Page 229 of Fated or Knot

He spun me unexpectedly to face Tormund. I thought we were going straight to fucking, but it seemed he had something else in mind. “Bite her. Finish claiming her for the pack,” the kelpie growled.

Kauz had stood and was in the process of refolding his hurt wing, though he was still watching intently. Fal got up from wherever he’d been witnessing all this and came around to helpwith the wing. Though his blue, feline gaze was extra intense when it met mine. He licked his lips at me, his cock kicking just from my attention when I noticed that he was already—or still—fully aroused.

I gave him a lingering look. He was definitely next. Maybe this time, I wouldn’t pass out and miss how well he could hold me on that knot of his. But for now, this moment belonged to Tormund, and he wouldn’t be denied. He took hold of my jaw and turned me away from the dark elf, to better focus on him.

“You’re okay with me biting you, li’l bird?”

I nodded enthusiastically and lifted my chest toward him. He didn’t hesitate or second-guess. When I already had the bite marks from his brothers, I supposed there was no point to questioning. Instead of bending over me, he lifted me with a grip around my waist and brought me up to the plumes of heat that rolled from his breath.

That heat always felt better than it should, augmenting my pleasure rather than adding to the furnace burning in my core. He covered my mark in more kisses, and the pleasantly scratchy texture of his facial hair, while skipping over the two patches where I’d already been bitten. “Mine,” he murmured. When he sank his fangs into my skin, he’d chosen to mirror Marius, so his bite landed on the right side of the arch.

I gasped from the heat of his fangs in me and the sensations digging deep in my soul. His claim finished setting my place in Pack Sorles, firmly nestled in with my four mates. Bonds of magic tied me to them, except in the case of Marius, who I’d already bitten. Extra bonds of magic wove between him and me, all permanent loops that bound our souls together.

“Ours,” Fal said huskily, once the transfer of magic was complete between the redcap and me. The other males echoed the word in agreement, and even in my needy state, I paused and blushed somewhere under the heavy flush of the heat haze.I’d feared this moment for so long, then longed for it with my proper mates. Now I was claimed, loved, and about to be knotted. Life was good.

I stole a quick kiss from Tormund before I turned back to Marius, pointing and saying the only thing I think I could say. “I need you.”

He growled in agreement and gestured for us to go to the head of the nest, where I’d made an inviting backrest worth of pillows. He usually claimed me on my hands and knees, or with me lying prone on a soft surface. It gave him easy access to biting my neck, quick submission to really stir his feral side. But this time, he reclined and I followed, having a seat on his throbbing shaft facing away from him. At some point, he’d put the lady pleaser piercing back in its place.

I started riding him eagerly, trembling each time the cool metal of his piercing glided through the ultra-sensitive intimate patch hiding along the walls of my pussy. Without him holding me still or helping pull me into his thrusts, I rolled my hips up and down his cock at my own pace. His heated gaze focused on the way my ass bounced. I knew that was why he liked this position, too.

I fondled my breasts, tipping my head back to moan as the pack bond echoed with the pleasure Marius and I were sharing. It probably wasn’tsupposedto be this strong, but I had the sense I was leaking all my feelings into it. Not that anyone stopped me.

I didn’t get far before Fal was sliding onto the nest in front of me, replacing my hands with his own to pluck and twist at my nipples just right. His skimmed his lips over my face as I panted with exertion, lingering his kisses over my forehead and between my brows.

We nuzzled one another affectionately. “You know,mo stór,” he purred in my ear. “When I first started going into rut, I pictured you between Marius and me.”

Oh, really?I knew where this was going. I pointed at my mouth and raised a brow.

He hummed in agreement, while Marius caught my hips. I sensed his eagerness as I got on my hands and knees. He covered my back as he waited, inside of me to the root, for Fal to guide his cock into my mouth. Instead of alternating, they thrust together, setting a fast and brutal pace since it seemed the dark elf matched the kelpie’s claim.

I had nowhere to go, except up. Or, I supposed down was the better term. The heat haze had been light so far, letting me see my mates in full clarity, but it filled my head like a fog as I shattered, tensing between them. I would let my instincts fully take over once they found their completion.

Now that I was fully claimed, there was little to fear. I trusted my mates would take care of me. And, if I did end up more of an angry, lashing feral than I wanted to be, Marius would keep me in line. My instincts would submit to his will. It felt natural, after letting him rut me with abandon in that inn by the sea. And it was amazing that, here we were, with him still claiming me with the same level of passion and need.

Fal, on the other hand, was a different male under the influence of the rut. There were no fancy overtures, fewer charming words. He’d threaded his fingers through my hair, keeping my head steady for the way he thrust into my mouth. At some point, he’d toweled off the excess slick and come that must’ve coated him from our first joining. He still tasted of us, though, and left behind an impression of wildflower pollen and chocolate on my tongue.

This was the alpha that lurked behind his courtly image. If I had my voice, I would see if he still became extra growly when I called him pack lead.

Marius shifted over me, his pace changing with urgency. His knot bumped my lower lips as it swelled. He teased me with anextra thrust rather than knotting me immediately, so the swollen ball of flesh made a wet pop in and out of my pussy before we were locked together.

My screams were muffled against the cock in my mouth. If I thought Fal would let up while I trembled with electrified pleasure from taking my first knot in full heat, I was wrong. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and fucked my mouth harder. It was all more bliss to me as my breeder’s delight went haywire.

I felt what my short absence had done to Marius. Nestled deep in my pussy, he unleashed a torrent of seed. It was the biggest one yet, and a wonder it all fit in my core. My heat dampened, if only by a fraction, but the little drop in temperature was noticeable when I was burning up. I understood now why alphas were so vital to heats.

My limbs felt like jelly while the kelpie and I traded aftershocks of pleasure. My pussy wouldn’t stop spasming, milking him for all he was worth. Which meant my hand was hardly steady as I reached for Fal’s growing knot. Once I had a hold of his shaft, I squeezed, and he spilled immediately. His irresistible rut-augmented pheromones coated my tongue in warmth as he flooded my mouth.

I couldn’t possibly swallow it all, but I tried, and gripped his knot harder for more anyway. Thank the stars for soak mats. Once he was done, Fal went to retrieve a towel to clean his release off my face and neck. I blinked at him appreciatively.

It was time for my surrender, and I let my instincts creep in. The fog filled my head, softening the edges around my senses. I was floating, painless. All I needed was to sate the burning need inside of me.

I pointed at Tormund while still panting from the intensity of my last release. “I need you.”

62

LARK

There were a few things I learned about experiencing a heat that’d never graced the pages of the books I’d read. In fact, I was of half a mind to go back and burn the novels that implied that heats were clean, quick, and relatively painless. They werewildlyinaccurate.

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