Page 51 of By the Horns (Royal Artifactual Guild #2)

He growls, and the sound fascinates me. Raptor takes another step in my direction, and we stand so close that I have to crane my neck to gaze up at him.

We stand so close that my hard nipples are practically rubbing against his belt buckle.

The look he gives me could curl parchment…

and it makes my toes curl, too. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? ”

“If you licked my pussy? Damn right I would.”

Raptor makes a sound that could be a bark of frustration—or of laughter.

In the next moment, he snags an arm around my waist and takes two strides over to the double bed.

Before I realize what he’s doing, I’m face down across his strange Taurian thighs as he sits on the edge of the mattress.

One arm anchors my upper body to his lap, and his other hand goes to my arse. “Remember that you asked for this.”

“I didn’t ask for anything!”

“Tell me what you know.” He says it, all calm and collected, even as he rips at my belt, snapping the leather as if it’s nothing and tossing it to the floor. I make an indignant sound and he ignores it, grabbing my pants and hauling them down. Seams rip and fabric tears, but he doesn’t care.

My arse is exposed.

“You asked for this,” he says again, but it’s less angry. More aroused.

And then Raptor spanks me.

I gasp, loud. It’s not that the spanking is painful. It’s noisier than anything, and my buttocks sting from the smack he gave me. It was nothing more than a tap, given Taurian strength, but it surprised me. I didn’t think he’d actually do it.

The shock I feel quickly gives way to arousal as his hand lingers on my backside.

“You asked for this,” he murmurs, but there’s a note of honey in his voice, thick and rich and decadent. He spanks me again, a lot lighter this time, and then caresses my backside. “Look at how pink you get when I smack you.”

I squirm against his grip, because if he keeps stroking my arse, he’s going to realize just how aroused I am at this. “Piss off and let me go.”

“And give you what you want? Absolutely not. Tell me the truth.” He smacks me again and jiggles my buttocks when he’s done. “We both know you’re holding secrets. Tell me what they are.”

“Fuck off.”

He grunts, then spanks me again. His hand lingers on my arse, and this time, his fingers sink between my legs. He strokes me, and to my shame, I’m incredibly wet. My body makes a squelching sound as he slips a finger deep inside me and thrusts. “Look at that.”

Panting, I try to get away from him. Well, sort of. Even in my own mind, I know I’m faking it. I desperately need more fingering, more spanking, more everything. I writhe in place, acting as if I’m trying to get away, when all I really need is for him to throw me down and fuck the hells out of me.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Raptor growls as I try to escape his lap. “You’re not going anywhere until you confess, you naughty thing. You’ve been leading me on all this time.”

“The fuck I have! I—ooh!” My thoughts go sideways when he strokes his fingers into my pussy again, two together this time, and big enough to make me arch with delight.

“You like that?” He no longer sounds angry, but fascinated.

The hand on my back creeps around to my throat, as if he’s going to hold me in place by choking me, except his grip is so, so gentle.

All the while, his fingers viciously thrust into my pussy, forcing wet, erotic sounds into the air around us.

His thumb strokes the side of my neck. “You think you can take three fingers?”

I whimper. “You think this is going to get me to tell you anything?”

“Aye, I do.” He strokes into me, harder and faster, adding a third finger and stretching me as I claw at his leg and gasp for mercy. “Look at how good you take me. You’d handle my cock so well, wouldn’t you?”

Gods, I would. I would love to take his cock.

I buck against his hand as he thrusts into me.

It feels so good, and yet at the same time, I need more to come.

More friction, more of that edge of pain, more something.

I’m not the sort of woman who can come on thrusting alone.

But oh gods, the way he’s stretching me? I’m so close .

His hand withdraws. He spanks me again, his fingers wet, and I moan a sound of protest. “You bad girl. You’re not supposed to be enjoying this. You’re supposed to be answering me.”

Funny, he doesn’t sound upset. “Guess…you’ll…have to up the stakes…hmm?”

Raptor laugh-growls. His hand leaves my throat, but not before he caresses my cheek with his knuckles. “You have me turned so inside out I don’t even trust myself.”

“Good. Then we’re the same.”

That sets him off. “We’re not. We’re not the same at all .”

He hauls me into the air, and I let out a squeak of distress.

In the next moment, I land atop the mattress, my torn pants falling farther until they tangle about my ankles.

I’ve barely gotten up on hands and knees before two massive hands grab my hips and haul me backward.

The rest of my pants are ripped away and tossed aside, and then Raptor sits on the floor next to the bed.

He drags me to the edge of the mattress, and then his muzzle is between my legs, his hands gripping me and pinning me in place so I can’t wriggle away.

As if I want to go anywhere? This is the place I’m desperate to be.

I moan, collapsing on the bed and pressing my cheek to the blankets as his enormous, thick Taurian tongue sweeps over my throbbing pussy. He groans, making a sound of pure enjoyment, and laps at me again. “Secrets…tell me….”

He sounds like he’s getting distracted, too.

“You’re going to have to try harder than that,” I pant, and make another horrid whining sound when his tongue strokes deep into me. Oh goddess, is it possible that it can feel thicker than his fingers?

He growls low, as if reminding me that I’m supposed to be talking, but I bite down on my knuckles and give in to the pleasure as he tongues my pussy.

One hand slides under me, and then he’s teasing my clit as he licks me, and pure ecstasy flares through my body.

I lift my hips, driving up against his mouth as he moves me closer and closer to what’s surely going to be a mind-blowing orgasm—

—and then he lifts his head, his fingers pausing in their relentless rolling of my clit. “Speak up.”

“Argh!” I arch my hips, trying to push my pussy into his face for him to lick again. “You stopped! I’m so fucking close!”

“Good. Tell me what you know.” His tongue teases along my folds again, his breath hot against my skin. “And I’ll give you what you need.”

Now I’m starting to get annoyed.

I push his hands away, only for the one at my hip to lock down tighter. He teases a little circle around my clit, his teeth grazing my buttock.

“Tell me.”

“I don’t know anything!” I wail.

“You’re a little liar and we both know it.” He toys with my clit until I’m frantically rubbing against him again, and then he stops once more.

I growl.

“I can give you what you want. Just tell me what I need to know.” His finger is poised against my clit again, as if he’s going to start rubbing the moment I suddenly spill.

And I’m just…frustrated. I can’t win. Because I can’t tell him who I really am. Even if I could, why would anyone ever want to touch a mancer? Especially one who deals with the dead? Either I lose him now because he can’t trust me…or I lose him forever if I tell the truth.

A sob escapes me. I bite down on my knuckles again, trying to muffle it, but the damage is done. Even as I choke down the next one, Raptor’s hands are gone. In the next moment, his big body presses over mine, all but lying over me in the bed. “Shh. It’s all right.”

“It’s not all right. Nothing is all right,” I manage to choke out, even as hot tears sweep down my cheeks. “And I f-fucking hate c-crying over it.”

He nuzzles my neck and face, the metal ring in his nose as warm as his skin. “Let me help you, Gwenna. If you’re in trouble, I can help. But I need to know what I’m working with.”

More tears spill out. I can’t tell him. It’s not the same as confessing to Mereden and Lark, who already knew that I’d pointed us at two dead bodies back when we were in a Five together.

Those were friends. This is Raptor. This is the Taurian I want to touch me, desperately.

This is someone I want to look at me with love and affection, and I just know that will change the moment he learns the truth of who I am.

He’ll look at me with wariness. Like he doesn’t know who or what I am.

And it will destroy me inside.

I just cry harder.

“Shh, please, Gwenna.” He lifts off me in the bed, then turns me over with gentle hands.

When I gaze up at him, my eyes swimming with tears, he leans in and ever so carefully presses his muzzle to my lips.

It’s a kiss. A strange one, but the meaning is all the same.

“I hate it when you cry, little bantam. Please don’t.

If you’re in some sort of danger, I want to help. ”

I reach up and caress his face, my fingers stroking down his long, beautiful nose. “No one can help me.”

“What will it take for you to trust me?” He cups my cheek, nuzzling at my neck again.

My eyes start to fill with tears once more, and I shake my head. I press a kiss of my own on his nose, cupping his face in my hands as I do. “Maybe just don’t torture me anymore? If I could tell you, I would.”

“Torture you ?” He nips at my ear, sending shivers up my spine. “Woman, do you think you’re the only one suffering? My knot is as hard as iron right now.”

I manage a teary giggle. “And your cock is probably just as hard. If only we knew of some way to soften them.”

“Aye, they need a good working over.”

“Well, I’m happy to help.” I stroke my fingers over his face, tracing little tickling circles on his skin. “But only if you want me.”

He goes still over me. “Are you saying you’d take my knot?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”