all of the teasing had
vanished from her eyes. “You, Rais,” she whispered. “I always see
you.”
The man was mollified. The beast, however,
reared inside him, stirred by her teasing. Rais pulled away and
swatted at her ass again. “Roll over and grab the headboard.”
She obeyed without a murmur of protest,
coming to her knees before bending down to clutch at the base of
the headboard. “Like this?”
He answered with a single
hard thrust, one that took him deep into her body, and a tortured
groan. And even that wasn’t loud enough to drown out her cry of
pleasure. “Again, please... please !”
His hands trembled on her hips and he had to
bite his lip, but he stopped, still buried inside her. “You teased
me. Now I tease you back.”
Avani had lost her grip on rational thought.
It was the only way to explain how desperately she wanted to prod
at Rais, to drive him into claiming her. Reckless, considering
she’d already told him she wasn’t his to take.
But she wanted to be.
She needed to
be.
No. She pushed back against him and tried to urge him to movement.
At least movement would keep her from thinking. From yearning for
things that shouldn’t be.
Instead, he stayed still and stroked one
hand up her back. “Ask.”
“ Please.” It sounded more
challenging than pleading, so she tried again. “Rais,
please.”
He leaned over her and scraped his teeth
over the back of her shoulder. “Beg.”
“ I am.” But not the way he
wanted. She clenched her eyes shut and rubbed up against him. “I’ve
been begging since you kissed me.”
“ No, you haven’t. You’ve
been pretending to beg.”
With words she’d pretended, maybe, but her
body had betrayed her time and time again. Maybe she should be
grateful he didn’t realize yet that he had such power over her. But
her body betrayed her again, and this time words followed. “Because
you can’t beg when you already have everything you want.”
“ Do you, though?” he
rasped. His hips bumped against hers, just a quick rush of
sensation. A promise of more to come. Need burned inside her, but
so did a sharp thread of satisfaction at being held on the
edge.
She twisted her head so her lips brushed his
jaw. “You haven’t been listening. I’m at your mercy, Rais. Make me
come, make me wait, make me scream. I’m at your mercy.”
“ Yes. ” He followed the low growl with a surging thrust, then
another. He rode her hard, pulling her back to meet him, rough
eddies of power swirling around them as he fucked her. Not soft or
pretty, not careful lovemaking.
He fucked her, and every
claiming thrust wrapped his magic more tightly around her, until
she feared the marks would never truly fade. She’d go through her
life craving this man, needing him because nothing would ever be this good
again—
Her body was already
primed, but she fought the rising pleasure with everything in her.
She’d rejected Rais. She’d asked the impossible, as if she had any
right to dictate how the future king chose his mate. I may never feel this pleasure again.
So she wallowed in it. She savored the heat
of his body and the unquestionable dominance in his strength. She
shivered at the next brush of his magic, heat and intangible need
that expressed itself in a tingling caress.
His next thrust went deeper, stroked along
neglected nerves that sent liquid fire racing through her. Her
fingers lost their grip on the headboard and she barely felt the
impact as her elbows crashed into the bed, too lost in the sudden
sensation.
And maybe she could beg
after all, because her lips parted and words tumbled out before she
could stop them. “Again, please Rais, right there...oh God —“
He growled loudly as the wild power in him
swelled and burst through her. His hand clenched in her hair, and
he panted her name between harsh groans. The thrusts were wild,
desperate, but it didn’t matter. The next one hit just right and
pleasure upended the world.
She screamed, maybe his