The Darkest King (Lords of the Underworld 15)

The urge to mate consumed her.

It felt as if their conversation had flipped a switch labeled Forever Turned-On. As if every drop of arousal she’d ever experienced had returned and doubled...tripled in strength.

She didn’t have to wonder what this was.

Mating season had started early.

“William,” she said, panting. Was that plaintive tone truly hers? “It’s happening...mating season.” Too soon. Now all of his efforts were for naught. The condom reminders would only work outside of the actual mating. If he remembered, she wouldn’t be able to come, making sex a form of torture for her. “You need to leave. Please. No. Stay. No! Leave. But first, the chains! Hurry!”

Blink. He vanished. Blink. He materialized at the foot of the bed. Heat pulsed from him, caressing her. “I’m not going anywhere, sundae.”

“But you’re worried, and I understand, I do. But I won’t be able to come without your come. Without it, you’ll just make everything worse.” She lowered her gaze to his erection and licked her lips, her inner walls contracting. Pin him down. Sink my nails in his chest. Impale myself on his massive shaft. She’d ride him and come so hard she’d see stars.

“You are my female. My woman,” he said. Snarled, really. “What you need, I provide. If it’s my seed, then so be it.”

“No!” She thrashed her head in denial.

“I’m going to worry regardless. Fear has me in a chokehold. What if we’re forced to part because of the curse? What if you attack me? There’s no way in hell I’ll harm you either way, but pregnant...” He shuddered. “You’ll succeed, which means you’ll be left alone with a child to raise. You’ll both be a target for Lucifer, and that is what I do not want.”

He only wanted to protect her. He might even love her, despite everything stacked against them. But...

She loved him, no question. Because there, in that moment, Sunny surrendered her heart to William of the Dark, the Ever Randy, son of Hades, prince of Hell. He’d put her first, put her needs above his own, and any remaining resistance had shattered.

I love this man. He’s mine, and I’m his. They would be together forever. A family. A pack. Her pack. Her everything.

“Baby,” she said, using her best schoolteacher voice. “I want this with you. I do. Vow to lock me in the dungeon after mating season and stay away until the curse is broken, and we can be together this way. Right here, right now.”

His expression softened, oh, so tender, before dark desire took over. Nothing would stop this man from having her. If Bjorn or anyone else dared to barge into the room, she had no doubt William would tear them to shreds. No male had ever looked more menacing. Or aroused.

“I will destroy worlds to keep you safe,” he snarled.

Oh, yes. He does. He loves me.

So why don’t I want to kill him?

“Take me, then. Hard.” This was the last time she’d see him before she broke the curse. Why not make as many memories as possible?

Without hesitation, he gripped the collar of his shirt and tugged it overhead. Mmm, how she loved when he removed his shirt like that. His muscle-cut torso made her stupid, as usual. And she hadn’t gotten over his pecs, that eight-pack or the goodie trail. But today’s winner? The head of his erection, stretching past his leathers, fighting to break the zipper.

He stroked his length, watching her watch him. “This is what you crave?”

More shivers. If sex had a voice, it was William’s. Husky, low and deep, an auditory caress that reached every atom of her being.

“More than anything,” she rasped. Already her control burned away... “Give it to me.”

With a wicked smile, he snagged her ankle and yanked her to the far edge of the mattress. She squeal-laughed as he ripped her dress down the middle, the sheer garment basically disintegrating, leaving her clad in her panties. The ones she’d worn just for him. Her granny panties.

He noticed and immediately flipped his gaze up to hers. The look he gave her...hot, amused and tender... “You are a treasure, sundae.” He hooked his fingers inside the panties and slid the material down her legs.

Cool air kissed her overheated skin. Moaning, she undulated her hips, seeking contact. Little growls left him. He set her feet on the bed, right where he wanted them, keeping her knees parted, and her butt halfway off the edge.

“Stay just like this.” He released her and kicked off his boots, then pulled down his zipper and let his leathers drop. His erection bounced free. He was naked, and he was magnificent. “Tell me this is mine, sundae,” he commanded, cupping her sex.

“It’s yours.” She reached out to wrap her fingers around the base of his shaft.

“Uh-uh-uh.” He plucked her hand free and said, “I’m going to outlast my unicorn.” After kissing her palm, he sucked two of her fingers into his mouth. At the same time, he slid one of his fingers deep inside her. When he circled her little bundle of nerves with his thumb, she cried out and lifted her hips. “You, lost in the throes...this portal to paradise soaking my hand... It’s the most beautiful sight in all the worlds.”

He was the most beautiful sight in all the worlds. Leaning over, he pulled his finger free of her. She groaned in protest, until he planted his fists beside her hips and rested his shaft atop her mons. The contact—

She sucked in a breath, a hot, needy haze descending over her. So good! Heat to heat. Hard steel to damp silk. Still leaning...grinding his erection into her clitoris...he bent his head to suck a nipple into his mouth. Rapture shot through her, glorious in its intensity.

After so many centuries of chaining herself in difficult-to-reach places during mating season, miserable and agonized, she would now experience it with William...the man she loved with every fiber of her being.

Frantic, a little crazed, she looped her arms around him and raked her nails over his back. Not exactly what she’d imagined, but better. He sucked on her other nipple, one after the other, sending new tides of rapture to her core, then he licked and nibbled his way up her sternum, his brows drawn. A sign of pain? He continued to ascend. As he placed the most tender kiss at each corner of her mouth, ravenous hunger filled his baby blues.

He needs me as much as I need him.

He licked the seam of her lips. When she opened, he thrust his tongue past her teeth, rolling it with hers. A reverent kiss. But, as usual with them, it quickly burned out of control.

Around them, the air charged with electricity. Pressure built, and desperation sharpened. Need friction so bad. She writhed, bowed her back and rubbed her clit against his shaft. She was panting. So was he. The sensual haze thickened, blocking out all other thoughts. The ache...the heat...the sheer need...they were too much. But I need more.

“William, please. No more waiting. I’m going to die if I don’t come. Please!”

“You need your man?” He remained unhurried, even as sweat trickled down his temples...as tension pulled the skin around his eyes taut.

“Yes!”

“Who is your man, Sunny? Say it.”

“You. William.”

Expression fierce, jaw clenched, he growled, “You care for me.”

Why deny it? “I do. I care.”

Sublime satisfaction blazed in his eyes. He maneuvered her to her stomach, then lifted her hips until he had her on all fours. But he didn’t enter her right away. No, oh, no. Her male trailed his fingers up the ridge of her spine before wrapping a blindfold over her eyes...

37

“People always show you who they are, it just takes time. And sometimes a dagger.”

William had never known such frenzied, clawing need. Arousal infused his cells, turning his blood into lava. He burned. He ached. He craved this woman more than breath. She was the only person he knew willing to endure her worst fear—solitary confinement—for an extended and unspecified length of time, just to keep

him safe.

No wonder he loved her.

Will take this slow. Savor. They’d had sex before, yes, but they would be making love now. He would make this the best night she’d ever had, something to remember for the rest of their lives. A shared memory; the best kind.

To keep Sunny grounded in the moment and discourage her fears, he’d blindfolded her. You will anticipate my every move, beauty...

When next he touched her, gliding his fingers down her spine, she cried out with bliss. He kissed the indention above her ass before kneading and nipping a cheek. She panted her breaths, goose bumps spreading over her limbs.

“Could keep you like this forever,” he said, utterly entranced by her.

She rocked her hips, unable or unwilling to stay still. Had there ever been a more sensual sight?

“Do you trust me, sundae?”

She rasped, “You know I do.”

Running his hands from the backs of her knees, up her inner thighs, he drew moans and groans from her. As he plunged a single finger into her core, those moans and groans increased in volume.

Now he sucked in a breath. “So hot, so wet. So tight.”

“Sooooo ready,” she said, chasing his finger as he withdrew it.

“Ready, yes, but not ready enough.” He placed one knee on the edge of the mattress, then the other, looming behind her. On the next inward thrust, he inserted a second finger, stretching her.