I try to shove the dark thought to the back of my mind, hoping she doesn’t sense it. I’m relieved when I don’t detect her thoughts brushing against mine at this moment.
Yes, I have thoughts I would like to keep private as well. Secrets, too. I push away a sudden vision of the black frost and the shadow figure.
But I understand her desire for occasional privacy. I think of all the times I’ve flown hard and fast in the opposite direction of the Winter Court army, desperate for solitude.
Though I will never let Gwen go, not fucking ever, I resolve that I will strive to give her the space she needs to maintain her individuality… and her peace.
When she shifts on my lap again, my hands go to her waist. My cock throbs beneath her, and I swear I feel the heat of her core through the material of my trousers. Her nightdress is still pushed up, her bare pussy pressed directly against my crotch.
Her breath catches, and her eyes become heated.
The force of her need nearly makes me growl. Gods, its strength matches my own. Gradually, I allow my mind to touch hers, tentatively at first, as I quietly ask for permission to be let in.
She opens herself to me, and it’s like a sudden blast of sunlight. It warms me all over, even illuminating my soul. Though I am a Winter Court lord, a creature of the cold, I bask in the warmth, unable to get enough.
You are my other half, I tell her through the bond.You are the female destined to belong to me, and I am the male destined to belong to you.
She asked for more time, time alone to think, and I still plan to give it to her, but I also plan to reveal more of myself to her.No more holding back. No more secrets… except perhaps just the one, the one involving black frost that I pray doesn’t matter.
Gwen draws back and studies me quietly, and for a moment, neither of us speaks, not aloud and not through the bond we share. The blizzard still rages outside, snow hitting the windows, the wind howling like a lonely direwolf.
I brush an errant strand of hair away from her face, letting my fingers roam down her neck, and lower still. As I do, my knuckles graze the delicate silver chain at her throat. The small, tarnished key pendant shifts against her skin. My gaze lingers on it briefly. More than once, I have noticed her clutching it when she is frightened. Before I can dwell on it, she shifts again, and this time, her movement is very deliberate, a purposeful tease.
Her gaze bores into mine, and her lips part on a quick inhale. Uncertainty and boldness war in the depths of her soulful, dark eyes. Heat surges through the bond between us, followed by a pulse of curiosity… and a desperate wave of need.
I believe the deal was that if you wanted to suck my cock, I would only allow you to do so once you climaxed on my tongue a few times, I say into her mind.
She gasps, and her eyes go wide. She pales for a moment, then her cheeks promptly flush. The sweet, pungent scent of her excitement reaches me in the air, and I eagerly take a deep breath, ravenous to taste her again. Eager to feel her coming apart beneath my attention, writhing against the bedcovers.
Gods, I liked seeing her like that.
Completely undone.
I sense your desire to pleasure me in the same way I just brought you pleasure, my dearest, I say down the bond,and while I appreciate your giving nature, I must insist that you lie down and spread your legs for me first.I don’t attempt to soften the command in my tone.
She stares at me wordlessly. Though she doesn’t speak into my mind, her thoughts are so loud that she might as well. She believes she ought to feel a little more indignant than she does by my order to lie down and spread her legs.
Aching desire clashes with her sense of pride.
Perhaps it makes me a bastard, but I relish her internal struggle. I like watching the conflict play across her face…. because I know how badly she wants to obey.
I know how wet and swollen she’s growing between her thighs again. Not only can I sense her need, but I can smell it.
No matter how fervently she tries, she will never be able to hide her desires from me, a fact that she is suddenly struggling to accept.
“Gwen, my dearest, I am waiting,” I murmur, arching an eyebrow at her. I release my hold on her, allowing her the freedom to move off my lap and get into position.
She exhales sharply. “You are domineering and… scandalous. Has anyone ever told you that?”
I grin as I give her a gentle push. She slips off my lap and sits next to me, though she doesn’t lie down just yet. Her chest rises and falls rapidly as she continues glaring at me.
“No, my dearest, no one has ever told me that before. I daresay if they did, they wouldn’t live to take their next breath.” Though my tone is playful, I’m speaking the truth and she knows it.
She senses my nature, the depths of violence I have reveled in during war and even off the battlefield, yet she isn’t afraid of me. Is she afraid of the bond and all it means? Yes, a little. But she isn’t afraid of me.
She gives a faint huff, then slowly lowers herself to the mattress. She rests her head on a pillow and parts her thighs slightly. Her nightdress is covering her center, however, and that just won’t do. I make a tsking noise deep in my throat as I fingerthe hem of the garment, once again tempted to rip it from her body. Instead, I gradually draw it up past her thighs.
She trembles in place, watching as I pull the nightdress up to bunch around her waist, revealing the slick folds between her thighs.
