Falling in Love with the King of Beasts

ELIA

The first thing she was aware of was her arms and legs.

She was human again. 

She breathed out in a great rush of relief, flexing her fingers and toes tentatively to test them. Yes. They were still there.

She was herself. 

She didn't know for how long, but she was herself again.

Then she felt the solid steel warmth at her back and she froze instinctively, breathing in—all the scents of Reth—pine and rain, the furs, their bedchamber, and that unmistakable musk that was uniquely him. 

Then a large, calloused palm, a hand large enough to circle her ankle, that had been cupped over her thigh began to slide up her body, following every ripple and valley, as the broad chest behind her began to vibrate against her back with a low groan of pleasure. 

"Elia…" His voice was deep and resonant, his breath fluttered in her hair as he buried his nose in it, nuzzling her jaw. "Love…"

Crying tears of joy, she dropped her head back against his shoulder and stretched to bare her neck to him. He'd pushed up on one elbow so he curled over her, his massive body covering hers—his knees behind hers, his feet under hers, his arm under her head, and his hand roaming, cupping and shielding her large stomach. 

He opened his mouth on her neck and goosebumps prickled from her neck to her knees on that side. She screwed her eyes tightly closed, knowing if she saw him she would burst into tears. And she was so, so sick of crying. Even tears of joy.

She had to find it in herself to believe she was truly here. To let herself take the risk of being let down—a hope that, if dashed, she feared would break her completely.

Then he whispered her name again and his breath thundered in her ear and her heart sang. 

This wasn't a dream. That she was back in the arms of her mate and he was promising never to let her go again.

"Reth." His name broke from her throat like a call and she tried to roll over, but he stopped her, whispering about the baby, her stomach, his desire not to hurt her. Instead he turned her jaw and found her lips, plundering her mouth with a promise of what was to come.

Elia's heart pounding in her ears until she almost couldn't hear him say her name like a prayer. She raised her arm to reach for him, to fist his hair and pull him against her. He trailed those gorgeous warm fingers up the underside of her arm and her skin pebbled like chicken skin. 

Then something within her broke open and she sobbed with joy. And as Reth gave the mating call, she couldn't kiss him deep enough, couldn't get close enough, wanted to pull him inside herself and hold him there so they would never be apart again.

His body rolled and rubbed as she arched against him, whispering his name, her skin aflame wherever he touched.

When she felt him, velvet covered steel, pressing at the seam of her thighs, it was as if he'd sent a jolt of electricity to her core. Her body came alive and she cried out.

Reth growled and held her even tighter against him, one hand that had been stroking her stomach pulling up to cup her breast, rolling her nipple between his thumb and forefinger to send more electricity, jagged and alive, through her to meet the bolts coming from between her legs.

Then, with a long, low call, deep and resonant, that echoed against the walls of the bedchamber, he lifted her upper thigh and found her with his fingers.

Elia gasped and broke the kiss to drop her head back against his hard shoulder.

"Light, Elia," he croaked, his voice shaking. "Do you know you're here? Do you know this is real?" he pleaded, rolling against her. His body, hot and demanding, threatened to overwhelm her senses, and she wanted it. She yearned for it.

"Yes!" she gasped. But still he didn't take her. "Reth, please—"

His hands were everywhere, stroking, finding her, sending hot and cold sparkles across her skin wherever he passed. When he slid over her core, teasing her, her mouth dropped open. She almost couldn't find her voice, but she needed it to tell him, to demand that he give himself to her! "Reth—!"

  "Thank the Creator that you're here, Elia," he groaned and latched onto her neck with an open mouth, sucking and holding her to his chest with the arm under her head, at the same time that he pulled her thigh higher and finally, finally entered her. 

She didn't know who made the noise that erupted from her, but the world faded, tunneling to a tiny universe where nothing existed except Reth—his love, his power, his strength, his body. She felt him everywhere—her skin, the soles of her feet, behind her eyes. It was as if his body called to hers, and when they joined her soul throbbed.

He cried her name with every slow, lingering thrust, clinging to her, gripping her to him as he curled around her. He shook with the force of his need, his hands so gentle, and yet desperate, raking fingers up her sides, a warm clasp at her inner thigh, soft lips on her neck, the gentle suck on her earlobe—and the probing, velvet iron of him inside her, until she was no longer Elia, but half of a whole that started with him.

"Reth!"

"Oh, God, thank you… Elia!"

"You're here! You're really here!"

"Love!"

"Never leave me, Reth, please!"

"Never!"

"I love you, Reth! I need you!"

A strange shudder broke over his body and he lost control, one hand cupping her forehead, the other holding her thigh as he began to pound into her, his cries of her name evolving to a wordless moan, to the mating call.

And its response broke from her throat, enveloping them both in a resonance that hummed in her bones.