Page 133 of The Sea Witch
“Oh, goddesses,” she gasped.
“The gods can’t help us now,” he said, his voice hoarse.
The chaise buckled beneath her and she clutched it for support, even as she pushed back to meet his thrusts.
She glanced over her shoulder to watch him. His eyes were half closed, his mouth open as he panted with each stroke.
“Come with me, Flame,” he urged.
“I can’t,” she moaned. She’d lost count of how many orgasms she’d already had.
“Let me try.”
He released one of the hands gripping her hips, bringing it around between her legs. He caressed her clitoris as he continued to fuck her.
She came again with a long moan.
“Alys,” he snarled. “I’m—”
“Inside me, Ben,” she commanded. “I want all of it.”
His breath gusted over her back as he pressed himself tightly against her, each tremor moving from his body into hers. A smaller softer climax glided through her at the feel of his release.
He pressed his damp face against the nape of her neck, lavishing kisses on her skin. “Beautiful, beautiful Alys. My Flame. I didn’t know it could be like this.”
She closed her eyes. It was too much.Hewas too much. And the awful thing was that she couldn’t wait to do everything again. With him.
Finally, he pulled out, and her body missed him already. Her legs had lost all stability but before they could buckle, he swept her into his arms and carried her to the bed. After tucking her beneath the covers, he stripped off his boots and breeches, then strode to a stand that held a pitcher and basin. Through drowsy eyes, she admired his nude body, covered with his intriguing markings, as he poured water into the basin, dampened a cloth, and then brought it back to the bed.
She purred as he gently, thoroughly cleaned his seed from her, before cleansing himself. He cast the cloth aside as he climbed into bed and gathered her against him. Her hand pressed over his heart, feeling it pound beneath her palm.
Tenderly, he kissed her forehead.
Fear uncoiled in her, a serpent awakening from its slumber.
“Ben,” she gulped. “We can’t—”
The building around them shook and dust filtered from the ceiling. An inhuman roar pierced the night.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Alys leapt out of bed, and Ben did the same. The furious, outraged animal roaring reverberated in Alys’s gut as terror climbed up her back.
She dressed quickly, and strapped on her cutlass. Ben pulled on his clothing, concealing his markings, which still covered his skin. He grabbed his blade. The walls of the manor shuddered so violently that cracks spread through the plasterwork.
After using magic to push the chest out of the way, Alys pulled open the door to reveal pirates in all states of dress crowding in alarm along the catwalk. Chunks of ceiling and wall slammed down onto the tile floor, shattering it and barely missing fleeing buccaneers. Panicked yells joined together in a cacophony as people screamed.
Alys joined Ben on the catwalk. He reached for her hand, and she took it. Together, they wove through the throng. When she stumbled over a pile of rubble, Ben steadied her and helped her to keep moving. They, along with the crowd, headed toward the stairs leading to the ground floor.
A crashing noise made her turn. The manor’s outer wall cracked open and split apart, and a pair of huge claws ripped the wall away. The head of a massive creature pushed its muzzle into the manor, right by the room Alys and Ben had just been in.
“Holy fucking stars,” Alys gasped.
The beast was a cross between a feathered bird and a scaled lizard, with a gleaming sharp beak at the end of a long reptilian face. Golden eyes glinted with rage.
A man tried to spring past the creature, but a stone falling from the ceiling knocked him down. The beast snatched the pirate in its beak, then tossed him aside.
Alys froze as the beast turned its yellow eyes to her and Ben.
