Chapter Forty-Four #2
He was so hard for her. So willing. Of all the cocks she’d seen under the mountain, this was the only one she felt lucky to hold. It was like holding his heart in her hands. Like holding his soul.
Leo touched her too, his fingers buried in her center, his palm sliding over her clitoris.
Every time she drew a gasp from him, he drew the same from her.
They were reciprocal forces, moving in sync.
His other hand roamed. He squeezed her ass, her breasts, her neck.
He worked her nipple between his fingers until it was sore, then he moved on to the other one.
Tem reached back to cup his balls. She squeezed. He groaned.
If she didn’t get his cock in the next ten seconds, she was going to scream.
Something was rising within Tem—the irresistible urge to take what she knew was hers. Without another moment’s hesitation, she rolled on top of him. They were face-to-face, his gray eyes looking into hers. Tem angled her hips. Leo arched his. There was no need for words—no need to grant permission.
Finally, Leo was inside her.
Tem moaned as she slid all the way down his cock, taking him as deep as she possibly could.
Leo’s neck arched. Tem kissed it. Then she began to move her hips, riding him without a second thought, going on pure instinct alone.
There was no time to talk. But there was so much Tem had to say.
So she did it while she rode him, whispering the words against his lips in a fevered rush.
“I’m sorry, Leo.”
“I know.”
“I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“I know.”
“I thought she could love you better than me, but she can’t. No one can.”
“I know, Tem.”
Now that she’d started she couldn’t seem to stop. “I never should have let you go. I made a mistake.”
“Tem, you—”
“I’ve missed you every day, Leo. Every. Day.”
Tears were coming now, and there was no way to stop them. Her fingers dug into his skin, holding him against her.
“Sunday-night dinners were torture. Every time I saw you with her, I wanted to kill her. But I couldn’t do anything. It was like I was trapped. I—”
Her grip tightened. “I’m sorry, Tem.”
“For what? I’m sorry.”
“For the dinners. For making you sit through that every fucking week. I hated it too. But it was the only way I could see you, and I—”
“I know.” She brushed his hair from his face, giving him the same reassurance he’d just given her. “I know.”
“It felt like I was dying,” he whispered.
“You were.”
“Every time you left I could feel you go, like you were pulling me with you.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I hated having to fuck her, Tem.”
“I know.”
“It was nothing like fucking you. I thought it would be, but it wasn’t.”
“I know.”
“All I could do was think of you. Every time I thought of you.”
“I’m so sorry, Leo.”
They said it all: every unspoken confession, every desperate plea—everything they’d wanted to say to each other since the wedding.
“Nobody will ever love you like I do,” Tem whispered. “Nobody.”
“I know.”
“You’re mine, Leo. Mine.”
“I know.”
“I need you, Leo. I need you. I need—”
His lips were on hers. The time for talking had passed.
Leo handled her the way she needed to be handled—with confidence and utter surety—gripping her hips and yanking them against his. Tem saw how he’d changed, how he moved assertively now, taking what he was owed. He was no longer a prince. It was an honor to see the king he had become.
It was nothing like the last time they’d slept together.
That time had been different; that time her basilisk side had been nearly dead.
This time the beast within Tem ached to get out—to ravage Leo in a way that was sure to hurt him.
At the thought of his pain, Tem became so turned on, she had to close her eyes.
Suddenly their proximity was unbearable.
She wanted to consume him, to rip him apart and crawl inside his ribs until they were not two bodies but one.
No amount of him would ever be sufficient; nothing would ever be enough.
Was this how Caspen felt when he fucked her?
It was so overstimulating—so excruciating.
Every breath Leo took sounded like a summons just for her.
Every inch of his skin was delectable. Finally, after weeks of agony, Tem could feel herself transitioning.
The crest had suppressed her for so long.
But now she was fulfilling the conditions—now she was consummating her love for Leo—and that came with a reward.
Keep him safe.
It was Caspen’s mantra for her, and now it was hers for Leo.
Tem would not allow herself to lose control; she would not endanger the life of someone who was precious to her. Caspen had done it for her, and she would do it for Leo.
But Caspen had not always succeeded.
Tem had been hurt many times over the course of their relationship—sustained many injuries from sex or otherwise.
He’d broken her pelvis, for Kora’s sake.
She’d gotten used to them, over time. Turned on by them, even.
But that was because she was part basilisk.
The monstrous side of her craved pain—coveted both administering and receiving it.
Leo was a human. He did not like pain; he did not deserve to get hurt.
He always said to torture him, but he didn’t mean it literally.
Their battles were mental in nature, their weapons were emotional ones.
Tem refused to let him experience even a fraction of what she knew her body was capable of. But it was not easy to hold back.
Keep him safe. Keep him safe.
She understood now how difficult this must have been for Caspen. It was as if she were looking at a delicious meal but unable to taste it. Her basilisk side was ravenous, clawing at the back of her mind with an insistence that was nearly impossible to ignore.
Her hips moved quicker.
“Fuck, Tem.” Leo barely murmured it.
But it turned Tem on so much that she pressed her palm over his mouth and said, “Don’t.”
She’d never wanted someone like this before—never craved the flesh of a human in such an instinctual way.
Tem wanted to be inside him. She wanted to possess him and mark him and ruin him for anyone else so that he would only be hers, for eternity, forever.
It was an irresistible urge, and yet she would have to resist.
Tem had no idea how Caspen had done this so many times with her.
How had he managed not to hurt her? The effort it had taken just to be in Leo’s presence for Sunday-night dinners without touching him was nothing compared to how she felt now with him actually in her bed.
The sight of his naked body made her want to explode.
“Tem,” he murmured, his lips against her hand. “You feel so fucking good.”
“Don’t speak. Please.”
“I have to, Tem. I have to tell you that I—”
But Tem didn’t want to hear it. Couldn’t hear it.
She needed him to stop talking, needed him to shut up.
If he said another word, she was going to rip him apart.
Smoke was crawling up her back. Her vision was changing—the pink of Leo’s cheeks changed to bluish green, the warmth of his skin becoming gray.
Every time she blinked, it was like she was seeing more than she should.
Her eyes were turning black just as Caspen’s did.
Her pupils were dilating, her body changing against her will.
The call to transition was debilitating.
It was too much. Far too much. Tem could not resist this—could not resist him.
She was no better than any other basilisk.
She was just as beholden to her people—to her instincts—as Caspen was.
Caspen.
He was her only hope.
Caspen? Are you there?
Tem. I am.
His voice was distant. She wondered how far away he was, whether he was somewhere in the forest, running from her. Or whether he was already on his way back.
I need your help.
What is it?
There was no time to worry about formalities, no time to present the question in a palatable manner. Tem simply had to know How do I stop myself from hurting him?
A pause. Caspen would know exactly what they were doing right now.
He had ordered them to do it, after all.
If it were only sex, it wouldn’t matter.
But this was Leo, and Tem loved Leo. This would always be different.
Perhaps Caspen wouldn’t help; perhaps he wanted her to injure him.
But that would hurt Tem almost more than it would hurt Leo, and she knew Caspen would never allow that.
You must concentrate on something else.
But there was absolutely nothing else to concentrate on. Leo’s body was naked beneath hers—open and willing and defenseless. Her basilisk side thrilled at the thought.
Like what?
Anything.
I can’t think, Caspen. I can barely breathe.
Focus, Tem.
What would you think about?
Another pause. I would think about how I would feel if you died.
Tem couldn’t imagine thinking about such a thing in a moment like this.
The sadness she would feel if Leo were dead—specifically if she were the one to kill him—was unbearable.
It overtook any arousal she was feeling, twisting her stomach into a painful knot.
Sex suddenly seemed impossible. But then how could you go on?
You must allow only your body to experience what is happening before you. Keep your mind under control, and no harm will come to him.
But it was an impossible ask. Tem wanted to flay Leo alive.
It was the only thought in her mind, even stronger than her lust. Leo was pliable and vulnerable and human.
Nothing could be more alluring to her—nothing was more tempting than the open pulse of his throat.
Tem wanted to sink her teeth into him—to devour him as Caspen had once devoured her.