Page 64 of Corvak's Challenge

"You…should…go harder…" she pants at me.

I growl.Yes. She's so perfect.Mine.

With that permission, I slam into her, and when she makes an excited sound, I keep going. I piston into my mate, hammering into her soft cunt. She grips me tight, and taking her like this allows me to hold her at the perfect angle. I rock into her, our bodies moving together in sync, building the pleasure between the two of us. Her little moans become soft cries, then louder ones, and still I want more. I need her to come apart. I need her to climax so hard that Valmir hears me possessing her. I need him to know that she is mine, branded with my seed, my child, my khui. Lifting one hand from her hips, I grab her hair by the fistful and slowly, gently, tug her head back. Aidy's breath hitches and her cunt tightens around me?—

—and then she is coming, her channel squeezing and convulsing tight around me. Her mouth is open in a wordless cry, as if she is climaxing so hard that nothing can escape her throat, and I somehow like this better than her loudest screams.I pound into her, losing control at the sight of how beautiful she is, how tight she squeezes me.

This can't be our last time together. I won't let it.

With a growl deep in my throat, I come, pinning my mate against the wall as I empty my sac into her body. She pants, trembling, as I pull out before I can finish spilling and I paint her backside with my seed, marking her all over like a wild animal.

Mine.

Mine.

Mine.

When the blistering pleasure recedes, I pant and press Aidy against the rocky wall of the cave, pinning her there. My hand curls around her throat possessively and I tilt her head back. "You will go with him," I whisper, "but you're still mine. Every breath you take is mine, every smile is mine. You may cover up my scent for a time, but know that when I return, I'm going to make you wear it all over so the people at the beach know that you are mated and no one can touch you but me."

She bares her teeth in a feral smile. "Promise?"

I love this female. I love that she's as wild as me in her own way. "I promise."

CHAPTER

TWENTY-EIGHT

FOUR DAYS LATER

AIDY

I stareout of the entrance of the supply cave—the hunter cave, as Valmir calls it—and wait for a sign from my mate. I watch the snows, scanning for a tall, dark head without horns, but all I see is more and more white as fresh snow begins to fall and my panic begins to rise.

He's coming back for me. I know he is.

These have been the longest four days of my life. It's been impossibly hard to travel away from Corvak, knowing that he's staying behind with the increasingly vicious snow-people. Knowing that he's going to willingly jump off a cliff into a pool of water, and him not being the strongest swimmer. What if they don't buy his faked death? What if he hits the rocks on the way down? What if he dives too deep and can't swim his way back to the surface? What if they find out what he's up to and take out their fury on him?

What if, what if, what if? I squeeze my eyes shut against the intrusive thoughts and turn to Valmir. "Do you think he'll be here today?"

"Do I look like an oracle of some kind?" He sits by the fire in the cave, reinforcing a boot with bone splints. His ankle was healing well, but after three days of slow travel to get to this cave, it's growing painful and weak, and we're nowhere near the beach.

"I'm just asking. Making conversation. Being friendly. You should try it sometime."

He just ignores me and pauses to rub his chest, tail flicking with annoyance.

I turn back to the entrance, watching the snow come down. If I close my eyes and breathe deep, I can still smell the eye-watering stink of the curled-leaf plant that we rubbed ourselves with four mornings ago. We'd waited for Corvak to lead his followers away, and it wasn't until the last straggler disappeared over the horizon that we grabbed our packs and left.

It took three days to get to this cave, three days to get to safety. Valmir and I moved as fast as we could, but the snow is deep and my legs are short, and his ankle has been bothering him the entire time. At the end of the first day, we hid at the base of a cliff, huddled in blankets because there was no shelter to sleep in. Not that I could have slept—I was on edge the entire time, expecting to hear hooting or to see round, glowing eyes watching us from the darkness.

The snow-people never came after us, though. They truly aren't interested in anyone but Corvak. It should make me happy that everything has gone to plan. Instead, I want to weep because I left Corvak behind and it's been days since I've heard from him. He's the only thing I've got left. I don't know what I'm going to do if he doesn't come back.

When we made it to the cave on day three, I should have been relieved. Instead, I spent the entire time waiting at the entrance, watching for either Corvak or for snow-people, some sign that something has happened, good or bad.

Since we got here the waiting has been horrible. I've barely eaten. Who can eat jerky at a time like this? And that's all the food there is—a few withered roots and lots and lots of fish jerky. I'll eat when Corvak arrives, I tell myself. "If he doesn't come today, should we go out looking for him? What if he's injured? What if he hurt his ankle in his fall like you hurt yours?"

Valmir just sighs heavily again, because he's heard all my worrying a dozen times already. "There's no point in scouting. He knows this location. We can see the entire valley easily. If he's around, he'll come here, injured or not."

"But what if?—"

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