CHAPTER EIGHT
Omaera
The water in Hell smelled like sulfur. It was probably the least surprising thing to discover since we arrived. Even though, really, everything shocked and scared the crap out of me. But the fact that the water stunk just seemed par for the course at this point.
Regardless of the stinky shower, I felt cleaner when I got out. I didn’t bother to towel myself off though, and rather just took my dripping, naked body over to the bed, collapsed backward, and allowed the slightly squeaky fan on the ceiling to cool me down—sort of. I don’t think a person could really ever be truly cool in Hell.
I was almost asleep when the door opened and my big, burly bear walked in, his eyes immediately zeroing in on my naked body. I’m not sure I’d ever seen a man ditch his pants that fast in my life.
My gaze instantly dropped to the awakening serpent between his legs, and both lust and fear crashed through me.
“Tell me you’re no longer bleeding,” he said, coming to hover over me, bracing himself on his hands next to my shoulders. “I ache to be inside you, Little One.”
“Period is officially over, yes.” I sniffed the air and made a face. “As sexy as you are, and as badly as I want this … maybe you should shower first?”
He dipped his head to give his armpit a whiff, meeting my gaze a moment later. “Yeah, good call.” With a grunt, he levered himself back to standing and took off to the bathroom. The shower started a moment later.
I closed my eyes again, tuning out the infernal, hellish squeal of the fan, and focusing rather on the steady, constant gusts of slightly cooler air that swept across my damp skin.
The bedroom was clean, tidy, and while a little dated, very nice. The linens were all navy-blue—the same shade as the door—and even the rug on the brown tile floor, and the tapestry on the wall behind the bed were blue. Mr. Jol really liked blue.
I was once again, nearly back in dreamland, when the shower shut off. I wasn’t about to deny myself the show of a lifetime. So, I peeled one eye open to watch my mate strut his hard, wet, naked ass out of the steam.
I swallowed.
Yeah, he was hard all right.
He said before that the Fates would help him fit inside me, but that just made me think the creepy dudes with crystal balls were playing into their voyeuristic fetishes, watching me get impaled by a beastly shifter. However, I supposed if there was one time I wanted their help and intervention, it was making sure Zandren didn’t split me in two.
A sexy, coy smile curled his mouth as he approached me. “Like what you see, Little One?”
“Haven’t met any other bear-shifters in my life, but you, sir, have got to be the sexiest.” I wrapped my arms around his neck as he placed one knee, then the other, into the bed, once again hovering over me.
“Stop worrying,” he said with a delicious purr to his voice as he dropped his mouth to my neck. “The Fates will help it fit. Remember?”
“Are you reading my mind?” I asked, raking my nails down his muscular back.
“Maybe just a little. Mostly your emotions though.” He continued to press warm, wet kisses down my neck and across my chest until he found a peaked nipple. “I felt them all day. They were exhausting.” He sucked an achy bud into his mouth. “How do you do it?”
“Do what?” I gasped when he scissored his teeth over the tender nub.
“Feel so strongly, all the time. Your fear and worry for Drak was …” he shook his head, “I get it. The guy is dealing with some pretty big betrayals, but it was a lot.” He moved over to the other nipple. “And I felt all those feelings you were having with Maxar last night. Can’t say that didn’t make me a bit jealous.” He swirled his tongue around my other nipple, then sucked hard until a sharp breath snagged like a hook in my throat, and my hips leaped off the bed of their own volition.
“You … you felt me with Maxar?”
“I felt your climax, Little One. All of them.” Moving his mouth down my torso, he twisted his tongue around my belly button. “Not gonna lie. I had some inclinations to come and join you two. I’d rather be with you and another dude than not with you at all.”
The idea of being with two of them created a new, intense heat in my lower belly and between my legs. Was that possible? I mean, yes, I knew it was possible. I’d watched porn and, for some reason, gang bangs were my genre of choice. But was it possible for me ? Would my mates even be cool with it?
“Not there yet though, Little One,” he murmured, continuing to kiss and lick his way down my body. “Maybe in time.”
“You’re reading my thoughts again,” I growled. “Not fair.”
“No. I’m not. Your heart rate picked up at the mention of it. So I knew you were thinking about it. And you became flushed. So I knew it turned you on.”
“Oh!”
He shouldered my legs apart and hunkered down on his belly, his face directly in front of my pussy. “I’m not saying it won’t happen. I’m just saying we’re not there yet. We’re a unit because of you, not because we want to be. Give us time.”
I nodded. “I know. I appreciate that you guys haven’t fought or killed each other.”
He smirked, and his tongue flicked out, hitting my clit. “One thing the three of us can agree on is that we never want to hurt you.” He hummed and his tongue slid out between the seam of his lips. “The food I ate was tasteless. This is the honey I’ve been craving. Spread your thighs a little wider, babe. Your bear is starving.”
Dear god. The man’s words alone were enough to turn me into a puddle, but when he latched onto my clit with his lips and sucked like his life depended on it, I nearly passed out. Then two long, thick fingers probed my center. However, he only slipped in one at first, then the other, once I was more relaxed. He pressed up on my G-spot, curling and applying pressure until I could barely think straight. The harder he pressed, the wetter I became. It was like a button for a soda fountain. And he knew exactly what he was doing. I shouldn’t have been turned on by the subtle slurping sound he made, but I was. He was coaxing more out of me because he loved how I tasted. He wanted all I could give him, and who was I to deny my bear?
Reaching down, I gripped his hair with my fingers, pulling just slightly as he slid one finger around my center, then down between my cheeks. I lifted my hips just enough and tipped my pelvis, waiting for the next breach. I was so turned on that nothing hurt. This was exactly where I needed to be to take my bear properly. To have him claim me the way that mates were supposed to.
I was ready.
Zandren showed me nothing but patience, kindness, and honesty since we met. He was a teddy bear wrapped in the fur of a killing machine. I knew he’d never hurt me, let alone make me feel unsafe or unloved. As I said the night we mate-bonded: with him, I felt seen. I felt cherished. I didn’t fall in love with him. I slid into love with him so seamlessly, so effortlessly, it was like two perfect puzzle pieces finally finding each other.
I rode his face, bucking up and holding him against me as he slid one finger into my ass. “Oh god,” I breathed, tightening my grip on his hair.
“You need to come for me, Little One,” he murmured, removing his fingers from my pussy and replacing it with his tongue. “I need to taste that release. Then I’ll fill you up. Then I’ll give you what you want. But me first.”
I had to laugh at that statement. Him first .
Uh, pretty sure he was bringing me pleasure, but he was under the impression he was taking what he wanted first. Sure, buddy. Let’s give you want you want first. Any day.
I tugged him tighter against me, enough so that he may have struggled to breathe slightly, but I was so delirious with the need to come, with the pleasurable heat spreading through me, that I didn’t really care. He’d find a way to take a breath if he needed one. He flattened out his tongue and swept it from my center to my clit hood and back, keeping in time with the rhythm I had while I used his hair as a lever. I was so close now.
My breathing was ragged, my brain was nothing but sparkly dust, and my belly grew warm and tingly.
“Come, Omaera,” he commanded, sliding two fingers back inside of me and sucking hard on my clit.
I didn’t come.
I didn’t climax.
I didn’t orgasm.
I fucking exploded.
Coming was the understatement of the century. There was no cliff to scale, to summit, to reach. I didn’t even set foot on the ground. I was flying the entire time, and when the pleasure became too much to bear and he told me to come, it was like my feet became rockets and I was hurled up into the stratosphere, breaking the sound barrier, and leaving the atmosphere until I was left breathless and dizzy.
One thing was for sure, these paranormal beasts were very good in bed. I’d been with all three of them in some way now, and none of them were selfish. They were generous, patient, and very, very thorough.
With a final sweep of his tongue up from my center and over my clit, he made me shudder in the echoes of my release, before he surged up and over me, the thickness between his legs knocking my inner thigh. “Your pace, Little One. Go as slow as you need.”
Biting my lip, I blinked up at him, so overcome with love for this bear that I had no fear about him fitting or it hurting anymore. He would fit, because he was mine. He was made for me, and I was made for him. The Fates wouldn’t pair us if we weren’t meant to connect in every way.
Smiling coyly, I pressed my hands into his chest and pushed him off me until he fell to his back. Then I sat up, hooked a leg over his waist, and straddled him.
His honey-brown eyes glittered with lust and amusement as I lifted up onto my knees, gripped him by the base of his shaft, and pressed the head to my heated entrance.
Following his gaze, I had to smile at how transfixed he was, watching himself slowly disappear inside of me. I’d never felt so full in all my life, and he wasn’t even halfway in yet.
An idea popped into my head and I paused, still holding onto him. I glanced around the room.
Ah-ha!
Without hesitation, I leaped off Zandren’s lap, his cock slipping out of me, and skipped over to the dresser where a small hand mirror lay.
I picked it up and brought it back over to the bed, instantly straddling him again, taking his cock and notching him at my center. But I didn’t start to sink down yet. I positioned the mirror in a way so that I could see what he saw. So that I could see my body stretching to accommodate him, to welcome him home.
His hands fell to my hips, his eyes chocolate-and-honey-colored fire now as I slowly began to sink down.
“Fuck, that’s hot,” I breathed, transfixed on the spot where we were connected.
“Little One,” he growled, the rumble in his chest making all my bones vibrate, “the things you do to me … The things I want to do to you …”
My belly did a little flip, and I met his gaze. “What do you want to do to me, Pooh Bear? Tell me.”
Something savage flickered behind his gaze for a moment, then it was gone. I should have been terrified, but I wasn’t. I was intrigued. I was turned on. I was hypnotized by the unadulterated obsession in his eyes as he watched, and I watched him.
I dropped down another inch, moaning from the stretch, the feel of him filling me, leaving no nerve untouched. My eyes kept closing involuntarily, and I had to keep opening them to focus, to watch him disappear another inch, sink deeper into my body. I squeezed him, prompting a low, surly growl to rumble through his chest and vibrate into me.
Only a couple more inches now.
His nostrils flared like a bull’s, and his chest heaved as he struggled to restrain himself. A small smile tipped my mouth up. He wanted to go feral on me, but he was being slow and patient—for me.
I dropped another inch and I could see his resolve beginning to crumble. His fingers dug hard into my hip bones, but I welcomed that bite of pain.
“Let’s do the last inch together,” I whispered, smiling when his eyes flicked up to mine. “Ready?”
Jutting out his jaw, he gripped my hipbone even harder, and I released the base of his shaft with my hand. At the same time, he lifted his hips, and I dropped down until we were finally, truly connected. Not even air could find space between us now.
“Little One,” he groaned as I squeezed my muscles around him. He flexed his cock inside of me and I did a little hip shimmy.
“What do you want to do to me?” I asked again. “Tell me. I want to know.” Biting my bottom lip again, I pressed my hands into his chest and slowly started to lift and drop, taking him almost all the way out to the tip, only to languidly drop back down until he was all the way inside again, tightening my muscles with each drop. I lifted up again, but hovered, swirling my hips in circles, but just around the crown. “Tell me.”
“Baby … I want every piece of you. I want to bite you, lick you, taste you—everywhere. Fill you up with my seed, and when there’s no room left inside, cover you with it. So no man ever questions who the fuck you belong to. I want you on your knees with your ass in the air so I can bite it, lick it, fuck it. I want an entire day of just us in bed where you do nothing but sit on my face. I want to fuck your throat so goddamn deep tears fall down your cheeks, and when I blow my load down your throat, you smile up at me as you wipe your lips. I want to go feral on you. Fuck you under the stars until you pass out, then wake up and demand more. ”
My pussy dripped. My arousal seeped down the length of his cock as his gritted-out words made me tremble with need. All I could do was stare at him, slack-jawed and trembling with need.
He kneaded my hips with his strong fingers. “We have a lifetime. Tonight, I just want to be with my mate. To finally sink inside her, where I belong, and feel her come undone around me. To taste her honey every hour until morning and fall asleep with her in my arms.”
Swallowing, I shuddered. “Zandren …”
“You’re it for me, Omaera. My one and only. My everything.”
Tears pricked the back of my eyes, and my throat grew hard and tight.
He released my hip and cupped my jaw as I rocked against him, his lower belly grazing my clit until I saw stars. I blinked open my eyes, and he smiled. “No tears, Little One. You’re safe here.”
“These are tears of joy,” I said with a huff of a laugh. “Of … happiness.”
Nodding, he smiled and shifted his hand until his thumb stroked my lower lip. My breath hitched and my teeth parted. He fed his thumb into my mouth, and I swirled my tongue around it as my rocking rhythm began to grow erratic the closer I got to release. His other hand left my hip and snaked around behind me. He dipped one finger low, gathering arousal from my pussy, then sliding it up my crease.
“You going to let me take you here one day?” he asked, pressing gently against my hole. “The Fates will help.” His cheeky smile only made me burn hotter for him. I pushed out with my muscles and he slid in effortlessly.
“I want you everywhere,” I panted, still riding him. “I want your mark, Zandren. I want the world to know who I belong to.”
“Don’t need a mark for the world to know, Little One.” His finger moved slowly in and out of my ass. I dug my nails into his chest where I had them there for balance, and he let out a grunt. “But it’d be a turn on every day to see you with my bite mark. To know you were strong enough to take it because you love me.”
“Please,” I whimpered, doing everything I could to hold off my climax.
With a nod and a growl, he surged up, his ab muscles contracting. Without allowing us to come apart, he withdrew his thumb from my mouth and used that hand to help push us toward the headboard of the bed until he was sitting upright. I used the wrought iron headboard for leverage now, lifting and dropping, and doing a little hip tilt at the bottom to give my clit that extra bit of attention. His finger in my ass kept going, and I ached to finally give in, to have us both come undone at the same time, sealing our bond as mates for eternity.
Pulling back a little, I met his gaze. Nothing but absolute, unfettered obsession stared back at me. I lifted up again, bringing my breasts to his mouth level. He latched on to a nipple and sucked. I threw my head back and reveled in the way the harshness of his suck just sent zaps of pleasure straight between my legs. He moved over to the other nipple and did the same thing, his finger behind me never stopping, just as my hip lifts continued.
“You’re close,” he murmured, swiping his tongue across my nipple. “Let go, Little One. I’ll catch you.”
“I … I want to come together.”
“We will. Don’t worry.”
Dropping my head back to meet his gaze, I took his mouth, sweeping my tongue through and tangling with his. He kissed me right back, and with a big inhale, I finally, at long last, gave over to the euphoria threatening to destroy my soul, and let go.
Maybe it was because we were mate-bonded. Maybe it was because I’d never had sex with someone I was also in love with. Or maybe it was all of that and the fact that Zandren was just really freaking good in bed, but the orgasm that hit me like a runaway train made the journey through the portal where my entire being was shattered into a million pieces, feel like nothing but child’s play.
However, unlike that portal jump where it all hurt, this soul shatter felt incredible.
Wave after wave of perfect, pure bliss raced through my body, starting between my legs and surging outward, up to my hairline and down to my toes.
Zandren broke our kiss with a loud growl and latched onto my shoulder with his teeth. I could feel his canine’s puncturing the skin. The pain was nothing compared to the pleasure that followed. The intensity, the pressure, the feeling of being absolutely consumed.
Still holding onto my shoulder with his mouth, he stilled, grunted, then let out a long, low groan as his cock began to pulse inside of me, filling me up just like he promised.
Hot puffs of air from his nose hit my neck as he let his orgasm unravel while marking me.
My own climax was still going, my pussy throbbing as my clit seemed to have a heart rate of its own. My knuckles ached from how hard I gripped the bed frame, and the stars that flashed behind my closed eyelids made it seem like I was watching a fireworks display at midnight.
Every time another pulse of pleasure surged through me, the place on my shoulder where Zandren was biting throbbed in the most pleasant way. It was like a new erogenous zone was forming at this very moment. New synapses were connecting, new neurons firing.
The final shudder of Zandren’s release prompted the waning of mine to begin. It took forever—not that I was complaining—the tremors were less intense, but still very welcomed. Finally, at long last, I was able to unclench my knuckles and release the bed frame, leaning back to gauge my mate.
He was careful unlocking his jaw and removing his teeth from my left shoulder. I was eager to see his mark. Would it be there forever? Would the scars just fade but never disappear? I wanted to wear his bite like the badge of honor that it was. Another symbol of our connection, of our bond.
Sweeping his tongue across the puncture marks, he kissed it a few times until I could see. Even then, it was hard to look at given the angle. So I reached for the trusty hand mirror to get a look at his handy work.
The bite mark was massive.
It was as if his mouth had shifted into a bear’s mouth, given the size. Puncture marks covered my upper bicep, part of my shoulder blade, and the top of my chest. There was a slight ache there, but nothing compared to how good it felt to not only have Zandren inside of me, but to wear his mark.
“It will fade a bit,” he said, almost sheepishly. “I may have gotten a little carried away. ”
I brushed my right hand across the puncture marks. Some of them were deep. There was no blood though. He’d either sealed them already, or somehow managed not to break the skin.
“I don’t want them to fade,” I said, meeting his gaze. “They’re from you. I want the whole world to see them.”
His cock twitched inside of me. “I expected to love my mate,” he said softly. “I never expected to be this obsessed with them.”
That made me smile. “Ditto.” Then I had to laugh. “Actually, not ditto. Since I never knew I had Fated Mates. So all of this is very new to me. But as far as mates go, I’m really glad you’re mine.” I snuggled in against his chest, his cock still safe inside of me, already growing hard again. “Can we just sleep like this?”
Trailing fingers up my back, he kissed the top of my head. “We can sleep however you want to, Little One. I’m happy and comfortable as long as I have you.”
I sighed and buried myself deeper into his embrace, already halfway to sleep. “Ditto, Pooh Bear. Ditto.”