Page 16

Chapter sixteen

Nash

I ’d been consumed with thoughts of this since the moment Kai told me he wanted me to mark him… and now that I finally had the chance, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to control myself.

I wanted to fuck him so hard we were fused together. I wanted to chase after him as soon as I heard his footsteps retreat into the woods. We’d spent the better part of an hour scouting and making sure there was no one and nothing near, and then I’d set up guards along every path of entry where anyone could possibly come and disturb what we were about to do. We’d even walked a mile-long perimeter, and I’d had our members most skilled in protective magic set up a barrier that would warn us if anyone crossed over it who meant to do harm.

I took every precaution possible, and every second I’d had to wait felt like an eternity of torture that was finally leading up to this moment of pure bliss.

This moment that I’d been waiting for my entire life.

The moment when I would finally get to claim my mate.

Kai was running, and I was certain I wouldn’t need long to catch up to him—as long as his legs were, as fast as he was, as strong as he was… I could feel him along every inch of my skin, and I knew exactly where to go.

I took off at a sprint, well aware that the sound of me crashing through the trees could be easily heard by my prey. My prey . The thought sent a wash of heat pooling just beneath my skin, and I knew exactly when he heard me because a low sound that was a mixture of a shout and a groan came from my left, and the sound of branches snapping as he ran harder hit my senses.

He was trying—he truly was trying, but there was no way he was going to get away from me.

“Kai.” I snarled his name, and the sound of him stumbling over something made me smirk. “You can’t run from me. I’ve told you so many times. You’re mine…” I kept up my pace, and I was pleased that he did too. My fit mate, my perfect mate.

Mine.

Mine, mine, mine.

The word kept perfect tempo with the pounding of my heart, and it forced more filthy promises from my chest. “I’m going to catch you, and I’m going to fuck you until you can’t see, until you can’t think… Until the gods themselves see how swollen you are with my cum and the skies break open in rain with their jealous tears.”

In the distance, Kai stumbled again. I heard him collide with something heavy and the low curse that ripped from his chest when he did. I didn’t waste it this time—I put on an extra burst of speed and spilled through the trees, coming out in time to see him scrambling over a fallen log. He looked back at me as I came into view and I saw it on his face.

Fear mixed with arousal, desire and terror intermingling. His entire body shuddered when he caught sight of me, and I wondered if I looked the same.

A predator.

A beast, ready to claim its mate.

I wanted him.

“The more you run, the harder I’m going to fuck you.” The threat came as I cleared the log he’d fallen on with one leap, just in time to see him whipping around a tree. Either he was slowing down on purpose, or he was running out of stamina.

I wasn’t sure which answer I wanted to be more true, because as much as I loved the feel of hunting him through the trees, my cock was so hard it made it almost impossible to think, and the sound of his breath coming in sharp, fast pants just made me jealous.

I wanted to make him make that sound.

I wanted to completely wreck him.

As I came around the tree, I caught sight of him trying to hide behind another. The low rumble of satisfaction that ripped through me was almost too much to hold back… but I managed to quiet my footsteps and circle around him.

In the silence, as I held even my breath so he couldn’t figure out where I was, Kai’s whispered curses came through clearly.

“Fuck… fuck, this is so stupid. I… oh, shit.” And then he took a shuddering breath like he was preparing to take off again.

I moved before he had a chance, spilling around the tree and catching his fist to my face. The pain that rocked through me was nothing compared to the adrenaline, and the sound that came from his throat when I tore his shirt up and over his head was a balm to whatever injury he might have left behind.

Kai struggled, trying to fight me off like instinct alone was driving him… but the second I ripped his pants down his hips and flipped him around to press him against the rough bark of the tree he’d tried to hide behind, I felt his body go quiet.

Still.

Like he knew this was right—that this was fated, that it had been from the moment we were both created.

“Oh, fuck. Fuck.” The low hiss of his curses spilled out when I tore the clothes from my body and rocked my hips forward. I hadn’t been lying to him when I told him I wasn’t going to be gentle, and judging by the oil practically slicking his thighs, I could tell he’d been generous in prep.

Good.

I wanted to take him hard and rough.

I thrust forward in one quick, smooth motion, and Kai’s hands slammed onto the bark of the tree. The low moan that tore from his throat felt like it coated the night air, thick and sweet and trying to drown me.

I wanted more.

I needed more.

I pulled back and drove into him harder, and that sound tore out again. Kai slapped the bark one more time, but by my third thrust, he’d brought his hands back to wrap them around my neck, tangling them in my hair. With his body pressed against the tree and his shoulders dropped back, I had perfect access to his throat.

Perfect access to everything I’d ever wanted, and I could see his pulse jumping just beneath his skin like it was begging me to take it . My hips bucked into him again, a forceful motion that sent the air punching from his lungs in the sweetest symphony and he gasped the words more and harder when he could manage.

“I’m going to fill you, Kai. Fuck. I’m going to knot and fill you, breed you until your body knows who it belongs to.”

In a sudden burst of strength I hadn’t expected, he shoved off from the tree. It sent me spilling backward, but Kai was on me before I hit the ground. He crawled up my thighs and slid across my dick, rocking his hips and lining himself up so he could take me back inside him.

“Damn it. My body already know s who it belongs to, Nash. So stop being all talk and fuck me until I can’t breathe.”

The demand was given with blazing eyes and fingers digging into my hair, and I took him at his word. I flipped him so his back was to the ground and started to fuck him in earnest. This was exactly why I’d been taking my time the past few days tasting and touching him, because I knew tonight would be hard and fast, primal and brutal.

And judging by the way Kai’s eyes widened and his body surged up to meet mine when he took my mouth in a vicious kiss, I knew that was exactly what he wanted.

I fucked into him until I could feel the pleasure starting to trickle and tingle through my body, until I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold on any longer. When I lifted my head, Kai was already baring his neck to me, like he knew exactly what I wanted.

What I needed.

What had to happen next.

The sensation of my teeth elongating and growing sharper was a pleasurable tingle, but when my bite connected with his neck, everything in me blew wide open. It was like I was breathing for the first time, like the world around me shifted and aligned. I’d been walking on uneven ground before this moment. I worked my mouth on the mark I'd left until my tongue was coated in his blood, until he was all I could taste, could smell, could feel .

Beneath me, Kai spasmed as orgasm overtook him. The hot wash of his cum spilling between us felt like fire on my skin, and his ass clenching around my cock drew me to the edge.

I pulled back, but Kai’s fingers in my hair didn’t let me go far. He jerked me to him and his teeth—sharper from the magic of fated mates finally finding one another—sank into my neck. The feel of our bond finally falling into place overtook me, and I lost control. My hips snapped, and I fucked him hard enough that I felt him growling and groaning against my skin where he sucked, hard enough that his fingers bruised my shoulders where he held on.

“I’m going to breed you, Little Mate. I’m going to fill you up until you’re swollen with my seed. Until you can taste it. Fuck… fuck .” I snarled the promise against his ear, and it made him squirm, rocking up against me harder, his already cum-slicked cock jerking against me.

“Do it… fuck. I’m yours… your mate .” He dug blunt nails into my shoulders. “Now show me you’re mine too.”

His demand was hot and sharp, a rumble that tore straight to my bones. I came in a burst of pleasure that was almost too much. The shout that tore from me echoed off the trees, and Kai wrenched back as another flood of heat spilled against my torso when he climaxed again. His legs wrapped around me as my cock began to swell, my knot expanding and locking us together as my cum flooded him.

“Fuck… fuck, oh, fuck . Nash. I can feel it… I can… god damn it. ” He whined in my ear, dragging me closer as my hips gave shallow thrusts, forcing my length deeper and deeper into his ass until my knot was fully locked in place—our bodies joined, incapable of being separated.

It was everything. Pure bliss. All I’d ever wanted as my hips continued to give little spasming twitches so small spurts of cum filled him. I held Kai as my cock fed him every drop of pleasure I had. I could feel it trying to spill from his entrance, wanting to escape, and it made my hips rock forward again to press us even closer and keep it all trapped inside his heat.

“You’re so full, Kai. So warm… mmm…” I leaned down and licked the line of blood I’d left behind from his neck. His fucked-out expression was everything, and his fingers trailing up to trace along the bite he’d left on my skin made me shiver.

“I can feel it… all inside me. I can feel you everywhere.” His lips slowly lifted into a soft smile. Sweet. Warm. My Kai. “Mate, huh? Is this what it feels like to be whole?”

The tenderness in his words was everything, and instead of answering, I responded by leaning down and pressing my lips to his own in a soft kiss that spoke words I didn’t have the language to express.

Whole. Complete. This was everything.

He was everything.

I kissed him until we were both breathless, until our heartbeats had slowed just to speed up again when I licked into his mouth and the taste of our blood mingling together hit our tongues.

I kissed him until my knot slowly started to go down and the cum on my stomach started to cool.

Reluctantly, I pulled out of his ass. My arms were greedy when I drew my mate against me, my slowly softening cock hungry to nestle between his cheeks so I could feel the mess I’d left behind there as it slowly slicked out… and Kai seemed more than happy to let me, though I wasn’t sure if it was out of a need to touch me or because he was trying to catch his breath.

Kai was still shivering in my arms when I finally shifted so we were sitting up. His back was to my chest, and it was easy enough to drop my head to his throat and run my tongue along the mating bite that I’d left behind. That connection spilling between us was perfect. It was everything I’d ever dreamed of… everything I’d ever wanted.

And as Kai lolled his head to the side and looked up at me, I knew he thought the same, because I could feel it.

“That was…” He bit his lower lip to hide a smile, but the flush on his face gave him away. “Wow…”

“Mmmm… just wow?” I murmured, wriggling my hips to slide my limp cock against the cum oozing from his hole like a threat. If he gave me a few minutes, I’d get hard again—I’d fuck the spill back into him.

“More than wow. It was…” He winced as he moved, shifting to straddle my hips so he could face me. In the moonlight, I saw a long scratch across his face where he’d probably caught it on a branch while running. The long golden tresses of his hair were disheveled… but his eyes were bright and alive. “Like… do orcs redo their mating bites like humans redo their wedding vows?” I had no idea what he was talking about, and it seemed like he realized it after a second because he leaned forward, brushing his lips slowly across mine so I could feel it when he smiled. “I mean… can we do that again?”

Oh.

My fingers trailed up along his back and I pulled him flush against me—the heat of his body was so perfect, every curve of well-defined muscle fitting against me like a piece of a puzzle.

“Little Mate…” I pressed another kiss to his lips and nipped the lower pout with a groan. “I’ll chase you through the trees every night and fuck you under the stars if you want me to. Forever.”

It was a promise I would do anything to keep, and the shiver it elicited from him made me want it all the more.

“That… mmm… yeah.” He looked up at me again and trailed his fingers through my hair to draw me in for another kiss. “That sounds just about perfect.”