Page 24 of Ravaging Red (Monsters of the Hollow Realm #1)

The Mark

RAEL

D amn the Council.

Damn their rules, their chains, their sanctified rituals and ancient decrees about what can and cannot be done to a human.

None of it mattered. Not anymore. Not when she had screamed for me.

Not when I had felt her bond shudder like it might break under the weight of something vile and ancient.

Not when I had tasted the fear on her skin, seen the way her body trembled in my arms, I felt something deeper than pain.

She is to be mine.

Not just in body or by my word, but by blood.

It wasn’t a decision I made lightly, but this was war.

A war I’d been fighting since the moment I first scented her in the woods, since her sweet voice tore through the darkness to dull this loneliness I’d been living with .

From the moment she looked at me, she sparked something inside me so deep, that no amount of time, rage, or exile will ever be able to destroy it.

It was the kind of need that twisted through one’s bones and soul. The kind of want that made monsters like me do stupid things. And I was fucking done denying it.

Let the Council try to tear her away from me. Let the Old Ones rise from their cursed thrones and spew their threats about tradition, sacred lines and balance. Let them watch …as I tear every last one of them apart. Limb by limb. Fang to fucking throat.

Red was mine.

Mine to keep. Mine to break. Mine to build back up again. Mine to worship until her screams echoed through every damn inch of this forest.

The Hollow had accepted it.

The Veil had watched it unfold.

And that cursed, glorious red moon? It had seen it all. Tonight… tonight, I would seal it. But first, I wanted to worship her.

She was quiet as I carried her deeper into the woods, where the old lake lay still and shimmered beneath the moonlight.

I cradled her warm body against my chest, her pale flesh was streaked with dirt, dark magic, and dried blood.

She had clung to me with arms shaking from the touch of that cursed thing.

And now, as the water came into view, I felt her stir.

"What are we doing?" she asked, voice soft.

"Shhhh," I murmured. "Let me take care of you.”

“Take care of me?” she asked, bewildered.

“Yes, Red. I want to taste you, touch you, and kiss you everywhere. I want to erase any last darkness that clings to us both.” Her breath hitched, but she didn’t argue.

The lake was warm as I stepped in with her in my arms, letting the water rise slowly around us.

I set her down gently, watching as it lapped at her thighs, her stomach, the curves I had memorized in the dark.

I pulled the small vial of her soap from the leather pouch I’d carried and poured it into my palm, inhaling the familiar scent of crushed berries and something faintly floral.

She watched me with wide eyes as I began to undress her, tearing away any remnants of her flowered dress.

My claws were gentle, my palms worshipful.

I bathed her slowly, methodically, dragging the slick soap over her shoulders, down her arms, between her breasts.

She moaned when I brushed against her nipples, the suds catching on her pebbled skin.

“Rael...”

I licked a bead of water from her collarbone and bit gently into her shoulder, just enough to make her shudder.

"You smell like the forest after rain," I said, trailing kisses lower, toward the underside of her breasts. "You taste better than any sweet treat I’ve ever had."

I dipped my hands into the water, sweeping it over her and watching as the droplets cascaded down her plump form.

My tongue circled a nipple, then dragged lower, lapping at her belly, the inside of her thighs, teasing the sensitive skin just beside where she needed me most. She was already shaking, her fingers in my fur, tugging, gasping as I moved between her legs and ran my tongue slowly along her slick folds.

I groaned as I tasted her. She was wet, swollen and sweet like honey, every flick of my tongue making her tremble harder.

“Please,” she whispered, her voice shaking and I could feel it simmering, that desperation not just mirroring mine, but stoking it, feeding it, making it worse.

I didn’t give her what she wanted. Not yet.

I dragged my tongue slowly, lazily, up her slit, just barely grazing her swollen clit before pulling away entirely, pressing hot kisses along her thighs instead.

She whimpered, grinding down, but I held her firm, growling against her skin and biting the tender flesh of her inner thigh to keep her obedient.

“Not yet,” I murmured, my voice a dark rasp against the soft skin of her thigh. “You beg so sweetly, Red. Let me hear it again.”

I slid my tongue just close enough that she could feel the warmth of it, but I didn’t touch where she needed it most. I blew gently over her slick folds instead, grinning when her whole body shuddered.

She tried to rock her hips forward again, but my hands were already pressing her down, holding her open, exposed and trembling.

“Tell me how badly you want it,” I said, licking my lips, letting the edge of a fang drag slowly along the inside of her thigh. “Tell me what you want me to do to this sweet, dripping cunt. Or should I keep you like this all night, wet, aching, and completely untouched.”

She whimpered, her voice cracking. “Please, Rael, I need you. I need your mouth, your cock… I need all of it.”

“Not good enough,” I growled, brushing my lips over her folds, letting the heat of my breath sear her nerves.

“I want you to say it like you mean it. Beg me like you did when you thought I was going to devour you the first time. Tell me how badly you need to be filled, how much you want my knot stretching you open.”

She sobbed, body quivering under my grip. “Please, Rael, I need your cock buried inside me. I need you to fuck me until I forget my name. I want your tongue, your knot, everything. Just… Please, don’t stop teasing. Please don’t stop taking me.”

My cock throbbed at her words, and I let out a low, vicious chuckle before finally leaning in. I dragged my tongue through her folds in a single, long stroke, flicking over her clit just hard enough to make her scream.

“Good girl,” I whispered against her swollen flesh. “Now you’re ready.”

I pulled her up against me, lifting her effortlessly and pinning her back against the thick trunk of a tree that dipped its roots into the lake’s edge. Her legs wrapped around my waist instinctively. She was dripping. Open. Ready.

I lined myself up and sank into her with one brutal, perfect thrust.

We both cried out.

She was tight and hot, her slick walls pulsing around me as I buried my cock deep inside her, inch by inch, the stretch making her gasp, making her hips grind down against me, her tits bouncing suductvely. My cock hardened inside her, seeing how helpless she was.

“Fuck,” I growled. “You take me like you were made for this. Every time, you get tighter, and hotter."

I drove into her, slowly at first, savoring the way she clenched around me, the slick friction of her cunt drawing every nerve in my body to the edge. She moaned, nails raking down my back, her breath hot against my shoulder.

And then, slowly I licked at the curve of her breasts, gliding the tip of her taut bud through my teeth. She cried out, fisting me fur, and that's when I did it, I took a bite.

Right over the curve of her breast, just above her heart.

My fangs slid into her flesh, and her scream, raw and breathless. filled the Hollow.

Blood filled my mouth, warm and copper-sweet, thick with magic. It spilled down her breast, dripping slowly toward her nipple, a crimson drop just fluttering there, and the sight of it made something in me snap.

I rutted into her then, harder, faster, growling like a beast as she clung to me, her cunt gripping me tighter with every thrust.

“You feel that?” I snarled. “That’s your body learning who you fucking belong to.”

Her cries grew louder as I reached between us, fingers sliding to her clit, rubbing in tight circles, spreading our cream over her swollen nub.

She was so fucking close.

I gathered the mix of blood and seed on my fingers and pressed them to her lips. She opened, moaning around my hand, licking the taste of us from my skin.

And then I dragged what remained to her wound, smearing it over the bite, murmuring the ancient incantation of the mark into her ear as I sealed it with the heat of our bond.

She shattered.

Her body convulsed, a silent scream parting her lips as her orgasm ripped through her. I felt her cunt clamp down, milking me, and I let go, thrusting deep, knot swelling, cock pulsing as I filled her again and again, claiming every inch of her from the inside out.

The world shifted, and the power between us surged as my seed surged inside of her with such force that I had to grip her tight, to keep her seated on me. We stayed locked like that until our heartbeats quieted, breathless and trembling, my forehead pressed to hers.

And as the Blood Moon watched from above, almost satisfied with my action, I whispered into her neck, raw and hoarse, “I love you.”

Then I carried her back into the lake, still knotted, holding her close as the water cradled us both like a blessing the gods never saw coming.