The Mountain Ch. 08

Then, as fast as she had been drowning, she found herself choking up water on the sand. Warm hands, heavy on her back, steadied her, holding her as she forced the water out and gasped a breath.

As soon as she caught her breath, she was pushed onto her back in the sand and Warder was looming over her. "What were you doing?" he growled. He had one hand braced against the sand behind her head and he used the other to push her wet hair out of her face.

"Swimming?" Lucy managed before she coughed again.

Warder cursed and pulled her up into the crook of one arm, holding her upright until the coughing ceased. "I will not allow you to kill yourself. You will not try it again."

Lucy swung around to look at him. "I wasn't-"

Before she could explain, she found herself trapped beneath him once more. Satisfied that she was no longer choking, Warder used his body to dominate her, his powerful thighs trapping her so that she was forced to lie still beneath him in the sand. "I will not allow it," said Warder. "You belong to me. Your life belongs to me."

"I belong to myself," said Lucy, nearly shouting.

Warder shook her, one powerful hand circling her neck. The pressure was light but the threat was clear. Lucy kept very still, watching his face. "You are mine," Warder said eventually, as if he had to master his anger even to speak. "And I am yours. Your mate. It cannot be undone."

"Of course it can't!" said Lucy. "It's all ruined. My own people hate me. Yours will never accept me and I don't want them. I'm alone except for you. Is that what you wanted?" Lucy felt her chest rise and fall against him. He was nearly naked-he had obviously stripped off most of his clothing to come after her. His own chest was heaving with effort. She knew that the swim had not winded him. He was fighting back anger. Fear. She could feel the emotions waring within him as if they were her own.

He growled, ignoring her accusations and running his hands over her body as if to check for injuries. Her knees were scraped up-whether from falling inside the mountain or being pushed in town, she didn't know. As Warder ran his hands over the abraded skin, she could feel his anger as if it were her own.

"Warder?" she raised a hand to his chest.

"You are hurt." His hand flexed around her throat.

"Calm...calm down."

He kept his hand where it was, but he looked down at where she touched him. "Good," he said finally. "A mate should soothe her Alpha."

Lucy wanted to argue with him again, but she noticed the bandage under her hand, just above his hip. "You shouldn't have gone into the water. Is that from Hadren?" She tried to reach for the bandage, but Warder caught her hand.

"It doesn't matter. I am well."

"I saw you bleeding," said Lucy. "I had your blood on my hands."

"I know," said Warder. Lucy realized that he was doing a better job of hiding his emotions now. She couldn't feel him as well even though he still loomed over her.

"You're keeping me out," she said.

"Shall I let you in while you hold yourself apart? You try to deny you are mine even as you touch me as a mate should." He nodded at his chest and Lucy realized that she was holding onto him now with both hands, one tangled in the hair at his chest, one lower, caressing the skin at his hip just above the bandage. She forced her hands to still and Warder growled low in his chest. In a moment, his hand left her throat and tangled in the wet fabric of her dress where it stuck to her breasts. His grip tightened until the fabric was taught and then he tore it. Lucy cried out as the fabric whipped over her skin, leaving a burn in its wake.

"Warder-" She began to repeat his name over and over, once a warning, then a request.

Please. Please don't.

"I had intended to wait," said Warder. "In time, your natural desire to be with your mate would overcome any objections. But things have changed, little mate. There is no time. And I find I have no patience."

His hands worked at his belt and in an instant, he was pressed against her, his body as naked as her own. Lucy shivered and Warder chafed his hands along her arms, warming her. She felt him hard against her thigh and pressed her eyes shut. Afraid of what was next. Afraid of how much she desired him.

"Eyes."

The command was harsh and as Lucy's eyes flew open, she realized that her mate was still blindingly angry over what he believed she had done. It didn't matter now what her intent had been. Nothing mattered except for the powerful man looming over her in the dark, pressing her almost painfully into the rocks and sand. She raised her arm to his chest again because he had seemed to like that, pressed her palm against his heart. Slowly, she raised her other hand, placing it again at his waist and then exploring until she knew she was almost touching his cock.

"Touch it," said Warder. Another command. Afraid to look at him yet afraid to close her eyes, Lucy buried her face against his chest as she gripped one hand as far as she could around him. He was heavy in her grasp, huge and warm. Tentative, she explored him, running her fingers along the length of him and brushing the tip. She couldn't feel any evidence of the knot that grew heavy inside her when they mated.

"Where-I mean-"

"My knot only grows inside you," said Warder. "Only when I am inside my mate."

Tentatively, Lucy pressed her fingers lightly at the tip of him again before running her hand back along his length, awed at the way his powerful body shuddered under her touch. She had in mind that she had been much more bold when they were first mated, even demanding as she touched him with her hands, her mouth. But right now, the fog of mating was far away. Still, there was a heat building in her core. An awareness of him. Desire.

She let her hand fall. "What happened inside the mountain?" she asked, hoping desperately for a distraction. "Hadren...Ysabel?"

"Not now," said Warder. "Do you know that you will go into heat again soon, little mate?" he asked. "I could have waited. Could have let your instincts take over, force you to act as a mate should. But I find that I want you fully aware of me. I want you to surrender to me. For your own sake."

"I was better off without you."

"Perhaps," said Warder, seemingly unbothered by the accustation. "But that world doesn't exist anymore." He settled over her, almost crushing her were it not for the give of the sand. She felt him heavy between her legs, her hands trapped between their bodies. He lowered his head and laved his tongue at the marks on her neck, then lower, teasing the peak of one small breast. Lucy shied away and Warder growled, taking her nipple almost painfully between his teeth and releasing her only when she stilled.

"Warder, I need to know what happened. To the islanders. I need to know what happened to me. That light-"

Warder shushed her and reached between them to drag one of her hands free. He brought her wrist up next to her head, and Lucy squirmed beneath him, feeling unbearably exposed. "Use your other hand to do something interesting," Warder said, leaning in to speak into her ear, his voice low and rough. "Or I will capture it, too."

"I can't."

Warder reached down and took her other hand as promised, holding them both together above her head. He examined her carefully, taking in the torn dress, her wet, salty hair. "I had a long day," said Lucy, feeling self-conscious.

"You look wild," said Warder approvingly. "Beautiful."

Beautiful.

It was what she had so often thought about him. But there was nothing in her willing to admit it. Nothing was worth that.

Instead, Lucy tried to dislodge a hand. After a moment, Warder let her and she trailed the hand back towards his chest, testing the way his muscles flexed at her touch. As her hand moved lower, Warder's voice stopped her. "There," he said. "Don't move." Lucy stilled and Warder let go of her other wrist, watching to make sure that she stayed frozen. Then, he lowered his own hand, dragging it across her face, her neck, her breast. He stopped with his palm splayed over her abdomen. Lucy's breath hitched at the thought that he might move lower. He pressed his hand against her abdomen so that her next breath was shallow. Her pulse seemed to throb in her entire body, in her sex, as every inch of her became aware of him. He kneaded her stomach, his hands firm, but gentle. Lucy took another breath and he pressed harder, his other hand going back to her throat. "I know you're ready for me," said Warder. "Wet."

Without further warning, he positioned himself and drove into her to the hilt. Lucy gasped and Warder continued to press against her, stealing her breath. Lucy was too caught up in the feel of him, stretching her to an aching fullness, to care if she could breathe. When Warder finally released her, it was a moment before she even remembered to take a breath and as soon as she did, Warder's mouth descended on her own, claiming her, his tongue thrusting in the same possessive rhythm as his cock driving into her body.

"Warder," she gasped against him. When she couldn't make herself heard, she began to move instead, crying out as she felt the tiny rocks and pebbles in the sand cutting into her back.

Noticing her discomfort, Warder rolled over with a groan, taking her with him and Lucy was momentarily shocked to find herself astride him, their bodies still joined. She looked down at his chest but Warder growled again and she knew he wanted her to make eye contact. When she glanced at him tentatively, he rewarded her by gripping her hips and thrusting up into her, deeper than she had thought possible. "It's-too much," she gasped.

"No," said Warder. He thrust again, giving her an approving smile when she gasped and ground back against him.

Lucy shook her head, unsure if she was arguing or agreeing. Her orgasm washed over her without warning, hot and hard and deep. She fell forward, bracing herself against Warder's chest as the sensations thrummed through her.

"Yes," said Warder. "Yes."

Lucy felt him beginning to swell inside of her as the orgasm faded. She tried to get away, but Warder caught her instantly and held her firm against him, rolling her back onto the sand, but keeping his arms under her to protect her skin. "You're afraid of my knot," he said. "But it was made for you."

Lucy stopped struggling, aware that if she dislodged him while the knot was growing, it could tear her apart. She stilled in his arms, her breathing fast and shallow.

"You're panicking," said Warder. "I will not hurt you. I cannot hurt you."

"You are," said Lucy, squirming slightly beneath him as he swelled inside her, impossibly huge and heavy.

"Be still, mate," commanded Warder. But she didn't stop moving until she felt his release inside her, filling her. He rose over her, pushing deeper and she felt a small amount of cum leak out where they were joined. "Do not be afraid, pet. Just feel me inside you."

Lucy closed her eyes against the aching fullness and this time, Warder let her. She focused on her breathing, her own body as a separate entity from her mate. But nothing distracted her for long. Everything was Warder's body inside her, around her. Everything was his cock, heavy and hard. His knot, swollen, locking them together until some future point where the storm had calmed. Everything.

This time, she felt the orgasm coming. For a moment, she tried to deny it, to wriggle away from him somehow. No. No. I hate this. I don't want this. But soon, she couldn't muster a coherent thought. There was no thought. There was Warder, joined to her. Inside of her.

Everything.

Warder growled in approval as she came, slow this time, like the feeling would go on forever, the walls of her cunt squeezing his cock, his knot inside of her. He spurted the last of his cum deep, kissing the claiming marks on her neck and at her wrist, caressing every inch of her.

When it was over, he turned her again so that she lay breathless across his chest, her body spent and empty. There was no light. No fire. There was only Warder.

Only her mate.