Page 85 of The King has Fallen

Mine.

I took the kiss deeper, fighting not to overwhelm her, but overwhelmed myself as I shook with the force of the feelings coursing through me, lighting my blood, igniting my body.

It could not be.It could not be.

And yet, it was. There was no question. No doubt.

Mate.

Impossible, unstoppablemate.

Mine.

She wasfor me.

And though I was near certain she did not sense the bond, something within her responded, because she whimpered as her hands slid up my back, my sides, my chest, then around my neck, pulling me down as she arched her back and tried to press herself against me while I was folded almost in half to reach hermouth. The towel slipped and fell. I caught it at her back, but the sides opened between us, revealing her as both of us stopped resisting and I lifted her.

She clung like a barnacle, legs around my waist, arms looping my neck, her body plastered against mine as I gasped her name and dove back into that kiss, walking her further up shore, into the trees, to the spaces where sunlight reached during the day to grow a thick blanket of grass, but moonlight wasn’t strong enough to touch it.

I was forced to break the kiss as I lowered her to the grass, throwing the wide towel down so there was some cushioning—but she only buried her face in my throat and scraped my jaw with her teeth so that my blood caught fire and roared through me.

The moment I had the towel spread enough I lowered her to it and took her mouth again, everything in me crying for her—my body aching for her with such a fire, I trembled from head to toe.

And when I pinned her to the ground, covering her, plunging one hand into her hair, the other dragging up from the back of her thigh to her waist, she caught fire too and suddenly we were clawing at each other, the kiss growing aggressive, teeth clashing in its intensity.

There was a moment when she threw her head back, gasping my name and I dove for her throat, sucking and laving that delicate skin with my tongue, growling when I tasted the sweet honey of her. She fisted both hands in my hair and held me to her, her breath hot and quick, her hips rolling, seeking me and every one of my senses came alive—skin prickling, heart thudding in my ears like ritual drums, fingertips trailing fire because her skin washot,and everything in my chest building pressure, coiling, expanding, ready to explode with sheer need.

I was hard as steel and shuddering every time she rolled her hips, my instincts screaming that I need to pause, to speak, toknow her mind.And yet my hand dragged back down to the back of her soft, soft thigh and pulled her leg up, hooking her knee over my hip and opening her to me. Then I dragged myself along the slick seam of her, my breath releasing in a harsh rush when she whimpered again.

At that sound, the two sides of my nature, the twin drives, went to battle.

Every animal instinct in me roared for dominance. And every ounce of my honor—mylove,she was mymate!—demanded restraint.

I groaned and flexed my hips, pressing against her harder than strictly necessary, but was rewarded by her gasp and the tightening of her fingers in my hair.

I had never forced a woman in my life. And was not forcing her.

But she was so small. And under my care. And she’d been violated just days ago by that bastard.

I needed to stop. Needed to check in. Needed to find the control to—

Almost tearing my hair from the roots, she clawed her fingers from my scalp, down my neck, and into my back, her head tipping back, mouth open and eyes squeezed tightly closed as I kissed down to her throat again, then rocked against her… and almost took her.

The most beautiful little gasp broke in her throat and her hand clapped to my back. But then she went still under me.

“M-Melek, I—”

There was a tremor in her voice.

Curled over her, one hand cupped over her head, the other holding her knee over my hip, I froze.

I was breathing so hard, her hair fluttered in the wind of my exhales. I’d sucked so hard on the sweet skin of her neck that it was going to leave a mark—and the animal in me wanted to growl in approval so any who saw her would know. Yet I knew to them it was nothing. Merely a confirmation of my claiming. They wouldn’t think twice. Wouldn’t know—or care—what might run under the surface between us.

Fisting my hand in the towel under her, I grazed her neck with my teeth, then made myself push back just far enough to meet her eyes.

My chest was a bellows for my heaving breath—and she panted too.

For a moment we just stared.

---