She leaped agilely over a fal en log, but he vaulted past her. His front paws dug into the earth and he pivoted, his tail end whipping around 180 degrees.
“Damn it,” she hissed.
Faced with a wild beast she didn’t have the heart to injure, she sprang and flipped over him. But the leaf-littered forest floor gave her no traction.
Her feet slipped out from under her. She hit the ground on her bel y and skidded forward, her fingers and toes scrambling for purchase.
He was on her in a heartbeat, straddling her and catching her by the shoulder with his teeth. His breath was hot and fast, a growl rumbling in his chest. When she tried to move, he shook her gently, his teeth dug in but not breaking the skin. He snarled a warning.
Vash melted into the ground, completely pliant. Her stomach quivered with something she began to suspect was delight. Perhaps triumph.
Certainly relief.
He’d chased her. Captured her.
Her heart rate kicked up, as did her breathing, reactions her exertions hadn’t been capable of eliciting. She lay prone beneath him, absorbing his warmth into her back, her fingers digging restlessly into the dirt.
It took several moments before Elijah released her. When he did, it was with another growled admonition to remain unmoving. He gave her a few moments to prove that she would do so without his interference; then he nuzzled her cheek with his wet nose.
The surprisingly tender gesture had her lifting her head to meet his gaze. “Elijah…”
His lip curled in a snarl. His eyes stil had that primal light burning inside them.
“Okay. Al right.” She exhaled and relaxed again, her mind trying to work out why she was submitting so meekly. She submitted to no one but Syre and only in certain respects. In many others, she was the dominant. Yes, because he al owed her to be, but stil …even Char had known to give her the lead.
She jolted a little when Elijah settled his weight careful y on her, his bel y curving into her spine. He didn’t give her the whole of it, which would have crushed her, but he gave her enough to pin her and make sure she didn’t forget he was there. As if that were possible.
Vash couldn’t say how long they lay like that—he atop her and quietly panting, gently sniffing her and nudging with his snout. She couldn’t say why it soothed the jagged edges of her mood, edges that had been ripping at her from the inside since he’d shown her the door the day before. She couldn’t say when she realized those edges had been tearing her up for years. She knew only that the equanimity she found in the forest with Elijah exposed an inner torment she hadn’t been aware she was carrying. Anger and hunger for revenge were her constant companions, but the pain had been buried beyond her awareness of it, an ache not noted until it was gone.
When he shifted forms, she felt the power of it, the ripple that displaced the very space around her. The softness and warmth of rough satin fur morphed into rock-hard muscle and scorching skin. He continued to rub his cheek against her. He continued to pant as if he were exerting himself to his limits.
Her palms grew damp when she felt the unmistakable length of his erection resting in the seam of her thighs. “Elijah…?”
“Vashti.” His voice was stil guttural. Rough. Sexy as hel . “Isn’t enough…Sorry.”
She stiffened, disappointment piercing her like a blade. She wasn’t enough? What they had—whatever it was—wasn’t enough?
CHAPTER 16
“Don’t tense,” Elijah gasped, grinding his hips into the plush swel of her bu**ocks. “Don’t fight. Let me…have you. Make it good…”
Vash had no defense against the shiver of arousal that rippled through her. “You want sex? Here? ”
Just the thought made her slick and hungry, the idea that he was so hot for her he couldn’t wait, that he would take her on the ground in a forest like an animal in rut… He adjusted his position, his thighs bracketing hers. Then he straightened, pul ing her up with him. One hand slid between her br**sts, a strong hand gripping her throat and pul ing her tight against him. The other reached for the waistband of her stretchy black pants, shoving them down to her knees.
“Sorry.” His words were a tormented moan in her ear. “Can’t stop. Don’t run…”
Her head fel back into his shoulder when he cupped her between the legs with a shaky hand. She couldn’t stop the circling of her hips into his touch.
His forehead pressed into her temple. “Wet. Thank god…” Bending forward, he urged her back down.
Her arms stretched out, her palms breaking their fal . With her on her hands and knees, he reached between them and fisted himself, sliding the thick crest of his c**k through the moisture coating her cleft…up and down…nudging her clitoris…his body trembling behind her.
Every muscle in her body was strung tight as a bow, the expectation so thick Vash thought she might snap. She’d wanted this, her hunger for him as elemental a force as her thirst for blood.
“Need you. Now,” he growled, rocking her backward to meet the thrust of his entry.
She screamed at the stretching depth of his possession, the pleasure so fierce her vision blurred. He gave her no time to adjust or steel herself, launching into a primal pounding f**k that used her as a vessel for his lust. A dozen wild thrusts were al it took. His roar reverberated through the forest, sending birds screeching in panicked flight from the trees. He came so hard, she felt it inside her, pulsing hot and thick as he emptied himself in fiery pulses. Her thighs were wet with him when he straightened to his knees, bringing her up to sit in the cradle of his spread thighs.