Rise of the Dark Alpha

AUTHOR NOTE: If you enjoy music while you're reading, try "I Get to Love You" by Ruelle while reading this chapter. It's the song I listened to while writing it.

*****

~ SASHA ~

Zev's voice, breathless and husky, echoed in her head and in the cavern as he explored her, first with fingers and lips, his whispered questions broken by his own breath. She tried to hold his eyes, to watch him, but the feelings he pulled from her, the pleasure he played on her skin, it was glorious and in the end, she could only let her head sink back, her eyes closed, and the world become very small as his touches made her heart race, her skin prickle, and that tide in her belly begin to build.

His gentleness was a gift, a balm to her self-consciousness—until she didn't feel self-conscious anymore, but grew frustrated. Desperate.

When he'd touched and stroked her close to the peak three times, only to ease off, she opened her eyes and grabbed his neck, pulling his face up from watching where he touched her, forcing him to meet her eyes.

"Please, Zev. Please. Make love to me."

His eyes flashed and even though he grinned, she saw the tension in his shoulders. He was holding himself back and she didn't want him to.

"Please." She was shameless, begging for him. And she didn't even care.

Finally, with a tormented groan, he let her foot slide under his arm and wrap around his waist as he lowered himself to cover her, his weight a welcome blanket.

Sasha clung, pulling him closer, lifting her head to find his mouth before he'd even fully lowered himself over her.

A low groan vibrated in his throat and chest, sending a spike of jangling desire through her chest. She dug her fingers into the back of his neck, resisting any thought he might have of pulling away from her.

He chuckled and soothed her with kisses that got deeper and more desperate as she turned her head and laid the flat of her tongue against his.

His breath rushed out of him and he curled an arm over her head, taking his weight on that elbow as his other hand began to explore the rest of her.

But Sasha was already arching, rubbing herself on him, seeking him. Head back and eyes closed, she begged breathlessly for him, and Zev made that gorgeous call again, his wolf-song, a deep, resonant call that twanged something in her chest, right in the place where she'd felt the bond take, that new, tender spot where a piece of her had been replaced by a piece of him.

Then Zev kissed down her jaw, down her neck, and down… his chest sliding down her body as he cupped her breast and pressed it gently up to open his mouth over the peak.

He flicked her nipple with his tongue and Sasha jolted. Then he did it again and she cried out, her hips flexing, reaching for him.

"Sash," he groaned over her breast and the vibration of his voice was an entirely new texture that made her breath catch.

But she was done playing. She used one hand to pull him up into a kiss, the other reaching down to cup his butt and pull him against her. And she was so ready, when he finally entered her, he slid all the way to the hilt.

They both groaned.

*****

~ ZEV ~

Gritting his teeth against the urge to simply plow her, Zev pulled out, then thrust back into her, arching his back and huffing, every muscle in his body taut with desire and restraint.

"Oh, fuck, Sash."

"Don't stop, Zev, please."

He would have laughed—she was desperate—but the truth was, he couldn't have stopped if he'd tried. So instead, he set himself on a short leash, and began loving her as he dreamed of doing since they were kids.

Every inch of her skin was a fascination. Every tiny sound a clue. As he slowly, slowly took her, over and over, and her breathing began to rasp, he stroked and explored, trailing fingers along her shoulder and down her arm. Sliding the flat of his palm into the hollow of her waist and holding her to him as they rocked together. He tasted the skin of her throat more than once, reveling in her trust when she threw her head back and pulled his head closer, refusing to release him.

She rolled her hips, seeking him, until her breath was catching at the peak of each thrust, and he held there for half a breath before pulling out again.

Then as their desperation grew, as they both began to shake, he planted both hands on the fur at her shoulders and pushed himself up, to watch her as he thrust, using his own arms to give her resistance.

Sasha's eyes flew open and she cried out, curving her hips, pressing into him so hard her lower back lifted from the floor.

Zev shook with desire for her, breath tearing between his teeth. He'd intended to be gentle this time, slow. But his control was ready to snap.

Then Sasha called his name and grabbed for him, reaching, stretching, begging him in gasps to please, please…

Her eyelids fluttered and her mouth dropped wide, her cries climbing higher. Her muscles tightened, bearing down on him and he shuddered, groaning.

"Sash… oh god, Sash…"

She whimpered, her body trembling with need. And Zev realized she wasn't reaching her peak—she was desperate for it, could obviously feel it just out of reach.

Leaning down to take her mouth, he whispered, "relax," against her lips. Then, with a shaking hand, he found where they were joined and used his thumb to stroke from there up to the most sensitive of her soft, warm skin.

"Zev!"

"Hold on, baby. Don't give up."

A cry broke in her throat as he stroked her again, then again. Still stroking, he dropped his chin to kiss that spot under her ear, then whispered, "You're mine. Only mine. Forever, Sasha. No other male will have you. You're… mine."

On the last word, he pressed harder and slid his thumb up to that bundle of nerves.

Sasha clenched around him and broke apart, sobbing his name as he thrust again, her body taut and shuddering, twitching, clenching and unclenching, until she tipped him over the edge too, and he fell, headlong over the crest of that wave, thundering and howling, the cavern echoing with both of their cries.

*****

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