Page 43 of The King has Fallen (The Kingdom of the Krow #1)

SOUNDTRACK: Devil in Her Eyes by Bryce Savage

~ MELEK ~

The need for her hit me like I had been tackled. All this talk of separation and planning for being apart from her… I only just found her, yet the time left to us was so short, it felt like a sword pressed to my throat.

Unable to resist, I lifted her up and carried her back into the trees, still delving her mouth. My first thought was to return her quickly to the tent where I could lay her down and love her properly. But when she held me so tightly, wrapping her legs around my waist and plastering herself to my chest, I couldn’t wait.

Tearing myself out of the kiss, I rasped. “Yilan, I—”

“Don't wait.”

Warmth rushed through me that she knew my thoughts and shared them. But fire rode my veins that she wanted me as desperately as I wanted her.

I stumbled into the woods, holding her to me until I could find one of the huge Sacer trees with its wide, flat trunk and smooth bark. Then I made myself put her down, but kept her mouth, kissing her hard, leaning her back against it as I reached for her clothing.

Slipping my hand under the hem of my shirt that she wore—which made my cock tighten further—I hurriedly grasped the waistband of her leggings and shoved them down, while she wrestled with my belt buckle.

We struggled and reached and pawed—she laughed more than once when we fought to be the one pulling our bound hands to each other’s clothing. But finally, I got her leggings off and she kicked them aside, just as she finally got my leathers unbuttoned and I sprang free with a low groan of relief.

I looked down at her, prayed my eyes were as brightly alight as hers, then reached for the buttons on that shirt, resisting the urge to just tear them off because we would still have to walk back through camp.

It was an exercise in restraint, but heaven when I finally got the last unbuttoned, and the sides fell apart to reveal her lithe, tight body to my eyes. I took our bound hands and clamped mine on the back of her neck, bending her elbow high as she gripped my wrist.

She bit her lip and her hips rolled forward when I reached for her breast, teasing the nipple with my thumb as I leaned into her, kissing her neck and thrusting gently into her other hand where she stroked me.

But then I leaned back to look down at her touching me and instead my eyes were drawn to the pale skin of her stomach and breasts that had apparently never seen the sun. I growled with need and reached between her legs.

She gasped and her hips bucked, seeking more of my touch, but I didn’t enter her—not yet. I was still shaking, smiling, because she was already slick.

She wanted me.

“Melek,” she panted as I curled fingers against that hot flesh. “Don’t tease me.” I let a rumble of pleasure roll in my chest and she smiled, closing her eyes. “God, I love the sounds you make.”

I rewarded her for the compliment by sliding first one finger into her, then a second, curling them inside her, watching her jaw go slack.

I was beginning to sweat already.

I set to the purpose then of setting her flesh alight, playing, rubbing, sliding, teasing, resting my forehead on her shoulder, but arching my body away so I could watch her body roll and twitch in response to my touch.

My breath was already harsh when I slid fingers into her and used the pad of my thumb on that nub that brought her pleasure, and she cursed. I would have laughed, but I was growing more and more needy—the bond between us thrumming like the plucked string of a lyre. And making music between us just like that instrument, as well.

Exhaling shakily, I stopped touching her and she gave a little growl of protest, but I was already reaching around with both hands to lift her up my body, hitching her higher, trembling when she wrapped her legs around my waist, and pinning her back against that tree.

Then I took her bound hand, lifting it above her head to stretch her, then sliding my fingers between hers and clawing my nails into the tree to pin her hand there.

Stretched as she was, her back arched. Because she was sitting high up my body I could bend, still keeping her hand pinned over her head, and suck her nipple into my mouth.

When I had her gasping and writhing, panting and digging her nails into my back I lifted my head and locked eyes with her when she opened hers to see why I’d stopped.

“Are you well, Mate?” I rasped.

She nodded quickly, panting. “I’ll be even better if you do that again.”

I huffed a delighted laugh, but I was done playing at the edges of this. Her body was trembling and her breath caught every time I rubbed against her. So I took her mouth, leaned against her so she couldn’t move, tilted my hips, then let her slide down onto me, shuddering myself with the pleasure of taking her—and with watching her eyes widen again.

She gasped, then stopped breathing entirely when she had all of me.

I forced myself to stop, to breathe, to wait. This position took me deep and gravity pulled her down onto me. Though it made me shake to restrain, I forced myself to stay still, only breathing for a moment, allowing her to stretch and accommodate me.

I groaned as she pulsed around me, leaning back into that tree and tipping her hips, shifting, finding her comfort… and then she swallowed hard and let her head fall back against the tree, eyes still locked on mine.

“Why did you stop,” she asked, her voice low and husky so that I pulsed within her and her eyes glazed for a moment.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I croaked, leaning into her.

Head still resting back on that tree, she stared right into my eyes, lifted her free hand to grip my hair and said in a tight but rough voice, “Let’s get this straight: I want everything from you, Melek. And I want it real. I have spent my whole life with the men around me trying to protect me from anything they believe I am not strong enough to bear. And they are usually wrong.”

A happy little growl puttered in my chest and I leaned in about to kiss her, but she wasn’t done.

She gripped my warrior’s length and yanked my head back, still staring me right in the eye. “You give me your word that you won’t hold back, and I’ll give you mine that I’ll tell you if it’s too much.”

I smiled, thrilled . “My mate is fierce and beautiful and wise.”

“And mine is tastier than honeycakes, so please, Melek, stop trying to protect me from you. You are not what I need protection from. With you I want more. ”

I admired her courage, but still raised a brow, smiling and hitching her slightly higher to draw almost all the way out of her. “Are you certain, Love?”

“I’m certain,” she rasped.

Her fingers gripped my hand tighter and she rolled her hips, seeking me as I growled and took her at her word, loosing my grip so she dropped to meet me as I plunged into her.

The sudden penetration tore a cry from her throat and her head clunked back against the tree, baring her divine throat. I dove for that, opening my mouth on that delicate, vulnerable skin as I began to plow her, keeping her pinned in such a way that she could barely move. She could only hold on, resist me, and take it.

Her mouth was open, her jaw slack as she keened, wordless, gasping, her hand slapping down to my shoulder and clinging—but she did not retreat, and I reveled in that, dropping our bound hands down so I could hold her ass and move her with me.

“Mine,” I rasped. “My beautiful, savage mate.”

“Yes,” she gasped, letting her chin tip down as I thrust into her again.

“Mine. And only mine.”

“Forever, Melek. For eternity—oh, yes! ”

I groaned when she clawed her free hand back into my hair. Riding my thrusts, mouth open, but eyes on me, she yanked my head back and bared my throat. I bellowed when she nipped me there, then latched on, sucking as I picked up the pace, her body jiggling beautifully. Still, she didn’t lose her grip.

She was marking me.

That thought was so thrilling, my body shuddered and I knew I was tipping towards my climax, but I needed her there too. Grasping her hips, I sharpened my thrusts, pushing her closer and closer, until her lower lip went loose, until she gripped me with the same intensity that I gripped her. Eyes locked and both of us panting, she had me marveling as she clung.

Then, in a moment I would remember forever—just as she began to shudder and tighten on me, she narrowed her eyes and rasped, “Mine.”

My leash snapped. I roared her name as she tipped over that edge, crying out, her body twitching as she came, clenching down on me as I pumped into her again and again until my climax struck like a ringing gong. I roared until it rolled off into a growl, and then a fierce inhale when I ran out of air. And clung together, jerking, twitching… then finally I slumped against her, my heels grinding into the dirt as I shook and twitched, panting, as she dropped her head to my shoulder, and I buried my face in her neck.

She touched me with every inch of her body.

Our chests both heaved as we tried to catch our breaths.

Then, finally, when I could think straight, I lifted my hand to cup her face—but forgot it was my bound hand. And when I lifted it, I caught sight of the abrasions on the back of her hand from the bark, because of the force with which I’d pinned her there.

“Yilan,” I croaked. “You should have told me!”

“Stop worrying like a mother,” she rasped. “If it scars, I’ll cherish it.”

I looked right at her then, shaking my head with disbelief and sheer joy. “You, my mate, are more than I could even have thought to ask for.”

Her lips tipped up on one side and she flicked her hair back. “My thoughts exactly,” she whispered. Then she kissed me.

I would never have thought kissing a woman could be an act of worship. But I was proven wrong in that moment.