“Don’t cry, my mate. I know my cock feels good, but that’s no reason to cry.” He reaches up to wipe away my tears. I settle for smacking his hand away. Naturally, it goes right back to my breasts.
“That’s not why I’m crying, you jerk.” My hips move of their own accord, searching for and finding an angle that sends lightning shooting along my nerve endings. The tears dry on my cheeks, forgotten.
“What is jerk?” Theron’s voice is rough with tension. Good. About time he had something to focus on aside from himself.
“You are, for thinking you’re hot stuff.”
His smirk returns and he rolls a nipple between his nimble fingers, pulling a gasp from my chest. “Hot, now this I understand.” His fingers run over my skin, touching, tempting. “You’re feeling feverish, bright star. Hot enough to singe. Here,” he says and wraps a big hand around my neck, pulling me down for a kiss. “Sometimes it feels like one kiss from you will burn me up. Like I’m caught in the sun itself.” Those hands go to my hips, his claws extending and biting into flesh. He thrusts into me, his dark eyes fluttering. “Rekk, I can’t get enough of your cunt. Stop, Willow. I’m close.”
“Not a chance. I want to watch.”
“But you haven’t…”
“Shh, you can take care of me after. Now shut up and lie back, Theron. It’s time someone else took charge for a change.”
For a man who loves to argue, Theron shuts up real quick, which makes me smile. Thankfully, his eyes are closed as he does exactly what I say. I take him to the edge, enjoying giving him pleasure as much as receiving it, loving the way his breath changes the closer he gets, how his hands tighten on my sides, how he breathes love words in his strange tongue.
When he comes, spurting inside me, my own eyes close, reveling in the release of control for the first time in my life as the paralysis extends throughout my body. I begin to slump against him, and Theron catches me in a smooth movement, moving me underneath him.
“That’s it, my mate.” He arranges my legs on either side of his hips, still firmly planted deep within me. “My turn. And I’m going to take my time,” he adds with a devilish grin.
An hour or so later—I’m not sure how long because Theron was true to his word—I pull on a minnasuit from the supplies we’d brought back with us. I glance up when I’m finished and find Theron watching me.
“What is it?” I ask. “We’re so friggin’ late. I hope they haven’t finished up without us. I’m going to kill you if I missed talking to my mom to get laid. I swear to God, Theron, I will beat you.”
“I love you, Willow.”
My heart stumbles over itself and I frown. “Because I want to hurt you? That’s just dumb, you big idiot.”
Laughter dances in his eyes. “I tell you I love you and you’re calling me names? If I didn’t already, that alone would have made me fall in love with you, spirited one. I knew the moment you spat flames at me after we first mated.”
My frown deepens. “You fell in love with me because I yelled at you. Gee, how romantic.”
Theron crosses the room and wraps his arms around me. “Your screams are sweet as song to me, bright star.”
I shouldn’t be charmed, but of course I am, it’s Theron. It’s impossible not to be charmed when he’s concerned. “You love me? Really?”
“Of course I do, my mate.” He pushes back my hair, cupping my jaw. “Do you doubt it?”
Warmth fills my chest. “No, no, of course not.” I lean up on my tiptoes to kiss him. “I’m sure you’ll spend the rest of our lives making sure I never do.”
“You aren’t wrong there.” He pauses. “Isn’t there something you have to tell me?”
“I love you too, you jerk.”
“Forgot how to find the place?” Hadrian asks with a grin to rival Theron’s.
“We were busy. Is Breccan still on the comms?”
“Busy. Is that what you call it?”
Lyric elbows Hadrian. “Ignore him,” she says to us. “We’ve been catching them up. Molly is here, if you want to talk to her.”
With a reassuring look from Theron, I cross the control room to the comms unit. Mom appears on the screen, her expression full of sympathy. “Hey there, baby girl,” she says.
The joy I’d felt only moments before ebbs away. My voice wobbles when I speak, “Hey, Mom.”
“I’m so glad you’re okay, sweetheart. You’re sure you aren’t hurt? Draven and I could come over to see you.” Her mate objects, but she shushes him, reminding me of Theron and me, which makes me smile. Maybe her mate isn’t so bad.
“Don’t be silly, I’m fine. Barely even a scratch.” I swallow hard and Theron squeezes my arm. “I assume they filled you in on the transmission. I’m so sorry, Mom. Breccan.” I can barely meet their eyes. “I tried to stop him. This is all my fault.”