Page 75 of The Last One Standing (Rogue X Ara #4)

ARA

W e returned to Draig Hearth in record time, leaving the others behind with the boat.

Guardian landed in the shifting chamber, and Rogue guided me down, then threw me over his shoulder and strode to our room.

“What happened?” I asked for the hundredth time as he tossed me onto the bed, silk sheets cool against my heated skin.

He locked the door, still half shifted. Scales covered his torso, his canines peeked over his bottom lip, and his eyes burned brilliant red, pupils slitted.

His Fae half had fully lost control.

A ball of panic rose to the base of my throat as he stalked to the bed, and I scrambled back into the headboard on instinct. His answering laugh shot straight to my core, my eyes widening as he wrapped a hand around my ankle and yanked me down to him.

“Rogue!” I slapped at his arm, his shoulders, his chest.

He grabbed both of my wrists with one hand and slammed them into the bed above my head, his face inches from mine, his skin hot.

Suddenly, I was burning, too.

I clenched my legs together, heat spreading under my skin.

“Rogue,” I whispered in a last-ditch effort for an answer.

“You are mine .” His free hand slid over my thigh, my hip, my waist. I whimpered when he skimmed between my breasts, but he settled on my neck.

He hummed, sliding his thumb over my mate mark, causing me to squirm in his hold until his hand encircled my throat.

Tight. Tighter. My eyes bulged. “You are my claimed.”

I cupped his cheek, swallowing hard against his hand.

He loosened his grip just a fraction, and I drew in a breath that smelled entirely of him.

My brain stuttered. He always smelled good, but there was something new—something deeper, headier, impossible to ignore.

I blinked a few times, forcing myself to breathe through my mouth so I could think.

“I know,” I forced out, licking my lips. His feral eyes tracked the small movement. “I’m entirely yours, my love.”

His pupils widened for a split second, then narrowed again. Something had snapped his self control, but he didn’t seem particularly interested in regaining it.

I asked, “Why are you saying this?”

His eyes flamed, a muscle ticking in his jaw. His hand climbed my throat to cup my jaw and tilt my chin up, coincidentally closing my mouth and forcing me to inhale his intoxicating scent.

“What is that?” I mumbled, eyelids growing heavy. He had never smelled this damned good.

His head tilted, a cocky grin tugging at his lips before he lowered to run his nose along my throat. My back bowed, skin oversensitive and hot. I would combust soon. His flames would devour me after all.

“W-what is happening?” I whispered breathlessly.

He settled over the mate mark at the base of my throat. I gasped, chills spreading over my skin when sharp teeth skimmed over it. Back and forth. Back and forth.

I thrashed beneath him, my nipples finding friction against his chest.

I’m naked.

If I cared more, I’d stop to figure out when and how my clothes were removed. I’d demand answers for why he was acting like an animal—but fuck, he was half animal, a dragon in Fae skin.

Was I just making excuses?

Maybe, but?—

His teeth paused over the mate mark. I froze, barely daring to breathe.

Bite.

He didn’t move.

Bite. Please.

Bite.

He hovered there a heartbeat too long, and my own self control slipped, sparks escaping my hands to cascade over him. Energy hummed in my irises, and he rose to meet my gaze.

A low growl reverberated in his chest. “ Treasure .”

I nodded desperately, on the verge of crying or screaming or combusting or—I wasn’t below begging. “Your treasure. Your claimed. Yours, Rogue. Please .”

His only answer was an infuriatingly devilish smirk.

I bucked my hips and jerked my arms, still pressed to the bed by his hold on my wrists. I didn’t know where I would go or what I would do if I escaped, but I would rip apart at the seams if I didn’t do something.

Lying here, suffering his languid movements, was too torturous.

I didn’t gain an inch, and he merely watched with an amused gleam in his eyes as I thrashed until I was out of breath.

“Are you done?” he whispered, sliding his mouth along my jawline, leaving a trail of goosebumps in his wake.

I let out a scream of frustration but melted when he pressed kiss after kiss to my throat, and his hand— oh, Goddess.

His hand finally doused the flames burning me alive. He groaned and clamped his teeth onto my neck as his fingers grazed over my bare core, dipping into me before using my wetness to circle my clit.

I moaned, loud even to my ears, bowing off the mattress, but his body above mine held me down.

Nonsense tumbled from my mouth, profane begging and pleading.

He chuckled into my skin. “So hungry.”

“Starved,” I breathed, then gasped as he slid two fingers into me. I rolled my hips in time with his movement, turning my head to whisper in his ear, “Aren’t you?”

He groaned, “Ravenous.”

Then, he sank his razor-sharp teeth into his mate mark at the base of my throat.

I gasped.

Too much.

Euphoria and overwhelm poured through my veins, tearing a sob from my chest.

Too much. Too much. Too much.

His body sank over mine, holding me in place as he added a third finger and used his palm on my clit. I melted into scream after scream, useless and thrown over the edge, my vision black, stars dancing.

I barely had time to catch my breath before he lined himself up at my entrance. He grabbed my hip, his fingers gouging into my skin, but he didn’t move. He let out a low hum, sliding the tip of his cock up to my clit and back down. I jerked with a whimper, overly sensitive.

He leaned over and claimed my mouth in a bruising kiss as he teased his cock at my entrance, teasing and teasing and teasing —and I wanted to fucking scream.

I yanked at my wrists and hooked a leg around his hips, pulling him closer.

“Look at what I do to you, little storm,” he murmured. “I don’t need my magic to set you ablaze. You’re already burning up, just from my fingers.” He let go of my wrists, only to grip my jaw and tilt my face up to his. His lips brushed mine as he whispered, “Show me how deep that fire goes, baby.”

He sheathed himself in one thrust. A scream tore from my throat, heady and raw.

“Fucking mine ,” he growled as he pulled out and slammed back in, setting a brutal pace—brutal and delicious and intoxicating.

The room grew hotter, every candle in the room sparking to life.

My fingers wound through his hair, his mouth at my throat, his heavy breath cascading over my skin.

“Yours,” I cried. “ Always yours.”

He sank into me with a groan, his fire moving over my skin in delicious licks. Every thrust, every kiss at my neck, every caress of flame—stars danced behind my eyes, pressure building in my lower belly.

His fingers curled around the base of my neck, a gently possessive hold that opened my eyes.

“I’m not going anywhere, love,” I murmured. “Not now. Not ever.”

His breath shuddered, his movements turning slow. He sat up and eased out of me just an inch before rolling his hips.

As he brushed the hair from my face, his eyes returned to their normal maroon. “Never again.”

I nodded and dragged his mouth down to mine.

“I am yours,” I whispered, “and you are mine. Not even fate could change that.”

He growled, his thrusts growing frenzied again. His hand tightened on my throat until my air was choked off, and my life hung in his hands—but it always had.

My life, heart, and soul had always been in the palm of his hand.

He leaned over me until our bodies met everywhere. Our legs tangled, chest pressed together, sealed at the hips. His flames licked at my nipples, circled my clit, pulled my hair.

Too much.

Too much, and not enough.

I was enveloped in him—his heat, his fire, his hands and cock and mouth. He was everywhere, inescapable, and I was lost to the feel of him with no desire to be found.

As I crested the tidal wave of another orgasm, Rogue eased his grip on my throat and reached between our bodies. I screamed as his fingers worked over my throbbing clit.

I shook my head, screwing my eyes shut as a slew of nonsensical words spilled from my lips.

“You can, and you will,” he growled, low in my ear. “These moans, this clit, this cunt is mine, and you’ll give me what’s mine, won’t you, little storm?”

I couldn’t answer him, couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe ?—

His lips crashed down to mine, his tongue sweeping past my teeth, his fingers and hips moving faster, harder.

I bowed off the bed and shattered beneath him as he forcefully wrenched another orgasm from me. Only when I was quivering and gasping in the aftershocks did he tighten his hand around my throat again and hammer into me.

I panted pleas and curses, calling out his name again and again. My head spun, my eyes rolling back.

When I thought I couldn’t handle anymore, like I would truly die here in a blissful onslaught of pleasure, I cried out, “I love you.”

He groaned and sealed his mouth to mine. With one final thrust, he slowed, throbbing as he came. I sucked in a breath, inhaling his scent so deeply, it invaded every inch of my being and settled in my soul.

He sank onto my chest, his forehead pressed to mine, his fingers trailing over my skin to slide into my hair.

He kissed me gently, softly, and warmth flooded my chest, my arms winding around his neck. Tears sprang to my eyes.

Nothing—no one—mattered in this moment. No one else existed.

Just us two, bodies entangled, souls entwined.

As much as I hated to, I rolled onto my side with a sigh and propped my head on my hand. “Ready to tell me what prompted that?”

He pulled me back down to his shoulder. “Not particularly.”

I rolled my eyes and sat up, crossing my legs, pausing when his gaze trailed down my body. I’d dressed in one of his shirts, but the linen was thin, the strings untied to reveal the barest glimpse of my breasts.

I slapped a hand over my cleavage and glared at him.