Chapter 9 #2
I wet my lips and froze as Torion's gaze caught the slight movement, eyes darkening and a purr thrumming out of him and into me. "You—we…three times, Torion," I pointed out, lifting a hand to brace it against his chest, as if I could keep him from unraveling me for a fourth time.
Will he spend in the sheets again? I wondered, recalling the glowing churn of his back and hips as he'd reached his own finish on the bed while driving me to mine.
I frowned up at him, considering. "Is that normal for you?"
He closed his eyes with a snort of laughter and grew heavier against me, more relaxed.
"Youthful vigor, perhaps? It's… There's not a lot of comparison to offer, truth be told.
" He twisted onto his side, propping his head in his left hand, leaving his right to trace patterns on my skin, between my breasts, down my ribs, and over my hip, then back again.
If I was understanding him correctly, his claim was unreasonably attractive to me. "And this…comparison is where you learned to…?" I trailed off, finishing the thought by simply pressing two fingers to his mouth. His cheeks darkened, but his eyes crinkled with more laughter.
"You liked it?"
I huffed and raised my gaze above his head. "Obviously," I snapped. My body was still charged with pleasure.
Torion just sighed and nuzzled against my chin. "I'm glad. It's all I've been able to think of for days. You tasted better than I imagined. And how wet you get? I—"
I jammed my elbow into his side before he could use that wicked mouth to talk me into wanting him again. Torion grunted, but the damn man was still smiling. "You didn't answer my question," I said.
He frowned for a moment, looking away. He'd genuinely grown distracted thinking about what we'd done, and I found it unreasonably charming, flattering even. "Oh, where I learned—? Yes, I suppose so," he said.
"You suppose?" I pressed.
He looked a little sheepish as he shrugged. "It was presented as a means of readying a woman, a courtesy to help ease the start."
"Readying?" I asked, frowning.
Torion stared at me, and I tried not to fidget in the silence.
He cleared his throat. "Making her wet, eager, needful.
So she might welcome a man more comfortably," he said, watching me for a beat and then continuing.
"I was young and impatient at the time. I hadn't considered its potential as a…
full and pleasurable course on its own, if you will," he said, grinning once more, and then waggling his brows.
"One I would want increasingly more helpings of after every sample. "
What a fool, I thought, but I wasn't sure if I meant his antics or the eager little leap in my chest at his teasing. I rolled my eyes just to look away from him and slapped my hand over his mouth.
"Enough," I said, and his laugh vibrated warmly against my palm, running down my arm and into my core. I pulled my hand back roughly and turned to my side away from him. "Who was she?"
Torion stilled and then settled close against my back, his legs curling into mine, an arm over my waist cuddling into my chest in order to draw me closer to his. I couldn't fight him, I told myself. I was too tired, too limp from so much pleasure. And he was so warm.
I must simply…accept how good it felt to be held once more. Acceptance was fine.
"You really want to know?" Torion asked.
I nodded. It would be good to imagine him with another woman. It would cut these little tendrils of feeling that the intimacy we'd shared had allowed to take root.
"She was…" He let out a rough sigh that ruffled my hair. "She was an omega, a beta's omega."
I stiffened, but Torion didn't release me, simply adjusted me in his arms, combing my hair back from my cheek so I could see him out of the corner of my eye.
"My father took me on one of his tours when I was nearing my majority.
I wasn't supposed to think of usurping him as alpha, and we never spoke of it, but I'm sure he expected my ambition, so this was a way of teaching me something about the duty.
We stayed at one of the lord's estates for several days, negotiating I don't remember what.
The lord was quite old, he's since passed.
His omega was still young, a few years older than me, but—"
"How old were you?" I asked tartly, fisting my hands in the sheets as I twisted to get a better look at him.
"Sixteen," he said, and the word struck me hard.
I turned back to face the wall, found his arm against my middle and held it tight in my grip.
"I was an idiot too. It wasn't that women hadn't started turning my head yet, but I'd no notion I was being seduced.
She had to appear in the bedroom one night before I realized why she was being so solicitous. "
I ground my teeth. Solicitous indeed.
"If I'd been a few years older, even untried, I would've had the sense not to let it happen. It was just the one night, but…I could've caused a world of trouble for my father, for that woman—"
"She'd be perfectly responsible for her own trouble!" I snapped, finding myself suddenly sitting up and facing him once more. "I suppose she wanted you to claim her?"
His smile was wry as he shook his head. "I don't think so. I've not sought her out to ask her. She left Grave Hills after the beta passed. I imagine she was just being selfish, taking something for herself. He wasn't a pleasant man."
I chewed the inside of my cheek as I stared down at Torion.
He was so beautiful. He'd probably been charming and silly and gloriously good looking at that age—and so, so young.
I could not forgive this omega, whoever she was.
Just like I couldn't forgive Malcolm for claiming me when I was that young, or my father for letting it happen.
Torion reached up and touched my cheek, the one I was abusing, drawing me back to the present. He was lazing against the bed, his wings stretched out to hang over the edge, body shamelessly on display for my gaze.
"You enjoyed yourself?" I asked, arching a brow.
He laughed. "It was my first time with a woman.
Yes, I enjoyed myself. Embarrassingly so.
Thankfully, we left the estate early the next morning before I could've given myself away to the old man.
My father, however, scented my folly immediately.
Gave me the ear scorching lecture of a lifetime. Scared me soft for a few years."
He was being light just to set me at ease. His eyes were also fixed to my breasts.
I crossed my arms over my chest, and his smile was knowing. "There were others, though," I said.
"Women?"
"Omegas," I said.
His eyebrows rose and then, astonishingly, he shook his head. "No. I'm a quick learner. She may only have manipulated me for a night, but I realized that wouldn't always be the case. I've behaved myself in the Hills since then."
My eyebrows rose. He would've lived like a monk for decades—
"In the Hills?" I pressed. I was mad for digging this up, for demanding to know every instance, every woman. If my reaction to his first experience was any indication, it would not serve to make me less charmed by this man. My alpha. My alpha.
Torion laughed and covered his face with his hand. "You're a bloodhound."
"As you might've assumed, I've only ever had one man in my bed and—"
"Don't mention Barr," Torion growled, pulling his hand away to reveal a storm over his features.
"—I'd never experienced what you—what we—I just—" I scowled as I stumbled over the words, not even properly sure I knew what I was trying to say, but Torion's expression softened all the same.
"If I tell you, will you let me wake you up with my face between your thighs? Or sucking on those lovely little breasts you're trying to hide from me?" he teased.
I shivered and pretended it was a bristling irritation that made me sit up straighter, my thighs clenching together. "If you must."
Torion's smile was dark, and he sat up momentarily, one wing shifting so they were spread flat across the top of the bed.
"I avoided my father's ruts by spending a month or so around those times on the Craven Sea with the alpha there.
But last cycle, I returned when it should've been safe and…
felt as though I was experiencing something like one of my own.
Not quite so mindless, but still risky. I spent a few days at a brothel in Skybern," he said.
My eyes widened, surprised to find I wasn't outraged but curious. "A brothel?"
Torion blushed and nodded.
"For days?"
Torion fought his own smile. "That's why I think it was something like a rut."
"And there you…"
"Brigid!" he laughed, rubbing his hands over his flushing face.
"With one woman?"
He groaned and threw his arm over his eyes.
"Several, then," I said, finding my own lips smiling. "And you were more vigorous there than you were tonight?"
His laugh grew louder, even muffled beneath his beautifully sculpted arm.
"If you learned what you did tonight from the omega—"
"I did not learn to fuck a woman with my tongue, Brigid, I simply desired to do so tonight," he bit out, moving his arm out of the way to show me his glare—an effect ruined by the crinkled humor around his eyes.
"I cannot imagine what you might've learned from several women at a brothel over the course of several days."
Torion was quiet for a moment, staring at me. And then in a low, purring tone he asked, "Would you like me to show you?"
This is fun, I thought, a little wistful. It would be easier later if I could avoid enjoying Torion's company so much, but I could already tell that would be impossible. So perhaps it was better to let myself savor him. Surely small, careful doses would be safe.
"Yes, but not tonight," I said, bracing my hands on his chest and then settling back down at his side.
He hummed, his arm curving against my back. "Do you really want a son? I don't mind either way," he said. "If you do, we'll need to be careful until the rut."
I rested my palm over his heart, feeling the steady pound there. "I want to give you an heir."
"I don't care about the specifics of our bargain, Brigid. I won't dismiss you if we don't have a son," he said, so beautifully gentle with every word.
It was sweet and might even be true. I hated to tell him that it would bring me a dark, cruel joy to give Torion the heir that I'd failed to deliver to Malcolm. I knew what an ugly impulse it was.
"Ten years might take away another chance," I admitted, even though it stung to do so. "We should at least try. Do you mind?"
Torion laughed, kissing the crown of my head. "Do I mind fondling, kissing, touching, and pleasuring my omega in any manner of ways that might keep her from getting pregnant until the rut? No, little witch. I relish the prospect. When may I start?"
Torion had been delightfully creative tonight.
Malcolm had never really wanted to enjoy anything but the most rudimentary of sexual activities with me, although he'd made me put my mouth on him to ready him.
I'd never considered the gesture might be returned.
Men were ready when their cocks were hard.
If they weren't, touching or mouthing made them ready.
No one had ever suggested a woman might want to be prepared too.
Wet, eager, needful.
"In the morning," I said, resisting the impulse to begin now.