Page 25 of Great Falls Protector
“Anything missing?”
“All there,” he says roughly.
Before the last of the silver door bells finishes its chiming, Coal’s strong hands slide down to grip my backside. Lifting me easily to his eye level, he plunges his mouth over mine, the primal need echoing through the bond between us, making me worry for the fate of Gavriel’s precious library.
* * *
Part II: Prowess Trials
1
Lera
Tye’s calloused hands slide slowly along my bare arms as he extends them over my head, pressing me into the bedsheet. The male’s pine-and-citrus scent flickers over me, as full of mischievous promise as his sparkling emerald gaze.Powerful muscles flex beneath warm skin, his naked body a study in sculpture, as a small purr-like sound rumbles from his chest.
My heart quickens in response, my breath short and shallow as a small blaze of need pools low in my belly. The contrast of Tye’s hot heavy body atop me and the cool sheets beneath my bare back makes the tingling along my skin even starker. More intoxicating.
With Tye’s veil surrendering to his will and my own amulet lying discarded on the writing desk, the mating bond I’ve missed for so, so long overwhelms every fiber inside me. My mate. Here. Touching me. The sheer bliss of the moment is almost too much to bear.
Beyond the window, the sun is just starting to peek over the horizon, brushing the pines and oaks in gentle warmth while a stray hawk bids the world good morning. Sneaking into the bedchamber, another ray of sunlight illuminates a streak along the stone floor, cutting over Tye’s discarded Prowess uniform to open the shadows along his chiseled muscles. I arch my back, pushing myself into Tye’s hardness, my bare, aching breasts falling open.
Tye’s eyes follow my nipples. “Stars, I’ve missed you,” he drawls quietly, sneaking the words beneath Arisha’s soft snores on the other side of the bedchamber. Tye’s naturally musical voice is even more songlike now with his guard down. “So verra much.”
“You know you are talking to my chest, right?”
“Oh, aye.” Gripping my wrists more tightly, Tye runs his nose along the swell of my right breast, taking the nipple into his warm mouth.
I gasp, the zing from my bunching nipple rushing straight to my dripping sex. Heat spills into my blood, my pulse and breath catching as waves of sensation grip the backs of my thighs. My breasts. My already undulating mound. When I collide with Tye’s engorged cock, the shaft so large and hard that I can feel it throbbing against my skin, my mouth waters with the need to take it into my mouth.
His hands still pinning my wrists, Tye circles my nipple with his tongue, ruthlessly flicking the tip.
It’s all I can do to swallow a groan, my lower half moving hungrily up and down, seeking contact. My hands curl against the sheets, the mattress whining in a steady rhythm of my—
“Would you two find a different place for that?” Sitting up in bed with a groan of frustration, Arisha pats the table beside her until she finds her glasses. “I’m mortal, not deaf.”
My breath freezes, heat blazing in my cheeks. When I try to yank the covers over us, however, I discover Tye’s grip on my wrists is as insistent as ever.
Raising his head toward Arisha, the male grins, his sharp features and sudden dimples making him unfairly beautiful. “You might enjoy watching, braids.” His tongue rolls over his teeth with feline indulgence. “Never know until you try.”
“No. Noooo nooo no.” Arisha’s words trip over themselves, and I attempt and fail to knee Tye’s naked backside from where I lie beneath him. Despite having just donned her glasses, Arisha pulls the covers over her head. “I hate you, Tyelor.”
Tye’s grin widens, his red hair flopping over his face in a way he knows is irresistible—which just makes him more annoying. “Impossible. Really, braids, I don’t see why you’d want to deny yourself the pleasure of looking at—ow!” Releasing my wrists, Tye rubs the spot on his neck where I just bit him—third try’s a charm—and glares at me. “What was that for?”
“You seriously don’t know?”
“Never mind.” Tye tips his head toward the pile of blanket that is Arisha. “You can pretend you don’t want to look at me, but you can still enjoy Lilac Girl, you know. I think we all agree thatshelooks ethereal and shouldn’t wear clothes. Ever.”
“Put on some clothes, for stars’ sake,” Coal’s gravelly voice sounds from the doorway. Bouncing a red apple in the palm of his hand, he invites himself into the chamber and surveys the place as if he owns it. Blond hair already pulled neatly into a bun, Coal is dressed in loose black pants and a sleeveless leather jerkin that shows off the corded muscles twining beneath his skin. His blue eyes and chiseled face—the square jaw and strong cheekbones devastatingly enticing—are alarmingly tight.
As Coal goes to close the door, Shade’s wolf pushes past the warrior and trots inside, his long gray tail lifted in victory. I’ve seen more of the wolf than of Shade’s fae form lately, which must be leaving the male utterly bewildered whenever he returns to his normal body.
“Have you ever heard of knocking?” Shoving Tye away, I snatch the blanket around myself while the naked male stretches lazily and sprawls into a sunny spot.
“I heard your bed creaking half a hallway away, so I knew you, at least, were here.” Twisting around, Coal launches his apple at Arisha’s bed, nodding to himself when the mound of bedcovers squeals in indignation. “Both of you. Good.”
“Rrrrrrr.” With a growl deep in his chest, Shade leaps from the floor in one giant stride, his golden eye entirely focused on the circular fruit now rolling across Arisha’s covers.
“Shade,no.”My words land together with Shade’s paws on Arisha’s coverlet, the wolf’s powerful legs pushing against the girl for leverage as he scampers for the elusive apple. A heartbeat later, Shade shoves the tangle of Arisha and bedding to the floor, and—in a flash of salivating canines—makes the final pounce for the fruit. Mission accomplished, the wolf settles on the warm spot Arisha occupied moments ago to noisily munch his kill, thethump thump thumpof his tail on the mattress adding the final flourish of insult to the morning.
