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ALARIC

T his is reprehensible. This is dishonorable. This is fucking ecstasy.

Feeling Dahlia’s lips on mine after all of these months, of finally having her in my arms the way I’ve dreamed about almost every night since the Choosing, is like having a missing part of my soul back where it belongs. The mating instincts inside me are singing, everything about this moment feeling so completely right that I don’t care about anything else.

Her lips are warm and soft beneath mine, open and wanting and begging. Her tongue is hot and greedy, the taste of her like heaven. Her scent is driving me near mad and I can feel how wet and needy she is for me even through my leathers. I’m barely holding onto my control. I know I have to stop this before it goes any further. I know that I can’t possibly do the things every fiber of my being is screaming out for me to do. To bite. To fuck. To claim my mate from this day forward.

And then I taste it: her blood hot and wet against my tongue. I freeze as instincts flare and I nearly lose all sense of time and space around me. I don’t dare move. I don’t dare breathe. I should have known that kissing was too dangerous that this might happen…but then I realize that she deliberately ran her tongue along my fang. The little minx did this on purpose.

“Please, Alaric,” she begs quietly against my lips, gently rolling her tongue against mine, her blood setting my entire body on fire. She…wants this. She wants me to feed while I touch her…she…fuck, she wants me to bite her. I can feel it through our bond, that desire pounding like a drum. I’d thought as much in the field, when she’d offered her throat, digging her fingers into my skin and urging me forward, but I’d thought it had just been wishful thinking. But now…

I growl and kiss her harder, winding her silky hair around my fist and using my grip to tilt her head back, commanding her to let me deepen the kiss. I take the blood from her tongue as I kiss her, wrenching her hips against my aching cock as I do. It’s agony. It’s bliss. I need more. I release her hips and rip her nightgown away as if it were nothing but smoke on the wind. She gasps in surprise, but doesn’t seem to mind my destruction of her garment. I pull away and let my gaze fall upon my mate, bare before me save a small scrap of silk masquerading as panties.

Gods. Almighty.

The sight of Dahlia’s breasts steals my breath and makes my cock and fangs both pulse painfully. She pants quietly as I stare, her chest heaving, her peaked nipples begging to be licked and sucked. She’s unabashed, letting me look my fill while she lazily continues to rock her hips over my lap, the friction making me grind my teeth. I kiss along her jaw and quickly down her throat, forcing myself to ignore her pulse hammering at the base. Later , I tell that insistent voice screaming at me to sink my fangs there, to drink and drink…

I kiss over her collar bone, over the top swell of her breast before twirling my tongue around one hardened peak.

“ Ah gods! Ahhh don’t stop,” she begs, digging one hand into my hair, holding me tightly to her breast. I chuckle darkly at my demanding little mate, and obediently continue to lave her nipple with my tongue before closing my lips around it and sucking gently. The sound she makes is so intoxicating that I swear I could come just like this. I make sure that my claws retract before snaking a hand between our bodies, lifting her up slightly from my lap and ripping her panties to shreds, the silk practically disintegrating in my grasp. I don’t hesitate, quickly delving my fingers between her thighs. I groan as my fingertips skate over smooth, creamy skin. I know that many females rid themselves of hair all over their bodies, but knowing that Dahlia has done so sends a jolt of desire through me, my fangs snapping long and practically throbbing. I can’t stop myself, though I do try to be gentle at least, and press a finger inside her. She gasps into my mouth, nails digging into the back of my head.

Hot. Wet. Tight. Fuck me.

“Fuck, Alaric,” she gasps as I pump my finger, in and out, moving it deeper and curling it in just the right spot. Over and over. “That feels so good…”

I groan around her nipple, licking and sucking and biting ever so gently, before I add another finger. She groans loudly, grinding her hips in time with my thrusts, and I don’t think I’ve ever been so aroused in my life. I move to her other breast, continuing my slow torture with my fingers and flicking my tongue across the sensitive peak.

“So wet, Keeva. So wet for me,” I growl, forcing her lips to mine once more. She rides my hand, chasing her release, but it isn’t time yet. I need more. I need to taste my mate.

I remove my hand making her whine and my lips curl upward.

“Up,” I demand.

“Wh-what?” she stutters, looking more than a little dazed, her hair a tangled mess and her lips red and swollen. I grip her hips and lift her up gently until she understands, realization making her green eyes blaze.

“Up, beauty. I need my mouth on that pretty quim.” She gasps and bites her lip, but rises above me, looking a little unsure but wholly intrigued and aroused. She stands before me and I lean forward to kiss her stomach, her skin taut and hot beneath my lips. Her body trembles and she rests one hand on my shoulder, the other lightly running through my hair. I wrap my hands around to grip her magnificent ass, squeezing and kneading, trying so desperately to be gentle, not to lose control of my strength. I have to trust that Elias is right and that I won’t hurt her, no matter how lost in desire I might become.

And when my gaze dips down between her legs, I know that I’m about to be very, very lost.

A low, desperate growl rumbles in my chest and my fingers clench on her ass.

“Put your knee up on the back of the couch,” I tell her, shifting down ever so slightly so that her body aligns right where I need it to. She’s practically panting, entire body trembling, but she does as I ask, leaning forward and resting one knee beside my head on the back of the couch. “That’s a good girl,” I whisper, and she gasps quietly, a quick shudder running down her spine. Hmm, does my mate like to be praised? I’ll worship and praise her until the sun comes up, then. Until the end of fucking time. I take a moment to appreciate the view before me.

“ Gods ,” I groan as I see her, open and dripping before me. I’ve dreamt of this for months, imagined what she might look like, what she might feel like, what she might taste like. And now that she’s here, I can scarcely believe this is real. Perhaps I perished in the stampede this day. Perhaps none of this is real and this is simply the heaven that was promised me. I will gladly spend my eternity here.

I lean forward and use my grip on her ass to guide her to my mouth. I hold my breath and lock my muscles, trying to prepare for the first taste of ecstasy, but nothing could ever prepare me for this. I run my tongue along her pussy, bucking my hips and shuddering at the feel and taste of her on my tongue. She cries out, rocking her own hips against my mouth, and I lick again, a long, slow lap of my tongue that makes her moan and writhe. I lose myself in her, licking and sucking and delving my tongue deep inside her until she’s cursing and praying and panting.

“ Gods, gods, gods ,” she rasps, legs trembling and nails digging into my skull.

“They aren’t the ones making you quiver, Keeva,” I say quietly against her skin before flicking my tongue across her clit. “They aren’t the ones making you shudder and scream.” Another lap of my tongue that makes her cry out. “They aren’t the ones who are going to make you come so hard that the earth shakes.” I take the bud between my lips, sucking, making her buck wildly against my mouth. I pull away and blow gently across her sensitive skin. I look up her body and wait for her to meet my gaze. Her pupils are blown wide, burning, and my gods looking at her from this angle is something that will forever be seared into my memory, even if I live for another thousand years, this moment will never fade from my mind.

“So, try again, Keeva,” I whisper, moving my hand quickly and pressing two fingers inside her again. She gasps but then her lips curl up ever so slightly, and I grin wickedly back at her, loving that she understands the game. Not just understands it, but enjoys it.

“Alaric,” she breathes, holding my gaze. “ Alaric, Alaric, Alaric ,” she moans, each repetition of my name punctuated by a thrust of her hips and my fingers.

“That’s better,” I rasp, before leaning in to suck on her clit while I pump my fingers.

“Oh gods, right there…don’t stop…I’m going to...ALARIC!” she screams as she comes hard, her inner walls clenching my fingers in tight pulses as her climax rocks through her body. I groan against her flesh and remove my fingers, replacing them with my tongue. The taste of her pleasure is enough to make my own hips buck upward, my cock so hard it’s painful, desperate to be buried so deep inside my mate that I can barely think.

No. Slow , I remind myself. Slow, slow, slow.

I rip at the laces of my pants with one hand, quickly gripping my aching cock. I dig my heels into the floor, hips arching upward as I stroke, licking every last drop Dahlia has to offer. Her heart is thundering so loudly I can barely hear her panting my name, over and over. Her legs shake, but I don’t stop. She continues to ride my tongue, rocking her hips and digging her fingers into my hair. I’m already close, my spine tightening, and I can’t stop myself: I turn my head and sink my fangs deep into her inner thigh.

“Fuck!” she cries as another orgasm rips through her. She screams as I suck, her blood setting me on fire, hot and wet and perfection on my tongue. Her entire body convulses, shuddering all around me. My toes curl and I cry out against her skin as I come in a rush, bucking my hips, hot lashes of cum coating my stomach.

Her body finally gives out, melting to collapse on top of me. I catch her and quickly maneuver her so that she’s beside me, tucked against my side with her legs thrown over my thighs. I use what’s left of her nightgown to wipe up the mess on my skin and we both sit tangled together trying to catch our breath and wrap our minds around what just happened. Her heart eventually slows, that steady beating that’s become the most important sound in my entire world.

“I’m not broken,” she finally says, voice a little husky from all the screams. I wince slightly, knowing that her Keeper at the very least would have heard if she was in her own cabin…perhaps even the entire camp with the way Dahlia was crying out. Even so, I can’t help my smirk, my male ego preening at the thought of the pleasure I’ve given my mate this night, at the idea of all the other pleasures I can bring her in the future…but I shake myself, focusing on the present. This is a…delicate situation, one that should probably remain as private as possible until I can figure things out fully.

“What do you mean?” I ask, frowning. I run a finger along her thigh, not seeming to be able to stop touching her, even for a moment. Gods, this is going to be problematic. I’m going to have to learn to handle this.

“You were worried about hurting me. But here I am, completely intact. Not a scratch on me.” I shift her leg to show the two puncture marks on her thigh and arch a brow. She laughs lightly. “Ok, maybe a few scratches, but dear gods are they worth it.” She reaches over and runs her fingertip across my stomach, drawing idle shapes it seems. “Does that always happen? When you bite people…do they always, uh…”

“Come instantly and so hard that their legs shake and the gods themselves hide from the force of their screams?” I supply helpfully.

She throws her head back and laughs and the sound warms my heart. I’ve never had this…what is it Elias always calls it? Afterglow? He says that you must always bask in the afterglow with your women, but I’ve never done such a thing. I enjoy my time with them, we both find our pleasure, and then I leave—or ask them to leave—almost immediately. None of them have ever seemed to mind, but I can’t imagine not having this time with Dahlia. To just be with her after we’ve just shared something so intense and profound, to…bask in the afterglow of it all, I suppose. Gods, I sound so ridiculous. Elias will never let me hear the end of this.

“Aye, that sounds about right,” she says, “ye right arse,” she adds quietly, though of course she knows I can hear her. I smile at her brogue, at the fact that we’re here together like this, touching so effortlessly and joking about orgasms. I never would have dreamed…

“Yes, I understand that it can be very pleasurable.”

“You understand…?”

“I’ve never taken blood from the flesh before you, Dahlia.” I hold her gaze and she swallows hard.

“Oh,” she says quietly. She starts to say something else but yawns widely instead, her eyes becoming glazed with exhaustion. Oh, little mate, we’ll have to build up your stamina …My pulse speeds up at the thought of what’s to come. Because I know that it is inevitable now. I will take Dahlia. I will claim her fully as my own in time. It is not a matter of if , it is a matter of when , and my gods when that day comes…

“To bed,” I say, scooping her up into my arms and rising from the couch. She doesn’t argue, only wraps her arms around my neck and rests her head in the crook of my neck. I stride from the study but instead of turning towards Dahlia’s chambers, I go towards my own. It’s foolish, of course, but I cannot be parted from her, not yet. I know I must learn to be, but I do not need to learn tonight. She doesn’t seem to notice where we’ve gone, eyes closed and her breathing becoming soft and even.

I settle her into my bed and stoke the fire before sliding in behind her. I pull her tightly against my chest and wrap my arms around her. I sigh in contentment, never having felt so completely whole in all of my long years. This is where I’m meant to be. This is where I belong.

“Stay with me?” she whispers, her words slow and slurring as sleep takes her in its clutches.

“Always,” I promise.