I leaned to the side with the same momentum and backhanded him with my left hand. The sharp crack of my hand against his mouth echoed from the power I put into it. There was a slight sting where I connected with him, but it was dulled out with gratification that I finally landed a hit on him. He went stiff and didn’t stumble back as I thought he would. I’d seen it happen in movies all the time.
Harper gasped, Slátra chuckled, and I barely heard Hlíf’s murmured, “Proud of you,hugrökk.” Hluti stayed quiet, but I didn’t linger on that.
Taking a step back, I raised my eyes to his face as I leaned my head back. Blood smeared the corner of his split lip, and his eyes held a dangerous glint as he threw his sword to the side on the ground.
“Oh, so it’s like that,” Rune drew out with a rumble that went straight to my core and did some wicked things to me.
Dropping my sword like he did, I held my head high as I stood my ground. It took everything in me to stand still, not close the short distance between us, and pull him into me to kiss and taste his blood.
“Not much of a girl now, am I,” I taunted huskily.
He took a menacing step toward me, his eyes darkening. My heart picked up its pace as heat spread through me like wildfire as he brushed his invisible hands over my breasts through our link. He didn’t stop there as he whispered his lips to my ear, and the sensation of his teeth nibbling on my earlobe, teasing me and trying to distract me. It was working.
“We’re not done, little girl,” he warned, his voice deep and gravelly, sending heat coursing through me as I remembered all the dirty things he said to me in that voice.
What he called me finally hit.
My nostrils flared, and my blood ran hot for a different reason now. It mingled with the lust as he kept teasing me through our bond. The gentle brushes of his invisible fingers skirted around my pussy but didn’t touch where I wanted the attention. I grew wetter by the second, and pressed my lips together to keep myself from moaning because that’s what he. He wanted me to give in and beg. To give him back the power that I fairly and rightfully took.
Rightfully? Where did that come from?
I didn’t know when this became a test of my mental strength to resist him. He was seducing me, and I knew he wanted me distracted enough for him to have the upper hand again.
Another memory popped in for a split second that was hard to catch. But I picked up on a similar situation of him facing me in a practice fight where he sized me up with the same dark eyes that held the promise of all the wicked things he would do to me later when I was beneath him.
The echo of his taunted“Little girl”came with it.
Not accepting his taunts, I swung my fist at him. Like a bolt of lightning, he grabbed my wrist and stopped me right before I connected with him. He moved to swing at me, but old instinct took over as I ducked and moved around him. Rune followed, and it was a blur as we fought with our hands.
I lost track of how long we fought. His sweat-slicked naked chest brushed against me too many times to count, making my head spin. Every time I took in a breath, I bit back a moan from his pheromones that mingled with wilderness. His hands on me were rough and would bruise, but I didn’t care. I liked that he was manhandling me.
I lost my footing as he tackled me—this time not holding back—and landed on my back with him draped over me. We struggled against each other. I tried my best, but he overpowered me like I was nothing more than a doll he was entertaining until this point. He got to his knees, straddling the outside of my thighs as he shackled my wrists above my head.
Bending over, his damp hair curtained around our faces as he crashed his lips to mine. His free hand slammed beside my head as he stabilized himself over me, putting some of his weight on my lower half to keep me from wiggling away. Not that I was putting up much of a fight. He gave me no say in resisting him as his tongue swept past the seam of my lips and tangled with mine.
At my whimper, he adjusted himself so he rocked more of himself on me. It didn’t go unnoticed by me that he was as hard as a rock and aching with the need to bury himself in me. He showed me with the movements of his hips how he was going to fuck me.
Raw. Primal. Rough. Untamed. And so fucking dirty.
I tasted the copper of his blood, making me shudder and grow wetter. My hips moved with his as he kept the same pace, moving against me to build the friction between us. I wanted to open my legs and wrap them around his waist, but he made no move to let me.
The memory of his warning,“You’re going to take whatever I give you,”came to me and made me want to scream. Instead, I made some noise I didn’t know I could make because of how badly I wanted him.
Rune broke from the kiss as he leaned back, keeping his eyes on mine.
He curled his lips in a snarl as he barked, “Leave!”
ChapterTwenty-Three
When we were alone, Rune held my eyes with his dark ones as he rocked against me again. I arched my back and moved with him with a breathy moan. I wiggled to open my legs. This time he let me and settled between my thighs. My breath caught when he rolled his hips hard against mine, making my breasts bounce and my clit throb faster with his hard cock right against my core. The sweet friction was almost too unbearable as he kept going until I was about to come, then stopped. I wanted to scream as the wave of my orgasm receded, and he started moving again to bring it back, then held me there at the edge.
How the hell was I getting off on dry humping?
God, I didn’t care. I needed to come. But I wanted to do it with him stretching me beyond what any normal human woman could take and feel him coming inside of me.
“Rune,” I whined as he stopped again when I was right there. “For fuck’s sake,please.”
He curved lips into a feral smile as his hand on my wrists squeezed tighter.
