“Are you hungry?” He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “You haven’t eaten since last night.”
“No. I’m too tired to eat.” She tucked into his side and threw her leg over his hips.
“Norah, you need to eat. The next two days will be exhausting. I would not be a good mate if I let you get hungry.”
“I’ll eat in a bit. I just need to sleep for a little bit.” She closed her eyes and snuggled closer.
Lukyan held her close and breathed in her scent. His wolf chided him for allowing her to rest before eating. She needed sustenance. He waited until she was asleep before he gently extricated himself from her grip. She needed her rest and he didn’t want to wake her.
Naked, he walked into the living room and stoked the fire. Sometime in the night, the storm had knocked out the electricity. As a shifter, Norah wouldn’t feel cold like she did in her human form, but he wanted the cabin to be comfortable for her. During her heat, she would be extra-sensitive to her environment. Smells, sound, and even temperature would intensify her pain if she found them unappealing.
He looked outside. The snow continued to fall. No one from the lodge would be able to deliver food to their cabin in this weather. He moved to the kitchen and opened the cabinets. Norah had stocked nothing to eat other than an opened box of Cheez-Its and the leftover bottle of wine from the night before. His wolf growled. They had their mate for less than a day and already they had failed her.
Lukyan rushed to the door again and looked outside. He looked back the hall leading to their bedroom. If he left now, he might be able to rush to the lodge and get some food before Norah woke. But if he didn’t make it back in time, she could wake in need. If he wasn’t there to relieve her pain he would fail her worse than he already had.
His wolf growled again. This was not a good start to their life together.We will make it up to her. We will spend every day for the next eight hundred years making her happy and giving her everything she needs and wants.His wolf huffed in exasperation. Lukyan walked back to the kitchen and grabbed the bottle of wine and the box of Cheez-Its. It wasn’t much but it was all he had to offer his mate. When this was over, he would feed her in bed for a solid week.
Norah woke to the familiar feeling of need. For the past day and a half, she had repeatedly awakened in pain, aching to be filled by her mate. Lukyan had taken to sleeping behind her with his still-erect shaft deep inside her, which allowed her to immediately relieve herself of the pain created by her heat. She pushed back onto his thick cock.
“I’m here, baby.” Lukyan thrust slowly into her body. He pulled her head back to his and kissed her neck. She spooned her body into his and his thrust grew more insistent.
“Deeper, Lukyan. I need more.”
Quickly, he turned her over so that she was on her belly. He aligned his body behind her and pulled her hips high. In one swift motion, he entered her. “Oh my god, mate. How do you manage to be so tight?” He stopped his movement and held himself tight against her bottom. Norah pushed back hard. Her body was not ready for slow. She needed it rough and hard.
Lukyan must have understood what she wanted because he pulled out until just the tip was inside her before slamming into her hard. He repeated the motion, again and again, filling her with his rigid length.
“Tell me what you want, mate.” Lukyan’s hands gripped her hips tightly, as he ground his hips roughly against her. Norah’s wolf growled. This was good, but she wanted more.
“I want —” She struggled for the words.
“Tell me, baby. Tell me what you want and I’ll make it happen.” He circled his hips again. “You just have to say it. Don’t be shy.” But she was.
In one long breath, she gasped, “I want you to be rough and fast so that your balls slap against my clit.” Norah’s wolf sat down and wagged her tail. Norah might be shy but the wolf knew exactly what she wanted.
Lukyan grunted before altering his motions. His hips moved front to back, beating a staccato against her backside. Together they created a rhythm that was theirs alone. Norah pulled her hands under her chest and pinched her nipples.
“That’s it, baby. Touch yourself for me.” His balls slapped against her mound sending delicious sparks of pleasure throughout her entire body.
She moaned as she pulled at the tight buds of her breast. “Almost,” she hissed.
He jackhammered into her slit as pressure built. Her toes curled under and her legs began to shake. Suddenly her body pulsed around him, pulling him deeper.
“Fuck,” he yelled as spurts of cum pulsed from his shaft. He held her there, butt high against his hips as they both rode the aftershocks of their orgasms. Norah felt empty the second he pulled away from her.
She slid her hips lower and laid out on her belly. Lukyan picked up a cloth he had put on the bedside table.
“Let me clean you.” With gentle care, he spread her legs and wiped the wetness from between her thighs. Norah was shocked by her lack of shame. Normally after-care was a source of absolute embarrassment, but she felt nothing but contentment when Lukyan did it. Throwing the cloth to the floor, he crawled across the bed and nipped at her butt cheeks. He was unshaven and the day-old growth both hurt and tickled. She raised her hips off the bed, encouraging him to give more kisses. He obliged her, biting kisses up and down the mound of her bottom. Slowly, his kisses and nibbles moved up to the small of her back and then higher, following the curve of her spine, until he stopped at her neck. He was poised above her, his hips behind hers. Although her mating need had been slaked, Norah thought it would be so easy to move so that he could slip inside her once again.
She tilted her hips until his erection slid alongside her folds. “Ahh, Norah,” he exhaled. “I don’t want to hurt you so soon after we just mated.”
“You won’t hurt me.” She arched her back and his shaft slid closer to her most sensitive spot.
“You should rest.” His voice sounded tight to Norah’s sensitive wolf ears. She wiggled a bit. Lukyan sucked in a breath.
“I want you, Lukyan.Iwant you. Not the heat, just me. And I want you inside me because you want me, not because you are trying to ease my pain.” She tilted her hips another time, tempting him with slick heat. “Please.”
Suddenly, Lukyan sat up and flipped his mate to her back. His chiseled chest was slick with perspiration. Norah ran her hands over the curve of his muscles. He entwined her fingers with his and stretched her arms above her head. Sliding between her legs, he gently entered her. His movement was slow and intoxicating, so different from the fast passion they had just shared.
“I always want you, Norah. You are my mate. You were made for me, and I was made for you.”
With excruciating tenderness, he moved inside her. His green gaze locked on hers. She couldn’t have looked away if she wanted to. She wrapped her legs around his thighs to give him better access. His mouth moved to hers. The kiss was soul-searing. Heat rushed through her body. She had never been so thoroughly loved before. She opened and closed her fingers on his. His unhurried movements had her panting. How he could make her heart race with such languid thrusts was unexplainable. Norah wished this would never end. She wanted to live like this, under his hard body, forever. She would feed off his unrelenting gaze and gentle kisses until the day she died.
Pressure built inside her. Norah struggled to push it back. She wasn’t ready for this to be over. She needed more. More kisses. More gentle friction. More everything. Her body would not listen. Lukyan’s insistent thrusts coaxed pleasure from her. Her legs pulled him closer. She knew he could feel the small pulses beginning to form deep inside her passage. He continued his unhurried pace, working her slowly.
“That’s it, Norah. I want you to look at me when you come. I want to see those turquoise eyes the entire time.” She opened her eyes to him as wave after wave of pleasure overtook her body. He rode her slowly, pulling out the sweet agony of her orgasm until his own overtook him. He smothered his own cries with a searing kiss to her mouth.
Norah unhooked her fingers from his and wiped away a stray tear. Never had she known such tender lovemaking. A morsel of hope formed in her heart. Perhaps shecouldget step one, step two,andlove. She didn’t think that was more than the Goddess could handle.
