Taryn took everything Hareem gave and demanded more. He gasped and cried out, letting out little sounds that threatened to make Hareem come without any further assistance from Hareem’s part. At one point, he grew so frantic he almost seemed near tears. “Come on, Hareem,” he begged. “I can take it. I’m not going to break. Just touch me.”
Hareem couldn’t deny his mate any longer. Releasing Taryn’s nipple with a wet pop, he crawled lower down over his mate’s body. Under normal circumstances, he might have reached directly for Taryn’s dick, his urgency too much to bear. But now, he couldn’t bypass Taryn’s abdomen just like that.
He pressed a kiss to the Taryn’s belly, right over where he knew his son rested. In that moment, even Taryn’s frantic motions stopped. He just lay there, panting, his beautiful eyes meeting Hareem’s gaze. The air was saturated with sexual urgency, and yet, that simple moment, when they looked at each other, held something worshipful that went beyond the need for carnal satisfaction.
Hareem couldn’t really identify one single emotion he felt at that point. There was lust, love, gratitude, but also regret. Taryn and their son were just so precious to him, but somehow, they’d been reduced to stolen moments of passion.
It wasn’t like Hareem felt ashamed of desiring Taryn. Taryn just deserved better. Hareem wanted to give him the world, to make Ornoz safe for his mate. He had broken his promise to leave Taryn be until he got that result. Could he really blame himself? Could Taryn?
There was so much confusion and frustration still separating them. Hareem shouldn’t be losing all these precious moments at Taryn’s side. He should be watching his son grow within his mate, protecting him every second of the day. That was what his dragon truly wanted.
“Oh, Hareem, I know,” Taryn murmured through their bond. “I hate this, too. Sometimes, I really wish I hadn’t asked it of you. But what other options do we have? We’ve tried everything else.”
So they had, and the results had been less than satisfying, to say the least. Hareem really didn’t want to remember his repeated failure to be a good mate and do the right thing.
Taryn’s hand pet his hair, now gentle when before, its hold had been passionate. “It’s okay,” Taryn added. “We’re together now. In fact, we’re always together, and that won’t ever change. I have faith in you.” Out loud, he said, “And I want you so very badly.”
The change surprised Hareem, although, in hindsight, it shouldn’t have. In spite of his frustrating thoughts, he was just as aroused, needing Taryn as much as before, if not more. Still, when Taryn pushed him down, Hareem released a startled and somewhat undignified yelp. “I want you to fuck me,” Taryn continued, his voice husky, his green-gold eyes darkened with desire.
The words just about broke Hareem’s mind. No longer could he focus on the past, on his lacks, on their less than ideal location. The only thing his brain could process was that his mate had climbed on top of him and straddled his lap. This brought Taryn’s ass right over Hareem’s dick, and it also gave him a beautiful view of the werewolf’s body.
Seeing Taryn like that, above him, glowing with desire and that special something that came with being pregnant, was a nearly transcendental experience. Hareem had the urge to pinch himself to see if he wasn’t dreaming. Taryn released a little laugh, obviously overhearing his thoughts. “Perhaps I’ll prove to you that this is real. What do you say?”
Taryn didn’t wait for Hareem’s answer, not that it would have been necessary. Moving with striking quickness, the young werewolf slipped lower down Hareem’s body. It did bring Taryn’s ass out of his reach, but Hareem’s dismay at that unfortunate progression melted when Taryn lowered his mouth over his dick.
Wet heat engulfed Hareem’s prick, and pleasure exploded over him, making him groan in delight. He tried to think of Taryn’s comfort and remained still, allowing Taryn to go at his own pace. Taryn took shameless advantage of it. He licked Hareem’s dick as he would a lollipop, tracing it from head to base with his wicked tongue. Then, he returned to the glans, stabbing the slick muscle into the slit. He wrapped his pretty pink lips around Hareem’s cock, sucking hard.
It was sweet torture, the alternating sensations driving Hareem wild with lust. When Taryn’s small hands reached down and toyed with Hareem’s testicles, Hareem couldn’t take it anymore. He threaded his fingers through Taryn’s hair, forcibly holding his lover down. Snarling, he thrust his dick into Taryn’s wet cavern. Taryn didn’t seem to mind Hareem’s loss of control. In fact, he moaned, obviously excited by it. As Hareem started fucking his mouth in earnest, Taryn opened himself to the invasion. They’d grown so accustomed to each other that he didn’t even gag, although Hareem’s dick wasn’t exactly easy to take. With each of Hareem’s thrusts, Taryn grew even more ravenous, his greed and lust echoing through their bond, making everything impossibly better.
With Taryn working him so beautifully, Hareem forgot each and every one of his misgivings. He was already hovering on the edge of climax, so close to coming it hurt. Finally, Taryn took his dick all the way into his throat. With a roar, Hareem came, filling his mate’s mouth with his seed.
Taryn greedily swallowed down his offering, not letting a single drop go to waste. Hareem shuddered through his climax, but he was not alone in his pleasure. Much to his shocked pleasure, wet heat splashed against his thigh as Taryn followed him over the edge. Taryn’s orgasm just made the already mind-numbing rapture even better. It prolonged Hareem’s climax, but at the same time, stirred that part of him that would never be complete until he was inside Taryn.
Even as the werewolf released Hareem’s dick from his mouth, Hareem was already hardening again. Taryn released a lost little whimper, his wolf responding to Taryn’s dragon.
Hareem desperately wanted to bury his cock inside his mate’s channel, but he couldn’t do so without preparing his sweet lover first.
His mate solved that problem by gathering his own cum from Hareem’s skin on his fingers and reaching behind himself. Hareem nearly swallowed his tongue as he watched Taryn slide his digits inside his own channel. The angle didn’t allow Hareem to see what Taryn was actually doing, but he could still feel it, feel the way it teased Taryn’s appetite, making him need something more, something only Hareem could give.
Mercifully, Taryn didn’t linger too much on the preparation. Even if he’d already come, Hareem was already burning with unsatisfied need. He should have probably been more careful, but they were beyond that, too impatient and frustrated by their separation.
Taryn removed his fingers from his own ass and positioned himself over Hareem’s dick. Mindful of his mate’s urgency, Hareem clutched Taryn’s hips. He didn’t want the werewolf to hurt himself in his zeal to get Hareem’s inside him. Hareem wasn’t exactly complaining at it, but even now, he had to think of his mate and child’s comfort.
Taryn released a little groan of protest, but nevertheless allowed Hareem to set the pace. Slowly, Hareem guided Taryn down. Both of them groaned when Hareem’s dick popped past the ring of guardian muscle. Overlords, no matter how many times they came together like this, Hareem couldn’t get enough of it. He gritted his teeth, trying to leash his dragon when the only thing he wanted was to claim Taryn in one single hard thrust, to fuck him until neither of them could see straight.
To distract himself from the overwhelming sensations, he tried to focus on Taryn’s beautiful face, on the lovely way he was biting his lower lip. His cheeks were flushed and his hair sweaty. He had never looked lovelier, and Hareem’s attempt to temper his libido by looking at him hadn’t been a very smart idea.
Now unable to hold himself in check, Hareem fully impaled his mate. When he was balls-deep inside his lover, he stilled, half for Taryn’s benefit and half for his own. If he started moving now, he would probably embarrass himself and come on the spot.
In that moment, he truly couldn’t imagine how in the world he’d ever been willing to leave Taryn’s side. Oddly enough, he almost couldn’t remember
being apart from the werewolf, like it had happened to someone else, or in other life. A veil of ecstasy shrouded those memories, and Hareem could only focus on the here and now, on pleasuring his mate, giving, taking, loving, and showing Taryn everything their bond meant to him.
Taryn clenched his ass muscles, giving Hareem the cue that it was okay to move. With a groan, Hareem tightened his hold on his mate’s hips and thrust up into Taryn’s snug hole. In the process, he struck Taryn’s special spot, and tiny explosions of pleasure showered them both. Hareem could feel the bliss his lover experienced at having his prostate stimulated echoing through their connection and into his body.
Wild with lust, Hareem set a pace, burying himself inside Taryn over and over again. The angle allowed him to get impossibly deep inside Taryn, but also gave him a good glimpse of the werewolf’s swollen abdomen. However, courtesy of their connection, he even succeeded in taming his dragon’s protectiveness. Taryn met him thrust for thrust, riding him with abandon. He supported himself against Hareem’s abs, moving faster with every passing second, his passion blending with Hareem to surround them in a cocoon that isolated them from the outside word. Taryn’s cock bobbed in front of him, leaking generous amounts of fluid all over his stomach. Hareem reached for it, intending to jack Taryn off, but his mate slapped his hand away and set it back in its original place over his hip. It was quite obvious that Taryn thought he would come, and he didn’t want to let go of the moment just yet.
Hareem could understand that, but he was so close to coming he could almost taste it. Still, he didn’t want to orgasm before his mate. He bit the inside of his cheek, fueling his pleasure into his lover. Taryn would have none of it, though. Impaling himself one more time on Hareem’s dick, he buried his fangs in Hareem’s throat.
No matter how much he’d have wanted to resist, Hareem couldn’t withstand the ecstasy that exploded through him when his mate claimed him. It wasn’t the first time Taryn marked him like this, although the werewolf didn’t regularly bite Hareem during sex. More often than not, Hareem was the one who bit Taryn. The change didn’t startle Hareem, though. If anything, it seemed as natural to him as breathing. In his heart, he’d always known that he belonged to Taryn as much as Taryn belonged to him.
With a groan, Hareem came, filling his sweet lover with his seed. At the same time, Taryn found his peak as well. Wet heat splashed against Hareem’s chest, and the rapture fed into their bond, prolonging his orgasm.
For a few beautiful moments, their minds were in complete synch. There were no barriers between the two of them. Their memories and emotions blended together in a cocktail that Hareem was drunk on. He could feel how much Taryn needed and loved him, how important he was for the young werewolf. Lost in a bliss that went beyond the carnal, Hareem became one with Taryn, reveling in the litany of words he could hear in his mind and in his heart. “Mate, my mate.”
He didn’t even know which of them was saying that. It could have been Taryn, or it could have been Hareem. Perhaps it was both of them. In the end, it didn’t really matter, because they shared the emotion, an emotion stronger than anything in this world.
It seemed to last forever, and yet, it ended far too soon. Taryn slumped on top of him, exhausted, sweaty, and so very Hareem’s. Hareem’s spent cock left Taryn’s body, but as he gathered his lover to his chest, he couldn’t remember feeling happier, at least not in a long time.
Unfortunately, his bliss was shattered when he felt another presence nearby. He suspected that the new arrival had been there for longer than Hareem would have liked. He released his lover from his embrace and turned, frowning.
“Don’t you have anything better to do than spy on your brother?” he asked.
“Actually,” the older werewolf answered, “it might come as a surprise to you, but I do. In fact, there’s a whole pack for me to handle, one with very sensitive ears.”
He actually felt Taryn’s wince, and naturally, he hated it. Sure, they’d probably been a little noisier than was preferable, but who could blame them?
As if guessing his thoughts, Monroe added, “Not that I blame you. I most certainly do not. But it would have helped if you’d given me a heads-up beforehand. I had to improvise to get the others away from you.”
“I appreciate that,” Taryn answered. “You’re not angry with me?”
Monroe shook his head. “We’ll talk more about it later. For the moment, Emperor Hareematek needs to go.”
Hareem resigned himself to the inevitable. Monroe was right, no matter how much Hareem hated it. Pulling away from his mate, Hareem melted into his dragon form.
By the time the process was complete, both Taryn and Monroe had changed shapes. Two black wolves now stood where the Lovington brothers had been. The smaller of the two padded to Hareem’s side and nudged him with his snout. Hareem gently caressed Taryn with his paw, wanting nothing more but to stay at his lover’s side.
He hadn’t come here just for sex. Granted, he would never lie to himself or Taryn by saying he hadn’t hoped and expected it to happen. However, he’d been looking forward to just holding the werewolf as they spoke. They chatted regularly through their bond, and Taryn was informed regarding what Hareem had been doing for the purpose of bringing them together again. But it was simply not the same.
Frustrated with the circumstances, he shot Monroe an ugly look. Why in the world was he leaving anyway? He didn’t have to obey Monroe, and the pack had settled in for the night. He could stay for a while longer. The Alpha wolf couldn’t provide him with an answer, but Taryn did. “He says it’s suspicious for me to run off like that, that I already have enough problems with the rest of the pack as it is.”
Hareem released a low growl and glanced in the direction of the wolves. He had a mind of teaching them a little lesson regarding how they should treat his mate. “No, Hareem,” Taryn said. “You have to let me fight my own battles. Besides, your involvement would just tear the pack apart. Even if some of them resent me for my closeness to you, I know these people. I lived with them for years before you came along. I don’t want them harmed.”
A pang of guilt coursed through Hareem at Taryn’s words. He met the wolf’s green-gold eyes, wanting nothing more but to sweep Taryn off his feet—or in this case, his paws—and fly them both away from here.
Unfortunately, their circumstances were such that Taryn didn’t really belong anywhere. For that, Hareem would never forgive himself. Someone as kind and beautiful as Taryn shouldn’t have to suffer loneliness and abandonment.
“I’ll find an answer to this, sweeting,” he promised. “This isn’t at all the life I want for you, for us.”
“I know, Hareem,” Taryn answered. Their bond glowed with Taryn’s affection and forgiveness as the little werewolf nuzzled the scales on Hareem’s belly. “And no matter what I said back then, you’re always welcome in my arms. I just… You’re needed in Draechenburg, and for obvious reasons, I can’t go there.”
With a mental sigh, Hareem surrendered to the inevitable. “Soon, baby,” he said. “Soon you’ll be welcome everywhere. No more hiding.”
Taryn finally moved away from Hareem. Hareem watched as the beautiful wolf joined his brother. Together, Monroe and Taryn turned and disappeared into the undergrowth.
Resigned, Hareem launched himself into the air. His heart grew heavier and heavier with each second that passed. It hurt just as much as it had the first time Hareem had been forced to leave Taryn behind. Why had he come here again? Oh, yes, because staying away was even worse.
Miserable, Hareem prepared himself for the long journey toward Draechenburg. As he flew, he kept monitoring his mate’s actions through their bond. Of course, that wasn’t something uncommon. Hareem often did that while in Draechenburg. It was what got him through the countless weeks of their separation. It wasn’t the same thing as being with his lover, but it would have to do. And Hareem had become very adept in pretending to focus on work while actually directing his full attention to his mental con
versations with his mate.
This time around was no different. Even if he didn’t talk to Taryn much, just watching the young werewolf interact with his pack members sufficed at least to soothe the wounds in Hareem’s heart.
When at last he reached Draechenburg, he was physically tired after the long flight and emotionally drained because of his separation from his lover. Perhaps that contributed to the shock that coursed through him when he found Karein waiting for him on the cliffside.
His brother had taken to spending most of his time in Rose Noire. Hareem had encouraged it, since he suspected that the Ancient Horror wouldn’t delay in targeting any allies of Ornoz, and Ivenia would be the first choice.
There were other people on the cliff, so his brother bowed lowly. “Your Imperial Majesty, a word with you, if I may.”
Karein showed no sign of being surprised by the fact that Hareem had been gone until now. That was a good thing, since their people took their cues from leaders. As long as Karein didn’t question him, the others wouldn’t either.
Still, Karein’s presence unsettled Hareem. He changed shapes and guided his brother inside. He found the first available free room and entered it, closing the door behind them. Once they were in private, he inquired, “What’s the matter, Karein?”
Karein gave him a serious look. “Sari’s mother has just fallen into a coma.”
Chapter Ten
A few months later
Raleigh Connors bowed lowly in front of Hareem as he entered the throne room. Hareem beckoned him closer, while waving the guards away. “Leave us,” he told the soldiers. “I wish to speak with Mr. Connors alone.”
Emperor's Consort [Chronicles of the Shifter Directive 5] (Siren Publishing Epic Romance, ManLove) Page 17