The flame leapt between our lips, yet Ares kept kissing me.

His hunger for me became hotter than the flame.

When his tongue urged my lips open, I obliged, and it thrust into my mouth, turning into another kind of fire that excited me instead of harming me.

I should let him go—he could still be saved, but I was too selfish to do so. When he touched me and desired me like this, the cursed fire no longer hurt.

My hand clutched at his face.

Ares had no intention of getting away. He deepened his kiss, and the cursed fire winked out of my skin, then my hair, and my body.

The burning was gone, replaced by another kind of arousing burn that needed to be sated and cooled as well.

My tongue danced with his. A deep groan rose from the back of his throat. Ares scooped me up.

His mouth left me, and I protested.

Ares pressed me tightly against him as he strode toward his tent.

“Amazing!” Ventus called behind us. “Did you see that? Our prince tamed Freyja’s hellfire with a kiss.”

“I feel like crying,” Glacies said. “I probably shouldn’t. Ice is my nature.”

“Passion burns as fire,” Ignis sighed. “Only it’s now a different kind of fire.”

They were all very mouthy, but I was grateful for their support.

At the entrance of the tent, Ares stopped and turned to look at the guardians. “No one comes in.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Ventus nodded. “Let me know if Freyja needs anything else. I’ll even pluck the stars for her.”

“It’s not your role to pluck the stars for her,” Ares growled. “It’s mine.” He flapped the tent open and entered with me in his arms.

Gently, he laid me down on the bedroll, but I refused to release my arms that coiled around his neck, afraid of the return of the cursed fire if I let go of him.

“It’s okay,” he said, his voice still choked. “I’m here. I won’t let you burn again.”

I didn’t unclasp my hands.

“Didn’t I melt the ice in your vein and cool the fire in your blood?” he asked. “You need to learn to trust me a little more.”

I still hesitated.

“I need to check on you,” he coaxed. “And then I’ll touch you all over.”

My eyes shone at the promise. I loosened my hands and allowed him to place me on bed.

He examined my body carefully. “There are no physical burns or blisters. Your skin is returning to its creamy color.” He turned me around to inspect further. After he was done, he gathered me into his arms again.

“How do you feel now, Freyja?” he asked. “Tell me honestly.”

I frowned. “When wasn’t I being honest?”

“Good. Now that your attitude is back, you’re back to normal.”

As pieces of my senses returned, the image of him throwing himself at the fire on me flooded back. He would rather burn with me than see me burn alone. My fire had scorched him in the beginning before vanishing.

I touched his face, then his neck, and then his muscled arm. “You’re not hurt, Ares,” I said with amazement and gratitude. “But I saw my cursed fire burn you when you jumped on me. Why did you do that? You could have gotten yourself killed.”

“I’m the only man who is immune to both your death touch and cursed fire,” he said, a smug satisfaction lighting his eyes. “I wonder why.”

Because you might be my mate, and my instinct would never hurt my mate, just like your instinct is to always protect me.

“Thank you,” I said, gazing at him with tenderness I hadn’t known I possessed.

He gazed back at me, his throat moving up and down.

“Don’t do this to me again,” he said in a shaky voice. “Two days ago, I had to watch the enemy’s blade cut into your skin. Today I watched you burn and could do nothing about it. I’d never felt so helpless and powerless.”

“You’re the opposite of powerless, Prince Ares Darken,” I said. “As you bragged, you warmed my ice and cooled my fire. And fates! My touch is death, but yours is electricity. It energizes me.”

Was I telling him too much?

“I hadn’t known fear until I realized I could lose you,” he said, burying his face in the curve between my neck and shoulder blade. He started to inhale my scent, wanting some comfort. And then before I knew, his hot lips were on my neck, tracing up until it found my mouth.

He laced his large hand into the thickness of my hair, holding the back of my skull firmly as his kiss weighted on me. It was a commanding kiss that didn’t allow to be denied or be brushed off. I had my own demands. The tip of my tongue licked his lips and urged them to open, and when they did, I thrust my tongue into his delicious mouth, laying on his before flirting, teasing, and dancing with it.

A stream of energy zipped in me, washing away my exhaustion. It seemed we both got a good deal. When I touched him, I didn’t drain him but offered some stimulation, and when he fondled me, he juiced me up. Prince Ares Darken was my energy bar.

A deep, erotic groan tore from the depth of his throat, and his other hand cupped my breast hard.

Lust flooded me, and liquid fire licked between my thighs and spread beyond.

I broke the kiss to get some air into my lungs. “Ares,” I breathed.

“I promised you I would have your breast in my mouth. I’m going to fulfill it now.” He lowered his head, and his mouth was on my breast. It traveled a short distance until it found my taut nipple. His large, rough hand moved away from my other breast down to my flat belly, then further down. His palm held my bottom and his thumb caressed my clitoris. 

I swayed my hips and moaned. The pleasure was going to undo me.

He lifted his head and gazed into my lust-filled eyes, his desire burning brightly and darkly. “Freyja,” he whispered, his sensual lips now tracing all the way down, every kiss making me shiver with need.

Then his face was between my thighs.

His mouth enveloped my folds and suckled my tender flesh. His gentleness turned savage. 

Pleasant sensations hit me like wild lightning. I bucked my hips up.

“You smell better than anything, my Freyja, and your taste is like no other,” he said, his wicked tongue flicking my moistened mount, licking and tasting.

I moaned as pleasure hit me waves after waves. I raised my torso and curled my fingers into his hair. He thrust his pointed tongue into my tight, heated channel. 

“Oh, Ares!” I cried.

“Do you want more?”

“Please!”

“My tongue or my cock?” he asked.

Why did he always ask me tough questions?

“Your tongue and your cock,” I breathed.

“You can only have one at a time,” he said, lust slurring his voice.

“I want your cock.”

“Ready to be fucked?”

I lifted my hips up and let my bare pussy show him how eager I was.

“Don’t you want this?” I whispered.

He let out an erotic groan. “You have no idea how I fantasized to fuck you every morning when I woke up and every night before I slept. I wanted to take you the first time I laid my eyes on you. I’m forever hard when you’re around.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” I purred.

In a flash, he stripped off his clothes, baring his broad shoulders, hard chest, narrow waist, and powerful legs. Earth, the prince was magnificent. I had to have him. And I was going to have him! His large cock erected proudly above my face. It was pure male, silky and beautiful. A moist bead surfaced at the slit of his crown, which displayed just how much he wanted me.

I swallowed, imagining how it would feel when his cock filled me, though I’d had it inside me for a brief time before.

“Say ‘Ares Darken, I want you to fuck me,’” he demanded, his molten-gold eyes drifting over my body, his gaze halting on my mouth before resting on my pussy. Seeming unable to make up which part of me he wanted most, his eyes darted back up to my mouth and almost immediately flicked backed down to my sex.

“Fuck me, Ares Darken.”

“I’ll fuck you until you’re hoarse.”

Suddenly I recalled how he’d bailed at the last minute. If he did the same to me while I was in such a volatile state, I didn’t know what would happen to us.

His knee urged my legs open wider, but I bent a knee, my foot on his hard stomach, ready to kick him off. He gave me a questioning look, lust an unforgiving dark storm in his eyes.

He wouldn’t be able to control himself this time. He would have to fuck me, but I still warned, “If you stop in the heat of the moment again, Darken, you’ll never have me again. I swear on my future grave.”

He cupped my mouth to stop me from finishing the vow. “I forbid you swearing on your life. But I won’t stop. You’d have to kill me to make me stop.”

I might just do that if he frustrated me again.

“But—” I swallowed the rest.

Caen had warned him this morning that once he slept with any other woman instead of his witch he’d lose her forever, and a kingdom and super-race offspring would be lost to him.

But it would be idiocy to bring up the First Witch right now and screw up my final and possibly only chance of knowing a man intimately. I pushed the witch out of my mind and prayed that Ares wouldn’t think of her at this crucial moment.

I needed to tempt him beyond measure and get his cock inside me. The empty ache between my thighs demanded he fill me with his rapid thrusts. If he didn’t fuck me good, hard today, I would go crazy. I would do anything to get that one relief, and then that was it.

“Not buts,” he said. “It’s just you and me now.”

So he agreed. The mating frenzy had been merciless toward him as well, and he’d finally answered its call instead of resisting. We would just mate this once, get it out of our system, and move on. He could go back to his witch in a saner state.

I flattened my knee and opened my legs wide for him.

He stared at pussy with dark fascination before he hovered above me, aiming his hardness at my entrance.

My sex was so wet and hot.

“Now, Ares,” I said. “I need you now.”

He chuckled. “My lustful Freyja. I’ll give you what you want.”

His shaft glided into my aching channel. My passage was narrow, yet it accommodated his girth. My walls felt every inch of his hardness, which only heightened my arousal.

Slowly, smoothly, and torturously, he slid in one inch, then another, taking a great care with me. It was a sharp contrast to when he had thrust into me with an explosive strength and slammed to the hilt with one stroke in that alley.

I wanted the same.

Yet he was still taking time moving in another inch as he trembled above me from restraining himself from going any faster.

I lost patience. I was fearful he would back out. I propelled my hips up to help him speed up the action, but he pushed my belly down and pinned me there.

“Slow down,” he said. “You’re a virgin. I need to be gentle with you.” At my dark look, he added, “I realized it was your first time when I saw your blood on me after we had unfinished intercourse in that alley. I won’t cause you pain again.”

I might have wanted to go slow under other circumstances, but while I had just been torched from inside out by the cursed fire, I wanted his wild passion to make me forget the horror.

“I was no longer a virgin after you thrust so hard in me last time,” I said, and he looked so guilty and sorrow, which wasn’t what I intended for him to feel now. “I want a hard fuck, Ares. I’ve always wanted that. I’m not paper. I’m a wolf girl, the toughest on Earth. Can you match up to me? Show me the storm, if you have it.” 

His eyes brightened to pure golden at the challenge. “You asked for it, woman.” 

Ares started pounding hard between my thighs. Faster and faster. He fucked me as he was supposed to—he’d caged his lust for too long. No force on Earth could drag him away from me this time.

I wrapped my legs around his waist to get him penetrate me freely and deeply.

Each thrust from him, shallow or deep, was bliss.

His cock hit my depth over and over, as if he naturally understood my secret cravings and tempos. I bucked up my hips to fiercely meet his every plunge to speed up my own orgasm, to brace for the release I urgently needed.

In the back of my mind, I was still afraid of being put out, though I knew Ares wouldn’t do that to me again. Better safe than sorry. So I fucked him back as hard as I could. The prince raised his head at one point and stared down at me, stunned at my vehemence and strength.

I was a Nephilim, but he didn’t know that. I wondered if those women he’d been with had fucked him like I did. The very thought only brought me rage and jealousy.

“How could you?” he murmured in amazement. “You’re like my equal. I’ve never fucked like this.” He plunged down, no longer holding back his enhanced hybrid strength.

Our mating became wilder.

He gazed at me, enjoying my reaction as he fucked me.

At some point, I could tell that my face twisted in ecstasy, which only turned him on more. Flesh slapped against flesh. The whole world faded away and mattered no more, except for our mingled, labored breathing and the erotic sounds we produced.

I moaned shamelessly, feeling the coming of my climax. I would get there any second, even if Ares changed his mind now. I, Freyja, the First Witch, would take initiative and wouldn’t rely on anyone else to make me come.

Ares seemed to read my thoughts. “I won’t leave you, Freyja.” His thrusts became lightning fast; his male instinct sensed my need and was desperate to sate me. He pulled out right to the tip, and just as I wanted to mourn at the emptiness, he drove in long and hard. His large, hard cock filled every inch inside me.

He pounded me relentlessly.

The pleasure was shattering me. Melting me. Humbling me.

“Yes, Ares, just like that!” I breathed. “Fuck me just like that!”

A fiery song burst in my veins. A ray of light blossomed alive, streaming between us.

The mating bond had formed.

Ares’ eyes glowed pure gold. The bond had chained him as well.

“It can’t be,” he whispered.

I knew what he meant. The First Witch was his destined mate. Only she could share that bond with him, but he didn’t know that the one writhing beneath him in mindless pleasure was the witch.

Would he regret our mating? Would he hate me for cheating him out of his future?

Too late for him now.

He didn’t slow his thrusts. His next drive pushed me to the peaks of the waves.

I wanted to roar in victory, but I didn’t want anyone to hear that and charge in, despite Ventus guarding the tent.

I wouldn’t give the guardians a chance to poke fun at me. Deep inside, I was shy.

My inner walls clenched on Ares’ cock. It grew even harder and larger at the stimulation. A deep rumble rose from his chest. Ares gazed at me with such intense possessiveness that I thought he almost mistook me as his witch.

“You’re mine,” he declared.

Whatever you say.

It wasn’t a commitment, and I didn’t want his commitment.

But I grinned at him. It was a fabulous fuck. I had finally gotten it out of my system.

My orgasm was long, solid, and damn good, and Ares thrust through it, riding with me and sending me to new highs.

Because of my great satisfaction, I was suddenly in a benevolent mood and started feeling sorry for Ares. I should consider his benefit as well. I didn’t want him to lose a great kingdom for this. He still had a chance.

“Ares,” I said with a positive smile. “I’m good now. Feel free to stop at any time. You haven’t come yet. So, technically, if you stop it right now, you still have a chance with your witch.”

He glared at me. “Like hell I’ll stop, woman!”

I didn’t think he could. His eyes were fiery gold with lava-hot lust.

He pounded between my thighs with explosive vigor.

Every thrust turned into fire again and reignited me.

With a powerful, deep thrust, he pumped his hot seed into my womb with beastly, lustful groans and repressed roars— for the benefit of our audience in the camp.

His climax was long and solid.

“I’ve never had this much seed before,” he said as he gave up one last shudder on top of me. “Soon, I’ll take you to a place where I can fuck you without inhibition, and I’ll roar the mountains down.”

Unless he crossed his witch out of the picture, the day might never come.

But as pleasure lit my every cell, I looked forward to that day we could fuck without inhibition.

~

 

I lay my head on Ares’ broad shoulder, my red hair spilling on his hard chest, just as I’d pictured. I dozed off with contentment, until he woke me up with his hand on my breast.

“You lied to me again, Freyja,” he said.

I blinked, trying to return to the world. “Which lie?”

“How many do you have?” he grated. “How many elaborated lies have you woven?”

I tilted my head back to leer at him, still not willing to leave his arms. “I don’t know,” I said carelessly. “I don’t weave elaborated lies.”

“The First Witch never headed south,” he said, staring hard at me and watching me closely to catch more lies. “But you wanted to go to the Twilight Realm to get the cure, so you pointed the wrong direction and drag us along with you.”

“I didn’t drag you along. You followed me. More precisely, you forced me.”

“Another outrageous lie.”

The prince always figured things out a step later, but it wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t the first time I’d lied to him. He’d have to get over it and move on, instead of looking pissed.

“If you kill me now, you’ll just end my suffering earlier,” I said. “I have nothing to lose. As for you, you’ll have to go back to consult your Oracle again.”

“Who said I was going to kill you?”

“You looked like it.”

“You don’t know anything about my look,” he said darkly. “You led us across the continents chasing the ghost, just so you can get the cure. Why did you lie about such an important matter?”

“Like I had a choice?” I said. “I’ll be useless to you if I’m too sickly or die on the road. In order to find the witch for you, I need to get the cure first.”

“I didn’t mean looking for the witch was that important. I meant your curse. You should have told tell me right from the beginning, so we wouldn’t have wasted so much time. We could have flown straight to the Fey realm.”

“But all you want is your witch.”

“And you thought I’d let you die for that?”

He would, wouldn’t he? She was everything he could dream of.

Our fucking had changed nothing. It meant nothing. And I was everything but delusional.

He sighed. “Have you ever trusted anyone? Do you even know how?”

“I don’t think ‘must trust people’ is part of my job description,” I said.

“We’re changing the plan. We’re going to Mysth to get you the cure.”

“I propose we part our ways from here,” I said. “I’ll go for it myself. You and your men can turn around and go north to find the witch.”

“I won’t let you out of my sight,” he growled.

“What about your witch? Don’t you want to find her sooner?”

“She can wait.”

A week ago, he wouldn’t have let her wait. He’d been searching for her in great desperation.

“I don’t want you to waste time on me,” I said.

He sneered. “Still plan to run away from me?” There was deep hurt and anger in his eyes.

“Where can I run? There’s only one place I can go and you know where now.”

“I won’t abandon you, Freyja. You’re my responsibility and I’ll always keep you safe. But for you lack of faith in me, you’ll suffer a consequence.”

“What consequence?” I asked.

Heat rose in his molten-gold eyes again.

My pulse spiked. Oh, damn.

He flipped me over and had me on all fours.

I’d heard that Dragonian males always preferred to fuck their females from behind.

“As a punishment,” he said hoarsely, raw lust laced in his voice. “You’ll do whatever I want.”

He lifted my ass, his hand coming around to fondle my breast before moving down to brush my pussy.

A hot, hard steel rod was at my entrance, ready to invade my private domain.

I moaned heartily as his large, hard length drove inside me.

I guess I could live with that punishment.

We fucked for hours. I no longer needed to worry that he would leave me wanting. I would enjoy the maximum joyride while it lasted.

I, Freyja, the First Witch, lived only for the moment.

“I never expected this,” he said in awe. “It’s like you’re made for me.” He pumped his hot seed inside me just as Mettalum roared in the air before he could roar in pleasure.

Suddenly, all the guardians bellowed in fury.

“Your Highness,” Ventus shouted outside our tent. “We’ve got company!”