Page 64 of In the Blood

“I’m going to take you like this. It will be easier for me to touch you… while I fuck you from behind.” He pulled a pillow from the top of the bed and tucked it under my hips. He bent my knees and opened my legs, making me jolt up when he buried his face into my sex.

Tsking, he gently guided me back down until my cheek was pressed into the mattress. Gripping my wrists with one hand, he pinned them behind my back, while his other hand explored me.

I let him take complete control, arching as he whispered, “Good girl.”

I bit my pillow to keep from screaming as he toyed with me, curling his fingers impossibly deep, keeping me teetering on the edge. “Please, Galen,” I begged.

In silent answer, he sat up behind me, pushing into my swollen entrance. Deeper… deeper. I moaned as he filled me completely. I was sore, but I was too dizzy with lust to care.

“If only you could see yourself, bent over… with me inside you,” he purred. He released my hands and I went pliant, melting into the bed as I fisted the sheets.

He began moving in controlled, languid circles. I stopped breathing as he gradually picked up the pace, gripping my bottom and pounding into me with painfully slow precision. His other hand was tucked between my thighs, playing with me, making me twitch, but holding back.

More, I wanted more. “Deeper…” I moaned.

He let out a low chuckle, lifting my hips up, opening me up to a new angle of pleasure. “My greedy girl…” he huffed. “I’m greedy too, when it comes to you.” He pulled out before sliding back in with a low thrust.

“I don’t want to share you,” he growled, with another thrust. He paused and I trembled around him, desperate for release. “Tell me you’re mine.”

He pulled my hips back, plunging in at the same time. I let out a muffled whimper into the bedding.

“I’m yours,” I gasped. I was so close, so desperate for him to finish what he’d started.

“One more time.”

“I’m yours,” I said again, louder.

“Should I let you cum now, sweetheart?”

“Yes…” I moaned.

His fingers wandered between my thighs as he slammed into me over and over. We were frantic, spiraling towards the finish line, lost in the pleasure. The primal sounds of our bodies clapping together, of our labored breathing, sent me soaring off the ledge. I convulsed as stars exploded behind my eyes. He swore and pulled out of me, crashing to the bed.

We laid there catching our breath, feeling raw inside and out. “Thank you,” he whispered, before wrapping his warm body around mine. “For the first time in a long time, I know what happiness feels like. And I’m not ever letting you go.”

twenty-six

The morning sky was a blushing pastel painting as I laid in Galen’s arms, soaking in the scene. Peony pink clouds watched from the heavens, while we luxuriated in our lavender haze.

A few strokes of his hand and I was ready for him. We found our pleasure quickly—anxious to claim each other before the day was upon us and real life resumed. We’d spent almost all of yesterday in bed, but today we couldn’t escape the realities of life.

“I’ll never tire of this. Of you.” Galen’s smile was radiant, reaching all the way to his eyes as they crinkled with joy. It made my heart skip, to let these feelings settle, to let him in. It was so new, so special. As the fear of intimacy retreated, a new one took its place. The fear of losingthis—this little ember that I wanted to cocoon and protect from any outsiders who might put it out. I crawled on top of him as he attempted to peel away, refusing to let him leave.

“You little monkey. Don’t make this more difficult than it already is.” He pulled me closer, before rolling, until he had me pinned under him. “I’ll… come… find… you… when… I’m… free,” he said between kisses that started at my forehead and ended at my belly button.

I groaned as he stood up and began searching for his clothes. A shirt there, pants here, underwear tangled in the sheets. Once he was dressed, he came back over for one more kiss. “Have a good day, love. I’ll be thinking of you, until I see you again.”

The door clicked shut and I bit back a grin. I pulled the comforter up to my chin and cozied into the heat he’d left behind, before it disappeared as swiftly as he did.

I fell back asleep until Lusha woke me with a knock and a tray of tea and toast. It was like she could read my mind; breakfast in bed and a slow start to the morning was exactly what I wanted. I sat up, staring at the unnecessary fire Galen had lit before he left. I knew why he’d started it—it was a reminder of the fire that had burned between us all weekend. I cooled the room with a steady breeze of ice magic until I had to wrap the covers around me.

In one weekend, everything had changed. Galen had claimed me; body and soul. Nothing about our relationship was going to be simple, but there was a warmth in my chest that flickered for him—that yearned for him even though he’d just left.

Were there things to work through? Yes… he was the Elder’s puppet and the son of a wretched woman—and that came with some horrendous truths. But he’d opened up to me, and I him. There was a new level of trust between us. Together, we’d find a path forward.

Deep in thought, I was startled by Rafael, who appeared at my bedside. He was overdressed in leather fighting gear, looking absolutelyshamelessas his eyes drank in the sight of me in bed… in a nightgown.

“It’s your first day of training. Time to get dressed,” he said like a drill sergeant.

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