Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
Take my mate…
Dear God, he was talking about me. The deluded son-of-a-bitch really thought I was his mate. That I was his for the taking.
The breath hitched in my throat at the thought. My pulse pounded against my eardrums, the sound deafeningly loud. I couldn’t seem to process anything beyond my own physical reaction to his words.
I opened my mouth, ready to deny what Lash had said, but nothing came out. I couldn’t seem to force a single word. I was too stunned by his audacity.
All I could do was watch in stunned silence as Lash pulled the leathers and furs all the way out of the bag. It wasn’t until he’d started organizing them down into a neat nest on the ground that I managed to find my voice again.
“Stop,” I demanded. “Put those things back in the bag.”
He didn’t, of course—not that I expected him to. I was starting to think the only pleasure the stubborn bastard found was in ignoring people.
But he wasn’t the only one who could act like an obstinate ass.
Rushing across the cave, I swiped at the pile of animal skins in his arms, knocking the remaining ones to the cold stone floor.
“I said put them back,” I repeated, my voice tight.
But my anger was nothing in comparison to the dark intensity I saw etched into every line of Lash’s face when he turned to confront me.
“No.” His growl echoed off the walls, traveling through me, shaking me to my core.
Holy shit.
I’d experienced Lash’s anger head-on plenty of times before, but this…this was something completely different. Something just as all-consuming. Just as fierce. But somehow infinitely more terrifying.
Unable to stop myself, I stumbled back a step, asking, “Why not?”
“Because it won’t change anything,” he said, matching my retreat step for step with an advance of his own.
“It might,” I tried.
But Lash just shook his head, his eyes never faltering from mine. Not even for a second.
“What do you think? That destiny is so fragile that it can be broken by a few furs?” he demanded. “Do you really believe that you can change fate by stuffing a few blankets back in a bag?”
He made it sound like the very idea was laughable. But why not? If everything really was all scripted out, then couldn’t the smallest change to the story change the outcome?
“It’s worth a shot,” I said with a shrug.
“It’s an insult,” he countered. “To you. To me. To the Fates.”
Oh, please. I rolled my eyes. “Don’t start with that. You know I don’t believe in your gods.”
The left corner of his lips quirked up in a wicked parody of a smile. “If that were true, you wouldn’t be fighting so hard to stop what they’ve started.”
I shook my head. “You’re the only one I’m trying to stop. Now, if you’d just—oop!”
A gasp of surprise rocketed from my throat as my back hit the wall of the cave. Damn it. It looked like I’d retreated about as far as I could go.
But Lash didn’t give up.
He kept inching closer. Moving in on me, until his hands were bracketed on either side of my head, and his chest brushed against mine with every inhale of breath.
The exact stance he’d been in at the start of the dream. Right before he’d kissed me.
And I’d kissed him back.
“I don’t understand.” With each passing second, it was getting harder to hold myself back from the urge to wrap my arms around his neck and pull my body against his. “You should be fighting against this as hard as I am.”
“And why would I do that?” His hands found their way into my hair, his fingers raking through the strands and grazing over my scalp, leaving behind a trail of electric tingles in their wake.
“B-Because…” I sputtered. “You hate my kind…and you don’t like me.”
“That’s not true.” Shivers raced through every one of my nerves as his pitch-black gaze swept over the length of me. “I find you fascinating, kirre. You captivate me.”
I tried to shake my head, but Lash’s hold on my hair wouldn’t allow it.
“I don’t believe you,” I told him. “Yesterday you wanted me dead.”
“That was yesterday.”
“Okay, but what’s keeping you from wanting me dead tomorrow?”
“That’s not going to happen,” he promised. “I know you now. I’ve dreamed about you.”
His hand swept down the back of my neck, the touch surprisingly gentle for someone so strong. I had to bite into my lip to keep a gasp of pleasure from escaping my throat.
“You still don’t know me,” I forced myself to say. “And that dream was just about lust, plain and simple.”
“Oh, Felicity.”
Dear God, help me. The way he whispered my name against my ear threatened to make me lose my damn mind.
He continued, “Don’t pretend there’s anything simple about our lust. From the moment I first touched your skin, my whole body has been raging with a fire powerful enough to burn both our worlds to the ground.”
Oh my…
The man had game. I had to give him that. No one—not in LA, not anywhere—had ever talked to me like that before. No one had sent flutters and quakes through the whole of my body with words alone. No one’s voice threatened to make me lose control.
“Lash,” I pleaded…but for what?
For him to stop? To keep going? To push it even further?
No.
That last one was definitely a bad idea.
“Lash, this isn’t a?—“
“Shh.” Arms tightening around my back, he pulled me closer.
I opened my mouth, ready to beg for just a moment, just a split second to pull my thoughts together. But before I could make a sound, the tip of my tongue flicked against his lower lip.
That was all it took.
A surge of pure need flooded my system, sending me over the edge of no return. Without thought, my arms flew up to encircle Lash’s neck and hold on for dear life.
All of a sudden, I was kissing him—hard.
Passionately.
Hungrily.
Like I’d die if I didn’t have more.
For a lightning-quick moment, the realization that this wasn’t exactly how the scene had played out in the dream flashed in my mind. It wasn’t fully dark yet. I wasn’t wearing that ridiculously oversized shirt. The furs were scattered across the floor, not arranged into a neat bed.
And yet everything else was the same.
Everything that mattered.
The feel of Lash’s kiss. The raging need it stoked in me. The heat that his touch kindled in my veins. All of that was just how I’d dreamed it.
And if that was real, maybe the rest of the pleasure would be too.
Desperate to feel more of him, I clawed at the back of Lash’s shirt, but fumbled trying to lift it up over his head.
He had no such trouble with my bra. With a single swipe of his hand, he lifted the remaining tatters of silk and lace up over my head and arms, freeing my breasts. His growl of appreciation echoed off the walls of the cave, sending me deeper down that spiral of desire.
“Oh God, yes,” I cried as he lifted me up, his mouth capturing one nipple, then the other.
I couldn’t help myself. Gasps and moans tumbled out of my mouth. He licked and teased me to such heights of pleasure that when he finally pulled back, I found myself begging for more.
“Please, Lash. Please.” Heaven help me, I could barely recognize my own voice; it was so raspy. “Don’t stop.”
“I won’t,” he swore as he carried me away from the wall, kicking the scattered animal pelts into a hasty pile before lowering me down top.
But before he could make good on his promise, I’d pulled him back into another deep kiss. One that had me exploring the feel of his lips and teeth and tongue.
For someone who had supposedly never been with a woman before, the man certainly knew how to kiss. Every move of his body only increased my hunger and intensified my desire. I craved every inch of him.
I couldn’t take the anticipation any longer. I needed all of him. Now.
Pushing my hand down past the waist of his pants, I curled my hand around the swell of his cock.
The guttural sound of pure pleasure he made mixed with my gasp of surprise.
Well, damn. Apparently, the dream had been accurate. Remarkably so.
His hard cock was ridiculously heavy in my hand, the width spilling over the sides of my palm, the length putting every other man I’d ever been with to shame. Hell, even some of the most extreme toys I’d seen on adult store shelves didn’t measure up.
For a moment, my courage faltered.
“Um, Lash?”
“I know,” he said through gritted teeth. “Your rule about things thicker than you can wrap your hands around. Don’t worry.”
Easy for him to say.
“But—“
“No more buts.”
His fingers hooked into the belt loops of my pants. In one swift, smooth motion, he slipped them down my legs, leaving me naked.
A heartbeat later, my back arched as his touch slipped between the slick folds of my labia. Two of his fingers delved into the heat of my cunt as the pad of his thumb pressed against my clit.
“Oh, fuck!”
Light exploded behind my closed eyes as my back arched, opening myself up even further to the exquisite sensation. I’d never felt so full in the whole of my life…and this was just his hand.
How in the hell could I possibly take more?
But before that worry could take root in my mind, my whole body convulsed in a violently powerful orgasm. The most intense I’d ever experienced.
Wet heat rushed out of me, drenching Lash’s hand and soaking my thighs.
Oh my God.
After the shaking stopped, my back flattened out again, and I collapsed into the soft embrace of the furs, out of breath and satiated.
But Lash wasn’t done yet.
Flat on my back, I felt my knees being pressed apart and opened my eyes to see him angling himself between my open legs, giant cock in hand and ready to take me.
Just like he’d promised.
Maybe I should have been afraid, but with all the endorphins running through my system, I couldn’t feel anything but another tremble of sweet anticipation as the head of his cock stretched the opening of my pussy wide.
Pleasure and pain mixed together as he surged forward, pushing my body to the limit. For a brief moment, I feared that I might shatter in earnest—shred into a hundred pieces.
But then something shifted.
It felt like surrender, my body submitting to the demands of his.
There was another warm gush. Another splash against my thighs. And suddenly, he was inside me.
I cried out at the sensation.
Nothing had ever felt so right.
So perfect.
Nothing had ever made me feel so whole.
And then, God help me, he started to move.
Stroke after stroke, Lash delved in and out of my body, the ecstasy building with every move of his hips.
I came again and again. Each time better than the last, until I was afraid that sensation would swallow me whole, and I’d lose myself forever.
But still, I found myself begging for more.
Yes, Lash!
Please!
Don’t stop!
Dear God, don’t stop!
On and on, until words finally failed me, and I was reduced to nothing more than weak cries and moans.
Only then did Lash’s growls change, becoming louder and more urgent. His thrusts more powerful. More intense.
Until his arms wrapped tight around me and didn’t let go.
Not even as his cock twitched and surged, flooding my body with his come.
And even then, it wasn’t over.
Because before I could take a breath, another sensation started to grow inside me.
Something harder.
Something larger.
Something completely new.