Pleasure of a Dark Prince (6 page)

Even after I
shot
him.

He eased even closer, until their bodies were touching. When his gaze dipped to where her breasts met his battered chest, she felt his penis pulse harder in a rush, and a last ounce of sanity told her,
Stop this!

She needed to get away from this werewolf, but she couldn’t outrun him all the way back to Val Hall. Besides, fleeing from an enemy was something Valkyrie tended never to do.

Have to shoot him between the eyes if I must.
From close range. Otherwise, with his speed he could dodge the shot. And put her in agony. “MacRieve, I’m giving you one last—”

He silenced her with a sizzling kiss to her neck, his tongue flicking against her chilled skin. Shivering with pleasure and surprise, she gazed up at the tree limbs above her, biting her lip.

Yet when he pressed his erection against her, she cried, “Let me go
now
!”

He didn’t, so she gouged her thumb into one of his wounds. His dark claws dug into the tree, but he didn’t release her. “Woman, that bluidy hurts.”

“Then stop kissing me!”

“Nothing hurts
that
bad.” His mouth descended to her neck once more. He seemed to be not only kissing her but tasting her…
gentling
her.

“I can make it hurt that bad,” she said inanely, striving to keep her eyes open as his tongue darted.

“I feel only one ache in my body.” He drew back, and the corner of his lips curled. “And you’re soon to ease it.”

So earthy and sexy.
Lucia couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this much excitement with a male…. Her thoughts trailed off.

No, I
can
remember the last time.
Vividly. Lucia was still paying for it. She attempted to pull away, but he clutched her to him. And Freya help her, she wanted him to.
No!
No more pretending that she was a normal woman about to have a clandestine affair with the most sexually attractive male she’d ever seen. “Never, MacRieve.”

She could be as vicious as any of her sisters. Just be cause a Valkyrie’s innate ferocity wasn’t her first impulse in a conflict didn’t mean she couldn’t draw on it when she needed to. “Kiss me again, Lykae, and I’ll make you regret it.”

He kissed her again. So she kicked him between his legs, ducking from him. As he dropped to his knees, she hastened away. But she heard him grunt,
“Still doona regret it.”

FIVE

Stalking her through the bayou once more, he tracked her heady scent—with his bollocks aching from her kick and his chest wounds on fire.

“I can scent you, know you’re near.” Yes, she was close. He circled in place, his eyes narrowed. “Doona run from me! You will no’ get away.”
And we crave the chase. Ah, gods, we crave it.
“You’ve only got one arrow left.”

“But I’m going to make this one count,” she whispered above him.

Before he could swing his head up at the sound, she’d tackled him into a bed of moss, knees into his shoulders, her arrow pressed into his forehead.

In a slow, awed tone, he rasped,
“I—like—you, lass!”
So lovely, so wild. An avenging angel, with her bizarre bow seeming to glow above him.

When blood welled on his forehead and trickled down his temple, he said, “You canna release your arrow, Valkyrie. You feel something for me, too.” She looked stunned, as if her hesitation baffled her. “I’ll bet when you set a course of action, you doona falter.”

At that, she gritted her teeth, like she was redoubling her resolve.

“But you canna do it.” The instant she relaxed the tension on her bowstring, he tossed her on her back, covering her body with his. He groaned to feel all her lush curves pressed against him. Both of them were out of breath, her breasts rising and falling so temptingly.

She was a wee beauty, with her smooth golden skin and plump lips. Her hair had begun drying into a deep caramel color. It felt like silk and smelled like heaven.
Like home
. “You ken this feels right between us.”

Ah, gods, it does.
As if they’d done this before. As if she recognized his touch and remembered the breathless way she felt at this moment.

What was happening to her? He was right—when she set a course of action, she’d never once faltered. Yet she couldn’t shoot him!

His mouth descended on hers. Just as she was about to shove him away, he groaned, as though the mere contact of their lips brought him so much pleasure he couldn’t contain it. He deepened the kiss, pressing his firm lips harder, coaxing her with his tongue to respond.

The shock of being kissed after so long. The heat of his body over hers in the cold rain.

Lightning struck above them, and she knew it came from her. Her bow hand unclenched, her other palm clasping the back of his neck. When she parted her lips on a gasp, he stroked her mouth with his delicious tongue while she remained still, merely taking his attentions.

Breaking away, he stared down at her, giving her a look—a purely masculine expression of intent—that promised he was about to do wicked things to her.
Oh, that look.
Robbing her of thought…

“Your eyes are goin’ silvery,” he said, his accent growing thicker. “You want me, too.” Before setting in again, he commanded, “Now kiss me back.”

Over her long lifetime, many men had tried to seduce her, but she’d easily disregarded them. What was so different about this Lykae? It was as if he knew exactly how to tap into her need, into the wildness inside her.

That dark part of her she feared took over and
ruled
her.
This won’t be more than a kiss. I’d never let it be more than that….

In a rush, her body flooded with desire, her breasts growing heavy.
The wildness within me. Can’t fight it…

She was starved for this. And a bounty lay before her. Pleasure building… losing control… losing…

Lost.
This felt so…
right.
With a moan, she surrendered.

The Instinct was screaming inside him.
—She needs you. Aches for her male.—

At last, she offered her lips up to his, freely, letting him in. He delved with his tongue, tasting her, drinking her in. When she kissed him back with a tentative lick, he groaned against her, squeezing her tighter to him.

She’s yielding to me.
Garreth wanted to growl with pleasure.
I’m bringing home my woman this night
.
Into my bed, into my life.
Finally, after so long waiting for her.

For…
Lucia
.

With each shy lap of her tongue, she stoked his need. When their tongues began tangling in earnest, when they began sharing breaths, she gave a surprised moan into his mouth.

Then it was as if a dam had burst, as if she, like him, had been waiting centuries for this night. She seemed to share his unimaginable need—or even suffer from it more keenly.

He kissed her deeply, squeezing the flare of her hip and raising his other hand for one of her breasts. He hesitated just above her chest. But like a dream, she arched to his palm with a plaintive whimper, pressing her breast into his hand. Against her lips, he said, “Gods, you madden me, Lousha.” He cupped her generous, soft breasts, one, then the other, learning them.

She trembled from his touch, crying out as he circled one of those stiff nipples with his thumb. When he bent down to close his mouth over one of her tight buds, she said, “What are you—”

He suckled her through her shirt, and her words died in her throat, replaced by a moan. When she completely relinquished her bow and clutched the back of his head to hold him to her breast, the world seemed to fade away until all he knew was his mate—her scent, the sight of only her, the feel of her sensuous body. As he sucked her, he reached down, unfastening her leather quiver, tossing it away.

Her arms laced around his neck, her moans growing more frantic, mingling with his groans as he explored her.

But then she whispered, “Not more than this. Mac-Rieve, only this…”

“Aye, only this.”
For now.

His assurance seemed to embolden her, melting any lingering resistance to him. She rolled over atop him, rocking her sex against his. He yearned to claim her, to mark her tender flesh so badly, but he’d never imagined a female in need of release like this. When she ground against his shaft, nearly robbing him of his seed, he hastily tucked her beneath him.

Aggression ruled them both—each trying to get the upper hand, rolling over again and again.

He was all for her riding him like a horse if she wanted—later. Right now he needed her hands pinned above her head, her thighs spread to cradle him, her eyes gazing up at his. So he shoved her beneath him, wedging his hips solidly between her legs.

At last, she surrendered to him, but not before those little claws scored down his back. He threw back his head, roaring with satisfaction. She made him wild, frenzied for her. With each of her cries, he fell deeper under her spell.
How’d I ever live without this?

But then came a trickle of unease. Never had he been so crazed for a female. He comprehended his life would never be the same if he continued tonight. A daunting thought for any male. Yet when he gazed down at her, Garreth knew he had to have her no matter what.

With that in mind, he reached down, using his fore claw to slice the crotch of her shorts. As he shoved the material to her waist, he clumsily fumbled his jeans to his knees.

Her panties were black and sleek—sexy as hell. He hooked his fingers into the material, about to tear them off her, but she grabbed his wrist. “Don’t!”

“Canna wait, waited so long…”
My cock’s about to go off
. He wanted it to—
inside her
. Needed to pump his semen deep into her womb as he marked her as his own forever.

She shook her head, her expression growing panicked. “I can’t! They… they stay on.”

Confusion.
—Seduce her.—

So he bent down between her legs and kissed her through the damp silk of her panties. She gasped, but her gasp turned to a moan when he licked, nipped, and nuzzled in bliss. Once she was helplessly undulating her hips to his mouth for more, he again tried to rid her of her panties.

“Wait!” she cried.

With a growl, he covered her body with his own, wrapping her hair around his fist. “Lousha, I have to have you. I’ll bring you pleasure, make you come till you scream.” He punctuated his words with a rock of his hips.

When his cock rubbed over her silk-covered sex, her eyes went wide. “Oh…
oh
!”

“You’re about tae, are you no’?”

She nodded up at him. “I think…. I don’t know—”

You’ll know.
He’d make her. He bucked against her.

“Ah! Don’t stop
that! Please….”

“This?”

“Yes, there! Ah, yes!” Her head thrashed on the ground. “Just don’t stop!”

“Will no’. I may come atop you—but I will no’ stop.” He ground against her, struggling to hold his seed. He was on the verge, spasms already beginning in his swollen shaft, the head moist.

Lightning struck a tree directly beside them—she didn’t notice and he forgot when he saw her lost expression, her silver eyes….
Ah, gods, she’s coming.
“Yes, Lousha!” Bucking furiously, pants at his knees, he grew desperate to shove into her, to feel her clenching around him. “Come hard for me….”

She screamed, her knees falling open as she pressed those big breasts into his chest. As his hips pumped over her, she dug her claws into his back, holding him tight to her.

Mine! Now you’re mine….
He leaned down to her ear. “You’ve maddened me for you, have changed everything.” Reaching between them, clutching her panties, he rasped, “So I’m going to fuck you long and hard, beauty, because if I’m to be enslaved by you—I want to be your master as well.”

He yanked free her silk, and the head of his cock slipped against the slick folds, soaked from her orgasm. His eyes rolled back in his head just as she screamed, “No!”

She shoved against his chest. “No, don’t!” It was as if he’d doused her with ice water, her passion evaporating in a rush. “I can’t do this!”

“The hell you say!”

She continued scrambling from him. “Let me go!”

—She knows fear.—
Though his cock was about to explode, throbbing so hard it felt like it’d been slammed in a door, he finally let her up. His bollocks were heavy, aching with seed.

“I don’t want this… didn’t want it.”

He’d been a thrust away from claiming his mate… “You dinna want it?” He shot to his feet, dragging on his jeans. When he tried to zip them over his swollen shaft, lust turned to anger and frustration such as he’d never known. “Then why were you riding my crotch like a wanton as you sucked my tongue?”

She gasped, trying to put her clothes to rights, darting for her bow and quiver. Once she’d collected her weapons, both of their gazes fell on the black panties he’d ripped free. She reached forward, but he snatched them from her, stuffing them in his pocket.