Chapter 16 - Emma
His lips tasted of water. They were soft on mine at first, as if startled, or maybe still weak from whatever magic the spring had worked on him.
Just as I was about to pull back, wondering if maybe I had been too hasty, Elias snarled, his hand flying to the back of my head and locking me in place, his mouth growing more insistent, hungrier.
Wet fingers tangled in my hair, holding me there so I couldn’t escape even if I wanted to.
Heat raced through me as my heart began pounding. His hands gripped my hips as he tugged me closer, his mouth not leaving mine. A soft, burning need settled between my thighs, seeming to grow hotter the longer his mouth claimed mine.
One hand slipped beneath my damp shirt, fingers caressing my skin as they trailed up. I shivered in ecstasy, pleasure rippling through me at his touch. They inched upward until they found my bra. My back arched as he squeezed my breast, gripping it tight. After a moment, he broke away.
“Have I ever told you that you have an incredible body?” he growled, his hand still massaging my tit.
“I’m not sure I agree,” I said.
His eyes darkened, and he leaned forward until his lips brushed my ear. “I’ve been thinking about ripping your clothes off to see what you look like since the moment I saw you at your house.”
His breath caressed my ear, sending new, delightful shivers through me.
He laid me down on the soft moss. He ran his hands down my side, tracing my curves.
But as if he couldn’t stand the distance for more than a few seconds, his mouth met mine again, a snarl of need escaping his throat as he parted my lips with his tongue.
I let him explore my mouth until I finally had to gasp for air.
“Still want to take my clothes off?” I panted.
He didn’t bother answering. Hands snagged at my clothes, pulling at them desperately.
They clung to my skin where his wet body had pressed against me, but that didn’t stop him.
Within a minute, all of my clothes lay scattered across the cavern floor, and I lay naked beneath him for the second time in my life.
He took off his shirt. I helped him remove the sodden bandages, and gasped in shock and surprise when I saw that the only lingering evidence of the wraith’s attack was a faint silver scar. Then my eyes widened, and that yearning deepened as I took in the rest of his body.
It had been almost six years. I had told myself I had been imagining just how attractive he was without his clothes.
Turned out, I had been underestimating it.
His six-pack glistened with water droplets, his form a perfect V.
A tattoo trailed up his left flank, gliding upward and up to his shoulder, trailing down to his bulging bicep.
I reached up, tracing the pattern with a single finger.
I couldn’t miss the intensity in his gaze as he watched me.
Heat raced through my body as I drank him in, biting my lower lip without realizing I was doing it.
It settled between my thighs and intensified with a jolt as he took off his pants.
His cock sprang out, fully erect. I reached out and stroked it slowly.
He let out a low groan, then grabbed my wrist and forced it over my head.
He wasn’t in the mood to draw things out. Truth be told, I wasn’t, either.
He didn’t waste any time, too hungry to finally complete that mating bond.
He thrust inside me, filling me. The moan that escaped my lips reverberated through the cavern, echoing and seeming to create a chorus.
One hand gripped the moss while the other tangled in his wet hair, bringing his head back to mine even as he continued pumping inside me, sending new spasms of delight and need pulsing through me in rhythm with his thrusts.
I knew I was close, could sense that craving and need swelling and growing.
My breathing grew ragged as my back began to arch, every inch of me both craving and dreading the inevitable release as I felt myself teetering on the edge of oblivion, every pump of his cock sending me closer, no matter how much I tried to hold onto that sensation of mindless bliss.
I shattered. Pure ecstasy radiated from my body as I screamed, my hips bucking as the orgasm rose to a crescendo.
My wolf howled in delight as the mating bond finished clicking into place.
My eyes flew open wide as that filter that had been between us opened wider.
I could feel more of Elias, could feel his emotions, both his pain and lust. Based on the expression on his face, I could tell he had noticed the same.
And at the same time, I could tell through the bond that he was nowhere near finished with me.
He slowed, sensing the orgasm, letting me savor it as his cock still rested inside me.
I panted, but still he didn’t move. Instead, he watched with an amused glint in his eyes as his thumb flicked across my clit.
The heat immediately rekindled that insatiable need from my wolf, melding with the lust burning in his eyes, setting me aflame.
I shimmied out from underneath him. He snarled, reaching out to grab me and force me back to the ground. I held out my hand, a playful smirk flickering across my lips.
“You’re injured,” I lectured as I pushed him to the ground. I clambered on top of him, my thighs resting on either side of his waist. “I think I should let you rest and take over for a bit, don’t you?”
He let out an irritated snarl that I ignored as I moved down to straddle his legs, taking him in my hand.
He groaned, his head lolling back as I began slowly gliding my fingers up and down his cock, growing steadily faster.
Hearing his own growls of satisfaction set me blazing, my wolf begging for more. I’d satisfy her in a moment. For now…
I slowed, then stopped. Elias lifted his head and snarled as I gave a coy, amused smile.
“You tease,” he growled, propping himself on his elbows.
With a smirk, I crawled back up until our faces were inches apart.
“Think of it as payback for all those years ago,” I said with a purr.
His eyes flashed as his own smirk grew. “Oh, is that how it’s going to be?” he growled. His hand went to my hair, tugging it back so my neck lay bare to him. His mouth slammed against mine as he flipped me over again onto my back, that insatiable hunger of his evident in every motion.
His hand slid down my side, fingers caressing my skin before slipping between us.
I groaned, back arching as he caressed my clit, making me squirm slightly at his touch.
Then my eyes flew open as his fingers slid inside me, his thumb pressing against my mound.
I gasped, back arching again as I squirmed beneath him, my head lolling back, my lips slipping away from his.
With a snarl, his grip on my head tightened, and he pressed his mouth against mine again, locking me in place, impossible to get away as his tongue slipped between my lips.
His fingers glided in and out, pumping and sending new spasms of need and longing radiating through me.
I moaned into his mouth, unable to pull away until he let me.
My gasps grew higher-pitched with each thrust, and I knew that I wouldn’t last much longer. I moaned into his mouth, writhing in bliss beneath him.
And then his fingers, his lips, were gone. I opened my eyes in frustration, that burning need nowhere near satisfied. He laughed as I glared at him.
“Two can play at that game,” he said.
“Elias, I swear to God. If you don’t fuck me—”
Before I could even finish whatever threat I had been about to say, he thrust his cock inside me, and my brain went deliciously blank.
I gasped, fingers curling into fists as my back began to arch, the double attack intensifying the electricity and longing pulsating through me. My breathing went shallow, my brain mindless with need and hunger as I teetered on the edge of oblivion.
His mouth nipped at my collarbone, right where he had marked me as his mate, and I unraveled again.
My cries echoed and reverberated around the cavern as I shattered a second time.
Elias’s thrusts grew more earnest, more hungry as his breath grew ragged in my ear.
As my own orgasm slowed and dimmed, I felt him finish inside me.
He panted as he hovered above me, looking down.
He smirked as he finally slid out of me, his mouth finding mine.
I slumped down, chest heaving, fingers dangling in the water, the tips caressing the surface as I stared up, looking and unable to find the top of the cavern.
“I guess I know you’re feeling better if you have that sort of energy,” I joked.
When he didn’t respond, I frowned and turned to look at him as he sat propped on his side. The intense expression on his face set my insides squirming. He wasn’t looking at me; his gaze was locked just past me, toward something near the water. I followed his gaze and froze.
Several spirals of cool water had wrapped around my fingers and palms, all the way to my wrist, and not stopping, seeming to keep going. I hadn’t even felt it.
Elias stared at my hands as the tendrils of water coiled up my arms. A jolt of familiar panic raced through me, the kind that always happened when I worried about what someone might think when they saw my magic.
But when I looked back at Elias, there was only interest, not fear or animosity, and I found myself relaxing.
Curious, I stared at the water. As I did, the ripples grew faster, more urgent. Water droplets began to rise in the air, hanging like frozen raindrops. Elias reached out and touched one, swiping it away with a finger like you might from a table.
“How are you doing this?” he said. There was nothing accusatory or suspicious in the question, just pure curiosity, and what might have been awe. He turned back to me, one eyebrow raised. “I thought you could only heat up water.”
“So did I,” I mumbled, half-distracted as I waved my hand.
The water followed, creating an arc in the water droplets, the way you might a fogged mirror.
“I noticed I felt a stronger connection to water lately, which is why I think I was able to guide us here. But I haven’t had the chance to do any sort of experiments.
I guess when the mating bond finally clicked into place, something happened. ”
“That would make sense,” he said.
I watched the water, mind drifting. If I were strong enough to control water like this, then maybe there was something I could do about the wraith after all.
And after what he had done to my mate…I intended to pay him back tenfold.
“What are you thinking?” Elias asked.
I let out a deep breath, running my fingers through my hair, now damp from where Elias had gripped it.
“I’m thinking it’s time we talk to the elders and tell them what we know,” I said.
He blinked, not bothering to conceal his surprise. “Are you sure?”
“We can’t sit on this forever,” I said. “And if it’s the only way to stop the sand wraith…” I trailed off, taking a deep breath. “I don’t want anyone else getting hurt.”
That wasn’t strictly all of it. It was the truth, but it was more than that. I didn’t want Elias getting hurt. After seeing him delirious and close to death at the oasis, I never wanted to go through that again.
He nodded, still staring at me. “In that case, if you’re sure—”
“I am,” I promised.
Another nod. He reached out and gave my arm a reassuring squeeze.
“In that case, we can call a meeting first thing tomorrow,” he said.