Munro (Immortals After Dark #18) by Kresley Cole

            No way Munro could best it. It was too strong, its cravings too powerful.

            Yet all of Munro’s dreams were so close. Kereny had resurrected and recognized him as her mate. Magic to contain her beast was only feet away. Seize the future right here, right now, Munro.

            For her.

            He battled his beast as never before. To the fucking shadows, creature!

            Munro’s eyes went wide—he was returning to the surface. He inhaled and exhaled deep breaths until he’d muzzled his beast. At least for a time . . .

            When he seized Kereny’s waist to lift her off his throbbing length, she fought him, squeezing his flanks with her thighs.

            “Mercy!” Gnashing his fangs, he pulled her upward. Cool air met the hot moisture on his shaft, and his ballocks drew up to spill inside her. That would ruin everything! His head thrashed as he teetered on the brink of release.

            Inhale. Exhale. Think of anything other than the wolven goddess who wants to use you for her pleasure.

            Once he’d withdrawn, she snapped her fangs at him.

            “Need a second, love!” Going against his every instinctive drive, he disentangled himself from her and shot to his feet; she tackled him back down. This rough play was just as arousing to the beast!

            Extricating himself once more, Munro sprinted toward the cuffs.

            She threw back her head and howled, a plaintive sound that tore at him and gutted his confused beast. It might as well be asking, Why are we not tending to her?

            Munro spotted the cuffs under a tree. He’d just lunged for them when she caught him again. She nipped his chest with her little fangs, and he almost forgot what he was after.

            Cuff?

            Cuff!

            The contraceptive was thin and black; the other was silver and looked battered. He clasped the black one around his wrist.

            Should he try to cuff her as well? But then he’d be caging her beast when his own was soon to rise again. Her first time to have intercourse would be at the mercy of a ravening animal, after she’d just resurrected from the dead.

            An idea hit him, and he reached for the control cuff.





FIFTY-NINE





            Ren had dimly heard the two brothers talking in Gaelic. Though her Instinct had called Will her brother, her newling beast had nearly attacked a perceived threat.

            To the beast, everything was either a danger or an unfamiliar wonder.

            She sniffed the black cuff Munro wore. —Be wary of magics!—

            He held up another cuff, a dented silver one, and said, “This is the control cuff I talked about with Loa. It will enable you to govern your beast.”

            Ren hardly believed the means of her salvation was right there. Yet then she gazed up at the moon. Stifling her beast under that light seemed wrong, especially if Munro’s was about to return.

            “I’m going to borrow this magic for a bit.” He snapped the control cuff onto his own wrist. “Just until I’ve claimed you the first time. This way I’ll be able to ease you into sex.”

            I’ll be fine! she wanted to cry. Though his size had given her pain when she’d been on top.

            He cradled her face in his big hands, rubbing her bottom lip. Her beast all but purred, utterly under his spell. “I want to treat you like a queen, Kereny. Are you ready?”

            Yes! Ren trusted him; she loved him. Her beast already loved him. Something like euphoria bloomed inside the creature every time it gazed at Munro. She lay back, raising her arms for him.

            As he positioned himself between her legs, moonlight burnished the ridges of his body. His erection bobbed when he reached between her thighs and stroked her slickened sex.

            Heat radiated from that sizzling contact. Pleasure as an immortal was astronomically more powerful!

            I’m an immortal. It’s happened.

            Her skin tingled in ways it never had before. The night breeze and his exhalations struck her nipples, a mind-numbing mix of hot and cold. He leaned down and gave each peak a hard suck, making her moan deliriously.