Falling in Love with the King of Beasts

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*****

RETH

They held each other and cried together, and for a moment, when it occurred to him this might be the last time he would ever hold her, Reth felt like he was losing his mind. He reeled, his sight blurring, heart hammering at his ribs until his chest was cracked and bleeding, like the fear of losing her might actually kill him.

His head pounded and he whined his pain.

Elia only clung tighter. What would come of her if he was killed?!

Creator, help us, he prayed. Help us… why would you do this to us?

Then, as had always happened when he pleaded with the Creator, images throughout his life of all the many ways the Eternal plan had taken him into dark forests, only to emerge in ever larger sunny fields and glistening lakes. That somehow silent, somehow comforting voice of love and protection crooned at him that the plan was good—and everything that was to come, painful or not, would be used for his best.

That voice whispered at him to look at where he was, at what he had, and to never lose hope.

Reth groaned.

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Elia… for so many years he'd though he'd lost her. Would never be able to have her. And yet, here she was.

And somehow, impossibly, in the middle of all this hell, she was safe. She was miserable and scared, but she was safe. The others in the Tree City couldn't say the same. His dearest friends couldn't.

Reth sucked in a deep breath to calm his pounding heart. Elia still shook in his arms—but that was one more thing to be grateful for. She was there. She hadn't faded. They were still together.

Straightening, he began to comb her hair back from her teary, flushed face. "Elia… Elia, look at me."

Still crying, she did. She opened her eyes and stared at him. Her forehead wrinkled again, and she choked, but she was smiling through it. "I love you so much, Reth," she gasped. "So much."

He nodded and searched her beautiful eyes. "You're here. I don't know how this is happening, but it's an answer to prayer and I will not question it. You're here. I'm here. Be with me, Elia. Just for a little while, let's just… be here."

Her eyes widened and she nodded. "You're right. Oh gosh, you're right." She wiped her eyes and sniffed, then she looked up at him again. "Hi."

The mating huff broke in his throat and he held her face cupped in both his hands. "You are the most beautiful creature alive," he whispered.

She laughed through her tears that were slow to fade. "Now I know you're biased."

"Elia—"

"Reth, just kiss me, please?"

He didn't need asking twice. With a groan, he took her mouth, fisting her hair and pulling her in. And she whimpered, and clung, her lips desperate, breath hot as she arched into him, squeezing his shoulder, his side, clinging like someone might tear him from her grip.

Tasting her, tangling their tongues, her breath thundering on his cheek, Reth came alive in a way he hadn't since the day she left. Wherever she touched, his skin fizzed and tingled, lighting up under her fingers. And her could feel her skin pebble under his.

His kiss was rough, heavy, demanding, yet she didn't flinch. She met him stroke for stroke, gasp for gasp. And when he began to lower her back to the furs, she dropped her head back and cried his name.

He was frantic, desperate for her, terrified she'd fade away at any second, and yet so, so willing to savor her. So ready to simply be, to forget everything that pulled at him, that threatened.

Let us be, he prayed silent. I will go where you point. I will submit to your plan. Please… let us be here, together now. Give us this night.

Then Elia licked the underside of his lip and he huffed a mating call that rolled off into a groan of pure heat.

Letting his hip sink to rest between her thighs, he arched and they both sucked in as her soft heat met his steel strength.

Every nerve ending in his body seemed to leap to the surface of his skin, until he trembled and shook, jerking with the overwhelming sensation of being close to her. As he rolled his hips to slide against her, opening his mouth on her throat, her head dropped back and she grabbed at his back.

"Don't wait, please, Reth! Please!"

In answer, he reared over her, pulling her hands away and placing them over her head, gripped in his. He took her mouth, sliding his tongue along hers in a promise of what was to come.

Then he positioned himself, and thrust.

They both cried out, lips touching but unwilling to retreat, mouths and cheeks trembling as Reth pulled all the way out, then thrust back in, long and slow. The sensation was her taking him, the overwhelming wave of pleasure was so acute, he almost came.

Elia's breath was fast and shallow, her skin prickled, the tiny hairs all over her body standing straight as she begged him not to stop, cried her need for him. And he groaned his for her, holding her hands over her head, forcing her breasts—covered in gooseflesh, her nipples tall and proud—higher, teasing them against his chest as he rolled into her again, and again.

"Oh, Elia, my Love!"

"Let me touch you!" she gasped. "Let me hold you!"

He groaned and dropped his face into her neck, rolling into her again and holding at the peak. Elia didn't breath, her mouth open, tiny cries breaking in her throat, until he was pulling out, only to invade her again.

And again.

And again.

He began to moan with the sheer joy of being with her in this way, of being owned by her, of owning her in return.

The mating call began in his chest and she arched, crying his name, and began to struggle against the grip he had on her hands.

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Without letting go of her wrists, forcing her to stay beneath him, he dropped his heat to her throat and grazed his teeth along her collarbones.

"Mine," he growled.

Shuddering, Elia called to him, and he almost came.

*****

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