Page 84 of What Sleeps Within the Cove

It didn’t stop Estrella from growling possessively, the sound rumbling in her chest. She placed her hand on my bicep, squirming when I finally brushed my thumb against her clit beneath the table. A quiet admonishment and reward all in one, I couldn’t help the feral grin that took over my face at the sound of her jealousy.

“I thought he was absolutely fucking terrifying,” she admitted finally, earning a laugh from those down the table. Xela glanced down, scolded for her wandering gaze, and I almost felt bad for the woman. “He snuck up on me in a barn when I was resting—”

“I tried to comfort her, but she’s too fucking stubborn. She triedto run from me, even though I had taken great lengths to make myself appear less intimidating,” I admitted, watching as she chewed another bite from her plate.

“Great lengths,” Estrella scoffed. “You made yourself appear human, I will give you that. But less intimidating would have meant reducing your attractiveness, and you are far too vain to allow something like that, my love,” she said with a chuckle, the affection in the words warming something in me.

“Are you insinuating I am arrogant?” I asked, pressing my free hand to my chest to feign offense.

“I’m not insinuating anything. I’m stating plain facts,” Estrella argued, picking a berry from her plate and throwing it at my face. It bounced off my nose, landing on the ground beside me as I leaned in and placed my elbow on the table.

Invading Estrella’s space came so naturally, the power play we constantly engaged in humming beneath the surface. In this place, she might have been the Goddess they all sought to worship and believe in. But at the end of the day, when we all retired to our beds, it would be me she obeyed. There was something powerful in that, in knowing that this strong woman followed my orders and obeyed my commands not because she had to, not because she was weak or needed direction.

But because she chose to. Because she wanted to be submissive to me and me alone because I was the only one who could make her kneel at my feet and do what she was fucking told.

“Have I somehow not proven to be worthy of all that I’ve claimed?” I asked slowly, letting her feel the torment in each word. I leaned forward, catching her bottom lip between my teeth and biting just hard enough to bleed her. That single well of blood was enough to charge the celebration with sex, her scent reaching even the humans as I licked it from her mouth and let it sink inside of me. Her taste on my tongue was the greatest aphrodisiac as the music increased in tempo, even the musician not immune to the magic of her. “Have I not made good on every single promise I’ve made you?” I asked, watching her pupils dilate with desire. She glanced away from me to the table of people watching our interaction with rapt fixation, my thumb stroking her beneath the table to drive her to the point of madness. I craved nothing more than for her to find that place where she was so lost to her own wants that she would embrace the discomfort that came with being watched, that she would revel in the attention that she deserved.

I wanted her wanton. I wanted her lost to anything but the feel of me moving inside her.

I wanted her to crave me to the point of desperation.

“Caldris,” she said, her tone hesitant. It amused me that even after I’d fucked her in front of countless people before, she could still have that moment of insecurity. She could still wonder if this was what was right, if the desire to know that she was the point of fixation and desire for so many was what I wanted.

I lived for the knowledge that what they wanted would always be mine. I lived for the moments where they realized how blessed by the Fates I truly was to have her soul entwined with mine, to know that there was nothing I would not do for the woman that possessed me as much as I owned her.

I brushed the fabric off her shoulder, watching the white slide down her light brown skin. She was stunning as it slipped over her bicep, and she caught it and held it there as she studied me and tried to make her choice. If she wanted it, I would take her back to the cabin and fuck her there, but she and I both knew that she wanted to prove a point just as badly as I did. I wanted every man at this table to know she was mine, and she craved that same possession over me.

She wanted Xela to watch me fuck her, so that the woman whose gaze had lingered too long would understand that I would never even see her outside of when she existed in my mate’s periphery. Estrella burned so bright she eclipsed every other woman from the world, casting them into the shadows of her light.

“They want me to prove that I am worthy of touching you, min asteren. They want me to prove that I am worthy of being your mate,” I said, slowly sliding out of my chair. Everyone at the table stood as one, getting to their feet out of respect as I held out a hand for Estrella and waited to see if she would take it. If she would accept this ceremony willingly or if she would want to retreat to our private quarters. I would support her choice either way, revel in the feel of her body moving against mine.

She slid her palm into mine, letting me guide her to her feet finally. The fabric that had been draped over her flesh slid to the ground as she stood, leaving her nude as eyes fell to her. I led her through the gathered crowd, letting the onlookers have their view of the Goddess who walked among them. She moved with feline grace, her steps fluid and in time with the rhythm of the music that continued to play. She eyed the clearing as we entered, the strips of cloth hanging from the trees in two lines at the center. Waiting betweenthe two largest trees that formed an archway, a ceremonial table had been crafted from stone. It was long and wide, intricate carvings of a faceless woman and a man etched into the stone on the side.

The woman took her pleasure from the man she’d tied down to the altar, her head thrown back in the throes of ecstasy.

I stripped out of my clothes while Estrella watched, her gaze bouncing between me, the audience who now watched us carefully, and the altar beside us. I knew the path her thoughts had wandered, that her uncertainty came from a place of insecurity.

While she knew I loved her and desired her more than anything, I had always been the one in control. I’d always guided her where I wanted her, particularly when we played with people to watch us.

She connected the pieces of the puzzle easily, understanding making her mouth drop open as I stood naked before her and turned my back to the altar. Lifting myself up onto it, I laid myself out along the surface.

Estrella hesitated beside it for only a moment before she climbed up onto it along with me, settling herself over my hips so that she straddled me. I raised a single hand to cup her behind the neck, bringing her down close so that her mouth touched mine as I spoke into our bond. “It’s just you and me, min asteren. Take what you need from your mate.”

Estrella twisted her hands at her sides, the thread of our bond pulsing in gold as she guided my hands up over my head. The thread dug into my flesh, warm and comforting in spite of the steady pressure as Estrella wound it around my wrists and fed it through the loop at the top of the altar.

For the first time in my life, I felt like the lamb that had been led to slaughter. Like the sacrifice I had seen so many times throughout my long history. This was an offering I would gladly give, my love and my body to the mate that I wouldn’t have changed for anything.

“You’re so beautiful,” I murmured as she placed her hands on my stomach and stared down at me, studying her handiwork and deciding what she should do with me.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said, the nerves in her voice making my heart clench. Estrella had stepped into her own power in so many ways, but in this she still struggled to understand exactly how much power she wielded over me.

“Yes you do,” I insisted, smiling up at her in encouragement. “Get your cunt wet for me.”

“Your hands are busy,” she snarked, but her mouth twitched in the barest hint of a smile.

“My mouth is not,” I argued, bucking my hips ever so slightly to motion for her to shift her body. She did so, carefully inching her way up my body and settling herself when her legs were above my shoulders on the tableau. She stared down at me for a moment before she reached down, burying her hand in my hair and angling my neck as she lowered her pussy to my mouth.

I worked her over with my tongue, letting her guide me where she wanted me as she whimpered, her voice hoarse and throaty. Her arousal coated my tongue, and I could feel it simmering in her blood, the way her entire body needed this moment.

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