AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Do run quickly,” his voice was a terrifying song as he called after her, “I won’t wait patiently here for long.”
Without her boots, it was easier to soften her steps over the hardwood floors. Even still, the shift of her weight caused boards to creak and groan under her. She chronicled the board's location inside her mind and kept moving, darting behind the door of the kitchen. They hadn’t lit any lanterns and the room was pitch black as soon she closed the door behind her.
Her eyes adjusted quickly, though she kept her hands out in front of her to feel her way around the wooden table at the center of the room. She crouched beside a large pot stored under the tabletop. All she could hear was the rush of blood through her veins and the loud uneven staggering of her breath.
An ounce of fear that blossomed within her made the excitement that much more vicious. Run and don't get caught. She’d played at this since the day she’d left her small town behind but never had there been a promise of such sinful pleasure.
A steady thump of Remis’ steps began. He didn’t run to chase after her as she’d sprinted away to hide. He walked with the cool confidence of someone who knew they’d have the upper hand. The challenge made her insides turn molten.
Something tumbled. The kick of one of her boots. Then a dark chuckle.
“Are you trying to set a trap for me?” Remis hardly sounded like himself anymore. This was not the light-hearted man who poked fun at her and tried to charm his way out of this cursed arrangement. This was a hunter. He clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Naughty little thing.”
Those same floorboards creaked. Her entire body tensed. The sound of his steps growing distant. Finally, she exhaled the breath she’d been holding.
The kitchen door opened. His wide frame filled the doorway. A dim light came from the fire still lit in the sitting room and cast his shadow across the space. He inhaled deeply. Growled into the darkness. Her toes curled against the floor.
“Do you know you have a certain sort of smell? Sweet like jasmine. I can’t get enough of it,” he said.
She didn’t move. Didn’t dare take her next breath.
He took another step into the room. The door snicked shut. Together they were plunged into darkness. If she stayed still, he could mistake her as part of the table, or he could walk right past her. Now there were no creaking boards to announce his nearness. His steps had gone utterly silent.
Meira closed her eyes. Tried to feel the movement of air around her, the whisper of clothes even as he moved. There was nothing.
Large hands grabbed at her waist, narrowly missing her injury. Fingers curled roughly, grabbing at her with bruising intensity. She sent her elbow into his gut. Air punched from his lungs and tickled at the back of her neck. His grip loosened enough for her to squirm out of his hold.
She shot up and ran for the dining room, but a weight pulled at her cloak. The ties cut off her breath, but only for a second before she undid the strings and let the material fall behind her onto the floor. Brass, still mildly warm from Remis’ touch, met her palm. She turned the knob and thrust herself out into the dining room.
The door didn’t even fully close before Remis threw it open. By then, Meira had put the dining table between them. His eyes landed on her and ate her up like he was a man starving for her image. She gripped a chair as her knees threatened to go weak from the intensity.
He was grinning again. In the flickering light of the fire, he was every bit the monster that came to claim his prize. Stalking forward, he circled the table. She moved at the same pace to keep the space between them.
He stopped. She stopped. The fire’s warmth, now at her back, aligned with her spine. Perspiration dampened the curls at the back of her neck.
With both palms flattened against the wood, Remis leaned forward. “You’ll have to be faster.” Then he climbed onto the damn table. His boots were a stomping force as he ran across and leapt to the floor in front of Meira.
She’d barely been able to pull herself out of her own surprise before he’d made it over the table and she bolted for the sitting room. A near bone-shattering grip took hold of her arm but his fingers didn’t quite get around her bicep, yet the touch had done enough to have her tripping forward. Though she tried to right herself quickly, Remis grabbed her ankle and yanked her backward.
Dirt, dust, and possibly a few splinters gathered under her nails as she clawed at the wood, trying to gather some momentum. His weight was already climbing up her, dragging her underneath him. She knew she could toss him off, should she truly want to, but she was the prey here. Like a good little rabbit, she was practically limp under his arms.
The width of his hands traveled up her thighs and the swell of her ass, before he grabbed her arms and pinned them at her side. Evidence of his want was stiff against her backside, long and hard. He leaned down, his mouth lightly touching the shell of her ear. “You have no idea how much I’ve dreamed of having you underneath me.”
His tongue traced along her ear and then dipped down onto her neck. Teeth scraped against her and she had to swallow a moan. Meira struggled against his strength, torn between getting away again and letting him learn her in the desperate way they both currently wanted. His mouth clamped down around her neck, teeth digging into her flesh. Meira gasped as he kissed the bite mark he’d undoubtedly made.
Remis made it look easy as he turned her underneath him. Surprise parted her mouth as he’d actually beaten her to her next move and had taken both her wrists in his hands, pinning them over her head. She bucked underneath him, but he held firm. From here she could see his length pressing angrily against his trousers. Her fingers itched to touch and release him from the fabric.
With one hand, he lifted the hem of her shirt and pulled the material up until the strip of fabric across her chest was revealed. He growled and dropped her arms quick enough to tug her shirt up and over her head. The leather had hardly even touched the ground before he had her arms pinned again and used his free hand to rip the material down to her waist to reveal her bare breasts.
Hot breath fanned across her peaked nipples before he sucked her into his mouth. Pleasure shot straight through her, her back arching up into him. If she was supposed to still be struggling and trying to get away, she was doing a terrible job. She was ready to lay herself down and let him take whatever he wanted from her.
Remis kissed his way up her chest, neck, jaw, and then finally stole a kiss from her lips. He nipped at her bottom lip, slid his tongue against hers, and mistakenly let go of her wrists.
She was free to touch him now and the feel of his flesh under her hands was all she could think about. Their kiss turned brutal, a frenzied gnashing of teeth and tongue. Meira ripped at his waistcoat and popped a button clean off before she was able to get the fabric off of him. He held his weight over her, let her work his shirt out of the waistband of his pants before that too was peeled away. She’d hardly gotten a look at him before he’d pressed himself upon her, skin to skin, and stole her breath as he wound a braid in one hand, pulled her head to the side, and sucked gently at her throat. Greedily, her hands roamed over his flesh. Her fingers explored the muscles of his arms, then his back, and down to his ass. By the dragons, she was burning up with need and all for him. Meira followed his waistband, made quick work of the laces, and palmed his erection.
He growled against her neck. “Slow down, I haven’t even gotten to taste you yet.”
Meira was done fighting back, done running from him, though the game had been perhaps the most fun she’d had in a very very long time. Now he had his prize. And a promise to keep. She’d hold him to it.
