Caelan
Hours had passed since I had last seen Rowan.
Hours where I had paced back and forth in my rooms, trying to control the need to go to her.
When I had felt the first pulse of pain down our bond, my heart had surged into my throat, and I had nearly caved.
Had nearly pushed through the door and crossed the hall. But I had managed to pull myself back.
Just.
Since then, though… I’d thought she had gone to sleep, the pain weakening. But then the cravings had erupted, and now… now I was going out of my mind. Pain I could handle. But the surge of desire that rippled through my body, drawing my cock up, nearly knocked me to the ground.
Fuck.
And knowing she was feeling it too…
Double fuck!
I steadied myself against the wall, my forehead pressed against the back of the door, fighting the urge to give in and go to her. It was overwhelming. Consuming.
“Oh gods,” I gasped when it happened again, and my cock twitched. Throbbed. “How can anyone deny this?”
I wanted to help her. Needed to. When another powerful wave of ecstasy pulsed from within, I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist much longer.
I felt her need for me. It beat through the walls.
A beacon, drawing me in. Reeling me in. I was all but shuddering against the back of the door when the feeling intensified and I felt… her.
Rowan, I breathed. Pleaded. I can’t let you in. You don’t want this.
But I do.
You may think you do, but you aren’t ready for this.
Her voice sounded from the hall. Close. So close. “Shouldn’t I be the one to make that decision? You told me I was the one in control. That you would follow my lead. This is me. Leading.”
She sounded so sure, so certain of herself that my heart clenched, along with something else.
“If I let you in,” I groaned, “I won’t be able to stop myself.
I will have you up against the back of this door, my tongue down your throat and my hand in your pants before you can even say a word. Is that what you want?”
Her need ripened, overwhelming me, and I knew before she even responded.
“Yes.”
I ripped the door open and pulled her forward so fast she barely kept her feet. Her back was pushed against the door just as fast and before she could make a noise, my tongue was down her throat, and my hand…
“Oh, my sweet baby Jesus,” she crooned.
She came writhing on my hand, while sucking on my tongue. “That’s one,” I said, pulling back to look at her. The instant relief that flowed through our bond made my soul happy, but I needed to be sure she was okay, so stepped back, giving her some room.
“Are you… Are you okay with this?” I asked again, straining with the need to bury myself inside her. “Please tell me you are, because I’m about to lose control over here.”
“Yes,” she panted. She nodded, her eyes clear. Sure.
But I needed to hear it again. “Are you certain?” I was trembling with the need to touch her.
To caress her bare skin. I could smell the scent of her on my fingers, taste her on my lips, and knew if I touched her again there would be no stopping this time.
It was driving me wild, but I couldn’t ignore the nagging doubt in my mind.
“I need to be sure that this is what you want. I don’t want to hurt you. ”
Her eyes locked onto mine and I saw the same desire, the same hunger that I felt, reflected there.
There was no hint of hesitation. No flicker of fear.
“Yes, Caelan,” she said with conviction before reaching up and kissing me.
Her lips trembled against mine. “Yes. A hundred times yes,” she whispered against my mouth.
“I want you, Caelan. I will always want you.”
Thoughts. Emotions. They all tumbled through my mind.
Some my own, but most were hers as her walls crumbled.
I needed her. But she needed me more. I was the blood flowing through her veins.
But she was the heart pumping it. I was the love that kept her heart beating.
But she was the soul that shared that love.
Mine. Hers. Ours.
My shirt was off before I knew it and her robe fell to the ground. She practically climbed me like I was a tree as I ripped open my pants.
“Bloody hell,” I growled, gripping her arse before plunging into her so hard, I swear I heard the door splinter behind her back.
Fuck.
“Rowan?”
“Don’t you dare stop,” she cried out, arching against me.
My mouth claimed hers in a bruising kiss. Or maybe she claimed me. Worshipping me back with her tongue on mine. A wave of heat erupted inside, unlike anything I’d ever felt before. She gasped and looked up at me with hooded eyes.
“What was that?”
“That, little bird,” I said, changing the angle of my thrusts, “was the Quickening.”
“You felt it too?” she mewed, locking her ankles behind my back.
I lifted her higher, changing the angle again, my head now pressed against hers. “Aye,” I groaned, just as another wave swept through us.
My eyes locked on hers and those stormy depths caressed me with a hunger I had never seen before.
“Caelan…”
I thrust harder, the need to consume her raging inside of me.
The door rattled, reminding me of where we were.
I swung around, swallowing her gasp of surprise as I flung an arm across my desk, scattering books and papers to the floor before moving to lay her on it.
But I hesitated. Aenan’s counsel about allowing her to set the pace, to take back her control, played on my mind.
I turned and sat in the chair instead. Looking at her seated atop me, my cock buried inside her, I searched her face again.
Love. Desire. Tenderness. Warmth.
There was no fear. No anxiety. No uneasiness at all.
With a strength of will I did not know I possessed, I slid my hands up her thighs, over her hips, and lightly gripped her waist, rocking her forward.
We both moaned at the motion, and she took up the reins and started to ride me.
Slowly at first, building momentum until I was thrusting up into her, matching her pace as she buried her face in my neck.
Her fingers gripped the back of my head, her warm breaths panting against my jaw.
Caelan. Even in my head, she sounded breathless. Don’t stop, she pleaded again.
“I don’t intend to,” I growled in her ear, then deftly flipped her over so I was on top.
Pulling her knee up to better the angle, I thrust into her hard, her answering moans driving me on.
I wanted to savour the experience, to slow it down, but the noises she was making told me she wanted it like this.
Wanted it hard. I thrust into her again and again and again until, with a cry, I felt her come apart beneath me.
I yelled my own release, following her into that sweet oblivion not long after.
When our heart rates returned to a semi-normal state, I slowly slipped out of her, kissing her on the neck. “That’s two.”
“You’re counting?”
I grinned at her wickedly, pulling her up and moving to the bed. “Aye,” I said. “Let’s aim for three.”
When next I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by darkness, and it took a moment for me to realise I was in Rowan’s cave. Her sanctuary. Her dream world. I couldn’t even remember falling asleep. How many times had it been? Three? Four? Five? I may have lost count.
“Rowan?” The darkness rippled around me. “Little bird? Are you there?”
A throb of desire was the only response, and it seared through me, surging through our mate bond.
Gods.
The sensation bloomed in my chest just like earlier, sending a rush of blood to my already hard cock.
It ached with need, the head once again so full of seed I had to squeeze it down.
The darkness rippled again, a slight movement in the air, and I froze as my mind sought her out.
Tugging on the invisible thread that connected us, the one pulsating with the raw energy of passion, I let her draw me closer.
I followed that throb of desire.
Followed that desperate want.
Followed the need that burned within her. Closer. Closer. Closer. A siren’s call. One I could not ignore.
My cock thickened, lust making me dizzy. “Rowan, I feel you. I feel your hunger. Show yourself,” I growled, peering into the shadows.
A light flared to life, the sudden brightness blinding in the dark. But she was still nowhere to be seen.
A game, then.
“Little bird,” I whispered, reaching for her just as another throbbing sensation pulsed into me. I needed her like I had never needed anything else before in my life. She was the very air I breathed. The other half of my soul. I was not complete until she came along.
So when she appeared before me – naked – I sent a surge of gratitude to the gods.
Not for bestowing upon me a mate so exquisite, so utterly captivating that I was lost to her beauty.
She was the one who did that, when she picked me.
No, I gave thanks that she was here. Safe.
Whole. A rosy hue staining her cheeks. Glistening lips whispering my name.
She was a vision. My dreams come true. And I intended to remind her of that.
We both gasped, reaching for each other as another wave swept through.
I pulled her into my arms, lifting her slight body to mine until I felt her lock her legs behind my back.
My heart exploded, tapping out a rhythm that hummed within my ears, when she slipped her tongue into my mouth, her sweet groan fuelling my ardour.
But she soon broke it off and slid down my body, letting all those soft places rub against all my hard ones.
“Rowan,” I moaned. “You’re killing me.”
“Shhh.” She held a finger to my lips, turning us and moving me back until I felt something behind my knees. With an unnatural strength, she pushed me onto a bed, the silken black sheets softening my fall.
Is this my bed?
I forgot that thought when she straddled my hips, my cock nudging against her wet entrance.
That wave crashed again, and I arched my back at the sensation. Oh gods, how could it be stronger than it had been before?
Do you feel that? she whispered.
Fingertips of passion caressed our bond. Stroking softly.
Aye. Would you like me to show you what it feels like?
She nodded, so I did it back, sinking all the love that I felt for her into it.
She collapsed against me, all her muscles relaxing in a shivering heap of ecstasy.
Wrapping my arms around her waist, I pulled her closer, my hips thrusting upwards involuntarily.
My greedy cock seeking her warm sheath. The urge to sink into her nearly overrode my need to let her be in control.
But I reeled it in, sliding my crown between her silky folds.
Delighting in the groan that elicited from her, I strove to do it again, except my arms were suddenly bound to the bed, as if with phantom ties.
When the same thing happened to my legs, I looked up at her with a smirk that soon turned into groan as she crawled up my body, her tight little nipples dragging across my stomach.
“Rowan,” I begged, as she continued to torment me. “Release me.”
But she clearly was not ready to do that. Her hands ran up my chest. Exploring. Tasting. Teasing. She lightly pinched my nipples before blowing on them to soothe away the small hurt. My hips thrashed again as my lungs shuddered.
“Lass, if you don’t release me soon, I’ll be done before you,” I growled as moisture beaded on my cock.
I was so close. Too close, and I strained to push it back down.
But my inability to grab it, or her, was driving me insane.
I gritted my teeth, straining my neck. When I felt her gentle touch, my eyes sprang open, just in time to see her stroke me from root to tip.
Fuck!
“You feel amazing,” she said, sitting forward as if to kiss me, and I pushed up to meet her, but she stopped before I could reach. Instead, she positioned herself, and me, before slowly –agonisingly – sinking back down.
She groaned, and those invisible bonds dropped away, releasing my limbs.
“Put your hands on the bedhead and hold on,” I grated.
“Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.”
I thrust again. But the angle… It was not enough. I was burning up with the need to come. The need to make her come.
“Roll over,” I growled, pulling out, her inner walls reluctant to let me go.
She scrambled to do so, looking at me over her shoulder, so I jerked my chin in the direction of the bedhead.
“Hold on,” I said again, before moving her knees out with a push to each side.
Her lovely arse stuck up in the air as I pulled her hips higher.
“Are you ready?” I asked on a sigh, leaning over her back and nipping at her ear.
Always.
I slid back into her, softly at first, her slickness paving the way. Holding still, I waited. Died. Waited until she grew restless and pushed back against me. Then I pulled back and rammed into her, making her scream.
“Again!” she cried.
I did it again. And again. And again. Clenching my teeth until she was reduced to moans.
“Don’t stop! Don’t stop! Don’t stop!” she chanted.
As if I bloody could.
Warmth spooled inside me, growing hotter and hotter, and hotter still. Flames burned, higher and higher until I felt I was going to explode. Not yet. She needed to be first.
Her moans grew frenzied. Her walls fluttering around my cock. White lights raced by my eyes. Stars blinking in and out of existence. And still her soft pleas drove me on.
“Rowan?”
She whimpered, and her chant continued. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”
“Now, Rowan.” I pressed my finger to her front, finding her clit, pinching it.
She erupted, screaming my name, and the force of her orgasm pulled me with her. Pulled her name from my throat as I roared my own release.
I collapsed against her back. Sated. Breathless. Still hard.
“That’s six.”