Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
I inhaled deeply, cringing at the way the frozen air filled my lungs, and lunged around the tree with a spell on my lips. Fire burned between my palms in the shape of a sphere, but I’d miscalculated Bikkar’s position. Instead of taking the brunt of my magic, he came from the side, pushing my hands out of the way and quickly maneuvering himself around me. Bikkar pulled me against his body and held my wrists up before us both. I was engulfed by his size and easily restrained by his massive strength.
“Stop,” he growled into my ear as his body’s warmth flooded around me. His strong hold after the chase sent a ripple of excitement through my body that I loathed to even admit occurred. I hated this orc. Why the hell did my body insist on being attracted to him? Especially after this morning?
Because he’s warm , my mind argued. And strong. And honorable, apparently.
Because the others ran away from you, and he’s run toward you.
“Get off of me.” I struggled against him, but in a contest of might, there was no point. So I opted for what magic I had left in me now and shifted my foot as I whispered a spell for ice. It bloomed under Bikkar’s feet and shifted under my control. The sudden existence of ice beneath his feet sent Bikkar teetering off-balance for a moment before he regained it, but in that moment, I elbowed him hard in his side. His grip loosened and I took the opportunity to wiggle out of his hold.
This trick had worked twice today. It would not work a third time.
I sprinted forward through snow. Bikkar roared and lunged, tackling me to the ground beneath him. I lay there on my back, restrained purely by his massive hulk of muscle and power as he stared down at me. His lips tightened into a snarl, sending a terrifying visage alongside his tusks and burning eyes.
“You do not ”—he said, emphasizing his words by slamming a green fist into the snowy ground next to my head—“deserve the kindness I am showing you. You steal and kill and run like a coward .”
Fuck. My excitement jumped solidly back into fear territory.
“Why?” Bikkar demanded as his stared down at me. He was straddling me now, keeping my small frame in check beneath his. His chest heaved in time with mine. That detail sent a harsh strike of sudden need coursing through me. All of this was so insane, but after all the fighting and adrenaline, after the thrill of that chase, after everything , lust slammed into me hard. I needed an outlet for all these feelings. I needed?—
Stop. I froze just short of even thinking it.
“ Why ?” Bikkar demanded with a roar. He clenched his fist hard next to my head, but he didn’t slam it into the ground again. Around us, snow toppled in on the hole we’d made as we fell. The cold wetness seeped into my clothes, chilling my skin even as Bikkar’s body provided warmth.
“Because I don’t trust you,” I said as truth bubbled to the surface. There was no avoiding eye contact with Bikkar this close. No more room for lies or deceit or escape. There was only me, Bikkar, and enough snow to freeze us both to death.
“You shouldn’t,” Bikkar argued.
“Then why do you think I’ll feel safe thanks to orc law?”
Bikkar grunted. “Because orc law is sacred. It binds us all to its oaths, even when it protects enemies.”
“Like me.” It wasn’t a question.
“Like you.”
It was then I realized my palms were still pressed against his leather-covered chest. Held there as I’d braced myself against his tackle. As I’d struggled against him. But now, all I could think about was the way I felt his heart beating through his chest, hard and heavy.
“I ran because I know our history, Bikkar.” I was surprised when my hoarse voice came out barely louder than a whisper. This cold air was doing me in. “You should kill me. I would’ve helped my party kill you a few hours ago, orc law or no.”
“Crown law or no, apparently,” Bikkar pointed out. Anger kept his body stiff, but his eyes had stopped burning quite so hot.
Our stares met and for a moment that spanned heartbeats, neither one of us said anything. My awareness snapped to attention again where I touched his chest. Where his hips met mine, holding me against the ground. Where a hardness now pressed against my thighs. My core pooled with warmth at the observation.
Bikkar must have loved the thrill of the hunt as much as I’d liked being hunted.
Bikkar broke the silence. “I don’t want to kill you.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” I spat more out of habit and defense than truth.
Bikkar shifted, reaching for my hands and holding them above my head with one of his. Weary of magic again, clearly. I didn’t blame him. But even if I got free right now, there was nowhere to run. And there was definitely no ignoring the attraction, the sexual tension, thick between us now.
It didn’t help that I was beginning to realize I enjoyed restrained by him.
Bikkar reached behind him with his free hand and pulled out another length of rope. “I wanted to bring you to justice.”
“Only after Yule started.”
Bikkar grunted again and pinned me with a hot stare. “If you catch an orc in the heat of battle and expect to be shown mercy instead of death, that is your own foolishness. Yes, I would have killed you this morning had I caught you minutes earlier.”
I nodded to the rope in his hands. “What do you want to do with me now?”
I knew the logical answer was what he’d already stated: bring me to justice. But his hardness on my thighs and his loose grip at my wrists spoke to something entirely different.
Guess he’s not the only one feeling a need for release from this adrenaline.
A rumble built in his throat. “The question is: Are you going to try escaping again?”
I wiggled my body to show how stuck I was right now, but I hadn’t exactly thought through such an action. Bikkar hissed as my hips moved against his steel length. I couldn’t help but grin now that he knew I knew.
“I’m stuck, clearly,” I said as Bikkar recovered.
“Your magic,” he argued.
I wiggled my fingers this time instead to help him save some face. “You’ve bound my wrists, and magic as well. I’m about tapped for the moment.”
The hard truth of it was in this weather, with little resources, I was probably never going to make it Caiburn anyway. I definitely wouldn’t do so now with Bikkar’s massive orc body restraining me. Especially not since it was clear we both enjoyed him doing so.
Bikkar, seemingly taking a chance that I was telling the truth, let my wrists go. His huge fingers slid down my wrists, leaving light caresses down my arms and over my collarbone until his fingers closed loosely around my throat. Excitement jolted through me as he held me there, studying me closely.
“You don’t deserve kindness,” he repeated. I guessed it was more for his benefit, because at this very moment, it didn’t matter what I thought I deserved or wanted. He could crush my windpipe in a second and there was nothing I could do about it.
But… I was growing increasingly sure he wasn’t going to hurt me at all. An insistent ache throbbed between my thighs. Whatever he was going to do, I wished he’d hurry up and do it so my traitorous body would shut the hell up.
“What do I deserve then, Bikkar?” I asked to hurry him along.
Bikkar hesitated. It was hard to ignore his stare or the feel of his hand at my throat. Even harder to ignore his hardness pressing against my thighs, so close to the thrumming ache between them but doing nothing to satisfy it.
“Punishment,” Bikkar said as his fingers at my neck retreated, only to slip down my side. His other hand, the rope still pressed along his palm, joined in. He was holding me now. “You should pay for what happened today.”
The tone of his voice didn’t match his conviction. He’s trying to convince himself.
I smirked as his inner struggle became evident. If we fucked just to get this tension out of here and then went back to being enemies, I’d be just fine with that. Need burned through me, and it demanded an outlet now . I could tell Bikkar felt the same.
So I wiggled my hips against him once more. “And just how are you going to make me pay?”
His jaw clenched. His now hooded gaze blazed a hot trail from my face to my chest, where his palms slid up and over my ribs to my breasts. My pulse pounded in my ears, drowning out all noise. Bikkar grabbed handfuls of my breasts. White-hot need lit my pulsing core.
“Bikkar—” I started, but I was cut off by Bikkar grinding his hard length against me. A moan tumbled past my lips as a shock of excitement shot right between my thighs. Even through his clothes and mine, I could tell he was huge.
“You will pay with your body.” Bikkar snarled as his eyes went wide. I recognized this look—his uncontrollable bloodlust. The look he wore in the heat of battle. Only this was not a fight, and it was most certainly just lust . “I will claim you as mine .”
I had about two seconds to process what that might have meant before Bikkar leaned in and claimed my mouth with his. The kiss was violent and hot, his tongue filling my mouth and claiming it with a brutality I’d never known, but gods , did I crave it. He massaged my breasts as he kissed me, tilting his head to deepen the angle. His tusks pressed against my cheeks, but I found it enticing. Everything about Bikkar and this—whatever this was—was angry and rough and raw. The chase. The anger between us as enemies. I’d hated him for so long and now all of that was boiling over into this .
One of his hands slid back to my throat, holding me against the ground as he ground his hips once more against mine. His massive length was so hard, it might as well have been steel. I moaned as I once more realized how huge he must be, my mind stuck on his words. “You will pay with your body. I will claim you as mine .”
Fuck. Why did I find so hot? Why did I want this?
It didn’t matter. In this very moment, I wanted nothing more than to be fucked by Bikkar the Bonecrusher. If this was my punishment, I’d accept it with open legs.
I reached for his arms just to have something to hold on to as he rocked against my body, sliding me against the snowy ground while he claimed my mouth. But as soon as my hands left the spot above my head, Bikkar’s hand left my throat to slam my wrists back to the ground.
“You do not move,” Bikkar ordered. He let go of my breast and tied the length of rope he had around my wrists. “Your hands stay there while you accept your punishment.”
I bit my lip. A part of me wanted to say something sarcastic. To bait him out and make him angrier for my own amusement. But all of that disappeared as he ripped open the front of my top. Buttons popped and scattered. He tore through my bra and viciously sucked my breast into his hot mouth before I could even protest.
A cry of pleasure escaped my lips. I hated how meek it sounded, like I was falling apart in his hold. Because I really fucking was. A few hours ago, we’d been enemies fighting. He’d cut me clean with his axe. And now, now , he was sucking my breasts, restraining me with his hulking form, and dragging moans out of me that I didn’t even know I could make.
Warmth flooded between my thighs, the ache growing there becoming unbearable. I needed relief. I needed release . But Bikkar was punishing my breasts instead as I held my wrists above my head. His tusks brushed my chest, then my neck as he trailed his tongue up my chilled skin. His lips pressed hot against my neck. My breath came in quick gasps as pleasure rushed over me and just the slightest, most thrilling bit of fear knowing that at any moment, Bikkar could take advantage of this incredibly vulnerable state I was in and kill me. He could decide to say fuck it to his traditions and finish what he’d attempted this morning.
I have no idea why that turned me on more, but it did.
Bikkar’s harsh kisses trailed back down to my collarbone as he sucked on the other breast. His hands skimmed down my sides before going to his own, where he pulled a dagger from a sheath.
Fuck . There it was. The moment he’d turn on me.
“Bikkar!”
He growled and cut through my bottoms and underwear, revealing all of me to him.
I exhaled sharply as I realized he wasn’t going to hurt me. “You could fucking warn me next time.”
Bikkar’s hot glare slammed into me. “You decide none of this.” He reached between my thighs, sliding a rough, massive finger along my folds. His nostrils flared and the slightest smirk arose on his face as he realized exactly how ready I was for him. How eager. How fucking turned on he’d made me.
“You desire your enemy this badly?” Bikkar asked before slipping that finger into his mouth. A satisfied groan filtered past his lips that sent another shock of arousal through me. My gods. This is actually happening .
I wanted to respond but decided to play by his rules for now and instead opted to buck my hips beneath him.
“You eager bitch,” he growled as he claimed my lips again. I tasted me on him. It sent a heady wave of arousal through me. Everything about this moment had turned all I knew on its head. But I didn’t care. I wanted Bikkar. I needed him between my legs. In my mouth. Around me. I craved his touch, his hold. His massive warm body claiming mine.
“So eager for your punishment,” he said against my lips as his hand dove back between my thighs. His mouth found my neck again. His tusks roughly brushed my cheek. His hot breath tickled my ear. “I hate that you do this to me.”
Without warning, one giant finger slid into me. No precursor. No pomp and circumstance. Just a rough entry aided by the insane wetness that’d gathered since running from Bikkar. I moaned hot and loudly against his ear before my breath caught and my hips bucked.
“You are wicked,” Bikkar said as he thrust into me again. “A temptress. A criminal.”
He drove two fingers into me now and it was all I could do not to fall apart. An orgasm rushed toward me, building with every thrust of his fingers.
“Bikkar.” I groaned loudly. His fingers were huge and he was not being gentle. I would feel this in the morning, and it made me wonder how big his cock really was. How hard it’d be. How thick. My pulse thundered in my ears. My skin heated. I couldn’t feel the cold anymore, not with Bikkar above and within me. And then his thumb brushed against my most sensitive spot for the first time and I keened forward.
Bikkar growled as my core clenched around him. “You would enjoy this. Being held down and punished. Have you always wanted to be mine? Have you always wanted me to chase you down and fuck you in the woods?”
Oh, fuck . His words sent me over the edge as his fingers fucked me and his thumb worked me. I came hard . My eyes slammed shut and my hips bucked upward. My muscles contracted all at once as pleasure skewered me through. Hot and fast and hard. Bikkar didn’t stop; his fingers continued to thrust into me. His thumb brushed in circles. It was too much. The pleasure. The sensitivity.
It was only then I realized Bikkar didn’t intend to stop. Punishment.
Gods.
I moaned fiercely. “Please, Bikkar?—”
He smiled against my neck but didn’t let up. The near-painful sensitivity passed and pleasure slammed into me again. My hips lurched upward as another orgasm seized me. I cried out, not caring how far my voice traveled in the snowy woods, and threw my bound wrists around his neck. Fuck his rules. I needed an anchor before I drowned in this pleasure-filled sea.
But as soon as I came down from my orgasm, my chest heaving in his face, Bikkar roared.
“I told you to keep your hands above your head,” he shouted as he snapped up. There wasn’t rage in his eyes, but he definitely did not like me not following his orders.
That made me smile.
Bikkar’s glare heated again, and I realized that smiling was probably the worst move to make.
He lurched backward and slid me forward along the ground. I was confused until he moved backward too, knocking snow down along the walls our movements had made. More snow had fallen, but the heat from our bodies kept it from sticking to us.
“Bikkar, what are you?—”
His face was between my thighs now. As soon as his tongue pressed between my thighs, all breath left my lungs. His tongue felt huge and hot between my legs, combining with his fingers to send me straight into another orgasm. He had his unchallenged way with me. It wasn’t fair. I couldn’t touch him, couldn’t even speak, but he could do this to me time and time again. And gods, I craved it. I welcomed my third orgasm as it rippled pleasure through my body.
If Bikkar wanted to punish me this way all day, I’d let him. Even if it meant still being here come morning when he’d turn me in.
Would he still turn me in?
Bikkar rose from between my thighs, his lips glistening with me. I was breathless as I stared at him. Nearly falling apart in his arms as he rose to kiss me again—although “kiss” was far too kind a word for his brutal claiming of my mouth.
When Bikkar leaned back to study me, it was with a look so wicked, it shot right through me to my still-pulsing core. “I love the way you fall apart for me. That the same woman who’s caused me so much pain is mine , so fragile in my hands…” He trailed off and claimed my mouth again. My tongue met his in a rough dance. It was hard—so hard—to not reach for him again.
“Take me,” I exclaimed, surprising even myself.
“You said earlier you’d never beg me for anything,” Bikkar pointed out as he glanced down my naked body. His hands had found my breasts again, kneading them idly. “So quickly that has changed.”
“I’m not begging.” I didn’t beg. I was simply asking because I could feel the strain his desire caused him. And it was impossible to ignore the ache of emptiness begging to be filled between my thighs. His fingers, huge as they were, weren’t enough. I needed more. I needed him .
Bikkar raised an eyebrow as he studied me. For a moment, I was convinced he could even read my mind. My cheeks flushed, but why I’d be embarrassed about my thoughts now didn’t make sense. Bikkar had just fingered me ruthlessly in the middle of a forest. That alone would leave me sore tomorrow. But his cock?
A course shiver of excitement ran through me. Warmth throbbed between my legs as if he hadn’t just delivered three of the most violently delicious orgasms of my life.
Bikkar growled as he held himself up with one hand and reached for the front ties of his pants with the other. “You will beg before this day is through. I will claim you. Keep you as punishment. As my dirty little criminal.”
His massive, green length lobbed free as he tore down his pants. Only once I could see it in full did I think mistakes made been made. Bikkar’s cock was monstrous, much bigger than I’d guessed, and although I was no virgin, I did not think it would fit inside me. I gulped down the first taste of fear on my tongue. I wasn’t sure I had a choice now. Bikkar’s massive, hard length, covered in ridges that teased pleasurable possibilities, would spear me. And it would hurt.
“Bikkar,” I breathed as he ran the tip of his length along my folds. I wanted him, and I wanted this , but I couldn’t ignore the size difference between us. He was a massive orc, one I could and had fought in combat dozens of times, but sex was something entirely different.
Bikkar lifted his heated green gaze to me. The intensity in his stare froze me in place like prey caught by a predator. Because that’s exactly what I was. “You crave me. Your body calls to mine. And somehow, despite all of this, you think you will not beg? That I will be gentle with you?” He growled loudly, which sent excited chills through my body. His hands spread my thighs as wide as they could go as he lined himself up with my entrance. “We are enemies .”
The ferocity in Bikkar’s eyes, the primality in his growls, was only a precursor. A thin warning. Because when Bikkar thrust forward, spearing me with the tip of his cock, I realized with finality that he would not be gentle. Or slow. Or careful. He was about to fuck me in the middle of the woods in a snowstorm, for fuck’s sake. He’d chased me down, thrown me to the ground, and would have his way with me, nature or my wishes be damned. Bikkar was a monster. A rage-filled brute of an orc. And I was just a tiny human thief mage bound on the ground before him, my thighs opened to invite his monster cock inside.
Only Bikkar didn’t wait for an invitation. And why should he? He knew I wanted this.
Bikkar pushed an inch inside, only momentarily testing my limits. We groaned loudly in time with one another as my breath sped up. I willed my walls and muscles to relax, to take Bikkar’s massive girth, but white-hot pain screamed through my body when he slammed all the way to the hilt. It passed as my inner walls adjusted, but I’d never in my life felt more full . How had he even fit inside? My fingers splayed over my head, finding and holding on to a tree root to anchor me in this reality as Bikkar sent me to another one entirely.
Bikkar’s palms slid up past my hips until his thumbs ran circles around my nipples. I gasped in a breath as pleasure overtook pain. As I came back to myself. My chest heaved. Something told me this would be the only respite I’d get from Bikkar. A moment to adjust. To catch my breath.
My instinct proved true as he withdrew and quickly thrust back into me again, hard and fast. I moaned a pathetic, mewling gasp as pleasure scorched through me. Bikkar was huge. His cock stretched me near impossibly, but the ridges on his length massaged me on entry.
“You tight bitch.” Bikkar growled as he thrust again. “Open for me.”
I was. With every thrust, my body readjusted to fit him. To welcome him. My back arched as he hit places inside my walls other men couldn’t find. Ecstasy bloomed around and within me. I raised my legs and hooked them as best I could around Bikkar’s hips. Anchored now to him and a tree root with bound hands, all I could do was meet Bikkar’s intense gaze as he thrusted into me with strokes so hard, it rocked my entire body against the ground.
Bikkar groaned deep in his throat. “Look at that. You do follow orders.” His hands went to my hips and he lifted me up from the ground. For a better angle, I realized, as he drew my hips to him on every thrust. Stars erupted along my vision as his ridged length slammed into me, finding and hitting delicious spots within me on every thrust.
“ Bikkar ,” I cried as pleasure built like a mountain inside me. Closer and closer my orgasm spiraled, but the force of Bikkar’s thrusts, the slightest bit of pain from my body still adjusting to him, kept it just out of reach. Bikkar’s pace was relentless, never stopping. His gaze never dropping. His eyes nearly glowed again, the rage building within.
“Beg,” Bikkar nearly spat. “Beg for what you want from me.”
I wasn’t sure I had it in me, even now with Bikkar piercing me with his cock. Twelve hours ago, I never could’ve even fathomed that I’d be here, entangled with an enemy I hated so much. But here we were, fucking in the middle of a godsdamn forest as though we hadn’t tried killing each other this morning.
I set my stare on him. “No.”
Bikkar growled low, the sound of it setting panic flying through me. He was pissed. And turned on. And only now, with him literally fucking me, did I realize the danger of that combination.
And I fucking loved it. I’d always flown too close to the sun.
Bikkar dug his fingers into my hips, withdrew from me, and roughly turned me over. My face pressed into the dirt and cold snow, my bound hands awkwardly in front of me. Bikkar pulled my hips up into the air and knelt behind me, lining himself up. I was barred before him, helpless to get away, with nothing to hold on to but the tree root in my hands.
He pressed his tip to my entrance again but refrained from pushing inside. “Confess how much you love this. Look how sopping wet you are for me.” He coated himself in it.
I suppressed a moan, but a visible shudder rippled through my body. I felt empty without his massive length inside me now. For the briefest of moments, I feared maybe he’d leave me here like this, wanting and empty and bare.
But then Bikkar’s massive hand closed around my throat. “Confessing is part of justice, Elysia. You committed crimes. This is your punishment.”
I’d break the law every day if it got Bikkar back inside me. But I would not beg for anything .
Bikkar pushed the tip of his massive length just inside me. My breath hitched and my core clenched. I needed him, all of him again. Just as fast and hard as before.
“I want you, Bikkar,” I finally admitted him. “I need you.”
Bikkar’s fingers closed tighter around my neck. “And?”
I tried to push my hips back against him, but his free hand held my hips firmly in place. When he realized what I was trying to do, he growled deeply and let go of my neck to push my cheek against the ground.
“You have been a bad girl,” Bikkar said as he pushed inside me a little more. I was surprised he had this much control left after the pace he had just led. He leaned in until his lips were at my ear. “I should fuck you and leave you here in the woods.”
It would probably be easier for him if he did that. Take what he wanted and leave me to the wolves. Revenge and satisfaction for him, and no paperwork when he brought me to Caiburn for justice. But somehow, I figured that was the last thing he wanted to do to me right now.
“Fuck me,” I said as I wriggled my hips against him. I moaned as his grip loosened and his length slid in more.
“Is that what you want?” He growled against my ear.
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
Bikkar actually wanted me to beg. I groaned deep in my throat. To go from someone whom he hated enough to consider a rival to this groveling, mewling thing beneath him, sopping wet and craving pleasure from him… all within a matter of hours… My core clenched with need, an ache building again where he’d just denied me release.
If I didn’t beg, that release would never come. He’d just take what he needed, as roughly as he wanted, and leave.
“I want you to take me right here,” I said with more confidence than I had any right exuding in this very moment and in this position beneath Bikkar. “Claim me as yours. Punish me for all that’s transpired today. I want you to fuck me until I scream. Please , Bikkar.”
A sound so primal, so intense, rumbled from Bikkar’s throat that my prey drive kicked in. Bikkar’s hands went to my hips and pulled me back hard . His ridged cock thrust all the way inside, filling me to my limit, before he bore down and set a pace that made his previous one seem slow.
“You are mine ,” he said between thrusts. “Don’t you fucking forget who claims you like this. Who can turn your bravado and stubbornness into a soaked, needy mess.”
I moaned hard as his words filled my mind. Again and again, he thrust into me, rutting downward with no restraint. My cheek was plastered against the snowy-covered ground and my fingers clenched on to the tree root for dear life. I cried out as he sank into me again and again. His hips bucked before he leaned forward, wrapping his arms around my middle, both holding me still and holding me up.
Every stroke of his ridged cock sent me headlong toward an orgasm, and every grunt of pleasure Bikkar emitted against my back rippled desire through every inch of my body. By the time Bikkar had slipped one hand between us so he could massage my most sensitive spot, I was about ready to fall apart in his arms.
“Come,” he demanded, nearly shouting near my ear. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and dragged me back against him, creating a new delicious angle for his cock as he slammed into me. It barred my breasts to the forest and cold. “Come with me, now .”
The need in his voice. The cold of the forest and smell of pine. The way his primal orc instincts had him rutting into me, and now his hand fisting my hair. It all built together and sent me tumbling over the cliff of pleasure. My muscles contracted and released all at once. Pure ecstasy rolled through me. Bikkar roared as he slammed home one more time and held me there. His cock twitched within me as his release grabbed him in a stranglehold. He grunted in time with every pump.
Only when he was finished and withdrew from me did he speak. “I told you you’d beg today.” Bikkar still held me to him, for which I was grateful. With every moment that passed after this sinful act, the cold crept in once more. “That I’d claim you.”
My mouth felt dry. My breath was still gone after the intensity of that encounter. So all I did was nod. I felt so used and spent. I’d be sore tomorrow for sure. Sore and full of the knowledge that there would never be anyone else to fuck me like Bikkar just had.
“I’ve never known you to be at a loss for words, Elysia.”
I chuckled dryly. “Wh-What am I su-upposed to say after th-that?”
Godsdamn. The cold had already set in so much, I was shivering again.
Bikkar let go of my hair and stood. He spun me as he did so and scooped me up into his massive arms. I was warmer this way and didn’t care what it might look like when I pressed into his hold for more warmth. “‘Thank you’ is a start.”
My eyebrows rose, and I went to reply with a sarcastic remark. But it was true. My gods, I’d never be fucked like this again ever in my life. It was the hottest thing I’d ever experienced. “Thank you for punishing me.”
Bikkar’s jaw set hard and he growled as he glanced down at me. “You’ll be the death of me.”
That had been the original plan . But I didn’t say it out loud. Murder was no longer on the table. But if this was how Bikkar treated his guests on Yule, I wasn’t so sure escape was, either.
Bikkar picked up the remnants of our clothes but kept my hands bound. He trekked back toward his cabin with me in his arms.