Page 20 of The Witch’s Fate (The Lunaterra Chronicles #13)

Then I see it—the heat in his eyes, dark and strong and feral, as if his wolf has pressed forward and is crying out to the moon.

To me. The tension between us intensifies.

I feel as if I’m back under the blankets, but the only way to cool this fire would be to take off all my clothes.

To let Ryker touch me. To let him have me .

Is this why I want him so? Is there some piece of the spell that trapped him because our fate was forced to be?

“I have never done…such things,” I admit, my voice breaking down to a whisper. My gaze trapped in his. My heart ticks slower, yet faster all the same. It’s all too much.

Ryker takes one step closer. “That is fine with me, Idalis.”

I force myself to look away. It’s all too much. All too sudden. My pulse ticks in my neck. I cannot breathe deeply enough to calm myself. His closeness strips away all the self-control I’ve maintained in my solitude.

“It’s only the moon playing tricks on us.

” My voice shakes as I say the words, but I offer them anyway, though I do not know why.

Perhaps I want him to know he has a way out.

Perhaps I want to give him an explanation so that he feels free to leave.

Although I desperately want him. This is too good to be true. He’s too good to be true.

“I have heard…” Ryker slides his hand onto my waist, his touch careful and light, not moving my body at all. “The moon doesn’t know how to play tricks, only how to shed light on what we’re afraid of.”

Chills ripple down my spine, followed by a tingling heat. Want and desire flood every part of me.

Slowly, using all my courage, I turn my face to Ryker’s. When our eyes meet, more heat rushes down my spine, soothing away the nervous chills and breathing air into my lungs.

Ryker’s eyes drop to my lips, then burn slowly back to my eyes. Oh fuck me. He’s more tempting than any dream I’ve ever had. More handsome than I could have envisioned. More than anything I knew I was ever destined for. Ryker.

“Even if it is only a trick, should we not humor the moon?” he asks, his tone teasing. A smirk is forced to my lips.

Yes. Yes. We should always humor the moon. My breath hitches as he comes a step closer.

I don’t know whether it is Ryker who leans down or me who tilts up on my tiptoes. All I know is that our lips come together, I’m filled with such a sense of wholeness that I gasp and press my whole body closer to his, desperate and wanton in a way I never thought I would be.

With my body pressed to his, I feel every part of him.

He is hard . All of him is hard, of course, his muscles trained for strength, but his cock is a thick bulge in the front of his trousers, and that realization is like its own flame. Ryker’s body is not disappointed to have a mate. Ryker’s body craves me.

And so does Ryker. A whimper of need escapes my lips at that realization, and I rock myself into him.

A gentle growl of desire is my reward. He kisses me deeply, licking and tasting me as he pulls me closer with both hands on my hips.

I find his hair and bury my fingers in it, rising up on tiptoe and letting my weight settle in his hands.

It does not seem to take any of his strength at all to hold me here.

Lust and desire and primal need cling to us as we cling to each other.

Ryker wraps one of his arms around my waist, and we both sink farther into the kiss like two people who have been starving for touch. I have been starving, I realize. I’ve been so lonely that I could not recognize my own cravings.

I throw my arms around his neck and suck at his bottom lip, pressing my teeth lightly into the swell of it.

He growls, a sound that would have terrified me mere days ago but excites me now.

My nipples pebble as pleasure builds in the pit of my stomach.

Ryker lifts me fully off the floor, then, and I do not care where he is taking me—I only care about kissing him, and memorizing him, and making him growl again.

I need to feel him, every way I’m able.

After a few steps, Ryker sets me gently onto the bed and crawls over me, his clothes shifting with his bunching muscles.

He kisses me again, holding me to the blankets and licking his way down my neck, down and down until he can push the hem of my dress up to my waist, then higher.

He lifts me half off the pillows to pull it over my head.

Every nerve ending is on fire with need. Every light touch brings desire.

In moments, I am bare to him. And I love it. I need him. I need this .

“Idalis,” Ryker says, his voice so low it could be an earthquake.

He rakes dark eyes over my skin and follows them with his fingers, sliding the pads of his thumbs under the curves of my breasts and over my nipples.

I arch on the blankets when he bends to breathe onto the sensitive peaks, and when he licks them?—

I lose all sense of time and place. The pleasure is unlike anything I’ve ever known. He kisses down my belly to the soft flesh between my thighs. The first lap of his tongue over my clit forces me to call out his name. I clench the sheets beneath me as my thighs tremble from the pleasure.

Ryker does not let up. He licks a shaking, shuddering orgasm from me, then seems to go wild for my arousal on his tongue, lapping and sucking and teasing for so long that my thighs begin to shake in a way I cannot stop.

“Fucking delicious,” he growls and would lick me again if I did not pull him up from between my thighs, begging as I do it.

“Ryker,” I gasp. “Ryker, please. Please. I need you .”

Ryker rips his clothes off his body as quickly as possible while kissing over my heated skin. He pushes my thighs apart and I feel a moment of nervousness as he kneels between them. Time slows and all I can hear is our shared breathing.

But then he drags the head of his cock over my clit and down to my opening.

“Oh—” My lips part and I hold my breath with a small whimper.

At this sound he gathers me into his arms and turns us over so I am settled in his lap, his back against the wall. He pulls my face to his and shushes me while he grips my hips and guides me into position. My hands find his chest and I love the touch.

“Whatever pace you need,” he tells me. It’s obvious he’s holding himself back. His breathing chaotic, his gaze sharp, and his eyes nearly gold as I stare deeply into them.

His eyes are filled with wanting. He needs this so much. I can taste it in the air. I feel no fear when the head of his cock nudges against my opening. I feel only desire. I rock my hips slightly down and the stretch stings with a hint of pain but also pleasure.

“Take me in,” Ryker murmurs and guides me down. His lips find the crook of my neck and my head falls back. Slowly, I move. “Ryker,” I cry out softly and his lips catch mine.

I gasp at the size of him, and the stretch, and the sensation of my body opening for him.

He rubs my clit as I sink down, sending new shocks of pleasure around my hips and down to my toes.

I take him slowly because I must, but it feels more and more urgent with every inch that he be as deep inside me as he can get.

Finally, we are skin to skin, and I rock my hips, letting out a desperate moan. My clit brushes against him and I need more. The sensation is so much and still not enough.

“Fuck me, Ryker. Please fuck me.”

Ryker growls, full-throated and loud, and helps me ride him, his grip on my hips moving me up and down but mostly closer, grinding us together, chasing his pleasure and mine until I do not think I can come again.

I still as the pleasure builds but he keeps me moving.

The heat grows and my toes curl. I cry out his name as I reach my climax and come undone.

He rides through my orgasm, sending me higher and higher.

My head thrashes, I don’t know if I can take any more but his kisses silence my fears and I come again.

Violently. I scream his name against his lips.

Then he pulls me down flush against him, crushes his lips to mine, and comes with a cry that’s almost a howl, spilling heat inside me.

I slump against him, panting, and he puts his arms around me. I can feel his pulse where we touch. My heart beating against his.

I do not know how long we rest, silent, before I find the strength to push myself upright and look into Ryker’s eyes.

He twitches inside me and—astonishingly—begins to grow hard again.

“Take me again,” I beg. Not wanting to think. Only wanting to feel.

Ryker smiles and pumps his hips into me. “As you wish.”