Page 22 of The Holly King's Sacrifice

I lift myself up and lower again, learning that sensation of friction, of heat. He’s warm enough to feel like a molten core, arousal dripping around his cock when I move. Ulfric’s hands slide backward to grip my ass, his fingers pressing divots into my skin.

I need more. More of his cock, more of his moans of pleasure, more ofhim.

His eyes open as I fall into a rhythm, both hands splayed across his chest. Ulfric gazes up at me, his lips parted, his eyes glazed. His hands hold me tight, close, reminding me that he’s here, that I can stop at any time…and I love how he lets me use him. I explore the hard terrain of his body, muscles and scars and tattoos, and I clutch at him like he belongs to me.

Our groans melt into a song, our hands and tongues everywhere we can reach. I’m kissing him without realizing it, crying out into his mouth, riding him desperately until I’m coming again, and he spills into me…

It’s the only time he moves, his hips jerking up as he olds me against him. I arch my back and revel in the liquid heat exploding inside me, the way he fills me completely. I claw at him, forgetting about his wounds and my shame and everything in between. The only real thing is Ulfric, eternal and certain.

I collapse onto his chest, letting him move me into his embrace. He pulls out and I release a little moan of protest, his seed leaking from between my legs. Ulfric presses a kiss to my forehead, wiping the sweat from my brow as I open my eyes to look up at him.

“Not to worry, my treasured one,” he rumbles. “I will spend eons inside you, if that is what you wish.”

I don’t quite know what that means, especially in the ensuing afterglow. So I just reach up and touch his face, grazing my thumb over his cheek. “We both need rest,” I whisper.

“Indeed we do,” he says.

And I fall asleep wrapped in his arms.

11

Aspen

Thewinterchillisno match for the heat growing between us.

We make love until our bed of furs is a blazing inferno, chasing away the shadows with moans of pleasure. Even as the fire burns to coals, the cottage stays warm, and I remain wrapped in Ulfric’s embrace until day breaks through the window.

I touch his shoulder as I wake, the warlord himself still asleep. The salve that previous covered his wound has dissolved into a chalky dust, and I gently brush it from his shining red-bronze skin. There’s no open wound underneath—merely an ugly scar where a bite once was. I lean over him to press my lips to the bite mark, dragging my tongue over his warm flesh.

“Aspen,” he groans, waking up at my touch. I stay draped over him, kissing a line up his neck as my leg hooks over his waist.

“I still have questions for you,” I murmur. “And your warlord said that you owe me answers.”

“You saved my life,” he says. “I owe you everything. But first…”

He gently lays me down in the blankets, then gets out of bed and stretches his arms up toward the ceiling. His shoulders are broad and bronze, scattered with tattoos of bare branches, tapering into a narrow waist. I take a moment to admire his form—his muscled ass, his thighs, the way his balls hang heavy between them.

He glances over his shoulder, his antlers catching gold in the light.

“I’m yours to behold, fair one,” he murmurs.

I blush, but he leans forward and rests his hands on the bed, meeting my eyes.

“Look at me as much as you wish, as long as you want,” he says. “I am yours, as you are mine.”

“That’s a good place to start,” I say. “What does that mean?”

He stands up and goes to a large chest I hadn’t noticed on the other side of the room, beside the hearth. He opens it and pulls out a set of velvet pouches, the rich red striking in the light of the fire.

“It means…” He pauses, looking me in the eye. “You might think this strange.”

I shrug. “Everything about the past five days has been strange.”

Ulfric nods. “In that case—what are your thoughts on fate?”

I narrow my eyes, taking a deep breath. “I can’t say I’ve ever really thought of it,” I say. “When there’s a cosmic war on your planet, you lose sight of anything but that, I guess.”

Ulfric hums in agreement. “My people have produced scientific marvels,” he says. “But there are some things that science cannot explain. We do not know where we came from, or how we can move so swiftly across the stars. We do not know why there are people in numerous galaxies who have our same shape, or how we can drink Elixir and form mating bonds…yet we do all these things, and they become integral parts of who we are.”

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