as a shudder racked him, a low growl rising, his hand speeding.
Licking my lips, I pressed closer, sliding my fingers across the bark.
Then I almost gasped when his eyes lazily opened—those twin, red orbs glowing in the darkness—and he looked in my direction. Heart hammering, I ducked behind the tree again, cursing myself, pressing my forehead against the trunk.
Had he seen me? I wondered.
I couldn’t be certain.
Fool, I thought, biting my lip even as my body throbbed.
I knew I’d been found out because the forest went quiet again. The sound of his hand against his flesh ceased, his roughened pants ended.
My only hope was that I could escape before he found me. When I looked again to see where he’d gone, the space by the stream was empty.
The back of my neck tingled. I felt his heat, scented his skin, before I heard him.
Then he rasped in my ear, his lips brushing the sensitive shell of it, “Spying now, leikavi? If you wanted to watch, you only needed to ask.”
I gasped when he kept me pinned in place against the tree. I turned my face so my cheek rested against it, and sucked in a breath when he brushed my hair to the side, a cool breeze drawing over my nape.
“I told you to stay there,” he said, his tone taking on a darker edge. “There are more dangerous things lurking in this forest than the jrikkia.”
Like you? I wondered silently.
His hips pressed me firmly into the trunk and the force of it put pressure against my groin. I bit my lip. Though I was gasping and mortified that he’d discovered me, even though I feared what he would do in retaliation, that warm, deep, blooming arousal hadn’t left me. Not one bit.
Suddenly, his hips pressed more firmly and the bark of the tree stimulated the pleasurable spot between my thighs, a spot I’d only explored in darkness and whenever I found time alone—which was almost never.
My tongue felt like it was glued to the roof of my mouth. I felt his hard, hot length through the material of my tunic. He was much taller than I was and his cock pressed into my back.
“Do you want to watch, leikavi?” he murmured, leaning forward and nipping at the skin on the back of my neck. Goosebumps broke out over my arms. “Because I need to come. Desperately.”
Still, I hadn’t said a word. I wanted to leave…and yet, I didn’t. I could easily draw on my power, change his emotions, and make him release me.
Yet I didn’t.
The horde king shifted to my side and the pressure on my hips released, though his shoulder and the side of his chest kept me in place. When my eyes flicked down, I sucked in a shuddered breath. His cock was next to my waist, still untucked from his trews.
Unconsciously, my fingers curled against the trunk. The head of his cock was large and shimmering with the beginnings of his seed. He was massive, thick and long. A small bump right above the base of his shaft was swollen. He was so aroused his cock was almost completely pressed against his abdomen in one long, curving arc.
His hand came to the base before stroking upwards, squeezing around the head. A drop of his seed rolled down the side and I tracked it. He exhaled sharply, a small groan vibrating his chest, which I felt thrum in my own body.
“Vok, leikavi, I can feel your gaze on it,” he groaned.
My head felt like it was spinning. The darkened forest, which had at first been so terrifying, now felt different. Altered. Strange. A hushed quiet that felt like we’d entered an alternate realm, an alternate world.
His head dropped forward. His hot breath fanned out on the back of my neck. His hair, still wet from the stream, fell forward and wetted my tunic. His scent—warm and musky—was all around me. I felt like I could taste him on my tongue.
Another drop of his seed rose and he growled, his hips punching forward until his length slid through his clenched fist.
“I would not have been able to last another day. And battling always makes me want to fuck,” he rasped. His lips came to the side of my throat. “I can feel your little heartbeat. Quickening. Tell me…is it because you are frightened again? Or because you’re needing a male?”
Swallowing back a gasp, I watched with a hooded gaze as he rolled the pad of his thumb over