Page 150 of Fated or Knot

“What?”

Illia breathed a sigh. “Why don’t you two dears go get settled?” she suggested.

We started up the stairs a breath later. Marius let us into the cozy room we’d rented, turning on essence lamps and closing the curtains over the two windows inside. I skipped over, inspecting everything to head straight to the bed, lip caught between my teeth. “Go ahead and nest,” Marius said on his way past me to the attached bathroom and leaned into the closet. He tossed out a set of extra pillows, a heavy comforter, and what looked like a flat cushion.

I set up the bed enticingly, but this temporary nest wasn’t more than a strategic curve of fluffed-up pillows so we could lounge together. I folded up the comforter and the hand-knit blanket already on the bed to place them to the side. They’d be nice to sleep on later.

Marius handed me the cushion last. “I think this is a soak mat.”

The soft material had a nice give and, more importantly, a faint hum of magic. Soak mats were for heat sex, to keep the fluids contained, though I sensed Marius wanted to make use of it to be polite to our hosts. I shrugged and laid it on top of the sheets. “Worth a try.”

He nodded in approval. “Ready, mate?” he asked.

I smiled at him, still full of anticipation for what was next. His answering grin stretched his scar before he turned and headed for the door. I almost whined, but all he was doing was setting the keyring on the knob outside and locking us in the room together with a slow slide of the privacy bar.

When he faced me, his eyes immediately dilated. I’d dropped my damp top and shorts already, awaiting his return naked and eager. He prowled toward me, dimming essence lamps into a soft half-light as he went. “Lie on your front,” he instructed.

My wings quivered in excitement as I crawled onto the bed and rested on the cushioned mat. The prone position was a favorite of both of ours. I looked over my shoulder to see him rooting through our bag and taking out two familiar pots: the bruise salve and, as he unscrewed the lid to check, the lotion.

I twitched in confusion when he straddled my hips still clothed. “Someone’s been hunched over a kelpie’s back for several hours,” he said, rubbing some lotion between his palms.

“But—”

“Let me take care of you.” He started massaging my shoulders. Through our bond, I mostly picked up that he wanted the positive contact, to feel how warm and soft I was. His thoughts weren’t crisp enough for me to figure out what else he was planning.

“Mmm.” I didn’t need him to have reasons. He was really talented at rubbing away the lingering stiffness in my back.

“Do you want to know what else I’m thinking?” he teased.

“Hmm.” I was turning into a content puddle, especially once he threaded the base of my top wings between his fingers and put rolling pressure there. “Sure.”

“I’m not sure I can be gentle, mate,” he murmured. I had the sense he didn’tlikethat. He wanted to make love to me but knew the moment would get away from him. “I will pamper you before and after, all right?”

I glanced over my shoulder, a little concerned for him. “Okay.”

“Remember when your pre-heat punched you in the stomach?”

Niall supplied the context: I’d had a pre-heat cramp, and his scent had changed for the first time before he’d claimed me incessantly, like he was in rut.

“Of course. That was a memorable morning,” I said.

“I feel it coming on. In you. Which means I’ll be in rut again,” he warned.

I braced myself, wondering how he could possibly know. The cramp seized my core a moment later, and I gasped in pain and need. Marius released a strangled growl, his fingers tightening around my ribs. His scent, mingled with sea salt, grew rich with fertility and male musk.Subtle glimmers of yellow light sparkled from the ring of his irises. The infamous “rut glow” that was one of the only signs an alpha was in rut.

He shifted and pressed his hard length between the globes of my ass. I felt its throbbing heat like there wasn’t the thin barrier of his swimming trunks between us and rubbed back against him, leaving a damp spot from my slick.

When he drew back, taking away the tantalizing feel of him, I whimpered for more. He shook his head and breathed shallowly to finish what he’d started, making his way quickly down the rest of my back.

Once he was done, he moved his hands to my ass and squeezed. With a little shifting behind me, he had his clothes off. This time, there was no barrier when he rubbed his cock between my folds. I lifted my hips with a soft, needy whistle, trembling when he ground the base of him right where I needed him most.

My core ached, filling with familiar need. “This will be inside you. My knot,” he said huskily, rumbling with arousal. His scent bloomed further, and my pussy clenched in reaction as I took a deep breath of him. It was intoxicating and made me more aware of how empty I was.

He helped me lie on my back and inhaled the pheromones at my neck before nuzzling and nipping the sensitive column. “Mate,” he said, muffled against my skin.

I could hardly breathe for anticipation. Our bond was kindling with fire, stoked as he lapped at my sweat and shook my body with his next growl.

“Mate,” I whimpered in agreement. He tilted his head so I could taste his pheromones next. The heady bloom of his waterlily and mint burst on my tongue and fogged my mind with need. I licked him again, savoring it. He was absolutely about to rut me into this bed, and I opened my legs to invite him in.

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