Page 111 of Ulune's Daughter

“Turn over,” he growls into my skin.

“Uh, okay.” Lobotomized by pleasure, I roll over, not even managing to get my arms out of my rolled-up shirt, so they end up trapped at my sides.

He pushes my sleep shirt up over my head and closes his fangs on the nape of my neck. He laves my neck with his rough tongue, like he’s cleaning me. I sink into the pillows and blankets, nearly boneless, moaning, purring with how good that gesture feels. He covers me with his big body and grinds all that hot, silky skin over mine.

I lift my ass, done with restraint and anything other than being his.

He rumbles, low and pleased, nipping back and forth across my shoulders. “I know you want your mate. You will have me. As often as you wish. Only be patient tonight. Don’t growl at me.”

I swallow, realizing that’s exactly what I was doing.

“Patience, mate.” He slides his hand down my belly, under my sleep shorts, and cups my pussy. His fingers sink into me. The pads of his fingers are as rough as his tongue, drawing gasps out of me as he circles two fingertips around my opening.

He nips along the curve of my shoulder blade, nips up my spine. “Your back is so sweetly curved. I love seeing your mane flow free.” He reaches up and sinks his free hand in my hair, gripping my braid and lifting my head so my body bows. “But these secret, sensitive places, you will show these to me in the safety of our den.” He mouths up my neck and sinks his teeth into my nape. His teeth pierce my skin in pinching flares of heat. He laves away the lifeblood he’s won. “These are for me.”

“All for you,” I groan, pushing myself up with my trapped arms as much as I can, rubbing myself into him.

He purrs and sinks his fingers into me. “Spread your legs for me. Take me in. Soon, this will be my cock, spearing you, raking you, scratching that deep itch nothing else can reach.”

He rubs his hard ridge into the crack of my ass as I spread my legs. His fingers curl and delve, seeking the spots that make me wail and hump fruitlessly against the bed. He keeps me pinned with the weight of his body, giving me a taste of helplessness that makes me spiral higher.

“Your scent,” he groans, biting hard where my neck and shoulder meet, then licking madly. “Your salt and musk. You’re driving me mad. I have to taste.”

Before I can protest, he’s twisted me face-down into the pillows, yanked down my sleep shorts, pulled me up onto my knees, and buried his face between my cheeks. My face fires with embarrassment, with arousal. I grind my forehead into the pillows, seeking air, seeking relief from the tension that’s wound me tight. Instead, his hot tongue laps around where his fingers are pumping in me, making me coil in the blankets.

“Lawson, Lawson, please.”

His rasping tongue flicks over my clit. I howl, pleasure bursting sharp and crimson behind my eyes, through my veins. He laps through the riot of my orgasm. As the pleasure begins to ebb and I try to untangle my hands to push him away, he grasps the back of my neck with one hand and pins me in place. His bristly tongue scrubs over my sensitive nub. He keeps his fingers still for me to clasp down on as he licks me aggressively to a second, screaming peak.

I collapse into the soft bedding as the waves toss me onto the afterglow’s golden shore. I curl away from his demanding mouth and he lets me escape, nipping up the back of my thigh before pulling me onto my side and curling around my back. His cock is soft, his stomach sticky when he presses against me. Knowing he found his own release, I sigh, satisfied in every respect, and nestle back against him.

He licks the back of my neck lazily. His fingers, still cupped between my legs, inscribe a slow circle in the wetness of my orgasm. A rumbly purr, sounding as blissed out as I feel, vibrates my back in a gentle massage.

“Blood’s fine,” I whisper to him, wanting to make sure he knows I’m happy—more than happy—with everything we did.

He presses a kiss to my wet skin. “I know. Your fae blood is rising. It’s dark and hungry. I know you fear it, Kellan, but I don’t. Cait are creatures of the night, too. I was wrong, very wrong, to leave you to face the transition alone, and I can’t apologize enough. I should have been at your side every minute. You never should have stood in that guest room, shrinking away from me, fearful and withdrawn. Tomorrow, you can rage at me. You can claw at me and call me names. Failure. Bad mate. I’ll suffer every curse and commit myself again to being better for you. To take better care of you. To stand strong when you falter. I should be your teeth and claws against all you fear. I haven’t been. But I will be, I swear.”

I roll over and struggle out of my damn shirt so I can cup his face in my hands. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”

Eyes glinting with more than moonlight, he looks at me, touches his forehead to mine. “I have done many things wrong. And I will pay for each way I have wronged you. But no longer will I wait for you in the shadows. Stay with me. Stay by my side. No matter what comes. Promise me you will let me face each trial with you.”

Remembering that path that stretched before me to the castle, all those hours lost in something that feels more like a nightmare than a memory, I shudder. “I think I might have to walk the path alone.”

His arms close around me. “No. Let me walk beside you.”

“I’ll try.” I stroke his cheek, the hollow under his high cheekbone, the defined ridge of his jaw. “I wish I could see the path more clearly.”

“I will help you look. Sleep now, Kellan.” His hand slips over my hair, stroking my head down onto his shoulder. “You wear exhaustion like a cloak. Rest. Nothing will harm you here. Rest and I will be here when you wake. I’ll tend to you as a good mate should.”

I close my eyes and trail my fingertips sleepily across his sweaty chest. “You’re a good, um, mate. Don’t put yourself down. You came for me. I wish ... I wish I felt the things you do. I’m sorry I don’t. Maybe I’m just not fae enough.”

He purrs and shushes me. Cuddled against him, deep in the nest of his bed, I let myself relax completely, sure that whatever nightmares are stalking me, they won’t be able to find me here.

Chapter35

A Fight Over Creamed Mice

RHODES

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