Chapter 10
Talen’s fangs dropped low as his woman bucked against him, fighting with every dirty move he’d taught her through the years as he dropped to his knees. Her elbow jammed him in the gut, stealing his breath, and he fought the urge to laugh out loud.
This was what he’d been missing all these years as she’d fought the illness.
She’d been correct that he was still treating her like fragile glass, but even now, the thought of any harm coming to her ripped his heart into shreds. Vampires loved once and once only, and she owned him, body and soul. Nothing could harm her. Period.
Even so, she didn’t need kid gloves from him. Especially if that gave her license to put her life in danger.
What she did need, she might not like so much. His body thrummed in time with hers. He could smell her desire, her lust, and the familiar scent threatened to snap the small amount of control he had left. She was wild and sweet, a promise of everything good and pure in his life.
She broke his hold, partially turning.
A fierce wave of excitement surged through his veins. Her hiss of triumph rocked through him, igniting lust. He grasped her arms and flipped her onto her knees, facing away from him.
She swept her leg out, faster than he would’ve imagined, and knocked his knees to the side. Scrambling quickly, she made it up and around the couch.
He laughed out loud, absurdly pleased with her. With a roar only a vampire could make, he turned and cleared the sofa in one smooth motion, launching himself at his mate.
She let out a startled eek and flew back into the door, her hands instinctively rising.
His hands slapped the wall on either side of her head, and he inhaled her spicy scent, his nostrils flaring.
Her eyes widened. “Um—”
“Oh, baby.” He leaned in, satisfied by her sharp intake of breath. “It’s too late for um.” He grasped her shirt at the neck and ripped it in two. The useless material fell away from her body.
Her eyes darkened to the color of a fathomless ocean.
“Bra,” he said, lowering his face to hers, giving her a chance to save the lacy lingerie.
The quirk of her lip, the hint of defiance, was all it took.
He shredded the bra, revealing her pretty pink nipples.
Her chest heaved. “Talen—”
A quick dip, and his mouth enclosed a nipple. She gasped and grabbed his shoulders. He slid one arm around her waist to keep her upright and flicked her, allowing the scrape of his fangs along the side of her breast.
She trembled against him, need pouring off her.
He licked up her chest and over his bite mark on her neck, the one that had never completely healed. She shuddered and let out a soft moan.
“Before tonight is over, I’m biting you again, Cara. All the way to bone.” He nipped at her earlobe and drew back.
Her eyes widened even more.
Oh, it was time to claim his woman once more. Sure, he’d mated her again when she’d healed, but apparently it hadn’t been enough. He’d make damn sure tonight was enough to fully convince her of his loyalty and of anything else she needed convincing about.
His knee slid between her legs, and the feeling of her hot sex nearly pushed him over the edge.
Pink wound beneath her skin from her neck to her full cheekbones, adding to the glitter in her eyes. His mouth crashed down on hers, and her unique taste of honey and sunshine filled his mouth. God, she was fucking perfect.
She gasped him in, kissing him back, and then let loose with a low chuckle right before biting his lip.
Surprise whipped into lightning-hot desire. He flipped her around, his body keeping her still, and grabbed her wrists to put above her head. She struggled against him, her soft laugh stroking his lust hotter than either one of them should want.
Indulging himself, holding her in place, he traced her spine down her back with one finger. She shivered and shook her head, tumbling her silky hair over her shoulders.
He drew in her scent and tucked his finger in the waist of her jeans, giving an experimental tug.
She stopped moving.
He grinned and shifted to press his cock to her ass, feeling her moan to his balls. His free hand flattened across her abdomen. She pressed back against him, her back arching.
Sensation burned through him.
He unsnapped her jeans and shoved them down, leaving her delicate pink thong in place. It had probably matched the ruined bra. When the jeans reached her knees, he stopped and stood back up, his hold on her wrists tightening and raising her almost to her toes.
She shifted and then caught her breath, her legs shaking but unable to move.
“Yeah. You’re trapped,” he whispered, his breath at her ear. He curved his hand over her rounded buttock and squeezed.
Her head went back.
The skin across her hip was smoother than silk as he caressed her and moved his hand over her sex.
She moaned.
“Are you wet for me?” he whispered, sliding his fingers beneath the material. His low chuckle echoed against her neck, and his cock ached enough to really hurt. “Oh, baby. You’re wet.” And she was.
Her thigh muscles clenched, trying to still the ache. He laughed and set a knee between her legs, keeping her nice and open for him.
She was beyond soft and sweet, and when he stroked across her swollen clit, she gave a mewling sound that was for him. He hoped to God it was the last thing he heard when his time finally came. Her body gyrated against him, and when he slipped a finger inside her incredibly wet heat, they both groaned.
He licked along her ear. “Now, sweetheart. Let’s talk about obedience.”
Her shoulder rocked back into his chest. “God, Talen,” she breathed.
Not exactly what he wanted to hear. Punishing them both, he freed his hand.
She shook her head.
He palmed her ass again. “You were saying?”
* * *
Cara’s entire body hungered on the fine edge of pain. Only Talen could do this to her, and by the dangerously hard cock pressed to her hip, he was in the same state. “Sex now, talk later,” she gasped out.
He squeezed her butt. “Talk now,” he growled.
Her eyelids flipped open, and she tried to focus on the door in front of her face. “What?”
“Obey? Yes or no in battle situations?” He stroked her ass, his fingers firm.
She stopped breathing. There was a right answer, there had to be. But what the hell. “No.”
The ensuing slap from his large hand was angled up, and she instinctively went up on her tiptoes. “What the—”
Another slap. Then three more. Heat spread from his hand, right to her aching clit. Oh God. So much. She wanted more.
He caressed her smarting flesh. “Say you get me,” he rumbled.
“Oh, I own you,” she gasped.
The next slap had her crying out and struggling against his hold. Then pleasure bloomed across her butt. Another slap, and she arched her back. Four more hard slaps, each one getting her closer to orgasm. She shut her eyes to just feel.
His strong body warmed her from behind, and his hold kept her in place. Then he leaned in and scraped his tongue across the bite mark in her neck. Pleasure sparked from his mouth to her diamond-sharp nipples. His fingers brushed across the Kayrs marking on her hip, and her sex convulsed.
He nipped the bite mark. “Now’s a good time to submit, baby. Don’t push me any further.” His hand slid between her legs from behind and cupped her sex.
Her eyelids flashed open. The exquisite touch propelled her to a desire edged with pain. “No.”
His hold tightened. “Your ass isn’t the only thing I can spank. Give me the words, Cara. I’m on the edge.”
She wanted him over the edge, damn it. But instinct, an awareness of his primal nature, whispered caution. Talen Kayrs had never been a male to be pushed, and after seeing her in danger earlier, the animal must be rioting for freedom inside him. He stroked his fingers over her entire sex. Pleasure streaked from her womb to her breasts and back again.
“Now, Cara.” He rubbed her again.
“No,” she whimpered.
Smack.
He hit her clit with unerring accuracy. She jerked from the exquisite pain, and tension uncoiled inside her. Her knees weakened. Pressure built inside her, and she fought against it, against giving in.
The second slap to her engorged clit had her whimpering and holding her breath. The entire world seemed to stop. He waited, his mouth at her ear, his breathing heavy.
Smack.
She shrieked. Her orgasm imploded within her, shredding the entire world. Lights ripped behind her eyelids. He rubbed her clit, intensifying every excruciating sensation, forcing her to shake through the entire climax, the pleasure almost too much to bear. Finally, she went limp with a low murmur.
The world tilted, and she found herself on her knees, Talen following her down. Need clawed through her again, somehow sharper than before. Her hands flattened on the marble floor.
A rough hand between her shoulder blades forced her down, chest to marble. She turned her head to the side, trying to find enough air to fill her lungs. Rough hands grabbed her hips, one brushing the marking.
She arched.
The thickness of his erection pressed against her still-quivering sex. He shoved in with one hard thrust, pushing past swollen membranes and pulsing nerves, stretching her until he embedded himself deep inside her. She gasped, her body going rigid.
He flexed his fingers and then stilled. “You okay?”
Her voice was long gone, so she could only nod, and her body slowly relaxed.
Then and only then did he start to move, pounding into her with fast, deliberate thrusts. Agonizing, desperate pleasure electrified her internal tissues, and she pushed back against him, the outside world ceasing to exist.
There was only Talen and his long, demanding drives into her. Lightning arced from her clit to her womb, burning beneath her skin. A razor-sharp sizzle streaked through her, forcing her higher, increasing the pressure building too quickly inside her.
He stopped, his hold almost bruising.
“No,” she breathed, her lungs compressing, her body shaking with the need for release.
He leaned over her and scraped his fangs along his bite marks. “Now. Tell me.”
On all that was holy. She blinked several times and tried to clear her vision. Oh, she knew he was a centuries-old soldier, and he knew what to do in battle. “Fine,” she gasped. “Next time demons are after me, and the kids are with us, I’ll stay in the room.”
“Not good enough. Try again.” His fangs pierced her neck and dug in.
A shaking started deep inside her, and she clenched around his cock.
He groaned against her skin, and his fangs went deeper.
Pain flared and snapped to where they were joined, increasing the unreal need. Her vision went completely, so she shut her eyes. She tried to push back against him, but his hold remained absolute.
The fangs cut deeper.
She sucked in air. Her entire shoulder was on fire, but the pain didn’t come close to the need still building in her core. “Fine. In battle, I’ll obey.” It was the only damn word that would satisfy him.
His fangs touched, and he started to pound. Hard, fast, out of control, he thrust into her, forcing her thighs farther apart, holding her exactly where he wanted her.
The chill of the tile beneath her was yet another sensation added to the heated vampire behind her. She pushed back into his demanding thrusts, her body clenching around his. So much. It was too much. There were depths to Talen she hadn’t had a chance to reach yet, but now that she was whole, she’d explore every one of them.
His bite tightened just as he reached around and plucked her clit.
She exploded, shouting his name, her entire body convulsing. As she came, she could swear her entire soul joined in, lighting the room as her mate claimed her once again. He shoved inside her, held tight, and jerked with his own release.
His fangs retracted, and he licked the wound closed.
She went soft with a murmur. “Love you.”
He withdrew and turned her, rolling to stand with her in his arms. “My soul is yours, baby.”
Hmmm. Sounded like the same wavelength. She cuddled into his neck.
He chuckled. “Oh no. No sleeping. The claiming has just begun.”