Episode Twenty-One Worth Waiting For

A lliana

He reaches to graze the pad of one finger down my cheek. His touch is so soft you'd think I was as fragile as a butterfly wing.

"You, Alliana, are the reason my heart needed to learn how to love more than one person. I'll never quit loving Dek. He's my mate. Or Luka, he's my little brother."

He nudges me with his wide nose, making certain I'm looking straight at him.

"And I'll never quit loving you either, Little Prize."

He dips his head and his coffee-brown lips, plump and delicious, kiss me hard. Over and over, he kisses me with loud, smacking sounds until his powerful tongue barges between my lips and plunders my mouth.

I fling my arms around his thick neck and hold on so tight I'll never let him go. Kissing him just like he's kissing me, with loud smacks and soulful sighs and the desperate need to find out everything we can about each other in the shortest amount of time.

He likes it when I nip his bottom lip because it makes him grunt from the back of his throat. When I flutter the tip of my tongue against the tip of his, he pulls his shaggy head backward in a shake.

"Tickle?" I ask with a smile.

"Our prize is naughty," he teases.

How is it I've known him for days and never realized how low his voice is? It's so deep I feel it vibrating in my chest.

Holding on tight, I wiggle so my legs surround his waist. Then I grip his horns and moan with the smooth feel of them.

"Are you doing that on purpose?" His voice is low, not so we won't surprise the little rabbits and squirrels we're hunting, but because he wants to mount me. I know that tone. I learned it from the brothers.

"It was an accident," I say, my eyes wide in innocence. "But it won't be next time." I give him a teasing smile. When I use this same expression with the brothers, they know to stop what they're doing and join me in the furs.

I form a ring with my thumbs and forefingers and slide them up and down from the crown of his head to the tip of each horn. He sucks in a harsh breath, then shakes his head, then gives me a look I've never seen on his face before.

I've seen him look at Dek with desire and affection and urgency. Sometimes all three emotions at the same time, but I've never seen this look directed at me. Like he wants to throw me on the ground and fuck me until I scream in pleasure, even if it makes a show for all the little forest animals.

I chastely put my hands on his shoulders. Those thick shoulders made of slabs upon slabs of minotaur muscle. "Do you want to take me here, Mirron? Do you want to tear off my clothes and take me in the dirt right now? I wouldn't fault you. We've waited far too long for this. I'd never say no."

He breathes in and out, over and over through wide nostrils designed to cool the air when he runs long distances. He's not cooling off from a long run. He's cooling off for another reason—me.

"I'm a monster, Alliana. Half man, half beast. But I won't take you here in the dirt, although I won't deny I was giving it strong thought before you mentioned it. Do you know why I won't do it here?"

He slides me down his body. It's a slow trip designed to ensure my hardened nipples trace two trails down his body, as well as to allow his cock to inform me of his sincere interest.

When my feet hit the ground, he repeats, "Do you know why, Alliana?"

It's only when I shake my head that he answers. "Because you deserve so much better."

I'm happy, so it's baffling that my response to those sweet words is to feel my face heat and my eyes tear.

"You're worth waiting for," he says before I have a chance to say the same thing.