Savage Possession (Temple of Luna #1) (5 page)

“
Your profile?” He drew his
fingers slowly through her hair and clenched his fist in the silky
locks. “You’re right. I’ve never seen it.”

“
Too bad.” She dragged her
tongue up the length of his shaft. “You’ll just have to figure it
out on your own.”

He pulled a little, then harder when she
moaned. “You think I haven’t figured it out already?”

“
Maybe...” Her gaze found
his as she licked his head. “You do seem very clever.”

He could stop his hips from thrusting a
little toward her mouth. “So do you.”

She watched his face for one tense, teasing
heartbeat, then wrapped her lips around his cock and began sucking
him in earnest.

It was sloppy, unpracticed. That soothed his
possessiveness, but it didn’t explain why it still felt so damn
good. Better than anything in recent memory, with the exception of
being inside her. “Fuck.”

Her moan shook through him as she clutched
at his hips and tried to take him deeper. She seemed eager, almost
desperate to please him, the feeling coming not just from the wet
heat of her mouth, but the needy grasp of her magic.

Rais pulled her head back gently. “Give me
more, Avani. Ride me.”

She let him guide her up his body, until her
hips sat poised over his. She rubbed against him, grinding her cunt
down on his cock, and tilted her head back as a moan of pleasure
escaped her. “I’ve never spent this much time on top of a man
before.”

She’d probably never had a man comfortable
giving up any control. “Just a little...” He slid inside her with a
groan. “That’s it.”

Both of her hands landed on his chest. She
stared down at him, eyes wide and glazed with pleasure, and took
another few inches of his cock into her body with a sharp moan.
“You fill me.”

“
Take it.” He arched up,
driving against her. “Deeper.”

Her throat worked and her nails pricked his
chest as her cunt clenched around him. “By the Goddess, Rais...”
She dropped her head forward again, her hair tumbling around her
face as she slammed down with a cry.

Pleasure rippled up his spine, and his
rested his hands lightly on her hips. “Stop.”

She stilled obediently, though her body
trembled. “You feel so good inside me.”

“
Don’t tell me.” He took
one of her hands and guided it down to her clit. “Show
me.”

“
Oh
...” Her breath hissed out as her fingers moved under his,
rubbing in tiny, slow circles that made her spasm around his cock.
“I--I can’t do this for long or I’ll come.”

She was gripping him tightly and growing
wetter by the second. He started rocking slowly under her. “What
about this?”

Avani cried out, and he felt her grip on
control snap when her magic did. Giddy, joyful power rose in the
room as she started to rock, jerky, tentative movements that grew
fluid as she found the rhythm.

“
Slow. Like that.” His
balls tightened as she drew him deeper with every roll of her hips,
and he watched her, fascinated. “Just like that.”

“
Yes.” Her voice had
dropped to a throaty, pleasure-filled whisper. When she spoke again
it was his name, over and over in a trembling chant between panting
breaths. Climax built slowly in her, stealing over her in a visible
wave as color rose in her cheeks and her eyes clenched
shut.

She’d reached it, the plateau of pleasure
where the slightest touch could set her off, and Rais meant to keep
her there. He moved her hand and replaced it with his own, and
began to stroke her clit with quick flicks of his thumb.

Her mouth fell open. Her fingernails scraped
along his arm as she flung her head back and came. She was so
tight, so wet, that he almost followed her into madness. But he
gritted his teeth and kept caressing her, his control nearly in
shreds. “Don’t stop, Avani.”

“
Oh Goddess, yes...” The
rhythm of her hips faltered and she clutched at his arm with a
frantic whimper. “I can’t--help me, help me move--”

He flipped her onto her back without
withdrawing and stretched his body over hers. “Hard?”

“
You.” She reached her arms
over her head and arched her neck, giving him her submission. “All
I want is you.”

All he wanted was for the pleasure of being
inside her to never end. “Slow, then.” He eased back until his cock
was barely in and rocked into her again.

Her eyes fluttered open and she stared up at
him as she lifted one hand to cup his cheek. “Are you sure this is
what you want? You haven’t taken me from behind yet.”

The question startled him, mostly because it
hadn’t even occurred to him. “I like looking at your face.”

“
Oh.” Her mouth curved up,
her eyes shyly pleased. “I’m glad.” She rubbed her thumb over his
lower lip, the touch soft, almost tentative. “I like watching you
look at me.”

He bit the pad of her thumb and kept up his
careful thrusts. “What do you see? A man or a king?”

Her smile widened, turned wicked. “Oh, a
king of course. All I want is to bask in the glory of your
highness’s perfectly chiseled jaw and manfully--”

Rais rolled them to one side and slapped her
ass. “Behave, damn it.”

He felt the sting of her teeth against his
shoulder before her head fell back, and all of the teasing had
vanished from her eyes. “You, Rais,” she whispered. “I always see
you.”

The man was mollified. The beast, however,
reared inside him, stirred by her teasing. Rais pulled away and
swatted at her ass again. “Roll over and grab the headboard.”

She obeyed without a murmur of protest,
coming to her knees before bending down to clutch at the base of
the headboard. “Like this?”

He answered with a single
hard thrust, one that took him deep into her body, and a tortured
groan. And even that wasn’t loud enough to drown out her cry of
pleasure. “Again, please...
please
!”

His hands trembled on her hips and he had to
bite his lip, but he stopped, still buried inside her. “You teased
me. Now I tease you back.”

Avani had lost her grip on rational thought.
It was the only way to explain how desperately she wanted to prod
at Rais, to drive him into claiming her. Reckless, considering
she’d already told him she wasn’t his to take.

But she wanted to be.
She
needed
to
be.

No.
She pushed back against him and tried to urge him to movement.
At least movement would keep her from thinking. From yearning for
things that shouldn’t be.

Instead, he stayed still and stroked one
hand up her back. “Ask.”

“
Please.” It sounded more
challenging than pleading, so she tried again. “Rais,
please.”

He leaned over her and scraped his teeth
over the back of her shoulder. “Beg.”

“
I am.” But not the way he
wanted. She clenched her eyes shut and rubbed up against him. “I’ve
been begging since you kissed me.”

“
No, you haven’t. You’ve
been pretending to beg.”

With words she’d pretended, maybe, but her
body had betrayed her time and time again. Maybe she should be
grateful he didn’t realize yet that he had such power over her. But
her body betrayed her again, and this time words followed. “Because
you can’t beg when you already have everything you want.”

“
Do you, though?” he
rasped. His hips bumped against hers, just a quick rush of
sensation. A promise of more to come. Need burned inside her, but
so did a sharp thread of satisfaction at being held on the
edge.

She twisted her head so her lips brushed his
jaw. “You haven’t been listening. I’m at your mercy, Rais. Make me
come, make me wait, make me scream. I’m at your mercy.”

“
Yes.
” He followed the low growl with a surging thrust, then
another. He rode her hard, pulling her back to meet him, rough
eddies of power swirling around them as he fucked her. Not soft or
pretty, not careful lovemaking.

He fucked her, and every
claiming thrust wrapped his magic more tightly around her, until
she feared the marks would never truly fade. She’d go through her
life craving this man, needing him because nothing would
ever
be this good
again—

Her body was already
primed, but she fought the rising pleasure with everything in her.
She’d rejected Rais. She’d asked the impossible, as if she had any
right to dictate how the future king chose his mate.
I may never feel this pleasure again.

So she wallowed in it. She savored the heat
of his body and the unquestionable dominance in his strength. She
shivered at the next brush of his magic, heat and intangible need
that expressed itself in a tingling caress.

His next thrust went deeper, stroked along
neglected nerves that sent liquid fire racing through her. Her
fingers lost their grip on the headboard and she barely felt the
impact as her elbows crashed into the bed, too lost in the sudden
sensation.

And maybe she could beg
after all, because her lips parted and words tumbled out before she
could stop them. “Again, please Rais, right there...oh
God
—“

He growled loudly as the wild power in him
swelled and burst through her. His hand clenched in her hair, and
he panted her name between harsh groans. The thrusts were wild,
desperate, but it didn’t matter. The next one hit just right and
pleasure upended the world.

She screamed, maybe his name, maybe just
noise. Her fingers clenched around the bedding as if it would
anchor her, keep her from losing herself in the shuddering waves of
heat that accompanied every fierce spasm.

Rais drove into her one final time and
shouted his release. His fingers dug into her hip, holding her
close as he ground against her, riding her through both their
orgasms.

The hand on her hip was the only thing
keeping her on her knees. Avani closed her eyes and let her cheek
rest against the rumpled sheets, unable to gather the voice to say
more than his name. “Rais.”

He heaved a shaky sigh and rolled them both
to the bed, still joined. He brushed her hair away from her neck
and panted against her skin. “What is it, Avani?”

She’d noticed him for years. He’d noticed
her for a day. The girl might have fooled herself into believing
their attraction was deep and lasting, but the woman knew better.
Kings did as they pleased. Loved as they pleased. A moment of
impulse now could bind her to him forever, but Rais would never be
similarly bound. Not unless he wanted to be.

His body felt warm behind her. She couldn’t
make a foolish promise on the hope of a day of sex, but she could
enjoy the way he felt and pray the need for him would fade. So she
rubbed back against him with a quiet, contented noise. “I feel
very, very good.”

She had to have imagined the way he tensed.
“I’m glad. You should get some sleep.” Then he kissed her neck and
slipped away.

It was the last thing she expected to hear.
She rolled over, and her stomach twisted when she saw him reaching
for his pants. “You’re leaving?”

“
I’d planned on making this
a short visit.” His face was inscrutable. “Have to get back as soon
as possible.”

The high priestess had made it clear that
Rais was overdue a visit and needier than usual. Avani had been
prepared to spend several days secluded with him while he worked
out his frustration.

She was supposed to
have
time
.

He pulled on his pants, and
some tiny, terrified part of her considered the possibility that
she’d failed. She was twenty-three and still a novice, and he could
be leaving because her magic hadn’t been enough. Because her
body
hadn’t been enough.
It took no special skill to lie passively while a man took his
pleasure, after all.

Her chest ached as she sat up and gathered
the blanket against her body, as if modesty would make her feel
less like a failure. “Did I--Will you be all right? If I
wasn’t...enough, you should find someone else. So you won’t be in
danger.”

“
No, you were...” He looked
at her for a long moment, his eyes dark. Then his lips curved into
a gentle, sad smile. “You did well, little one.”

Nothing had hurt this much in her pampered,
sheltered life. And even knowing Rais could break her heart, even
knowing it was foolish, she couldn’t stop herself. “If you were
still interested--”

“
Stop.” He dragged his
hands through his hair. “Don’t apologize or compromise your
decisions, Avani, least of all for me.”

Because she’d offended him beyond repair. Or
because a taste of her when the beast wasn’t in control had been
enough to kill any desire to possess her. He had his pick of women,
ones more beautiful, more talented, more innocent, more whatever he
could possibly want.

Avani closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have
to see him leave, and tried to tell herself it was for the best. “I
hope you’ll be safe, Rais. I’ll give your regards to my uncle, and
I know my aunt is hoping you’ll favor her with a visit again
soon.”

His silence was deafening. “Thank you for
your kindness and concern. Please tell them I’ll--I’ll see them
when I can.”

The stilted, miserable conversation was
worse than the pain of losing him. But she’d have no one to blame
but herself if she let him go without telling him the one thing
that mattered. “I was truly blessed to have you as my first. I’ll
never forget it.” Not even if she wanted to, she wagered.