Page 10 of King of Moon and Claws

“Don’t you have a queen already? Or access to a harem of some kind? Why would you want me, of all people?”

The king chuckled. It was deep and echoed throughout the hot spring chambers.

“I don’t have either. It makes sense though. I have been waiting for you my entire life.”

For a reason Elora could not quite put her finger on, she completely believed him. Could it be just some line he used on women he wanted to sleep with? It felt embarrassing that even if that was true, it was working.

“But I’m not a shifter, Bastian,” she said, finally raising her head from her hands. “Don’t you need to be with another shifter? To carry on the bloodline, as your mate, or something?”

Bastian did not chuckle that time. He merely shook his head slowly, then spoke to her as if he had said the words a thousand times before. It did feel rehearsed, but in a way that existed in his deepest dreams, not a ritual meant to seduce to deceive.

“A mate is a mate. I don’t know how much you know about that, but it doesn’t matter. Even if you were fully human…”

His eyes danced deliberately over her body, making a slow accenting back up to meet her stare. It felt like a spotlight, caressing her body with a touch's sense of foreplay.

The way that he craved her was beyond erotic.

“…Which, you are not,” he continued, gathering himself. “It wouldn’t matter. My bloodline is strong, Elora. Our children would take after me, and who knows, they could be blessed with some of your magical abilities. We’d make quite a powerful team and offspring.”

Everything he said sounded fucking insane. There was a man, a charming, spectacularly attractive man, who was essentially a stranger standing before her, talking about how blessed their combined genetics would make their children. What made it even more obscene was the fact that she wasn’t running for the hills.

The truth was she liked the sound of it. Her practical mind was making lists of all the reasons why the idea was preposterous while her body convinced her of an unshakable truth. He was drawing her in, and she enjoyed every second of it.

“What do you think?” the king asked, waiting not so patiently.

Elora brought her hands to her chest, caressing her collarbone with her fingertips. She wanted to fall deep into the abyss of her carnal desires. She never allowed it to roam free. To delight in the needs of the flesh was dangerous. Who knew what kind of disease they’d walk away with?

But maybe, just maybe, her rescuer was really a king? And maybe, she trusted his words so innately because what he was spouting wasn’t bullshit but the truth?

For once, Elora brazenly trusted the hunger that stirred inside her belly and pulsed between her legs. He made her feel wild, and that was something a woman had to hold onto.

“I think you should come closer,” she whispered, her fingers continuing along the road of her collarbone, resting along the ridges of her shoulder. “Show me how much you want me to be yours.”

The king moved through the water not with urgency, but with a quiet eagerness that made Elora’s entire body croon. The moment he reached out to her, stroking her cheeks with his fingers, all of her thoughts and worries faded into oblivion.

Elora's body went rigid as he loomed over her, hooking her chin so their eyes met. The movement was slightly more aggressive, causing Elora’s breath to hitch in her throat. She pressed her back against the marble of the hot spring, the sensation of his cock pinned against her thigh enough to unhinge her longing completely.

Those green eyes captivated her, and her body softened. When he finally craned his neck and kissed her, breath was stolen from her lungs, her legs going weak in the hot spring. She heard herself moan as he parted her lips, their tongues mingling with a growing manic need. Elora’s fingers wandered over the steely flat plains of the king’s chest, their passion growing more unsteady by the minute.

“God, you are delicious, Elora,” Bastian said, panting over her mouth. “I can’t wait to taste the rest of you.”

She quivered as his hands explored her, voyaging past her shoulders and arriving at her breasts. He massaged them, then pinched at the delicate nub of her nipples, sending a shockwave through Elora, a sense of greediness unleashing.

“Oh, fuck, Bastian.” She moaned his name as he nibbled along the road of her neck. “That feels so good.”

He grunted as she dug her fingers into the back of his head, his mouth meeting with his fingers and changing places. He popped one of her hard nipples into his mouth and sucked, softly at first.

“Oh, God!” Elora called out.

Her cries of pleasure echoed through the space, making the moment even sexier. She was being fondled by a king, naked in an elegant indoor hot spring, in some strange world. She grinned to herself as he lowered into the water, taking both breasts into his mouth at the same time.

He sucked harder, and a white-hot bolt of pleasure coursed through Elora’s body. He didn’t linger there long, though, rising to his feet as Elora went dizzy with rapture.

“I love hearing those sounds,” he mumbled while one hand traveled languidly down her belly. “I want to hear you, Elora. Tell me what you want. Let your King give it to you.”

Elora breathed heavily as she tilted her head back, feeling the trail of his fingertips teasing past her belly button, then along the inside of her thighs. They were scalding with desire.

“Please, Bastian,” she begged. “I need you to touch me, please.”

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