Page 158 of Hunted

And I’m still gasping and blinking for focus when he grips my thighs and pries them apart.

When he raises his head, his lips and chin are wet and another furious blush eats my face.

‘It’s time for me to fuck you, little hunter,’ he announces gutturally. ‘Holding back is no longer an option for me.’

He prowls back up my body, muscles rippling with endless power, his mark blood red and stark against his skin. Gripped with a compulsion I can’t control, I whisper my fingers over the vivid mark. He throws his head back, baring his fangs as he hisses through his teeth.

And my stars, but that sight alone is enough to keep me enthralled.

Then his head descends and he spears me with bright silver eyes. ‘I will take care with you,’ he murmurs, his tone surprisingly gentle. Or hey, as gentle as a savage apex predator can be in this unhinged moment. ‘You will not bleed for me unless you choose it.’

Emotion punches through the lust so hard I nearly cry. I blink it back viciously. ‘I’m not crying.’

His mouth curves. ‘No. Of course not. We will say that I’m the monster who does not have it in him to be gentle but is striving for it, and you are the sceptical hunter attempting not to laugh till you cry because of my outrageous need for you, yes?’

My voice is husky as fuck when I say, ‘Yes, let’s say that.’

Then he touches me again, and my body forgets pride. I arch into him and humour flees his face.

‘Gods, you’re beautiful. So responsive. I hear the rush of your blood with every touch, with every pump of your heart. You should be thankful I have age and experience on my side, Eira. Or I would ravage you into eternity.’

He settles with a touch of impatience, deeper between my parted thighs, his gaze darting between my mouth and the pulse throbbing at my throat. He drops onto one elbow and with his other hand, he drags my hair up.

Out of the way.

Here we fucking go. ‘Valentin, I… There’s something you should know.’

‘What is it, Eira?’

My tongue darts out. He growls. ‘So, I may not have done this before,’ I blurt.

Silver whirls and blazes uncontrollably for a wild few seconds and I have a front row seat of what it’ll be like to be hurled into a raging vortex.

The thick bicep next to my head trembles, then a shudder moves through his whole body, before he goes deathly still. ‘Fuck, little hunter.’

‘Would… would you have preferred I didn’t tell you?’ I whisper.

‘I would’ve preferred you not add three dozen more things to the list of ways I wish to ravish you. Same goes for wishing you not further shred my paper-thin control. But yes, Eira, I’m glad you told me.’ He drops his head, sucks my lower lip into his mouth with a thick groan. ‘Because now,’ he murmurs against my lips, ‘I will taste your virgin blood as well as the blood that flows through your veins.’

I’m computing his words when he notches his broad crown against my slick core.

And I don’t even care whether I’m breathing or not when Valentin pushes himself, inexorable and steady, inside me.

It’s slow and reverent. At first. Pain at his insane size and pleasure braided together in a way that makes my vision blur and drags a cry from me.

I gasp and cling to him, nails digging into his back.

‘That’s it,’ he growls in feral command. ‘Look at me. Stay with me.’

I’m mesmerised by the expanding silver in his eyes. And if he’s glamouring me right now, I don’t even care. Because that blend of sensation is followed immediately by something else.

His hips punch forwards and I scream.

A sharp sting – brief, precise – tears through my innocence. Then he’s withdrawing just as slow.

Valentin looks down and freezes then, his nostrils flaring at the sight of my blood on his cock. ‘Netheris fires, you’re exquisite.’

He pulls out completely and before I can cry out at the loss, he’s dropping his head, his mouth fusing once more to my pussy.