CHAPTER 6

Seraphina’s Pov

The second our eyes met, my body moved without permission and I ran across the room like my life depended on reaching him. 

I crashed into his chest with enough force to knock a normal person over, but Dimitri just caught me and crushed me against him while we both made sounds that weren't quite human.

"You're here. You're really here," I gasped, pressing my face into his neck and breathing him in like I'd been suffocating without his scent. 

Pine and whiskey and something darker that meant mate, home and mine all mixed together until I was dizzy with it.

His arms wrapped around me so tight, I could barely breathe, but I didn't care. I needed to be closer, needed to crawl inside his skin if possible. 

My hands fisted in his torn shirt while I rubbed my face against his chest, marking myself with his scent while my wolf purred in satisfaction.

"Seraphina," Dimitri groaned, his hands tangling in my hair and angling my head back so he could press his nose to my throat. 

"You smell even better than I remembered. I've been going insane thinking about it."

I could feel him hard against my stomach through his pants and it made me whimper with need. My hips pressed forward seeking friction. 

"Please, I need... I don't know what I need, but everything hurts without you."

Instead of answering, he lifted me up like I weighed nothing and my legs wrapped around his waist automatically as my dress rode up my thighs. 

The new position put his arousal right where I ached for him most, and we both moaned at the contact even through our clothes.

"You're in heat," He growled against my neck, his hands gripping my thighs hard enough to leave marks. "And you smell like pure sin designed specifically to drive me mad."

His lips brushed against my throat as he spoke and I shivered, tilting my head to give him better access. 

When he pressed an open-mouthed kiss to my pulse point, I nearly came just from that simple contact. My body was so sensitized from days of needing him.

"More," I begged, grinding against him shamelessly. "Kiss me again, touch me, anything please."

He pressed another kiss to my neck, then another, each one hotter and wetter than the last. His tongue tasted my skin like he was memorizing my flavor. 

His teeth grazed the spot where he would mark me and my whole body seized with want so intense, I saw stars.

"You taste so fucking good," He rumbled against my throat, his hands squeezing my thighs rhythmically. "Like everything pure and innocent that I want to corrupt."

"Then corrupt me," I gasped, my nails dug into his shoulders as I continued grinding against him. "I'm yours to ruin however you want."

He made a sound that was pure Alpha possession and pressed me harder against him. His mouth moved up to that spot just below my ear that made me shiver. His tongue traced the shell of my ear, and I moaned so loud it echoed off the stone walls.

"The sounds you make," He breathed, his hands sliding higher on my thighs until his thumbs brushed the edge of my soaked panties. "I've been touching myself for days thinking about the sounds you make and it's never enough."

"I've been doing the same," I confessed, rocking against him faster, seeking relief that stayed just out of reach. "Every night, I dream about you above me, inside me, claiming me the way we both need."

His control snapped and suddenly my back hit the wall as his mouth attacked my neck with kisses and bites that had me seeing stars. 

His hips pinned mine in place as he ground against me and even through our clothes, the friction was almost enough to send me over the edge.

"We have to stop," He panted against my throat, but his actions contradicted his words as he sucked hard on my pulse point, leaving what would definitely be a mark. "The test... we can't..."

"I don't care about the test," I moaned as my hands found their way under his shirt to touch his bare skin which was burning as hot as mine. "I need you more than I need to breathe."

His hands were everywhere. Tangling in my hair, gripping my waist, sliding along my thighs while his mouth continued its assault on my neck. 

I was making sounds I didn't recognize, somewhere between moans, whimpers and pleas for more as my body burned hotter with each touch.

"Your skin is like silk," He murmured while his hands skimmed up my sides, taking my dress higher. "And you're burning up with fever."

"The heat is worse when you're here," I gasped as his thumbs brushed my nipples through the thin fabric. "But also better because you're touching me, even if it's not enough."

"Nothing would be enough except being buried inside you," He growled, pressing harder against me. "Feeling you tight and wet around me while you scream my name."

His words made me clench around nothing and I could feel how soaked I was, my arousal probably scenting the entire room. "Dimitri, please, I'm so empty it hurts."

He made a pained sound and his hand slid into my hair and tugged. I let out a moan while my hips rolled against him, seeking more friction.

"I can feel how wet you are through your dress," He groaned against my lips. "You're dripping for me, aren't you?"

"Yes," I whimpered, not even embarrassed by how desperate I sounded. "I've been soaked for days thinking about you."

His control was hanging by a thread and I could feel it in the way his hands shook, and his breathing turned ragged. He thrust against me so hard, I saw stars.

"We're about to cross a line we can't come back from," He panted, his forehead shining with sweat. "If I don't stop now I'm going to mate you against this wall."

"I want you to," I confessed, my hands sliding under his shirt to touch his bare skin which was burning as hot as mine. "I want you to claim me so thoroughly that everyone can smell you on me for weeks."

His muscles tensed under my touch and his teeth grazed my neck again right over the mating gland. 

We were so close to the point of no return and every cell in my body was screaming at me to tilt my head just a little more and let him bite down.

"As much as I want that, as much as every part of me is demanding I claim you right now, we'll both be dead before I even get to knot you properly."

The mention of death was like cold water on the inferno between us and he suddenly wrenched himself away from me so violently, I cried out at the loss. 

My legs gave out and I slid down the wall while he stumbled to the opposite side of the chamber breathing like he'd run a marathon.

"Stay over there," He commanded, though his voice was rough with need. "If you come near me again, I won't be able to stop and failing this test means we both die."

"Maybe death would be better than this torture." I whimpered, wrapping my arms around myself, trying to hold in the warmth he'd left behind.