Chapter 15
Fenris slowly emerged from sleep before dawn. Linnea's sweet scent of cloudberries, hot magic, and female musk surrounded him and dug its claws in.
He had wrapped himself protectively around Linnea in the night without meaning to. His mouth was at the nape of her neck, an arm slung over her waist, and his thigh between hers.
His cock was uncomfortably hard against the swell of her ass, and he couldn't remember wanting anything so fucking much. He tried to think of cold things. Icy rivers. The void below Yggdrasil. The frost on his teeth in winter.
It didn't work. She smelled too good.
Mate, his wolf said, and stretched inside him, satisfied as a cat in the sun.
She's sleeping, like we should be, Fenris told him.
Mate, his wolf said again, undeterred. Warm. Ours.
Like he needed the reminder. He hadn't held a woman in his bed in more than a thousand years, and Linnea was shredding what little self-control he had.
She stirred with a small sleepy movement, her hips shifting back against him by half an inch, and her body settled deeper into his warmth.
His cock twitched against her, and he bit down a whine that was trying to climb up his throat.
"Forgive me," he said low against her ear, voice rough with sleep. "Am I crushing you?"
"No," Linnea whispered, fast enough that he realized she was more awake than he thought. "No, you're—no."
Her scent shifted, hot arousal mixing with her sweetness, hitting him low in the belly and making his dick throb. She moved against him again more deliberately.
Fenris set his teeth against the side of her throat where his mouth already was, very gently, not biting, just a careful warning.
"Is there something you need, little singer?" he asked softly against her skin. He kept his hand on her hip and didn't move his thigh. He pressed a kiss to the shell of her ear, making her whimper. "Whatever you want of me, as much, or as little, you have only to say, Linnea."
She turned her head against the pillow. Just enough to look at him, her cheek pressed to the linen, her eyes wide and hair mussed.
He turned her face the rest of the way to his with the careful crook of one finger under her jaw. The rough pad of his thumb swept over the high curve of her cheekbone, over the constellation of freckles on her nose, each a tiny fleck of gold against her skin.
His thumb drifted lower, ghosting over the soft swell of her bottom lip. A low growl rumbled in his chest, remembering the taste of those lips. It had burned on his tongue since the dance floor.
Linnea's breath moved hot over his thumb. "Will you think less of me if I say yes?"
"Never. You drove me half mad in that dress last night," he replied. "I haven't been able to think of anything else since you walked out wearing it. Now, I've rested, I'm only thinking of it more."
Linnea kissed him, her hand coming up between them and resting against his bare chest. He opened his mouth against hers and teased her tongue.
"Please," she whispered against his lips. "Touch me. Please."
"You're so lovely," he murmured, his hand moving slowly under the hem of her sleep shirt. Her skin was so soft, the curve of her waist fitting his palm like it had been made for it. Her hips ground up against him, and his thumb stroked the underside of her breast.
"Tell me to stop, and I will stop," he promised, his mouth moving along her jaw.
"Oh, fuck, please don't stop," Linnea said, voice shaky.
Fenris's hand moved down and dipped under the waistband of her flannel pants. He growled when he found her without underwear. He cupped her pussy, his fingers sliding down to where she was already slick for him.
"There you are," he breathed, stroking her. She gasped into his mouth, her hand gripping his arm hard enough to leave nail marks. Fuck, he loved the idea of her marking him up.
He moved his fingers slowly, learning her, listening to the small catches in her breath. He paid attention to what made her shake against him and whimper into his mouth. His thumb circled her clit while one finger pressed slowly inside.
"Oh, gods," she gasped, her hips rocking against him.
"That's it, my little singer," Fenris growled, adding another finger, stretching her, giving her more until she was fucking his hand.
He licked the sweat from her neck, holding her tight to him so his hard dick was pressed against her ass, every desperate thrust of her hips sending shocks of torturous pleasure through him. He was going to come if she kept going.
"Do you feel what you do to me?" he whispered against her throat. "How fucking hard I am because I'm touching you?"
"Fenris… I…" Linnea stammered, her voice cracking.
Fenris rubbed his thumb harder against her soaked clit.
Linnea cried out, the soft walls of her pussy clenching him hard as she arched against him.
Wetness flooded over his hand, before his own pleasure streaked down his spine and filled his pants.
He held her to him, not knowing who was trembling more.
Fenris kissed her throat, her jaw, the corner of her mouth. She was a tumbled mess, pupils blown out, and still panting. "Mm. Look at how wrecked you are." He licked her lips, kissed her little whimper as her pussy fluttered around him in aftershocks.
"Fucking hell," she breathed, before reaching down to the button of his jeans. "Let me return the favo—"
He caught her wrist and brought her hand to the damp spot over his cock.
She blinked at him. "You already—"
"I tried to tell you what you do to me," he replied and gently slid his fingers from her pussy.
Her mouth fell open. "Oh."
"Exactly. Now, go back to sleep, little one. You need your rest," he murmured and gathered her against him. "I have you."
Linnea tucked her face into the hollow of his throat. Her arm went around him before her leg hooked over his hips. He grinned in the darkness, stroking her hair until her breathing finally evened out.
He hadn't claimed her, but he had touched her and made her come for him. The scent of their combined releases was soaked into the sheets and their skin. There would be no hiding what they had done from the two other wolves in the house, and he didn't care.
His wolf was quiet. The yearning that had ridden him since he had woken had finally eased its grip on him. It wasn't gone, only temporarily settled.
Linnea murmured against his collarbone, and his arm tightened around her.
Mine, the wolf whispered, pleased and possessive.
For the first time, the man didn't argue.