He held out his hand and helped me to stand, helped me adjust my clothing, then kissed me softly, almost reluctantly before pulling me in close and leading me out of the room and down the hall to the dining room, where dinner waited.
I glanced up at his face, at his strong jaw and perfectly male features, and felt a genuine smile move across my face.
He’d stripped me bare, made me feel raw in every possible way. And for the first time in far longer than I could remember, I felt no thoughts of my past trying to ruin this moment. I felt nothing but hope.
It was enough to have me choke up with emotion.
Maybe things would be okay? Maybe we could have our happily ever after?
Chapter
Eighteen
Odhran
I was ashamed to admit I’d had to jerk off twice last night after Larkin fell asleep, my body still humming after what she’d let me do to her in the library.
I ran my tongue over my bottom lip, remembering how soft she’d been against my lips, how sweet she’d tasted down my throat.
I pushed those thoughts to the dark recesses of my mind as I focused on taking the narrow road to our destination. But the throbbing of my stiff cock made it almost impossible to think of anything else.
The need to mate with her, to mark and claim her, ran so hard in me that with each passing second it was getting difficult to concentrate.
I’d managed the need to claim my mate for all these decades to focus on one thing. Finding her. Getting her back. And killing the bastards who had taken her.
And although the fuckers who’d hurt her were and would be taken care of, Banner and Adryan and many factions of the Otherworld making sure they were no longer a threat, all I could focus on was making my wee female feel good. Making her happy and helping to keep her demons at bay.
I glanced over and saw her focus was out the passenger side window. I reached down and adjusted my cock, nearly groaning as sparks of pleasure shot through me just from that small touch.
I was also ashamed to admit that I’d actually orgasmed like some lad after eating her out, unable to control myself so that I’d shot my load right in my jeans as I felt her tug on my hair and tasted her climax on my tongue and down my throat.
And my wolf, the greedy bastard, refused to back down, refused to submit. He was so close to the surface, pacing, scratching me from the inside out, that I couldn’t help being partially shifted.
My nails were claws, canines elongated. I was bigger than when I was in human form, my eyes shifting back and forth from glowing blue to my normal color.
I knew he was just as anxious as I was to be with Larkin; despite his impatience, my human side was still stronger, still able to keep him back.
She needed time to understand this new world, much more time to come to terms with everything, to heal from the inside out before she could even contemplate being fully mated.
And I’d give her as much as she needed. A lifetime. Eternity.
She was here, with me, and that was all that mattered.
Maybe I need to fight in the Guard, go a few brutal rounds with some of the Lycan spiders, maybe even Cian since he could match my strength and savagery blow-by-blow.
Maybe I needed a run in the woods. Maybe I just needed to get so drunk I blacked out.
But I could never do any of those, could never leave her unprotected in any way. I was the only one who could fully keep her safe, and the very thought of being so out of it, of having to leave her while I shifted into my beast form and ran this energy out, had panic swelling in me.
I glanced at her once more and looked at her profile, reminded of how lucky I was, even if I would never deserve her, never be good enough for her.
“Are you okay?”
I’d been so lost in my thoughts that her soft voice startled me, and I looked over, seeing an inquisitive expression on her face.
“I’m okay, darlin’.” Her brows furrowed, and I focused on the road again, my cock throbbing the longer she stared at me. I curled my hands tightly around the steering wheel, hearing the leather creak.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what I wanted to do to her. With her. What I wanted her to do to me. I clenched my jaw and forced the growl that would’ve spilled through to stay in place.