Page 42 of What Hunts Inside the Shadows

“Fuck,” he groaned when I dragged my nails over his back, reaching down to take his ass in my hands and pull him in harder, deeper. He took the encouragement for what it was, seeking his own pleasure as he fucked me into oblivion.

When he came, he filled me with him and his ragged groan echoed through my body, striking me through the bond as his pleasure consumed me and sent me tumbling into a second orgasm. I lay beneath him, trying to catch my breath before I opened my eyes.

The moment his gaze clashed with mine, I knew he’d meant every word about not allowing me to sleep that night. He pulled back and thrust forward, gliding through my tender flesh until I whimpered.

He rolled us over, keeping us united as he softened inside me. After he stood and picked me up, the bathwater was cold as he stepped into the tub and lowered us into it, settling me on his lap so that I sat on his cock.

The urge to move claimed me, forcing me to make tentative, testing rolls with my hips. He groaned but smiled up at me, dropping his hands to sides and guiding my uncertain motions. “I want to feast on your pussy and fuck you until the stars in the sky fade and the sun rises on a new day.”

He ran his thumb over my mouth, a teasing lilt filling his voice as he continued. “And I believe you owe me the haven of your mouth, min asteren.”

Fuck.

15

ESTRELLA

Ipulled open the door when the knock came, revealing the fresh face of one of the village women. She held a massive bowl of crystal-clear water in her hands as she gave me an indulgent smile. “I thought you might like some clean water to freshen up this morning, my Lady,” she said, glancing over my shoulder. The sheets on the bed were a rumpled mess from where I’d only just untangled myself, barely having the time to slip Caldris’s tunic over my head.

“I’m no Lady,” I said, giving her the most awkward smile I thought she’d probably ever seen. I stepped aside, shuddering to think of what a mess my hair probably looked like as she placed the bowl on the table in the space.

“I’m so sorry,” she said suddenly, clasping a hand over her mouth. “How foolish of me. I don’t know what to call the mate of the God of the Dead? Does that make you a Goddess?”

The horror on her face brought a startled laugh from my throat. “I’m just a woman. A harvester in fact,” I admitted, ignoring the strange prickle of discomfort that made me flush. Would I…have a title?

Oh, fuckthat.

Caldris appeared in the doorway from the back, where the wooden walkway extended around each home. His shirt was missing, his trousers slung low on his hips. I was fairly certain that my hair was a matted mess given our activities of the last countless hours, but his lay in perfect waves to his shoulders. The crown was missing from the top of his head, tossed to the side at some point after we’d ended up in the hut.

The events of the early part of the evening were slightly hazy, as if I’d experienced them from behind a fogged window and only been a witness to them instead of an active participant.

The woman gaped at him, watching as he closed the distance between us and leaned down to touch his lips to mine. It soothed the part of me that was tempted to rise up, which was so possessive of him that I wanted to smack him for daring to expose any part of himself to wandering eyes.

When he pulled back, he smirked down at me as if he knew the exact thoughts in my head. I realized with a shock that he might not know the choice words swirling in my head, but he knew the feeling. He knew the jealousy and possessiveness that consumed me, because he could feel it.

He grinned, wrapping himself around my back and resting his chin on top of my head. “As the Crown Princess of the Winter Court, her formal address would be ‘Your Highness’,” he said, brushing the mess of my hair to the side and leaning down to lay a quick kiss upon my neck. I shivered, both from the touch and the callous reminder that I wasn’t my own person any longer.

“We aren’t married,” I said, swallowing my nerves as Caldris walked around the village girl. She flushed at him, spinning and pressing a hand to the wall behind her as he lowered his hands into the water and leaned over the bowl. Raising handfuls of water, he splashed it onto his skin. His face was beaded with water when he turned his heated stare my way, taking the small, folded linen off the table and using it to dab himself dry.

“Aren’t we?” he asked, the teasing lilt in his voice making me shake with laughter. From what he’d said, there would be a ceremony if I were to accept the mate bond. Something that would mark the acceptance of one another as our fated match,thatwas when I would consider us wed.

I laughed, the sound sharp and full of disbelief as I gaped at him. “Not even close, you arrogant prick,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. The girl rounded her eyes, staring at me as if I was either very foolish or very brave.

“Hmmm,” my mate hummed, stepping around the table to close the distance between us once again. He snagged my chin, staring down at me intently with gleaming blue eyes. “We’ll have to remedy that then.” Everything in him seemedmore, both pleased and empowered by the step we’d taken toward the completion of our match.

My nerves made me want to slam the metaphorical window in his face, to close myself off once more, but…I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. Ilikedhaving him in my head, experiencing everything he felt. I thrived off of knowing what emotions surged through him and feelingthe way he saw me. If loving him was wrong, if feeling whole with the connection blazing between us was a sin, I never wanted to be virtuous again.

“This is the part where I think it would be wise to give us some privacy,” Caldris said, turning to quirk a brow at the girl watching his display with wide eyes. She scurried from the hut, grabbing the door by the handle and pulling it closed behind her. It slammed in her hurry to leave, making me gasp and smack my palm against his chest.

“That was terribly rude. She was kind enough to bring me fresh water for the morning. I’ll need it to make my hair resemble something other than a bird’s nest, thanks to you. And Void knows I cannot climb back into the tub again,” I said, glancing toward the metal basin. I’d lost track of the number of times Caldris had submerged us in the water, cleaning my body of the evidence of his love making just to cover me in it all over again.

I didn’t even want to think about all of that being in my hair.

Maybe I should go submerge myself in the Black River. It was probably cleaner.

“They would bring you fresh bathwater if you asked,” he said, grinning at the disgust on my face at the thought of it. I’d only been half-aware of what was happening the night before, when they gifted us with the hut for the night, warming water in metal buckets by the fire and filling the tub until the steam filled the home.

“Just because you’re comfortable being waited on, does not mean I am,” I argued, pulling my chin out of his grasp. The people of Black Water had already done far more for me than they needed, mistakenly believing they owed me a debt for extinguishing the flames.

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