Page 56 of A Bond so Fierce and Fragile (Compelling Fates Saga #3)

She threw her head back and groaned before responding.

“I am not asking you for love. I am not asking you for anything . You needed someone, and so did I. It was a mutually beneficial agreement, you dumb bastard! I don’t pine for you at night.

I don’t dream of weddings and children and eternal love.

I just wanted to fucking experience something , anything, before I potentially die tomorrow! ”

“It’s just…” Raine gripped the hand she kept driving into his chest. “I need you to know… I promised her forever.”

Despite her previous words, something twisted deep in Frelina’s gut, into that space she hadn’t dared look too hard into, but she made herself ignore it as she stared up at the stupid Fae warrior.

“I don’t want her place, Raine. I am your friend. Or at least I thought we were friends before today. I… I just didn’t want to be alone tonight,” she added quietly, wondering why she did this to herself, why she was vulnerable with him after the vile things he’d said to her.

Frelina sniffed, realizing she’d lost her grasp on her tears once more, and she began turning when Raine pulled her to him.

“Don’t cry because of me,” he whispered as he cupped her cheeks. “Please don’t cry, little Rantzier.”

“I’m n-not,” she forced out. “I don’t… I don’t care about you. I don’t care about anything.”

After swiping his thumb over one cheek, Raine bent down, and she froze when he pressed his lips beneath her eye, capturing with his tongue the tears still falling there.

Don’t start lying to me now, please. I’m sorry I was a bastard asshole.

His mouth left her skin, but he didn’t move back, and she glanced at him from under wet lashes.

What are you doing? Frelina frowned when Raine seemed to hold a silent fight within himself, the fingers on the hand still cupping the cheek he hadn’t kissed caressing her skin in slow, rhythmic movements.

You do care. Raine’s eyes burned into hers. You care so much, and you have so few to do it for.

Frelina shook her head, but Raine stopped the movement. I care too. I care too fucking much, and it’s eating me alive. I might be centuries old, but I don’t fucking know how to deal with this! I don’t know what to do with you!

Her eyes rolled upward to the dusty planks lining the ceiling. Who’s the liar now?

The air stilled for a moment.

Then Raine’s lips were on hers.

This time, though, it wasn’t harsh and desperate and almost painful. It was soft, probing: a question whether she would allow him in.

What are you doing? She remained still as his mouth tentatively explored hers.

I do care, Frelina. His words were as slow, as cautious, as his kiss. I do care about you, and I am so fucking sorry for what I said.

She tried to hold back. She really did. But when Raine retreated, his lips leaving hers, she couldn’t.

Melting into him, she wound her arms around his neck, and he groaned as he found her mouth again, fusing them together as if that was the one thing in the world that could save them.

I don’t want to hurt you.

She could tell he was being sincere: the worry was as clear as the yearning brimming under his skin, building within him, which made the hands running up and down her back twitch as he restrained them from exploring every bit of skin they could find.

Then don’t hurt me, Raine. I don’t ask for promises or commitments. I only… I only ask that you don’t push me away when you’re hurting—that you treat me like you would a friend.

His tongue sought access, and when she opened for him, pressing her body harder against his own, he growled into her mouth.

It won’t happen again. Raine’s thoughts came choppier now, a fiery hint to them that told her he was on the edge of giving in entirely to his desires. I’m so sorry.

I know. Frelina unwound one of her arms around his neck, slid it down his broad chest, and tentatively sought out what she’d been so curious to touch.

Raine stood entirely still as she cupped his hard length, letting her fingers squeeze and explore until something deep rumbled in his chest and his forehead fell to her shoulder, leaving her mouth as he drew deep breaths.

Fuck, little Rantzier, if you continue, I am going to come in my trousers, and I haven’t done that since I was an adolescent.

She giggled at that, even as his words made heat shoot between her legs, that wetness Raine had coaxed out of her last time flooding her.

Raine sniffed the air, and his cock became impossibly harder under her fingers as he groaned, “You smell so damned good.”

Lifting his head, even as Frelina began moving her hand faster, realizing that the friction of her hand on the fabric was driving him insane, Raine found her gaze, and her pulse thrummed at the look in his eyes.

Raine chuckled quietly as he pressed a thumb against her neck, feeling her racing pulse. “Are you sure? Even with everything I’ve told you? With everything I’ve done?”

She nodded, suddenly breathless as she responded, “It’s only battle nerves, right?”

Raine swallowed, his eyes moving across her face as if to find any sign of hesitation or uncertainty.

I’m sure. She let him in fully again, allowed him to see that she didn’t want anything more from him than company, than for him to settle the fire he’d started deep inside her. Just battle nerves, Raine.

“Right,” he mumbled, the corners of his eyes creasing and something she couldn’t quite read flashing across his features.

Frelina shook her head before she stood up on her toes and crashed her mouth against his.

I want this, you dumb bastard. I want you.

She bit his lip until one of those guttural growls rumbled against her.

I want you, too, little Rantzier.

She smiled at him as his hands became more assured, and when he noticed it, he closed his eyes for a second before swooping her up in his arms.

It was as if they’d come to a mutual agreement because when Raine carried her over to the bed, clumsily shedding their clothes on the way, they left their minds open, letting the other see precisely what they wanted—what they were feeling.

He really did want her.

Frelina didn’t think it was possible to be more desperate than she’d been last time, but seeing the images forming in Raine’s mind, feeling how his mouth dried as his eyes roved over her naked body, from her breasts down to her pussy, which he’d noticed was already wet, made her wild.

Her nails dug into his scalp as he settled her on the bed, and she knew he allowed it, but she pulled him with her, forcing his hard body to press down on her own until his cock slid between her folds.

She moaned as he began rubbing it against her, moving over her clit and down again, coating it in her wetness.

The sounds alone were almost enough for her to come, and she tugged at his hair to make him move faster, push down harder… anything.

If this was battle nerves, perhaps war wasn’t so bad after all, she thought as Raine slipped a hand between them, his weight coming off her, making her let out a disapproving sound, but then his thumb found her clit as his cock continued sliding over her pussy, and she cried out at the pleasure.

I’m going to get you ready. Raine’s hot breath danced over her mouth as he teased her lips, his thumb brushing over her clit, again and again, while he refused her his kiss.

She whimpered when he rolled off her, but he swallowed the sound with his mouth, finally crashing it against hers while he dipped the tip of his middle finger into her pussy.

Her back shot off the bed, but Raine gently pressed her body down again, kissing her until she moaned into his mouth.

Then he began moving, and she had no idea what noises left her, and she honestly didn’t care as Raine’s finger drove in and out while his thumb worked her clit until she started thrusting her body to meet his movements.

You are so fucking wet.

Raine groaned as he added another finger, and when Frelina cried out his name, he swore loudly, driving his fingers deeper as he pressed down on her sensitive nub until her breathing stuttered.

And when he added a final finger… Her legs fell fully open as her eyes slammed shut, and she bit down on her bottom lip as the heat exploded through her stomach, sparking through every nerve and vein as she came undone.

Raine kissed her, using his teeth to get her to release her lip, and the gentle kisses somehow made the orgasm more powerful—more real.

When her limbs stopped trembling, Raine rose on his elbows, shaking his head with a small smile as he looked down at her. She met his eyes for a second, but Frelina quickly closed her own when something almost… tender brightened the gold in them.

She could feel him continue to watch her, so she conjured the image he’d shown her last, when he’d fucked her against the door, trying to break up the strange tension that flickered through the room.

If you ask me if I am sure, I am going to kill you. She grinned, relieved, when she opened her eyes again and his own flared at her words and at the images of his cock driving into her that she continued sending into his mind.

“Fuck.” Raine shook his head again, and she moaned even though he hadn’t even touched her yet when he wrapped his hand around his long, hard shaft and shifted so he hovered over her.

You’re going to feel so fucking good.

Frelina closed her eyes as Raine released his cock, settling his hands beside her as he crowned her entrance.

Look at me.

She wasn’t sure if he’d meant for her to hear the softness in his voice, but her eyes flew open anyway, and there was no teasing smile—no cocky hardness in Raine’s eyes as he stared back at her.

She held her breath as Raine thrust his hips and gently pushed inside her.

It didn’t hurt.

She had somehow expected it to, but it was as if her stomach was set on fire, everything heating and swelling when Raine stared at her like that.

As if she were something extraordinary.

“Frelina,” he moaned, and she could sense his pleasure as he pulled out, almost the entire way, before sinking into her, merging them entirely.

She cried out at the slight burning sensation, but Raine claimed her mouth, murmuring over her lips, “Frelina, Frelina, Frelina.”

When she responded to it, her hips lifting an inch off the table, Raine started moving faster, thrusting deeper into her while her hands tangled in his hair and she held on to him, letting him lead.

He filled her so perfectly—his thick cock sliding in deep before he almost pulled it out fully and drove into her again.

Raine’s lips moved to her neck, and she cried out again when he began sucking on her sensitive skin while one of his hands found her breast and he twisted her hard nipple. The pain mingling with the pleasure was…

Incredible, Raine murmured into her mind. Like you.

He continued pumping her, and her skin lit on fire as he moved his lips farther down, sucking a nipple into his mouth and biting it.

Don’t stop. Don’t stop, she begged, and he bit down harder until she lifted her hips more for him to glide deeper.

His cock hit something deep within her, and Raine used a hand to press her knee up, somehow finding a way to thrust himself all the way in to the hilt, and Frelina couldn’t take it…

I’m… I’m… She didn’t know what she was trying to say, but Raine growled against her breast, his sharp teeth rasping against it as he thought, I’m right there with you.

His cock twitched in response, and that was that. Frelina’s blood raced, her pulse beating so wildly she thought she might pass out as her eyes shut, stars and moons and suns dancing in the darkness.

Raine groaned as he drove into her—harder and harder—until her pussy closed around his cock, squeezing it, and they cried out as one as warm, hot wetness spilled within her.

Raine’s head fell to the mattress beside her, and they were both silent as they caught their breaths, the bed squeaking from their untamedness.

“I think I’m ready to die now,” Frelina mumbled as she played with a strand of his long hair.

Raine’s laugh exploded through the room, and when he rolled off her, he pulled her body to his own, nestling his face into her neck as he whispered, “I plan on keeping you alive for a long, long time.”

Frelina swatted at him, closing her mind as she caught a glimpse of just how much Raine meant what he said.

She would not read anything into it.

Just like he wanted.

Like she wanted.

He seemed to fall deep into thought, his hand tracing over her stomach in slow, deliberate circles, and a sense of unrest swept through the room so swiftly that Frelina wiggled out and got to her feet.

She struggled to look at him as she mumbled, “Let’s get to the party. I’m sure Elessia is desperate to be saved from talking to too many people.”