Moon Bound

by Leisl Leighton

  He hesitated.

  ‘River. I need to feel you. Everywhere.’

  His growl turned into a moan and then his mouth and teeth were on her neck. She bit back a gasp as his teeth sunk in, surrounding her pulse point, not breaking the skin, but marking it deeply. She would have a bruise there for all to see. He licked across the pulse point, bit down a little harder, a low hum sounding in his throat.

  ‘Oh, Goddess!’ she gasped. It should be painful, but it wasn’t. Her skin tingled where his lips touched. Warmth expanded out from the pressure of his teeth on her skin, a corresponding warmth growing at her centre and around her heart. His hand moved across her breast, circling her nipples, lightly pinching the buds so that they ached with wanting more. She sobbed as his hand left her nipples, travelling down her stomach, her muscles jumping under his touch. She writhed on the bed, pushing her core harder against his erection still firmly encased in his jeans.

  ‘Take your jeans off. I need you inside me now.’

  ‘Not yet,’ he growled against her skin, the vibration of sound creating a new sensation that made her want to scream. He was creating a storm inside her with not much more than his teeth and tongue and his weight on her. What would it be like when he was actually inside her?

  The thought exploded in her mind like mini-fireworks. Her fingernails dug into his back as she struggled to get closer, to shift her head. But he wouldn’t let her move. He had her pinned, teeth at her neck, hips pushing her into the bed, legs wound around hers. Even his hands—one on her throat, the other on her stomach—were keeping her in place, vibrating with the urgency of her need.

  An urgency he seemed determined to ignore.

  Whimpers puffed out of her lips as he stroked along her stomach, his fingers making little whirling patterns on her skin, dipping into her belly button, moving lower and then back up again. Teasing. Tormenting. ‘You’re driving me insane.’

  She felt the curl of his mouth against her neck as he made soothing noises in his throat. But still he held her captive with his hand, his mouth, his teeth still gripping her, surrounding the pulse of life force in her neck, as his other hand continued its languorous path down her stomach.

  His fingers ran along the top of her light cotton yoga pants. ‘These have to come off,’ he whispered.

  He shifted enough so that she could lift her hips, but before she could reach to help him remove her pants, he’d torn them off, the material making a short, sharp ripping sound in the quiet of the room. ‘Hey!’ She protested weakly as his hand ran up her leg, soothing any hurt. ‘They were my favourite thing to sleep in.’

  He lifted his head for a moment, his fingers trailing up her thigh. ‘You don’t need them.’ His finger brushed over the curls at the apex of her legs. ‘When you sleep with me, you’ll sleep with only me wrapped around you.’ He nudged her legs further apart with his thigh and then brushed his fingers back and forth over the seam of lips protecting her core. She whimpered as the ache increased. ‘When you sleep with me, you’ll sleep with only me this close.’ He pushed his fingers between those lips, slipping through the slickness of her desire.

  She jerked, her breath caught in her throat as the sensation of his finger sliding across her labia and circling her clit, tore through her. ‘R … River.’

  ‘When you sleep with me, you’ll sleep with only me inside you.’ He rubbed his thumb over her clit, pushed his finger inside her and bit down on the pulse point in her neck again all at the same time.

  Something in her brain exploded and behind her eyes she saw black and then the brightest light as her body arched up with the orgasm that had her, sudden and hard, in its grip. ‘River!’ His name was a scream, cut off by his mouth on hers. His thumb worked her clit as his finger was joined inside her by another, pumping in and out, as the pulses of orgasm clenched harder and higher and tighter; until she thought she might pass out from the pleasure of it. She’d never had an orgasm like it. It went on and on.

  He shifted, his hand leaving her throat, his lips and teeth leaving her skin—not that its absence freed her to move because his thumb and fingers on her clit and inside her made that an impossibility—and then he was back and she sighed as the skin of his legs nudged her legs further apart.

  He pulled his fingers out of her, but before she could protest, she felt the tip of his impressive erection slide through her wet lips to hover over the entrance to her core.

  There he halted.

  She whimpered again, the orgasm still pulsing inside her. She tried to lift her pelvis, to join them, but he grasped her hip in one hand and held her still. His eyes blazed with a fire of desire that threatened to burn her to cinders. It sent a little frisson of fear through her, alongside soul-baring longing. Incredible though it seemed, that look was for her. It might not last, but it was hers and hers alone for now. Reaching up, she cupped his face in her hands, her fingers tracing over the stubble of his unshaven chin, the firm perfection of lips that had tortured her with his kisses alone, tracing the cool lines of the twisting scars on one side and the smooth, warm skin on the other.

  ‘River. Now.’

  He shook his head. ‘If I do this, there’ll be no turning back.’

  ‘I don’t want to turn back. I want this.’

  ‘You will be bound to me. You can’t want that.’

  Bound? Of course she wanted that. But he didn’t mean it. He didn’t want her. This was just her desire speaking. And given it was speaking so loudly, she decided not to question it, but let it scream out its ultimate need. Holding his face in her hands, she looked into his blazing eyes and said words that seemed torn out of her. ‘I want it more than I want to breathe. Only you can give me what I need. But please, you have to give it now.’ She pushed her pelvis up again as his grip on her hip loosened and the tip of his penis slipped inside her. The burning increased. ‘Oh, Goddess, River. I’m burning. Make it stop. Make it stop.’

  With a growl, he dropped his head to her neck, bit and pushed inside her, the long thick length of him almost more than she could stand. Her scream of pleasure tore through the air, ringing around her.

  He held still. Lifted his head. ‘Bronwyn?’ His voice was filled with worry.

  ‘Please,’ she sobbed. ‘Don’t stop. I need you, River. I need you.’

  He peeled her hands from his shoulders and held them against the pillow as he began a slow, long, rocking motion.

  ‘Ohhh, Goddess!’ she cried out again.

  He kept up the motion, slow at first, but then moving faster and faster, his lips on hers, on her neck, sucking on her breasts and all the time he held her hands, their fingers twined.

  The fire inside her built higher and higher, remorseless, burning every thought and feeling in its passion-fuelled wake until she was nothing but muscles tightening and pulsing in a wave that caught her and took her, crashing over to tumble and spin in a wild vortex of ecstasy. She heard River cry out at the same time as the orgasm fully took her, his energy filling her with so much light, she thought she might be seared by it from the inside out. But even through the searing, blinding lights, one colour always held steady—burning hazel tipped with amber and gold, staring into her eyes, into her soul, owning her, claiming her, tearing her apart and putting her back together in a new body that would never be able to forget this moment it was born anew.

  Wrapped together, they spiralled into the warm, welcoming dark.

  Chapter 19

  Bron awoke slowly, aware she was hot. And heavy. The red flare of daylight danced across her closed eyelids and she could tell the day was well and truly on its way without opening her eyes.

  Why on earth was she still in bed? Was she sick? Apart from the heat and the heavy languor—not to mention muscles that were a little sore—she didn’t feel sick. Then why was she still in bed? She never slept this late—she usually got up at the crack of dawn.

  She tried to sit up.

  A hard, warm band across her chest prevented her, as did the growl next to h
er ear.

  ‘You’re not going anywhere. I’m not finished with you yet.’

  Muscled, hair-roughened legs nudged her thighs apart and then he was inside her, hot and hard and long, filling her, as his hand cupped her breast and his mouth pressed a hard, wet kiss to the juncture of her neck and shoulder.

  The sensation made one word sigh out of her mouth, ‘River.’

  For long, silent minutes, she did nothing but let him ride her from behind, moving with him to increase the pleasure, arcing her neck and turning her head so that she could meet his mouth for a hard, tongue-tangling kiss, before giving herself over completely to the sensation of him inside her, his hand on her breast, his other skating along her stomach to bury his fingers in her curls and slide his index finger over her clit until her body tensed. Lights exploded behind her eyes and she was carried away again on waves of sensation more intense than anything she’d ever felt before.

  He tensed behind her, crying out her name as he spilled his seed inside her before biting down on the tender spot on her neck he’d marked the night before, his thumb gliding across her clit. The wave of orgasm expanded, pulling him into her and along with her. They rode it together, lost to anything but each other for what seemed a blissful eternity.

  She resurfaced from her pleasure-induced fugue state, a smile on her lips. River still had his arms wrapped around her, his muscled stomach and chest against her back, his cock still inside her, filling her.

  She couldn’t help but smile in utter contentment. She had given herself to him, loved him with everything in her, and yet it was deeper than anything she’d ever imagined. She almost purred as she whispered, ‘Is this a dream?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ he said gruffly. ‘You tell me.’

  She frowned. His arms were no longer loose around her; they were stiff with tension. He also sounded uncertain. So unlike the man who’d just told her he wasn’t finished with her and then loved her like she’d never been loved before. Then it dawned on her. Of course he was worried. Being with her was his first time. But how could he not know it had been good for her? More than good. Extraordinary. Mind blowing. World changing. She had to find the words to explain it to him.

  ‘River,’ she said, trying to turn around, but he was still inside her, his arms banded around her waist, one hand cupped possessively over her breast. She liked the feeling of his hand there. She wanted to make sure it stayed there. That there was the possibility of a repeat.

  Tentatively, she reached up and stroked his cheek and tried to let her heart speak the right words. ‘Last night …’ Her throat cracked and she took a deep breath, started again. ‘Last night was the most incredible experience of my life. I’ve never felt so close to anyone. It has never been like this for me before. So … so … intense. So … fulfilling. I don’t want this to ever end.’

  ‘Fuck.’ He tensed even more. ‘What have I done?’

  Ice punched into Bron’s chest at his words. The bliss of a moment ago was instantly torn apart by the ravaging grief in his voice. An arctic chill chased over her skin as his arms loosened their hold on her and he pulled out of her, pulled away.

  No. She wouldn’t let him pull away. Not this time. Not after what they’d shared, after what she’d learned about herself last night in the dream quest. She still wasn’t sure what it all meant, but she was sure about the message it told her about her heart. She had to follow her heart. Believe in what it was telling her. And it was telling her this man was hers.

  She rolled with him and wrapped her arms around his broad chest before he was able to roll out of the bed. ‘Don’t turn away from me, River. Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on here.’

  He stared at her, his mouth a grim tight line. ‘I should never have done this.’

  Tears burned, his words acid on her heart, but she wouldn’t let them spill. She could not let him tear them apart without telling her why. ‘Why shouldn’t you have done this?’ Her voice was almost too thick with tears to be understood, but she just held on tighter. ‘We are two consenting adults who decided to make love. There could never be anything wrong with that. Not with what happened between us. Not when it felt so right. And I know I wasn’t the only one to feel that. Was I?’

  River almost swore as her words tore at his heart. He’d fucking made her cry. What kind of an arsehole was he? And what was worse, he couldn’t lie to her. He couldn’t tell her it meant nothing even though he knew if he did, it would make this all so much better for both of them. ‘No. You’re not wrong. But it still doesn’t change the fact I shouldn’t have done this. I shouldn’t have let things go this far.’

  ‘But why?’

  Her hands were fists against her chest as if she was holding in something bursting to get out. No. Not bursting to get out. Tearing her up inside by the look on her face, in her eyes.

  Fuck! He raked his hand through his hair, wishing he didn’t have to look into those beautiful, tear-drenched eyes, but if he didn’t, he wasn’t much of a man or Were. Nostrils flaring, breath coming too fast for comfort, he met her pained stare and said, ‘Because I forced this on you. I gave you no choice.’

  ‘W … what?’ She blinked. A tear spilled down her cheek. ‘This was my choice. I chose this. If anyone forced anyone here, it was me forcing you.’

  He almost laughed at that. But there was nothing funny about this. ‘You don’t understand.’

  ‘Then explain it to me, River.’

  He stared at her, words not coming. How could he explain it to her? How could he tell her that she was his entire world, she would always be his choice, that she was his mate and yet he couldn’t accept her as such. That he had never wanted her to know. Never wanted to make the bond. Yet, despite all that, he’d just gone and mated with her last night, starting the bond in a way that would be hard to undo, and all without her knowledge or consent.

  She thought they’d had sex. A possible one-night stand as far as she was concerned. And yet he’d started the process that would tie her to him for life simply because he was too weak to stand strong. The Beast had torn down nearly every avenue of strength he had in him, and what he had left he was putting into fighting what the Beast was doing to him. He’d had no more to fight the inexorable pull of Bronwyn. And so he’d given in and experienced … heaven.

  She watched him, her beautiful eyes filling with despair with every moment that passed in silence. ‘Why don’t you want me?’

  Her voice sounded so small. It tore at him, tore at his last shred of self-respect. Reaching for her, he pulled her to him, holding tight. ‘Oh, God, I want you, Bronwyn. I’ve never wanted anything the way I want you. But I can’t have you.’ She jerked in his arms, but he didn’t let go, just held tighter, his lips against her hair. ‘I shouldn’t have let last night happen, not because I didn’t want it with every shred of my being, but because it wasn’t right. Not for you.’

  She pulled away and this time he let her go. ‘Why would you say that? If I wanted to be with you, then that is right for me, and nothing you say can make me believe otherwise.’

  He held her face in his hands, stroking a single tear from her silken skin. ‘You gave me a precious gift last night, but it’s a gift I don’t deserve because you don’t understand why you gave it to me.’

  She hiccoughed out a laugh. ‘I gave myself to you because I needed to. Because I wanted to. What’s not to understand about that?’

  He stilled. Now. He had to tell her now. ‘You’ve said during our sessions together that something is blocking you. You’ve assumed it was the Darkness and I’ve let you believe that, because it seemed the right thing to do. But it’s only partially true. I was blocking you.’

  ‘What? Why?’

  ‘I blocked you because you are an empath and I was afraid you’d truly feel how I feel and that it would influence you. I couldn’t have that.’

  ‘But that could have affected the treatment. Why …’ She stopped, took in a deep breath and said on a whisper. ‘Why couldn’t I feel
you blocking me? And for that matter, how were you able to block me?’

  Here it was. The truth he couldn’t escape. He touched her lip with his thumb, felt it shiver through her, sinking into him, knowing this was possibly going to be the last time she’d let him touch her in this way. ‘I used the bond that ties us together. Just like Jason did to Skye when he was trying to protect her from her powers and how they’d react to the truth of him.’

  ‘But they’re mates.’

  He nodded.

  Her eyes widened as she finally came to understand what he was trying to say to her. ‘You’re my mate?’

  He shook his head. ‘I can’t speak for that. All I know is that from the first moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were my mate.’

  She reached up, touched his face, her eyes wide with wonder. ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’

  He swallowed, tried to look away, but couldn’t. His entire being was pinned by her gaze, her touch, her trust and desire. ‘I’m broken, Bronwyn. I don’t deserve you.’

  A tear trembled out of her eye. ‘So, you mean to deny me?’

  The pain in her voice was a slash across his heart. ‘I did. I wanted to deny you. I never meant to burden you with my existence, but I wasn’t strong enough. I couldn’t stay away. I couldn’t deny the need to be with you and I certainly couldn’t deny you when you sought me out. The healing sessions were exquisite torture.’

  A little burbling laugh escaped her as she whispered, ‘They were for me too. I wanted to touch you in ways a healer just shouldn’t want to touch a patient.’

  ‘I’m sorry. Those desires were probably driven into you from me.’