Page 149 of Crown of Briars
“Besides,” he murmured, leaning down and brushing his mouth against my collarbone. “You are wearing too many clothes. I must rectify this immediately.”
His mouth moved lower, and he kissed the swell of my breast. My breath caught in my throat when he hooked his fangs through one of the lace embellishments of my bodice. He jerked his chin, and a ripping sound made me gasp. He dragged his teeth lower and lower, tearing the fabric in two until hereached my navel. As he worked his way up, his tongue danced over my skin, licking and caressing my stomach and abdomen.
I writhed under his touch, my body arching and my breaths ragged. With slow movements, he parted the two slices of fabric across my chest until the bodice fell off me completely.
My breasts heaved with my frantic breaths. I couldn’t get enough air. I was gasping, the sounds so loud they echoed in the vast library.
But it didn’t seem to bother him. If anything, it only aroused him further. He let out a strained sound of desire before palming one of my breasts and massaging it with his fingers.
“So beautiful,” he murmured.
My head rolled back, a loud moan pouring from my lips. He continued kneading my breasts, and my body jerked when he captured my nipple between his lips. He flicked his tongue over it, sucking and nipping, before gently clamping those sharp incisors directly over the bud.
“Oh,Stones,” I rasped, my hips grinding, desperate for more.
Varius continued to hold my nipple between his teeth, running his tongue over it until my moans turned into harsh, feral grunts.
“I can’t—I can’t—” I broke off with a guttural cry.
“Can’t what?” he breathed against my nipple.
His breath, his tongue, his teeth… It was all too much. Sensation after sensation fired through my body with violent intensity.
His claws gently glided down the length of my arm. It wasn’t until my eyes opened that I realized it wasn’t his claws at all, but the barbs of his tail. The long, crimson appendage curled against my arm, the barbs poking but not hurting. The tail slid down me, then wrapped around my exposed thigh.
“Mmm, this dress,” Varius growled. More ripping sounds followed, and the skirt fell to pieces around my legs, leaving me bare before him.
“That’s better.” His mouth worked down again, pausing just between my legs. I clenched my thighs in anticipation of feeling that tongue tracing circles inside me again.
“You’ve still got that dagger?” he asked.
I nodded, unable to speak. The hilt was still clasped in my sweaty palm, and I knew the moment I released it, my exhaustion would claim me.
I wasn’t ready for this to be over yet.
Varius’s hands gripped my thighs before parting them. He settled himself between them, and I held my breath, waiting for him to push inside me.
But he paused, his dark gaze fixed on me.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Sybelle.” All signs of his earlier amusement had vanished. He was dead serious now.
I leaned up, bringing the edge of my blade to his throat. “I like a little pain now and then.” I spread my legs wider until they wrapped around his abdomen.
“Mother of Shade, you’re so deliciously violent.” He kissed me hard, his teeth skating over my lip.
I yelped when the cool whisper of his shadows wrapped around my wrists once more, tugging them backward until they were above my head again.
I huffed in exasperation, and he grinned in response. “Don’t want you getting so wound up you accidentally slit my throat.”
“You once laughed at the idea of me attacking you.”
“Yes, and what a fool I was. For you alone hold the key to destroying me entirely.”
My heart twisted at his words. Hot desire coursed through me like a river of lava. “Varius?—”
He slid inside me, cutting off my words. The motion was slow and careful, as if he were afraid he might break me. I hissed out a breath at the sheer size of him pressing against me. Stones, he was so thick and hard andeverywhere. My heels dug into his back, drawing him in.
“More,” I demanded.
