Hunger Untamed (Feral Warriors #5)(69)

Kougar grabbed her, sweeping her into his arms. With fast, purposeful strides, he carried her down the stairs and into the middle of the oasis that, for once, looked like a true garden. Almost roughly, he put her on her feet, hauled her into his arms, and kissed her with a passion that rode the edge of violence. And she reveled in it, the darkness egging her on.

As her tongue twisted with his, she gripped his shoulders, her fingernails digging into his flesh through his shirt. Against her will, her grip tightened until she felt the slickness of blood against her fingertips.

Kougar grabbed her wrists and jerked her hands away from him. "Don't give in to it!"

She stared at him. "I need to hurt something. Someone. If only he were here." She'd gladly rip Hookeye limb from limb if not for the certainty that doing so would destroy everything she sought to protect. But all that mattered was starving the poison so she could turn to mist.

Mage eyes rose in her mind, sending goose bumps skating over her skin. Starving the poison is a foolish idea, Queen of the Ilinas.

"Tough. Shit." She shivered with revulsion.

Kougar lifted a brow.

"Hookeye," she explained.

Kougar grasped both her wrists in one hand and grabbed her jaw with the other, hauling her close. "Focus on me! The flowers. The waterfall. Smell, Ariana. Feel."

"I am!"

"Not enough." In the blink of an eye, he released her and pulled her gown up and over her head, tossing it aside. As she reached for him, uncertain whether she meant to grab for his buckle or rake her fingernails down his face, he lifted her and tossed her onto the pillows.

When she tried to get up, he flipped her onto her stomach, pressing her down with a knee to the small of her back.

"Kougar."

"Feel."

And she did. Goddess. A moment later, a delicate flower brushed against her hip, sliding over her bu**ocks and down her thigh. A soft, lush sensation in direct counterpoint to the violence struggling inside her. Even as she fought to get up, she shivered from the sensual pleasure of the bloom as it traced her opposite hip.

Kougar curled his fingers around her thigh and pulled her leg away from its twin, opening her to the touch of his flower. The petals slid along her sensitive flesh, drawing a moan of pleasure and need from deep in her throat.

Inside, the darkness growled with hunger and fury.

Without pulling the flower from between her legs, Kougar moved, his hand replacing his knee in the small of her back. A moment later, she felt his mouth on her butt cheek, nipping, scratching with his teeth as if he longed to take a bite and resisted . . . barely. Excitement tumbled inside her, the flower stroking between her legs growing damp and dewy.

Her hips began to rock as he drew the flesh into his mouth, sucked, and nipped. The flower disappeared as his fingers dove inside her, hard, in and out, in and out. She bucked wildly, gasping, then screaming as a blinding orgasm broke inside her.

"More, dammit. More!"

Kougar released her. Moving with his innate agility, he slid onto his back between her thighs and lifted her hips. Wrenching her wide, he pressed her down onto his mouth, shoving his tongue inside her and flicking it over her clit until she spiraled into another screaming orgasm.

The pleasure was almost more than she could bear.

So, too, was the terrible hunger.

She tried to push up, tried to kick free, her hands fisting until she felt the slick dampness of blood in her palms from her own fingernails. "I need to hurt you! Hurt me, Kougar. Hurt me!"

He slid out from beneath her, slamming her back down on the pillows, pinning her with his knee as she heard the rustle of fabric and watched his shirt sail to the ground out of reach. The sound of a belt being unfastened met her ears followed quickly by the slide of a zipper. A moment later the pressure at her back disappeared.

But as she pushed up on all fours, strong hands gripped her hips. She screamed with acute pleasure as Kougar took her from behind, burying himself deep.

This was what she needed! "Stay inside me. Stay. Inside."

He thrust deeper, harder, over and over, then slid an arm around her, yanking her up until she was on her knees. Even as his hips pounded against her, his mouth found her shoulder. He bit her lightly then raked his tongue over the spot and bit her again.

She was out of her mind with passion, sensation, her senses exploding with the smell of flowers and sex. As she rocked back against his hard thrusts, his hand closed around her breast, pinching her nipple nearly to the point of pain. She arched into his hold, wanting . . . needing . . . more.

The battle between pleasure and pain escalated into full-out war. Barely conscious of what she was doing, she reached for his face, feeling her nails sink into his cheek before he grasped her wrist and yanked her hand away.

Kougar flipped her around and pushed her back on the pillows without gentleness or care, understanding her need for pain. Then he fell on her, taking her roughly, pounding into her harder, deeper, with every thrust.

Her fingers dove into his hair, too hard, holding him too tight. He captured her with his gaze. In those pale eyes, she saw savage excitement and fierce determination overlaid by a heartrending tenderness. In those pale eyes, she saw the man she'd fallen in love with all those years ago.

Inside her, another orgasm began to build, harder, faster, higher than any that had come before. And building, right alongside it, was the hunger, a seven-headed monster devouring her body and soul. But Kougar gripped her with his gaze, held her together as the war inside her threatened to rip her apart.