The pressure relented. He held still. “Am I hurting you?” His voice sounded as though he were grinding rocks between his teeth.
“Yes,” she hissed, but she didn’t want him to stop. She wanted the pressure and the pain. “More, please.”
His laugh was choked. He gripped the notches of her hips to hold her immobile and worked himself inside in shallow, pulsing waves, in and out, deeper and deeper—until Goddess, he was touching her womb.
She felt a pinch deep inside her. A quiver of core-deep delight. This could be the moment. If only he didn’t realize he’d taken her unprotected and pulled free at the last.
Bryn sank her chest against the cushions and reached far beneath her, past his cock, to his balls. She gripped them, massaging them, sending out a flash of witch’s heat.
“Fuck, Bryn. Don’t…” He dug his fingers hard into her fleshy hips, pulled back, and then slammed forward.
She released his balls, certain he wouldn’t stop until she’d achieved her goal. She’d unleashed his passion.
His hips moved faster, his cock cramming deeply, whipping back and shoving forward again. The sheer fullness made her want to shout. Her back arched, and she pushed backward, trying to break his hold, but he began to move her, bringing her back as he thrust, pushing her away as he withdrew. He hammered her. Jostled her. Roughly, so deliciously, she was on the verge of exploding.
And then he began to move his hands on her skin. He reached up one hand to grab her hair and force her back to arch more, gliding another on her skin, raising gooseflesh. Her hair was lifting and prickling on the back of her neck. Static charged the air, and her eyes widened.
She knew at last why he’d been so attractive, why she’d been inexorably drawn to him. Why she’d craved this union.
Demon! she screamed inside. But it was already too late. Heat swept through her, electricity crackled. Her core convulsed, her orgasm exploding outward, weakening her limbs, stealing her mind.
She slumped against the floor as he thrust twice more, and then his seed jetted inside her. His shout as he came was filled with triumph.
When at last he grew still, he released her.
She crawled forward on her hands and knees and rolled to stare up in horror as he braced his hands on his thighs and met her stare. Her heart thudded dully against her chest.
His eyes glowed green in the darkness.
Not just demon. Troll!
Chapter Four
‡
Ethan braced himself for her screams. She was a witch. Delicate. Meant to be protected from rough souls like himself. Tales of trolls kidnapping witches were told by mothers to daughters as cautionary tales.
Trolls devoured witches. Trolls broke their birdlike bones in their stony fists.
And yet she lived. She lay against the cushions, her breaths coming in quick pants. Her thighs still spread. The wet gleam of his seed drying on her luminous skin. Not only did she live, she’d shouted her pleasure, despite the fact she’d figured out, there at the end, that she’d been tricked.
He wanted to shout. To drag her up and over his shoulder. To carry her into hiding, away from Others. To have her at his mercy again and again. Her heat was addictive. Like heroin to a human. He understood that now. He’d never willingly release her.
And yet his satisfaction with his victory was tinged with regret. Bryn’s face was pale. Her eyes watery. Her mouth trembled. Her entire body was shivering in the aftermath.
He reached for her, intending to draw her against his chest to comfort her, but she scrambled backward. “Don’t. Touch. Me.”
His face hardened. “You do understand what this is? What I’ve done?” he said, keeping his voice even.
Her head shook. “It’s not a claiming.”
“And yet you’ve taken my seed.”
“And I can fix that,” she ground out.
He went cold. “You will not!”
Again, she shook her head, this time so hard her hair waved around her shoulders. “I don’t concede.”