Lancaster broke the kiss, pressing his forehead to mine as he watched his hand circle my breast. My breathing turned moreragged by the moment, but he was clearly taking this as slowly as only a non-immortal could.
“Please,” I begged, arching up so I pressed into his hand.
He groaned as he kneaded, his head dropping to my other breast and taking my nipple between his teeth. Every sensation wasmore. More intense than any I’d ever experienced, more exhilarating, more euphoric. I was burning from the inside out, squirming beneath him.
I may have said it could only be a physical bond, but it was the most exquisite form of torture.
And Lancaster took his time as executioner. Slowly, he kissed down the plane of my stomach, fangs scraping along the chained belt around my waist, pressing it into my skin. The cool metal was a contrast to the scorching heat his tongue left behind. He gathered the chiffon panels of my skirt, dragging slow fingers up my legs and leaving goose bumps in his wake.
“Santorina,” he exhaled against my skin. “Goddess, I never thought I wanted a bond with anyone.” Higher, those fingers went, dancing along the trim of my undergarments. “Never imagined how badly I could need someone. But this feels like it will shred me apart.”
He pressed slow circles over the sensitive spot between my thighs, and I couldn’t even tell him I felt that need, too. That I wanted him as badly. Words were utterly lost to me as he added more pressure.
“Can I taste you?” he asked.
“Goddess,” I finally forced out, my back arching as he teased me. “Stop asking and do it.”
He laughed, the sound alone making my toes curl against the comforter, my heels somehow gone though I’d barely noticed. “Always with such an attitude, Bounty.”
Lancaster peeled my undergarments down my legs, tossing them aside. Then, he knelt before me. A Hunter on his knees for a Bounty.
He moved aside my skirt, the slits to the thigh making it easy, and he bared me to him. Spreading my legs wider, I was entirely vulnerable, but as he looked at me, there was nothing but worship in his eyes. Something that pulled at my chest and tried to tear apart my rationale of this being purely physical.
He kissed up my legs, sweeping two fingers up my center. My breathing quickened.
“Goddess be damned,” Lancaster muttered as his mouth landed between my thighs. “I’m going to enjoy this much more than I should.”
And then, he lavished me. His fingers pumped into me, his tongue flicking against my clit and—Goddess, those sharp canines dragged over the sensitive spot as he worked up a rhythm that sent the string in my chest humming. All of my bloodbuzzing.
Lancaster growled as if he felt it too, the sensation vibrating through me and making me gasp. He gripped my hips, pulling me even closer.
My hand shot up, gripping the headboard because if I didn’t have something to hold on to I feared I would slip right away from this realm, and I was nowhere near done with the Hunter yet.
“I can’t tell you how long I’ve been dreaming of this,” Lancaster muttered, pressing another kiss to the inside of my thigh as his fingers continued to work. “When I carried you across the mountains, when you slept beside me in that bed. Every time your damn scent wrapped around me, I almost snapped.Almost claimed you.”
“Claimed?” I asked, voice shaking as my legs did over his shoulders.
“Claimed,” he repeated, fingers hooking inside of me and hitting a spot no one had before.
“Fucking Goddess,” I blurted as heat poured through my bones and the bond snapped within my chest. “It’s only physical. No claiming.”
He laughed at my insistence. “Of course, Bounty.”
His tongue and fingers picked up their rhythm as he drove me to total and utter ruin. And I didn’t know what claiming meant, but I knew—though I’d never admit it—that in that moment, a piece of my soul was sewn to his. Promised by the Gods, for all eternity.
The Bounty, claimed by the Hunter.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Damien
Fear.
Fury.
Injustice.
Betrayal.
