Chapter 28 #2
“I never thought you were.” His voice is sincere, and it catches me off guard, breaking through the fog of anger.
He’s right. In every situation we’ve ever been in, he always believed in me. In the foxhound kennels, in Korrigan Forest, in the wraith-filled battlefields—he always believed I was capable of more than I believed in myself.
Then he shoots an onslaught of shadows my way.
Each attack catches me off guard, but I manage to block every single one.
Too late, I realize he’s been pushing me backward.
My heel grazes a boulder as his shadows press into my chest. He leans toward me, his eyes fierce.
At first, I think it’s fury. It isn’t until his face is inches away from mine that I realize what it truly is.
Desire.
“You are not a burden, Red.” His breath is shaky, trembling.
Slowly, he releases the shadows between us, but he doesn’t step away. I should take advantage of his lowered defenses and attack, but I don’t. I let him lean even closer until my back is pressed up against the boulder.
“You are infuriating.” His voice is rough.
“You’re thrilling. Fucking intoxicating.
” He says these words like a swear, biting and hot.
“I can’t get you out of my head. It feels like I’m starving.
” His eyes are on mine, tortured. He looks at me as if I’m the only one who can release him from his torment.
Tristan leans forward, the tip of his nose brushing lightly against the shell of my ear. “I’ve wanted you ever since I first saw you, dancing with Hunter at your engagement ball. Dressed head to toe in scarlet.”
My chest rises and falls like I can’t get enough air. Heat surges through my body, pooling low in my belly.
“I can’t get enough of you,” he whispers, his breath hot against my neck. “That is why I find it so hard to be in your presence.”
He puts a hesitant hand up to my waist, and the briefest touch ignites me like an inferno. He stares deep into my eyes, his eyebrows pinched together as he studies me.
I can’t hide the longing in my voice. “You want to devour me, Wolf?”
He leans forward and brushes his lips over my jawline. “Every. Last. Inch.”
Goosebumps prickle all over my skin. “Then do it.”
His mouth crashes onto mine. This is nothing like our kisses in the cave. There is no hesitation, no vulnerability. No secrets or holding back. This is fire and flood and famine all rolled into one. This is pure animalistic need.
Tristan pushes his hips against mine, his desire fully evident. I moan at the luscious pressure of his hard length against me. Without thought, my thighs spread open to feel more of him. But even that doesn’t feel like enough. He smells of cedar and salt and fire. And, gods, I need more.
Tristan weaves his hand through my auburn hair, loosening the braid that’s come undone.
He presses his mouth into mine as his hands roam roughly over my hips, my waist, my breasts.
My back presses into the boulder behind me, and I relish the pain.
I want him to push harder, deeper into me.
To devour me until I’m nothing but bone.
“Tristan,” I gasp between kisses. My chest heaves, unable to get enough air.
He laughs low in his throat. “Do you want me to touch you, Red?”
I nod. “Yes.” My voice is unfamiliar, laced with hunger and need.
Tristan moves his hand between us and unlaces the front of my leathers. Then, in one swift motion, he spins me around to face the boulder. I can feel his hard length up against my backside.
He moves his fingers beneath my pants, hovering there above my sex. He kisses my jawline as his thumb brushes lightly over my most sensitive parts. A muffled sound escapes me, something between a gasp and a moan.
I can feel his self-satisfied smirk as he pushes his fingers inside me. I crumble against the boulder, gasping at the sparks of molten desire that shoot through me. He holds me tighter against his body. I gasp as he caresses me, making my legs tremble.
His mouth moves close to my ear as I lean against him, breathless and weak. “I can feel how much you want me.”
Tristan strums me faster and, suddenly, I’m melting. My power surges inside of me, delicious and thrilling, as sparks flash behind my eyes. I cry out as waves crash over me again and again.
He holds me up against the boulder to keep my legs from giving out. His low chuckle rumbles against my neck where he runs his lips over my skin. It makes me want him more.
He removes his hand from my leathers and turns me back around to face him. He presses his body squarely against mine, his hand caressing the skin of my hip. Every inch of him is hard and hot with need, and despite my tingling limbs, that spark of desire rushes back.
I kiss him with a desperate fever that I’ve never felt before.
I’m aching and wanting all over again. And I know, deep in my soul, that nothing will satiate me except this Wolf.
It’s like my body waited for him before coming fully alive.
Despite the cold, I’m blissfully warm, heated by an inferno inside of me that threatens to burn us both alive.
My hands ache to reach down, to release him from his black leathers. I trail my hand down over the front of him, grasping the parts that strain against the fabric. He groans and presses into my hand. My fingers scramble to unlace his belt.
Fast as an adder, he grabs my wrist. He breaks our kiss and stares into my eyes. I wonder if I’ve somehow misread him, from his ragged breath, to the hard length I can feel pressing against me. I look up into his gray eyes.
“You have to beg me for it first.” Tristan gives me a wicked grin.
I scowl. “I don’t beg.” Yet I can’t deny that I’m deeply aroused at the thought.
His laugh is low in the back of his throat. “Don’t worry, Red. I can wait.”
I raise an eyebrow. “You’ll be waiting a long time, then. Forever, in fact.”
He smirks at me, dark and dangerous. “Beg.”
My other hand grabs the straining front of his leathers again. He moans and leans one hand on the boulder behind my head. This game we’re playing makes me feel powerful. I adore how I can make him crumble with just the touch of a hand.