Page 22 of Willing Prey

EIGHTEEN

Claire

He must be slow to get up. That’s the only explanation for how I make it as far as I do.

That, and maybe his work shoes. I burst from the woods into the yard.

Then his arms are around me, and he’s pulling me to his chest. It’s an elegant capture, so smooth it surprises me.

The physical poetry is gone the next moment.

I hit the ground, and there’s only brutality.

A tugging sensation, the sound of fabric shredding as he takes my T-shirt in both hands and rips.

Goose bumps pebble my skin, the wind chilling me.

His undershirt is streaked with dirt, his dress pants ruined.

Somewhere along the way, he’s abandoned his shoes.

He drags my leggings over my hips, robbing me of pants and sneakers in a move so effortless that all I can do is watch, baffled at how inhumanly fast he’s undressing me.

I’ve been reduced to the role of spectator, a mortal watching myself be stripped by a god. That’s what he looks like right now: a fallen god. Hard eyes, ropy forearms, massive hands. The promise of power about to be unleashed. Two storms are building above me, but I’m already wet for Shane.

He sheds his clothing. I snatch the opportunity.

Jumping to my feet, I run again. Five steps.

I get five steps before his arms wrap around my waist. Dropping to his knees, he pulls me with him.

I keep waiting for him to say yield , but it doesn’t happen.

One of his hands slips between my legs, the other gripping my hair.

I’m on all fours before him, my heart in my throat, when he uses a knee to knock my thighs farther apart.

Dragging his fingertip along my pussy, he leans forward till his lips are right behind my ear.

“So wet and needy, but still trying to run.”

One thrust. He’s fully sheathed inside me.

Then his continued, unrelenting thrusts force a yelp from me.

Nails digging into the ground, I brace against him.

Not that it does any good, not that I want it to.

He’s everywhere, all-encompassing, overwhelming my brain and body.

Sweat-slicked chest at my back, callused fingers on my clit, and that thick, hard cock stroking so deep I can’t catch my breath.

The hand not feverishly working my clit is knotted in my hair.

He yanks my head back, forcing me to stare at the storm clouds.

They’re lower than before, as if they’ve moved closer to enjoy the show.

Voyeurs eager to see what becomes of me, ready to watch him consume me.

Thunder rumbles a warning. Take cover , it says, a storm is coming.

Shane’s teeth graze the side of my throat, my pussy convulsing around him. It takes conscious effort to resist when electricity pulses everywhere his skin meets mine. I don’t want to fight him today. I want to give in, let him have the pleasure he’s trying to rip from my body.

When he bites down, sinking his teeth into where my neck and shoulder meet, I make a sound that’s impossible to mistake for anything but raw, reckless pleasure. He releases the bite with a groan, or maybe it’s a growl. I can’t tell over the sound of my heartbeat in my ears.

“Scream for me. Show me how much you love this.”

I sink my teeth into my lip, unwilling to give him another sound that isn’t pure defiance.

“Let it out,” his voice is a purr, its deep, throaty rumble tipping me close to the breaking point.

I can’t. I won’t.

Life or fucking death.

Right now, I want him to fuck me to death. The clouds open up as if Shane were telling them to let it out. I go from wet between my legs to wet everywhere in an instant. A shiver courses through me, and I know Shane feels it when he lets out a hiss.

Pushing past the pleasure, I call on the small part of me that knows my chances of landing another thirty days here depend on him still finding me a challenge. I jerk my head back. My hair whips his cheek as he dodges my movement at the last second. He’s learning my tricks.

Evading me has forced him to shift, and instead of being squarely over me, his body weight is focused on my left side.

I drop, left shoulder slamming painfully against the ground.

Shane slips from inside me, falling forward and sideways with a grunt.

This grunt is not aroused, more surprised.

I wrench one of my legs into a crouch beneath my body.

It’s awkward and clumsy, but that leverage is all I need to break free.

I’m up and scrambling, tripping over my own feet and his hand as he grabs for my ankles.

The rain comes down harder. I can’t see far, the storm clouds smothering out the sun. I’m running, thankful he tackled me in the field. I make it one, two, three steps away from him before he’s on me again, pulling us back to the grass. Thunder rolls as I collide with the earth.

This time, there’s no amusement in his voice. “You’re going to scream for me, Claire. I don’t care what it takes.”

I fight, pinned on my stomach but refusing to admit defeat.

Shane ignores my squirming, using his knees to knock my legs apart.

Then he’s thrusting inside me, dropping his body on mine as he drives me into the ground.

One of his hands is wrapped tight around my throat.

Tight enough to threaten, but he isn’t cutting off airflow.

Yet.

Rocking his hips, he plunges into me with a ferocity I haven’t felt from him before. Lightning bisects the sky, and I wish I wasn’t on my stomach, that I could see his face right now.

“I can feel your pulse,” he grunts in my ear, hand tightening around my neck. “Is it racing because you’re scared or because you love this?”

Wrenching my head away, I try to shake him loose, but I already know I won’t be getting away this time. Underneath arousal, exhaustion is sinking in.

Still horny, though.

I clamp around him as he drives so deep his hip bones grind against my ass.

“Scream, Claire.” Shane’s trying to sound in control, but his cock is tightening inside me, thickening and tensing the way it does before he comes. His hand’s slipping on my neck. “Give it to me.”

My jaw aches to open. A scream claws its way up my throat as pleasure builds inferno hot inside me, undeterred by the rain on my skin.

“No.” Thunder swallows my whispered refusal.

“Come for me.” He’s commanding it now, voice louder than the storm. Need makes me jerk, my limbs twitching as my brain and body battle. “Scream for me.”

I brace for him to grab my breasts, reach for my clit.

What he usually does when he tells me to come.

Shane releases my throat, shoving my face against the ground.

Dirt’s in my mouth, grass is up my nose, and he’s inside me, trembling and thrusting.

There’s pain, a flash of white light coming with it.

I’m not sure if it’s lightning or my brain reacting to the sensation of Shane’s teeth sinking deep into the back of my neck.

This isn’t like the other times he’s bitten me.

This hurts. This isn’t a nip or scraping his teeth along my throat.

This is carnal, animalistic. There’s heat, and I don’t know if it’s from his mouth or my blood, but then there’s more warmth inside me.

I’m being filled, his cock pulsing in time with the throbbing pain in my neck.

I’m coming, or maybe I’m going, I don’t know.

All I know is pleasure radiates through my body so intensely that I might pass out.

There are flares of light in my vision again, but I don’t see stars.

I’ve gone beyond that. Pleasure has pushed me out to where I see universes.

My pussy spasms around him, his teeth still sunk in my neck.

I can’t help it. I can’t stop myself. I scream for him.

Thunder no longer rumbles; it roars, almost drowning out my cry.

I’m coming too hard to tell if the ground is shaking or I am.

My face is in the grass, every breath carrying the scent of damp earth as pleasure fades.

Shane’s no longer biting me, but even through the downpour, I can feel the heat of his breath on my back.

He’s softening inside me. My pussy twitches with aftershocks of the earthquake I just experienced.

I’m high on post-orgasm endorphins, but the back of my neck throbs. It’s not the most painful thing I’ve experienced, but it’s uncomfortable.

What’s worrying me is the fact that I feel emotionally depleted. The combination of exhaustion, the cold, and the most brutal orgasm of my life makes me worry I might burst into tears. Unfortunately, identifying the cause of the impending waterworks won’t do much to dam them.

Shane needs to leave. I want to have my emotional moment and go back to the house, but he hasn’t withdrawn.

His cock is the only part of either of us that’s warm and cozy right now.

I give a tentative wiggle, repositioning to keep a stick from stabbing me in the tit.

His body tenses. Then he’s sliding out, pushing off me, and standing. I don’t move.

Please find your pants and go.

“Claire? You okay?”

Damnit.

“Yep, I’m good.” I try to keep my voice light. “Just going to catch my breath, and then I’ll head back.”

Bare knees enter my line of sight as he drops beside my head. Hands that ripped my thighs apart cautiously brush my bedraggled hair away from my neck. I think I hear him take a ragged inhale, but rain’s filling one ear, and the other is pressed to the ground.

Without Shane draped across me, I’m freezing.

The rain that heightened the experience and made his domination so exhilarating feels miserable now.

Trying to hold my shivers inside has my muscles tensed.

I can’t let him know how fragile I feel.

I don’t want to be this vulnerable. The little voice in my head nags.

He isn’t paying for you to be an emotional wreck.

“Are you sure?” He rubs my back, a cautious petting as if I’m a wounded animal. “That was kind of inten—”

“I’m good.” I pop to my feet before he can finish, giving him my best smile. I’m turning on the Hey, everything’s great, peachy keen, absolutely perfect like my life depends on it. “Just catching my breath. I’ll see you back at the house.”

The look he gives me is uncertain. At last, he moves away. Tears fill my eyes as I watch him start toward the house. I’m mentally unsteady, trying to find my balance before heading back. A flash of lightning illuminates the world, the house looking miles away. This might be a dream, I’m not sure.

It’s the heat of Shane’s cum sliding down my inner thigh that makes me feel real again. I knot my dripping hair on top of my head. My clothing is somewhere in the woods behind me, and I don’t want to backtrack to get it, especially in the storm.

Screw it.

One shaking step at a time, I head for the house naked.

The pain radiating from the bite grounds me, and I focus on it as I walk.

Pain is solid, something I can cling to and use to stay upright.

The storm, the orgasm, and the bite all added up to a sensory overload.

Tears I’ve been trying to hold back fall, mixing with fat raindrops on my cheeks.

It’s cleansing. Therapeutic. By the time I step through the back door, I feel purified.

I think I’m dreaming again when I step into my room.

The lights are on, and there’s steam coming from the bathroom.

Shane is leaning over the tub, pouring something that looks like Epsom salts into the water.

He’s wearing sweatpants but no shirt, his hair damp and skin flushed and red from his own shower.

“What’s all this?” My voice trembles from cold, and I kick myself for sounding so weak.

Not covering my breasts or trying to hide my naked body in some way feels odd.

But there’s no point. He’s seen it all already.

After what happened in the field, I feel like he’s seen everything.

Deeper than skin, somewhere further inside that I don’t want to think about.

Shane straightens, every muscle in his back tensed. “Thought you might be cold. Sore.” He moves away from the tub and motions at something on the bathroom counter. “There’s antibiotic cream there. For your neck.”

“Thank you.” I’m not sure how else to respond. This feels like aftercare, and I don’t know what that means, whether it’s symbolic of a shift in our relationship or just a generic kindness after an intense fuck.

He looks at me. I think he’s as lost for words as I am.

I can imagine how I look. Naked, dripping, covered in mud and grass.

There’s no arousal in his expression, but there isn’t disgust either.

It’s like I’m a puzzle he’s trying to figure out.

Ironic, considering I feel like he’s been stealing pieces of me ever since the day with the bear.

I smile and step toward the bathroom.

Don’t make this weird.

“A bath sounds great.”

I’ve broken the spell. Shane gives the slightest shake of his head, then a nod. “I started coffee if you want some after.”

“Thank you,” I say, but he’s out the door before I finish. I beeline for the bath. It’ll be a miracle if I don’t fall asleep in the tub.