He dragged his gaze up to admire the way her br**sts bounced beneath the supple leather of her dress. They were small but firm, and his own chest burned in remembrance of them pressing into him when they’d been na**d and feeding at the portal.

When he’d come all over her.

“Well?” she prompted, striking the hands-on-hips pose again. “What did you mean?”

Dammit. Grinding his teeth, he stood, accidentally kicking the packets of blood onto the ground. “Nothing.” The blood sloshed around, something that should have made his mouth water, but all he wanted his lips to touch right now was Aylin. “We should feed,” he said gruffly.

“I’m not hungry,” she said. “Something about potentially dying tomorrow is killing my appetite.”

Hunter had never had that problem. He could always eat. “You need to keep up your strength.” He scooped up a packet of blood and held it out. “Eat.”

“I said, don’t tell me what to do! People have been ordering me around all my life. I hate it.” Her face grew red with the force of her mounting anger, and while Hunter’s first instinct was to gather her in his arms and hold her, he sensed that she needed to get this out. That she’d never truly let loose. “I hate ShadowSpawn. I hate my father. And right now, I hate Rasha so much I could beat her with that hatchet.”

“Right now?” He was shocked that she hadn’t always hated her sister. “Why?”

“Because she doesn’t deserve you!” she yelled. “And she’s not the one here fighting to save your child, but when all is said and done, she gets to mate with you and bear your children.” Spinning, Aylin flung the water bottle into the wall with so much force that it shattered into half a dozen pieces and sprayed water everywhere.

Aylin might as well have punched him in the gut as the reality of the situation truly sank in. He was here, fighting alongside the female he wanted, but waiting for him back at headquarters was one of the most vile females he’d ever met.

She gets to mate with you and bear your children.

The very idea made his balls shrivel. He was going to have to spend the rest of his life with Rasha, and Aylin was going to disappear from it forever.

Emotion and helpless anger clogged his throat. He turned away from Aylin before she could see it, before she could witness how much this was affecting him. He had to stay strong, to keep things between them as distant as possible. The future of his clan was at stake, and one misstep could land MoonBound at war with ShadowSpawn. As much as he hated Rasha, he hated the idea of even one of his clan members dying because of his choices even more.

He heard Aylin padding toward him, and he tensed, excruciatingly aware of every step closer. When her palm came down between his shoulder blades, a tremor rocked him from the inside out, and he realized that the pain of losing her was going to be impossible to bear. He broke out in a cold sweat despite the burn of lust that radiated outward from her hand to every inch of his body.

“I shouldn’t have said that.” Aylin cursed under her breath. “I don’t usually get angry like that, and I shouldn’t be making your union with Rasha more difficult.”

“Don’t,” he said roughly. “Don’t apologize, and don’t touch me. Never again.”

Dammit all to hell, he didn’t trust himself when she was touching him. Whoever said females were the weaker sex was a f**king idiot, because Aylin held more power over him than anyone ever had. It was time to minimize the hold she had on him, even if it meant hurting them both. “I belong to Rasha.”

Those four words nauseated him.

Aylin’s hand fell away, and the pain of the loss was almost physical. “I guess that says it all, doesn’t it? Rasha will be thrilled to know you want her.”

She strode away, and he lost it. Completely, utterly lost it. Before his brain could catch up with his body, he slammed into her from behind and hauled her against him, one arm around her waist, the other gripping her chin. Her slender shoulders bit into his chest as he put his mouth to her ear.

“I want you, Aylin,” he growled. “I want you so bad I can’t think straight. Or do you think this is for your sister?” He ground his hard c**k against her ass and smiled when she let out an erotic, encouraging growl. “That is why I didn’t want you to touch me. I want you, but I can’t have you.”

Craning her neck, she looked up at him. A hypnotic maelstrom of emotion swirled in her eyes, sucking him in so completely that he would willingly drown in them.

“Yes, you can,” she whispered. “If only for tonight, you can have me.”

In an instant, the atmosphere became charged. Her breaths, once shallow with anger, became deeper and more rapid. So did his. Her rear, pressing solidly against his crotch, rolled with each breath, and his c**k swelled even more, cradled in the seam of her ass.

“Hunter,” she gasped, pushing against him.

The scent of her arousal filled the air with her musky spice. He held in a groan, when what he really wanted to do was flip up the hem of her dress and drive into her. Just like this. From behind, his hands on her hips, his teeth buried in the crook of her neck to hold her steady for his thrusts.

Great Spirit above, it was tempting. To share one night of passion with her, to have this one memory to hold him for a lifetime.

“Please.” She brought her hand up to slip behind his head, driving her fingers through his hair and holding him as he brushed his lips over the shell of her ear. “Make love to me. I want you to be my first.”

He froze. “You’re a virgin?” He should have expected as much, but he couldn’t imagine how any male could have resisted her.

“Yes.” Her voice trembled, but her left hand was steady as she wedged it between them to grip his thigh. “Take it. Take me.”

He couldn’t, for so many reasons. As tempting as it was to make love to her, she deserved better than to have her virginity ravaged on the floor of a cave by a male who would soon belong to another. And he knew, all the way to the depths of his soul, that sex with her would wreck him. He would claim her as his own, would be unable to let her go, and his clan would pay the price.

“I can’t,” he said in a broken whisper. “You deserve more than I can give you.”

She cried out in frustration. “I’ve gone through my salisheye because of you. I need more now. I’ve never felt this way before. Help me, please.”

Oh, hell, accidental or not, he was responsible for her sexual awakening, wasn’t he? Pride and shame knotted in his gut. Pride, because of all of the males on the planet who could have taken her through the salisheye, he’d been blessed with that honor. Shame, because he should have made it more special than a dry hump during transport to a demon realm. Anguish radiated from her, and everything that made him male demanded that he make it better.

Slowly, he slid his hand downward, over her rib cage to her flat, hard abs. The tips of his fingers rested just above her pubic bone, caressing lightly, making her arch into his touch.

“I can’t make love to you, but I can make you feel good. Will you let me do that?” He worked his way lower, down her thigh, until he reached the hem of her dress. “Let me touch you.”

He slipped his hand under her dress, and she moaned. “Yes. Oh… yes.”

Victory sang through him, speaking to both the warrior and the male inside him. And yet both recognized that victory came at a price. Tomorrow, he suspected, both he and Aylin would pay it.

22

Aylin’s senses were on overload. Her skin was on fire, her br**sts ached, and lightning danced along every nerve strand. And Hunter wasn’t touching anything but her leg.

The fact that he didn’t want to take her virginity stung, but his hand moving upward in a lazy, decadent climb eased the pain. For now.

Don’t think about later, she told herself. Nothing matters but… Oh, holy damn, yes! His fingers brushed her core, wringing a strangled gasp from her. Pleasure zinged through her veins, and molten, liquid heat pooled in her feminine place.

Bracing her firmly against him, he wedged his foot between hers and nudged them apart. She held her breath as he cupped her mound and slipped one finger between her folds.

“You’re so wet,” he murmured against her throat.

She squirmed, suddenly embarrassed. Was she supposed to be that wet? Was there something wrong with her?

“Easy, sweetheart.” His guttural voice dripped with promise as he rubbed her in languid circles that somehow soothed her ache and made it worse. “I won’t hurt you.”

No, he was doing the very opposite, making her feel things she’d never felt, and those things could all be described as exquisite.

His finger dipped inside her, and her knees wobbled. “M-more,” she breathed. She wanted him deeper, so deep she’d feel him there forever.

He obeyed, adding a finger and pushing deep. He hissed and rocked his h*ps into her ass. “Damn, you’re tight.”

He did something sinful with his fingers, stroked something inside that sent electric shocks of ecstasy through her entire pelvis. She clenched around him as he pumped in and out, and when he pressed his thumb against her clitoris, she cried out.

“That’s it,” he said hoarsely. “Ride my hand. I want you to come so hard you scream.”

Scream? She could barely breathe, let alone scream. He withdrew his fingers, and that made her want to scream, but he plunged them back inside and whispered hot, naughty things in her ear.

Would he say those things to Rasha? Would he tell her how beautiful she was, how he wanted to spread her wide and f**k her with his tongue? Would he tell her he wanted to mount her on the forest floor, deep in the wilderness where their primal instincts could be one with nature?

Guilt, confusion, anger… it all assailed her at once, waging war with the pleasure Hunter was giving her.

You should have thought about all of this before you begged him to take your virginity. Maybe… but then, Rasha had the rest of her life to enjoy Hunter’s attention. Aylin had only now. Besides, Aylin was here for her sister, so she deserved something for herself, right? And there were no guarantees that she was going to survive the challenge tomorrow. They weren’t even in the real world.

What happens in a demon realm stays in a demon realm.

How easy it was to justify taking something that would very soon belong to her sister.

“Come on, Aylin.” Hunter’s guttural voice broke her firmly away from the lake of shame she’d been floundering in. “Stay with me. You’re someplace else right now.” How did he know? Before she could ask, he dropped to his knees and shoved her dress up over her hips. “Grab the wall.”

His firm tongue stabbed her between her legs. Shocked by the sudden sensation and light-headed at the extreme intimacy, she fell forward, barely catching herself on the rocky cave wall.

“Hunter!” she cried.

His tongue swept along the length of her, from cl*t to core, plunging deep inside her as his hot breath caressed her most private places. Her own breath exploded from her lungs as he mimicked intercourse, thrusting in and out, finding a rhythm that made her dizzy.

Closing her eyes, she memorized every detail of what he was doing to her. From the delicious onslaught of licks to the almost unbearable pleasure of his tongue diving deep inside her and the light sucking when he opened his mouth wide against her entire sex.

Her legs and arms shook so hard she thought they might give out, but abruptly, he was on his feet again, his arm around her waist to hold her steady as he pushed two long fingers inside her. He stroked her faster and faster, until she was panting and quivering with the need for release. She was rocking her h*ps now, trying to reach her peak, but he denied her, changing up his rhythm and speed as she got close.

“Please,” she moaned. “Please… now.”

He flicked his thumb over her swollen knot of nerves, and pleasure cascaded through her. And then he was rubbing her flesh at the top of her cleft, the pad of his thumb just barely feathering over her cl*t as his fingers worked her core, and she saw stars.

The orgasm ripped through her, far more powerful than the one that had surprised her at the portal. Hunter’s touch was seductive, ruthless, and so masterful that as her cl**ax waned, another built behind it, battering her with new waves of ecstasy that went on and on.

As she came back down, her muscles gave out. Hunter caught her, lifting her into his strong arms as if she weighed no more than a house cat. She barely had the energy to cling to him, but she managed, burying her face in his throat as he carried her to the hot springs pool.

“I’m going to bathe you and feed you, and you aren’t going to argue.” His voice was both commanding and teasing, and she was too tired to argue anyway.

“What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll eat and bathe when you’re done.”

“No, I meant…” Cheeks heating, she cleared her throat. “You didn’t come. Let me help.”

He went taut. “You’ve done enough already.”

She frowned at the way he said it, as if it were an accusation. “Did I say something wrong?”

“Just the opposite,” he said gruffly, leaving her even more confused.

He set her down next to the pool and removed her boots before helping her out of her dress. After what he’d just done to her, she shouldn’t be nervous about him seeing her na**d again, but maybe that was exactly why she felt so anxious. She’d been vulnerable in so many ways in her life, but never like this.

Making it worse, he’d gone robotic, his actions brisk and economical, as if he were unsaddling a horse instead of undressing someone he’d just given an orgasm.