Page 100 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)

KNOX

I drew in another deep breath of Audrey’s scent and held her close. I couldn’t get enough of her, of the warmth around my heart from our bond and our deep shifter connection, or the feel of her tiny, fragile body protected against mine. I also couldn’t get enough of her good feelings, her hope and determination and desire.

Our stronger-than-normal mating bond was an incredible blessing… but also a curse.

It went both ways and neither of us could hide from the other — since I’d already tried blocking it, like I could block my twin bond with Bishop, and failed.

For good or bad, we’d always know what the other was feeling.

The thought that I’d never be alone even in my own head worried me. I liked being alone and needed quiet even from my own thoughts. But I also liked this direct connection to Audrey’s emotions. I’d never have to guess if I made her happy and I’d know right away when I screwed up.

Given how I had trouble reading subtle emotional clues, along with how Audrey was sometimes afraid to speak her mind, our bond was the only way to know when she was truly happy and content.

And speaking of happy…

I wanted to go back to the warmth of her desire. She was worried again and sad, and while Whil had said she’d blocked that asshole’s influence, I didn’t want a repeat of yesterday morning. The best way to prevent it was to strengthen her positive emotions so she couldn’t spiral into depression and be coerced into anything again.

I slid my hand back under the blankets to her right breast — since her left was covered with gauze — and traced my fingers over her flesh, circling closer and closer to her nipple. She’d liked that before and I was rewarded with her growing desire radiating soft and warm through our bond.

“Knox, please,” she said, frustration edging her voice and seeping into her emotions.

“I’m not asking for sex.” Even though my wolf and my cock thought that was a great idea. “I’m giving you sex.”

“Giving me sex, gives you sex.”

“Not if you’re the only one having orgasms.”

She huffed and the frustration flickering through her desire bled away. She ached for me as much as I ached for her and only part of that was due to the mating bond’s influence. Or at least, it was in her case.

In my case, the bond had almost nothing to do with it. She was everything my wolf desired despite his desires being contradictory. She was strong, even though it was a quiet, persistent strength that she and others didn’t recognize, and she needed me to protect her.

The urge to wrap her in my arms and never let her go surged and she responded with a flutter of comfort, knowing, even if it was on a subconscious level, that she was safe with me. And now that I’d gotten my head out of my ass, she always would be.

She turned her head to look me in the eyes, our emotions feeding off each other, my satisfaction growing at her comfort and my desire surging with hers.

But there was still uncertainty in her eyes. It was so soft, I wouldn’t have felt it in our bond if I hadn’t seen it in her stunning golden-brown orbs, and all I wanted was to make it go away, to reassure her completely.

You know what we need to do, my wolf said, his need to mate with her, to feel her coming around our cock, rising to the surface.

We could probably tease her into giving us sex, but she’d said no and I intended to honor that. I needed to rise her up and give her confidence to stand against the assholes she’d inevitably come across, just like she had when she’d yelled at me on our way back to Stonehaven. Going against her wishes wouldn’t accomplish that.

Then make her scream our name.

My hand dipped lower, jumping straight to her mound, and I directed it to her thigh before my wolf could plunge our fingers inside her.

Slowly. We need to go slowly, I insisted, even as her desire spiked.

She’d been unconscious for almost a whole day, and while the elixirs would have mostly healed her injuries by now, she wasn’t a hundred percent. That, and as much as my hard-as-hell cock hurt, I wanted to prove myself to her and worship her.

At least let us taste her, my wolf whined, thankfully not pushing me because he, too, knew Audrey needed to be loved, not fucked.

A taste was a great idea. Her scent was soft and sweet, her arousal would be the same. I just had to remember to take it slow, prove to her that I wanted to spend my time on her and that she was worth it… something I’d never done, and never felt, for a woman before.

My fingers inched higher up her thigh, dipping from the top of her leg to the inside, and I pressed my palm against her flesh to stop myself.

Slowly, I reminded my wolf as I tenderly brushed my lips along her jaw.

She turned into the kiss, her lips seeking mine, the uncertainty still a barely-there whisper in her emotions.

I feared no matter what I did, it would always be there, an ugly insidious seed her previous alpha had planted in her soul when she was a child.

Then our lips connected and she released a soft sigh, her desire strengthening, making my soul sing. I’d done that. I’d made her forget her worries even if it was only for a second, and I was determined to make her feel and forget so much more.

With a control I hadn’t thought possible given the wildness of my wolf, I kissed her softly, reverently with gentle sips that, much to my surprise, built up a heated need within her.

Moaning, she leaned into me, pressing more of her body against mine, her lips growing insistent, begging me to deepen the kiss. Hints of the power locked deep within her flickered against my skin, teasing out my own power like it had in our shared dreams.

But unlike the dreams, our powers didn’t fight for dominance. They swirled and danced, curling around each other, merging together then breaking apart, building building building into a heady, aching heat.

“Knox,” she begged, her ache at just being kissed shocking me. I hadn’t thought something so soft could be so sexual.

But then, I realized it wasn’t the softness building up her need, it was the tease and our whirling emotions.

My fingers were still firmly pressed against her thigh, but if I moved an inch I’d be at the crux between her leg and mound. Less than an inch more and I could be playing with her wet heat.

My kiss had inflamed her desire for more, possibly for everything despite her earlier insistences, and my cock throbbed at the thought, precum slicking against my stomach. Except if I took advantage of her now, she’d never trust me.

I’d fucked everything up right from the start and that trust was going to be hard won. I deserved to work for it, and I would.

With a soft growl, I deepened the kiss, plunging my tongue inside her mouth and stealing her moans. Her glorious desire tingled around my heart and made my balls painfully tight, and I reveled in the sensation. I wanted her not because of the mate bond but because she was persistent and brave and kind. She’d tried to be kind to me and I’d been too blinded by my fear to accept her.

Never again. I swear by the Sisters. Never again.

I let all my desire for her pour through our mating bond, not wanting her to have any doubts about how I felt. It was just a fraction of what I needed to do to make it up to her, but it was a start and better than just talking to her.

I kissed her until she was breathless and trembling, then swept my lips down her neck to my mating mark, a shimmering white scar on her shoulder where I’d claimed her and sealed our bond.

It should have been the only scar on her body and not just because shifters healed fast enough to not scar with the exception of a mating mark, but because she shouldn’t have had to suffer like she had.

I swept my tongue over the mark and was rewarded with a full body shiver than raced from her head to her toes along with a billow of heated need through our bond.

“Knox,” she gasped, bucking her hips, trying to get me to move my fingers up her thigh. “You’re killing me.”

Her words brought a feral grin to my lips that I hid by dipping down to her breast and flicking my tongue over her nipple. I was beginning to understand why Bishop liked foreplay so much. It hadn’t made sense to me or my wolf, but with a direct link to Audrey’s emotions, I could feel her growing need, the achy, squirmy desire getting tighter and tighter, and knew I could make her see stars without pushing my cock into her.

And gods, I wanted her to feel so good she did see stars.

I doubled my effort on my teasing, sucking her nipple into my mouth and laving it with my tongue while inching my fingers closer and closer to her core. I concentrated on her, listening to her breath pick up then start to catch, feeling her body twitch and shiver, and feeling her need in our bond turn into an inferno before pulling away.

“Knox, please,” she gasped, digging her fingers into my hair, her arms trembling. But it was like she couldn’t decide if she wanted to hold me closer to her breast or push me away.

I decided for her and kissed my way down her belly, teasing my tongue into her belly button and nudging her thighs with my palms, asking for entrance.

She accepted me with a trembling sigh, her legs falling open, and I settled between them, drawing in deep breaths of her scent. It was sweet and heady, thickened by her desire and captured under the blankets with me, and as much as I wanted to be cocooned in her scent, I wanted to see her face when she came more.

I pushed the blankets off my head and shoulders, exposing Audrey’s pale flesh, tight nipple, and the patch of gauze tape to her chest covering her other one to the early morning sun, watching for signs that she was uncomfortable being exposed.

But she was too caught up in her desire. There wasn’t even a flicker of unease in the bond, and her gaze, now molten gold in the light, captured mine, making my breath hitch.

Sisters, she was so beautiful. I didn’t know which sleeping god or goddess I’d pleased to have such a stunning mate, but I would spend every day worshiping Audrey in thanks.

Her body trembling in anticipation, I nuzzled into the soft hair covering her mound and swept my tongue over her folds, carefully avoiding her clit. But she still jerked like she’d been zapped with lightning and the desire in our bond roared into a burning frenzy.

Her fingers dug into my scalp and my wolf flashed her a satisfied grin at the possessive move.

Mine. Mine mine mine.

And hers. Forever.

I trailed my tongue over her again and again, teasing and sucking, flicking her clit and pushing inside her. Her desire was the sweetest nectar, coating my tongue and filling my nose and her gasps and moans the sweetest music.

The whirl of her need propelled me forward. It was like a drug. If I licked here, she’d shudder and moan. If I backed off for a moment then licked again, her moan would be louder. I brought her to the edge of climax again and again, building the tension within her until she was begging for release.

“Knox, please,” she moaned, her body strung tight, hanging on the precipice.

With a growl from my wolf, I pushed my tongue inside her, fucking her even higher, then sucked on her clit.

Audrey screamed and white-hot pleasure shot through the bond. Her body convulsed, her eyes squeezed tight and her mouth hung open. The pleasure filling her expression was glorious.

I came hard, shooting hot jets of cum onto the mattress, and didn’t care. Audrey had seen stars. I didn’t need to ask. The emotions rushing through our bond told me everything, and I’d never been so satisfied to not have gotten my cock wet in my life.