Page 45 of The King’s Man (The Kingdom of the Krow #3)

~ JANN ~

I had her propped against that trunk, and myself free of my leathers, but the bonds at our wrists caused some fumbling as we worked to undress each other.

After a moment of frustration, I grabbed her hand that was tied to mine, clamped it against the tree over her head, and pulled out of the kiss to stare down at her.

“Leave your leathers to me,” I growled, sliding my free hand down her stomach to the waistband of her trousers—delighted when her pupils dilated.

“You focus on opening that shirt so I can see you. All of you. I’m going to lick you clean, beautiful, and I want to look up when you’re writhing and see those nipples standing at attention like good soldiers. ”

She laughed breathlessly until I kissed her again. Sucking at her tongue, nipping her lips.

Heart pounding when she gasped, I kissed my way along her jaw to her neck, then down, stroking and kneading over her clothes, thumbs rubbing her already tightened nipples so that she gasped, then letting my chest drag against her as I lowered myself, popping the button on her pants, then maneuvered them open, sliding my hand inside to force them down over the sweet swells of her body.

Diadre’s breath was fast and short as she fumbled at her buttons with her free hand, leading me down, opening her clothing for me like parting a curtain to paradise.

I growled in anticipation and as soon as she had the top two undone, I kissed my way down her neck to that hollow between her breasts, then down, following her shaking hand as she popped button after button on that damned shirt, until finally she was skin to air.

I nipped at her stomach, slipped my tongue into her navel, and kissed my way down, tugging her pants all the way to the ground, scrambling to help her kick them off until she could spread her thighs properly. Then dropped to my knees.

Face to face with her most sacred flesh, I growled hungrily and traced fingers down the back of her leg, cupping inside one knee and urging her to widen her stance, steadying her with my grip on her hip with my bound hand.

With me so close, she curled the fingers of that hand into my hair as she shuffled her feet wider. Then she looked down on me, her hair falling in curtains to either side of her beautiful face, her eyes glazed with lust that only added fuel to my fire.

I was about to bury my face between her thighs, when inspiration hit, and instead, I urged her to take her weight on one side as I lifted her other knee and hooked it over my shoulder, stretching that leg high and opening her to me.

For a long moment, chest heaving, I stared at her.

She was panting too, but her hips rolled when I didn’t move. “Jann, what are you—?”

“So fucking beautiful,” I growled, then licked my fingers and stroked her first.

Diadre gave a delighted gasp, back bowing as she yearned for my touch, but couldn’t move because I’d pinned her.

Kneeling there before her, her tearing breath was music to my soul.

“Hold on,” I rasped, pulling her bound hand from my hair and placing it on my shoulder to help her brace. Then I gripped her wrist to steady her as I curled my free arm over her thigh on my shoulder.

Then I buried my face in her and her head fell back.

I licked, searching in quick strokes from where I would take her, up to that precious nub to suck and flick with my tongue, then dove down to fill her with the flat of my tongue, then repeated it all again.

Diadre’s breath caught, but I had her pinned—her hand clamped on one shoulder, her knee trapped over the other.

She grabbed for my hair when I licked her again, her fingers tightening as she wobbled and threatened to overbalance.

But I growled at her to hold on and I gripped her leg tighter leaning my weight against her, pressing harder with my tongue until she shifted her weight back against the tree and found her balance again.

Then I set to the task of making my mate writhe.

Her first cry echoed strangely in the dawn forest—the flutter of birds wings, startled from their breakfast. Then her hips began to buck in rhythm with my strokes and I knew she was growing close.

Breath rasping, I took a firmer hold on her and opened my mouth wider, stroking harder with my tongue and entering her again—

“Fuck, Jann, please!”

Still licking, stroking, sucking at her clit, I looked up to find her exactly as I’d wanted—shirt open and breasts bare, legs spread across my chest, her hair messed by the wind and the tree, her skin flushed and cheeks pink.

Her jaw was slack and her voice broke on every exhale.

I filled her with my tongue one more time and she made a strangled sound, her free hand clawing into my scalp, but when our eyes met, the bond clanged.

With a desperate groan, I pulled her knee off my chest and pushed to my feet, sliding up her body, taking her mouth, lifting her, hooking her knees over my hips and whispering to her to— oh shit yes…

I slid home. Home. The sensation of her embrace so overwhelming it seemed I’d entered her with my entire skin—everything crackled, tingled.

Blood rushed to the surface and as I took her, seated all the way to the hilt, she dropped her head back again and made a quiet cry, her body tightening on me as if she was already there.

I drew out of her slowly, rasping her name, then drove home again and Diadre’s head fell back, her hand slapping to my chest, right at the center…

And the whole world disappeared.

Something within me exploded—the gold heat of the bond, twisting, coiling, swelling. My heart expanded two sizes—meeting hers, skin to skin.

Diadre cried out, a desperate sound, half-frightened, and my body shuddered. Something… something between us grew. Still gripping her thigh to keep her up with my bound hand, I threw the other around her head to cushion it before she hurt herself, throwing it back as she gasped my name.

‘I’ve got you, my dear. I’ve got you.’

Diadre sobbed and I trembled as every touch became sensation overload, and the whole world disappeared. That growing heat and pressure in my chest expanded again as if it fought to seep out of my heart, through my veins, and into her.

Light glowed between us—fed and fueled by her cries and mine, emanating from within, feeding into that cord that tied our souls together.

I didn’t take her. She didn’t receive me. We moved together. We joined.

Then her beautiful voice bloomed in my head and when she forged that link between us, my heart almost exploded.

‘Jann… Jann… Jann!’

She cried for me, every sweet sound bathed in awe and fear. And I called back, her name a benediction on my tongue as it seemed we didn’t writhe, but entwined.

Closer, closer.

I yearned to pull her into me, to cover her, to become one.

There was no longer flesh or sound, only feeling. Only sensation. Only… love.

Time stood still, and I lost all my senses, aware only of the heat, the scent, the sound of her, and my body’s ever-increasing demand to get closer.

When her orgasm hit I held her to me, groaning need, wringing every last wave from her—and when I stopped holding back and came, I lost my mind.

I would have sworn the stars cascaded in our hearts, shooting, crackling, shining between us. Our bodies were fire and ice, the rolling waves of bliss little more than an echo of the light that shone in the bond.

And then… then we slumped. Trembling. Sweaty. Spent. I pressed her into that tree, and she fell against my chest and we held on for dear life. Both of us.

When I could see again, I groaned. There were tears on her cheeks. I couldn’t yet move, so I turned my face to kiss them away, my body still twitching and jerking.

But soon I caught my breath and lifted our bound hands to kiss her knuckles. “I have never desired to be tied to another soul,” I said hoarsely. “But dear God, Diadre. I would take you inside me if I could.”

She huffed, still on the edge of tears, but nodded, turning her face into my neck and kissing me so softly, so sweetly.

“I would do the same,” she breathed. “Jann… what’s happening? I know it’s the bond, but… what’s happening?”

I opened my mouth to tell her the truth and something within me screamed caution.

It was the first threat of cold. The first chill of fear. I trembled as I raised my head to look down at her. But the moment our eyes locked—hers filled with wonder and fear and that chill rocked through me again.

“It’s… it’s the bond,” I whispered, nodding, then lifted her hand to kiss her knuckles again. But my heart screamed love.

She waited. I held her gaze, silently pleading with her to hear my heart even if I couldn’t speak the words. My heart dove for my toes when her eyes squeezed shut and her forehead pinched to lines, but then she dropped her forehead to my shoulder and curled herself into my chest.

“Jann, I…”

There was a crystalline moment then where every fiber of my being rushed forward, towards her, pleading, praying that she felt—

“I’m so glad it’s you,” she whispered. “I was always afraid a bond would feel like… a tether. But this is… this is… so much more.”

The irony wasn’t lost on me. I raised our bound hands to her line of sight and she snorted, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know,” I rumbled, laughing.

“I suck at this,” she sighed. “I don’t know what I’m saying only… I’m glad, Jann. I’m glad it’s you. And I want more.”

My chest expanded as I inhaled, my heart squeezing with joy and hope. A moment later I tipped her chin up so she had to meet my eyes again.

“That is the most wonderful gift anyone has ever given me,” I whispered. “And hear me: I’m glad it’s you, too.”

Then I kissed her again—slow and deep, whispered promises against her lips, then turned and carried her back to the water to wash. Then we would eat. Then we would sleep. Then we would wake and I would have her again.

I would have her every moment that I could. Because nothing in this life was ever guaranteed.

Except for the fact that I would want my mate every day with a hollow ache that could not be filled by any but her.