10. Grok
I carry Lily through the torch-lit corridors of the stronghold, her slight weight a precious burden in my arms. The heat of her body, the soft press of her curves against my chest...it”s intoxicating, maddening, a temptation that sets my blood to boiling and my heart to pounding.
I want her. Gods, how I want her, with a hunger that goes beyond mere flesh, mere need. I want to claim her, consume her, brand her as mine in every way there is...until she”s imprinted on my very soul, a part of me as vital and necessary as breath.
Until she”s bound to me, irrevocably and eternally...just as I”m bound to her, heart and body and burning, aching spirit.
Mine, I think fiercely, savagely, as I shoulder open the door to our chambers. Mine, mine, mine...
The room is dim and warm, lit only by the flickering glow of the hearth and a few scattered candles. But it”s enough to limn Lily”s face in gold, to paint her skin in shades of honey and cream as I lower her gently to the furs of our bed.
”Lily,” I rumble, my voice low and rough with emotion. ”My mate, my queen...gods, do you have any idea what you do to me? How desperately I crave you, every second of every fucking day?”
Her breath hitches, her eyes fluttering shut as she leans into my touch. ”Show me,” she breathes, a plea and a challenge all at once. ”Make me feel it, Grok. Make me yours...in every way there is.”
A growl tears from my throat, a sound of pure, primal need. In a heartbeat, I”m on her, my mouth claiming hers in a kiss that sears me to my very soul. She opens for me with a soft, needy sound, her lips parting and her tongue tangling with mine in a slow, sensual dance that makes my blood burn, my body ache with the need to possess her, to make her mine.
My hands are everywhere, tugging at her clothes, her hair, mapping the lush curves and delicate hollows of her body like I”m blind and she”s my only anchor, my only light. She arches into my touch with a breathy little moan, her own fingers scrabbling at my shoulders, my back, as if she”s trying to pull me closer, to crawl inside my very skin.
”Off,” I grunt against her lips, my claws shredding her dress like so much gossamer. ”I need to see you, feel you...gods, Lily, I need to taste every fucking inch of you...”
She gasps as the cool air hits her bared flesh, her nipples pebbling into tight, rosy peaks that make my mouth water, my cock throb.
”Beautiful. So fucking beautiful, my mate...my perfect, precious girl...”
I lower my head to lave one with my tongue, savoring the salt-sweet taste of her, the way she shudders and mewls beneath me like I”m unmaking her with every touch, every rasp of my teeth against her tender skin.
“Yes,” she pants, her fingers tangling in my hair, holding me to her. ”Oh fuck, Grok, yes...just like that, don”t stop, please don”t stop...”
I growl my approval, my lips closing around her nipple and suckling, hard and greedy. She bucks up with a choked cry, her nails digging into my scalp as pleasure courses through her, as I course through her, branding her with my mouth, my need.
I could spend hours like this, I think hazily, lost in the hot, honeyed haven of her body. I could spend days learning her, mapping her, wringing sweet, desperate sounds from her kiss-bruised lips...until she”s trembling and taut, my name a broken litany on her tongue as I shatter her again and again.
But the need, the hunger, is too fierce, too consuming. It roars through my veins like wildfire, demanding more, harder, until there”s no part of her that doesn”t bear my mark, my claim.
With a low, rough sound, I release her breast and blaze a trail of hot, open-mouthed kisses down the taut plane of her stomach. She quivers beneath me, her breath coming quick and shallow, her fingers gentling in my hair like she”s soothing a wild thing, a creature of fang and fury.
And maybe I am, I think dimly. Maybe she”s the only one who can gentle me, tame me...even as she stokes the flames of my desire higher, hotter, until I”m half-mad with the need to have her, to claim her as my own.
I reach the apex of her thighs, breathing in the sweet, musky scent of her arousal. Gently, reverently, I part her folds with my fingers, baring the slick, glistening pink of her sex to my hungry gaze.
”Oh gods,” she says, writhing beneath my hungry touch. ”Grok, please...”
”Shh,” I soothe, pressing a soft kiss to the inside of her thigh. ”Let me taste you, sweet. Let me worship you the way you deserve...the way I”ve ached to, since the moment I first scented you on the wind.”
She shudders at my words, a low, liquid moan threading from her lips...and then her thighs are falling open in silent invitation, her fingers tangling in my hair and urging me closer.
With a rumble of pure, masculine satisfaction, I lower my mouth to her glistening folds and feast, my tongue delving deep to lap at her essence. She cries out sharply, her back bowing like a drawn bow as I stroke and swirl and suckle, losing myself in the taste of her, the feel of her, hot and soft and perfect against my lips.
I could die like this, I think wildly. I could suffocate in the sweet, slick heat of her and count it a good death, the best death...because I would have known her, claimed her, in the most intimate way there is.
I would have made her mine, if only for a moment...and that”s worth any price, any sacrifice.
But I don”t want just a moment. I want a lifetime, an eternity...and I”ll be damned if I let anything, even my own treacherous desires, steal that chance away.
So I gentle my touch, my hunger, laving her with soft, savoring strokes until she”s boneless and trembling, little mewling cries catching in her throat. Only then do I ease one thick finger inside her, groaning at the tight, slick clench of her body around me.
”Lily,” I rasp against her flesh, my eyes fluttering shut as I fight for control. ”Gods, you”re so tight, so perfect...I can feel you, squeezing me...”
”More,” she gasps, her hips rolling shamelessly against my hand. ”Grok, please, I need...I need...”
”I know,” I croon, working a second finger into her silken heat. ”I know what you need, sweet...and I”m going to give it to you. All of it, until you”re shaking apart in my arms, until you”re ruined for any touch but mine...”
She shudders violently, her thighs clamping around my head as I crook my fingers just so, finding that secret, spongy spot that makes her see stars. Her climax hits her like a thunderbolt, fierce and sudden, and she wails through it, her body clenching and rippling around my fingers like she”s trying to pull me deeper, to fuse us together at the most fundamental level.
I groan at the feel of her, the taste of her, honeyed bliss flooding my mouth as she shatters. I lap at her greedily, dragging out her pleasure until she”s limp and boneless, little aftershocks shivering through her sweat-damp skin.
”That”s it, my Red Blade,” I praise her, my cock hard and throbbing against my laces, so huge I swear it could tear them apart. ”Gods, you”re so fucking perfect when you come for me...I could watch you fall apart, make you fall apart, every second of every fucking day and never, never get enough...”
She moans, her cheeks flush and her nipples peaked with arousal. ”Want you,” she mewls, reaching for me. ”Please, Grok...I need to feel you, all of you...”
I snarl, so fucking hard for her, so hot and hungry. I claim her mouth with mine, loving the way she opens to the taste of herself on my tongue, my tusks pressing into her soft human cheeks. She writhes and thrusts against me, hot and bothered like the needy little human that she is. I want her begging, want her shameless and exposed, desperate for me, so I thrust my fingers into her slick channel until she pants with need, wet and clenching.
Only then do I rise up over her, my fingers slipping from her body to fumble urgently at the laces of my breeches. My cock springs free with a ragged groan of relief, heavy and hard and weeping with need.
Lily makes a soft, hungry sound at the sight of me, her eyes dark and hazy with lust. She reaches for me with shaking hands, but I catch her wrists gently, pinning them to the furs above her head.
“Look at me,” I rasp, my voice guttural and strained. ”I want to watch you, see you...when I make you mine, when I claim you so deep neither of us will ever forget.”
She shudders beneath me, her eyes flaring wide and wild. ”Yes,” she breathes, arching up to brush her lips against mine. ”Yes, Grok...my warlord, my king. Take me, claim me...make me yours, now and forever.”
I snarl at her words, at the sweet, searing rightness of them...and then I”m surging forward, the thick head of my cock notching against her slick, swollen entrance. I pause there for a heartbeat, savoring the heat of her, the way she pulses and clenches already, like she”s craving my possession, my conquest.
Like she”s been made for it, destined for it...just like I”ve been made for her, forged in the fires of fate and fortune to be the other half of her soul, the missing piece of her heart.
“No,” I command hoarsely as she tries to close her eyes, my eyes locking with hers, dark amber to stormy green. ”Keep them open, Lily. Watch me...watch us.”
She nods jerkily, her gaze never leaving mine...and then I”m pushing forward, sheathing myself inside her in one long, relentless stroke. She cries out at the sudden fullness, her hands flying to my shoulders and her nails digging into my skin...but her body welcomes me, clutches at me, yielding and molding to my invasion like I”m coming home, finding absolution in the sweet, secret depths of her.
“To tight,” I groan, my forehead dropping to rest against hers as I fight the urge to just pound into her, to take her with all the savage force roaring through my veins. ”So perfect, gripping me like a fucking fist...gods, Lily, you were made for me, made to take me...so fucking deep...”
She mewls breathily, tilting her hips to take me deeper. “Harder,” she gasps, a dark and deadly challenge. ”Fuck me harder, Grok...gods, I need it, I need you...ruin me for anyone else, make me yours...”
I snarl at the sweet, searing command in her tone, my control snapping like a frayed tether. With a low, guttural growl, I begin to move, my hips pistoning in a deep, driving rhythm that drags strangled cries from her lips, that makes the furs beneath us tremble with the force of my thrusts.
I”m lost to her, I realize dimly. Lost to the tight, slick heat of her, gripping me like a fist...to the broken music of her gasps and moans, the way she arches and bucks and writhes beneath me like I”m unmaking her, remaking her, with every fierce push and pull of our bodies.
Lost to us, and the wild, unfettered need that crackles between us, that binds us together more surely than any vow, any claim.
”Mine,” I snarl, watching her face as I take her, as my tusks brush against her delicate human throat. ”Mine, Lily...my mate, my queen...fucking MINE...”
”Yes,” she sobs, her voice making my cock throb inside her wet pussy, her nails gouging deep channels in my thick skin. ”Yes, yes, yours, only ever yours...oh fuck, oh gods, Grok...I”m going to...I can”t...”
”That”s it,” I growl, angling my hips to grind against her clit with every thrust. ”Take it, Lily. Take me, all of me, everything I am...fuck, you feel so good, so right...”
”Grok,” she sobs, and it sounds like a prayer, like a plea. ”I can”t...it”s too much, I”m going to...going to...”
”Do it,” I command, my voice a low, rolling thunder. ”Come on my cock, Lily...drench me, milk me...give me everything, take everything...now...”
She shudders violently, her head thrashing on the furs...and then she”s shattering with a raw, ragged scream, her body clamping down around me like a vise. I groan at the sweet, savage bliss of it, the way she ripples and pulses and milks my aching flesh...and then I”m following her over the edge with a roar that shakes the very stones, spilling myself deep inside her in thick, pulsing jets.
It seems to go on forever, the two of us locked together in an endless loop of give and take, pleasure and possession. But finally, blessedly, the storm passes, leaving us limp and trembling in its wake, our hearts thundering in synchronized tandem.
I gather Lily close with hands that shake, burying my face in the damp silk of her hair and just breathing her in, letting her scent, her essence, fill my lungs and settle into my very bones. She sighs softly, her arms twining around my neck, her lips pressing tiny, fluttering kisses to the sweat-slick skin of my throat.
For a long, perfect moment, there”s no sound but the crackle of the fire, the rasp of our mingled breath. No world beyond the warm nest of furs and flesh we”ve made, the consummation of something bone-deep and soul-bright.
Something inevitable, undeniable...like the pull of the tides, the turning of the stars.
”I love you,” I breathe against her temple, the words soft and fervent, barely more than a whisper. ”Lily Thornwood, my heart, my home...I love you, with everything I am, everything I will ever be.”
She goes still against me, her breath catching audibly. For a long, terrible moment, she”s silent, frozen...and I feel my chest seize with sudden, icy dread, sure that I”ve ruined everything, shattered everything, with my reckless confession, my unbridled need.
But then she”s pulling back to cup my face in her hands, her eyes huge and luminous in the firelight, brimming with a tender, awestruck wonder that steals the very breath from my lungs.
”And you are my king,” she whispers, her voice trembling with emotion. ”I”ve got you, Grok. I”m here. I”m here...”
I swallow hard against the sudden ache in my throat, the burn of tears behind my eyes. She hasn”t said the words, the precious, fragile truth beating like hummingbird wings against the cage of my ribs...but she doesn”t need to.
I can see it in her eyes, feel it in the way she holds me, touches me, like I”m something rare and precious, something infinitely cherished.
Something...loved. Wholly and completely, beyond reason, beyond rhyme. Beyond fear and doubt and the yawning chasm of all that divides us.
Just like I love her, I think fiercely, reverently. Just like I will alwayslove her, come flame or flood, trial or tempest.
No matter the cost. No matter the consequences.
Slowly, gingerly, I ease out of her, my softening flesh slipping from the hot clasp of her body. She makes a bereft little sound at the loss, a sound that twists like a blade in my chest...but I soothe her with a rumble of reassurance, a soft kiss pressed to the furrow between her brows.
She sighs, a small, contented sound, and burrows deeper into my embrace, her cheek coming to rest against the thunder of my heart. I wrap my arms around her, marveling at how small she is, how delicate...and yet how perfectly she fits against me, with me, like two halves of a shattered whole finally pieced back together.
”Stay,” I whisper against her throat, a part of me still terrified that she”ll slip away, that she”ll vanish like mist beneath the morning sun. ”Stay with me, Lily. Don”t...don”t leave me. Please.”
I feel her smile against my skin, her lashes fluttering soft as moth wings over the corded column of my throat. ”I”m not going anywhere,” she murmurs, and though a part of me knows it”s a pretty lie, a soothing platitude...I cling to it anyway, needing the comfort, the conviction, of her promise. ”I”m yours, Grok. For as long as you want me, for as long as you need me...I”ll be right here. I promise.”
My arms tighten around her, a shudder rolling through me at the quiet intensity, the unflinching certainty in her voice. I want to believe her, I realize. I want to believe, with every fiber of my being, that she means it, that she”ll stay...
That she”ll choose me, us, over the pull of her duty, her destiny. That she”ll defy fate and fortune, the yawning chasm of all that divides us...and build a life, a love, here in the circle of my arms, the shelter of our furs.
But I know better. I know her better, my fierce, unfettered mate, with her wild heart and her unyielding sense of honor. She”ll never be content to stay here, caged and cloistered, while her people cry out for her, while her homeland crumbles beneath the ogre onslaught.
She”ll never be able to rest, to be truly happy, until she”s out there fighting for what she believes in, bleeding for those who cannot defend themselves.
Until she”s fulfilled her oath, her calling...even if it means tearing herself from my arms, shattering both our hearts in the process.
The knowledge is a bitter draught, a cold stone in my gut...but I swallow it down anyway, letting it settle like lead in my veins. If this is all I can have of her, these snatched moments out of time, this brief, blazing now...
Then I”ll take it. I”ll hold it close and cherish it, imprint it on my very soul...and pray to any gods that might listen that someday, somehow, I”ll find a way to keep her, to claim her, beyond this night, this need.
That someday...she”ll be mine, truly and completely. In body and breath and blood, in heart and hope and home.
Mine, I think fiercely, savagely, as I press my lips to her hair, her brow, breathing in the sweet, precious scent of her. Mine to hold, mine to have...
Mine to love, with everything I am, everything I will ever be.
It”s a vow, a covenant, etched into my marrow, my soul. A promise I”ll keep, an oath I”ll honor...even if it damns me, destroys me.
Even if it rips me asunder and leaves me bleeding, broken, in the wake of her loss, her leaving.
My queen. My mate.
My everything.