Chapter 16
REDVYR
“This will do.” I didn’t like that we were surrounded by woods in this small clearing, no defense at our backs. But it was nearly dark already. “We should reach Ghasta Vale before midday tomorrow.”
With that, the men started unloading the wolves of their burdens. Bezaliel helped Tessa and the baby down from Mishka, and Jessamine walked toward the trees. I instantly followed.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked when she stopped to pick up a fallen branch.
“We will need kindling for a fire. I want to be useful.”
She walked on. I followed.
“Female, you should know by now that it is dangerous in these wilds. You can’t walk off anywhere by yourself.”
“Then come with me, my lord.” She smiled at me over her shoulder, a provocative look in her gem-green gaze. My knees went weak.
Of course, I followed, picking up branches in her wake, that sea-flower scent luring me closer.
“I noticed,” she said casually, “that you don’t use King Goll’s title when you speak to him. Isn’t he your king?”
“He is King of Northgall, yes. But I am the lord of Meerland. I don’t call him king because he doesn’t rule here, and because Goll needs to stay humble.”
Meerland was a specific territory of wildlands in Northgall where only beast fae lived.
She laughed, sending my heart rate racing. “Doesn’t he find that disrespectful?”
“Probably. But we understand each other well enough.”
We were quiet as we collected the kindling, a pestering thought bothering me.
“Did you want to go with him? To his castle at Windolek?”
“No.”
“But you did think him pretty, I wager.” I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. Some masochistic part of myself needed to know what she thought of him.
“How could I not? I have eyes.” Her tone was teasing.
I dropped my kindling. She spun and faced me, her eyes wide but daring.
“Tell me what you liked about him,” I demanded, corralling closer.
She walked backward, her bundle of kindling held in both arms. “His face is very pleasing.”
“What else?”
Her back hit the thick trunk of a birch tree. “His eyes are a beautiful blue with a ring of gold circling the center.”
“Drop the kindling, Jessamine.” My voice deepened to a raspy whisper as I loomed over her now.
She tossed it aside, flattening her palms against the trunk beside her hips.
“What else?” I demanded.
“His horns are smooth and glossy,” she said breathily, her chest rising and falling quickly, the green of her eyes swallowed by black.
A need beyond my control burned hot and fierce inside my chest, a need to claim her as mine.
Even though I knew that was impossible, I was reeling, falling, catapulting into a pit beyond desire or desperation.
It was like a will outside my own guided me, demanding to let her know that she belonged to me even if it was only for now.
I planted my hands on the trunk on either side of her head, her scent ensnaring my senses beyond reason. “Are my horns too rough for you, princess?”
Slowly, she lifted a hand. I curled my head downward, bringing my face closer to hers, our breaths mingling. She traced her fingers along one of my horns. I had no sensation there, but still, it pulled a groan from me when she touched me with such reverence.
“I like the roughness of them.” Her eyes were so wide, searching, seeking, and full of desire, her fingers curling tightly around one horn, her feline gaze sliding back to mine. “I like the roughness of you.”
“That is good to hear, princess,” I purred softly, leaning closer to her pale throat. Grazing my nose along her silky skin, I begged, “Let me taste you, Jessamine.”
I gripped her waist with one hand, careful not to curl my claws into her dress and flesh. I wanted to tear her clothes off and mount her right here on the fucking forest floor. The thought was a maddening temptation.
“Yes,” she answered so softly I might not have heard her if I wasn’t a beast fae.
Growling, I opened my mouth on her delicate throat, careful not to bite, sucking and licking my way down to the curve of her shoulder.
“Fucking hells, female.” My cock grew hard as stone the instant I tasted her, my mouth watering for more. So much more.
She kept one grip on my horn, her other hand clutching my bicep, her blunt nails digging into my skin.
I got even harder. A new scent wafted in the air, her arousal.
I was undone. Sinking to my knees, I gripped her hips and inhaled the sweet, musky scent of her, wanting to drown in this insane desire that gripped me with an iron fist.
Before I realized what I was doing, I had loosened the lacings of the slits in her dress and was pushing up her skirt.
Her arousal was intoxicating, wetness glistening between her plump, pale thighs and on her thatch of hair as vibrant as the color on her head.
Without thinking, I opened my mouth on her mound, drinking her in on a groan.
“Ah,” she made a little cry, thrusting her hips forward.
“Mmmm,” I hummed, laving her slit with my forked tongue, teasing her swollen nub.
“Goddess help me,” she gasped, gripping another horn with her free hand.
Sitting on my heels, I spread my knees and held her steady, needing to drink the sweetness of her fully.
“Lean back and lift this leg.” I helped her to bend her leg over my shoulder, which opened her even more to me.
Purring, I whispered, “Good girl, just like that.” Then I was licking and tasting, going mad with ecstasy.
She mewled and moaned, circling her hips, grinding her cunt against my mouth. It was beyond the most heavenly thing I’d ever experienced.
Jerking open the lacings of my trousers, I pulled out my cock, squeezing it on a long stroke.
“Oh,” she whispered.
I pulled back to look up at her while she still held my horns for balance, something obscenely satisfying in it. She stared down where I gripped my cock, her eyes heavy and pupils dilated with desire, her mouth fallen open.
My voice hoarse and gruff, I told her while stroking myself, “You look as if you’ve never seen a male’s cock.”
“I haven’t,” she murmured softly.
My hand froze mid-stroke. I let that information penetrate through the thick haze of lust and sink in, growling at the satisfaction of it. Hot yearning and a deep ache took hold of me.
With her thigh over one of my shoulders, her cunt spread for me, I slid my hand at her waist up to her breast and squeezed, pinching the tip between my thumb and forefinger.
“Ah!” she cried, her luscious mouth falling open as she watched me, her skin beginning to glow, taking on the luminescent colors of the syrenskyn. Her magick responded to desire.
I encircled my fingers around her knee at my shoulder to keep her there and leaned forward to suck her sweet cunt.
Within seconds, she was writhing and grinding herself on my mouth.
I hummed with pleasure at how quickly she was coming undone for me, flicking her nub with my tongue and sucking, tugging gently on it, while stroking my cock harder and faster.
“Oh, gods,” she groaned, her skin radiating brighter, her body thrusting harder against my mouth, one of my fangs catching on her cunt lips.
Rather than jerk in pain, she pulled on my horns, guiding my face closer before she began to scream with an orgasm.
I slid my tongue inside her, relishing the tightening of her cunt as she climaxed.
My reward was a flood of her juices which I drank, licking up every drop. I purred with contentment at her wild release. When the throbbing subsided and her breathing eased, I sat back, my cock painfully hard and erect.
She panted softly, staring down between my legs. Without a word, I stood before her. “Slide to your knees for me, Jessamine,” I told her bluntly, needing to fill that sweet mouth.
If she’d never seen a male’s cock, then she’d definitely never done this before. I was too far gone to wonder if this might be scary for her in some way. Desire was a white-hot flame licking up my spine. And I needed to empty my seed inside of her, specifically her.
I wasn’t ready—nor was she—to fuck her. I wasn’t sure if she was even ready for this, but the heat and eagerness in her gaze and my own desperate yearning overrode any sense I had left.
Even though Bezaliel had tempted me with the thought, I’d convinced myself that fucking her wasn’t a wise move, no matter how badly I wanted it. But I could have this. I could sink into her mouth and let her suck me.
“On your knees for me, princess,” I coaxed softly.
She eased down until her knees hit the snowy ground. I grunted approval at her eagerness to comply. Her mouth quirked in a small smile but vanished just as quickly.
“What do I do?” she asked, an anxiousness in her eyes as she still came down from the high of her orgasm.
“Just open your mouth and let me in. You don’t have to do anything else.”
She gripped my bare hips and opened her mouth, her eyes drifting up to mine.
Vix’s blood. I was going to be sent to the lowest level of the hells for this, I was sure of it. And I simply did not give a fucking damn.
Cradling the back of her nape gently, I whispered, “Yes, tilt your head up so I can see those eyes.”
She did, holding my gaze as I slid the reddened tip of my cock into her mouth. I clenched my other fist into her loose hair, my knuckles pressed against the back of her skull. I pumped inside a little farther, letting her get used to the sensation.
“So good, sweetheart,” I crooned. “You’re doing so good.”
She whimpered then suctioned her lips, her cheeks hollowing. The sight of her sent me spiraling closer to coming. She was so fucking beautiful.
“Gods, yes. Just like that,” I praised her, fucking her mouth a little deeper, tapping the back of her throat. “Feels so fucking good. Your mouth will be the death of me.”
I pumped inside her once, twice, then I couldn’t hold on any longer. With a deep groan, I spent some of my come inside her mouth then pulled myself free, ejaculating onto her up-turned throat.
“Swallow that down for me,” I told her, a possessive need gripping me in an iron fist.
She closed her mouth and swallowed as I finished pumping onto her neck and upper breasts. When I was done, my chest heaving, I stared at the mess I’d made of her, knowing I had crossed a line that I couldn’t return from.
I was doomed, for I knew now that I would take her to my bed.
I didn’t care if it jeopardized my clan in any way.
All I knew was the deep-seated desire I had for this woman which had grown into a monster of its own.
The question was, would this monster ruin me, possibly kill me in the end, like it had my father?
And did I even care if it meant I could have Jessamine?
“Here,” I quickly laced my trousers and helped her to stand. Her skin had dimmed to its normal hue, the brighter gleam of her magick fading.
She lifted the hem of her cloak to clean the mess on her throat and the top of her breasts.
I took the cloak from her. “Tilt your head back.”
She did, and I wiped her clean, though I couldn’t help but rub a drop of my come into her skin with my thumb at her collarbone.
I wanted my scent all over her, so even my men knew not to touch her.
The thought of another male touching her made me feral.
I knew then and there I was completely lost to reason.
I now understood the danger of maddening obsession, of how my father had lost his mind and taken my mother when he should not.
And yet, even recognizing how quickly I’d fallen, I couldn’t turn back. It was far too late.
Once she was clean, I finally met her gaze, hoping I wouldn’t find regret there. I didn’t, though there seemed to be disappointment.
“I apologize if I pushed you too much.”
“You didn’t. I wanted to do it.” She frowned. “Though I didn’t know what I was doing, really.”
“You knew well enough, I promise.”
She nodded, her brow still pinched.
“What’s wrong?”
Now she wouldn’t meet my gaze.
“Are you embarrassed by being intimate with me?”
“No.”
I lifted her chin so she would look me in the eye. “Then what is it?”
“You didn’t kiss me.” She shrugged. “I’d like to know what that’s like.”
My heart squeezed painfully. She wanted me to kiss her?
“You’ve never kissed a male before? I can hardly believe it.”
She cleared her throat nervously. “My parents, in particular my father, made sure everyone—including any interested suitors—knew that my kiss could result in their death.”
“Why?”
“My fangs. He told them they are venomous. But they’re not.” She frowned again, seeming to want to say more. “They’re gone now. See.”
She smiled brightly, revealing a row of even, straight-edged teeth.
I chuckled. “I’m not afraid of your fangs. I don’t mind a little biting.”
Her already flushed cheeks darkened to a deeper blush.
“Come here,” I urged gently, slipping my hand beneath her hair to the nape of her neck.
I wrapped my other hand around the back of her waist and lifted her onto her toes, pressing her body against mine as I curled down to her. With more gentleness than I normally used, I brushed my lips against her full mouth, before teasing her lips wider and pressing deeper.
She combed her fingers into my hair and pulled me to her, pressing her lush body against me, her tongue playing against mine. I groaned, my cock hardening again at her softness, this intimacy I hadn’t imagined could be so beguiling.
Humming with approval, I slid my tongue along hers, reveling in the sweetest sensation I’d ever known—Jessamine in my arms, her scent, her body, her essence cocooning me in ecstasy.
I broke the kiss and pressed my forehead to hers. “You will be the death of me, sweet Jessamine.”
She laughed, joy in her eyes, because she thought I was jesting. All I could think of was my father, his mistake of taking a female who wasn’t his mate into his clan, and how it had destroyed him and my mother, eventually killing them both.
I cast those thoughts aside as I smiled down at her, holding her close for a moment longer, relishing this feeling, for I knew there was no path forward that didn’t end with her beside me—in my bed, in my life, bearing my children. If it led to my death, that was fine with me.
Let the gods do what they will. Jessamine was mine.