16.
“For you to ask that question. Let’s switch things up.” Thalia had seldom hovered at such a fever pitch for so long, and it made her voice ragged.
“Then just tell me…or show me,” Raff said.
“You wanted me to come, right? Before we do it.”
“If possible.”
Part of her couldn’t believe she was about to do this, but she just went for it, straddling his face with her thighs. “It’ll be better like this, from this angle.”
Raff couldn’t answer readily, but from the eager way he put his mouth on her sex, he must be enjoying himself. Leaning forward, she moved tentatively against his chin, his lips and tongue. Thalia moaned over the scrape of his beard on her thighs, the feel of his hair on her belly. Need tightened her muscles; it had been so long—
He sipped at her clit, and her back arched. The orgasm spilled over her in quick, convulsive waves; she rode his chin, hunching against his face until the pleasure receded. His hands were gentle on her hips, steadying her, but never trying to control her. Thalia milked the last shivers from the experience and then slid off his face to tumble beside him.
“Good?” Raff trailed a fingertip between her breasts, so light and teasing that she lifted her hips, though she’d just finished.
“Very.”
She half-expected he’d go straight between her legs again, but instead, his teasing touch meandered to her belly, where he scraped little patterns on her skin with his nails.
It shouldn’t feel this good.
Her nipples had softened, but they perked up again in direct response to the game he was playing on her lower abdomen. Normally partners took that as a cue that she wanted her breasts touched, her nipples sucked, but Raff didn’t make a move. Thalia turned on her side, curious.
“Are you ready for more?” His voice was midnight dark, so deep that she felt it like a sexy growl in her bones.
“Yes. I want to fuck you now.” She’d never said it so explicitly before, in such raw language, but from the flash in his dark eyes, it was the right move.
Raff took her hand and guided it to his cock. Beneath the covers, she couldn’t see what she was touching, so she learned him with delicate fingertips. Hard, so very hard, and long, too. Too thick for her to encircle completely with her thumb and forefinger. Thalia explored further, found the fleshy head slick with precome. He jerked in her hand and rubbed against her fingers, his breath coming faster.
“See the difference, Lady Silver? That’s because you want me.”
“I do.”
Pure curiosity, she put her fingers in her mouth to taste him, and his lips parted as she sucked the salt from her own skin. Raff swallowed a groan, eyes locked on her lips. Then he moved, slow enough that she could’ve rebuffed him at any point. He was such a tender, gentle wolf.
Never would’ve guessed.
He also surprised her by lifting her leg and nudging closer. It was absolute seduction when he nudged her labia open and snugged the tip of his cock against her, luxuriating in the friction between their bodies. She sucked in a sharp breath over how good it felt and how impossibly patient he was, watching her face for each nuanced reaction.
“If you want my cock, take it.”
At this angle, it wasn’t easy to do alone, but she arched and wrapped her thigh over his hips, and then he pushed. His cock stretched her to perfection; once he slid inside fully, he paused to assess her response. Evidently encouraged by what he saw, Raff lifted the leg she’d draped over him, making room for long, slow thrusts. He held her close with his other arm, so that her breasts nestled against his chest.
Each time he pushed, measured and rhythmic, he kissed her throat, her clavicle, her shoulder. As his pace got faster, he bit down on her neck, and she trembled, wildly unable to process how purely good it all felt. His cock, working inside her. His mouth, hot and open on her skin. His teeth sinking in.
“Oh.”
Thalia had no experience in this position, no frame of reference for how intimate it was. Before, she’d taken her pleasure from him, but now there could be no mistaking that he was giving it, with each push and pull, each luxuriant slide. Even when he angled her hips to provide the perfect pressure inside, it was in response to her moans.
“Getting there, princess?”
“Yes.” It was all she could do to speak.
“Let’s go together.” He took her mouth, tongue sliding over hers as his cock stroked inside her.
She bit him when she came, savaged his lower lip, but he didn’t withdraw from the kiss. He held still while her body tightened on him, gasping in her ear so it sent shivers all down her spine. Once she quieted, he pulled free and fisted his cock once, twice, quick and vicious, and then liquid heat spurted against her bare belly.
“Why…?” Thalia tried to whisper the question, but her voice was too unsteady.
But he knew what she wanted to know, offering a lopsided smile as he eased down beside her. “The way I understand it, you can’t just decide to have my baby. That sort of thing’s left up to fate among your people, isn’t that right?”
“Well, yes.” She’d heard that Animari could decide when to reproduce, and until then, there was no risk in sexual pleasure.
“Then I shouldn’t take that choice away from you.”
She raised a brow. “It’s unlikely that one encounter would do the job, even assuming we’re a fertile pair.”
“Even if the chance is slight, we should decide to try together, or avoid the risk. It shouldn’t be a whim of mine since it’s your body at stake.”
Understanding broke over her at last. This was a measure of his concern. “You’re trying to protect me.”
“As best I can.”
Softly she kissed away the trace of blood from his lower lip. “I appreciate it. If you like, we can ask Dr. Wyeth about the probability of conception, and in the meantime, there’s medicine I can take for prevention.”
“If that’ll put your mind at ease.”
Sighing, she said, “You’re too casual about this. Aren’t you supposed to want to—”
I can’t say it.
“I already marked you, Lady Silver. Maybe your people won’t be able to tell but the wolves at Daruvar will have no doubt at all what happened here today.” The wolfish grin curved his mouth, tugging at the scar half-hidden in his beard.
Irritated with his smug teasing, she got up and scrubbed her stomach, trying not to blush. “That’s not funny.”
“It wasn’t meant to be. They won’t bother you about it, and I’m sure Janek will be relieved that we’re getting along so well. He likes you.”
That revelation caught her by surprise. She laid down the damp cloth and came back to the bed, mostly because it was so damn cold. The fire in the hearth could only do so much against the ice storm outside. “He does?”
“Indeed. Just the other day, he called you a tactical genius, in fact.”
“And what’s your opinion?”
“You need to get under the covers before you freeze your pretty tits off.”
It wasn’t obedience, Thalia told herself. Just common sense. Yet it still gave her more joy than it should have to comply with his suggestion and snuggle up against his hard, hot chest. His arms felt so nice around her that she could’ve purred.
Maybe a marriage of convenience to a wicked wolf wasn’t so bad after all.
Raff could hardly believe his eyes.
The soon-to-be Eldritch queen lolled in his arms, her mouth slightly open and so completely unconscious that it was impossible not to take it as a compliment, either to his sexual skills or his trustworthy nature. Either way, he found her faith endearing if a little puzzling. After all, reliable wasn’t the word that usually sprang to mind when people described him.
Idly he ran his fingers through her hair, marveling at how the silver strands caught the firelight and shone like platinum. Her body felt so fragile to contain so much determination, and damn, from what he’d seen, the odds were not good. The Eldritch didn’t like coming straight for conflict; instead, they lingered in the shadows and winnowed away at the foundations, until suddenly, your house toppled over.
He spared a moment to wish his phone hadn’t been smashed in the cave-in. It would be good to touch base with Janek and Skylett, maybe even call to see how things were going in Pine Ridge. Through technology, it would also be possible to check on his traps and drones to verify the status of the holdings around Daruvar, though the storm might jack up the signal. Raff sighed.
Ah, well. No point fretting over what couldn’t be changed.
Pulling up the rough, thick covers, which had been stitched together out of random fabric and then stuffed with bird feathers, Raff closed his eyes. Their body heat made the strange bed feel cozy, and with his belly full, it was a decent place to ride out the storm. In time, he slept, and then—
I’m on the floor, bleeding. I can’t remember when the beating stopped or when the next one will begin. Nobody says anything. It’s all right, because I can heal the hurt and shake it off. It’s not like I’m a Latent or a pup in need of protection.
Nearly grown, that’s what everyone says.
The room is cold and dark, Father paces in the hall. I can hear his curses, the half-coherent rantings. He’s calling me the devil that killed his mate? That means he’s had far too much liquor, enough to kill a Golgoth, and he’ll be coming for me soon. Evert will try to stop him. He’ll try.
I should take the punishment, even if I don’t exactly understand why.
“Stupid accursed whelp, where are you?”
I know I shouldn’t, but I can still feel the belt and my mouth is still bleeding. If I’m fast, I can escape to the woods and live for a few days, until my father’s in his right mind again. When the door opens, I bolt, shoving through to the corridor. Hard hands reach for me, but Evert is there, struggling. Behind me, they’re struggling—
He jolted awake, heart hammering hard in his chest. It had been a long time since he had the nightmare, but he could still see his brother at the base of the steep steps, sprawled at unnatural angle, blood spilling from his cracked skull. Such accidental deaths were rare among the pack, yet another reason for his father to hate him. Sometimes he wished the old man would simply die, but he wasn’t gone, even now. Instead, the pack had called for a vote of no-confidence and quietly confined him, and the outside world heard from Rand Pineda no more.
Wonder how she’ll take that news.
“Raff?” Her hand was suddenly on his cheek and he pulled it away before he could stop himself.
Even between normal lovers, there were boundaries, and the dream left him feeling like he was one raw wound, bleeding freely beside her. “What’s the matter?” he asked, trying for his usual tone.
“You’re trembling. Are you cold?”
“How could I be, with such a hot little bundle beside me?” He thought he sounded fine, should be enough to get her to go back to sleep.
It wasn’t.
“Bad dream?” she guessed, with an acuity that was as impressive as it was intrusive.
His first instinct was to snap, as wolves did when unfamiliar hands went after their sore spots, but then he remembered how she’d told him about her mother, poisoned by her father’s mistress. That couldn’t have been an easy thing to share, but she’d trusted him with it, long before she curled into his arms. Such candor was a rare sort of courage, an example he should follow.
“You want to hear about my long, dark night of the soul?” he asked quietly. “It’s not in our contract.”
“That’s a baseline agreement, as in, this is the minimum we will do for one another. There’s no reason we can’t give more, if desired.”
“What a long, roundabout way to say, ‘Yes, Raff, I want to hear your story’.”
She curled into him, sliding one thigh over his and rested her head on his chest. “I want to listen, Raff.”
“Better. I like things straightforward.” He closed his eyes, aware that he was about to tell a story that most of the pack knew, but he’d never really spoken about before. “If things were different, you might have married my older brother, you know.”
A jolt of surprise went through her; he felt it. “You have a brother?”
“Not anymore. Which is too bad because he was brilliant, years of training and so many incredible ideas. Pine Ridge lost a lot when he died.”
“You feel responsible.” It wasn’t a question.
Thalia opened her palm on Raff’s chest, clearly an attempt to comfort him. Some of the horrors of the dream faded, leaving him more grounded. He covered her fingers with his and tried to keep it together. It was one thing to confide in her, another to break down.
“No denying that. He was trying to save me from a beating and paid the ultimate price for that interference.”
“Your father didn’t have him…” She trailed off like she couldn’t even ask the question.
“Executed? No. Officially his death was an accident, but if I hadn’t tried to run, it wouldn’t have happened.” Now that he was talking, it was easier than he’d expected, as if this was a dam that badly needed breaking.
Under the cover of darkness, Raff told her everything—how his mother had died in childbirth and his father hated him irrationally, so that nothing he ever did was good enough. About Evert, who was always his shield, until that terrible night when he wrestled with their father like gods of old, and how in the end, the whole pack paid the price.
“My father was never…right, afterward. He kept it together long enough to install Korin as my second, but that was the last sane decision he ever made.”
“Grief drove him to madness,” she said softly. “Where is he now?”
“Safely confined in Pine Ridge. Are you shocked?”
“I’d be lying if I said no, but mostly, I feel sad. Because like me, you never knew your mother, and like me, you never had your father’s love.”
Astonishment flared in him, bright as a match kindled in absolute darkness. “Are you saying we’re two of a kind?”
“Maybe I am. Of the two of us, I think you’ve had the better outcome.”
“Why do you say that, my good wife?”
“Because you had a brother who loved you so much that he was trying to protect you to his last breath…and even though he’s currently lost, there’s still a chance your father could come back to you.”
His chest hurt with the unexpected sweetness of her words and their undeniable truth chipped away at the awful residue the nightmare had left behind. “Mm, well, I do concede that I’m a lucky devil, not just for those reasons.”
“Why, then?”
With gentle reverence, he kissed her temple. “Because I married you.”