He began moving in me, slowly at first. It hurt—until it didn’t. Okay, so maybe the pain never really went away, but I stopped caring when the tip of his cock grazed my prostate. Waves of pleasure rolled through me, and he began taking me harder and harder until he was absolutely pounding my ass.
I reached up and grasped the top of the wooden headboard with both hands, bracing myself while he clutched my hips and drove himself into me. I became nothing but pure sensation, moaning and driving myself onto him, meeting each thrust. A moment before he came, he pulled me against him and bit my shoulder, which would have meant he claimed me as his mate if the bond had been in play.
I reached back, tangling my fingers in his hair as he came in me, his body slamming into mine so hard that he lifted me off my knees. He grasped my cock, and it only took a couple of strokes before I exploded, pushing into his hand and shooting across the blanket as a yell tore from me. It was intense and wild and by the time it ended, I was absolutely shattered.
I tried to curl into myself as he eased his cock from me. He gathered me up, holding me against his chest while he tossed aside the top blanket and wrapped us in the one underneath. All I could do was cling to him as we both caught our breath.
After a while, he whispered, “You were a virgin.” I nodded. “I can’t believe you actually waited for me.”
“That wasn’t the plan. I was so angry after we spent those three days together, and I really didn’t think we’d ever end up here. I tried to sleep with other men, but somehow I could never go through with it. They just weren’t…you.”
“You really surprised me today.”
“You surprised me, too.” I ran my fingers over his collarbone, and after a moment I said, “Thanks for being careful with me when you realized it was my first time.”
He shifted a bit and settled in. “I’ll always take care of you, Mateo. That’s my job as your alpha, just like it’s your job to obey me.”
That felt like a splash of cold water in the face. I whispered, “Damn it, Elias. Why did you have to say that?”
“Because it’s true.”
I sat up and turned to look at him. “You get that this was exactly the problem last time, right? You kept treating me like a possession instead of a person, and I didn’t want any part of that.”
“The problem last time was that you were stubborn and willful, and you refused to listen.”
I took a deep breath and tried to remain calm. “I’ll gladly submit to you when we’re having sex. You can be totally in charge and I’ll do whatever you say, because it turns out I actually like that. But outside the bedroom, I need you to treat me as an equal. That’s not optional.”
He sat up too, with some kind of strong emotion glinting in his dark eyes. “Look where we are right now, Mateo. Do you think I wanted to spend the last three months hiding out on this godforsaken island? The reason I’m here is because I have some very powerful enemies, and if they come for me and I tell you to run and hide, I need you to do as I say. How can I keep you safe if I can’t trust you to obey me?”
“I don’t need you to keep me safe, and I sure as hell wouldn’t run and hide if we were in danger! I’m a grown man with enough warlock in me to be able to protect both of us against whatever comes our way.”
His voice rose as he exclaimed, “That arrogance could get you killed! You think you’re invincible, but you’re just not.”
“Look who’s talking about being arrogant!” I climbed out of bed and told him, “Also, I don’t buy this new angle of yours that it’s all about keeping me safe. You’ve always wanted an obedient little pet, not a partner.”
“You don’t know what I want,” he growled. “You didn’t stick around long enough to find out.”
“You made it pretty fucking clear in a short amount of time.”
I started to leave the bedroom with the blanket wrapped around me like a toga, and he asked, “Where are you going?”
“Anywhere but here, before we both say things we’ll regret.”
I cut through the adjoining room and scooped up my clothes and shoes, then went downstairs and looked around me. God, what a creepy place. It was all dark wood paneling, antique furnishings, and heavy tapestries, like someone had deliberately tried to make it look haunted.
After quickly exploring the ground floor, I retreated to a library at the back of the building. Compared to the rest of the place, this room was a bit brighter, with two large windows overlooking the field behind the house. But only a bit, because it was overcast outside and pouring rain, and that gloom seemed to permeate everything.