and grinding like the wild thing she was.
He took her to the edge and then drew back. “Even more important. You don’t risk yourself for me.”
She shook her head. “N-no. I do. I protect you as fiercely as you do me. T-to death if need be. That is what a team is.”
He circled her clit with the flat of his thumb. “That’s my job. Not yours. You hear me?”
She bucked. Moaned.
“Do. You. Hear. Me?” He punctuated each word with a slight palm tap to her swollen nub.
“Y-yes.”
He brushed his thumb over her needy clit once more. “Good girl.”
“P-please.”
He lifted her up and spun her around, undoing his ropes with a few flicks. He let them fall to the ground, greedy for her hands to be on him for this next part. For her to make the choice all over again.
She watched in silence, a question in her half-lidded gaze.
“Put me inside you, sweetheart. Bring me home.” He lifted her once more, his big hands flexing around her perfect ass as understanding surfaced in her gaze.
“Home?” Wonder shimmered in her tone. Her hand slipped beneath his covering and stroked his shaft before guiding him to her entrance. “I never been anyone’s home before.”
“You are now.” He sank inside.
They groaned in unison.
Doubts and fears were forgotten as need took hold, and they chased the wild storm of pleasure together. As one.
“W-when I thought I not feel your touch again…never feel your skin against mine…it hurt so much.” She sobbed out her confession and he worked himself inside her. A wild frenzy.
Every whispered word from her lips soothing him, even as they sparked his need higher. It hadn’t been a desertion, but the highest form of sacrifice and protection. Just as he’d promised to do for her.
“You want to care for me, Nayla? This is what I need. You. Safe. With. Me.” Tilting her back, he dragged her body up and down his cock, punctuating each word with a sharp downward stroke meant to hit her clit just right. “Close enough to touch. Pleasure. Fuck.”
“Yes.” Surrendering to his fierceness, her head lolled back, her cunt clenching with each of his growled demands until she was moaning his name and coming, her wet channel squeezing him in its own desperate claiming.
The show of possession set him off. He came with a roar, holding her tight, as if he would never let her go.
He came back to himself slowly, her hair trailing across his chest as she pressed slow kisses to his jaw, her legs still wrapped around his hips.
He staggered to the nearest rock and sank down, his cock buried deep inside her. The only place he wanted to be.
Their gazes locked once more. All the vulnerability and awe, courage and fear, that had drawn him to her in the first place was only sharper and more vivid in her gorgeous eyes now.
Tenderness flooded through him, along with sheer panic. He couldn’t fail her. He wouldn’t.
“I sorry I upset you. No one ever need me before.” Her voice trembled as she reached out and traced his lip with her fingertip. “I-I didn’t think from your side. Only that I want to protect you like you do me. I do better job next time.”
He clutched her tighter, his words emerging as a near growl. “I don’t need you to prove a damn thing to me.”
She nodded, but her ears twitched, and he didn’t miss the defiance swirling in her gaze. “I used to think home a place, but no more. You are my shelter, Grif. Soon you will realize I can be that for you, too.”
The monster inside him roared once more.
Everything he’d never known he’d wanted was in his arms and branded on his soul—and he knew all too well how quickly it could be taken away.
38
Nayla woke the next rotation in their tent, a thick arm slung over her waist. Grif must have carried her back to the underground shore where the others were camped. She’d been so worn out she hadn’t even realized.
“You okay, wild thing?” His voice was an even deeper rasp than usual.
She rolled to face him, pressing close and nuzzling his neck without hesitation. “Yes. I feel better.”
Thanks to him.
What had happened in her life had left her wild, shaping the creature that lived inside her heart into a snarling, wounded spirit that was always afraid. That did not know how to be gentle and trust. It should have consigned her to an isolated life. Except Grif had figured