Page 149 of Untamed

All that’s left is heat. Urgency and raw need.

My body arches, a scream breaking free as pleasure rips through me. I can’t think. Can’t breathe. I justfeelwaves crashing over me, pulling me under.

Ares isn’t far behind. He groans my name, his body jerking against mine as he comes, burying his face in my neck. I feel the tension snap through him, feel him fall apart in my arms.

Then he’s still.

I stay curled in his lap, my knees tucked against his hips, chest pressed to his as we both try to catch our breath. His arms are still around me, tight, steady, like if he lets go, I might fall apart.

We’re both shaking. Dripping with sweat. Messy. And completely quiet.

His forehead rests against mine, our breaths coming fast and uneven, basking in the afterglow of our release. One of his hands is still gripping waist while the other resting at my nape.

I turn my head and bury my face in his neck. Breathing him in. He smells like heat, soap and something I didn’t realise I needed until now. Something that makes my chest ache.

I don’t say anything and neither does he. Just presses soft kisses along my shoulder while our bodies calm and our breathing evens.

Whatever that just was… it wasn’t just sex. It wasn’t just heat or lust or release of the tension lingering between us.

It wasus. Raw and real.

And somehow, that makes it feel even bigger and so much more terrifying.

Jordyn’s still wrapped around me, warm and trembling, her chest pressed to mine. Our foreheads rest together; breaths tangled in the space between us. I lower her gently onto the bed. Neither of us speaks. There’s nothing to say, not yet. The silence isn’t empty, though. It’s full. Full of what we just gave each other. What she gave me.

I cup her face and tilt her mouth to mine, kissing her slowly and deeply. No rush. No hunger now. Just feeling. Her lips move with mine like we’ve done this a hundred times. Like this is where we were always meant to end up. Her fingers stay threaded in my hair. I feel the tension in her starting to ease, her body softening against mine.

When I finally pull back, I press one last kiss to her jaw, then her temple. I whisper her name like a secret, a vow. And then, gently, I shift.

“I’m gonna pull out, okay?”

She nods, a sleepy sound in her throat, and I ease out of her carefully, already missing the feel of her wrapped around me. I reach down and slide the condom off, wrapping it in tissue before tossing it in the bin beside the bed.

And that’s when I see it.

Blood.

Faint smudges on my skin, staining the inside of her thighs, the sheets beneath her. And it hits me like a fucking sledgehammer.

I stare for a second too long, my hand braced on the bed, my chest tightening. Not out of regret, not even close, but because of what it means.

Her first time. And she gave it to me.

I look back up at her. She’s lying there with flushed cheeks and mussed hair, eyes barely open, lips swollen from my kiss. She looks wrecked. Beautiful. Safe. And mine.

She trusted me with this. With herself.

“Bambina…” My voice catches a little. I reach for her again, brushing her hair back, kissing her forehead. “Stay right here. I’ll be right back.”

I grab a clean cloth from the bathroom, wet it with warm water, and return to her as quickly as I can. She’s lying where I left her, one arm tucked beneath her head, the other resting over herstomach. Her eyes follow me now, soft, a little dazed, but alert. Watching.

“What are you doing?” she asks quietly as I kneel beside the bed.

I don’t answer right away. I just move gently, pressing the cloth between her legs to clean the blood. That’s when she sees it.

Her body tenses, the flush in her cheeks turning sharper, not from arousal this time.

“Oh my God.” Her voice cracks. She tries to sit up, but I place a hand on her hip to stop her. “I, shit, I got blood on your sheets, on you. Ares, I’m so?—”

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