Page 117 of Sunsplitter

Antal’s snarl crumbled as he grinded against her. The claws clamping her hair, the hungry rock of his hips said he needed this, too.

“We had to leave. The other daeyari were waiting.”

“And you want to be part of that world again—” Fi whimpered at his next stroke, knees digging into the bed as he found the spot she wanted. “Abandoning it isn’t fair to you.”

“I’ll do what I have to—”

“And it’s not fair to me!”

He paused, claws ghosting her inner thigh. “To you?”

“You think I want to feel useless?”

“I never said—”

“Youactlike it. Trying to keep me from your family. Trying to keep me from getting hurt. I’m done running away. You helped me do that—”

Fi gasped as he resumed his work, carving knuckles between her legs. Merciless Void, he was so damn good with his hands. She squirmed her hips in protest when he stopped, shifting to drag claws over the curve of her ass.

He parted the cheeks, brushing a different entrance than expected.

A new ache shuddered through Fi’s core.

Oh, he wanted tohaveher. Or to see her balk.

They’d had a year, enough to explore most parts of each other. The first time Antal had taken her this way, he’d asked hesitantly, his movements cautious until he’d earned the assurance of her moans. Now, he knew what she could take. What sheenjoyedtaking. He circled pressure over the tight opening. An added thrill as he held her on her knees, unable to fight back.

He twisted the tip of a knuckle into her. A teasing delve, and fuck if it didn’t feelgood. Fi moaned and strained her wrists against the tail still binding them.

He pushed harder, wider, plying her open slowly. It hurt a little. Left her dizzy, a jolt of need raking up her spine. A lower coil of his tail swept over her clit. Fi’s knees dug into the bed, breaths shallow, enduring the torture until she could bear it no longer.

“Are you going to stick it in me or not?”

Antal’s growl only made her squirm more.

Her heart sped at the sound of him removing pants. He leaned sideways, a shelf beside the bed where she’d collected some of her own toys, grabbing a vial of oil. A whimper escaped her as he tilted his hard, oil-slicked cock behind her, angling for the thrust.

“Stop,” Fi ordered.

He stopped.

Immediate. No hesitation. Because after all the shouting and snarling, this beast was still hers. He still worshipped her. Fi felt the depth of his reverence in the tightness of his hand holding her hip. The trembling claws in her hair. The shallowing of his breath as he leaned over her, cock paused against her ass, commanded to stillness.

He was just afraid. Making stupid decisions because of it.

But still hers.

Holding him in suspense for even that short moment, Fi clawed at her power. A return to equal footing. Even if she had to fight for it.

She shifted backward. They shared a ragged gasp as she guided his cock into her, taking him at a pace she could handle. Fi gritted her teeth at the initial throb of pain. Then, a bloom of deeper euphoria that swept everything else away, laid her outsoft and moaning beneath her lover’s grasp. Antal groaned as he sank into her, thumb massaging circles on her ass.

Fi paused to breathe. To adjust to him, hard and full inside her.

“Move,” she rasped.

She cried out at the first plunge, ache melding with pleasure. Antal gripped her by the hair, a clawed hand at her hip, driving into her. Somuchof him, that Fi shook. When his tail brushed against her clit, a feral sound escaped her, a snarl slipping to a plea.

Antal moved in her, rougher than he’d ever been. Fi felt his frustration in each thrust. The echoes of their argument, tangled into the desperate movements of their bodies together.