid, and he pulls back suddenly.
“Shit, Raya,” Asher says. “I’m so sorry, that was thoughtless. I’m not fully awake yet and I shouldn’t have—”
I cut him off with a kiss, twisting in his arms to reach a hand into his hair and pull him down.
I know he’s worried he triggered me, and I’m honestly surprised by my reaction, because I liked it.
Not only do I like the feel of his fangs, but I think I want him to go further, though I might not be ready for that yet.
“Shh,” I say, lips still touching his as I whisper, “I liked it.”
Asher pulls back and his eyes dart between mine, searching for my truth.
I let him see it all. My desire pulses through me, and my heartbeat picks up even more knowing he can sense it.
His eyes glance to the pulse in my neck, then scan down my body where I’m still covered head to toe in his clothes.
He rumbles a sound that somehow sounds both satisfied and irritated at the same time.
I reach between us to bunch up the hem of the shirt I’m wearing, wiggling it up to bare my chest, and finally tugging it over my head.
It’s harder than I anticipated to get it off while still lying on my side next to him, but he doesn’t seem to mind my awkward maneuvering, if the heat in his eyes is any indication.
Asher meets my gaze again and I suck in a breath at the barely leashed hunger. Biting my lip, I nod, and his hands are instantly on me again, roaming and squeezing my curves, rolling my nipples, sending warmth and goosebumps up and down my skin.
I tug on his hair, pulling his mouth back to mine, and he meets my tongue stroke for stroke, working me into a frenzy with barely there touches and caresses that leave me wanting so much more.
“Ash, make me feel good,” I say. “I want you.”
Asher sits up and strips the borrowed sweats and boxers down my legs, somehow shedding his own at the same time, then climbs over me.
His heavy weight presses me into the mattress, and I wonder if this is nirvana.
This feeling of being wanted and held, cherished and desired with a fierceness that astounds me.
Instead of following my request though, he continues teasing.
His hands wander, and his soft lips follow.
They cover every inch of my skin. He licks and nibbles in some areas, and places gentle kisses in others.
My heart jolts when I realize he’s kissing all of my injuries and lingering bruises, but I refuse to let tears be part of this moment.
“Now, Ash,” I plead. “Take me.”
I writhe beneath him, his touch turning me to madness. My fingers tangle in his already messy hair and I yank on it, trying to convince him to give me more. I feel the hint of a smile as his morning stubble scrapes along the crease of my hip to my inner thigh, almost where I want him.
“I need you,” I whimper, not caring how breathy and needy the words sound. “Please.”
“There’s my good girl,” he rasps, and his mouth finally meets my center.
Asher licks the flat of his tongue straight up my slit, pressing into my folds and finding his way directly to my clit.
My hips launch up into his mouth, my back curving off the bed, and his dark chuckle vibrates through me.
He devours me like I’m his favorite meal, nipping and sucking, licking and swirling his tongue exactly where I want it.
I can’t possibly hold in my moans and cries, so I don’t even try.
When he slides two fingers inside me and curls them against my inner walls, my orgasm hits like a freight train.
It rushes through me, and he bands one forearm across my lower stomach, pining my rolling hips to the mattress, but his tongue doesn’t stop.
He rides me through it, stroking me both inside and out, prolonging my pleasure as it pulses through me.
When my tremors start to subside, Asher rolls on a condom, then braces his body over mine, notching his cock against me.
He brings my lust roaring to the surface again with one long, slow thrust. His eyes are fixed to my pussy, and he watches with predatory, possessive satisfaction as his cock splits me open and he slides in.
Inch by inch, I feel every moment of his claiming, because that’s what this is.
I want to claim him too, but my moment will come.
Right now, I revel in the sensations Asher is creating as he drags against my inner walls with each thrust, hitting every pleasure point as he changes the angle until I’m writhing beneath him again.
“Stars, Ash, you feel so good.”
I’m losing my mind, I want more. I want all of him, unrestrained, giving all of himself to me. I clench around him and he growls, spearing a hand into my hair. With a quick pull, he slants my head, angling it to the side so I’m baring my throat to him.
His fangs clamp on my neck and my mind blanks. I’m consumed by white hot fire, but they don’t pierce my skin, and although part of me wants to scream at him to do it, the other part holds back, not sure what to expect. His tongue laves my skin and he sucks a mark right over my pulse point.
“Mine.” His voice is dark, barely leashed, and it brings out my own feral animal.
Twisting my hips with a sudden shove to his shoulder, I roll us to the side, then continue the momentum. Asher’s hands are tight on my hips, holding me to him while we roll, so I’m on top with my legs straddling his hips as they continue to punch up into me.
I lean down until my mouth meets his pec, then I bite. Hard.
It doesn’t draw blood, but it will certainly leave a mark. Asher sucks in a breath, and it comes back out as a raspy growl. He becomes impossibly harder inside me, and his tempo increases as he lifts and lowers me in time with his thrusts, somehow moving my body with his like I weigh nothing.
The heat builds, a wave cresting higher and higher, and I smirk with satisfaction when I see the deep grooves my teeth have left in his skin. I hope it bruises. I want to mark him permanently.
Asher sits up, one hand still holding my hips tight to his, but the other pushing my upper body backward until I have to throw my arms back or risk falling.
He goes up to his knees and my arms give out, unable to hold so much of my own weight at this angle.
My upper back hits the bed as he keeps my hips raised and level with his.
When I meet his eyes, his are simmering pools of possessive desire, flashing with sparks of something deeper I can’t quite figure out, but it speaks to me in an instinctual way.
He draws himself out, oh so slowly lighting up every nerve ending I have.
His eyes flick back to mine, and I fist my hands in the bed sheets, holding on to anything I can in preparation for whatever the feral gleam in his gaze means.
And then he hammers into me, relentless in his pursuit of my pleasure.
My orgasm builds, that undeniable heat radiating through me, and I gasp when his hands tilt my hips so he hits a new spot deep inside.
“Oh, shit.” The words are forced out before the wave catches me in its pull.
His eyes are locked on mine, watching every moment of my pleasure as I chant his name and the wave carries me higher and higher, until it finally crashes and my mind explodes with flashing white lights.
My climax keeps pulsing through me, sending my body into convulsions as I helplessly ride it out and Asher continues to pound into me.
My pussy is clenching around him, his hips slamming into mine, before he finally drives in one last time, sealing us together as he lets go, spilling himself into me.
We stay like that for long moments, locked together with most of my body in the air, being held up by his.
I throw my arms over my head, trying to give my lungs more room to breathe.
Our chests heave and we’re both slick with sweat.
Asher’s gaze roams up and down, scorching a path over my skin as he unclenches his fingers where they’ve left divots in my hips.
He strokes his hands over the marks, and his eyes leisurely make their way back up to mine.
I’m pretty sure I’m grinning, but I also can’t feel most of my body so it’s hard to tell. Based on the gentle smile he gives me though, I think that I must be. Asher lowers us both back to the bed, and I slump into the mattress.
I can barely keep my eyes open in the aftermath.
Asher settles next to me and traces his fingers lightly over my skin, swirling around my shoulders and chest, up and down my arms, bringing goosebumps to the surface everywhere he touches.
I sigh and roll into his side, flinging an arm and leg over him while my lungs still work to catch up.
I trace the mark my teeth left on his chest, blinking in astonishment.
Who am I? I acted like a deranged animal, completely unlike myself.
Looking up into his eyes though, all I see is pride and satisfaction.
“Don’t even think about apologizing,” he says, a rare twinkle in his eye. “I want to get it tattooed so it’s marked there permanently.”
My eyes flare in alarm at the answering heat that rushes through me.
Seriously, what in the world is this man doing to me?
Smirking, he kisses my temple, then traces a finger over my neck, and his eyes darken for a moment again, but I’m pretty sure it’s not from lust this time.
I suspect I still have the yellow remnants of bruising there that my shifter healing hasn’t fully taken care of yet.
I don’t want to look though, preferring not to have that image in my brain.
Asher slowly sits up, raising his arms above his head in a frankly indecent stretch that threatens to send my mind straight back to the gutter. Before I get any fresh ideas, he’s hauling me up with him as he shuffles up the bed to rest against the headboard, then settles me against him again.
“Can I see your hand? I’d like to check if it’s started healing yet.”
I hold my bandaged hand out for him and he unwraps it gently.
The wounds have started to scab, and the dried blood sticks to the soft cotton as he unwraps it.
Wincing, he removes it as carefully as he can, but there’s no avoiding the fact that it’s not healed yet, and inevitably starts bleeding again.
My thoughts are flying a mile a minute, but I have no doubts when I speak.
“You can heal it for me.”
My eyes dart up, seeing his gaze already on mine.
“Are you sure?” he says, voice steady.
I nod. “I know you won’t hurt me.”
“I’m not going to bite you, but my fangs might look a little bigger. Even more than they have when I’ve accidentally… well.” He clears his throat. “Certain… changes happen when we have these intentions, to heal or to hurt.”
I nod again, more firmly this time, understanding that his fangs are going to come out, and they might look big and scary, but he’s not going to use them. I ignore the swoop of disappointment in my gut.
Asher licks his lips, then slowly raises my hand to his mouth, his eyes never leaving mine. As soon as his tongue touches the first cut, his eyes flare, and his body turns to stone.