Page 42 of The Enemy to the Living (The Wild Hunt #2)

Quinn

I can’t believe him. I’m giddy with every touch, with the fact that Asher came all this way to claim me—more or less—and not just me, but my pack, too. He groans into my mouth when I press him more firmly against the door, not trying at all to take control.

Good. My wolf is ready to take over if I don’t get what we both want. Asher seems to understand that, too. He holds on to my hips and presses against me, making a whining sound like he’s the needy one. I tear my mouth away, breathing hard.

“Asher?”

“I want you to fuck me again,” he says, “but I think I know what you want.”

He’s not wrong. I want him inside me this time. We can go more than once tonight.

I grab his jaw and kiss him again, then roll my hips against his. Asher’s hands roam from my hips, moving up and under my T-shirt, and I shiver when he scrapes his nails down my back. I bite his lower lip in retaliation, and he hisses but tilts his head back when I begin to kiss down his jaw.

“Bedroom,” he says.

“No.” The word comes out as a growl, all my wolf. We’re not moving.

“We need—” I latch onto a spot low on Asher’s throat, the place I’ve already picked out for my mating bite. “We need lube.”

I suck hard and he lets out a garbled cry, fingers digging in where he’s still holding my back. I breathe in the scent of him, and his arousal feeds mine, making my hips jerk.

“Stay here.”

“You want me to fuck you against the door, darling?”

No. I want the chase. I want him to pin me and have me the way wolves should.

But this will do for now.

“Sofa,” I breathe against his mouth. “If you’re that worried about it.”

Asher chuckles and ghosts a kiss over my lips. “Go get the lube.”

I’m off like a shot, though I hear him kick off his shoes and the faint sound of his T-shirt hitting the carpet. When I re-emerge from my bedroom—my own T-shirt gone—Asher is standing at the back of the sofa, entirely naked.

I frown, walking closer. “What—”

He grabs me, faster than I’m expecting, and pulls me easily against him. I clutch his shoulder with my free hand. His hard cock rubs against mine through my jogging bottoms and his breath hitches.

“Going to bend you over and have you just like this,” he says, shoving one hand down the back of my joggers to give my arse a hard squeeze. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” Asher kisses my cheek and takes the lube from my hand before he spins me so I’m facing the door. I brace myself, both hands on the back of the sofa as he pushes my joggers down and then shoves my legs further apart. Goosebumps erupt on my skin. Fuck, this is going to be perfect.

“Remember to breathe,” he mutters, and one slick finger circles my hole. I nod and Asher begins to press inside, moving slowly, but even that sensation is enough to have my mouth falling open, desperate whines escaping with each breath.

The only sounds in the room are my panting and the slick movements of Asher’s fingers as he stretches me open.

I dig my fingers harder into the back of the sofa, and when I feel the tingle of claws wanting to emerge, I tamp down on the sensation.

No. No shifting. Not yet. Asher can’t fuck me if I shift.

The last thought is the one that settles my wolf, and Asher nips my shoulder as though he knows exactly the dilemma I’m in. “I’ve got you,” he murmurs, shoving his fingers in deep and crooking them until he presses against my prostate.

I shout, the pleasure I’ve been feeling up until now coalescing into something deeper, more powerful. If I don’t have him now, I might just die. I reach back and shove at Asher’s forearm, legs trembling.

“Asher, please—”

“Ready?”

“Get in me.”

He snickers but pulls his fingers free. “So bossy,” he says, and I hear slick movement again, then feel the head of his cock pushing against my hole.

“I want you,” I whine. I need him to know. I need him to understand. It’s everything he’s ever done for me, but it’s more than that, too. I want him, and though it would be easy to just rely on him and say he’s my mate and be done with it, I need him to know that I am making a choice.

“Fuck, I want you too,” he whispers low in my ear and begins to push inside.

I toss my head back and groan. The burn as he stretches me even wider open on his cock is something I hardly register. Even the pleasure feels secondary to the flare of power in my chest, the knowledge that our mating bond is only strengthening, the feel of his emotions sitting alongside my own.

Asher lets out a ragged moan and reaches around, teasing my nipples as he rocks in and out. “You feel so good.”

“Fuck.” I whine and push back against him. “More. Give me more.”

He growls and pushes in a little harder. I groan when his hips slap against my arse, finally full to the brim of him. Asher ducks his head and bites my throat. The sensation of his teeth against my skin, his cock in my arse, has me seconds away from coming.

I whimper and rock back and forth as he begins to fuck me. He moves slowly at first, teeth still on me, but when he lifts his head, he starts to thrust harder, faster. I’m still bracing myself against the back of the sofa, though I’m not sure if it will stay in one place.

“Ready, pup?”

“F-fuck.”

I cry out when Asher finally lets go. He kisses the spot he’s bitten just before his hands drop to my hips.

Each thrust is deep, powerful, and exactly what I need.

I moan and shake—maybe they’re what he needs, too, because every sound I make has him moving faster until he’s panting, breath damp, against the back of my neck.

“Asher,” I moan, voice strangled. My cock hangs heavy and hard between my legs, dripping pre-cum onto the carpet. Neither of us has touched it. I want him to. I want that big hand wrapped around me, dragging my orgasm out of me.

Like he hears me—like I’ve said it, but I’m sure I haven’t—he reaches around and curls his fingers around my cock. I almost sob at the feeling. “I’ve got you,” he murmurs in my ear, and I know that he means it beyond this moment.

I turn my head. Asher’s mouth meets mine in an awkward, biting kiss, but it’s perfect because it’s him and we’re here and I get to keep him forever. He pulls away to bite my jaw, teeth digging in like I’d expect of any wolf.

“Fuck, pup, this is gonna be over so fast.”

“Don’t care,” I say and whine when his hand speeds up. “Fuck, don’t stop.”

“Never.”

I don’t know which one of us comes first. Asher pants in my ear, hand firm, unstoppable, and the pleasure coiling inside me explodes, shaking through my entire body.

I toss my head back as I cry out, vaguely registering his low groan in my ear as he thrusts in hard and spills inside of me.

Asher strokes me through it still, mouth against my shoulder as he milks me dry.

“Fucking hell,” I mutter. My legs are shaking so hard I don’t know that I’m going to be able to stay standing on my own.

Asher chuckles. He kisses my shoulder again and then eases himself out of me. I grimace but gratefully lean back against him when he wraps his arms around me.

“Come on, darling, let’s get cleaned up.”

We shower, and I debate dragging him to bed, but he wanders to investigate the kitchen before I can voice the desire.

I watch as he pulls out what food he can from the fridge—someone’s been in and stocked things up because I know I didn’t have that much in there before—and, to my surprise, tears suddenly well up in my eyes.

Asher spins to face me. He drops what he’s holding on the kitchen side and moves around it, then takes my face in his hands.

“What’s going on?” he murmurs.

“I’m—It’s fine. I’m happy.”

“But?”

Yeah, of course he can feel my emotions. I can feel his.

I bite my lip and take a deep breath to keep everything at bay before I speak. “I really wish my parents could have met you.”

“Oh, Quinn.” Asher studies my face for a moment, then pulls me in for a sweet, short kiss. “Darling, I wish I’d had the chance to meet them, too.”

“And your pack,” I murmur. “All of it.”

“All of it,” he agrees. I tug at him, pulling him in for a hug he doesn’t resist. “I’ll spend time with your pack when I can. I promise.”

“And yours?”

“Mine,” he says with an amused huff—he’s not disputing it, at least. “You’ll hardly be rid of Grant. The rest of them might be slower, but we’ll get there.”

I nod, knowing he can feel the movement, and he kisses the side of my neck before he lets me go. He doesn’t move away, though. “Is there anything we need to do for your parents? Your former pack?”

We . I suddenly want to perform the rites with him so strongly that the feeling becomes a visceral, real thing.

“I’m not sure yet.”

“All right. Do you want to find out?”

Do I? Guilt niggles at my chest. “Yeah, I do.”

“We can do it together if you want.”

I nod. “And the rites?”

“Our mating rites?” He doesn’t look surprised or like he doesn’t want to.

“Yeah. When do you want to do them?” There. No way out.

Asher laughs. “We’ve got time. Do you feel ready?”

Yes . That’s my first thought. But my second is that he’s right—I don’t want our relationship to go slowly, necessarily, but we can wait to do this. A few more years, and the rate at which I’m aging will slow. With the Huntsman’s blessing, it seems like Asher will live for a long, long time.

“We’re not waiting forever,” I say sternly, but my lips are twitching.

“Oh, I’d never ask you to do that.”

He kisses me again, the kind of kiss I can imagine us casually exchanging for the next century or more, then heads back into the kitchen to make lunch.

I lean against the side and watch the way he moves around the space.

He’s not used to it yet, but soon he will be.

Soon this place will be as familiar as his own.

I really can’t wait for that.