Gentleman and animal.

In his luminous eyes I also saw his fear of the reality waiting for us come sunset and his shame for the things he wanted to do to me so he could drown himself in this moment. When he finally began to move, sliding his cock in and out, his pace was measured, slow and somewhat staggered by his underlying impulse to drive into me with everything he had.

“Sterling. Please. Let go.” I bucked against him, straining to take in more of him, seeking and demanding more with the rove of my hips.

With one hand on my thigh, he brought the other to grip the juncture between my neck and shoulder. His formidable strength—and how he used it to hold me down—made my jaw go slack. He pinned me down, completely immobilizing me so that I had no control over the depth of his strokes. He didn’t trust me not to tempt him over the edge.

“Be still while I use you,” he said on a rasp I barely recognized. “Otherwise, I might ruin you.”

His words were meant as a warning, but they didn’t have the intended effect. My body burned with hellfire.

That’s when a wicked idea blossomed.

He might’ve been holding me down, but I still had control of the world around us.

Drawing on my magic, I imagined myself in heat.

Since this was a dream—one where I was pulling the strings—it worked. Thick, potent hormones bled from where we were joined. My wet heat turned sopping, making his cock slide easier against my walls with his shallow thrusts. To add a little oomph, I released the silken rumble of the mating sound I’d heard enough times to emulate at will. “I want you to ruin me.”

Every muscle and tendon in his body went taut. His cock jerked, knocking a cry from my throat. A shuddering exhale left him, and with his seething breath a cloud of cold mist spiraled between us like the huff of a raging bull. Strips of shadows and light from the blood-red sky cut across his face, making his eyes glint like sharpened daggers. His fingers dug possessively into my flesh, even as they trembled. Before me—inside me—was an ancient predator, and the tether of his restraint was fraying fast.

“Don’t. Provoke. Me.” His voice was clenched as tightly as his muscles.

“Why?” I demanded, irritation kindling. “This is all in your head. You can’t hurt me here. Not really.”

His gaze dulled. Unsmiling. Unblinking. His thumb stroked the dip between my collarbone, the tender touch catching me off guard. “Trust me when I tell you that the worst kind of wounds are inflicted in places like this.”

I tamped down on my monster’s annoyance and pressed a smile, trying a new angle. “Have you ever readBeauty and the Beast?”

For a split second surprise flared across his face, and in a blink, the expression was replaced by one of fierce adoration. “Of course,” he murmured.

“Belle loved the beast before she knew he was a prince; she was ready to marry him. We all know she probably would have preferred he stayed the beast. I mean, common. It’s nice that he lost the fur, I guess, but he probably lost a good six inches too, and I’m not talking about his height. My point is, she loved the prince too. In my story, you’re the beast, Ster. In my case, you gave me the library first. And I fell in love with my prince before I knew he was a beast. But now that I see this side too, I love it…because it’s still you.”

I clutched his sharp jaw and held his gaze with fire in my eyes. “And you won’t ever hurt me.”

Sterling finally relented, letting his darkest parts take the wheel. He lifted me, so my toes left the ground, and I instinctively wrapped my legs around him, sinking my claws into his shoulders. With a savage punch of his hips my back hit the bars again, and the gate rattled dangerously. He canted his hips, planted his feet into the ground, and gripped the bars over my head, using the angle as leverage to drive into me with everything he’d been holding back.

I clung to him, taking the battering assault of his pelvis. Legs shaking around his waist, my muscles screamed in unholy bliss. My vision went blurry for a breath. My eyes drifted shut, but his mouth was on mine the moment the darkness swept in, the alluring contour of his lips dragging me back into the light with him.

I held the silver monster’s gaze, reveling in the way he watched me take him. With the use of all his senses, he savored everything, from the way my rain-streaked face twisted from the movement inside me to my scent as he breathed me in like oxygen. This scarred creature of the shadows fucked me like a god, making his claim over the goddess of the sun.

“B–bite me,” I stammered on a broken breath. “Make the mark.”

His lips pulled up into a wolfish grin that made my blood hum. “Won’t work here. Your prince will claim you when you wake, soft and sweet. Right now, you’re mating the beast.” He gripped my jaw, thumb hooking into my mouth, which caused a little saliva to drip down my chin as he fucked me into total obliteration. “And all I want is your submission.” His eyes glistened as his Adam’s apple stretched his throat with a swallow. “Fornow. Soon, I’ll be filling your womb.”

His words, paired with his erratic thrusts and the sound of wet flesh clapping together, spurred me into a frenzy as we both chased release. When his hand fell from my face to palm my breast in his bruising grip, I surged forward, crashing into his lips and thrusting my tongue into his mouth. He tasted like dark magic, bitter memories, fury and sin. He met my feral kiss with equal fire, his lips as greedy against my mouth as his cock was buried in my swollen flesh.

“I’m close—bloody—ooh. Fuck.”

His monstrous grin spread wider. “Yes, I bet you are. You like the idea of being bred, don’t you, whore queen?”

My eyes widened, and my lungs emptied, leaving me gasping. It made sense that Sterling had a little bit of a breeding kink. He’d come so close to being a father, and then he’d had it wrenched away from him. Thrusting thoughts of Vincent and our agreement out of my mind, I leaned into Sterling’s fantasy.

“I’ll be a good girl and be sure not to spill a single drop.”

I felt his growl of approval down to my marrow. He nipped at my lips—careful not to break the skin—groaning and shivering his pleasure. “When you’re heavy with my child, you’ll be a prize—a pregnant vampire. That shit doesn’t happen. The queen, no less. And with our senses...everyone will know who got the pleasure of filling this royal cunt.”

My climax came fast and violent.