by Ginna Moran
His nostrils flare, his chest rising and falling. “I will not.”
I tighten my fingers a bit more, his dick so hard and warm that my body sizzles with my raw need to give in first. “You’re mine,” I repeat, leaning in closer. “Tell me.”
Maddox pants against my lips, the fire in his eyes flickering to smolder across his irises. He breaks under my gaze and bows in to crash his mouth to mine. Waging a war between us with a single kiss, our mouths fight to claim control, our tongues sliding and stroking against each other’s. I work my hand over his dick, pulling it free from his pants to touch the length of his shaft. Maddox drags his hand from my hair and rips at the front of my jumpsuit, sending the buttons flying off.
I gasp as Maddox shreds my sports bra, destroying the fabric with one hand. Cool air sends goosebumps over my skin. My nipples tighten with desire, and Maddox rubs his hand across my breast, gently pinching my nipple between his index and middle finger. Breaking away from his mouth, I push him away and snag the front of his shirt to pull it up. He tears the buttons in one tug, giving me a view of his delicious chest. I bow into him and kiss his shoulder, working my way up to suck his spicy skin hard enough to mark him.
He spreads his fingers, rubbing his hand from my breasts and down my stomach, dragging away my jumpsuit. “Are you ready for me?” he asks, slipping his hand into my underwear to discover the answer without waiting for me to respond.
I moan at the sensation of his finger drawing between my legs.
“You feel so good,” he says, massaging my clit.
“Doesn’t mean I’m ready,” I say, grazing my teeth over his bottom lip.
He takes my bait with a playful growl, the first I’ve ever heard from him that doesn’t sound like he wants to devour me but instead humor me. Standing up, he grabs my legs and pulls my body to the edge of the medical cot. Maddox finishes undressing me and kicks off his pants to stand between my knees. I reach for him, rubbing his raging hard-on until he kneels before me.
I shut my legs, trapping him in place. “You’re mine.”
The look he gives me sends a shockwave through me. “And you’re mine.”
I guess this might be as good as it’s going to be in this moment. He didn’t deny my claim, but I can feel that he’s accepted it as a strange wave of emotions crashes over me. I shudder at the fiery and icy sensation rippling through me, stealing my breath.
“Fuck,” I whisper. “What’s happening?”
“I’m yours, Delphia. That’s what that is. Now stop playing games and give in to me. I want to make you scream my name.” Maddox rests his hands on my knees, his eyes searching mine, and then he eases my legs open and kisses my thigh. “I want to feel the pleasure I give you deep in my bones.”
Damn it, do I want to feel it too.
Maddox digs his fingers into my hips, keeping me in place as he trails a scorching line of kisses toward the apex of my thighs. I pant and squirm, combing my fingers through his long hair to play with the tresses as he flicks his tongue over me. I moan and tip my head back, closing my eyes to enjoy the sensation cascading over every inch of me.
“How can you be so good and such an asshole at once?” I ask, shifting my legs to rest them completely on his shoulders. “You piss me off.”
All he does is growl in his throat, sending tingles from my groin and up to my hips.
“How can this ever turn into anything when I hate how much I enjoy you?” I dig my fingers into his skin hard enough to leave scratch marks. “I need more than just a claim on my body.”
Maddox eases his mouth from me. “I plan to give you the world, cookie. But only after you cum for me.”
Gracing me with a smolder of a stare, Maddox slips his finger inside me to add pressure before kissing and sucking and licking my clit with so much passion that my mind turns to mush, and I can’t think of anything other than staying like this and getting pleasured by him for the rest of my life. His determination in this moment proves he’s willing to do it.
I sit up a bit, clutching his head, straddling his face. Maddox releases one of my hips to rub his dick. Excitement rushes through me, seeing such a sexy sight, and then something strange happens. My body hums with a new sensation, but it feels foreign but inviting, rolling over me with Maddox’s moan between my legs.
I grip his hair in my fingers with the intense rush of my orgasm, and I throw myself back and stretch my legs, my muscles tightening. Maddox kisses his way up my hip, linking his fingers through mine as he rises from his knees and to his feet. His mouth trails kisses up my stomach and he sucks my nipple into his mouth, making me gasp. I drag my hands down the front of his body, memorizing his flexing abs, tracing my way to his dick to align it with my body.
Maddox locks his fingers onto my shoulders and pulls me to him, entering me with a thrust I can feel penetrate my soul in a way that feels like we’re two beings merging into one. His eyes light with firelight, his hands tangling through my red hair as he braces me in place to ravish the hell out of me. Stretching my legs, I open my body to him completely, moaning in loud breaths every time his pelvis meets my thighs.
“You are so damn beautiful. I can’t think about anything else except how I want to taste every inch of you over and over until you beg me for mercy,” Maddox says, rocking his body to mine. Pleasure builds inside me so intensely that my mouth refuses to do anything but call out my ecstasy.
Our eyes remain locked on each other’s, and I savor the look of enjoyment and how his hard features light up under my attention. He loves me watching him. He relishes how I flick my attention to his dick entering me to watch our passionate fucking. Something shifts inside me the longer we focus on each other, and another wave of his heat warms from my core.
And then my ears pop, and I jolt in surprise.
“She’s so perfect. So sexy. I need to get her away from here before this place destroys the fire burning inside her.” Maddox’s soft voice trickles through my mind, surprising the hell out of me. I know it’s my mind, because his lips remain pressed together, his nostrils flaring with his intakes of breath.
What. The. Fuck.
Maddox’s eyes widen for a split second, the irises of his dark gaze now like smoldering embers with flecks of red and orange. Gasping, he sucks in a breath and moans, his hips stopping against mine as he holds me in place while he cums.
I nearly shove him back, because damn it. What are we doing? I can’t believe I just fucked him without care toward the consequences again. Maddox wants to impregnate me for some crazy-ass reason that is beyond my scope of knowledge. And my dumbass refuses to even believe such a thing is possible. He’s a man-beast. A dragon. But who am I kidding? He’s one of the sexiest creatures I’ve ever laid eyes on, and in this moment, panting beneath him, I’m nearly certain that I never stood a chance. Maddox, in all his infuriating, delicious, asshole glory could probably impregnate me with just a smoldering look.
I’m probably pregnant already.
Shit.
Why don’t I even care?
“Because you’re our mate. It is ingrained in our beings—a deep-seated need—to blend our bloodlines and create a powerful future for us.” Again, his voice enters my mind.
But it’s not scary or intrusive. It feels as intimate as sex—no, not just sex—lovemaking. This strange new connection breaks the steel wall Maddox protects himself with, and I relax beneath him, something incredibly satisfying teasing my soul.
I inhale a slow breath, studying his face to see if this is all in my head.
“It’s not.” Maddox finally uses his voice. Scooping me off the medical cot, he pulls me into his arms and kisses me. He grabs the sheet and wraps it around our bodies before lying with me on top of him. He touches my cheek, vying for my attention. “It’s just all coming together as it should be. Kash must’ve finally gotten ahold of Rhett’s coven for help to bypass the magic blocking our connection. Many shifters communicate telepathically, and the High Council doesn’t allow it for b
etter control.”
I lean up and rest my forehead to his shoulder to break his eye contact. “This is all so—so confusing.”
“I know, cookie. And I’m sorry.” Maddox tilts his head, brushing his lips to my temple. “This was far from how I imagined meeting my soul mate.”
I jerk my head back. “Soul mate? Are you fucking kidding me?”
His jaw twitches. “I know you feel the bond. You strengthened it with your acceptance of me. You let me into your mind. You want me as your future.”
I purse my lips. “I’m sorry, Maddox. This is fun and all but I can’t possibly know that. I know nothing about you apart from how you treated me like shit and now you act like I’m just someone to fuck. Soul mates are supposed to have more than a physical connection.”
“We do,” he says into my mind. Propping up on his elbow, he searches my eyes again and then bows into me, kissing me softly.
And damn it. I don’t mean to kiss him back, but my body automatically reacts to his gesture like we’ve been kissing our whole lives.
“Maddox...no. No, we don’t. We can’t.” I press my palms into his pecs, pushing him to get him to put some space between us. He doesn’t relent, and the gesture sends fire up my arms with the force of trying to move him. I wince and swear under my breath.
“Shit,” Maddox says, shifting his weight to his hip. “Look what you made me do.” Snatching my wrist, he pulls my arm above my head to get a better look at it. “You seduced me and made me forget about the scratches.”
Annoyance rushes through me. “Me? You’re blaming me? I’d have never gotten them in the first place if you hadn’t made me face Quillon.”
“You should’ve controlled yourself.” Maddox stands, leaving me on the cot with the sheet slung over me. “I can’t intervene all the time.”
Is he serious?
“I’m very fucking serious.” Maddox’s voice in my mind sparks heat through me.
“Stop doing that,” I snap. “Get out of my head.”
With a growl, Maddox whips his attention from the metal tray of instruments and to me. He swipes a scalpel and points it at me. His gesture should scare the hell out of me, but all it does is make me jump to my feet.
“It’s time to finish this shit, so I can lock you in my brother’s damn closet until he gets back,” Maddox says.
“Why not yours?” I dodge out of his way and rush to the other side of the cot.
“You don’t want to go there. It won’t be to your satisfaction.” He launches onto the bed to try to just jump over it at me. “I will have something you will like in the Mortal World.”
I arch away, and he lands on his stomach. Before he can move, I bolt around the cot and smack him on his tight ass. I can’t help it. I already know I’m facing defeat since I can’t leave this room, and I might as well get in a few moves while I can.
He jerks his head up and raises an eyebrow at me. “Don’t think I won’t reciprocate.”
“If you even try, you’ll—”
Maddox swings his arm backward and grabs onto me, pulling me to the medical cot. He flips me onto my back and pins me down, straddling my waist. My damn body loves the sudden thump of his dick landing on my stomach with his movement. I never knew that wrestling a naked man was on my list of things I needed in my life.
“Stop fighting me, and I’ll give you anything you want, Nova,” Maddox says, his chest puffing with his breath.
I narrow my eyes at him. “I want to see where you live.”
“Not happening.”
I struggle beneath him, hoping my wiggling will drive him crazy. “You said anything.”
“I didn’t expect your response to be something so ridiculous. You could’ve asked for a ten-course meal, a massage, another round of fucking with you on top. Seeing where I stay is not worth your pain.” His eyes soften, the fire extinguishing.
I close my eyes, trying to think of something, anything, that could possibly be worth my pain. “I want you to take me on a date. I mean, I want you and your brothers to take me on a date, get some wine, handfeed me something delicious that has been cooked properly—and I want you to answer any and all of my questions.”
“Would you like us to end your date with immense pleasure?” He smirks as he says the words. “All three of us?”
I widen my eyes. I don’t even know how to respond. The idea of having sex with all of them at once is...intimidating. “Uh—”
Heat suddenly bursts over the skin of my arm. I screech at the blazing flames, my skin stinging and smoldering as Maddox blows a breath of fire from his mouth. I hadn’t realized he let go of one of my hands to grab a bottle of mystery liquid. Ripping the cap open with his teeth, he dumps the liquid over my fiery skin, extinguishing his dragon fire.
A whimper escapes my lips as the scent of cinnamon wafts around us. Maddox bends into me, resting his forehead to mine. Our breaths mingle, our hearts beating out of sync, mine frantic and erratic, his slow and melodic. He continues to pin me, locking his eyes on me as I try not to cry at the diminishing pain on my arm. Because fuck.
He burned me, and now I worry about the aftermath. I once grabbed something hot off the stove without thinking, and my hand hurt for days. But this? This might be hell.
I blink my watery eyes, wishing he’d put space between us. “Maddox, please get off of me.”
“Just another second, cookie. I know it hurts, but I don’t want you to look yet.” His lips caress mine with his words. “It’s almost over.”
I groan against his mouth and kiss him to try to distract myself. He returns my affection with feather-light brushes of his lips like he doesn’t want to get carried away but also doesn’t want to deny me.
By the time he eases away from me, the pain fades completely and my heart slows to beat in the same rhythm as his. His tight jaw softens, and he kisses my forehead before straightening upright and sliding off of me. I shiver at the cool air blanketing my body at the absence of his heat, but it doesn’t last long because he pulls me onto his lap and faces me away from him to inspect my arm from over my shoulder.
“Beautiful,” he murmurs to himself. “I just need to cut off the residue, and we’ll be done. This part won’t hurt.”
I gawk at what looks like claw marks filled with molten lava streaking across my forearm. How the hell am I not screaming in pain? It’s the strangest thing. Maddox gently traces his finger along the ridges. He kisses my shoulder, showing me an unexpected gentle side that fills me up with contentment. Who knew I’d be so comfortable with a guy who has pissed me off every other second of my imprisonment here?
“But I need you to hold still,” he murmurs. “Will you do that for me? I mean it, Nova. If you move, I could scar you. If I scar you, I’ll kill that inmate asshole, and he’s our safest bet to putting things into motion.”
Just mentioning Quillon without even saying his name makes me tense. Not exactly because of Quillon and his messing with my life, but also because the Drekis made some sort of stupid bargain that churns my stomach to think about.
I open my mouth to tell him as much, but a knock sounds on the door a second before it swings open. Kash and Rowan enter the room, locking their gazes onto me as I remain naked on Maddox’s lap. Maddox brought me to the prison infirmary to tend to my scratches, not to get me naked and screw me, but it’s like my desire runs rampant.
“Feeling better, kitten?” Kash says, his face lighting with a smile. “I had no idea that the procedure required the lack of clothing, though I’m not complaining.”
“Our mate loves testing me,” Maddox says, carefully bringing a scalpel to my arm to cut at the corner of the strange molten scratch.
I close my eyes, expecting pain to follow, but nothing happens.
The cot shifts next to me, and Rowan’s warm palm rests on my naked thigh. I open my eyes and flick my attention to him, the heat he creates growing to crawl up my body to send flush over my skin.
He dangles my ripped bra in front of me
. “Looks like you put up one hell of a fight.”
I try to suppress my smile and narrow my eyes. “Maddox was being an asshole.”
“So you made love to him, kitten?” Kash says, his voice full of amusement. “You know that will only cause him to continue to be a dickhead.”
Maddox chuckles against my shoulder. His hand remains steady as he uses the scalpel to peel away the residue of the scratch, leaving behind only slightly pinkish skin. I can’t stop myself from smiling at his reaction, because his laugh sounds like music, considering how rare it comes.
“And I’ll just spank him again,” I say, tipping my head back against Maddox’s chest. “I didn’t realize how fun it is to put him in place.”
Rowan tips his head back and laughs. “No one can actually put Maddox in his place. I’m sure he let you.”
I shrug. “Doesn’t matter. I got my way.”
Maddox’s body ripples under my words. “We compromised.”
Wiggling my ass against his naked body, I tease him a bit. “No, I got my way. You couldn’t resist. Now, you must stay true to your word.”
“I—” An alarm blasts through the air, cutting Maddox off.
I don’t get a chance to react as he slides me off his lap, drops his instruments back to the metal tray, and grabs his discarded clothes from the floor. Maddox groans and shakes his head, smacking his hand to a glowing pad on the wall, silencing the alarm.
“Kash, give me your shirt. The two of you take Nova to my place,” Maddox says, buckling his belt. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
I blink a few times, watching Kash and Maddox swap clothing. “What’s going on?”
Maddox sighs a heavy breath. “The warden just arrived. The alarm is calling all head COs on duty. Something is wrong.”
“What do you think it i—” The lights turn off, leaving us in utter darkness.
A bright flash of blue light explodes through the air.
I lose my vision.
Chapter 17
Waging Wars
“WE’RE FUCKED,” KASH says, dragging me from the black abyss of my mind. “Fucking fucked.”