No Longer Hazy

*Blanca*

My heart thrums in my chest, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I almost died. With Kieran’s arms around me, his muscular chest pressed against me, I don’t even feel the scrapes and cuts I collected slipping down the mountainside. He pulled me back from the darkness, and now, here in his arms, I’m safe.

We are both naked, a thin sheen of sweat covering our bodies, and his lips are on mine. I remember his taste from the night of the Haze even if everything else is still hazy. When he runs his hand along my ribcage, I take a deep breath and brace myself for what’s to come.

I want him. My body responds to his touch in a way that I can’t comprehend. Even without the Haze, my thoughts are blurry. I’m reacting on pure instinct when I lean up to wrap my arms around his neck and open my mouth wider. I feel a soft tug on the back of my head as he intertwines his fingers through my hair and gives it a tug, eliciting a moan from my mouth.

There’s no stopping this. Not only are we hyped up on adrenaline from my near-death experience, we have been denying the mate bond for weeks, pretending like the marks on our bodies aren’t calling to one another. Without a word, Kieran stands, lifting me with him in a way only someone as strong and powerful can do. Carefully, he makes his way back the way we came only a few steps before he sets me down and ducks through a hole in the wall of mountain, grasping my hand and pulling me into the darkened cavern.

This space is about the same size as the one we were in last night, but I don’t take any time to look around. His mouth is on mine again, and we are devouring one another. His hands roam freely over my body which hums only one tune: Kieran is my mate.

We drop to our knees, and I don’t even feel the bite of the rock floor as the rocks dig in. Kieran’s back is against the wall. His hands slide down my back, cupping my ass. I moan into his mouth, my tongue tangled with his, and move to straddle him.

One thing I’ve had flashbacks about from that night in the Haze is the enormous size of his cock. I feel it now, pressed against my belly, and wonder how in the world I will ever fit it all inside of me. His lips roam down my neck, his thumbs playing over my erect nipples. With each pass of his magical fingers, I moan louder, the tension inside of me beginning to build.

He lowers his head and takes one of them into his mouth, sucking and lapping at one of my most sensitive areas. I throw my head back, trying not to shout his name. Lifting up slightly, I rub against him, my slick juices sliding along his shaft. I want him inside of me so badly I can hardly stand it.

He must be feeling the same urgency because he lifts me up and positions himself at my entryway. I’m still concerned about his girth, but my body tells me that I can take him. I’ve done it before. Kieran’s hands settle on my hips as his mouth finds mine again, and I lower myself down, consuming him. I go slowly at first, allowing my body some time to adjust, but when he begins to thrust, I can’t handle it anymore, and I sink down, letting out a scream as pleasure and pain mix. I feel completely full, stretched to the max, and my body sizzles with satisfaction.

He isn’t taking his time either. Continuing to hold me steady with his hips, he plunges deeper inside of me, letting out short grunts with every thrilling thrust. His mouth stays on mine for the most part, but every once in a while, he releases my lips to trace kisses across my cheek or down my neck. I keep my eyes closed and concentrate on the way that he feels. All I can think about is this moment–not the past when everything was topsy-turvy and all mixed up and not the future when I will arrive in Escuro and he will… I’m not even sure.

Despite our frantic pace, Kieran doesn’t finish quickly. He keeps me at my peak for what seems like hours, though I’m sure it’s not that long. My body buzzes with pleasure, and I whimper and moan, knowing I’m about to come unraveled all around him. When he slides his hand down my abdomen and between my folds to find my clit, I can’t hold back any longer. I grind against him, crying out his name and losing myself, my mind as cloudy as it was that first night.

He continues to keep me there, his cock gliding in and out, deeper and faster, his thumb strumming me like I’m an instrument and he is a virtuoso. Just when I think I can’t handle a second more, I feel him tighten beneath my grasp. He grunts even louder and then goes rigid. Warmth spreads between my legs, and then we both collapse against the cave wall, trembling, perspiring, and panting for air.

The moment we are finished, the haunting thoughts from last time fill my mind, and I’m certain he is thinking what I am. In fact, he’s probably also just as disgusted as he was last time. I expect him to shove me off him and chastise me. If I was a smart girl, I’d move away from him now, but I can’t move. Not only am I completely spent from the journey and our strenuous fucking, I want to be near him.

He is my mate. We can no longer deny that.

“Blanca?”

My name sounds like a prayer as it falls from his lips in a whisper. None of the harshness I expect can be heard in the utterance. I lift my face from his neck and look into his eyes.

It’s hard to see in the dim light of the cave, but the only emotions I see in those light blue orbs are sadness and longing. The first I recognize as a constant companion. The second is completely foreign to me. That’s not entirely true. I understand longing in the sense of wanting to escape, but I’ve never seen anyone with that look in their eyes with me as the object of their affection.

“Kieran?” I whisper back to him in the same tone.

He doesn’t say anything for several seconds. My heart sounds like a bass drum in the small enclosed space as I patiently wait for him to say whatever it is that had him speaking my name to begin with.

“I think…” he begins, biting his bottom lip as he takes a deep breath in through his nose. “I think we have to start facing the fact that we are mates.”

My mind goes blank. I’m not expecting those words to fall from his lips at all. In fact, I’d been expecting him to say the exact opposite, so all I can do is nod.

Kieran continues. “We’ve been lied to for so long, it’s difficult to wrap my mind around what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s up and what’s down, but our bodies seem to know the truth. Our wolves and our marks call to one another, and fighting it because we’ve been deceived for all of these years doesn’t seem to be working.”

He isn’t wrong. Once again, I nod along with him, but I’m not sure what to say. Eventually, I manage to phrase my most pressing thought into a question. “What does that mean exactly?”

“It means, we have to do something else I never thought I’d do.”

I look up at him, my eyes wide, trying to figure out what he’s talking about, but I can’t ask, so I wait. After a long pause, he begins to talk again, and I can hear the betrayal he feels in every word.

“Not only did I never think you and I could be mates, a reality I’ve now grown to accept, but I most certainly thought never in my life would I have to do what we will need to find a way to accomplish next.”

I take a deep breath and ask, “What’s that?”

Kieran looks into my eyes and says calmly, “Kill my father.”