Chapter Eleven
Seraphine
I lay in Valen’s bed for like the tenth time since I’d crashed onto his mountain over a week ago. Because apparently this was where I lived now.
The kiss replayed over and over in my mind. My lips still tingled hours later from the memory of his mouth on mine. He’d been gentle until he wasn’t. A part of me was glad he’d pulled away when he did, because if he hadn’t, I would have definitely tried to reenact my cherry pie fantasy with him.
He’d left me breathless and craving more. Even worse was lying in his bedsheets. They smelled just like him, like cedar and smoke and wild mountain man. My stomach fluttered as I rubbed my bare thighs together, wishing I’d had the guts to ask him for what I really wanted.
But guilt twisted inside of my chest. The fuel. The emergency supplies. All of it was sitting at the bottom of the lake because I couldn’t let go of a stupid bracelet. Now the bracelet was down there with the rest of it.
I pressed my palms against my eyes, groaning as the image of the waterproof case disappearing into the black water flashed in my mind. Valen needed that fuel. We both did. And I’d cost us our backup plan because I’d been too stubborn to listen to him.
Desperate to cling to the past.
My friends would have been horrified. Courtney would have strangled me for being so reckless.
The thought made me smile despite everything. Courtney had always been the practical one, the voice of reason when the rest of us got carried away with outrageous plans.
“Stop apologizing for existing,” Valen had said. His words echoed in my mind.
He’d looked so scared right before I plunged into the water. If it hadn’t been for that rope he’d insisted on tying around our waists, I might not have even made it out.
Valen was right about one thing. I’d been living in purgatory all these years. Never fully alive, but never really gone. Just existing in this in-between space, afraid to want anything, afraid to take up space.
I was tired of going through the motions. I wanted to make my own choices, not just checking items off someone else’s bucket list. It was time for me to make my own memories and mistakes. That started with stopping feeling guilty for every breath I took, and with being grateful I was alive.
I wanted to live.
Like really live.
I touched my fingers to my lips, remembering the way Valen had deepened the kiss. Like he was trying to take every piece of me, including my soul. There had been a possessiveness to the way he touched me, like I was his, and always had been.
I trailed my hand over my breasts, touching myself under the sheets. Valen had left me in his bed after I’d fallen asleep. I assumed he was in his shed, which meant he would be gone for a long time.
My hand slipped lower between my spread legs. I was so wet just from the memory of him, of his lips on mine. A moan slipped from my lips as my finger glided over my clit.
I dipped lower, letting my finger slide inside of me, imagining it was his cock. God, he was so big. Would he even fit? The thought had me fucking myself, chasing the heat and friction.
I let myself get lost in the memory of his lips on mine, the sight of him stepping out of the shower. Moans tumbled from my lips before I could even stop them. I whispered his name, desperate to come.
“Stop.”
Valen’s voice was low and sharp, and my hand froze instantly like I’d just been caught stealing.
Shame flooded through me so hard I could barely breathe.
Fuck, I hadn’t even heard him come back into the cabin.
I looked up slowly, finding him leaning against the doorframe.
His eyes burned with heat, locked on my hand below the sheets.
“I said stop, Seraphine.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks as I yanked my hand free. My body, traitorous as ever, ached from the sudden loss of friction. There was no hiding from this now. But I hadn’t expected him to look… angry.
His footsteps were quiet as he crossed the room and stood at the end of the bed. “What do you think you’re doing, little lamb?”
“Nothing,” I breathed, mortification rolling through me.
“Really?” He arched his eyebrow. “Because it looked a hell of a lot like you were fucking yourself in my bed. Is that not the case?”
“Valen…”
He held up his hand. “Careful. If you lie to me, I’ll bend you over my knee and spank that pretty little ass until it’s red.”
I squeezed my thighs together at the thought, unable to stop the desperate sound in my throat.
“Oh, I see.” He chuckled darkly. “You’d like that? For my hands to mark you, to show you what happens when you misbehave?”
God, did I ever.
I bit my bottom lip, getting lost in the darkness in his eyes. If we crossed this line now, there was no going back.
I nodded slowly. “Yes.”
A devilish grin flashed across his face as he reached for the sheet, tugging it down. I was naked underneath, and his eyes drank in every inch of me. My chest rose and fell sharply, chills running down my spine at the feral look in his eyes.
“Fucking stunning,” he growled. When the sheet got to my calves, he ripped it off the bed until I lay there before him like a virgin sacrifice waiting to be claimed.
The room grew hotter as he towered over me. I could make out the outline of his cock through his jeans, and I squeezed my thighs together, desperate for any kind of touch.
Slowly, he stripped off his shirt and climbed onto the bed. “Open your legs, Seraphine. Let me see how wet that pretty pussy is for me.”
My legs fell open on their own, my hands gripping the sheets at my sides. I was exposed to him, but instead of feeling embarrassed, I was more turned on than I’d ever been in my life.
“You’re soaked, little lamb.”
I trembled under the weight of his stare, my pulse pounding in my throat. “Valen…”
“Be quiet.” He spread my legs more as he climbed between them. His fingers trailed up my calves to my thighs, igniting a trail of fire.
Without warning, his hand came down and he slapped my pussy. Not hard enough to hurt; I knew he wasn’t trying to inflict pain.
I cried out and instinctively tried to close my legs, but he held them open. His fingers dug into the flesh of my thighs, and I knew there would be bruises there later.
“You don’t touch yourself unless I say you can. Understood?” His hungry eyes met mine, and I nodded.
His hand came down again, slapping me with just the right amount of pressure to have me moaning. “Use your words, Seraphine.”
“Yes,” I gasped. “I understand.”
“You come when I say you can, and not a second before.”
“Yes.” Fuck, I’d known Valen liked to be in control, but I didn’t know that also pertained to the bedroom. It was beyond sexy, and at this point I was willing to agree to anything he said so long as he touched me soon.
The ache between my legs throbbed, unrelenting as he gazed down at my pussy. My entire body was burning, shame and desire morphing into something feral. He leaned down, his mouth grazing between my breasts.
His eyes were hooded with lust as my breathing came quicker.
His tongue traced down my stomach, leaving a wet trail as he licked and kissed his way down my body.
I’d never experienced anything like this.
The want, the need to be devoured by him was too much.
My skin burned everywhere he was touching, licking, and kissing.
“Please, Valen.” I sounded desperate, even to my own ears.
“Begging already, little lamb?” He laughed, the sound dark and vibrating against my skin. “Good girl.”
When his mouth finally claimed me, my entire world shattered. His tongue was relentless as he stroked my clit. It was like lightning tearing through me.
My body trembled as his tongue teased me, slow and merciless, making me shake with need.
He wasn’t just touching me; he was devouring me.
My hips jerked, trying to get closer to his mouth, but his hand pressed hard into my stomach, forcing me to take every single flick and stroke of his tongue.
He traced slow circles, coaxing sounds out of me I’d never made before.
Every nerve in my body felt alive, like it was burning, and I only wanted one thing.
Valen Creed.
I was a pathetic mess, trembling, grinding, pleading with him to let me come. It was more than begging, it was praying and his only answer was with his tongue.
My sobs tangled with his guttural growls, both of us sounding feral.
“Mine,” he growled as he bit into the flesh of my thigh. His thick fingers stroked my clit, then slid deep inside of me, making me gasp. “So fucking tight for me, Seraphine. I’m going to enjoy breaking you. Making you mine.”
“Oh, God, Valen. Please,” I pleaded. Pressure coiled tight inside of me, building and building until I thought I was going to break.
His mouth claimed me once again, his finger fucking me, and when he finally said I could come, I sobbed his name, shaking as wave after wave of pleasure crashed over me.
“You’re mine, Seraphine. Every scream, every cry, it all belongs to me now.”
And God help me, did I want to give it to him.
*** ***
“Do you want me to carry you?” Valen tossed over his shoulder with a laugh as we trekked through the snow.
I should have said yes, but I didn’t want to come off as needy after getting the best orgasm of my life. He’d held me afterwards. Called me beautiful and perfect, murmured all types of dirty things that had me practically purring.
Note to self: apparently, I purr now. When did I become part cat? Before I know it, I’ll be rubbing against his leg and demanding he rub my belly. Though honestly, after what he just did with his mouth and hands, I don’t think I’d be opposed to that.
When he’d offered to show me his shed, my curiosity had won over any rational sense. Which, considering our history, was probably not the smartest move, but I couldn’t help myself. If he was planning on killing me, he wouldn’t have bothered with the orgasm first.