It’s mostly the thought of him being in my head.
Being vulnerable to him, being exposed to his scathing vitriol at all times, the hate that he has for me that I still don’t understand. There’s too many unknowns in this for me to just… climb into bed with him.
Will he kiss me? He has to make me come to complete the Bond. I know he knows exactly how to make that happen, thanks to the Great Hallway Incident as I’m now calling it in my head, but I’m so in my head about the consequences of this, so it’s going to be about a million times harder—
“Move over. How can such a tiny little slip of a woman take up so much room?”
I squeak embarrassingly and clutch at my chest desperately as I slip and almost end up on my ass. Gryphon gets a hand around my arm and manages to keep me from seriously hurting myself, using my distraction to step into the shower with me and shuffle us both under the stream of water. He’s gloriously naked, some streaks of mud still on his arms and neck from the attack, and the moment my racing heart settles down, I’m going to do something about his rock-hard dick digging into my back.
Like dropping to my knees and swallowing him whole.
“How the hell did you get in here without my bond warning me? I just lost ten freaking years of my life, and you’ll have to be the one explaining that shit to the others!”
He chuckles in my ear, one hand sliding down my stomach and stopping just shy of my pussy. I haven’t recovered enough from the shock yet to be mad about that, but in a minute, I’ll be sassing him out over it.
He moves his hand away from my stomach to grab the soap, dragging it over my already clean skin like he’s obsessed with the feel of me under his fingertips. “You’ve gotten used to us all. Now that you’re happily Bonded and totally satisfied, your bond isn’t going to worry about telling you when we’re around. Why would it need to?”
“I don’t know about totally satisfied—”
He grabs my chin and tugs my face up firmly, swooping down to kiss me senseless. I turn in his arms, my legs steady again, and wrap my arms around his neck to anchor myself to him.
This is what I needed.
Kissing Gryphon Shore is like coming home after the hardest, longest day. It’s protection from a storm, listening to the rage and destruction of everything while knowing without a doubt that you’re safe. If North is my protector and caregiver Bonded, then Gryphon is the surety that nothing is ever going to push these men away from me. Gabe is the one who has proven that he’s all in and accepting, as loyal to me from the very first moment as I have been to them, and Atlas is the epitome of dedication to me. They’re all variations of the same set of values that I desperately need.
All of them.
Except Nox.
I break away and whisper, “Gryphon—”
But he’s already in my head, already knows every last little concern I might have, and murmurs back against my lips, “You said you trusted me. I’m not going to let anything happen to you that you don’t want, Bonded. I’m going to make sure… you’re taken care of. You deserve to have us without your bond forcing it.”
I don’t see how that’s possible.
Not without Nox giving in to his bond or somehow having a total change of heart and deciding that I’m not actually the root of all evil.
Gryphon growls under his breath at the depressed turn my thoughts have taken. He steps away from me, just long enough to soap himself down and wash away the mud and grime from the day. I watch him with a rapt sort of obsession, enjoying the way that his muscles flex as he moves. He’s freaking gorgeous, the type of cut that a man gets from daily training to become a weapon for his people, and I want to taste every inch of his body, to find my own way to worship him.
The moment he’s done washing the soap away, he turns the water off, snapping a towel off of the rack and wrapping me up in it. He has to go searching for one for himself, but he barely swipes the droplets away from himself before he’s tugging me back into my bedroom.
I tense as we step into the darkness, but there’s no one else there.
“You promised that I’d get you tonight. I’m not going to just forget about that, Bonded. It’s been too long.”
I nod and throw my towel off, not really caring about where the hell it ends up, and I practically sprint to the bed. It’s only a handful of steps, but Gryphon moves faster than I do, catching me and throwing me back against the pillows until I’m grinning like a madwoman.
“Spread that pretty pussy open for me, Bonded. It’s been too long. I need to remind it of who it belongs to.”
I do exactly that, splaying my legs out and reaching down to hold my pussy open just the way he likes, and I’m rewarded with long swipes of his tongue against my clit as he wastes no time in eating me the hell out. I’m in awe of this man and his lips. He does it like this is his favorite meal and he’s been starving himself for a week in anticipation.
He doesn’t let me come though, he just gets me right to the edge, my juices dripping all over his face, before he pulls himself back up to kiss me, sharing the taste between us. I could get angry about it, demand that he finish the job, but he’s taught me that he’ll never leave me wanting, and the fun of drawing this out is everything to me.
I push him onto his back and then crawl down his chest until I get a fistful of his cock, enjoying the groan he gives me as I slide my lips down the hot length. He’s always been determined to be in control; it’s something else to have him at my mercy for a little while. I moan around him, the vibrations causing him to grit his teeth, and I feel as he lengthens even more in my mouth. I find myself having to focus on relaxing my throat to get him far enough down.
I don’t want him to come yet though. Call me selfish, but I want him fucking my pussy before either of us reach our peak, so I pull away. Before he has the chance to flip us over and rail me into the mattress, I climb up and sit on his dick.
The stretch is something else.
“That fucking pussy, that tight and wet fucking hole was made for me. Fuck me, Bonded. Take what you need and give me what I want. More, Bonded. Bounce harder. More!”
The words and praise fall away from his lips as I do exactly what he says, taking control but being obedient all at once. His hands cover my tits and squeeze, toying with my nipples and slapping at the sensitive flesh there until I’m crying out at the overstimulation. My hips slow to a grind as I come, rubbing my clit against his pubic bone as I drag it out for as long as I can.
I want to stay in this bed with him forever.
When he comes with a low groan, he grabs at my arm and pulls me back down onto his chest.
I hear the door open and feel one of my Bonds walk into the room. It’s obvious to me who it is, I only have one Unbonded now, but a shiver runs down my spine when I hear the door click shut again behind him.
My naked ass is still up in the air, all of my most sensitive flesh exposed to Nox’s all-seeing eyes in the inky darkness of the room. I tense and move to look over at him, to see whether the loathing and disgust is still etched into every fiber of his being, but Gryphon’s fingers curl around my chin to stop me.
Even when I try to pull away from him, his grip tightens, his fingers biting into my skin and his eyes narrowing at me through the darkness.