Page 135 of The Hunter

It began with Telok’s palms smoothing over her soft skin, exploring her body in slow, soothing strokes. But as his hands discovered more and more tension in her muscles, their motions became firmer and more deliberate, kneading away the tightness.

With a moan of satisfaction, Lacey melted into his touch.

Mindful of her cuts and bruises, Telok massaged her shoulders and neck, her arms and back, her feet—which her sighs suggested she particularly appreciated—and up along her calves, around her knees, and over her thighs.

Only the press of his claspers kept his stem contained. He thrummed with yearning, tantalized by her every sound, her every reaction. That a hint of her arousal now fragranced the air made it no easier to deny his urges.

Before he realized what he was doing, he’d slipped his hand beneath her and cupped her pussy. She whimpered and gyrated her hips to press into his palm, tickling him with those short, curly hairs, teasing him with her heat, beckoning him with her already accumulating dew.

Gathering her in his arms, Telok drew Lacey’s back against his chest. He covered her breast with one hand, kneading her nipple, and gently stroked her slick slit with another.

She lay an arm over his, clutching his hand as his fingers circled and brushed her clit. “A little slower…” Lacey tipped her head back against his shoulder and closed her eyes with a moan. “Mmm, yes, just like that.”

The ache deep within Telok intensified as Lacey rocked to the rhythm of his ministrations, her breaths growing short and erratic spasms wracking her body.

She came undone with a rush of hot essence, shuddering in his arms until he finally stilled his fingers.

Lacey tried to turn and face him, but he held her fast. With a grumble, she reached back to slip her hand between their bodies at his slit, but he prevented her from doing so by tugging her firmly against him.

“I want to touch you,” she said, wiggling her round ass. “Telok, I want you inside me.”

Desire roared within him, shaking him to his bones. The press of his throbbing cock against the inside of his slit was the purest agony. He could bury himself in his mate with a single stroke, could claim her anew…

Protector, shield me from myself.

Lacey was still sore and healing from their spirited rutting yesterday. If he succumbed to instinct and yearning now, if he rutted her again like he craved, he would hurt her. Those bruises would never fade, and fresh scratches would always mark her skin. She needed to recover.

Because the hunt would only grow more dangerous in the coming days, and he could not bear to be the reason she was not at her best. Satisfying as it was to see his mate well-rutted, prolonged soreness would hinder her out in the Tangle, where life and death was determined in a time shorter than a single heartbeat.

“Be still, my nyleea. Rest now.”

“But what about you? I want to give you pleasure too.”

“Your pleasure is my pleasure.”

“Telok, you⁠—”

He quieted her by setting his fingers back into motion. Her thighs squeezed around them, but they could not stop his gentle caressing of her sensual little bud.

“Oh fuck, this is so not fair,” she said between quivering breaths.

Telok purred. “Whatever it takes to subdue my prey.”

He took his time in building her toward another peak, teasing her, drawing her to the edge and back repeatedly. She rasped his name, begged him for more, harder, faster, but he would not fully obey.

“This is fucking torture,” she breathed as her body went rigid.

More than you can know, little thorn…

She came with such force that it stole the sound from her scream. She clawed at Telok with her blunt nails, scraped her feet across the bedding in search of purchase, and writhed against him.

Had anything ever been as maddeningly arousing as this? As knowing that he could, with a simple touch of his fingers, give his mate overwhelming bliss?

Finally, she sagged, chest heaving with her ragged breaths. “God, Telok… That was…so mean.”

He nuzzled her hair with his face. “Then I must be mean to you more often. You like it.”

She snickered and rubbed his hand with her thumb. “Maybe.”