Page 16 of Great Falls Rogue
“Fae who don’t want to follow Lunos’s rules and ally with Mors instead,” she said through clenched teeth. “I hurt less before you started prodding me.”
“I believe it.”And it will hurt more still before I’m done.“Deep breaths, cub.” With one look at her tattered black shirt, Shade took off his tunic and laid the soft fabric over the girl’s upper body before pulling off his undershirt. Several rips had the fabric in strips, one of which he placed next to a sturdy stick about the length of his hand.
“I don’t like the look on your face.” The girl’s voice shook slightly, her attention following his motions suspiciously. Like many warriors Shade knew, the girl would clearly rather face a swordsman trying to kill her than a healer trying to help. “What are you planning exactly?”
Crouching beside her head for a moment, Shade cleared a lock of auburn hair from her face. On the side of her neck, the girl’s pulse pounded a quick rhythm.
“I’m planning on wrapping some cloth around your thigh,” said Shade.
“You’re planning more than that.”
He sighed. “I’m going to put a bit of pressure to help stop the bleeding. And the arm will need stiches, though I’ve no supplies on me. Maybe the ribs and shoulder as well.” Shade touched her cheek, the skin soft and sensuous. In the forest about them, the rustle and snaps of twigs spoke of animals scurrying about their night. In their world, all was well. Shade caught the girl’s gaze. “Can you trust me not to hurt you more than I must?”
Despite the fear and pain leaking into her scent, the girl nodded.
Shade swallowed, savoring her trust. Then, unable to stop himself—or question why it seemed right—he leaned down to brush a light kiss across her forehead.
Trapping the girl’s leg between his thighs, Shade made short work of packing the wound before wrapping the wad of cloth tightly into place. Threading the prepared stick through the knot, he wrenched down on the dressing, the girl’s whimpers lashing his heart. “It’s all right, cub. I’m done with this.”
“I…want…to kill you.”
“I know.” He brushed a hand along the girl’s shoulder, every detail of her body calling for his attention. The large eyes glistening with unshed tears, the lip she’d bitten, the slight tremor to her muscles. Sliding his hands under her shoulders, he scooped the girl into his lap, her cool, silky skin flush against his bare chest.
Despite the pain he’d just caused her, she leaned into his touch, pressing her cheek against his shoulder.
Desire and possessiveness shot through Shade at once. Magic. It had to be magic, this maddening craving for a girl he’d never seen before yet somehow knew with every fiber of his being.Despite the fine tremor from the chill, the girl’s muscles were taut beneath her skin, her full breasts and curves calling to his hands with a siren’s song. Shade longed to hear her voice again—longed for a great deal more than that, judging by the painful twitching of his cock—but for now, her words would have to be enough. “How do you feel?”
“Like I lost a fight.” Nestled against his shoulder and without enduring more prodding, the girl was clearly at greater ease.
“You did lose a fight.” His arms tightened around the girl, though he was uncertain who was comforting whom. The solid warm weight of her in his arms filled his soul, her round bottom against him turning his ache into a throb.
A slow smile tugging the corner of the girl’s mouth said she felt that very throbbing hardness beneath her just fine.
Face heating, Shade went to place her back on the ground, but the girl tightened her grip on him instead. “I need you, Shade. Now. Please.”
His heart stopped. He licked his suddenly dry lips. “You—”You don’t know me,he wanted to say, but knew that was somehow not true. “You are hurt.”
“I know. But you’ll make it better,” the girl whispered as her hand reached for his head, tugging his mouth down to her parting lips. “Thewhyof that you’ll need to work out for yourself.”
The scent of lilacs hit Shade first, followed by a hint of sweet arousal from her shifting hips. Then…then came the press of a warm mouth, a tongue inviting his into a slow, maddening dance.
Shade froze, his heart pounding with a sudden predatory desire that overtook need and want. He tried to focus on what the girl had said, he truly did, but it was impossible. With her delicious taste overwhelming his senses, her lilac scent rousing his soul, he couldn’t think. Couldn’t control the urge to take her, no matter the warnings the healer in him shouted or the common sense the man in him had.
No, he could no more stop himself from angling his mouth deeper over the girl’s than he could have resisted breathing.
He intended to be soft, to follow her slow dance. To savor the sweet taste of her that tingled his tongue. He lost that battle the moment the girl’s sharp canines brushed against his lower lip.
Heat surged through Shade’s spine, making his cock pulse so hard that each beat of his heart was agony. Gripping the back of the girl’s head, he took her mouth with a savage possessiveness.Claiming. Demanding. And when, instead of yielding to his pressure, the female roused to it—her hand tangling in his hair and yanking him close—there was no more thought of any kind to be had.
A growl that was anything but human rose inside his chest as he pinned the girl to the soft moss. His mouth still on her, he plunged his hand between her thighs to find her sex wet and hot and calling to him. But he wanted more than to bed her. He wanted to claim every inch of her blazing body.
Shade slid two fingers into her without mercy, the spiked scent of her arousal raking down his chest and thighs and cock. Yes, he would be inside her soon, making her tight, hot channel his own. But first, first, Shade wanted to savor all of her. Properly.
Pulling free from the girl’s mouth and sex, Shade held himself up over the girl. Her pupils were wide and glassy with a desire that matched his own. Her lips parted, her breath as quick as her racing pulse as she arched up toward him. If she felt the pain of her injuries now, the sensation must be as distant as Shade’s common sense.And in a few moments, she would feel not even that.
11
Lera
