His scent was heady, causing my stomach to clench as he methodically worked my body toward the precipice of release. Saint smiled, lowering his mouth against my ear as he grunted, rocking into my body’s welcoming heat.
“If you make any noise, I will turn you over and fuck you until the entire pack knows exactly how you sound finding your pleasure, Princess,” he warned, removing his hand from my mouth to place it against the fur-covered ground.
Saint thrust his body faster as I buried my lips into his throat, kissing it while he worked his shaft deeper into my sex. I parted my lips, kissing his shoulder, and my teeth started to descend, preparing to mark him. Sensing what I was about to do, he lifted his hand and slammed my face into the pillow, holding it down. His thrusts turned angry, slamming into my body without care for the pain he created.
Tears burned my eyes as his denial of my claim shot through me. His grunts sounded against my ear as I bit my lip to keep the moans and cries buried in my throat. When Saint shoved my face down as he continued pushing it into the pillow, he dispelled any illusions of this mating being anything other than him marking his claim by scent. His body jerked as a loud grunt echoed in my ear, hot fluid slipping from my body as he withdrew and rolled away from me.
“Get dressed, Braelyn. I’m finished with your cunt for today,” he snorted, uncaring that I hadn’t finished with him.
I retrieved the panties and dress I’d worn last night. I didn’t wait for permission to slip out of the tent, ignoring his order as I emerged. People were already moving around the courtyard. Some appeared still to be drunk and celebrating, while others slept out in the open, near where Saint and I had mated. Had they heard my cries throughout the night? Had they heard him being cruel this morning?
“Braelyn,” Saint snapped from behind me, his voice cold and unfeeling while I continued to ignore him.
My hair was a mess, and I needed a hot, steaming shower to remove him from my core where he was dripping down my thigh. People stopped to watch as he dug his fingers into my shoulder, spinning me around to face him.
“I didn’t give you permission to leave the tent,” he barked angrily.
I snorted, shaking my head. “I didn’t ask.”
“From now on, you will ask for my approval to do anything. You’re a prisoner, and you have no rights.”
His men were gathering around us, blocking our argument from the pack that was watching. My chest rose and fell, breathing through anger as my body ached. My sex was swollen and covered in the multiple releases he’d taken through the night. Not to mention, I could smell the blood from our first mating still crusted against my sex.
“I’m going to go wash you and your obnoxious scent from my vagina. I don’t need your fucking permission to shower, Saint. If I don’t wash away the scent of my blood, it will empower other males to take me for a chance to mate. Unless, of course, you want to watch them rape me. I guess that would be something that you’d enjoy, correct?” I challenged, watching the anger burn in his translucent cyan-colored eyes.
“Eryx, go with my mate and don’t let her out of your sight. Not even when she showers,” Saint grinned with amusement.
“Come, Eryx. Maybe you can get me off since Saint didn’t have what it took to make it happen this morning. After all, I am a whore. Right? Don’t let my pesky virginity fool you. I fucked anything and anyone willing. Isn’t that the story they fed you?” I laughed soundlessly at the way Saint’s eyes narrowed on my mouth.
“Just because they hadn’t fucked your cunt doesn’t mean you didn’t allow other things to happen,” Saint returned, cruelly. “You’re dismissed, Princess.”
I smiled coldly, laughing inwardly while walking to the hallway that led to the living quarters. Saint was acting cold and indifferent. Well, I could play that game, too. I didn’t even acknowledge Eryx as I entered my room, going into the closet to grab clean clothes.
Inside the bathroom, Eryx leaned against the counter as I tossed the clothes beside him. Stripping down to my skin, I heard him growling low in his throat before I stepped into the shower, ignoring his existence.
Resting my head against the tiled wall, I groaned as every ache and pain in my body made itself known. Eryx’s scent drifted into the shower, the steam making it thicker with his foreboding presence. Dismissing it and doing my best to ignore how potent it was, I grabbed the peony-scented shampoo, lathering it into my hair before rinsing it. I followed up with conditioner, using soap to remove Saint’s scent as best I could before slipping from the shower.
Eryx’s midnight stare slid down my body with something terrifying burning in his gaze. I reached for the towel, only for him to grab it before I could touch it. My eyes rounded as he crept closer, boxing my body against the wall.
A tremor of unease moved through me, sending every instinct I had on high-alert. Eryx’s nostrils flared as he lowered his lips to my throat, placing a soft kiss against my thundering pulse. His hand moved, skimming his fingers over the curve of my hipbone. Deep, wicked laughter escaped him before he lifted his mouth to press it against mine. I turned away, keeping my lips at a distance from his.
“Come on, give me some sugar, Brae. You and I could have ended up together if you’d stopped running away from me ten years ago,” he urged, but there was a catch in his voice.
“You and I have nothing in common, let alone a connection.”
“You have a pussy, and I have a cock. What other connection do we need?” he mused, stepping back to drag his heady stare down my body.
“If you think that is all that is needed to breed with a mate, you’re fucked, Eryx.”
“No one said shit about breeding. Sometimes it isn’t about connecting, Princess. It’s about unleashing anger on your partner. You’d enjoy being manhandled and fucked so hard that you’d forget your name by the time I released you. Do you want that? That leg-shaking, bone-breaking, soul-crushing sex that destroys you until you’re nothing but a single orgasm that doesn’t stop until I’m finished fucking you?” Eryx leaned back against the counter, smiling with sexual carnage, leaving me curious as to what he meant.
Eryx was trying to fuck with me, and I’d had enough shit happen in the last twenty-four hours. I slowly stepped forward, mirroring his pose by placing my hands on either side of the counter behind him. Lowering my lips to his pulse, I nipped at it before letting a sultry growl escape my chest. I lifted my hands, turning his mouth toward mine until we shared breath.
“Fuck, the fucking hell off, Eryx. If I’d wanted to fuck you, you’d have been fucked. I fell in love with Saint. It went beyond a basic we have matching parts connection. You’re trying to scare me or get me to react, and the thing is, fuck you.” I grabbed my clothes, exiting the room to find Saint leaning against the wall, glaring at me. “And fuck you, too,” I snorted, going into my closet to change.
I shimmied into panties, pants, and a white tank top. Grabbing a flannel, I took it with me into the bathroom. Once inside, I tried to close the door, but Saint pushed his way into my space. He immediately started stripping, giving me a view of where his name, Kingsley, was tattooed over his shoulders, with skulls and black ink dominating his skin.
Ignoring him, I grabbed the brush and started two braids on either side of my head, then a larger one on the top. It was a Viking style worn by the Fenrir wolves and one I’d just begun using. It was an easy style to maintain since we spent most of our time doing chores, preparing to be stuck on top of the mountain until spring came, and the roads were passable.