16. Harven
HARVEN
Running was Eve’s first mistake.
I had been careful not to let the mask slip while we’ve been getting to know each other.
I endured her teasing even as I raged with lust. I gave her space when I didn’t want to, hoping to make her more comfortable.
All of that carefully constructed restraint snapped the moment I spilled blood for her.
The plot to take her had been my undoing.
Those who conspire don’t just seek her life. They seek her. Foolishly, they believe they can snatch her from me. Every inch of her is mine to claim, from her heart to her womb. She is mine.
It’s time she understands that. I’ve let her deny us both for long enough.
I watch her sprint down, all in a whisper of blue silk. Fear and desire twist her citrus scent into a heady combination. My cock is already hard, ready to finally be inside her perfect body.
Primal instincts flood my veins.
I have no choice but to give chase and claim my mate as I should’ve done the moment she arrived. I tried to be softer for Eve, but I’ll never be human. Once I’m inside her, she’ll understand this is how it was always meant to be.
She’ll yield to me whether she wants to or not.
Her fire returned in my throne room. No doubt she’ll fight me. I relish the challenge. Once I have her thrashing body pinned and moaning, she’ll submit to me completely.
The scent of her desire sends me racing after her.
She can deny herself, but I won’t listen to another of her pretty lies about not wanting me. She desires me more than she likes me. Eve may hate me, but she’ll be begging me for more.
Eve is my mate. I feel the invisible string tethering our souls together. It pulls taut as I follow her down the hall. She is mine to claim, and I shall. Repeatedly.
She can bite and claw, but it won’t matter. She is mine to do with as I see fit. Now and forever.
My guards on patrol turn after her, but I snarl them away.
No one is stopping her but me. I twist down a careening hall. Eve’s delicate arms pump as she tries to outrun me. Her head start does nothing as I eat up the space between us on the tile. She doesn’t dare look back at the predator hot on her heels.
Her room looms ahead. No doubt her goal is to reach it and lock me out.
If she does, I’ll tear it from the hinges. Every servant and guard can listen as I pleasure her pussy for the first time. They can all watch me fuck my queen if that’s what it takes to make her mine.
I close in on her. The silken ends of her hair whip against my chest. She’s close enough for me to see the pulse pounding in her neck. Sunshine and citrus fill my lungs.
Her small hand clasps the door handle and throws it open. I’m on her before she can turn around. We both barrel into her room in a mess of tentacles and smooth limbs. I roll her panting body until we land atop her bed.
My weight keeps her pinned as my tentacles shackle her wrist. I grin down into her snarling face as my magic shuts and locks her door. No need for an audience, just yet.
“Harven,” she grunts, blue eyes wild. “Stop. Don’t, I—”
“Stop?”
My tentacles grip her ankles and drag further down the bed. Her dress gapes, revealing more of her perfect breasts. They’ll be in my mouth soon.
I pull her legs apart and settle between them. Anger roars in her eyes as I rub my hard cock against her covered pussy.
“You want me to stop, Eve?”
“Yes, I don’t want to. Not so you can prove a point.”
“Are you sure?”
Another tentacle slips between her thighs. It trails her soft skin, going higher than before. It suctions gently at her flesh before sliding up her drenched slit. A moan slips from Eve’s pink lips. The feel of her—hot and wet—against my tentacle makes my head spin.
Pulling the appendage from her dress, I bring the glistening tip to my mouth. I lick her pleasure from it, groaning at her sweet taste.
“Your pussy isn’t saying no.”
Indignation sparks in her eyes as she thrashes in my grip. I keep her firmly pinned with another rough pump of my hips. She pushes against the tentacles binding her wrists.
“My pussy can’t talk, you fucking asshole!” Her teeth snap together. She’s even more beautiful when angry. “Let me go, Harven. Or I swear to God, I’ll—”
“I am your god, Eve. You swear to me.”
She lets out a growl and bucks against me once more.
Her dress slides to the side, almost bearing her pink nipple. Her hair fans around her on the pale blue sheets. My tentacles skim up and down her thigh, teasing her pussy but not touching it directly.
The smell of fear lingers in her scent. Beneath it is a deep pool of desire. It dances with the anger in her ocean eyes. Eve needs a reminder of who wields the power between us.
My hand curls around her throat. Her fluttering pulse quivers against my fingers. She’s so fragile. I could kill her with one twist of my wrist, but I won’t. Never.
Her life is the only thing that matters to me.
“You are my mate, Eve. I’ve orchestrated the murder of hundreds just to find you.
I’ve slaughtered my people—my brothers—to claim you.
” I shake my head, skimming my nose along her warm cheek.
“I tried to play your human games and go slow. But I can’t.
It’s not in my nature to be gentle. Especially when many still seek to take you. ”
Eve whimpers as I tighten my grip. Her mouth parts, begging me to take it with mine.
“Yield to me, mate. Give me what I seek.”
Her head whips back and forth.
“No.”
The word vibrates against my palm.
“Why do you fight me? I can feel that you want me as I do you.”
I stroke my tentacle along her slit again in demonstration. Her eyes unfocus as pleasure softens her snarling features. I do it again and again, until she blinks. Her anger comes blazing to the surface.
“Because—because—get off of me, you monster!”
She spits the last word. It’s a challenge she’s issuing me. If Eve wants a fight, then so be it. She won’t win. Not when finally making her mine is on the line.
“I’ll show you just how monstrous I can be, Eve. You’ll beg me for it. Every day for the rest of your fucking life.” My tentacle presses at her entrance. “Your pussy won’t feel whole without me stretching it.”
“Fuck you,” she hisses. “I hate you.”
My other hand slides beneath her dress. Her hips lift, but I have her surrounded. She can’t do anything as I glide along her outer leg and into the valley of her thighs. I cup her possessively, groaning at her hot, wet flesh.
“Hate me all you want. You’re still soaked for me. For a monster.” My lips find her ear. “I could slide my cock into you with ease. This time tomorrow you could be pregnant.”
Eve’s breath hitches as my thumb digs into her clit. I’ve done extensive research about human anatomy. I know just how to drive Eve wild.
“That’s why I fight you,” she snaps.
My whole body stills. Icy apprehension licks over my skin. My hand around her throat locks tighter, as does my grip on her cunt.
“You don’t want to bear my children?”
Eve huffs a humorless laugh. Her lips twist to the side.
“Once I do, what will be my role? You’ll dispose of me and go back to your Pearls. I’ll be nothing to you once I’ve served my purpose.”
Shock renders me momentarily speechless.
Beneath the burning anger, I see the wariness in her gaze—the hurt. It darkens her shining eyes.
A crack in her walls lets me glimpse the soft soul she’s been hiding. I see it now with stark clarity.
Eve is lonely. Just as lonely as I’ve been my entire life. That’s what is causing the trepidation. She believes I’ll abandon her once she’s given in to me. I almost laugh at the ridiculous notion.
Eve is mistaken. She’s been adrift, searching for connection for too long. She’ll never be alone again. Her place is beside me. She belongs to me just as I belong to her.
I’ll never let her go. No one else will ever get the chance to know her as I do.
As for my Pearls—I don’t want to think about them tonight.
This is about Eve and showing her just how wrong she is. She is the only thing I care about. I wish she would’ve voiced them sooner.
I’d have fucked away her doubts the first night.
“Oh, my little mate. I’m never letting you go. You’ll never be free of me.” I lick up her cheek and savor her soft moan. “You could bear me a hundred full-blooded kraken sons, and I’d crave you just as much as I do now.”
The tension in her body ebbs away. The rage dims into a simmering distrust.
Eve wrinkles her nose.
“I don’t think that’s medically possible for me to birth a hundred children.”
My thumb teases her hammering pulse.
“My seed is strong.”
“Your seed.” With a groan, she drops her head to the sheets. “What is my life? What is this conversation?”
“Mine.” Our gazes lock. “Your life is mine just as mine is yours.”
She considers my words, but isn’t convinced. Her put-out expression returns. Rolling her eyes, my hands burn to spank the attitude out of her.
“For now, while you still want to fuck me.” She lifts a shoulder. “You’ll be returning to your menage-a-tois’s when you remember one female isn’t nearly as interesting as two and a male.”
“If your resistance is solely due to thinking my interest will fade, then open your thighs and let me assure you of the contrary.”
Her glare would send a weaker male fleeing.
“No, get off me, Harven. I mean it.”
Eve’s eyes burn like blue flames. She is the sun come to life. Her warmth soaks through my skin and thaws my wretched soul.
My mate. My perfect other half.
Her protests mean nothing. I am her master. I will keep her safe and, in turn, will dictate how this goes between us. At least in the bedroom.
In court, she’ll be my equal—my queen. But here, she’s my toy to do with as I please.
“You’ve been alone too long, surrounded by unworthy males. A human could never give you what I can.”
“And that is?”
Sliding my hand from her cunt, I pin her hips to the bed.
“A firm hand.”
My mouth comes down on hers.