4. The Hunting Cabin (2)

Dusk nuzzled the underside of my jaw, his lips trailing lazily across my skin as they made their way to my neck. My eyes rolled back. His blood, thick on my tongue, tasted like silver tainted by blackberry, and as Dusk worked his way down my neck and collarbone to cross my breast, his scarlet kisses stained my pale skin. I smeared one with my right ring finger, bringing it to my lips at the same moment Dusk's tongue lit across my nipple.

My back arched and a gasp tore from me, followed immediately by a small yelp as my teeth bit down painfully on my finger. Dusk looked up at me, his eyes a tempest of desire and his mouth a crescent of amused curiosity.

"It's nothing," I assured before his head dipped again and his mouth closed around the peak of my breast. I inhaled sharply and sputtered as thousands of threads of pleasure shot across my body. I brought my legs up, curling them around his hips, and my left hand secured itself in his hair, pulling in alternating intensity as his mouth, teeth, and tongue learned the texture of my tightening skin. Lust pulsed through me, wrapping around and enhancing the desire Dusk had built up, and when he slid his hand over my clit, my vision blurred and the knot between my legs tightened to the point of pain. 
I clawed at his scalp, at his shoulder, at his neck.  My hips pushed up into his hand, my legs closing tighter around him, and I heard as Dusk groaned into my skin, his teeth closing around my nipple as his tongue worked faster.

"I need you," I managed between the thousands of other sounds I was making. "I need you, now!"

Dusk shifted and pushed into me, and I screamed; I screamed as an orgasm flooded my body, simultaneous to my scream as his teeth ripped into my nipple. Dusk rocked his hips aggressively and every piece of me responded, the sheer ecstasy of his body filling mine quickly overriding the intensity of the pain I'd felt. He released my breast and blood surged down my ribs, both from my wound and from his mouth; I couldn't tell how much was his blood and it didn't matter. He looked at me, feral as a starved wolf, and my legs urged him on faster, harder, while my magic flooded the hunting cabin and sealed out the rest of the world.

A second orgasm shot through my body. I bit into Dusk's wrist, my eyes unfocusing and rolling back, and a burst of magic slammed into him. He gasped, a sound of shocked rapture, and buried himself in me as he peaked, my legs wrapping tight around him.

"You cheat," he groaned between breaths as our bodies convulsed around each other. He laid his forehead against my collarbone, and I twisted strands of his long hair between my fingers.

"How do you figure?"

"I've never been so short-winded in my life. Clearly, trickery is at play."

I laughed and pushed him off me. He rolled onto his back and winced as the bandages roughed his skin. "My gifts aren't trickery. But, if you'd rather I not use them, then you'll need to keep your distance. They've been volatile the past few days."

"You must be quite young then, for your power to be undisciplined," he said casually. I glared.

"I'm not so young that I'm undisciplined," I snapped, "they are behaving unusually, reacting more forcefully than I'm used to."

"Why?" Dusk touched my side, trailing his fingertips along my ribs and through the blood. My body filled with heat again, my breath becoming shallower as I tried not to breathe and give life to the lust.

"If I knew, they wouldn't be erratic." I sat suddenly, my legs over the edge of the bed, facing away from him. "You're well enough to travel, and I really should get you to Holly Heart. The King doesn't like to wait."

"What of your partner and my sister? You said we'd wait to hear from them."

"I know, but I-" He touched my waist and I jerked away as pain shot through my overstimulated nerves. It felt too good to be touched by him. "I just think it might be better. Angering the King is rarely worth it."

"Funny," he murmured as he slowly reached for me again. I watched his hand, choosing not to move as it got closer. "I've found the opposite to be true on most occasions, but, if you think it best to deliver me to him quickly, so be it. I, however, am in no rush to reach the winter's court, and I'd be remiss if I didn't say I'd mourn the opportunity to become more familiar with you."

Dusk's hand curled over my hip and tugged at me gently, and I glanced towards him. His body, long and lean, stretched across the bed invitingly, though it was likely more to do with leftover hormones than true desire, but as my eyes travelled over the shadows and highlights of his legs, his hips, his torso, I found myself curling in towards him and being pulled close. I bent my head to his, my nose brushing along his cheekbone as I whispered, "how long do you think it would take to satisfy your desire for familiarity?"

"At least as long as it takes to hear back from your partner," he muttered, his lips already dotting my jaw with kisses, "King be damned."

***

A thousand smeared red kisses decorated my pale skin as Dusk insisted on tasting every part of me.

Growls filling the air as he squeezed into my ass and brought me to orgasm almost immediately.

His hand around my throat as he kissed me until I passed out.

The light in his eyes as I shot magic into him and revived him for round eleven that day.

The wet sound as a bloody whip lashed into the backs of my thighs again, and Dusk licking at the wounds.

Gentle kisses upon my brow when he thinks I've fallen asleep as he reads to me.

Sighs of pained pleasure as I traced a knife along his cock before taking him into my mouth.

The crunch of breaking bones as we throw each other into walls, trying desperately to invade each other's physical space. 

Screams of pain as Dusk carves into my skin while we bathe, followed by my name groaned in pleasure. 

Bruises on my body. Bruises on his body. Chain marks around parts of us both.

Shivering as he takes me against a tree in the winter forest, pinned to it by his hand at my throat. 

Waking up in his arms, warm despite the blankets having fallen off the bed.

Howls of pleasure as I tear into his clavicle while on top of him.

The wet, slick feel of his seed seeping down my legs as he finishes with me, bent over the kitchen table as I tried to make us food.

Tears of pain as he pulls the knife out from under my ribs and inserts himself there instead. 

Hugs so tender it hurts my heart, given when he notices my tears are for worry over Lark. 

The look of satisfaction as I cut open his chest to watch his heart beat while he orgasms again.

His eyes growing dark as he pulls the rope tighter around my neck at the moment he tips me into bliss.

Screams as he breaks my fingers to stretch and wrap them tighter around himself.

Pain-filled laughter as I stab daggers through his wrists and upper arms into the floorboards so he, maybe, won't move long enough for me to feed him something.

When he later used those knives on me so he could bite chunks from my thighs and breasts without distraction.

How my heart exploded into pieces when "I love you" graced my ears as I woke up.

How uncertain he was when I repeated them back to him immediately and without hesitation.

***

An acorn plunked through the second story window, bouncing off the window sill above my head before landing on my eye and rolling onto the bed off the tip of my nose. My face scrunched as I located it and crushed it in my hand. Lark's voice whispered in my ear.

"Very late, but I'm okay. Meet me outside Holly Heart at high sun to finish with this contract."  

I glanced at Dusk beside me, sleeping curled around my body as had become our habit, and sighed. Two weeks was long enough for our violent, bloody fairy tale, I suppose. Now, reality had come knocking, and I had to give him back; we'd both known our stolen time couldn't last forever. It'd already lasted longer than I thought.

As I eased myself out of his tangled limbs, my name fell from his lips in a sleepy murmur. I kissed his forehead gently, heart aching, and snuck down the stairs to begin preparations for the last part of our journey.