Chapter 7 : In the Arms of My Savior

*Ember*

“I want you,” I murmured again into the darkness as the hooded stranger slid the strap of my dress down my shoulder. His motions were agonizingly slow.

Unable to hold back, I closed the distance between us and found his lips with my own, crushing myself against the strong breadth of his chest. A low chuckle rumbled from his throat at my impatience, and he deepened the kiss as his hands began to unlace the back of my dress.

Cool night air licked the skin of my back as the dress fell open and began to slide down my arms, the front held up only by the closeness of our bodies as passion poured from our lips. The stranger slid a hand down between the fabric and my body, splaying his fingers at the small of my back and drawing me even closer to him. I moaned at the heat radiating from his palm.

Excited by the noise, he dropped the hand lower and slid it under my ass, jerking me up quickly. Reflexively, I wrapped my legs around his hips and then gasped into our kiss as I felt his hardness resting against my core, even through the layers of clothes that still lay between us.

As if sensing that I needed more, my savior effortlessly carried me to the bed and set me down gently on the covers. And then, to my great chagrin, he pulled away. In the darkness, I couldn’t tell if he was inches away from me, or a mile.

I opened my mouth to plead with him to come back, but I didn’t have the chance to speak. He swooped in, this time latching his mouth onto the crook of my neck. Sucking and biting, he trailed down until he reached my collarbone while I mewled in pleasure and grasped at the nape of his neck.

My hands curled into thick locks of hair, and I realized that he must have taken his hood off. I squinted down at him as his mouth moved lower, leaving bruising kisses against the curving tops of my breasts, but his face was robed in shadow.

I was quickly distracted from my thoughts as the stranger began to peel the front of my dress down, moving slowly as though he expected me to stop him at any moment.

A shudder of trepidation rushed through me, and I realized I was blushing furiously. Even though my father had often paraded me around in front of guests in skimpy little outfits that barely covered me, I had never actually been naked in front of a male before. Rationally, I knew that it was too dark for the stranger to actually see much of my body, but I still felt self-conscious. I was no great beauty, as my father so frequently reminded me.

No, I told myself firmly. I wanted this. I craved the stranger, my savior, in a way that I had never desired anybody else. Didn’t I deserve one night of passion before the Alpha King executed me for my actions?

“Do it,” I whispered, my hands finding the strangers’ in the dark. “Please.”

He didn’t need any more encouragement. Allowing my hands to guide his, he peeled the top of the dress down to expose my breasts.

I heard the stranger’s breath hitch, and my heart sank. I wasn’t sure how he could see so well in the dark, but I must have been disappointing to him for him to make that sort of noise. I began to bring my arms up to cover my chest when he leaned in, latching his mouth over one of my nipples and rolling the tender bud between his teeth.

“Goddess,” I breathed, throwing my head back as pleasure coursed through me. Clutching shamelessly at his shoulders, I arched into him, urging him to continue his ministrations.

In the darkness, he brought one hand up to gently tweak my other nipple, and I cried out.

“Shh,” he hushed, clamping his palm over my mouth to stifle my sounds of pleasure. It took me a moment to understand why he was silencing me. If the whole castle heard what he was doing to me, there would be even more hell to pay. Finally, I nodded, and he drew his hand back to my breast.

Even with the waves of pleasure rolling over me, I still wanted more. Reaching out to him with greedy hands, I found the strings of his tunic and pulled desperately at them. It took a moment of fumbling before I managed to unlace them, and he paused in his worship to slip the garment over his head before returning his full attention to me.

Craving the contact of his skin, I ran my hands along his back, memorizing the planes of his shoulder blades, the bulk of muscle that lined his back, the thick rope of a scar that could have only been earned in battle.

As he pinched one of my nipples between his thumb and forefinger, I couldn’t help but sink my fingernails into his back, scratching as I struggled to keep ahold of him.

A growl ripped from his throat, sending delicious tremors rolling down my spine. In one fluid motion, he grabbed the remaining fabric of my dress and tore it away.

The ripping sound as the seams of the silk garment popped ignited a new fire in my veins. I could feel the wetness pooling between my thighs, now exposed to the stranger. A small part of me was embarrassed to let any male see me like this, but the rushing need of desire was overpowering.

“Touch me.” My words came out as an order, surprising both of us. I had always been obedient, subservient. This was the first time that I had ever given a command. Confidence rushed through me as I realized that I liked it.

Following my orders, the stranger’s mouth trailed back to mine, drawing me in for a searing kiss. At the same time, one of his hands wrapped around my waist, holding me close, while the other roamed down my front, trailing between my breasts and over my belly.

I moaned into his mouth as he just barely brushed the junction between my thighs.

“More,” I urged, bucking my hips forward in an attempt to guide his hand.

The stranger complied.

I bit back another cry as his fingers found my core. Pleasure coursed through me as he teased my slick folds. Writhing beneath his touch, I once again clutched at his back, my fingers sliding over his sweat-slicked skin.

Just when I thought that the sensations couldn’t possibly be more intense, the stranger probed my entrance with one finger before sliding it easily inside of me.

“Fuck,” I moaned against his lips, squeezing my eyes shut against the darkness.

Encouraged by my expletive outburst, the stranger began to pump the finger in and out with painfully slow motions. I rolled my head back, allowing his lips to once again attack the tender skin of my throat.

“Faster,” I commanded, wriggling my hips in an attempt to heighten the friction.

The stranger laughed, the sound warm and low, but he did as I asked. I moaned against him as his finger moved faster. He soon added another digit, stretching me as I gasped into the crook of his neck.

As he continued, I could feel something building inside of me. It was as if there was a coil deep inside my belly that was winding tighter and tighter, threatening to spring loose at any second in a dazzling fury.

“Yes, faster,” I breathed, feeling as though I was drawing closer and closer to the edge of something huge.

And then the coil snapped, sending sparks of pleasure skittering across my nerves and igniting my muscles. I felt my damp walls fluttering around his fingers as he slowed his pace but didn’t stop, drawing out the last vestiges of my orgasm before it faded.

Dazed and boneless, I held the stranger close, breathing in the musky leather and woodsmoke scent of him. He withdrew his fingers and the loss of him elicited a groan from my mouth. Peeling me away from him, he laid me gently on the bed, and then stood up.

I was suddenly alarmed. I didn’t want him to go. I felt safe there with him, in his arms, safer than I had ever felt in my entire life.

But then I felt the bed dip under the weight of him, and one of his bare legs brushed my own as he worked his way between my hips. I was relieved when I realized that he had only stepped away to kick off his boots and shed his trousers, but then the doubt flooded in again.

I had never seen a male naked before. I knew a little about what to expect –I had smuggled many steamy romance novels out of the library over the years, after all.

As if sensing my anxiety, the stranger found one of my hands in the dark and brought it up to his chest. Taking the hint, I ran my fingers down him, first feeling the muscular planes of his pectorals, the defined surface of his abs, the dip of his belly button, and then finally the coarse trail of hair that led between his legs.

Feeling timid, I let my hand continue to wander until my fingers found his length.

It was the stranger’s turn to gasp as I closed my small hand around his shaft. It felt like silk over metal, nothing like I had expected. And big, I realized with a hint of fear, far bigger than two fingers.

Still, I began to move my hand along him, back and forth as he shuddered and panted over me. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but he sounded like he was enjoying himself, so I continued, a small smile gracing my lips as I listened to the quiet, sinful noises that fell from his mouth.

After a moment, he reached down and pushed my hand away. I was concerned that I had done something wrong, but then he tilted his hips to rub his manhood against my slick heat, and I realized what he wanted.

“I want you,” I whispered into his ear, catching his earlobe with my teeth.

That was all the persuasion he needed.

Guiding himself with one hand, he eased into me. I gasped as my tight walls stretched around him as he filled me up with equal parts pain and pleasure. After giving me a moment to adjust, he began to move his hips back and forth, driving himself slowly into me.

I almost cried out, but he swallowed my passion with a devouring kiss. I brought my hips up to meet his thrusts, and he growled in approval, quickening his pace.

For the second time in my life, I felt the spring inside of me coiling as his manhood filled every inch of me, over and over. I was lost in pleasure, my breath coming in disparate pants, my eyes rolling in the darkness as our bodies joined.

The stranger, his weight heavy against me, became more frantic in his movements as he too reached his climax. His thrusts grew wild until he slammed his hips into mine one last time, groaning loudly against the crook of my neck as I felt him pulsing inside of me.

The sensation drew me over the edge, and I came with him, stifling my own cry against his shoulder.

He kissed me passionately as he pulled out of me and then came to rest beside me.

In the dark, our faces almost touching as we lay with our limbs entwined, I whispered, “Who are you?”

The stranger kissed me softly, but held his silence, and that would have to be enough for me for now.