Chapter 15

Her breath is sweet and clean, her hair smells of the soap plant, fresh and wet. Water clings to her skin, droplets sparkling across her cheekbones, her smiling lips. I want to taste her mouth, claim it with my tongue. Even now, she clings to me, her long legs wrapped around my waist, her fingers in my hair.

It takes everything in me not to plunder her body.

I wait. I am a lion, and we are good at stalking our prey, waiting for the right moment.

Her heartbeat thrums against my chest, magnifying the exquisite torture of her nipples rubbing against my skin. When she moves, the soft thatch of hair between her legs tickles my stomach.

Her gaze slips to my mouth, and still, I wait. She must feel it, this bond between us, as surely as I do. The longer we wait, the stronger the tug will grow. I will wait as long as it takes. Still, having her flush against me, so close, her lips parted and soft, and not to be able to thrust into her… it's agony.

Her gaze flicks back to mine, and I growl in approval at the clear desire in it.

Lana's lips brush against mine, closing the gap between us. My control slips, and I wrap my arms around her slender back. When she sighs into my mouth, I take advantage of the opening, deepening the kiss, sliding my tongue against hers. She moans again, and I am lost.

My hands dip lower, and I grip the firm curve of her ass, pushing her tighter against me. Her hands tangle in my hair, and a surge of desperate lust washes over me. I trace the flare of her hips with my fingers, attempting to rein myself in, to regain control.

I break off the kiss, resting my forehead against hers.

"What's wrong?" she asks, unable to hide the dismay in her voice.

I swallow once. Inhale. "You're perfect."

Lana lifts her chin, a challenge in her blue eyes.

I close mine. This is where she swims away and returns to the campfire, clean and smelling of arousal, torturing me. She detangles her hands from my hair, shifting. I already miss the feel of her hands holding me against her face. I brace myself for when her body leaves mine.

Instead, her finger skates across my cheek.

"Okay," she says. My head jerks up, and I stare.

Her shoulders move as she shrugs. "Can't we enjoy each other without, you know… full on mating?"

I growl in approval and need, my hands tightening on her again. She pulls my head back down, her tongue swiping against the seam of my mouth. My fingers find her breasts, and I pinch her nipples, tweaking them until she cries out against me. It's not enough. I want more.

I want access to all of her.

Wrapping my arms tight around her torso, I haul her from the water without breaking off the kiss. Water streams from our bodies, her clothes forgotten on the shore. She won't need them. Her legs are strong around me, and her thighs clenching my waist nearly undoes me. I walk to the smooth rock ledge, the one with the plants spilling from it, and set her ass on top of it.

Her kisses are hungry, fervent and full of need. Now that we're out of the pool, the scent of her desire hits me hard. It calls to me, the mating bond, and I am desperate to slake my thirst for her. I want this to be good for Lana, to keep her wanting more. I've put a crack in her armor, and I will exploit however I can.

"Lana," I breathe her name, and she squirms against me. "Lana," I repeat, trailing kisses down the side of her neck. Her back arches, her breaths coming in little pants of excitement that drive me wild. Her nipples are rosebud pink, deepening at the tips, and I marvel at them, at the soft and supple curves of her body, before dipping my head and taking one in my mouth.

Her fingers curl into my scalp, and I flick the tip with my tongue, causing her to cry out. With one hand around her back, I use my free hand to tease the other one.

"Ras," she pleads, and satisfaction curls through me at the need in her tone.

"You're so responsive." I turn my attention to her other breast, teasing the tip with my tongue and teeth before sucking hard on her nipple. Her moan and the bite of her nails against my skin tells me she likes it, that she's as wild for this as I am.

I glance up at her, and she's watching me through heavy-lidded eyes. Finally, I release her breasts, and lick along the curve of her stomach. When I blow cold air across it, goosebumps pebble on her skin and she moans again.

"So sensitive," I rasp out my approval. I'm as hard as I've ever been, the smell and taste of her driving me out of my mind. "Will you be wet for me, Lana? Like when you first let me touch you? I can smell your pleasure."

She whimpers, and the side of my mouth kicks up as I lick her stomach again, lower this time.

"You like when I talk to you like this, don't you? When I tell you how hard I am, how much I want to taste you, to see if it's as perfect as the way you smell. As perfect as the rest of you."

Her hands are tugging at my hair, and I blow more cool air across her hot skin. I need her. I need to taste her. I pull her legs apart.

Lana shudders and stills, and I wait, devouring her with my eyes. Her sex is glistening, the hair curling between her legs a darker burnished gold than that on her head. It's pink and wet and I struggle for control as she pants.

"Do you want me to lick you here, hmm? Do you want me to see what you taste like, to feel you come against my mouth as you scream my name?"

As I watch, her stomach clenches, her breath coming fast. I'm torturing us both, and I never want to stop. Every inch of me is tense and hard, and yet, I wait.

"Yes," she finally answers, and I'm unleashed.

I push her legs wider, and she moans as my breath ghosts against the wet folds of her pussy. I lick, long and slow, and her hands pull me closer.

It's the most erotic thing I've ever tasted, and my chest rumbles as I growl. I delve into her slickness, and she cries out, grinding against my face, steering me with her hands. I look up, and my cock jerks as our eyes meet.

"Right there, right there," she pants, and I take a long, slow lick up her center. She's so perfect, my mate, and I want this to last as long as it can.

Lana groans as my tongue lashes against the nub of her pleasure, and I suck it, luxuriating in her taste, in her increasingly abandoned noises, the wet gush of her pleasure increasing. I circle it, easing off the pressure, and she makes a wild noise.

"Do you want more, my mate?"

"Yes, Ras, please. I want it."

I slide a finger inside of her, her body clamping down on it as I lick a circle around her clit, teasing her.

She moans my name again, her eyes fluttering shut, her body writhing in time with the strokes of my tongue. I pump my finger in and out, loving how she tightens around me as I stretch her.

I groan as she calls out my name again, losing myself in her pleasure, her taste.

"More," she pants, and I add a second finger, causing her to cry out. Her legs shake uncontrollably, and I know she's close. I take her clit in my mouth, sucking it hard as I pump my fingers into her body, and she screams, tumbling over the edge.

My name is the sound on her lips, and I keep licking, keep suckling, until her body stops milking my fingers, until she's limp and wrung out with ecstasy. Pride fills me. I did this. I made her come until she can barely move. And I will continue to do it, until she finally lets me take her, mate her, and tie us together for good.

Finally, I remove my fingers from her, licking the proof of her pleasure from them.

"Mine," I rasp, weaving my hand into her hair, and pulling Lana to me. I press a savage kiss to her lips, and she opens her mouth for me instantly, our tongues tangling.

I pull her from the rock shelf, tucking her into my body, and walking back towards the fire. My cock is hard as it's ever been, my own denied pleasure chafing at me.

But Lana is against my chest, an expression of hazy sated lust clear on her. Her mouth is slightly parted, her eyes sleepy and content. I sit down near the dying flames, and she makes a small sound as she snuggles against me.

I think she'll fall asleep like this, and I don't mind the thought.

Until her wicked fingers curl around my cock, and a coy smile turns the corners of her mouth up.