Page 130 of With Fangs and Claws (The Wolf Queen 1)

Chapter 52

He didn’t allow himself to go too far at the start, and I could immediately see why. The soft push of his tongue, the harder thrust of his fingers, were nothing on this.

“Big…” I squeaked.

“A man always wants to hear that, lass, but perhaps not right now.” He pulled back and while that terrible pressure had gone, I found myself missing it, right up until it returned. “Gods, you’re tight.”

Was that a good thing or a bad thing? I didn’t get to work that out as he eased in and then back again, creating a rocking motion that the tide in my blood seemed to understand. Each time he pressed in, it ached, but when he tried to pull back, I was clawing him closer. Slowly, slowly he worked himself inside me until he seemed to reach a barrier.

“A little pain,” he promised, “then pleasure, my love, so much pleasure. Now…” He nipped at his finger and pressed the bleeding tip between my lips, something I didn’t understand until the blood hit my tongue. Then I was holding his hand, keeping it exactly where it was, as the fiery tide inside me rose. “Blood for blood, that’s what we say,” he told me. “It’ll ease things for you and make it all better.”

That was the only warning I got before he thrust inside me.

I let out a harsh gasp, my whole body going rigid at this sudden intrusion. A sharp pain, like the slash of a knife and then feeling full, full, full. But he had to move, didn’t he, rocking himself in and out in a way that utterly caught my focus. A motion I was quickly beginning to imitate.

“That’s it, lass,” he said, as my hips thrust up to meet his strokes, his thumb moving now to work on the sensitive spot he’d called my clit, teasing it in lazy circles as we moved. This felt like the way my wolf body did when it ran at full speed across the plains, my paws eating up the miles. This felt like the way my body had moved during the ritual, the steps describing the dark pleasures of the hunt. I realised now that the Maiden often went seeking something that would lead her into the other phases of my life.

“Gael…” I cried out, feeling my body tighten, swell, clamp down upon his thickness, as if I could force him to stop and stay in this moment forever. “Gael…” As if I could keep him giving me this pleasure that none of my experiences before could have prepared me for. “Gael!” My claws raked across his back and drops of his blood covered my hands, just like they had when I met him, and he grinned down at me.

“Mark me, love. Scratch me up. Make sure no one will ever mistake me for anything else. We wolves, we bite and we scratch what is ours, just as I’m going to do to you.”

I fell back onto the bed, almost limp, as ecstasy suffused my body, and my head went to one side, baring my neck for him. And Gael, he just drove himself into me, over and over, harder, deeper, burrowing into me until it was as if he would never get out, and that’s when he struck.

His fangs dug into my flesh right as my body went into riot. I jerked and twitched as wave after wave of pleasure pummelled me and then came that most transcendent of lights. It bloomed from where the bite site was and then flared out, rippling through us both until Gael was forced to pull his head back, staring down at me with shocked eyes. But he had no chance to question what had happened, as I rolled us over, feeling his cock pulsing inside me as I laid him back on the bed.

“Mine,” I snarled and then I lunged, only his arms around my hips keeping me locked down on top of him. I bit down into the soft flesh of his neck, felt the rush of his blood into my mouth and that seemed to be the perfect way to end everything. A savage kind of possessiveness rocketed through me, getting bigger and bigger until I threw my head back and howled.

“You’re my mate,”I said, almost defiantly when we’d cooled off, his cock softening and sliding free, leaving a mess he seemed intent on cleaning up with his shirt.

“I always was, lass.” He smiled at me then, an actually smug smile from the king of the glower. “The way we see it is that we were born to find each other. This is the gift of the gods, and mates that form the bond during the Festival of the Triple Goddess? Well, they’re doubly blessed by Her.”

“I…” I felt him cleaning my tender flesh with considerable care. “Gods, that makes me want more.”

“More?” He flopped down on the bed, his hair falling over his face until I pushed it away, revealing him in all his hawkish glory. “I always thought you might be a lusty lass. One that will keep all four of her mates dancing to her tune. Now, we men are but weak creatures in the face of our goddess’ radiance and we take some time to recover the requisite fire to give you another seeing to, but…”

He pulled me on top of him, smiling as he shuffled my hips up towards his face until I understood what he meant for me to do.

“Gods, Gael…” I hissed at the first swipe of his tongue, glad for his suggestion. It was a sweeter, gentler way to tease me and right now that seemed eminently right. But what had felt raw and sensitive, just became exquisitely so, because my mate knew exactly how to please me. His tongue was everywhere, licking and sucking until I found my peak all over again, my claws leaving disgraceful scores in Weyland’s walls. “That feels so good,” I purred, feeling loose-limbed and languid when I moved off his face. “But it just seems to make the ache worse.”

“What ache?” he asked, sliding a finger inside me and then curling it up. “One here?”

Whether it was that or something else, I wasn’t entirely sure, but I knew I wanted to chase this it. It provoked a much deeper, more resonant pleasure that throbbed deep inside me. He moved me down and, when he did, I found him hard and waiting again.

“I’ve got what you need, love,” he told me, settling me over him and I was relieved to feel him slot deep with much greater ease.

“What…? What do I do?” I asked as his hand went to my clit, rubbing it slowly.

“Move in any way that gives you pleasure,” he said, and so I did. My hands slammed down onto his chest and then I began to writhe. “You feel like fucking heaven,” he told me. “I’ll never get used to this. Man isn’t supposed to feel such perfect pleasure, but damn me if I don’t. Take me, Darcy, take me deep inside you.”

And as I did, I could feel it, that hard lump at the base of his cock, stopping me from going too deep, but tantalising me with the prospect of doing just that. But not right now. We loped together, over and over, driving each other insane until finally we climbed another peak of pleasure. Then something seemed to quieten inside me, as we rolled side by side, holding each other close.

“I thinkI like this time almost as much as the pleasure,” he told me, tracing small incomprehensible symbols on my skin with his fingertips. I could only agree, snuggling in close to him as I felt the sweetest haze hang over us. Everything was pleasure, holding, resting, sighing into each other’s breaths as they got longer and longer. “But we need to find my brothers. I’m surprised they haven’t hunted us down already.”

“Where were we supposed to meet them?” I asked.

“At the White Hind, one of the alehouses. They were going to work their way through each one, seeing where support lies, showing where ours is, and then we were supposed to meet at the Hind. Axe is probably pissed out of his mind, drowning his sorrows in beer.”

“Sorrows?” I said, feeling a prick of alarm.

---