WARNING: SEXUAL CONTENT BELOW

Ember

Sensation overload.

It was enough to push me on the very threshold of insanity: the unhurried leisure in which he moved, blue eyes hooded but watchful of all my expressions, parted lips sighing with each of my own moans. Those soft lips swooped in once in a while, swallowing my sounds greedily even though he refused to pick up the pace.

"Faster," I gasped out, moving my head out of reach when he lowered his for another kiss.

He grabbed my face, brought it back to his. "Let me enjoy it...enjoy you."

Stubborn and bossy even right now? I opened my mouth to curse him for it- but he took the opportunity to thrust his tongue inside, hips giving me a particularly hard push that had my curses dissolving into a shout which his lips muffled. His hands roamed over my damp skin, discovering, worshiping and leaving a trail of fire that had me withering beneath him. But he held me prisoner with his weight, refusing to move any faster as he continued taking me indulgently. It felt like I spent hours with all my receptors screaming in maddening pleasure, my inner muscles quivering- right on that edge but not quite able to go over it...until he abruptly pulled out and flipped me onto my stomach and shoved back inside-

I went hurtling over the cliff, falling with a scream even the crush of pillows couldn't quiet. Not that I cared, I was flying in the clouds, eyes fluttering shut from the aftershocks of it as I tried to catch my breath.

Kane's arms banded around me as he lapped at the bead of sweat on my neck, hips pushing at me with teeth-chattering force.

"Thought you were going slow?" I managed to quip at him. Then- shock, I was moving towards another fall. The realization made me start to pull away from him.

He jerked me back into his arms, teeth nipping my earlobe. "Thought you wanted it fast?"

I didn't have the willpower to respond to that, I was caught up in the second wave of pleasure, pretty much mindless and willing to do anything- including let him be sarcastic- if I could keep riding the currents.

Maybe he sensed it as well because all of a sudden the guy who was content with just 'using his ears' grew a whole lot talkative.

"I love you," he rasped.

I moaned.

"You're mine."

His palms covered my chest, playing with the hard tips, clutching at them possessively. "Tell me you're mine."

"Am I?" I asked, mindless from what he was doing to me but not quite prideless yet.

He growled at my response but continued to move, which was all that I cared about. And probably why when he asked, "Who owns you?" I promptly replied, "Ember."

He stopped. Let me go. My female parts cried out in dismay, urging me to reach behind me for him. He caught my hands, pinning them over my head and ignoring my shout of protest. He rested his head against mine softly, even though his voice was hard. "Who owns you?"

I bit him on the ear, and not in the same teasing way he'd done either.

He turned his head around so we were face-to-face, glaring at me with glowing amber eyes. His gaze lowered to my lips and I raised a defiant brow, waiting for his retaliating bite.

Instead he thrust once, haltingly, his muscled body beginning to tremble around mine. He was losing it from holding back, I realized.

Despite my own pain, I grinned at him. "Who owns you, Wilder?"

"You," he said immediately. Another desperate thrust. He grimaced. "Don't do this to me."

Well...if he put it that way there was no way I could resist him.

I leaned in, kissed the tip of his nose. "You own me, Kane Wilder."

I felt him tense and a single triumphant growl was all the warning I got before he lost all control.

I enjoyed every second of it.

***

A few hours later I got that nap Kane had suggested.

It lasted about ten minutes.

I was starting the peaceful descent into dreamland when I felt Kane probing at my bruises- or where they used to be anyway.

I peeled open an eyelid. Saw him frowning as he traced the skin there with a fingertip. Despite my pleasantly sore muscles and the innocence of his touch, I felt the same curling heat from earlier begin to gather in my stomach again.

Get a grip, Ember.

"I heal fast," I told him, scooting away and pulling the covers over myself.

He threw them off, eyes wandering higher and heating with each rising inch. "I know. That knowledge still didn't help my sanity whenever you went to those cage fights."

I drew the covers back over me, blushing. "You watched me fight?"

He raised a brow at me, as if to say really? "If I had, I would've torn apart both the cage and the guy trying to hurt you. I had Jett spy on you."

I smiled. "Maybe that's why he thinks I'm so capable."

Kane threw the blanket off me again. "You don't need to be capable, just keep what's mine safe. Now stop hiding your body, you told me it was mine."

I tugged the blanket out of his hands. "That one admission doesn't give you the right to start throwing-"

His claws flashed out, shredding the blanket into pieces.

I scowled. "Now that was just wasteful."

"Don't try to resist me."

I deepened my voice, mimicking his scowl. "Don't try to resist me."

He laughed, blue eyes warm as he held out a hand. "Come here, Ember."

He made quite the picture sitting there naked on the bed, ink black hair in perfect disarray, lips curved and looking as delectable as ever. And all those hard ridges of muscle on display... I glanced up at the dark green ceiling above in an effort to keep my eyes from straying lower. Way lower. "Why?"

"I need you."

My gaze snagged onto his, mouth parting with a sharp intake of breath-

A scream broke out, a shrill noise jagged with so much suffering it had me flinching, as if the pain was contagious.

Kane had his pants on already, throwing his shirt at me and stabbing a finger downwards. "Stay."

I lifted my brows. The nerve of him. "Do you want me to fetch too?"

He stalked out like he hadn't heard me, the door slamming shut behind him. I scrambled out of the bed, big toe catching on one of the shredded strips of blanket. I nearly tumbled onto the floor but luckily my palms caught me, my butt raised in the air like an idiot. I shivered at the cold breeze on my skin, in fact my whole body was cold now that Kane wasn't nearby. What if he got hurt by whatever was still shrieking? The horrid thought froze the blood in my veins and I scrambled to my feet, throwing on the shirt he'd given me.

I swung the door open and rushed out- colliding right into Kane's bare back. Without looking at me, he grasped my wrist, shielding me with his body. The screams grew louder, closer actually- until it went right past us. I craned my head in time to see the girl in the white dress running down the stairs, clutching the sides of her head. The screaming faded with her.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked, horrified.

"Go back inside," he ordered tersely, taking off for the stairs.

I was hot on his heels but he put those long legs of his to use, taking the stairs three at a time and got downstairs first. By the time I was down, I only caught a glimpse of Kane going through the front door and out into the night. I dashed after him, cringing at the sound of the girl's howls. If she were a werewolf I would've said it sounded like she was calling out for help. Perhaps she was? Maybe she woke up in an unfamiliar place and was scared? Or maybe she was hurting because she'd accidentally touched iron? Fiona had told us the fae were vulnerable to it and to keep as much of it away from her as possible, but maybe Bluebell had missed something?

It might explain why she was now sitting on the lawn, frantically rubbing the sides of her head and sobbing. Sobbing...and talking.

I put a hand on Kane's arm, the feel of his skin on mine comforting. "What is she saying?"

"Go back inside," he replied.

I threw him an irritated look, letting go of him and venturing closer to her.

She turned to me all of a sudden, and if eyes were indeed the windows to the soul, her bloodshot ones showed hers to be agony. "Give me the fruit," she croaked at me. "Please, where is the fruit? Make this pain stop-"

"Tyra!"

A stocky man approached us at a run, face distressed and sweaty, pointy ears twitching. I remembered him, he was the man who'd been hauled away when Light had ordered the fae to start feeding the girl that pink fruit.

"Tyra, I'm right here, sweetheart," he said falling to his knees in front of her.

A wretched sob broke from Tyra, her hands leaving her frazzled hair. "Dad?"

He nodded, holding out his arms. "I'm so sorry. I'm here, right here."

She reached out for him, but didn't jump into his arms. She gripped his outstretched arms, nails digging into the cloth of his shirt as she screamed with a crazed rage, "Give me the fruit! I need the damn fruit for fu-"

She didn't get any further though, because Jett was suddenly there, scooping her up into his tattooed arms. She fell silent immediately, body relaxing against his. Then tensing as she looked up at him in shock.

"What did you do?" she whispered in awe.

"Ruined you for all other men," he replied simply.

Her face contorted in anger. "I don't think so." She flung herself out of his arms, the diamonds on her dress glittering a dozen little lights in the dark as she took off running.