Chapter Nineteen #2
The growl that tears from his throat shakes the windows in their frames.
Flames erupt in the fireplace across the room as Dohwan's control slips, his eyes glowing molten amber in the sudden light.
His fingers tighten in my hair, tilting my head back to expose my throat as his other hand fumbles with his belt buckle.
The metallic clink of the buckle coming undone drowns out my choked gasp.
Dohwan pulls back, his chest heaving as he yanks his shirt over his head.
Moonlight glides across the sharp planes of his torso, shadows pooling in the hollows between muscle.
My throat goes dry when his fingers hook into his waistband, peeling the fabric down his hips with agonizing slowness.
Every inch revealed makes heat coil tighter in my gut—the cut V of his pelvis, the thick length standing proud between his thighs.
His smirk flares when he catches me staring. “Like what you see, halfling?”
I bare my teeth and shove my own pants down my legs, kicking them off while keeping my black lace panties intact. His growl vibrates through the room before the sound fully forms.
“Take. Them. Off.”
I lounge back on my elbows, spreading my legs just enough to make the lace strain. “Make me.”
He's on me before I finish the taunt—calloused hands pinning my wrists above my head, fangs grazing my jugular. The rend of fabric echoes as he tears the panties away. Flames erupt from his palm, incinerating the lace to ash before it hits the floor.
“Hey, those were one of my good—”
His mouth crashes over mine, swallowing the protest. The kiss tastes like embers and rage, his tongue sweeping in to claim territory. When he breaks away, his lips glisten. “You taste like sin dipped in honey.”
His free hand slides between my thighs, fingers dragging through slick heat. I bite back a moan as he withdraws, holding glistening fingertips to the light. The glow in his eyes intensifies until they're nearly white-hot.
“Is this his?” The snarl rips from him, primal and guttural. “His seed?”
I buck against his hold. “Jealousy's an ugly color on y—”
He crushes his mouth to mine again, biting my lower lip hard. “I'll burn him out of you,” he vows against my skin. “Fill you so deep with me you'll forget his name.”
My laugh comes out breathless. “You'll have to earn that right first.”
I slam my knee into his stomach. He grunts, grip faltering just enough for me to twist free. Adrenaline floods my veins as I roll off the couch, putting the coffee table between us.
Dohwan rises slowly, flames licking up his forearms. The mate marks on his skin pulse in time with my racing heart. “Run all you want, little halfling. I always catch my prey.”
I back toward the hallway, hips swaying. “Prove it.”
He lunges.
We crash together in a tangle of teeth and flames, his larger frame slamming me against the wall hard enough to crack drywall. My knee connects with his ribs, and I hear the satisfying oof of air leaving his lungs.
“Feral little female,” he snarls, flames licking up his forearms as he grabs for my wrists.
I spit a sparking ember at his face. “And you like it, don't you?”
Our fire dances between us, his crimson flames warring with my amber ones. The coffee table catches fire as we roll across it. I scream curses into his hair, kneeing his thigh until he releases me with a growl.
Dohwan circles me like a wolf stalking wounded prey, his larger fangs glinting in the firelight still flickering across the carpet. “You'll be under me eventually,” he growls, the bold black lines of the mate marks on his arms the only thing covering his skin.
I spit blood on the singed rug between us. “Maybe. But not without the fight you've been starving me of since day one.”
He lunges.
We crash to the floor in a tangle of limbs and snarls.
My teeth sink into the muscle of his forearm before he can pin my wrists.
Coppery warmth floods my mouth as he roars, flames erupting from his free hand to char the ceiling.
I bite harder, relishing the way his muscles tense and spasm under my jaw.
He wrenches his arm free, leaving blood trickling over his forearm. His cock strains between his legs, flushed head pink and swollen with need.
My knee slams into his stomach.
The air whooshes out of him. For one glorious second, his weight lifts—
Then he's crushing me back into the carpet, one broad hand locking around the back of my neck. My cheek grinds into wool fibers as he yanks my hips up, ass exposed to the still-smoldering room.
The first slap cracks like gunfire.
I arch with a yelp, the sting radiating through my entire nervous system. His fingers twist tighter in my hair, pulling until tears prickle at the corners of my eyes.
“You didn't want gentle,” he snarls against my ear, breath scorching the shell. “So I won't fucking give it.” His palm lands again on the same throbbing cheek, the pain blurring into something darker. “Stay. Still. Unless you want third-degree burns and a matching set.”
I bare my teeth against the carpet. “Go to hel—”
He sheathes himself in one vicious thrust.
The world whites out. My scream shreds into a choked gasp as he splits me open, fire and friction and too much everywhere at once. Dohwan's groan vibrates through my spine, his hips flush against my battered ass.
“Tighter than I dreamed,” he rasps, fingers digging bruises into my hips. “Going to ruin you for anyone else.”
Flames lick up the walls as he withdraws—slow, torturous—then slams home again.
The world narrows to the brutal rhythm of his hips. Each thrust punches a ragged noise from my throat, the slap of skin on skin drowning out the crackle of flames eating through my curtains. Dohwan's fingers tighten in my hair, yanking my head back until my neck aches.
“Look at you,” he snarls against my ear. “Taking my cock like you were made for it.”
Fire licks up the walls as I arch, trying to force him deeper. His palm cracks against my ass again—sharp pain blooming into liquid heat that makes my walls flutter around him.
“Fuck!” The curse tears from me, half-scream, half-laugh. “Sadist,” I gasp into the singed carpet fibers, my nails scraping the material. His cock drags against oversensitized nerves on every withdrawal, the brutal stretch bordering on pain that only makes my walls clamp down harder.
“Liar.” Dohwan's breath scalds the back of my neck as his hips snap forward, punching a choked moan from my throat. “Your cunt's milking me like you want me to breed you right here on the floor.”
Flames erupt across the ceiling tiles when I buck against him. “Fuck you—”
His hand cracks down on my ass again, the sharp sting ricocheting straight to my clit. I bite through my lip to stifle the needy sound clawing up my throat, copper flooding my mouth.
Dohwan chuckles darkly, leaning over to lick the blood from my split lip. “You drew first blood, little halfling.” His teeth close around my earlobe, sharp points dimpling flesh. “Don't bitch about the consequences.”
He slams home with enough force to shove me across the floor, carpet burns scoring my knees. My scream shreds into a broken wail as he pins me in place with an arm across my shoulders, relentless pistoning never slowing.
“Not a single mark on you,” he growls against the shell of my ear. His free hand skims down my ribs, calloused fingertips branding trails across sweat-slick skin. “Your precious Eunho treating you like spun glass?”
Fire erupts from my palms, charring the floorboards beneath us. “Shut—ah!—shut your fucking—”
His thumb finds my clit, circling once with mocking gentleness before pinching hard. White-hot pleasure-pain arcs through me, my back bowing as a scream tears loose. Dohwan's fingers twist tighter in my hair, holding me trapped beneath him while his hips piston faster.
“And here you are.” His voice grates like gravel, the hand on my clit moving in cruel counterpoint to his thrusts. “Begging for your mate's teeth while another's cock splits you open.”
The room blurs at the edges, every nerve ending screaming. I'm distantly aware of Soot's frantic scratching at the bedroom door, of smoke curling from the smoldering curtains. Dohwan's scent drowns everything—fire and smoke and deep wood. Wildfire.
“Come for me,” he snarls, biting the tendon where neck meets shoulder. “Let me feel you shatter.”
I scream curses instead, fire erupting from my palms to scorch the walls. Dohwan laughs—a dark, feral sound—and redoubles his efforts, his cock hitting that spot deep inside that makes stars burst behind my eyelids.
“Stubborn female.” His teeth sink down into my shoulder, making me jolt as pain pierces my flesh, breaking skin as his thumb grinds against my clit. The dual assault shatters my last thread of control.
I come with a sound I'll deny making until my dying breath, walls clenching around him in pulsing waves. Dohwan roars his release into my bleeding shoulder, hips stuttering as he spills deep.
We collapse in a tangle of limbs and labored breathing, the smell of sex and smoke thick around us as the flames in the room go out with a hiss of air. His cock twitches inside me when I shift, drawing a ragged groan from us both.
Dohwan's breath ghosts across my ravaged shoulder. “Still think you hate me, halfling?”
I drive my elbow into his ribs. He grunts but doesn't let go, arms tightening like living manacles around my waist.
The bedroom door creaks open, Soot's glowing eyes peering through the smoke. Dohwan growls low in his throat, flames flickering to life around his free hand.
“Don't you fucking dare,” I pant, slapping at his shoulder.
He extinguishes the fire with a smirk, lapping at the bite mark he left. “Jealous little beast.”
I twist to glare at him, wincing at the sting of pierced skin. “Soot's better company than you'll ever be.”
Dohwan's smile shows bloodied fangs. “Keep lying to yourself, darling.” His hips roll lazily, still half-hard inside me. “We both know we're far from done.”