Page 5

I should step away. I should apologize. I should remember all the reasons this was a terrible idea.

Her lips parted, her eyes darkening as she watched me struggle with myself. “What are you waiting for?” she whispered, challenge and desire mingling in her voice.

With a growl, I surged forward and claimed her mouth in a fierce kiss. She met me with equal hunger, nipping at my lower lip as her hands tugged at my shirt. I tore it off, tossing it aside without care as to where it landed.

Her mouth was on me before the fabric hit the floor, hot kisses trailing across my collarbone, my chest, my stomach. My muscles jumped beneath her lips, sparks of pleasure igniting with each touch.

Fuck. She was going to undo me.

She sank to her knees and glanced up at me through long, dark lashes as she began to work my belt buckle. With agonizing slowness, she opened my trousers and freed my aching cock, her slim fingers circling my shaft with delicious pressure.

“Impressive,” she murmured, her breath hot against my skin. “Perhaps there are some benefits to this arrangement after all.”

She took me into her mouth before I could respond, and every clever retort died in my throat. Her tongue swirled around the head, tasting, teasing, and I had to brace myself against the wall to keep from buckling.

Fuck.

She took me deeper, her eyes locked on mine as she worked me with her mouth and hand in tandem. There was something defiant in her gaze, something almost angry, as if she resented how much she wanted this. Wanted me.

I understood the feeling all too well.

I eased my tail between her legs, dragging the tip over her knee and between her thighs. She shivered as I chased the deep pulse of her femoral higher and higher until I reached the thin silk of her panties. I growled, tangling my fingers in her hair.

Soaked. She was soaked, and the knowledge sent a bolt of pure lust straight to my cock.

Her eyes widened, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she took me deeper, swallowing around me until I felt the back of her throat. All while still glaring up at me like I’d personally offended her.

I pressed the flat of my tail firmly against her clit. She moaned around my length, rhythm faltering slightly before picking up again, more frantic than before. She rolled her hips, grinding shamelessly against my tail, seeking friction, pressure, release.

Beautiful. So damn beautiful, kneeling before me with her dress bunched around her hips, wet and wanting. The sight alone was enough to send me hurtling toward the edge, and I desperately wanted to be buried inside her when I fell.

“Enough,” I ordered. When she didn’t listen—of course she didn’t—I tightened my grip in her hair. “Up. Now.”

She released me with a wet pop, her lips swollen and glistening. “Afraid you can’t last?”

The taunt would have been more effective if her voice hadn’t been so husky, if her pupils hadn’t been blown wide with desire.

I yanked her to her feet and crushed my mouth against hers, devouring the soft moan of protest she made as my tail abandoned her clit.

One hand palmed her breast through her dress, tearing a gasp from her as I rubbed rough circles over her nipple.

The other slipped beneath her skirt, shoving the delicate fabric of her underwear aside as I sank a finger deep inside her molten heat.

Her inner walls clenched around me, rippling and fluttering. Ready. So ready.

I growled against her mouth, drunk on the scent and taste and feel of her. “Take off your clothes before I rip them off.”

For a heartbeat, she hesitated. Then with a tiny huff that shouldn’t have been half as sexy as it was, she reached behind her and dragged down the zipper of her dress. I stepped back far enough to let her shrug out of the garment and kick it aside, followed by her bra and panties.

Fires below. She was gorgeous. Lean muscle, trim waist, mussed hair hanging like a cloak. Perky breasts that filled my palms perfectly. Eyes darkened by desire, lips still swollen from my kiss. She looked like sex, and sin, and everything I didn’t deserve.

I didn’t care.

I stroked a finger down her side, tracing the delicate shape of her rib cage. Her skin was impossibly soft beneath my rough callouses, and I marveled that she didn’t slap me away for daring to touch her.

“Get on the bed.” The command came out rough and raw. Needy. Fuck, I was needy for her.

She obeyed without comment, climbing onto the bed and kneeling on the edge, facing me. Her tail swayed behind her, a blatant invitation.

Mine. The word pounded through my brain, echoed by the throbbing ache in my cock. I prowled closer, stroking myself slowly. Letting her watch, letting her want.

Her breath caught when I stopped just short of her, close enough to feel the heat coming off her skin but not quite touching. She tilted her head, exposing the elegant line of her throat in silent offering.

That tiny gesture undid me. With a groan, I leaned in to claim her mouth in a possessive kiss.

Her arms wound around my neck, pulling me closer.

We toppled backward, a tangle of limbs and tails and lust. I pinned her wrists above her head, holding her in place while I feasted on the sweetness of her mouth.

Our bodies were flush against each other, skin to skin, and I felt every curve and plane of her. My cock slid against the slick heat of her pussy, making us both moan. I wanted to sink into her, to fill her completely, to take her hard and fast and thorough.

But not yet. Not until I’d made her beg.

“What do you need, princess? Tell me.” I needed the words. Needed to know she wanted this as badly as I did. That this wasn’t just another mask worn for my benefit, and I wasn’t some monster.

“Kaz—” She arched her hips, seeking friction. A tiny whimper escaped her when I pulled back. “Please.”

“Please what?”

Her eyes flashed in frustration. “You know what I need.”

I bent to lick the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder. “Not good enough.”

“Kaz Kadhan,” she hissed, writhing against the hold I kept on her wrists. “I need you inside me. Filling me. Fucking me. Right now.”

Gods. That tone, those words... Fuck.

I couldn’t deny her. And truth be told, I didn’t want to. I wanted to give her everything she craved.

With a low growl, I sank into her, inch by glorious inch. We both groaned at the sensation. She was tight and hot around me, her inner walls gripping my cock like she never wanted to let go. For a moment, I couldn’t move, overwhelmed by the perfection of being joined with my mate.

Talia was my mate. My fated mate.

Pure shock wrapped around me as tightly as her cunt. I stared down at her, drinking in the sight of her flushed cheeks and parted lips.

This wasn’t just an arranged match born of political expediency. This wasn’t just two strangers trying to work their way toward intimacy.

What have I done?

This was all wrong. We were doing this backward, inside out. Fated mates were supposed to meet, recognize each other, court, and claim. Not be forced together by royal decree after one had killed the other’s brother. Not fuck out of spite and anger and lust before either had acknowledged the bond.

“Don’t stop.” She arched against me, a sound somewhere between a moan and a snarl escaping her throat. Every touch, every taste, every sound was amplified, heightened, as if my senses had been dialed to their maximum setting. “Don’t you dare fucking stop.”

My mate.

The thought rang through my mind as I began to move inside her, setting a slow, torturous pace. My mate. She deserved better. Deserved courting and gentleness and wooing. Deserved everything I’d failed to give her.

But she gripped me tighter, demanded harder, urged faster.

Our mouths collided in a desperate tangle of teeth and tongues, her moans spurring me on as surely as my own desires.

She clawed at my back, biting down on my shoulder when I angled my thrusts just right.

The pain drove me wild, pushing me closer to the edge of control.

Mine.

I hitched her leg higher around my waist, opening her wider to me. I drove into her again and again, bottoming out with every stroke. She was fire in my arms, burning brighter than I could have imagined.

“You feel so good,” I groaned, burying my face in her neck. “So fucking perfect.”

Her scent filled my lungs, jasmine and embers and sex, driving me mad. I could feel her getting close, her inner walls fluttering around my cock as her breathing grew more ragged.

I caught her chin between my fingers. “Eyes on me, princess. I want to watch you come.”

Her gaze locked with mine, defiant even in pleasure. I felt her tighten around me, felt the first tremors of her release. And gods help me, I couldn’t look away as ecstasy washed over her face, as her lips parted on a cry, her body quaking with the force of her orgasm.

So fucking beautiful.

It only took a few more strokes before I tumbled after her, following her into bliss. I buried myself to the hilt and came hard, spilling inside her in hot, pulsing waves.

For several long moments, we lay tangled together, our bodies slick with sweat, our breathing gradually slowing. I could feel her heartbeat against my chest, the rhythm syncing with my own. The mate bond hummed between us, satisfied for now but still demanding more.

What now? What did one say to a mate claimed in such circumstances? To a woman who, by all rights, should hate me but instead had just wrapped her legs around me and begged for more?

I’d never felt more out of my depth. Battle strategies, tactical maneuvers, clan politics… I understood those. But this? This was uncharted territory, and I had no map to guide me.

What have I done?