Falling in Love with the King of Beasts

ELIA

Something burned in her chest—not just desire. Something more. A demand for him. But also… she felt driven to touch him. It wasn't just a want, it was a need. As he opened the cave door, she hugged his back and let her hands slide over his shoulders and back—her favorite part of him. He rippled under her touch, closing the door behind them and barring it by picking up a thick beam she hadn't paid attention to, laying up against the wall inside, then dropping it into two brackets on the door. Elia grinned. It looked like god himself wouldn't be opening that door.

Then Reth turned to face her and stood there… staring. The lantern light was warm and it made the muscles of his chest and stomach glow where his vest was open.

Elia swallowed hard and stroked a finger down the center of his chest, then that muscled stomach—that sucked in as she went—and then hooked it into the top of his pants.

He just stared at her. "What's next?" he rasped.

"Take off your jacket," she said, beginning to quiver when one side of his mouth slipped up while he slowly, very slowly, shrugged the vest off his shoulders, then drew it down one arm, then the other, tossing it onto a side-table and taking a step towards her. But she took a step back and his eyebrow went up. And he waited.

Elia watched him for a moment, then let her eyes slide down his body, to where her finger was still hooked behind his belt in the waistband of his pants. She tilted her head and Reth huffed again, the sound twanging something low in her belly.

*****

RETH

"I do like it when you make that noise," she said breathlessly. He did it again and she shivered. "It's like you're calling something out of me."

"It's the mating call," he said, his voice even deeper than usual. "It says you're mine, and I want you. And every other man who hears it better stay the fuck away from you."

She laughed and her eyes flicked up to meet his. Her pupils were so big, her eyes looked almost black. Reth swore and stepped towards her, but she stepped back again, her smile growing.

He growled. "Playing games so soon?"

She shook her head. "I just want to see you this time. In the light."

Reth shuddered at that and had to clench his hands to fists to stop himself reaching for her. Creator's Light! She wanted to see him!? "Tell me what to do," he rasped. "Anything. I'll do it."

Her mouth dropped open slightly, but she closed it, biting her lip and pulled her hand away, looking at the place where it had been just a moment before. Trembling, Reth stared at her so intently, the world began to narrow.

"Take off your pants," she said breathlessly.

Reth didn't need to be asked a second time. With a soft grunt and a couple sharp tugs, he had the belt slapping free and his pants unbuttoned in seconds, shoving them down and stepping out of them, leaving his hands at his sides. Her eyes hadn't left his face yet.

He waited.

Her throat bobbed as she swallowed—twice. He wondered if she knew he could hear her heart and how it sped up, see the shift in her breathing.

"You're so… gorgeous," she breathed and her eyes widened as they drifted from his face and down, down, down.

Everything in him tightened under her gaze.

*****

ELIA

She'd started this game almost as a joke. A way to tempt him. But she was very quickly being trapped in her own snare.

When he'd bared himself so boldly, shucking off his pants like they were nothing but a burden, she'd had to swallow twice before she could speak.

His body was a work of art—massive and sculpted, every muscle visible and hugged tightly by his skin. His forearms were veined and the tendons on his hands stood proud as he clenched his fists at his sides—because he was working hard not to touch her, she knew. And she wanted him to. So badly. But something about making him wait—making herself wait… it was delicious.

Ignoring his very obvious arousal, because if she focused there there would be no playing, and they'd both be finished in seconds, she drank in the sight of his broad, heavily-muscled shoulders, washboard stomach, and the lines of muscle that ran from over his hips, down in to that perfect V, as if it pointed the way to her pleasure.

His thighs were round and broad, he stood with his feet shoulder-width apart, his skin almost glowing in the warm lantern light.

His shoulders shifted up and down with his breath, and there was a slightly wild light in his eyes.

He wanted her. Badly.

She bit her lip and he groaned.

*****

RETH

"Elia," he pleaded. "Can I touch you?"

She shook her head, her lip still pressed between her teeth, her eyes still following the lines of his chest and shoulders until he felt it like a finger on his skin.

"I want to touch you, first," she whispered.

Reth had to close his eyes for a moment or he was going to do something stupid. He dropped his head and tried to count to ten, reminding himself that she was new to this and he shouldn't push. Then he sucked in hard, because she began to circle him, her fingers starting at his navel, trailing along the side of his stomach, then around. She walked slowly around him, letting her touch drift across his body. She traced the lines of his back, and pressed a soft kiss to the center of his spine, between his shoulder blades. He groaned again and clenched his hands so tightly that his nails threatened to cut his palms.

When she'd walked a full circle around him, and her own eyes were alight with lust, she swallowed again. "Show me your throat, Reth," she whispered.

Reth's eyes rolled back and a growl rolled in his throat as he dropped his head back, drunk with desire for her.

Then he huffed when her fingers started at the point of his chin and traced down, over his Adam's Apple, down to the V between his collarbones, and her breathing sped up. He was trembling from head to toe by the time she pressed herself against him and laid her mouth at his throat.

"I'll never use this against you," she said against his skin, then flicked her tongue out to lick his neck. Reth's hands twitched toward her. "I'll never hurt you with it, or let anyone else have it. I want you to know that."

Then her mouth was gone from his skin, but the rest of her remained. Reth still had his head dropped back, his breath tearing in and out of his throat.

Then she whispered, "Now you can touch me."

Reth sucked in and raised his head, opening his eyes.

When he saw her, her arms tight around him, her breasts pressed against his stomach, and her back arched so her head laid so far back that her throat was the highest point offered to him, he roared.

*****

WANT MORE? The next book in the BEAST Series is available NOW! (And it's set 20 years in the future, so (mostly) won't have spoilers for this book! Currently 100% FREE (June 2021): Check out my author profile, or search "Taming the Queen of Beasts" and add it to your library TODAY (Check out the first chapter in the author note below!)