Beyondus.
Are we mates?
My suspicion keeps growing, but I still can’t bring myself to ask him directly. I also try to shield my thoughts on the matter, just in case he’s able to sense my emotions and thoughts in the same way I can detect his.
“Are you mated?” I suddenly blurt out, tensing as I grip the covers harder. Though I don’t think he’s mated to someone else, before we continue, I must know for certain. If he has a female waiting for him back at the war camp, someone to whom he’s already bonded, I cannot allow this to continue.
He pauses and glares at me.
Glares.
No, my dearest, he says into my mind, his voice a deep reverberation that almost sounds… scolding.I am not mated—yet.
Relief fills me, and a shuddering breath whooshes from my lungs. Am I a coward for continuing to dance around the truth I already feel in my heart? I really should ask him for further clarification about what we are to one another, and whether it affects my status as his slave.
If I am his mate, and I allow him to claim me, will I still be considered a slave even once we are mated?
He narrows his eyes at me, then he delves between my thighs again, his tongue instantly finding my clit. He applies more pressure than before as he circles my pulsing nubbin. He alsopresses a finger to my aching core, slipping his thick digit inside, but only the very tip, not even quite knuckle deep.
My legs tremble anew, and I thrash atop the covers, overwhelmed by the sensations he’s drawing from me, overcome by the fullness from that one finger partially submerged in my pussy.
I want him to push deeper, and I arch my center toward him with a pleading whimper. He growls against my core, which sends a vibration through me, as he drives his tongue more insistently over my clit. My hips lift and fall as I undulate my center into his mouth and hand, lost in the pleasure of his touch yet aching for so much more.
“Gods, you are becoming so wet and swollen for me, Gwen,” he murmurs, his breath a cool caress on my throbbing core.
He flutters his tongue over my clit before beginning a steady circular motion, gradually increasing the pressure. My pleasure builds, and I whimper when he shoves his finger deeper and I feel a brief twinge of pain. But the moment I experience the discomfort, a slight sting, he withdraws his digit partway, and the pain vanishes.
When I finally claim you, my dearest,he says down the bond,I will use my winter magic to prevent any pain. When I finally thrust my cock deep inside you and claim you as mine, you will feel nothing but pleasure.
His promise reaches me with another wave of warmth, and I find myself softening to him further, not a complete surrender, but almost. A few more days spent in his company—as his captive—and I might actually beg him to fully claim me. Though heat pulses through me at the prospect, a few doubts linger.
Before we do anything that cannot be undone, we must have an honest conversation. No more hints. No more dancing around the truth. If we are mates, I deserve to know. I also deserve to decide what happens next.
More than ever, his possessiveness of me is starting to make sense. And I can’t deny that I feel a growing possessiveness for him as well. When I worried he might have a mate waiting back at the war camp, a surge of jealousy rippled through me. And the relief that followed after I learned he was unmated… well, the relief was as telling as the jealousy.
So much of Merak remains a mystery to me. I still don’t know anything about his past and his life in the Winter Court, but in other ways, it’s as though my soul recognizes him, and my heart knows his. He’s a violent highborn fae male, but I don’t believe he would ever turn his cruelty on me. He’s showing me parts of himself that he’s never revealed to anyone before, parts of himself that I don’t think he even knew existed.
A new, powerful ecstasy builds, and my body goes taut as I brace for the inevitable crash of bliss. Merak greedily laves me with his tongue, as though he cannot get enough.
His determination to make me shatter, his primal need to bring me to a release, prompts another heated wave to course through me.
Then I come completely undone.
My lips part on a frantic gasp, and I struggle to take in air as the first surges of my climax strike me, an endless rush of euphoria that steals my senses. I writhe on the bed, tearing at the covers, my head thrashing on the pillow. My vision blurs, and I finally close my eyes.
All the while, Merak laps at my core, his fingers digging into my thighs. At some point, he removed his finger from my pussy. When? I can’t remember.
The pleasure continues swirling through me, and I cry out as the final quaking wave hits me, then fades into a series of jolting aftershocks.
Panting for air, my grip on the covers loosens, and I go suddenly limp. I open my eyes. Merak withdraws from betweenmy thighs and regards me with a deeply satisfied look, as though he’s just won his greatest battle.
As though he's conquered me.
A low, pleased growl leaves him, and then the bed shifts. His eyes gleam with reverence as he stares down at me.
Before I can fully collect my thoughts, he moves beside me and settles against the pillows. Then he lifts me onto his lap, gathering me into his arms and pulling me against his chest.
I’m still trembling, but he holds me carefully, as though fearing I might fall apart if he isn’t gentle.
