Chapter Twenty-Five

Arik

This was the mission, what I needed to do for my plan to succeed. But as Kat’s scent seeped into my lungs, my very pores, I found I couldn’t give a fuck about Maddox, the Anigma, the Archai—none of it mattered. The entire world could go straight to hell as far as I was concerned. All I cared about in this moment was having Kat beneath me, having her neck bare to my fangs, having access to the most intimate parts of her body and soul. That hunger devoured every other thought in my brain. And when my animal rose just under my skin to share the sensations…

Christ, what was I doing here?

Needing the distance to gain some control, I eased Kat back from my chest. She settled on my thighs, eyelids at half-mast, sweet hazel irises peeking up at me. I held her gaze as I lifted a hand, one finger extended, a razor-sharp claw sliding from the end. Kat’s eyes went wide, wild, her breath an uneven huff-pant-huff-pant filling the space between us. And then I leaned close, hooked the claw in the top of her stretchy pajama shirt, and tugged, stopping her breath altogether. The thin fabric parted like water for Moses, straight down her body, peeling back to reveal a too-tiny strip of Kat’s pale skin, inch by sweat-inducing inch.

The hem gave way with a single jerk. I slid the material from her body, first one side, then the other, down her arms to the ground. Cool air and my starving gaze zeroed in on the rosy tips of her nipples, the nubs crinkling, tightening, extending into hard, needy points as if reaching for me.

“Arik?”

Kat’s eyes were dark, uncertain in the dim light, begging me for reassurance. The first time I’d seen her naked body, she’d been unconscious. My gaze on her bare skin, devouring the sight of her, was just one of many firsts she’d experience tonight, and suddenly, fiercely I wanted each and every one of those firsts to be as perfect as I could make them.

Kat’s uncertainty gave way to a soft, sweet blush as she stared into my eyes. I let her see the hunger, the greed, let her get used to the savage demand I couldn’t hold back. I held her stare as I ripped the front hem of her gray sweatpants, right down the seam. When I reached around, gripped the material over each rounded ass cheek, and jerked, tearing the back seam, Kat’s breasts bounced right in front of my face. My animal roared, wanting those breasts against the harsh texture of his tongue, this woman under the heavy weight of his body. I gave in just enough, allowed the griffin to rise behind my skin, and licked across one straining nub as I smoothed the pants down Kat’s legs until they fell away.

Kat seemed lost to the feel of my tongue on her nipple; if she noticed the cool wash of air against her mostly naked skin, she gave no indication. I closed my lips around her tip and sucked gently, rhythmically, as I slashed each side seam of the ball-tightening white lace panties she wore. Kat mewed her pleasure like the kitten I’d named her, bowing up against my mouth, giving me more. I tugged her panties from beneath her lifted hips.

And then I had to look, had to growl my need as the sight of her, naked, beautiful, so innocent I had to fight not to spill my seed right then and there.

“Show me,” I demanded, voice rough with the struggle to hold myself back. “Let me see you. Every last bit. Let me see.”

With no more than a soft whimper, Kat obeyed. She shifted—rounded ass on my lap, legs draped across one side of the couch, body tilted back over the armrest. On display for my pleasure. And pleasure it was. Just the sight of her, vulnerable, delicate, made my mouth water. I needed to gorge, to take and devour until we were both sated from the excess. Watching her breasts shiver with every heavy breath she took, I had a feeling the satiation I sought would be a very long time coming.

Not touching her was torture. Touching her just might fucking kill me, but I’d risk it. I couldn’t not risk it.

Supporting her arched back with one hand, I cupped a full, lush breast with the other, taking its weight, savoring the contrast of smooth, creamy, soft-as-silk skin and my calloused palm. Kat whined and pushed herself higher into my hand. Sweat popped out on my brow. Her nipple, flushed deeper now, was a rigid, begging point that barely yielded to the press of my thumb. A squeeze forced a desperate cry from Kat’s lips; a tug had her thrashing against my stiff erection. I wanted to play here, take her breast into my mouth, suck and bite, drive Kat—and myself—to the thin edge of insanity.

Not yet, not yet.

Circling the tempting abundance one final time, I dragged my reluctant hand down her abdomen.

A slight outward curve welcomed me below her belly button, just enough to cushion my head after I brought her to climax with my mouth. Her thighs fell open to the slide of my fingers along their soft inner skin, revealing the treasure of short auburn curls that guarded their apex. I brushed my fingers through it, seeking, exploring, until the pouty pink lips between her legs parted at my touch and rich, wet cream greeted me.

Kat groaned. Whined her pleasure. Her fingers clutched at my ribs, holding herself in place, and she planted her feet to lift into my touch. I leaned over to meet her on the rise, burying my nose in her crisp curls, inhaling the sweet scent of her skin, the salty zing of sweat, and the distinct feminine musk of arousal. My griffin purred in my chest, the sound morphing into a growl as fresh juices wet Kat’s inner thighs.

I wanted that juice on my tongue. I wanted her scent covering my skin. I shook with the need to take her blood now, straight from the vein pulsing along her inner thigh, and find fulfillment fast and dirty. Instead I stroked that sweet hollow once, twice, before I slipped a single finger in to fill her snug channel.

Tight. Wet. Burning up. Breathing deep, struggling for the control I needed, I tilted Kat onto her side facing me, belly to belly as I delved between her legs. Kat’s face rippled with every nuance of pleasure and, when my finger hit the barrier protecting her body, pain. With my arm behind her shoulders, I tugged her up until we were face-to-face and I could take her lips. Rough, desperate kisses pulled her along the road of desire with me until she shuddered with need and tilted her pelvis to deepen my invasion.

“That’s it, Kitty Kat,” I whispered, my mouth brushing hers with every word. “Just relax. There’s only pleasure here tonight. Only pleasure.” I’d make sure of it.

“Arik, I—”

Her voice broke with a sweet cry as I ground my palm against the hard nub of her clit. I lifted her higher and took one taut nipple into my mouth, sucking and rolling the firm flesh, growling at her taste. Kat gripped my hair tight in her fists, forcing me closer. Her hips pushed into me, then pulled back, pleasuring herself on my hand. Slick moisture eased the way for my finger as it slid in rhythm with her movements, rubbing the walls of her channel, pushing her closer and closer to the very peak of sensation. Just as her body gushed in preparation for release, I took her mouth once more, and Kat opened her eyes, snared me in their depths, and bared her soul to me.

Then she was over the edge and the link was broken. Her sheath clamped hard around my finger, squeezing in rhythmic pulses, her surging body instinctively grinding down on my hand to wring every last bit of sensation from the moment.

Pleasure lit Kat from within, captivating me. As I watched it take her, I carefully extended the barest tip of a claw and sliced quickly through her hymen. Kat didn’t pause, didn’t seem to register any pain. Her rasping breath and racing pulse sent a surge of satisfaction straight to my core, where it mixed with a desperate need to sate my own hunger. But not alone. Not outside her body.

Just a little while longer. I prayed I could make it that long.

“Kat,” I coaxed, pulling her back from the oblivion that had claimed her. “Open your eyes.” I raised my hand to my mouth, and when her hazy eyes focused on me, I sucked the signs of her pleasure and purity from my finger. Kat shivered as she realized what I was doing.

“Come on. Sit up for me.”

I eased her onto her knees, straddling me again. Her body swayed, her breasts in my face, the occasional clenching of her belly as aftershocks rode her clear to my sight. Much as I wanted to watch her lost in pleasure forever, my body had other demands. I ripped open my button-down shirt and performed a hasty zip and jerk on my pants, determined to have her skin to skin, the need to completely undress circumvented by the urgency boiling in my blood. Fatigues and boxer briefs yielded to the rough push of my hands until my cock was bared to the chill air, but Kat’s hot, wet folds cradled me perfectly when I drew her close.

Hardening nipples brushed my bare chest, and my fingers clenched on the rounded swell of her hips. My throat constricted, lungs refusing to cooperate as I fought my body’s demands for hard, fast, and violent. I was a bastard, I knew that, but not here, not now. For once I would give, not just take. Kat deserved that, at least.

No time to coax her fangs; I was too far gone. A hasty swipe across my carotid did the job. A quick pull on the back of Kat’s neck and her lips met the blood trickling onto my skin. She struggled a little, fighting my unbreakable hold, but when she opened her mouth to protest, my blood hit her tongue and all resistance melted away. One tentative lick, then another. Then her lips surrounded the cut and she drew on me with gentle sucks. The click of her throat as she swallowed rang in my ears, and euphoria shivered down her spine and mine. I could’ve lost it right then and there, but the iron control I’d wielded for so long refused the surrender my body begged for.

The next few minutes were a torture unlike any I’d endured in centuries. Kat instinctively cocked her pelvis forward, seeking the rigid length of my cock, needing, driving the haze of hunger higher and higher until I thought I’d go berserk. The scrape of tiny points as her canines extended the slightest bit sent a tingle straight to my balls, and I knew the wait had to be over. Careful to keep the connection between her mouth and my skin, I lifted Kat’s hips and positioned her above my throbbing shaft, then lowered her onto me. Her body resisted, clamping down around me, so damn tight I thought for sure the top of my head would blow off. In self-preservation, desperation, whatever the hell it was, I caught a nipple between my thumb and finger and rolled it. Kat sucked hard, drawing blood instead of air as the sensation took all her attention, and when she swallowed, her body softened, allowing me to slide all the way in, in, in until I nudged the thick knot of her cervix.

Kat flung her head back, breaking the suction. “Arik!”

No way in hell could I form words with her wrapping around me like a damn tourniquet. I reached into her mind. “Shh. I’ve got you. Right here, Kitty Kat.”

Hard nails dug into my biceps, drawing blood. Kat panted, her gaze locked mine like she needed a lifeline, and I didn’t need to read her mind to know she hurt. Tears streaked down her reddened cheeks. My heart thumped painfully, and I rocked her gently back and forth, whispering who knew what, simultaneously desperate to soothe her and open her body to my possession. Seconds turned into a minute, and then the color in her cheeks faded, wonder began to bloom in her eyes, and she lifted slightly up my aching cock.

The first tentative reach for the ultimate pleasure.

“Fuck, yes,” I groaned, unable to keep the words in. My griffin growled his agreement. “Like that. Just like that.”

The knowledge of her feminine power flashed in her eyes, and she rose again, farther this time, then lowered until our pelvises met and her clit pressed against my pubic bone. We moaned together.

“Arik,” she whispered, voice hoarse. Dripping cream eased my way through another thrust.

Cream. Wet.

“Shit,” I grated out. A quick lift of her body, a hasty fumble through my pocket and I was sliding on a condom, then thrusting back inside. The barrier frustrated me, nowhere near as good as Kat’s bare skin hugging my cock like a glove, but despite the fact that Archai genes usually tapped the brakes on female biology for a while after triggering, I wouldn’t risk it. Hell, it shook me to realize I’d entered her bare for even a second.

Kat held herself still in my lap. I could see her starting to think, see the questions and caution gathering in her mind. Not now, Kat.

I circled my hips beneath her.

Kat sucked in air. Her fingernails dug into my shoulders. “God, I need…”

I urged her to rock herself on me again, then again, my pull on her hips grinding us together on every return. Kat’s pulse picked up speed, the throb along the side of her neck matching the throb in my groin, and I finally let the leash on my control loosen.

“I need too, Kitty Kat.” I bent my head to nuzzle the softness of that sweet join between neck and shoulder. Kat arched, lifted. Her head tilted back, giving herself in a way that fed the craving inside me even more. The taste of salt and female filled my senses as I pulled a small bite of her creamy skin into my mouth and sucked hard. The barest tips of my fangs penetrated her vein, and Kat’s taste hit my tongue like a fireball.

With the first suck, Kat cried out, the sound even mixing with the freight train of my own harsh breathing and heavy swallows roaring in my ears. Pain shot through my arms as sharp fingernails dug into the heavy muscles—but not from fear. It was adrenaline lacing her blood, excitement, arousal. It sank into my body, filled every single cell, addicting me in an instant. Kat arched toward my bite, begging for more with every tug of her skin; then she dropped, internal muscles gloving my rigid cock, and my last whisper-thin thread of control snapped clean.

I gripped her hips hard, forcing myself away from her blood with a final lick. “Come on, Kitty Kat. You can do it. Come on.” This time I was the one who lifted and lowered her hips, setting a pace that quickened as seconds turned to minutes, as pleasure turned to bliss and then, ultimately, to paradise. Kat’s cry rose to a shout, her body tightening around me like a vise, and I let myself go. My cock exploded with mindless pulses, giving her my seed just as I’d given her my blood, pouring all that I was, all that I had into her until the last drop of need was sated and I slumped, empty except for the female filling me in a way that shouldn’t have been possible with mere sex.

The riot of pain and hate that had stretched me to the breaking point for nine hundred years faded in the aftermath. Here, with Kat in my arms, everything was quiet. Peaceful.

Perfect.