Page 55

Briar

I turned away from him, looking at the light coming through the window in the side wall. I twisted my hands together, but I couldn’t tell if the ache in my chest was from fear or the need to lean back into his arms.

My voice wavered as I pushed the air out of my lungs. “Do you believe we are mates, fated to be together?”

His hands held my hips as his chest pressed against my back. “I know we are.” His voice was low in my ear. “But to seal the bond, you must accept it and invite me to feed.”

I spun in his hands to face him, my eyes narrow. “How do you know? Maybe I don’t belong to you or anyone. Maybe fate isn’t at play here. Maybe it is just me. Just us.”

Lorcan stared at the floor. “I understand why you would say that. This has to be a lot to take in.”

I smirked. “A lot? Being attacked on the beach, attacked in your home, learning who you are… what you are. Yes, it is a lot. And maybe something I don’t want to be a part of.”

My heart pounded in my ears as I bit my lip.

Even as I said the words, I knew I was lying to myself and him.

I had felt the connection from the beginning, and it had only become stronger since then, to the point I couldn’t sleep without dreaming of him.

My voice lowered. “How do you know fate wants us together?”

“I’ve known since your blood touched my lips.” Shame clouded his eyes.

“My blood? When…”

“The foil on the wine bottle. Your blood is the most intoxicating thing I’ve ever tasted. But I can’t force this on you, Briar.”

I swallowed, my heart fluttering at the memory of his lips on my finger. He had tasted my blood. “You said loving you wasn’t easy. Why?”

He toyed with my hair before pushing it behind my ear, hesitating as if he would scare me away.

“Because you will be mine—mine to feed from, mine to keep, and mine to protect. But with my blood healing you, it also means you are mine to use and take and destroy.” He held my gaze, looking like he was holding himself back from kissing me.

My stomach clenched at the insinuation in his words. He was handing my fantasies to me, but did I want to make them my reality? I pushed the thoughts from my mind, ignoring the wetness between my legs. “What if you go too far and…”

His restrained chuckle echoed around us. “I will use you, wildflower, and stretch the limits of your body and mind until you crave nothing but me. But I won’t take your life. Not unless we choose together that you should become like me.”

“And if I don’t? If I want out?”

“If you stop drinking my blood, you will age again and pick up right where you left off.” His fingers traced my neck as he spoke. “But, Briar, I know I pushed you before to allow me to take control. I know you don’t know pain. I can’t promise my bite or your future would be without pain.”

My heart sped up as my mind swirled, screaming to love him.

I’d known since I’d looked at him at the party, but had refused to accept it.

Isobel leaving the clues about him wasn’t an accident.

Fate guided me hundreds of years before I had been born, determining my place was with him, beside him, to be his.

I ran my fingers along his lips, feeling their softness under my fingertips. “Can you promise me you will always bring me pleasure?”

He smiled into my fingers before kissing them. “That I can promise.”

“And that we’ll explore our desires together?”

“Anything you want, wildflower.”

“What if what I want is for me to be in control?”

He chuckled. “Do you think you could handle that? Directing me to take you?”

My heart pounded as I smiled. “Probably not, but at least I can do this…”

I wrapped my hand around his neck and pulled his lips to mine. I closed my eyes and opened my mouth the slightest bit, pressing my tongue into his, initiating a dance between us. His hand grabbed my waist and pulled me into him so I could feel his hardness against my stomach.

“You’re sure about this?”

I pulled him back to my lips. “More sure than I’ve been about anything before. I want you.”

“All of me? Or just part?” His voice wavered.

“All of you. I want to be yours. It may take me some time to get used to calling you my mate—”

“What matters is that you are,” he growled.

A grin broke across my face, and I ran my thumb across his lips. “I am completely yours. I want you to fuck me and feed from me.”

“Then take those pants off, mate, so that I can get to your cunt.”

“But…” I gestured around the room.

In an instant, my back was against the stone wall, pressing into it, as Lorcan held me off the floor, pinning my body to the wall, my head protected by his hand. His eyes flashed. “I don’t ask twice. You are mine, anytime and anywhere I desire. Do you need another lesson on how to listen?”

My heart pounded against my chest. I opened my mouth to protest, but he filled it with his tongue, pushing my head into his hand and my back harder against the wall. I wrapped my legs around him.

He rested his forehead on mine. “It sounds like you liked our lesson.”

My voice shook as I spoke. “It sounds like…?”

I felt his breath on my ear. “I can hear the thunder of your heart. It’s pounding so loudly that the sound echoes through this room.”

Heat rose in my cheeks. He pulled back and looked into my eyes. “Did you enjoy it, wildflower? Did you enjoy your lesson?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yes.” I drove the word out, my gaze dropping.

Lorcan nudged my nose with his, urging me to look at him.

He peered into my soul, his voice soft. “There is no shame here. Make no mistake, wildflower. I intend to use you and to push every boundary you have until tears of pleasure and pain roll down your cheeks. I have a thousand years and more to listen to you scream.”

He kissed me again, his lips moving gently on mine as he rubbed his body against my core. His voice was gentle as he pulled away from my lips. “Tell me, did you enjoy it?”

I bit my lip. “Yes.” I held his neck, steadying myself as he stepped back, bending down so I could stand.

“Then show me if you learned anything. Your cunt.”

His words made my heart race, my mind screaming to obey, to give him control, simply to feel our connection in a way I’d never allowed with anyone before.

I hooked my thumbs into the waistband of my pants and panties.

Pushing them down, I removed them and my shoes, leaving them in a heap on the floor.

Lorcan’s eyes roamed my body, his face stone. My arms twitched with the desire to cover my exposed flesh.

I caught a glimmer in his eye as though he were going to say something about my movement, but he stopped himself, reaching his hand forward and sliding a finger through my already wet folds. “If you stay, this is mine.” He brought the soaked digit to his mouth. “This is your last chance to leave.”

I stood rooted in front of him. “You can’t scare me away.”

He took a step closer and cupped my sex in his hand. “What do you want?”

I could feel my cheeks burning as I tried to settle my heart. My gaze locked on his. “For you to claim every inch of me.” I forced the words out, giving him the permission I dreamed of.

Suddenly, I was at the edge of the table, with Lorcan at my back.

I fought to catch my breath, not used to the speed or strength with which the beast inside him moved.

He kept a hand in the middle of my back as he moved to the side, running his other hand over my ass.

“And what about any pain your surrender brings? What if I want to make your ass glow the same beautiful color as your cheeks?”

I closed my eyes and swallowed, admitting to myself I wanted this—trusting him to take me to places I’d never seen.

With a deep breath, my heart pounding, I surrendered to myself, the desire to know how it felt.

I rolled my back so my ass pushed into his hand, offering myself to him in silent agreement.

He lifted his palm away before bringing it down in a sharp crack on my bare skin.

My lips pressed together, holding in the cry threatening to spill free.

A dizzying wave of conflicting desires stoked the fire between my legs, soaking me, and God help me, I wanted him to do it again.

Lorcan hummed in approval, his fingers trailing over the sting.

“Good girl,” he murmured with dark satisfaction.

“Such a beautiful shade marking you as mine. Holding in that scream was impressive.” He leaned in as I opened my eyes, fighting the tears gathering in the corners.

His breath grazed my ear as he wrapped his arm around my leg and slid two fingers into my wetness, curling them just right, pulling a shudder from me.

“But don’t get too proud. I promise I will make you scream for me. ”

He thrust his fingers deeper, teasing the walls of my cunt, his thumb on my clit. His other hand slid down my spine, causing goose bumps on my flesh. “Oh, wildflower.” His voice was thick. “It is going to be so much fun to break you.”

His words should have scared me—but they didn’t.

I wanted to know the pain of shattering beneath him, to come undone at his hands, knowing only he could put me back together.

I tried to answer, but could only focus on the trembling of my body as his fingers pumped into me with slow, calculated strokes.

My walls clenched around him as he opened and closed his fingers inside me, pressing at every angle, coaxing my body into submission.

A desperate sound caught in my throat as I pushed back on his hand.

I wanted to give him everything, to hold nothing back.

Something between a moan and a chuckle came from him as his hand slowed. “Do you need to come, wildflower?”