When the cavern wall stopped their movements, he groaned into her mouth, his cock hard, demanding. But she placed her hands on his chest and pushed him back. As hard as it was, Styx retreated. Her cheeks were flushed, her mouth open and glossy, and her eyes wide. Styx was nearly to the point where his animalistic side—the part of him that only emerged when he was going to claim his mate—would have come out and all he would have been able to focus on was the mating.
“Your eyes,” she breathed out. “Your … teeth.”
Yes, he knew what he looked like, knew that because of his need to claim her, his eyes had gone darker, the pupils nearly taking up the white of his eyes. And his teeth, or more so the upper fangs that were on either side of his front teeth, probably made him look just as beastly as the creature he’d slain.
She started shaking her head. “I can’t do this.” She exhaled. “What am I thinking? You want to keep me your captive. I can’t be a prisoner. I can’t be what you need or want.”
He made a low, animalistic sound in the back of his throat and moved closer to her again. He placed a hand on either side of her head, caging her in, and leaned in so their faces were only an inch apart. Styx inhaled deeply, and he smelled her resolve, her need to not be seen as a caged animal, as a prisoner. But he also scented her arousal, the fact she was wet between her thighs … for him.
“Let’s get one thing straight, my female.” He stared right in her eyes and moved one of his hands closer to her face so he could run his thumb along the shell of her ear. “I may never harm you, may always protect you, and see you’re cared for, but never underestimate what a male will do, and the lengths they’ll go, for their mate.” He leaned in another inch until their lips were close enough that when he spoke they’d brush together. “From the moment I saw you I knew you’d be mine.”
She shook her head but didn’t say anything.
“Oh yes, female. You are mine, and there isn’t anything or anyone, man or beast, that will take you from me.” He grinned, but it wasn’t one of amusement or to ease her. He wanted her to see how serious he was. “You can claim you don’t want this, but I can smell how wet that virgin pussy is for me.” He couldn’t stop the low growl that left him.
“I’m not some piece of property you can claim,” she said softly and swallowed, obviously trying to seem stronger than she felt. Her arousal hadn’t dimmed, and Styx knew as much as she fought it, it claimed her as much as it did him. “I was running from servitude, and I won’t be subjected to it again.”
He lifted his hand and pushed the long fall of her fire-colored hair away from her neck. “It’s an honor to be mated.” He looked down at her lips. “And you are not being kept here as my prisoner.” He lifted his gaze to her face again. “But make no mistake in thinking you can run from me.” He ran his finger along the side of her throat, her pulse beating wildly beneath her ear. “I have your scent ingrained in my very cells.” He growled the words out. “I can find you anywhere, my female, and I will track you if you’re ever taken from me.”
“You’re a barbarian,” she said, but there was no heat or even disgust in her words.
He didn’t deny what and who he was. He took a step closer until he heard her gasp and knew she felt his cock pressing against her upper stomach. “You feel that?” he asked, but she didn’t respond, just licked her lips. He bared his teeth so she could see his fangs again. “You see these?” Again she didn’t respond. “I’m going to claim you by taking your virginity, by shoving my cock so far into you that you won’t know where I end and you begin.” His cock jerked after he spoke, and her eyes widened further. He leaned close so his mouth was by her ear now. “And I’ll use my fangs to pierce this pretty throat of yours, take your essence into my body, and leave my mark so every other male knows who you belong to.”
She was breathing harder, faster, and the scent of her arousal moving higher was like a flower blooming.
He leaned back so he could look in her eyes again. Styx placed his hand right over her belly, and although she probably wouldn’t take kindly to what he was about to say, he needed her to see exactly how determined and serious he was about this whole situation. “And every single time I take you, claim you, wife, I’ll make sure to fill you up with my seed until it slips out of your hot little pussy.”