5
Lerin
Fifteen minutes.
That was all we had until dinner would interrupt.
Cornering her in the kitchen, my body pressed against hers, I stole another kiss. She kissed me back with the same force, almost like she’d been deprived. Could witches feel the same bond that shifters felt?
Did she know she was my fated mate?
My lips buzzed with electricity every time I kissed her. Heat filled my limbs and lungs, burning through me until the energy threatened to burst out of me. My hands pushed up the skirt of her dress a little, and I wanted my lips and tongue to follow up those creamy thighs until my next-day facial scruff turned that skin pink and sensitive.
I wasn’t sure how far I could push it without scaring her away.
I knew people outside of Crystal Glass led different lives, full of social customs that I couldn’t understand if I wanted to. I needed her, my body was begging to just take her and claim her on this counter until she couldn’t want anyone else. But I had to be smart.
This wasn’t just for breeding.
I wasn’t going to be next in line for the throne when the other two had a couple of weeks’ head start.
If she feared me, it would kill me.
She kissed me back just as passionately, her slender fingers tangling my shirt in knots. I let her pull me closer, our hot breath mixing and mingling. Kissing her jawline, I licked and nipped until I could see goosebumps forming on her skin.
If I tried to claim her, there was a chance she’d let me.
I wanted to.
My body was dying to just take everything.
I fought it down again.
Instead, to claim her in a more visible way, I set to sucking in a deep mark just below her jawline. She moaned loudly, and I could now feel her heart throbbing under every inch of her skin.
“Lerin,” she gasped.
Fuck.
Her voice was so breathy, so needy, that I felt myself losing control over it.
Pulling her against me, our bodies connected from hip to lips, I ground against her so she could feel how turned on I was. She moaned, pushing back against me. Her legs fell apart just a little—just enough to feel her heat on my cock.
I wasn’t even fully hard yet, but I was throbbing with desire.
Her body was soft, full of curves and plump flesh for me to grab and touch. I was desperate for more, ready for her like she was my next breath. She seemed just as eager, just as starved. I tried to talk myself down from it, willing my brain to take over and stop my body from claiming her before I could explain everything, but in the end, I couldn’t stop myself.
The alarm did.
Her oven’s timer started beeping before I could reach the point of no return, and she let out a surprised laugh. She kissed me again, this time slow and lazy, before letting me help her off the countertop and grabbing a couple of oven mitts.
If she hadn’t been reaching into a burning hot oven, having her lean forward in front of me like that would have been grounds for me to take things further.
I refrained from doing anything, instead taking the time she wasn’t looking to adjust myself so she wouldn’t see how hard I was.
I hoped we could just skip lunch and get back to whatever the hell we were doing, but she pulled out a knife to cut the egg and vegetable cake, and I gave in to what she wanted. Eventually she’d be mine, and I could have all of her.
Patience was a virtue I needed to work on.