Page 237

“And it didn’t stop. When I saw how you worked as a pack, I could see it, the logic of it all and what was missing.” His eyes dropped down to his hands. “Where I could fit.”

“And now?”

“It’s only become clearer. You have good mates that’ll love you as long as you let them, who’ll raise your son right.

Even Noah.” He laughed at that, but the sound died away quickly.

“I want to interfere there too. Not let him get too crazy, too quick, just let you adjust and get to know him in bite sized pieces, rather than a big banquet he’s just as likely to try to force your face down in.

Your beast wants him, doesn’t she?” I nodded. “Goddess, that just makes this harder.”

He buried his head in his hands, scrubbing at his hair until it stood up at crazy angles.

“Fuck, Flick, if this got out, they’d fucking exile me.”

I couldn’t believe I was about to say this, but I slid my hand across the bed to touch his fingers and his gaze snapped to me. That same flood of heat trickled through the tentative touch.

“So indulge yourself, here and now. I can’t promise I’ll go along with everything you want, but I’d be interested in exploring it. People…they use words and rituals to explore this kind of thing, don’t they?”

“Safe words?” His grin was bright, even if his eyes were still troubled. “Yeah, I guess they do.”

“You’ve never tried that?”

“Sort of. Just play, theatrics at the height of a heat. It’s not the same.”

“No? So what did you do when you were ‘playing’?”

His face transformed at that, some of that dark sensuality flooding in as his eyes scudded over my skin.

“Usually, I tied her up to the bedhead,” he said with a jerk of his head to the heavy wooden one behind him. “I like having her vulnerable and open to me. Then I’d tease her, work her up, edge her over and over, until she told me it was enough.”

“And did you stop?”

“The instant the woman said,” he replied, nodding.

“But you didn’t really want to.”

His jaw flexed before he answered.

“Flick, I was raised to respect women. I don’t want to hurt them or make them do things they don’t want to do.”

“But you’d like to make them do things they would.”

He just watched me, his grey eyes bleeding to red, something I’d never seen before.

“Yes. With every fucking breath, yes.”

I did not know Sen at all. He’d always had this dark sexiness, but right now, he really was that demon lover of literature.

Those eyes of his promised a dizzying array of scenarios as I fought to visualise what his words might mean in practise.

My eyes darted to the bedhead, and his followed mine, lingering way too long on the furniture.

Whatever part of him gave him insight into others was ticking away right now, cogs turning, calculations made.

He crawled towards me but stopped well short, sitting back on his heels and waiting.

What’s the deal with the red eyes? I asked my Tirian.

The Great Black Wolf touches him.

And what’s he when he’s at home? Some kind of devil? I shivered as I saw the grey in his eyes shift.

Sometimes. He has been in recent years. He is the divine masculine. Oppressive, controlling, and violent when unchecked.

I saw Rick and that fucking sneer on his face for a second.

And when checked?

When balanced by the feminine, he is the strong, the protector, the provider.

He wants to play games with you, channel that energy that calls to him without actually constraining you.

He makes you flush with heat. Let him feed your skin hunger as he wishes it.

We can free ourselves from any kind of trap he creates.

I nodded, to her and to him.

I realised then he didn’t expect me to say yes, as his eyes went wide, completely grey now.

As my answer sunk in, he got to his feet and walked around the bed to where I sat, reaching over and tipping up my lips for his to taste.

His kiss was all Sen—forceful and thorough, yet considered.

The only clue I got of what I was doing to him was in the hiss of his breath.

“I’ve just gotta go grab some stuff as well as some water for you.”

“I’m not?—”

“You’ll stay hydrated,” was his reply. Short, sharp, decisive.

“They call it a heat for good reason. Your body…” His fingers brushed my collarbone, sending a shiver through me.

“It’s got a one-track mind right now, but that doesn’t stop it from needing fluids…

” His lips parted, his smile dark. “Other than ours.”

And with that, he turned and went outside the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

They rushed in as soon as the door closed, a chaotic tangle, rising and rising, threatening to overwhelm me. What would he…? How would this…? Would we…?

“Here.”

Right now, he wasn’t Sen. He’d arrived back, a disembodied slice of muscular abs and hard cock confined by his skin tight boxers, with a bottle of water in one hand and a loop of rope in the other. He pushed the cold bottle into my hands, cracking the lid first and closing my fingers around it.

“Drink.”

My mind grabbed the simple word, and I lifted the bottle to my lips and sucked the liquid down. As if awakened by the sensation of water in my mouth, I felt the dryness of my lips, roughened from so many kisses, my body accepting the fluid gratefully.

“Good girl,” he said, running his hand down the side of my face, and I found my eyes closing.

The weight of it was comforting, grounding.

When I focussed on the feel of it against my skin, the calluses on his palms, the stink of nicotine, everything else fell away.

It was like the breathing exercises Ophelia had prescribed, bringing my awareness back to the here and now.

Then he put his hand on my hip, urging me up on all fours, and his hands lingered as he drew off the robe I’d been hiding in, throwing it to the floor. They returned quickly, stroking down my back, my flanks, and between my thighs, his chuckle dancing along my skin when I parted them willingly.

“Soon,” he promised. “Now, up to the head of the bed. Put your wrists up on the headboard if you’re OK with me tying you up.”

Was I? That question mark threatened to trigger it all off again—that cascade of worries, future telling, mind reading, and fear that hyper-vigilance brought with it.

“Hands on the headboard, Flick. If you don’t like what’s happening, say Kade and everything stops. I’ll have you untied and free within seconds, I promise.”

I’d underestimated how much trust was required when I’d put this on the table as I froze there for a second, then crawled forward. My heart raced as I placed my hands on the wooden bar, and my fingers tightened stiffly around the smooth surface.

“Good girl.” His voice was so rich and dark, I felt like I could fall into it. The sound almost had a body to it, the words sliding over my skin.

He stroked me like you would the animal that hid under my skin, and my back arched up under his caress. I felt an instinctive need to be silent, so I needed to show in other ways that this pleased me.

“Mm…seeing that spine all long and loose, you threaten my control, pet. Now, I’m going to tie this rope around your wrists.

It’ll be a little firm, but not too much.

If you decide you like it, we can do some tighter holds with better rope, but for now, this will have to suffice.

If you feel any circulation issues like numbness or tingling, say Kade straight away. Same goes for pain?—”

I nodded.

I could hear the smile in his voice when he spoke again. “Eager, love? I like that.” I quivered when I felt his warm grip, the rope placed around my wrists in a figure eight that brought them together, then he lashed them to the bar.

“Fuck, Flick…” His growl felt like it filled the room with desire and, it took me a moment to place it, reverence.

That was supported by his hands, as his palms, so much bigger than mine, spanned my body, brushing over my breasts, making me long for them to linger, making my nipples ache for attention.

“You’re so bloody beautiful. I’m gonna make you come so hard, and then…

” My hips jerked when his fingers slipped between my thighs, trailing through the seeping wetness.

“Then I’m gonna line my cock up and bury it in you, cover myself in you, give you everything that’s been building inside me until we both burst.”

A whimper crept past my lips, my teeth biting down to stop more.

One minute, we’d been talking through things, and the next, I was transformed into this wanting, needing thing.

I needed everything he described, to feel the moment that mask slipped and shattered, when he unleashed upon me.

My thighs closed, hoping to hold him there just a little longer for a few more strokes…

“Keep your thighs open, Flick,” he said.

“I need you open for all I want to give you, up until you decide we need to stop. That’s right.

Hold that position, or I’ll be forced to stake your legs out.

That’s it.” I felt his knuckles grazing me, the backs of his fingers brushing my sopping folds, then heard the sucking sound of his fingers being cleaned when he pulled away.

“Need to taste you, love. Watching those boys bury their faces in you had me aching.”

He wasn’t doing anything the others hadn’t as I felt him settle on the bed behind me, trailing his fingers down the back of my legs before sweeping them up.

But not where I needed them to be. The knowledge of what he was going to do, that he wouldn’t say the words if he didn’t mean them, drew inarticulate noises from my throat as I felt his hands holding me still.

His breath was the first thing I sensed, sending a prickle of sensation over me, then his tongue flicked out.