WILLA

Gren drifts off to sleep again, and I bathe quickly by the fire with the warmed water. Even though Ashtar does his best to give us privacy, I’m still acutely aware of his presence. Veronica hasn’t woken up yet, and I hear the occasional delicate snore from that side of the cave that tells me she’s still resting off whatever she did to heal Gren. Someday I’m going to repay her for her kindness, because I have no doubt in my mind that she’s saved his life. The infection is gone, his bites are almost completely healed, and his eyes are bright with his quick intelligence once more.

Even his cock responds. I didn’t miss the hard-on he had when I washed him. I was glad to see it, because that meant he was back to his old self…and that also means we have time to finish what we started.

Gren’s sickness was a wake-up call, far as I’m concerned. Just a few days ago, I dithered about taking things further with him because I didn’t want to turn into Mama, using sex to get what I wanted. Almost losing him has changed everything, though. I don’t plan on waiting any longer. I’m going to snatch at whatever happiness I can find with both hands…and bury them in his soft, soft fur.

I jump to my feet, taking one of the small baskets of trail mix from the wall. I’ve set up Gren near the supplies, which means that Ashtar is on the far end of the cave, in a nook with Veronica. He’s set up a nest of blankets, but there’s no fire built back there and no supplies. I’ve noticed him come and go, but he hasn’t said anything and I feel a little guilty for being a bad hostess. I’ve just been…preoccupied.

He gets to his feet as I move over to his side of the cave, a frown on his face as he studies me. “What is it?”

I can’t help but notice that he stands between me and the sleeping Veronica, as if he’s protecting her even from me. “I wanted to bring over some dried food, just in case she woke up and was hungry.” I offer the small basket to him.

Ashtar takes it, the look on his face a far cry from the friendly, flirty man I remember from our landing on the beach. “I think she will be asleep for a time yet.”

“Gotcha.” I hesitate. “Are…you okay?”

The look he levels at me is irritable. “I will be once my mate is awake. Until then, I would rather be left alone. With her.”

Right. I sense a wee bit of resentment from him. “She wore herself out, didn’t she?”

“She did.” His voice is flat, his posture unwelcoming.

“I can’t thank her enough,” I say softly. “I would have lost him…” I choke on the statement, unable to say it aloud.

His expression softens a bit. He reaches out and gives my shoulder an awkward pat.

Just thinking about him makes a little shiver race through my body, and I can feel my pussy getting hot and slick. It’s incredible that he’s able to turn me on so quickly. There’s just something so inherently masculine and protective about him that makes me wild. I feel that hot little shiver race through me again, my nipples pricking, and I hope he wakes up soon.

I might just pounce on him.

As if he can hear my thoughts, Gren jerks awake with a low groan, his eyes locking on mine.

My heart skitters in my chest, and for a moment, I think something’s wrong. He’s relapsing. Veronica didn’t cure his sickness after all. He’s going to die and leave me all alone—

“Willa.” He reaches for me, and his eyes are scorching hot with need.

I tremble all over. “Are you okay?”

He groans, sitting up. His gaze is locked on me and he doesn’t seem like he’s in pain, but something is…strange. He gazes at me, looking me up and down as if seeing me for the first time, and I can hear his heartbeat thudding in his chest, fast and frantic.

Wait…is that his heartbeat or mine?

The moment the question crosses my mind, he reaches forward and grabs a handful of my tunic, ripping it with his claws and baring my breasts.

I gasp, but I’m not scared. I’m…aroused. Trembling so hard my body is shaking… What the hell?

Then I realize what it is.

“Gren,” I say again, panting, and push his hands off my clothes so I can press my palm to his breast. Sure enough, his cootie is thrumming wildly in his chest. I’m shivering, too, and when I put my hand to my bare skin, I realize I’m singing back to him.

Resonance. Of course. So many things make sense now.

I laugh with wild delight. “Do you know what this means, sugar? It means me and you, together forever.”

“Willa,” he growls, and claws the rest of my tunic off, then pulls my naked body against him.

I gasp, startled at the flash of his claws and the fact that I'm completely topless in two seconds. When he reaches for my pants and shreds them, I just gape. I'm shocked at his savagery, and how full of wild need he is. He looks at my naked body, groans, and then buries his face against my breasts, breathing deep of my scent.

The cootie in my chest just hums and purrs, thrilled by this, and I'm not exactly upset myself. I curl my arms around him, pushing my breasts up so he can give them attention. "Gren," I breathe, utterly entranced. We're resonating. There's no more waiting—for anything.

"Willa," he grits out, and in the next moment, he's pushing me onto my back. Something hard and hot prods against my inner thigh, and I realize that it's his cock. A low moan escapes me, and I reach between us to caress him, wanting to feel the hot length of him in my hand.

He growls and grabs my hand before I can touch him, pinning it over my head and holding me down against the floor of the cave. I'm not even scared—I'm just aroused beyond belief. This is so damn sexy I can hardly stand it. After days of skirting warily around each other, he's not being gentle any longer—he's taking what he wants, and what he wants is me. "Go for it, sugar," I tell him, utterly breathless with need. I scrape my nails down one furry arm, encouraging him as he moves his big body over me, and my legs go around his waist. I want this as much as he does—maybe even more, because I can feel how hot and wet I am between my thighs. One big hand releases my wrist and snarls in my messy hair. He holds me down, gazing into my eyes—

And then thrusts into me.

I suck in a breath. Everything feels tight and slightly achy, and it's nothing like I thought it would be. He feels huge, but there's no pain, only the clench of my pussy around him and the delicious ache that spreads quicker with every moment. I feel pinned against him, my body speared by his, but instead of freaking me out, it's the hottest thing I've ever experienced.

Gren groans as if he's dying, his body shuddering as he pushes deeper and deeper, working his way into me.

"I've got you," I tell him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

Before I can encourage him more, my beast is moving over me, thrusting. His movements are quick, jerky, and as untamed as he is. It's like he can't stop his hips as he pistons into me, crashing towards a release. Each hard pump feels less tight and more like a promise, and his weight bearing me down onto the furs feels so good and so right that it's giving me almost as much pleasure as his body pumping into mine. There's a pleasurable coil in my belly that feels like it's growing with every moment, and I bite back a moan as he thrusts hard and my breasts seem to bounce into his face. Now he'll touch them. Now he'll touch me all over and then we'll both come, exploding like fireworks.

Well, one of us does. Gren hisses low in his throat, and then jerks against me. A moment later, I feel his release, his thrusts becoming slicker and more erratic by the moment. Oh. Well now, that's all right, too. I'm just so thrilled that I wrap my legs around him and hold him tight as he shudders and shudders, pouring into me.

He pants, trying to catch his breath, and I run my fingers through his fur, just loving the touch and feel of him against me. My cootie seems to be purring louder than his, as if it's telling him that I haven't come yet. I don't want him to feel bad, though. Sex doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be full of love, and right now I'm so full of love and happiness I could burst.

Gren shudders over me again, his big body so fascinating to me…and then freezes.

He jerks upright, detangling himself from my grip, and looks down at me with horrified eyes. "Willa…no."

No? I feel a stab of hurt as he pushes away from me, crouching back a few feet as if he's afraid to get too close to me. "What do you mean, no? Is something wrong?" My voice rises, and then I remember Ashtar's still in the cave. Oh Jesus, Ashtar probably heard all of that. I drop to a whisper and lean in. "Gren, what's wrong?"

My beast reaches out for me, caressing my cheek with delicate claws. His expression looks downright tortured. "Willa."

I caress his face. "I don't understand. What's wrong? Tell me. You're scaring me. Is it the resonance?" I put my hand over my breast, tapping, and then move to touch him, indicating the song that's humming in his own chest. "You gotta talk to me, sugar."

"Willa." He puts a hand to his brow, wild-eyed and looking as if he wants to tear his own hair out in frustration. After a moment, he grabs the shreds of my tunic from the floor and shakes his head. "Gren…no." He points at me. "Gren…no." There's such anguish in his voice. "Willa…friend. Gren no."

My heart melts. "You think you hurt me? Oh, bless your heart, I—"

He cocks his head. "Blessurhart?"

I chuckle. "I guess that was bad of me." I reach for him, and when he puts a hand up to stop me, I push his hand aside, determined. "Gren, you didn't hurt me. Willa, yes. Gren, yes."

"Gren…no." His voice is ragged, pain in his eyes.

"Willa, yes," I reassure him. "I wanted that. I loved it. I wanted every moment of it." I crawl forward on hands and knees, ignoring the fact that he's trying to pull away from me. I'm not going to let him feel guilty. Was it quick and filthy and startling? Sure, but that doesn't mean I didn't want it or that it wasn't good. "I didn't tell you to stop," I murmur, my voice dropping to a husky, enticing note. I move forward a bit more, and this time his back hits the wall of the cave, and he stops his retreat. "In fact, I wrapped my arms around you, remember?"

He reaches for me, the worry still on his face, as if he doesn't deserve to be able to touch me.

I take his hand in mine and press a kiss to his palm. "You let me be the judge." I want to show him how I'd tell him no, how I know if I flicked his hand away and told him to get off me, he would without protest, but I don't know how to communicate that without muddying the waters further. My cootie's still humming a mile a minute, and I can hear Gren's chest vibrating with the force of his, too. Weren't these things supposed to stop after a mating? I guess mine's on overdrive. Maybe I have to come before mine decides it’s done.

Whatever it is, I'm happy to oblige. I think for a moment about telling Ashtar to get his gold butt out of the cave, but Veronica's still unconscious, and it's all quiet on his side. Besides…he already heard us once. And it's a big cave. I find I don't really care.

Let him listen in. Let him tell everyone how much Willa likes touching Gren. Throw it in all their faces. I'm a little shocked at my vicious surge of pride, but I welcome it. Gren needs someone to be his champion, and if Ashtar carries stories back to them about what a big dick he has, maybe that'll do it. "God, you're so big and full," I purr, climbing onto Gren's lap as he watches me with narrowed eyes. "I can't get enough of you and that enormous cock, Gren."

"Willa?" His breath is rapid, expression tense as he tries to figure out just what I'm saying.

I wiggle as I settle into his lap, straddling his cock. He's still hard—or maybe he just got hard again that quickly—and we're both a little wet and sticky. I don't care. All I know is that it feels good to touch him like this. It feels good to lower myself and feel my slippery folds glide against his length. I lean forward and my breasts brush against the mat of dark hair on his chest, and my nipples feel so tight with arousal.

"Gren…Willa yes?" I ask, and then lean in and nip at one of his fangs with my lips.

He sucks in a breath, and I feel his hips buck under me, as if he can't control himself.

"Yes," he growls, and then snarl-growls a few words in his language I don't understand. That's fair. If he thinks I'm dirty-talking him in English, I guess he can dirty-talk me in whatever he speaks.

"We don't have to be done, sugar," I murmur, pressing little kisses along his fangs and then kissing his mouth. His canines are so large that they distort his lips, but I don't see that as unattractive. I only see the man I need to kiss, and wonder how I can do so without making him feel odd about it. I lean in, bury my hands in his thick mane of hair, and tilt his head ever so slightly.

He follows my lead, lifting his chin for me, his eyes glittering with hunger. Underneath me, his cock jerks, the movements almost involuntary, as if he can't control himself.

And really, that's sexy, too. I've never thought of myself as so appealing that I would make him lose control like this. I love what just happened between us. I can't wait for it to happen again. I'm excited to do everything with Gren.

My mate. My perfect, feral, brutal mate.

I lean in, and with the tip of my tongue, I lick him from his chin all the way to his upper lip, right between those enormous fangs.

He groans as if he's dying, his entire body shuddering under me.

"Gren," I whisper. "That's a kiss. Sort of. It's going to be for us, anyhow." I move one hand under his chin to hold him steady, and lightly trace my tongue against his parted lips. He opens wider, and I flick my tongue into his mouth.

His hands clench against my back, and then he thrusts up against me. He stiffens, holding me tight, and then in the next moment, I'm on my back again, my legs in the air and Gren between my thighs, pushing into me.

Okay, it looks like we're going to do it like that. I don't mind. Maybe he's so full of need that this is how it has to be for the first few times. I wrap my arms around his neck, and when he surges into me again, I suck in a breath. The first thrust feels shocking in its intimacy, but then he pumps into me with insane intensity, and then groans his release a moment later. His big body collapses on top of me, and then he sighs heavily. "Willa."

"It's fine," I murmur, caressing his oddly handsome face. "We have alllll night, sugar. Until you wear that thing of yours out, I can show you how to touch me, though." I smile at him, loving the intense concentration on his face as he tries to determine my words. His gaze flicks to my mouth, and he probably thinks I'm asking for more kissing. I could sure do with a bit more kissing, yup. So I lick my lips and tilt my head at him, encouraging.

He surges over me, his cock still buried inside my body, and his mouth is on mine in the wettest, most tooth-filled kiss ever. I can't help but giggle at our clumsiness (because I'm no expert either), but I love this. I love how eager and intense he is.

And then I stop giggling, because he nips at my lower lip, tugging lightly on it even as he thrusts into me, and I suck in a breath. That was…really nice. "Gren," I breathe, all the playfulness being replaced with need. I twine my fingers into the furry pelt on his chest and tighten my legs around him, quivering.

He growls, but there's a fascinated look in his eyes, as if he's just figured out how to make me respond and wants to do more. Lowering his head, he nips at my mouth again, and then grazes his tongue against mine. This time, I'm the one that's moaning as I hold him close. He pumps into me again, just as my tongue brushes against his, and then we're kissing as he rocks into me, his movements slower, steadier, with a surer rhythm. It feels different than the last two, frantic rounds, and I sigh happily as it sends little shocks of pleasure through my body. I can feel him so deep inside me that it's stunning in its intimacy, but it's also incredibly good. I love this, and I love him. I've never felt closer to anyone.

Gren thrusts harder, eliciting a gasp from me, and his mouth rises off of mine as he watches my expression. He pumps into me again, and when my breasts bounce in response, his gaze flicks downward. I take one of his big hands and put it on my breast. "Touch me," I encourage him, wanting it so badly. "Touch me everywhere, sugar."

He flexes his claws lightly against my skin, utterly careful with me, and then traces the globe with the pads of his fingers. He pets me, exploring, and when his fingertips rub over the nipple, it sends a shockwave of pleasure through my body that's so fierce I can feel my pussy clench around his cock. I suck in a breath even as he groans, and it's clear we both felt that.

Gren growls, and then his thumb is rubbing my stiff nipple, watching my face as I react. It feels so different to have him filling me up, deep inside, as he caresses me. It makes everything ten times more intense, and I'm gasping for air as I cling to him. I arch against his touch, desperate for more.

He plucks at my nipple, and when I whimper as he rolls it between thumb and forefinger, that galvanizes him. With a fierce snarl of his own, he thrusts into me, continuing to work my breast even as he licks at my mouth. I cry out, startled at how good it all feels, and my pussy clenches tight as he pounds into me. My toes curl, my legs tightening, and then I'm coming with a hard shudder, a cry wrenched from my throat as the orgasm rolls through me. Everything in my body tenses like a taut bowstring, and Gren's growl of response tells me that he feels it, and he's coming, too.

This time, when he collapses on top of me, panting, I feel a dreamy sort of bliss. The first two times felt good, yes, but now, I feel…like liquid chocolate. With a happy little sigh, I hug my beast close and snuggle against him, content.