30 COME UNDONE
RISING TO HER feet on shaky limbs, Ailsa began to undress.
Her body felt strangely weak, her fingers fumbling, but she managed to wriggle out of her long woolen tunic and the shift she wore beneath.
Both garments were still damp from the rain.
And then, she stood there before him, naked save for the serpent arm ring adorning one bicep.
His gaze raked down her, scalding in its intensity, and likewise, she drank him in. The breadth of his shoulders, the corded strength of his arms and torso. The scars that marred his skin. It was a body that belonged to a man, one who’d lived, not a lad.
Her breath grew shallow and fast. She itched to touch him, to explore that strong body.
The fire cracked softly beside them, sparks drifting into the dark.
For years now, she’d ached to be intimate with a man, to learn about the things other lasses whispered about. This was a rite of passage she’d been denied for too long. She’d thought Lewis would be her first lover, but she’d been wrong.
She was giving herself to Darach.
They hadn’t known each other long, yet this journey had brought an intimacy she hadn’t been prepared for. Day after day, traveling at this man’s side. Facing danger with him. Fighting alongside him. Learning his secrets and revealing her own. All of it had brought them to this moment.
The way he was looking at her.
It made her feel … powerful.
Her gaze slid down the muscular expanse of his torso and halted upon the erection that strained against his belly. Heat pulsed between her thighs. Unaroused, he’d been impressive, but now …
Nervousness fluttered up then, yet she shoved it aside.
She could do this. She was no coward.
She approached him silently, took his hand, and let him draw her onto the soft mattress of fur.
Standing there, he pulled her into his arms once more, his hands sliding down her naked back, while she linked her arms around his neck. Their mouths found each other, tongues tangling and teeth clashing now as hunger overtook them once more.
Moaning, Ailsa rubbed her nakedness against his, her core aching as the hot, thick length of his rod pressed against her stomach.
And unlike in Ardroth, there weren’t any layers of clothing between them now.
Eventually, he dragged his lips from hers and began to kiss and lick his way down her jaw and throat, unwinding her arms from around his neck so that he could bend to her breasts.
He scooped them up in his calloused palms, gazing at the swollen pink tips.
Her breasts were small and round. She’d always thought them unremarkable, yet the way he gazed at them now—lips parted, eyes glazed with lust—made her arch her back so that she thrust her nipples toward him.
Murmuring something under his breath, he captured one of her breasts, sucking languidly.
A hot shaft of pleasure arrowed straight down to her quim, and she gasped.
He made a soft sound in the back of his throat and sucked harder.
She threw her head back, wriggling against him.
He shifted his attention to her other breast then, drawing her nipple deep into his hot mouth.
Ailsa couldn’t help it; she whimpered.
Releasing her breast, Darach sank to his knees before her. Hooking one hand around her leg, he lifted it over his shoulder, splaying her wide for him, before his fingers slid between her thighs.
Ailsa gasped. She was wet for him down there.
Embarrassingly so. But by the ragged sound of his breathing and the fixed expression on his face as he explored her with his fingers, he liked what he’d found.
The tip of his finger slid up and down her quim, circling the hard pearl of flesh nestled there and causing her to buck against his fingers.
Then, he cursed. “This isn’t enough.”
He’d lifted her leg over his shoulder, but a moment later, he shifted, drawing her back down with him onto their cloaks. And then, to her surprise, he pulled her astride his face.
“What are you doing?” she gasped.
He looked up at her and gave her a wicked smile that made sweat rise upon her skin, before stroking the dark nest of curls between her thighs with his knuckles. “Let me show you.”
With that, he took hold of her hips, lowering her onto his mouth.
And when his tongue speared into her, she shuddered, her ragged cry echoing through the corrie.
He didn’t stop there. No, he began teasing her with his lips, tongue, and teeth.
Ailsa cried out once more, grabbing hold of his arms—for his hands still gripped her hips, holding her fast—to brace herself. She dug her nails into his biceps, enjoying the way he shuddered.
But a moment later, her thoughts scattered.
Gods! The way he was flicking his tongue. How did he know to do that?
She swallowed a sob as her thighs started to quiver, pleasure coiling tight in her loins.
She was climbing. Clawing her way toward something.
Her pulse thundered, and sweat trickled down her back. The heat from the fire bathed her skin. She was about to catch fire, about to burn to a cinder.
Her back curved, her fingernails biting deeper into his arms as his mouth devoured her, and then hot pleasure clenched and pulsed out from where he now sucked, crashing through her like waves as she bucked and writhed against him.
She cried out again, the sound splitting the air like a wild animal. By The Mother. This was—
He moved then, with breathtaking swiftness, and suddenly, she was tumbling onto her back on the cloaks.
He reared over her, his hard-muscled body gleaming. Sweat tracked down the cords of his neck and disappeared beneath the whorls of hair on his chest.
Ailsa watched a droplet travel south. Her tongue darted out, tracing her lower lip—and then her mouth started to ache.
Reaching down between them, her fingers wrapped around his straining prick. It jerked in her grip, and she traced the swollen, quivering length of it with a sharp nail.
He gave a low, guttural groan, his eyelids fluttering. “Stop that, Ailsa,” he said roughly. “Or I’ll come right now.”
Her quim clenched. She’d like to see that, but she wanted him inside her too.
Groaning his name, she spread herself open for him, her hand guiding the tip of his shaft between her thighs, stroking the swollen crown through her wetness. She wasn’t sure if that was what she was supposed to do, but she was running on pure instinct now.
A nerve jumped on his cheek. “Are you ready?”
“Aye.” Her voice was low and guttural—it didn’t sound like her own.
Darach was staring down at her now with flared nostrils. She marked then how his pupils had slitted; his eyes glowed in the firelight. “We’re taking this slow.” His voice came out in a growl, as if he was forcing the words out.
She made a frustrated sound in the back of her throat.
He didn’t need to leash himself.
She didn’t care how they took it—just as long as he fucked her.
Letting go of his shaft, she lay back, propping herself up onto her shoulders to watch as he nestled the tip of his length at her entrance. And then, he started to push into her.
The first couple of inches were easy, and she sighed at the slick way their bodies joined. But then a hot, stinging pain stabbed through her loins, and she bit down on her lower lip.
Heat flared straight afterward, warming her belly.
Darach halted, waiting while she adjusted to him. His body quivered as he stroked her legs, from her upper thighs all the way down to her ankles, pausing at the rose tattoo on her calf. “Nice,” he grunted, stroking it with his thumb.
“I use it to channel earth magic,” she panted, barely lucid under his touch. “I—”
Her voice cut off as he reached between her thighs once more. He stroked her with the pad of his thumb, circling her most sensitive spot. A melting sensation followed, and she cried out, rolling her hips against him.
He sank another inch into her. And then another.
The cords on his neck stood out as he penetrated her. His chest rose and fell sharply, and his lips parted.
Ailsa’s breathing caught. Fangs pressed against his lower lip.
The beast. Lust had drawn it out.
Oh.
The sight should have frightened her. Instead, it made her sweat, made her belly quiver.
Panting, she dropped her gaze to where their bodies joined, to where he worked his way into her, testing and probing. Circling his hips one moment, and pulling back slightly the next, he let her stretch for him, accommodate him.
Ailsa whimpered as he slid the last couple of inches, bringing their bodies flush together.
Gods. It was a lot. She was stretched to the limit, splayed around the invasion of his hot, hard flesh. It didn’t hurt any longer, but it felt almost impossibly full.
“Darach,” she gasped. “I—”
Whatever she’d been about to say was cut off as he circled his hips. Pleasure clutched at her lower belly.
He repeated the action, and she moaned at the melting sensation that followed. Her body was now relaxing around him, responding to him.
He drew back then, withdrawing inch by inch, almost to the tip, before he slid back inside her. And the feel of him, filling her, touching her in places that made her writhe, made her cry out.
A flush rose to Darach’s cheekbones, those sharp canines protruding clearly as his lips parted once more. “Good?”
“Aye,” she groaned.
She was still so full that she ached, yet she writhed against him, craving more.
Suddenly, she was hungry.
Her nostrils flared, breathing in the smell of fresh sweat and the musky scent of their arousal. And something coppery and rich.
His blood.
Darach was quite a sight. Big body, slick with sweat as he moved inside her. Jaw clenched with restraint. His muscles flexed and trembled slightly.
Her gaze went to the pulse in his throat.
It jumped.
The pounding of his heart seemed suddenly louder than the crackle of the fire.
Every beat pushed fresh blood through him. She could almost track its path.
Neck.
Chest.
Groin—especially there, where they were joined.
Dizziness swept over her. Heat rushed through her limbs, and she curled her fingers against her palms.
Aye, that’s it. She could almost feel her nails cutting into the warm skin of his throat.
Her stomach convulsed—and when the vein in his neck fluttered again, her nails bit down into her own palms.
No!
She jerked back as if waking from a dream.
“Darach!” she gasped. “Grab hold of my wrists and pin them above my head.”
His gaze met hers, surprise flaring in its golden depths. “Easy there,” he rasped. “You don’t—”
“Do it!”
Something in her voice stopped him, and for an instant, he turned from man to animal, moving with a speed that made her cry out.
Capturing both her wrists with one hand, he shoved her arms back, pressing her wrists down on the furs.
The position thrust her breasts in his face, and he fell upon them, sucking, lathing, and grazing her nipples with his teeth.
And then, he raked his fangs over the soft skin, letting her feel just how sharp they were.
A raw cry ripped from her throat. “Don’t let my wrists go … and don’t be gentle!” she panted. “Not now.” No, she didn’t want tenderness. She wanted him to be savage. “Fuck me!”
His body stilled against hers for a heartbeat—and then his free hand hauled her right leg up, bending it at the knee.
He drove home inside her. Hard.
Ailsa bucked up against him, pleasure brushing the edges of pain, yet she welcomed his invasion. She craved it. “More!”
He gave her what she demanded, taking her in deep, punishing strokes. Again and again.
Aye, he was fucking her now. His grip on her wrists was bruising.
The force of each thrust pushed them off the cloaks and onto the damp, stony ground.
Pebbles and twigs dug into her arms, shoulders, and back, yet she didn’t care.
All she could concentrate on was the sheer power of him inside her, unraveling her and yet making her at the same time.
Each thrust drew another growl from his throat.
The sound vibrated through her, called to her.
Ailsa’s nails sliced against her palms, stinging. She barely noticed the pain.
Darach’s pupils narrowed once more, his gaze raking down her face to her throat.
Aye, they were both predators—both a danger to each other—yet she wasn’t afraid.
Higher and higher she climbed, tension pulling tighter in the cradle of her hips, until it snapped.
Her climax splintered her. She writhed and shuddered against him, her head falling back as a scream tore from her throat. When he’d brought her to a peak with his mouth earlier, she’d thought nothing could equal it.
But this was even better.
This undid her.
Shaking, as pleasure pulsed through her loins and belly, she watched Darach rear back.
He withdrew from her abruptly. And then, still looming over her, still pinning her wrists to the ground with one hand, he spilled over her belly.
Watching his seed pump from his jerking shaft in milky spurts, watching the pleasure that contorted his face, and the way his body spasmed as his head fell back, Ailsa’s breathing caught.
She wasn’t the only one who’d come undone tonight.