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"Move in me," she pleaded, her voice ragged.
He did. In and out. Slowly. He filled and consumed her. Sliding in, sliding out. Gaining in speed. Agony and ecstasy.
"You glove me so perfectly, lass. Yours... I'm yours. Always." He thrust again, and again. Harder. The more he thrust, the more frantic he became, driving her need higher.
Gillian clawed at his back, bit the cord of his neck and locked her ankles against his lower back. Pressure continued to build inside her. In an attempt to draw him back, she arched her hips every time he withdrew. For too long, she'd been empty and alone. Now she belonged.
She'd been claimed--possessed.
Puck took her by the nape, fisting her hair. "Give me your pleasure. Take mine." As he stared into her eyes, satisfaction beckoned...
Helpless to resist.
Gillian screamed his name, her inner walls clenching and unclenching on his length.
"You're making me come, lass. Making me--" Quick as a blink, he shifted to his knees and pulled her up without slipping out of her. The new position sent him surging deeper. To ensure she sat upon him, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her flush against him. Chest to chest. Male to female. Her hair tumbled around them, a curtain of dark silk shielding them from the rest of the world.
"My Gillian. All mine."
"My Puck. All mine."
Ragged noises left them both as he jackhammered inside her. When she ran his lower lip between her teeth, he lost all control, going wild. Slam, slam, slam. One of his hands gripped her hair, tugging. The other gripped her bottom, bruising, and it was beautiful, every second, every motion.
"Gillian!" He bellowed to the sky and held his hips steady as he jetted inside her, giving her everything...just as he's my everything...
38
Exhaustion set in, joining her contentment, leaving Gillian boneless as she cuddled into Puck's side. Her head rested in the hollow of his neck, a sleeping bag draped haphazardly over them both. Lazily he combed his fingers through her hair, a mesmerizing, drugging delight, but she couldn't sleep. Or rather, wouldn't sleep. She remained on alert for any potential attack.
As the suns rose, light filtered through the treetops, highlighting Puck's gloriously naked chest. Knowing there was no snooze button while out on a mission, she figured she had five or ten more minutes before she had to get up and dress. Besides, the others would return soon. Actually, she figured William had stayed away on purpose, not wanting to deal with what he'd find--again.
Won't feel guilty.
As she drew a heart over Puck's pec, he said, "Do you have affection for me, lass?"
"Have I not proven it?"
"I need words."
Her chest clenched. "Yes, Pucky. I have affection for you."
"Do you have fun with me?"
"Yes," she replied readily this time, only then realizing where he was headed. "I also feel accepted and supported when I'm with you. More than I ever have with anyone else."
He nodded as if satisfied. "Your birthday is coming up."
"Is it?" She'd lost track.
"Only two hundred and twelve days away."
"So just around the corner, then," she said with a laugh. "When is your birthday?"
At the sound of her laughter, he radiated satisfaction. "Don't know," he finally replied. "I stopped celebrating once I was taken from my mother."
Clench. "Well, then, we'll celebrate your birthday when we celebrate mine."
He tensed, which caused her to tense. Did he not think they'd be together that long?
"If we fail to find Sin in the allotted time, I'm going to use the shears and ensure you leave the realm," he admitted, his voice heavy with...dread? "I won't let you die with Amaranthia."
No! "I won't let you die, either. There's got to be a way to get everything. The crown. Vengeance for the Sent Ones. Our marriage." So why is my stomach twisting with dread, as if I know he's right? "I love you, Puck. I don't want to give you up, but I also don't want you to give up your clan."
"You love me?" He sat up, staring down at her, and thumped his chest.
"Yes, silly man. I love you. And you love me."
The prompt--agree with me--flew right over his head. "You love me. My Gillian loves me." Awe lit his face. Then he narrowed his eyes. "Do you still love him?"
"Yes," she admitted, and he tensed all over again. "I'll always love him. As a friend. Only ever as a friend. Please believe me."
Quiet fury--that's what he was just then. It filled his eyes, pulsed from his body and held him rigid as stone.
"Honey, we're home," a voice called, and she jolted upright, her breasts bouncing. "But don't hurry on our account. I'm enjoying the show."
A short distance away, Galen hovered in the air. He wiggled his sandy brows, unabashed by his voyeurism.
Moving fast--though not as fast as usual--Puck grabbed one of the rocks circling the fire pit and threw it. "No one looks at her but me."
The missile pelted Galen's wing, sending him crashing to the ground. As he lumbered to his feet, Peanut galloped over and performed a perfect head-butt.
Gillian rushed to dress alongside her husband, saying, "Good boy."
"You're welcome for the warning, by the way," Galen grumbled.
Footsteps sounded as Puck fastened his pants. She looked up just as William and Pandora stepped from the line of trees.
Unwilling to meet her gaze, William sidestepped her, grabbed his go-bag and mounted his chimera. Ouch.
Pandora cast her an apologetic glance. "Let's save any arguments for later and move out."
Gillian hurried to gather her belongs. By the time she sat atop Peanut, the others were well ahead of her. Everyone but Puck, who waited for her.
"I'm sorry," she said, "but I have to speak with him."
A muscle flexed in his jaw, but he nodded. Thunder cracked, jolting her as she trotted forward to sidle up to William. A cold wind blew, causing her hair to slap her cheeks. A storm brewed, the sky now darkening.
"Talk to me," she beseeched. "Please."
Annnd still he ignored her, never relaxing his stance.
"Okay, I'll talk and you'll listen. I never made promises to you, Liam. In fact, I did just the opposite. I told you I wasn't interested in you romantically. I told you I wanted Puck."
Now he growled, shifting to glare at her, his eyes blue one moment, red the next. "You're not even sorry, are you?"
Sorry for being with Puck? Never! "I'm only sorry I hurt you. But, if you think about it, you're glad I turned to another man."
His nostrils flared as he inhaled sharply.
William wasn't grieving over her loss, wasn't devastated or even jealous. In those extraordinary eyes she saw anger, hurt and injured pride.
A rumble in his chest, almost a match to the thunder in the heavens. "We'll be back." He dismounted, saying to the others, "Do not come looking for us." He forced Gillian to dismount, not that she put up any kind of fight, then took her hand and dragged her away from the group, toward a thicket of trees.
"There isn't time for this," Puck called.
Do not look back. Do not--
She looked back. Stay. Please, she mouthed. She needed to hash things out with William once and for all.
Puck stared at her until the last possible second, his expression unreadable, his chest rising and falling with quick, labored breaths. Then tree limbs whisked together, hiding him from view.
She gulped, torn. Feminine instincts screamed, Return to him. Now.
No, no. She had to finish this.
William stopped abruptly and whirled to face her. "You are mine, and yet you turned to that...that...goat man."
She anchored her hands on her hips. "He might be a goat man, but he's my goat man."
"I told you the bond would affect you. I told you to wait until you were free."
"You also told me to sow my wild oats."
"A moment of insanity."
"Maybe, maybe not, but here's the truth, plain
and simple. I was intrigued with Puck before we bonded."
"No." He glared daggers at her. "You're mistaken. Too many years have passed for you. Centuries. Your memories are skewed, which is understandable in more ways than one. You were sick at the time. If he was your fated mate, you wouldn't enjoy spending time with me, wouldn't laugh with me, or miss me when I'm gone."
Stubborn male! "You might want to rethink your argument, Ever Randy. According to your logic, you would have kept your joystick in your pants if I were your fated mate. You wouldn't have bedded every woman in creation. You would have considered celibacy a privilege as you waited for me."
