She moaned.
He dropped to his knees. Ran the tip of his tongue along her slit. “Next time you have trouble with my teammates, you come to me.”
She gasped, stiffening for an instant before her body melted, her thighs spreading wider.
“I’m in charge of this mission. That means I get final say. Not just over you, baby, but over them all. They leave before you do. You hear me?”
“Y-yes.”
He pressed the flat of his tongue to her tiny nub. Worked it good. She mewled, pushing her pussy back against him and grinding like the wild thing she was.
He took her to the edge and then drew back. “Even more important. You don’t risk yourself for me.”
She shook her head. “N-no. I do. I protect you as fiercely as you do me. T-to death if need be. That is what a team is.”
He circled her clit with the flat of his thumb. “That’s my job. Not yours. You hear me?”
She bucked. Moaned.
“Do. You. Hear. Me?” He punctuated each word with a slight palm tap to her swollen nub.
“Y-yes.”
He brushed his thumb over her needy clit once more. “Good girl.”
“P-please.”
He lifted her up and spun her around, undoing his ropes with a few flicks. He let them fall to the ground, greedy for her hands to be on him for this next part. For her to make the choice all over again.
She watched in silence, a question in her half-lidded gaze.
“Put me inside you, sweetheart. Bring me home.” He lifted her once more, his big hands flexing around her perfect ass as understanding surfaced in her gaze.
“Home?” Wonder shimmered in her tone. Her hand slipped beneath his covering and stroked his shaft before guiding him to her entrance. “I never been anyone’s home before.”
“You are now.” He sank inside.
They groaned in unison.
Doubts and fears were forgotten as need took hold, and they chased the wild storm of pleasure together. As one.
“W-when I thought I not feel your touch again…never feel your skin against mine…it hurt so much.” She sobbed out her confession and he worked himself inside her. A wild frenzy.
Every whispered word from her lips soothing him, even as they sparked his need higher. It hadn’t been a desertion, but the highest form of sacrifice and protection. Just as he’d promised to do for her.
“You want to care for me, Nayla? This is what I need. You. Safe. With. Me.” Tilting her back, he dragged her body up and down his cock, punctuating each word with a sharp downward stroke meant to hit her clit just right. “Close enough to touch. Pleasure. Fuck.”
“Yes.” Surrendering to his fierceness, her head lolled back, her cunt clenching with each of his growled demands until she was moaning his name and coming, her wet channel squeezing him in its own desperate claiming.
The show of possession set him off. He came with a roar, holding her tight, as if he would never let her go.
He came back to himself slowly, her hair trailing across his chest as she pressed slow kisses to his jaw, her legs still wrapped around his hips.
He staggered to the nearest rock and sank down, his cock buried deep inside her. The only place he wanted to be.
Their gazes locked once more. All the vulnerability and awe, courage and fear, that had drawn him to her in the first place was only sharper and more vivid in her gorgeous eyes now.
Tenderness flooded through him, along with sheer panic. He couldn’t fail her. He wouldn’t.
“I sorry I upset you. No one ever need me before.” Her voice trembled as she reached out and traced his lip with her fingertip. “I-I didn’t think from your side. Only that I want to protect you like you do me. I do better job next time.”
He clutched her tighter, his words emerging as a near growl. “I don’t need you to prove a damn thing to me.”
She nodded, but her ears twitched, and he didn’t miss the defiance swirling in her gaze. “I used to think home a place, but no more. You are my shelter, Grif. Soon you will realize I can be that for you, too.”
The monster inside him roared once more.
Everything he’d never known he’d wanted was in his arms and branded on his soul—and he knew all too well how quickly it could be taken away.
38
Nayla woke the next rotation in their tent, a thick arm slung over her waist. Grif must have carried her back to the underground shore where the others were camped. She’d been so worn out she hadn’t even realized.
“You okay, wild thing?” His voice was an even deeper rasp than usual.
She rolled to face him, pressing close and nuzzling his neck without hesitation. “Yes. I feel better.”
Thanks to him.
What had happened in her life had left her wild, shaping the creature that lived inside her heart into a snarling, wounded spirit that was always afraid. That did not know how to be gentle and trust. It should have consigned her to an isolated life. Except Grif had figured out how to slip beneath her defenses.
He understood how to soothe her spirit. He saw what she was and what she needed. It didn’t repel him.
Because the monster inside him, the beast shaped by his past, just as she had been by hers, was as desperate to demand her surrender as she was for him to seize it.
They fit. Two twisted souls whose needs matched. Their bodies and souls aligned. They liked to come together in a clash, their struggle wild and raw, full of teeth and fangs and ferocious passion. Animalistic. And when he took her, when he seized her hips and lifted her to ride his cock, the beast inside her finally threw back its head and roared with bliss. Because she felt safe and seen.
No one else knew her like Grif did. No one else controlled her and pleasured her and cared for her like he did. No one else was capable of taking her to the edge as he did.
He was her refuge, but he did not understand yet that she could be his as well.
She would find a way to change that.
“Despite my worries,” she pressed a kiss to the hollow of his neck, feeling brave, “you find way to make me feel lighter.”
“I’m glad.” His fingers played in her hair, sending tiny shivers of pleasure cascading down her spine. “I’m going to have a little chat with Lana all the same.”
She reared back, causing a sharp tug at her scalp. “No. I work it out. You cannot fight all my battles.”
“For you? I’m ready and willing.”
She didn’t smile back.
“Okay. No interfering. But if there are any more problems,” he stretched and she grew momentarily distracted by the play of those perfect muscles rubbing against her, “you let me know.”
It took her a moment to recall they were still talking about Lana. “I will.” They were going to need to work on his inclination to swoop in and fix everything, but a little at a time. Right now, a change of subject seemed wise. “You called out in your sleep.”
A slight hesitation, but then the words slid from him easily, his tone back to teasing. “How is that possible? Somebody seriously wore me out.” He nipped at the tip of her ear.
Her lips tilted upward. She liked his flat teeth now. They had so many good uses. Still, she sensed the deflection beneath and, because she was determined to be brave, she caught his strong jaw between her hands. “You say, ‘help me.’”