Chapter 58
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
Theo carried her until they heard rushing water. She turned her head toward the sound of the same waterfall where she had almost fallen to her death. She tensed in his arms.
He held her tighter as the cascading water illuminated with the brightness of the full moon. He neared the cliff’s edge.
“Where I want to take you, we need to fly in.”
She nestled her face into the hard crook of his shoulder. “Is it safe?” she whispered.
She felt his hand trace a line down her spine. Her whole body vibrated. “Nothing is safe out here.” He had given her the same answer before. “But you are not meant to stay caged within safe walls, are you, little hellion?”
She twisted a strand of his midnight hair between her fingertips as she smiled. “No. I don’t think I am.”
So Theo began to change. That monstrous side of him he held on a leash was allowed to surface.
She kept her arms wrapped firmly around his pale neck, trusting he wouldn’t harm her. She leaned back to appraise him and for once did not balk at the sight of those black eyes. Then he pulled her back to his chest and leaped upward, following the source of the falls.
At first, she kept her eyes scrunched tight. They catapulted high, higher, higher still, until her eyes popped open, taking in the view below. She started laughing; she wasn’t even sure why. Maybe it was the nerves.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you laugh before,” he said in her ear as they soared. “I think it just became my favorite sound.”
With a few more beats of his wings, a small cave came into view. Soft greenery dusted the surrounding rocks. Where the sun could reach, patches of white flowers sprouted at the entrance, which was carefully camouflaged under the falls. It smelled of moss and earth.
He turned his attention to her as his body changed back, once again securing his beast within. Both of them were drenched from the water’s mists.
“I know what you think of me. I know I’m a monster to you—I tried to stay away, but I .
. .” He traced one finger down her neck, over the collar of her now-transparent nightgown, to her beating heart.
Her excitement was evident in her peaked nipples showing through the fabric.
“Please tell me you’re sure . . . that you want this without a single doubt in your soul. ”
Her eyes closed, enjoying the lithe tracings of his finger.
“If you tell me that, you will never be alone another day of your eternal existence.”
Gooseflesh formed over her chest as he spoke.
“If you tell me that, I vow to fulfill every sinful desire you ask of me.” His plea was laced with agony and lust as he pulled his head forward, roaming his lips against her neck and exposed shoulder. She whimpered.
“Please say I can stay, not just tonight but every night after.”
She was having trouble finding the words to answer him as he continued his shameless begging.
“I have seen real monsters,” she finally began. “Ones that are cleverly disguised so you can’t see the vileness beneath until it’s too late. You are no monster to me, Theo. Forgive me for making you believe otherwise.”
He pulled back, showing her the boundless desire in his eyes.
“Stay with me.” She pressed a gentle kiss to the top of his rippling abdomen. “Stay.”
He wasted no more time talking and crashed into her lips again, devouring them as if he were starved. Their tongues danced in a sea of passion. He was better practiced, that was sure. He guided her with his motions, the way he had guided her out of her darkness and despair.
She pulled the shoulders of her gown to the sides and let the soaked cloth drop to her ankles, leaving only her undergarments.
His features went feral as he yanked off his own clothes. Their breathing became strained and desperate.
He kneeled down before her. In that position his mouth had full access to her pillowy breasts. He placed a hard, sensitive nipple in his mouth and began drawing out her sweet moans. Then he moved to the opposite side, licking and biting and tasting.
“I want to experience all of you, no holding back.” She ran her fingers through his long hair as he kneeled before her. He gripped her ass hard with one hand as he kneaded and explored her front with the other.
“No restraint?” his gruff voice taunted as he lapped and sucked her skin. She swallowed hard as he peppered sensual kisses down her stomach, stopping below her navel as he hummed in delight.
“Yes!” she panted out, fisting his hair.
His eyes went menacing as he gripped her hips with his massive hands and lifted her up.
Helaina was sure she would have bruises from his hard hold. She didn’t care, she wanted his marks. She would wear them proudly. He lowered her body atop a moss-covered boulder.
As he stood over her, his teeth grazed her chin, then her neck, then lower. He let his fingers trace over the fabric of her undergarments. The touch was a whispering tease. She arched for him, bucking her hips to meet his hand.
He plunged his fingers into the fabric and ripped them clean down the middle. She couldn’t help slipping off the boulder from the force. He pawed her thighs, holding her steady and pushing her back up.
“No, no,” he chided. “You aren’t running away from me this time.”
Her insides became an inferno. She had once found his domineering disposition infuriating. Now, it fueled a fiery desire she was begging him to satisfy.
“Spread your legs for me, Hel. Let me see what’s mine.”
She did what he asked, letting her legs fall to the sides with a slight tremble.
He growled in response, positioning his face lower, his stubble connecting with the insides of her thighs as he pressed lazy kisses there. Her legs quaked and her toes curled instinctively.
“You’re already shaking. Are you afraid?” he teased.
Yes.
“No,” she whimpered.
He groaned. “Such . . . a clever . . . liar.” He licked and kissed her between his words.
“Wha-what are you doing?” Her breathing grew ragged with every lick. A flushing pink crested on her cheeks and traveled down her chest.
“Tasting you.” He groaned. “You’re so beautiful this way, completely at my mercy.” He took one finger and lightly caressed down her gathering slickness. The rushing water around them did nothing to drown out her throaty moans.
His fingers glistened as he held them up in the light of the falls.
“Is this all for me?”
She was too stunned by how her body was reacting to him to speak.
“Answer me.”
She nodded, her moonlit eyes ablaze with desire. He placed his finger inside his mouth and sucked. “Mmm.” His sound of delight as he lapped up her wetness made her head fall back. “You taste like fucking paradise.”
Before she could answer, the tip of his tongue was gliding up the same path his finger had traveled. She let out a drawn-out whine at the sensation. She was completely inexperienced, but in these touches she trusted he would guide her toward pleasure.
He teased her, giving long, lavish licks until he found his way to her sensitive center. The patterns he created were unhurried and deliberate.
“Theo, oh gods, don’t stop.”
Her mouth gaped wide as she panted through his motions. Every muscle she possessed flexed as she brought her eyes forward to watch him.
His stubbled chin glistened with her arousal. “I could drink you for days. You’re perfect for me, my little hellion.”
She moaned, letting her head rest on the rock as his face dove into her once more.
He worked her with his mouth, letting a solitary finger tease her up and down. “Tell me what you want and I will give it, anything you ask.”
She was at war with her primal urges. One side of her not wanting him to stop what he was doing. The other wanting him to explore other ways to achieve the same reaction. Curiosity brewed in her mind at the ways Theo could satisfy her.
“Your . . . fingers, inside me,” her husky voice demanded.
He smiled. “So eager, let’s start with one.”
His gaze turned ravenous as he looked up at her, slowly dipping one finger inside. Her whole body tensed. At first there was pressure, but with each delicate stroke, the sensation matured into utter bliss.
He hissed between his teeth. “So fucking perfect.”
She swallowed hard and actually started pushing her body back onto him, begging for more friction.
“Another, I need more,” she panted, still rocking her hips forward. He obeyed.
The second intrusion required her to adjust. She adapted until pleasure was the reigning sensation.
“That’s it, Hel, take what you want from me. Show me what makes you feel good.”
She thought her first time would be awkward and painful.
Not with Theo, he was taking his time, ensuring she enjoyed every second.
She looked down at him. The piercing gaze she found staring back only fueled the craving she was developing for him.
He was intently studying her face with every thrust of his hand, taking note when it lit up with pure pleasure.
He took his thumb from his opposite hand and began brushing small circles on her swollen center.
“Theo, I think . . . I think I’m going to . . .”
“That’s it, scream my name. So every god in every realm can hear it.”
“Theo . . . I—” she cried out.
“Come for me.” He met her body’s thrusts with his own. They became rough and wild, bringing her first orgasm to life. “Only I get to see you this way, do you hear me?”
She let her mouth open in a cry that echoed through the cave.
“Say it, say you’re mine. Scream it while you come apart on my hand.”
“I’m yours!” She rocked her hips once more as she fell apart.
She lay there on the boulder, sweating and spent in the cold air.
“I didn’t . . . I didn’t know it felt that way. That it would feel . . .” She couldn’t express in words how that felt.
But Theo clearly wasn’t going to allow her rest.
His hand caressed her throat, then created a path all the way down past her navel.
“You did so good,” he praised, picking her up and placing her gently on the ground.
She startled as the coolness of the cave ground collided with her back.
His warm front neutralized the sensation as he lay down above her.
“There are so many things I want to teach you.” He kissed her again, allowing their foreheads to rest against each other.
“But tonight, I have to feel you. You have left me impossibly desperate, and I’m done waiting.” Her feverish nods were the only answer.
She slowed her breaths as she closed her eyes, focusing ease into every muscle in her body.
“That’s it, relax for me.” He rubbed his smooth hardness up and down her exterior, coating himself in the wetness he had created. He took his time with those motions, savoring each and every stride. Then he placed himself at her entrance.
Her head turned away as the overwhelming presence of him consumed her. He put his palm to her throat, firmly guiding her sight back to his severe face.
“You look at me when I’m fucking you,” he warned. His words weren’t angry, they were hungry.
Her gaze spoke of the same carnal need as she did as instructed.
He moved deeper inside as her body submitted to his claim. The growl he released was purely primal.
“Theo, I . . . it’s too much. I don’t think you can fit.”
His smoldering eyes burned into her. “We fit perfectly, Helaina, but I’ll stop if you tell me to.”
She pulled him in for a hard kiss at that. He always knew what she needed. To hear she had control in this.
“Keep going.” She let her legs fall to the sides as he sank deeper.
“Look how well you take me.”
She tilted her head to watch, earning another growl from him. She cried out as he filled her. She gripped his biceps and reared up, digging her nails into his skin.
He hissed. “Those have gotten sharper.”
She didn’t look, didn’t change focus. She sank her teeth into his shoulder as if she were trying to keep herself grounded. He let out a rapturous roar, then began making light, sensual strokes. The muscles in his arms flexed. “Fuck. What have you done to me?”
She squeezed his arms tighter as his pumping became rhythmic.
She released his skin from her teeth and craned her head downward again to watch his length gliding in and out of her. He delicately placed his hands around her neck, keeping her pinned to that position.
“You are a wicked little thing. Do you like watching me own you?” His thrusts became depraved and uninhibited. Just as she had requested, he restrained nothing as he plunged his length in her fully. The only response she gave was a cry. She was so close again.
“Let go for me,” he commanded.
His pace became brutal as her second orgasm came crashing down. Theo found his own pleasure, spilling inside her.
He stayed there, caging her in with his arms as both of them tried to catch their breath.
He kissed her damp forehead as they both came back down to earth.
As soon as she could breathe, she pulled his face to hers. “Again, I need you again.”
He grinned. “So demanding, I wonder if you’ll be this insatiable when you return.” He claimed her lips and did what she asked of him.
Delaying the impossible task ahead of them a little while longer.