Page 34 of Fate & Monsters
“Don’t say that,” he said, bodily shaking with fracturing restraint.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t have enough discipline to make this easier, Astoria.”
I stood in front of him, the fire behind me casting light across his face. Steam still rose from his shoulders. His shirt clung to him, soaked and half-open, revealing dark fur and taut muscle. I reached out, fingers brushing against his chest—just above his heart.
He didn’t flinch, but he trembled.
“I shouldn’t,” Mavros murmured.
“Shouldn’t what?”
His hands found my waist—slow, hesitant—and pulled me in. Not roughly. Almost reverently. My breath caught in my throat.
Then his mouth caught mine.
It started as a whisper of contact, testing. Searching. But the moment my mouth parted beneath his, the hesitancy shattered. Heat surged between us. His hand splayed against my back, dragging me flush against him, and I gasped into the kiss. My arms looped around his neck, tangling in the wet mess of his hair, pulling him closer. He groaned into me—low and guttural—and the sound unraveled something deep inside me.
My skin burned. My heart pounded. That slow, pulsing ache between my legs bloomed and bloomed until it was all I could feel, all I could want. There was no cold left in me. Only him.
When we finally pulled apart, our breath mingled in the space between.
He rested his forehead against mine.
“I don’t know what this means,” I whispered. Air spirits didn’t experience these feelings—thiswant. “But I know I don’t want it to stop.”
His voice came ragged, almost broken. “I can’t now that we’re here.”
“Then don’t.” The words barely left my lips when the beast prince was on me again.
We fell to the rug before the fire, our limbs tangled, mouths still fused in a kiss that stole the air from my lungs and replacedit with him. The warmth of the flames was nothing compared to the heat of his claw-tipped hands sliding over my skin—rough, reverent, starved.
Each touch ignited something deeper, something that had lived buried beneath fear and silence, now rising with a roar. I arched into him, fingers threaded through his wet hair, pulling him closer, anchoring myself to the solid weight of his body. He touched me like I was sacred, like I was fire, and he’d lived his whole life in the cold. Every inch of space between us vanished as our bodies explored, discovered, yielded. I’d never known desire could feel like this—wild, aching, unstoppable. And I didn’t want it to stop. Not here. Not with him.
Mavros reared back and sat on his knees, an imposing form between my thighs. Large, toned hands stroked my legs. Up and down, inching higher on each pass until they reached my knees. An indecent shiver rolled through my body.
“I love how you tremble when I touch you.” He gripped my knees before parting my legs.
“Yes.” It came out as more of a wanton sigh than a word.
“Such a good, sweet creature for me, aren’t you?” Those long fingers nearly wrapped completely around my thighs. He kneaded my flesh, tenderizing my muscles, and I keened and squirmed for more of something I couldn’t voice. “Relax, and I’ll make it feel so good for you.”
“Please, yes, please.” I begged him to satisfy acraving I didn’t know I possessed.
I scratched at the ground. I turned my head, breathing fast as his hands ascended the tops of my thighs. Warm, soft, and powerful. Touching me with all the reverence of a sinner cradling a holy relic. Frissons of bliss flashed over my skin and crackled along my nerves. I bit my lip to muffle the strained whimpers at the back of my throat.
“So lovely,” he praised.
The beast skimmed his palms over my hips, briefly pausing to rub his thumbs over my hip bones. His digits tapped along the ladder of my ribs while his thumbs massaged up my stomach. Moving with an agonizing slowness bordering on torture. He roamed up and down, teasing me from the space beneath my breasts to the apex of my thighs, never lowering far enough to caress where I throbbed.
“Such beautiful skin.” Palms briefly cupped my breasts before sliding to my neck. I sucked in a quick gasp and my back arched. The sharp tip of claws danced across my throat, my shoulder, then up to my cheek. The chill from his metallic rings clashed with the heat of his hands.
“Mmm… ah.” Mumbles and soft sighs passed through my lips. The beast continued touching, exploring. He smoothed a hand over my shoulder, the other up my neck to my face. He mapped out the curves and planes of my body as if committing them to memory or carving my image into himself. The fire in my blood flooded to my core and coalesced into an inferno between my hips.
“You look so good. So perfect.” He grabbed my face, thumb roughly swiping over my bottom lip. “What I wouldn’t give to take a bite out of you.”
A monster, a phantom voice whispered in my mind.Do not forget the shadows bear monsters. The shadows have teeth.
