Page 15

Chapter fifteen

Kai

A s soon as the words came out of my mouth, I realized two things. I was scared shitless, because this was more than just fucking a guy. It was more than just dating someone. Nash had explained it to me—the way we’d be tethered together forever, the way we’d fade without one another. It wasn’t just getting married, or tying yourself to someone. It was entwining your entire destiny, your entire fate … your life and soul with someone… and…

Fuck, I wanted it.

I wanted him.

That was the other thing I realized. I was scared as fuck, but I wanted this more than I’d wanted anything in my entire life.

“Kai.” The rumble of his voice had gone deeper, a near growl when he said my name. When I looked up at him, his violet eyes were all pupil, like my words alone were enough to get him into a feral state. “You can’t just say things like that.”

I blinked up at him slowly. Nash looked like he was barely holding himself together, and I had to admit that I liked it. I liked the fact that it was so easy to make him lose his cool. I liked the fact that he wanted me so much that I could feel the heat of his body and the way his cock was getting hard from my words alone.

I liked the fact that he wanted me here with him so much… that he knew this was my home, my place to belong, just as much as I did.

I liked him.

Okay, maybe more than like.

“I’m not just saying it,” I finally murmured, but I was still cautious when I brought my hand up and pressed it gently to his chest. His heart was thundering beneath my palm, and I let out a startled laugh.

It was going the same rate as mine.

“What?” he asked when I laughed again.

“Twinsies.”

The confused expression on his face made it worse. I was at least somewhat aware that it was probably because I was nervous. I’d just told a guy that I’d met less than a month ago—who was also an orc—that I wanted to pretend we were like… penguins or something.

Mating for life.

“Like they do on the Discovery Channel,” I said, then dissolved into an actual giggle fit. I didn’t stop until Nash brought his hand down to mirror my own, placing his fingers to my chest, over my speeding heart. He moved forward, pressing his forehead to mine so my world was suddenly swimming in a sea of violet and warmth, and he smiled.

“Are you sure you haven’t gone mad, Kai? You seem—”

“Nervous.” I filled in for him before he questioned it. “I’m nervous. I was like… pretty sure I was straight a few weeks ago. I was going to spend the rest of my life going from job to job, and eventually my best friend was going to find a boyfriend or kick me out so he could fill my room with dildos and I’d be living alone in an apartment… and… I don’t know.” I turned my head, the intensity of his stare almost too much for me. “You changed that. I didn’t ask for it, but you did it anyway.”

His lips brushed my cheek, along my jawline, his tusks scratching against my skin, but his mouth was still so soft when he kissed at the wet sting I hadn’t realized was caught in my lashes. “You were never meant to be alone, Kai. You were just waiting for this. For me.”

I swallowed hard, but I couldn’t stop myself from nodding.

“I know. That’s why I’m telling you, I’m sure. I want this. I want you… so… I don’t know… whip out your dick and bite down, baby?”

Shit. There was probably a sexier way to say that, wasn’t there? The thought of him knotting me was nearly enough to make my entire body go numb with need and fear all at once. The thought of him biting me until he left a scar…

It was all overwhelming.

Intense.

And it sounded so good.

“Kai…” He said my name again, and this time he actually pushed up from the bed, and I was still laying there in a daze by the time he’d stalked halfway across the room. I knew what he was doing—he was putting distance between us so he wouldn’t just act on impulse and instinct. It was ridiculous, because that was exactly what I wanted.

“Come on, Nash. What’s the point of waiting? You want it, and I want it. So—” I stood, stalking after him, and he moved in a blur of motion that stole my breath. His hand caught my throat, and he pushed me to the edge of his tent, so my hips hit against the heavy wooden table he had set up. His eyes were a blaze of fire when he looked at me.

“What I want, Kai, is to send you running into the night undressed just as you are now. I want to hunt you through the woods…” He leaned in close, and his tusks scraped against my neck as he dragged his teeth in a slow line over my pulse. “I want it to be like the days of old when we claimed our mate through fierceness and demand. I want to fuck you where I catch you, knot you until you’re screaming for me. I want to bite you and claim you under the moonlight for the stars to witness and the gods themselves to envy.”

The pressure of his teeth on my pulse was almost enough to make me collapse, and the heat of his breath, the way his fingers were so tight on my skin I was pretty sure he was going to bruise me, pulled an answer from my chest before I thought it through.

“Yeah… no… totally that. All of that.”

Annnnnd… I was pretty sure that broke him. For a good half hour, all he could do was murmur almost unintelligible words and kiss me. It had taken exactly fifteen minutes for him to cave, and he’d taken both our cocks in his hand and jacked us off until I came so hard I was pretty sure I’d melted every bone in my body.

And then he’d spent the next half hour licking me clean and pressing gentle kisses along every inch of skin he could touch until I was floating on a cloud.

Only after that, when I was on the verge of sleep, did he press his lips to my ear and whisper softly, “I will mark you, Little Mate. When we’re in a place where I know it’s safe for you to run, when I know it’s safe for me to hunt you… I’ll make you mine.”

And then… Nash acted like nothing had happened. We woke up the next morning and he pressed a warm kiss to my mouth that left my toes curling and had me wondering if we could go for round two. My body was sore, and my ass felt like it had taken more than just a spanking… but nothing felt broken.

Nothing felt like I wouldn’t be able to do exactly what I wanted.

Which… was why it was weird when he just rolled me under him and took both of our cocks into his hands and pulled an orgasm out of me that way. He licked his fingers clean of cum and kissed me again, feeding me the flavor of us both… then pulled me up and got me dressed so we could get breakfast, like he hadn’t fucked my brains out so hard the night before that everyone knew what I sounded like when I orgasmed.

At least no one acted like anything was different, other than a few knowing glances I got every now and then.

And… Nash didn’t say anything at all about how I’d propositioned him. We went about our day as usual, though I noticed he kept me firmly pressed to his side, probably so I couldn’t run off to go find flowers for him again.

I wasn’t going to do that, though. Obviously, I wasn’t exactly good at the whole sentimental gesture thing.

Which was why I’d thought the whole offer to be his mate would have gotten a better response.

But we carried on like I hadn’t said anything, and at the end of the day, he came into the tent and fed me fruit and cheese from his fingers like he had the first few nights I’d been here… then he kneeled between my legs and sucked me off so hard I nearly blacked out. By the time I came to, he was tucking me into bed and disappearing from the tent.

I was asleep by the time he came back, and I didn’t wake up until the next morning, when he had his lips around my cock again and two fingers buried in my ass, slicked with oil. I woke up orgasming, and when I tried to return the favor, Nash simply pushed me back down and straddled my hips, then stroked himself off until he came all over my chest.

This time he didn’t lick me clean… he just rubbed the cum against my skin until I was pretty sure everyone in camp was going to know exactly what he smelled like.

Once he was satisfied, he cleaned me up and helped me get dressed, brushing me off when I tried to bring up the whole mate thing again.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d wonder if he’d gotten what he wanted, and now he wasn’t going to follow through on his end of the deal.

If it wasn’t for the fact he was obsessed with me, only letting me out of his sight when he disappeared at night, I’d probably have accused him of it.

And on the third night, when he finger fucked me and tried to leave me asleep, I forced myself to sit up. I waited until he came back, with my arms crossed over my chest, and the second he walked into the tent, I spoke.

“So, are you going to fucking bite me or what?”

There. Straightforward and to the point.

And it was like I’d lit some kind of fuse. Nash stalked forward and his fingers found my throat, like he was picking up exactly where he’d left off when I asked before. The low sound that ripped from my chest was half protest, half moan. This was what I was missing—the feral look in his eyes, the heat and passion and need.

It was back now, and I wanted to push him over the edge.

I wanted—

“I’ve been doing my best not to break you before tonight, Little Mate.” The low growl of his words caught me off guard, and he released me just long enough to grab another bottle of that magic oil. “I needed enough time for your body to recover so you could run—and I needed to make sure it was safe. Now…” He pressed the bottle into my fingers. “I want you to prepare yourself… fuck yourself open, slick yourself for me like you’re an animal in heat. I promise you, Little Mate, when I catch you—and I will catch you—I won’t be gentle.”

My entire body tensed, and I felt that fuse I’d lit in him go off and send me sparking into flame. I intentionally opened the bottle and drizzled some of the oil on my fingers, watching the way his eyes widened as I did it.

“Good. Let’s hope you’re fast enough to hold up your end of the deal then.”

Shit. I was all talk and I knew it—I knew he was going to catch me. That was what I wanted, though.

Fate.

It all felt like fate, and I didn’t care if it didn’t make sense, or if it was way too fast. I didn’t care if I was crying straight boy a few weeks ago, or if this was all weird orc magic.

I just knew I wanted him to do exactly what he said.

I wanted him to hunt me, to catch me, to fuck me.

To mate me.