The Alpha by Jenika Snow

18

Evelyn

Only a couple of hours had passed since Adryan left, yet it seemed so much longer. In the past day I’d realized my fate and destiny had changed drastically, that there was an entire world of creatures that had only ever been in folklore and fantasy. And now there was some kind of insane organization that wanted to control, oppress, and subjugate said creatures.

And I had no choice but to embrace it.

I sat in the bedroom I deemed as mine, even though I’d only been here for a day. I hadn’t been able to eat, which Cian hadn’t hide his disapproval about. I’d retreated to the room and had been sitting in the same spot just staring at the wall and thinking about everything and anything that didn’t have to do with my current situation. But that was easier said than done.

The soft knock on my door startled me out of my thoughts, and before I could say anything, Cian pushed open the door. I couldn’t help it—I smiled when I saw him. Seeing him instantly had the stress and worry that plagued me fading to the background. It was as if he was my own personal shot of dopamine.

“How are ye doing, lass?”

I tried not to let that he called me lass warm me, but the way it rolled off his tongue in that Scottish accent, as if he said it in an almost cherished way, was definitely getting to me. In the best way.

He stepped inside and shut the door, but he didn’t move closer. He leaned back against the wood and just stared at me. He looked good, too good to be natural. In fact, I wondered if his kind was meant to be physically attractive and superior in that regard… for me.

He finally came forward, but his steps were slow, almost unsure, as if he was afraid of spooking me even more. He stopped a few feet from me, glancing at the bed, but still didn’t move any closer. I shifted over on the bed and patted the spot beside me in a friendly invitation. The truth was I wanted him close, a part of me needing his presence as stability, an anchor in the turbulent ocean that had become my life.

The smile he gave me was bright and big, once again as if he couldn’t believe I was

sitting right here before him. And my heart lurched in my chest. When he sat next to me, the bed dipping from his substantial height and weight, I slid closer to him. I placed my palms flat on the bed to stop myself from sliding even more, but the truth was I wouldn’t mind being plastered right up against his side.

“Lass, ye need tae eat. Ye’ll make yerself sick.” I could hear the worry in his voice, and I felt bad that I’d caused it.

“I tried. But my mind is on other things, and stress is kind of an appetite suppressant.”

He didn’t say anything else, didn’t push me, berate me, try to parent me on what was best for me. He didn’t do anything but sit there and give me the silent support I felt surround me.

“Cian,” I said softly and lifted my head to look at him fully. “What’s going to happen next?” I licked my lips and started rubbing my hands up and down my sweats. “Because I’m pretty damn scared.”

My body tightened in pleasure when I felt his arm wrap around my shoulders as he tucked me in closer. Our thighs touched, my body pressed right up against him. I rested my head on his chest, staring straight ahead, taking in his scent, letting his warmth move through me.

“Ye donna have tae be scared,” he said in that rough timbre that set me on fire. “I’m no’ going tae let anything harm ye. I’m no’ going tae let anyone take ye away from me.” I felt the way his fingers tightened against my arm, as if he wanted to reassure himself that I was right here with him.

I couldn’t answer, so I just moved my arm behind him and wrapped it around his waist. I felt his body tense as I held him like he held me, but there was nothing sexual about this act. It was two people comforting each other in the face of the unknown. Or more so Cian comforting me, because I felt this supernatural man didn’t let anything threaten him.

After long moments I finally asked, “What did Odhran say that made you look the way you did, as if you’d seen a ghost?”

He didn’t speak for a long second, and I wondered if he’d answer me. It wasn't my business, but given the situation, I felt like whatever Odhran had said was tightly connected to all the things going on. Finally he gave my arm a gentle squeeze and then pulled away, shifting on the bed so his body was now facing me and he could look into my face.

“Odhran is as old as I am… and once had a mate. He claimed she was his war prize, but she was kidnapped before he could mark her as his.” My eyes widened slightly at the fact that he used past tense. He ran a hand over the back of his head and exhaled. “He changed after that, became more aggressive, withdrawn if it didn’t have to do with battle. And he’s been searching for decades to find her.”

I didn’t say anything, didn’t ask him questions, even though they were at the tip of mytongue. I waited for him to sift through his memories and thoughts to tell me when he was ready.

“That human man we were fighting at the motel parking lot, before he died… he told Odhran they had his mate and he’d never find her. He confirmed that tae be the truth when he said her name.”

The air left me violently at that revelation.

“Of course at the time, we didn’t kno’ who had taken his mate, but now it’s verra clear it was the Assembly.” His jaw clenched tightly. “I can only imagine the horror and pain Odhran has been living with this whole time. And the only reason he hasn’t succumbed to fading away is the hope she’s still out there.”

I felt my eyes prickle with the threat of tears, and I swallowed, my throat tight as emotion tried to clog it. I had to assume his mate was a supernatural creature, that or at this point, decades later, she’d be elderly if she were human. But I didn’t ask any of these things. It was clear that it was hard for Cian to even mention all of this, and it wasn’t even about his mate. I couldn’t imagine what Odhran was feeling.

I felt the tears slide down my cheeks. Cian snapped his head in my direction instantly, and the way his face softened as he took in the sadness clearly written on my face, how he lifted his hand and smoothed the droplets of tears away with his thumb, had me crying harder.

He pulled me into a tight embrace until soon I was sitting on his lap, his arms wrapped fully around me, my hands clutching his T-shirt, my face buried against his neck. I was crying for a lot of different reasons. Odhran losing something so precious to him, the evil that was chasing us and that wanted to hurt Cian and Odhran because of what they were born as, and all the stress finally bubbling to the surface and spilling over. It all just came to a head until I couldn’t control it anymore.

I didn’t know how long I stayed like that, sitting on his lap, clutching him as he held me, but soon my tears dried, the hiccups dissipating, and I felt like I had a semblance of control again.

I pulled back but only enough so I could see his face. He slid one hand up my back, over my shoulder, and along my neck to cup the side of my face. The feel of his thumb stroking my cheek had me leaning into his touch. When I was with Cian, I felt like I was wading in a warm pool, floating with this surreal contentment moving through me. I didn’t know if it was this Linked Mate connection we had, or if it was because, for the first time in my life, I knew I meant something profound to somebody else.

“I’m sorry for breaking down, for showing weakness,” I said softly and didn’t know why I needed to tell him. I’d never apologized for how I acted before, but I also knew I had to be strong right now.

The soft smile he gave me, the way he kept stroking my cheek, his other hand resting on my lower back, didn’t make me feel weak. It actually made me feel stronger than I ever had before.

“Ye’re no’ weak. Ye’re human with verra human emotions, and that’s an incredible thing.”

I held my breath as I noticed his gaze lower to my mouth, and a second later he was kissing me softly.

I could tell it wasn’t a kiss of sexual need, but one where he wanted to be close to me in an innocent way. He broke away far too soon and murmured, “When ye’re a species in the Otherworld, ye’re meant tae be strong, to show no weakness. The vulnerability that humans have, that almost innocence, this lack of perceived strength that they think is a downfall… it’s verra beautiful.” He looked down at my lips again. “It’s beautiful on ye.”

My breath hitched at his tone and softly spoken words. I slipped my hands up his chest, over the hard planes of his pectorals, and curled my fingers around his shoulders.

Everything was so upside down right now that all I wanted was to have control, to make decisions for myself that I knew the outcome of.

What I wanted, who I wanted was Cian.

And so I leaned forward and kissed him again, our lips barely brushing, his mouth soft and yielding to me. Our eyes were still open, and his expression was one that showed shock and… hope. It also showed his glowing blue eyes, and I felt the rumble from his chest. My pussy clenched, my nipples aching.

“I want you,” I whispered against his mouth and pulled back, gauging his reaction. His eyes were hooded, his arousal clearly written on his face. And I felt the physical proof of how much he really wanted me pressed against my ass, the thick, hard length causing my pussy to become even wetter.

“We have all the time in the world, my Evie. We donna have tae do this now. I’ve waited two and half centuries for ye. I can wait as long as ye need.”

I softened against him farther at his words, at the fact that I knew they were the truth. The knowledge that I had this kind of control over him was heady. Knowing he wanted me so much he couldn’t physically control himself was drugging.

I shook my head at his words because I didn’t—wouldn't—stop this. Did we really have all the time in the world? If those people attacked us once, they’d do it again, wouldn’t they? Would this be a never-ending cycle of where we were just running constantly, always looking over our shoulders until one day we were killed or Cian was taken?

I felt all of that seep into me as Cian cupped both sides of my face and brought our foreheads together.

“We have all the time in the world,” he emphasized again, saying each word slowly, pushing them through the haze of panic that started to rise. “I will no’ let ye go.”

I didn’t know how the next sequence of events happened, but before I knew it, my hands were wrapped around his neck, my lips slanted against his. I was frantic as I kissed him, stroking my tongue along the seam of his mouth until he groaned for me, parting his lips so I could sink inside.

I moaned in return. His flavor was addicting, stealing my sanity and having that frantic panic rising in me for a whole different reason. All I could think about was giving myself to Cian in every single way imaginable, connecting us as only two people could be, in the most intimate of ways. I wanted him over me, his big, heavy body pressing me down to the mattress, stealing some of the air from my lungs as he pushed into me, as he forced me to take every inch of him.

I wanted to feel that pleasure, that pain. I wanted to feel the darkness, because I knew Cian wouldn’t let it take me. I wanted it all, and I knew he wouldn’t deny me.

“Evie,” he growled against my mouth, and I could feel the hesitation, wondering if he’d stop me, if he’d stop this.

“Don’t say no. Don’t tell me no.” I was the one to cup his face now, his scruff-roughened cheeks scraping under my palms and sending tingles of awareness down to my pussy. My inner muscles clenched hard, the very idea of him inside me causing so much wetness to spill from me that I had no doubt in a matter of minutes my sweatpants would be soaked clean through.

He growled deeply and said, “Never.” And then his hand was tunneling into the back of my hair, his fingers curling against the strands hard. He pulled my head back forcefully until the gasp of surprise mixed with pleasure and pain slammed through my body. His mouth worked on my throat, lips, and tongue, teeth and sharpened fangs scraping along the tender skin of my neck until I moaned wildly.

He started nibbling on the side of my neck, and explosions of ecstasy washed through me. I could hear him murmuring, but his words were muffled against my flesh, and I knew they were in Gaelic.

“English,” I cried out at how good this all felt. “I want to know what you’re saying.” My words sounded needier than I meant, but I was surprised I could even form a coherent sentence for as hot as I was right now.

Cian gripped my hips, and I felt a prick of pain. I forced myself to look down and see his nails were now sharpened into claws. Oh God, why does that turn me on so much? Why did the knowledge that he was starting to turn have another gush spilling from my pussy?

The world shifted slightly as he adjusted me, turned me so my knees were on either side of his waist, my body straddling his. I felt his hard cock pressed right to my pussy. It was the same position we’d been in on the couch, and I couldn’t complain. I wouldn’t, not when I started rubbing myself back and forth on him, grinding my pussy against his cock, hating that we had any kind of clothes obstructing skin on skin.

“Evie,” he growled and nipped at my throat, and I gasped, tangling my hands in his short hair, pulling at the strands until he grunted and lifted his hips in time with my pussy rubbing along his cock. “I said I’m going tae put my mark here. I’m going tae mark ye so fooking hard it’s never going to heal fully. Every damn male is going tae kno’ that ye’re mine, and if they dare tae even look at ye, they’ll kno’ my wrath.”

He slid his hand to my throat and curled his fingers around it, holding me firmly and bringing my mouth back to his. He tongued me so good, so hard and possessively, that there wasn’t an inch of my mouth I was sure he didn’t already have memorized.

I ran my tongue along one of the sharpened canines, feeling it prick at the very tip, hearing him groan right before he sucked on my tongue, drawing up the blood from that tiny cut.

“I need you,” I moaned, sounding so desperate that I should’ve been embarrassed. But God… I wasn’t.

“I donna want tae rush ye. I want tae be gentle… but I donna think I can.”

I tugged at his hair until he broke the kiss, until we were looking into each other’s eyes, and I could see his glowing blue irises. “Who said I wanted gentle? I just want you.”

He made a deep sound, and then I was flat on my back in the center of the mattress, Cian looming over me and his hands tearing at my clothing. I was all too happy to help, lifting my hips so he could pull my pants down, raising my upper body up so my shirt could be tossed aside.

And then he was going for his clothes before I could beg him to do just that. He reached behind his head and grabbed his shirt, pulling it up and over his head before tossing it aside. The air left me violently at the sight of his chest.

Broad shoulders tapered down to bulging biceps. His chest was wide and just as hard, hills and planes of sinew and tendons, cut muscles a stark contrast underneath his golden skin. His abdomen had slabs and slabs that made up his six-pack.

But he also had scars, little ones, long ones, ones that looked deep, ones that were old and faded. I found myself pushing up until I was sitting, my hands going right to his chest as I let my fingers skate along those marks.

“I’ve been in many battles, mo ghràidh. And I’m sure I’ll be in more before I take my last breath.”

I felt like a vise was squeezing around my chest, tighter and tighter until my heart was painful and threatening to burst.

I looked once more at all the scars littering his chest and knew there was probably even more on his back. I didn’t like the way it made me feel. I didn’t like how I felt this sense of losing a part of myself, knowing that he was in pain.

I moved on the mattress so I was on my knees, slipped my hands over his chest, moving my fingers softly over the scars, lingering and nonverbally showing him they didn’t bother me. And then I cupped each side of his throat, my thumbs on his pulse points, the steady beat of his heart right under the digits.

I pulled his mouth down and kissed him slowly, thoroughly, showing him with the gentle motions I wasn’t doing this to be rash but because I wanted to give myself to him.

I was choosing him.

But as the seconds ticked by, the kiss that started off slow and easy turned more frantic as we both lost ourselves to the passion.

He pushed me back on the bed, and I felt like I was a live wire as he suddenly flipped me over so my belly was pressed to the mattress, his big hands pawing at the mounds of my ass.

I was too far gone in how much I wanted him to worry about what he planned. I clenched my hands in the sheets, steadying myself, my cheek pressed to the bed and my eyes closed.

“It’ll only ever be ye,” he groaned, and I moaned as he slowly parted the cheeks of my bottom, no embarrassment… only white-hot need.

Cool air brushed along my now-exposed pussy before he let the cheeks snap back in place. He groaned and palmed me again, squeezing the flesh before opening me up. I felt his gaze on my cleft, wondering if it turned him on seeing me soaked down there.

“I will no’ last, Evie. Fook, I’m too far gone in my need for ye.”

I couldn’t respond. I could only feel.

Smack!

My eyes snapped open, and a sharp sound left me as pleasure and pain coursed through me. He smoothed his hand over my ass, soothing the sting of his slap, his palm so big I felt like it covered the whole cheek.

He slapped my bottom again, harder this time so I felt my cheek jiggle from the force.

“Ah, my female… have fooking mercy.” He sounded like he said the words between clenched teeth.

Smack! Smack!

I felt my pussy drip for him, my inner muscles clenching with the need to be filled. My fingers ached as I tugged hard at the sheets. I knew if I spread my legs any wider right now, he’d see the glossiness of how primed I was along my inner thighs.

With one more soothing motion of his palm over my ass, he gripped my hips, lifted my lower body off the bed, and positioned me so I was on my knees with my legs obscenely spread. With a growl, he pulled my legs even farther out, unused muscles protesting, but that just made my arousal fiercer.

Facedown, ass up, the new position left nothing to the imagination and had every intimate part of me on clear display.

He was so still behind me, not moving or speaking, that I looked over my shoulder to see that he was staring at my pussy with an almost frightening intensity.

“Cian?” I whispered, suddenly feeling so damn bashful. What if he didn’t like what he saw?

His big chest heaved as he slowly lifted his gaze from between my thighs to look at my face. He ran a hand down his mouth, his eyes glossy, his chest still rising and falling as if he couldn’t get enough air into his lungs.

“Cian…?”

His hand shot out and slid down my slit. I moaned at that small touch that inflamed me so much. He flattened his palm on my pussy until he cupped the entire thing, adding pressure so I curled my toes and arched my back. And the entire time, he kept staring into my eyes.

He kept his hand there for a long second, and it made me feel like he was making a point… that I was his. My pussy was his.

And when he finally pulled his hand away and held up his palm for me to see how soaked it was, I gasped as he brought his hand to his mouth and dragged his tongue from wrist to fingertip, lapping up all my pussy cream.

“Oh. God.” It was so dirty and such a turn-on.

“So sweet,” he rumbled out. “Yer cunt is dripping, lass. For me.” He leaned forward as he snarled those last words as if he wanted me to deny that fact.

I couldn’t.

I moaned and dug my nails into the bed, forcing my eyes to stay open so I could look at him. My breath stalled at the sight of Cian kneeling behind me, his body so hard and big, his cock standing at attention from his groin and intimidating as hell.

His balls were a heavy sac that hung beneath the impressive length, and when he reached down to take his cock in hand, I bit my lip as my pussy clenched.

I knew without a doubt he’d stretch me to the point of pain—he was that big and girthy. Even if I weren’t a virgin, it would be hard taking all that cock.

Neither one of us spoke as I watched him hold that heavy length in his palm, as he stroked himself from root to tip. Copious amounts of clear fluid lined the tip, the pre-cum dripping off the crown to land on the bed between us.

I licked my lips, and he hummed in approval. I wanted him in my mouth, to see what that clear fluid tasted like as it slid over my tongue and down the back of my throat. And I felt like he knew what I was thinking, because his chest was heaving even faster and harder, his palm stroking over his dick with more force. His balls were swinging slightly from the jerking motions as he masturbated for me.

It was the most erotic scene I’d ever seen in my entire life.

And I wanted more.

“Ye want this, lass?” He kept stroking himself, his cock pointed right at my pussy, his words not inherently dirty, but God, they so were.

I didn’t trust my voice, so I nodded, then followed up by licking my lips. His jaw was clenched as he ground his teeth together; then he shifted closer so I fully felt the heat of his body.

“Ye sure about that? Ye deserve sweet—"

“Whoever said I wanted sweet?” I whispered. “I want you, Cian, in the way you’re meant to give it to me.” Seeing as this was my first time doing anything sexual with a man, I was shocked by my bravado.

Maybe that would have turned another man off, but Cian grinned broadly in approval.

And when he let go of his cock and moved forward, that heavy length pressing right against my pussy and feeling like a third leg, I held my breath. I thought he’d slam right into me, no sweet and gentle lovemaking for my first time—and that so wasn’t what I wanted—but he didn’t move, just stayed out and let me feel how big and hard he was for me.

“Never thought the day would come where I’d have my mate,” he said to himself in a low voice. “Yet here I am… about to fook her.”

Oh God, yes.

“Here I am about to claim her and mark the hell out of that pretty neck.”

And then he was moving back so I no longer felt his cock pressed against me. I was about to protest, when I felt him grip each cheek of my ass, spreading me wide again and leaning down so his hot breath skated along the part of me no man had ever seen.

He inhaled my pussy, a fact that probably shouldn’t have been hot but was such a turn-on.

“Mmm, smells so fooking sweet. Smells like mine.” He clenched my ass harder. “I bet ye taste even better.”He buried his face right between my legs then, and I squeezed my eyes shut at the instant pleasure that encompassed me.

I was so shocked by the sensations of him eating me out that I arched my back and popped my upper body up on my forearms, my hazy, drugged-feeling gaze latched on the headboard. And then I felt my eyes roll back as he dragged his tongue down to my pussy hole, twirling that muscle around the opening and lapping up my cream, humming in approval.

He gripped each cheek of my ass hard and tight, not breaking the skin, but God, I wanted him to. I wanted little crescent shapes covering my body so that when I looked down at myself, I could see the evidence of his passion in physical form.

The sound he made behind me was so guttural, so feral, that it had my inner muscles clenching painfully. He grunted again, the vibrations going right to my clit. As if he sensed that, knew what he was doing to me and the bundle of nerves, he flattened his tongue even more and dragged it to that little bead.

I was so wet that the sounds that came from him as he licked and sucked at me were loud, so juicy and erotic in nature that my face heated, and this wave of shyness washed over me. I shifted on the bed slightly, not really intending to move away, but when he clamped his hands on my waist and jerked me back against his face, tonguing my slit before pushing that thick muscle deep into my virgin pussy, I tossed my head back and cried out. I was so close I could taste the orgasm.

“Are ye going tae come for me, mo ghràidh?” His words were muffled against my soaked folds, and all I could do was mewl, unable to actually form a coherent sentence. “Yeah, I think ye want tae come all over my face.” I felt the sharpness of his claws breaking the skin at my hips, and it drove my pleasure higher.

He pulled back, to my disappointment, but then he was slipping a thick finger into my pussy, curling and twisting it in just the right way that hit something deep inside me, something secret and so intense that beads of sweat popped out along my forehead.

“Give me what I want.”

And that was all it took for me to come, to explode and ride his finger, pumping my hips up and down, fucking myself on that lone digit.

He shifted his hand so he could rub my clit, the ecstasy making my brain short-circuit as my vision went hazy and dark.

I let my upper body fall to the mattress, my ass still in the air, his finger still lodged inside me. He thrust in and out lazily before finally pulling it out. I could hear him sucking my cream off that finger, his groan of pleasure following. Then his mouth was back on my pussy, his tongue licking at the juices that spilled because of my climax.

And with one more lick from my clit all the way to my asshole, a slow and languid one that made me think he was savoring my flavor, he flipped me onto my back and leaned over me. I felt drugged as my arms flopped to my sides, my legs falling open, staying wide for him to fit his hips between them. He slid his hand up my side, over one of my breasts to give the flesh a gentle squeeze, a tweak of my nipple that had me moaning, and then went to collar my throat with his fingers.

“Gods, female,” he groaned and leaned back on his knees to look at me all spread out like an offering. “Just looking at ye will be the death of me.” His gaze landed on my pussy, and just his focus on that part of my body lit me up all over again. “All mine.” He lifted his gaze up my belly and locked eyes with me.

I felt like this was a possessive move, him wanting me to stare at him, to not break eye contact… to make this even more real. And then when he grabbed his cock and squeezed himself from root to tip, pushing a bit of pre-cum out through the slit, I found myself moving automatically as I rose up and opened my mouth, dragging my tongue along the head.

I could feel his muscles tense, could see the definition of his six-pack flex from the sudden movement. I’d caught him off guard. Good. That had a wave of my own pleasure and possessiveness moving through me. I pushed his hand out of the way and curled my fingers around the base, my fingertips unable to touch because he was so massive.

There was no way I would be able to fit all of him in my mouth, but I dragged my tongue along the underside where a thick vein throbbed. I paid even closer attention to it when he started panting.

I moved my tongue around the crown, lapping up all the pre-cum that was a continuous flow from him. I might not have been able to take him all, but I knew I wanted to try. I wanted to gag on him.

“Evie,” he groaned. “I will no’ last if ye keep that up.” But I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. I started sucking on the tip like it was a lollipop, hollowing out my cheeks, wrapping my lips around the edge of his head, doing a light suction.

I had no idea how to give a blowjob. I’d never done it in my life. But the moans and the harsh breathing that came from Cian told me whatever I was doing was driving him mad with lust.

With a harsh growl, he pushed me away so I fell onto my back, my arms spread out once more, the smile on my face I knew looked seductive. I felt so wanton and illicit right now, knowing he had to stop me because he couldn’t control himself.

He was on me the next instant, tangling his hand in my hair, pulling my head to the side, then latching his mouth onto the side of my throat. It felt good, the rough scrape of his tongue along the side of my neck, right at the length of my jugular. The sharp scrape of his canines teasing, threatening to break the skin.

“Yes,” I moaned. He started rolling his hips forward, his cock pressing and retreating against my pussy, my folds framing the girthy length as he moved back and forth.

“I canna be gentle. No’ this first time.” I made a sound deep in my throat at how inhuman he sounded, his voice distorted, deeper than I’d ever heard it, as sharp as a hot blade moving over my skin.

He kept pushing against me and retreating, his cock so thick and big that I found myself arching up, needing him to fill me now. I couldn’t wait anymore.

I was delirious from my need for him. And as if he knew that, sensing it, he took his free hand, reached between us, and aligned the tip of his cock with the entrance of my pussy.

“Oh thank God. Yes!” I cried out.

I expected him to thrust in hard and fierce, but he turned my head to face him once more, demanding that I open my eyes. And only when our gazes were locked together did he start to push into my eager pussy. My mouth parted, the air sawing in and out of my lips.

The visage of him was one of a powerful predator, eyes glowing blue, his canines so long and sharp they touched his bottom lip. He bared his teeth, looking so dangerous and fearsome that I felt another answering rush of wetness that helped ease his way into me.

He stretched me so good, filled me so much that the pain was a burning sensation encompassing my entire lower half. But I didn’t want him to stop and instead planted my heels on the mattress, bracing myself as he tunneled in deeper, as he consumed me completely.

And only when he was seated fully in me did he let his head fall back, close his eyes, and allow a low roar to leave him. I didn’t even care if Odhran could hear us, didn’t care if anyone was witness to this intimate act right now.

I wanted Cian’s brand on me, his mark scarring my skin.

My hands were on his shoulders, my nails digging into his flesh, no doubt leaving marks, tearing at skin, scratches and lines of blood showing my mark in the same way he’d give me his.

The slow thumping purr left him, and he looked at me again, his hand still tangled in my hair, the pressure and sting from his fingers and claws pressing against my scalp causing desire to lick at my body so much that I arched my hips, the new position having him go a little bit deeper.

He slammed his mouth down on mine, fucking me with his tongue, thrusting in and out as he stayed still between my legs. But I needed movement and friction. I needed him.

And as if he read my mind, or more specifically my body language, he started slowly pulling out and pushing back in. All I could do was dig my nails into his arms, loving how he grunted, telling me to hold on tighter, to make it hurt even more.

Cian pulled back so he was on his knees, his hands sliding down my body to grip my waist. And then he held onto me as he fucked me, as he used his hold to pull me down onto his cock at the same time he pushed up into me.

The discomfort was there, a permanent presence, but it only heightened the ecstasy that washed through me, highlighting that pleasure.

I felt that pleasure build and build until it was a ball of energy inside me. The sounds of my wet pussy sucking at his cock, the very inhuman sounds rumbling out of him, all catapulted me to a higher state of being.

“That’s it,” he said deep, low. “I’ve waited all my life for this.” His focus was where we were connected, where he was fucking me, and I could only imagine how dirty it looked, filthy and erotic. “Look at ye, taking my cock so well, stretched so wide and pink around me.” He tipped his head back and closed his eyes, the tendons in his neck standing in stark relief as sweat glistened on his chest and his hips pistoned forward and back.

He pulled out of me so suddenly that I cried out, pissed that the pleasure was taken away. But he didn’t make me wait long as he flipped me over, positioned me on my hands and knees, spread my ass with one hand, and positioned his cock right back at my pussy hole.

And then he was pushing into me, forcing that massive cock back inside, sliding in slowly and deeply as if savoring the feeling of my pussy walls clamping down around him.

I let my head fall forward, my hair a curtain around my face. I reached out and grabbed the wrought-iron bars of the headboard as Cian held onto my hips and started pushing in and pulling back out.

With each passing second, he moved faster, using the leverage he had on my waist to pull me back onto his cock every time he pushed forward.

I felt his hand in my hair, tangling the strands, twisting the locks up, once, twice around his palm and using it as reins as he fucked me. He jerked my head back and to the side, and I cried out as he slammed especially hard into me, sparks of pleasure and pain coalescing within my body. He kept hitting that deliciously secret spot in me, which caused my pussy to spasm around him, had me crying out, fat tears from the ecstasy rolling down my cheeks.

And then his chest was covering my back, his mouth at the side of my throat. He bit every part of my neck, alternating between sides, moving down to that smooth strip of flesh where my shoulder met my throat. My skin felt raw, burning with something that made me hum for more, begging for it harder.

The pain was there, but it heightened my pleasure, causing stars to dance behind my closed lids. Flashes of light that made everything seem a little unreal but that I never wanted to end. He was growling constantly now, never once easing up as he pistoned in and out of me. One hand was still in my hair, his other gripping my waist as he used it as leverage.

And then he was growling in Gaelic, his breath hot against the side of my neck, his hipsstill pillaging between my thighs so all I could do was hold on and let this happen.

I felt another orgasm rise up, this one causing my vision to become blurry, my moans louder. His voice was the distorted tenor that had my inner muscles clenching hard around his dick. Both of us moaned as he fucked me harder. My voice rang out, echoing in the room, loud and long.

“Fook… yes.” I felt his mouth open wide against me and then the sharp, searing pain of his canines sinking into the soft flesh where my throat and neck met. He growled, his mouth and hand holding me in place so I could only stay there, letting him do what he wanted… taking what he had to give.

I couldn't hold off anymore, couldn’t think rationally as I came so hard I couldn't breathe. I was vaguely aware—as if I was having an out-of-body experience—of Cian coming. His cock felt like it became thicker, harder inside me. The pain was so intense it kept my climax going on and on until I was gasping for air.

Cian broke the suction he had on my neck, thrust hard and powerfully inside of me once, twice, and on the third time, he buried himself all the way in me, groaning out loud and long as he came, his cock kicking inside me, the feeling of his hot cum filling my pussy in jets I felt start to spill from where we were connected because there was too much. I was so wet between my legs, my orgasm, his seed, all of it coating my inner thighs as he came and came, filling me up until there was no place for it to go but drip onto the bed.

When he stilled behind me and dropped his forehead to the center of my back, his warm breath bathing my skin, I pried my hands from the bars and let my upper body sink to the mattress. He only stayed like that for a second before pulling out with a grunt, falling to the side, and immediately moving me around so our fronts were touching, my head on his chest. I listened to the rapid beat of his heart. It matched mine identically, two heartbeats that were the same.

For long moments we didn't speak, our skin cooling, drying from what we’d just done. His hand smoothed up and down my back, and I let my eyes close as my pussy still clenched from my orgasm, my body humming from the pleasure.

“I feel like I could’ve eluded you longer,” Iteased to break the silence, and his chuckle was low and deep, the vibrations moving right under my ear, which rested on his chest. He tightened his hold on me, his fingers dancing along the skin of my arms.

“Mo ghràidh, ye could’ve tried, but ye would no’ have succeeded. I’m the best tracker around.” He pulled me closer to the hardness of his body.

I settled against him, our skin damp from sweat, between my legs sore, wet from the combination of my arousal, no doubt blood, and his cum. My neck ached from where he’d bitten me. In fact, my entire body felt sore, bruised from his kisses and the scrape of his teeth.

In this moment it was easy to think everything was okay. It was easy to picture my life without any threat and only Cian and me enjoying this crazy thing called being mates.

And as I let sleep claim me, I didn’t allow reality to intrude. Because once I woke up, I knew it would be right back in my face.