Page 28 of The King has Fallen (The Kingdom of the Krow #1)

SOUNDTRACK: I’ll Make You Love Me by Kat Leon and Sam Tinnesz

~ MELEK ~

I didn’t have the thought. I never made the decision.

One moment I loomed over her, arguing my point even as my heart ached—she couldn’t feel the bond? She’d described how they formed one, but did Fetch even sense bonds or did they merely stumble into them?—and then I stopped being angry and then something in her eyes softened and then her face was in my hands and…

She stiffened and gave a little gasp when my mouth landed on hers, but I hadn’t even had time to plead with God to keep her there when her body eased and her back bowed, her little hands dropping the towel as her arms snaked around my waist and she arched against me… hugging me.

Kissing me.

And… dear God, her mouth.

Those wide lips, so given to sly smiles and wicked delight, suddenly soft under mine.

That tongue, so quick to lash or reprimand, now velvet and slick.

My hands slid into her hair, taking grip, holding her there as a jolt of need rocked through me and I shuddered with it. Every inch of me trembled. My soul sang.

Mate.

Soulbond.

The One.

Holding her in my kiss, I tilted my head and fought a battle with myself—with a tongue that wanted to delve and tease, yet also yearned to speak the words.

Mate.

Mine.

I took the kiss deeper, fighting not to overwhelm her, but overwhelmed myself as I shook with the force of the feelings coursing through me, lighting my blood, igniting my body.

It could not be. It could not be.

And yet, it was. There was no question. No doubt.

Mate.

Impossible, unstoppable mate.

Mine.

She was for me.

And though I was near certain she did not sense the bond, something within her responded, because she whimpered as her hands slid up my back, my sides, my chest, then around my neck, pulling me down as she arched her back and tried to press herself against me while I was folded almost in half to reach her mouth. The towel slipped and fell. I caught it at her back, but the sides opened between us, revealing her as both of us stopped resisting and I lifted her.

She clung like a barnacle, legs around my waist, arms looping my neck, her body plastered against mine as I gasped her name and dove back into that kiss, walking her further up shore, into the trees, to the spaces where sunlight reached during the day to grow a thick blanket of grass, but moonlight wasn’t strong enough to touch it.

I was forced to break the kiss as I lowered her to the grass, throwing the wide towel down so there was some cushioning—but she only buried her face in my throat and scraped my jaw with her teeth so that my blood caught fire and roared through me.

The moment I had the towel spread enough I lowered her to it and took her mouth again, everything in me crying for her—my body aching for her with such a fire, I trembled from head to toe.

And when I pinned her to the ground, covering her, plunging one hand into her hair, the other dragging up from the back of her thigh to her waist, she caught fire too and suddenly we were clawing at each other, the kiss growing aggressive, teeth clashing in its intensity.

There was a moment when she threw her head back, gasping my name and I dove for her throat, sucking and laving that delicate skin with my tongue, growling when I tasted the sweet honey of her. She fisted both hands in my hair and held me to her, her breath hot and quick, her hips rolling, seeking me and every one of my senses came alive—skin prickling, heart thudding in my ears like ritual drums, fingertips trailing fire because her skin was hot, and everything in my chest building pressure, coiling, expanding, ready to explode with sheer need.

I was hard as steel and shuddering every time she rolled her hips, my instincts screaming that I need to pause, to speak, to know her mind. And yet my hand dragged back down to the back of her soft, soft thigh and pulled her leg up, hooking her knee over my hip and opening her to me. Then I dragged myself along the slick seam of her, my breath releasing in a harsh rush when she whimpered again.

At that sound, the two sides of my nature, the twin drives, went to battle.

Every animal instinct in me roared for dominance. And every ounce of my honor—my love, she was my mate!— demanded restraint.

I groaned and flexed my hips, pressing against her harder than strictly necessary, but was rewarded by her gasp and the tightening of her fingers in my hair.

I had never forced a woman in my life. And was not forcing her.

But she was so small. And under my care. And she’d been violated just days ago by that bastard.

I needed to stop. Needed to check in. Needed to find the control to—

Almost tearing my hair from the roots, she clawed her fingers from my scalp, down my neck, and into my back, her head tipping back, mouth open and eyes squeezed tightly closed as I kissed down to her throat again, then rocked against her… and almost took her.

The most beautiful little gasp broke in her throat and her hand clapped to my back. But then she went still under me.

“M-Melek, I—”

There was a tremor in her voice.

Curled over her, one hand cupped over her head, the other holding her knee over my hip, I froze.

I was breathing so hard, her hair fluttered in the wind of my exhales. I’d sucked so hard on the sweet skin of her neck that it was going to leave a mark—and the animal in me wanted to growl in approval so any who saw her would know. Yet I knew to them it was nothing. Merely a confirmation of my claiming. They wouldn’t think twice. Wouldn’t know—or care—what might run under the surface between us.

Fisting my hand in the towel under her, I grazed her neck with my teeth, then made myself push back just far enough to meet her eyes.

My chest was a bellows for my heaving breath—and she panted too.

For a moment we just stared.

Her beautiful eyes were wide as she searched mine, a look of pure awe on her face.

“Melek… I have to tell you—”

There was a smattering of snaps and cracks like a great weight falling into a bush, followed by a chorus of howls and laughter.

We both startled and looked off into the forest in the direction the noise had come from.

Reality slapped me in the face like I’d been doused in a bucket of ice water.

We were both naked and curled together in plain sight if anyone followed the trail down to the lake, and the Nephilim were reveling.

Drunk, young, fit, lonely and fueled by recent rumors of her rape… they’d frenzy in a heartbeat if they caught sight of her.

“I’m getting you out of here. Right now,” I graveled, my voice deeper than I ever remembered it.

There was another crunch and more laughter, closer this time. I didn’t wait for her response. I shoved to my feet, pulled her up, grabbed the towel and threw it over her shoulders.

“Don’t move,” I hissed, pushing her behind a nearby shrub as I darted back to grab both our clothes as fast as I could move.

Keeping my wings tucked tight against my back, I dove back into the bushes where she was crouched, clutching that towel around her, just as footsteps, laughing voices, and muttered curses broke the peace of the lakeside.

One of them howled and I muttered a curse, turning my back to her as I snapped my wings out, then back, covering her with the raven dark of them.

It was too much to hope that they hadn’t heard my wings rustle the bushes. Of course, they assumed they’d been followed by one of their friends, so as they called and rushed towards us, I turned my head and hissed through gritted teeth.

“Don’t speak. They won’t see you through my wings.”

She stiffened, but wisely kept her mouth shut as the bushes shook, then parted just two feet from where I crouched—which was when the danger to my mate became undeniable and I roared to shake the trees.