Page 92 of Violet

Yes…

The pain flattens, stretches into pleasure, and I rub against him.

And then there’s nothing at all, and I go from dream to dreamless.

Stephan’s there again. Really there. I’m still feverish, but not like before, and coherent thoughts drift.

One thing hasn’t changed.

I still need him to give me some kind of relief. Or maybe I just want him to touch me. I shift against him and his arms tighten. Real. Solid. Not a dream.

“I’m only allowed in because your heat’s done, and I promised everyone I could control myself. So don’t tempt me,” he mutters.

“It’s not quite done.”

“We can’t have sex before the ceremony,” he whispers. “It would ruin you.”

“I don’t care.”

“Fuck…”

“It still hurts.”

“You’re going to get me killed.” Stephan slips his hand into my pajama bottoms, and I shudder as everything in me lights up. The ache deepens, and I rotate my hips for him.

“Holy fuck, Princess. You’re so hard to resist. Almost impossible.”

“Then don’t.”

“These promises are important.” He sucks in a sharp breath, and I feel his fight against himself, the shake of his resolve even as he strives to strengthen it.

But he touches me. Fingers gliding through the slick, leaving pleasure in his wake, and he doesn’t penetrate like he did when he claimed me, but he teases, and brings his thumb to my clit, rubbing and stroking until that pleasure builds, crescendos, and shatters into an orgasm that leaves me floating, depleted, in nothingness.

Except there’s an itch of need that remains. I need more of him. I need him to knot in me, to rut, and shatter me in a completely different way to satiate me.

I try to get his fingers in me, at least, rocking up against them.

All he does is remove his hand and fix my clothes, holding me tight.

“I can’t, Princess. I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop, and these things are important… To your family, to you. I want…I want to be the mate you deserve.”

“Stephan…”

He hushes me, and then uses his Alpha voice in an equally low yet commanding tone. “Now go to sleep. You need to rest. And anything you need, it’s yours. I’m yours.”

“My mate.” And I pass out.

The next time I’m aware of things, properly aware, the room’s full of a soft green-hued light and I blink, looking around.

Next to me, Stephan’s on his side, his scruff on the wild side, the sexy muss of hair tousled like worried fingers moved through it, and he smiles, smoothing a strand of hair from my hot face.

“You’re a little cooler to the touch now. How are you, Princess?”

Oh, god, we’re not even in a bed. They set up something on the floor so comfortable I could burrow in and hibernate for years. A nest.

I shiver, aware something momentous happened…is happening? Aware of the incredible intimacy of the moment.

I lick dry lips, and he hands me a bottle of water.

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