~Annabelle Keith #2
Balling my hands into fists, I headed back into the inn and up the stairs to our shared room.
The moment I opened the door, Dahlia was standing by the window.
She was leaning up against the frame, her arms crossed over her chest, wearing nothing but her shirt.
It hung loosely on her, barely covering her ass.
She calmly turned her head toward me as I walked into the room, unsurprised.
“I tried not to wake you,” I said.
“I was already awake,” she admitted. “The absence of your warmth gave me no reason to pretend otherwise once you’d gone.”
“You should still be sleeping.”
“She does not care about you. Indifference is all she’d have to offer if you died. So, what could she possibly gain by warning you from me?”
She spoke with a flat, unbothered tone.
“I don’t know. Perhaps her feelings toward your people are enough to try and turn me against you. It doesn’t matter. We’re leaving as soon as the sails are ready.”
She made a sound with her tongue as if irritated and turned back to the window.
“What a coward,” she said under her breath. “To call herself a siren and turn so easily from the sea.”
“You said it yourself. She is not a fighter like your kind. War and conflict come naturally to you. Aeris is delicate in comparison.”
“More delicate than a rigid thing like me, I imagine. More beautiful.”
I stepped closer to her, turning her to face me. “Your sharp edges and violent stares are the things I love most.”
“Even if those sharp edges may one day be directed at you?”
“They’ve been directed at me since we first saw each other on that island, love. Now stop this pouting and get back in bed.”
She lifted her chin defiantly and wrinkled her nose. “You smell of her.”
I sneered at the possessiveness in her tone. I should not have loved it, but I did. The way she had her claws in me was thrilling to say the least and yet she often let me pretend I was in control. My heart raced with excitement at the idea.
“I doubt that,” I quirked a brow. “She didn’t even touch me.”
She shook her head, hooking her fingers on my belt and tugging me against her. “Still. I’d rather you smelled like me.”
Our lips crashed into each other, hard and untamed.
The way I was used to. She forced her tongue into my mouth, claiming me and reminding me I could never turn my eyes from her.
Not even if I tried. And I knew in my soul that she would never turn from me, despite her fears.
We were linked in a way no two could ever match.
I moved forward, forcing her back against the wall as my hands explored the length of her body.
Her slender neck. Her humble breasts. Her waist and every scar that textured her otherwise soft skin.
She raised her leg, hooking her ankle around my thigh and pulling me close.
I slid my hands against her ass and hoisted her off the floor, relishing how her limbs coiled around me.
Her nails scraped across my chest almost hard enough to draw blood as she parted the lacing down the front of my shirt.
I walked her to the bed and fell on top of her, our mouths still locked in a deep and passionate kiss.
“I know what she said about me,” she panted, her teeth grazing my bottom lip.
I rocked against her, my cock already hard and eager.
“I know she warned you of my monstrous nature. She told you I’m dangerous.
” She reached between us, cupping me through my britches hard enough to cause a small twinge of pain.
“And I am. You know exactly how dangerous I am. How quickly I can kill you.”
I braced my hands on either side of her, hovering to relish her face awash with lust.
“She cares nothing for me,” I said. “Her warning was not for my sake.”
“But it’s true. What if I am to be your downfall?”
“Then I live my life as I have since I was fourteen. Knowing one day you would be the one to finally end it.”
She squeezed my cock a little harder, lifting her head to lick my parted lips. Coiling my hand around her throat, I pushed her back down, canting my head at how her eyes darkened at the pressure of my fingers.
“The threat of oblivion makes me feel alive,” I rasped as her nimble fingers parted the laces of my pants.
Her hand reached inside, pulling my cock free. Wasting no time on lengthy touches, I notched myself at her slick entrance, but before I could drive myself inside, her other hand pressed against my chest as if to stop me.
“Promise me that you will fight for your life,” she whispered. “Even against me.”
My brows creased at the request, but I had no right to question it. We shared the same fear and were I in her place, I would have asked the same of her.
“I will fight for my life,” I whispered back. “And yours. But until that time comes—if it comes at all—there will be no more talk of it. Let’s not allow these unseen forces to steal more than they already have from us.”
I drove myself forward, entering her in one, long and direct thrust. She sucked in a ragged breath, her back arching to welcome me as I stretched her. I wanted to savor the way her body choked my girth, but something was on her mind and I wished to rid her of it.
“You are all I wish for,” she muttered as I began to rock my hips. “Your voice is all I desire to fill my mind.”
“I will give you anything you want, Dahlia. As much of me as you desire.”
I covered her mouth with mine, driving my tongue deep.
She moaned, her fingers tugging at my shirt.
God, she was beautiful in the throes of ecstasy.
Knowing it was me who could make her feel that way, wanting and helpless, made my body crave that wonderful release—that moment when she surrendered to me, body and soul, to feel pleasure.
“I don’t recognize myself with you,” she said, locking her fingers around the back of my neck. “I am destroyed by you every day I wake and the pleasure I get from it is unnatural.”
Those words drove me on with more vigor.
More desperation to see her unravel beneath me.
A strong, ruthless, bloodthirsty siren, constantly at my mercy and me constantly at hers.
It was indeed unnatural. I thrust into her, hard and deep, savoring the way she cried out.
At the way her breath quivered and her chest heaved, pushing her breasts up.
“No more fear tonight,” I demanded. “No more thoughts of the father or the sons or any beasts. The only thing I want to hear from your lips is my name.”
“Vidar,” she breathed.
I hummed my approval and grabbed both of her wrists, forcing them above her head and locking them together in one hand.
“You surrender to no one but me.”
“Yes.”
My other hand fell to her breast and squeezed, toying with her nipple until it puckered from beneath the material of her shirt.
I ripped open the loosened lacing down the center, forcing it apart until one breast was exposed and then I descended on it with my mouth, sucking.
Biting. She arched up against me with a whimper, her whole body shivering under my touch.
She let out a throaty moan, her eyes pressing shut.
I reached down, my fingers biting into her thigh and dragging her leg upward.
Pushing myself onto my knees, I continued rocking into her with ruthless force, my hands clutching her hips to drag her toward me.
I watched as my cock drove into her again and again, glistening with her arousal.
“You are a monster,” I grunted. “My monster—my siren—and I’ll fuck you like I own you till the day I die. Like that scar I gave you was my brand.”
She clutched the sheets in her fists and threw her head back in a silent cry. I lifted her leg over my shoulder, my lips tracing over her ankle and along the top of her foot. Leaning forward against her leg, I folded her under me, taking her chin in my hand.
“Look at me,” I demanded. She opened her dazed eyes toward me. “Come for me.”
I thrust hard, my cock spearing her until I hit the end of her channel. She yelped, her eyes watering at my assault, but she never turned away. Even as I played against her clit, coaxing her release, she kept her gaze on mine, gladly accepting the torment of my stare.
“Aye,” I nodded. “You understand, I think.”
She began to writhe, her breath coming in short, uneven gasps as her walls squeezed my length. I started to move again, dragging myself out of her and back in with long, gradual strokes.
“You want it harder, love? Just say so and I’ll knock the damn breath out of you.”
She nodded and before she could get a word out, I slammed into her again, driving her up the bed.
She braced her hands on the headboard as I fucked her, tormenting her clit until I felt her whole body stiffen.
She muffled a cry behind clenched teeth as I continued to thrust. The mere sight of her in the midst of a climax tore my own release out of me like a thorn that had been yearning to get plucked for days.
I groaned, my hips jerking forward with every wave of pleasure that moved through me.
Beads of sweat adorned my forehead as I filled her with my seed, renewing my claim on her.
I collapsed on top of her, my lips a mere breath from hers. Her body was languid beneath me, heavy and spent. Still panting, she brought her hand to my cheek in the most tender way, showing me a glimpse of that elusive softness hiding behind her hardened, sharp exterior.
“Now,” she breathed. “You smell like me.”
“Good,” I grinned.