THE BITE BENEATH HER FIRE

 

Valkhara

When I woke, my breath was ragged.

Shallow. Hitting the air like I’d just been dragged out of a fever dream I never wanted to leave.

My body was burning.

No—throbbing.

Every inch of me pulsed with heat, soaked in sweat and something thicker. Slick coated the insides of my thighs. My heartbeat pounded between my legs, slow and deep, like my body was already chasing a second orgasm before I even realized I’d had the first.

And then—

Then I felt it.

Not a memory. Not a dream.

A tongue.

Real.

Hot, wide, possessive—sliding up through the mess between my thighs like it was his fucking birthright.

My eyes flew open.

I couldn’t breathe.

He was there.

Between my legs, shirtless, violet eyes glowing faintly in the dark like a predator lit from within.

Azric.

His black hair was tousled. Lips already glossy with me. One hand clamped around my thigh, the other dragging my sleep tunic higher with each filthy stroke of his tongue.

He looked feral. Unhinged. Like the dream he’d seen in my head had snapped something loose in him and now he was starving.

“Azric—what the fuck—” I tried to speak, to shove at his shoulder, but my hands trembled. My body didn’t listen.

He groaned low, deep in his throat, like my voice only made him hungrier.

“Gods,” he rasped, voice thick, hoarse, like he hadn’t spoken in hours. “You’re still thinking about it.”

“What—”

He shoved my legs wider before I could finish. Buried his face deeper.

And licked me like I belonged to him.

Slow. Flattened tongue. Curling up into the spot he’d already mapped in my dreams.

He sucked once, hard enough to make my hips jerk. My head hit the pillow. A cry ripped from my throat.

I didn’t mean to let it out.

Didn’t mean to clutch the back of his head like that.

Didn’t mean to roll my hips into his mouth.

But fuck—fuck—gods, he knew.

He moaned against me like my pleasure was feeding him.

Every time I tried to move, he just gripped harder—holding my thighs apart like I was his meal and he wasn’t leaving a single drop behind. His fingers bruised into my hips. His tongue worked like he wanted to taste me into madness.

“I dreamed this,” he whispered against me. “You let me. You wanted me.”

And I hated it.

Hated how right he was.

Hated that I was shaking now, toes curling, thighs trembling.

Hated that I was close—already—

I came.

Hard.

My back arched off the bed, a scream tearing from my throat as his mouth pushed me over the edge like he owned every nerve in my body. It hit me like fire in my blood—spreading through my belly, down my legs, curling my toes as I trembled beneath him.

He didn’t stop.

He didn’t fucking stop.

Azric licked me through it, groaning like he was starving, like I was the first thing he’d ever tasted that mattered.

And when the aftershocks made my legs jerk, he bit me.

Not just a nip.

A growl split through him—deep, brutal—as his fangs sank into the soft flesh of my inner thigh. My body bucked from the pain and the pleasure, a second orgasm crashing into me so hard I sobbed.

His hand slid up my stomach, pinning me as he drank. As he marked me.

The bond snapped.

Not gently.

Not sweet.

It detonated.

Fire exploded through me like I’d swallowed the sun. My skin lit up—not literally, but I felt it, every inch of me burning from the inside out. Azric snarled against my leg, hips grinding into the bed like he was seconds from losing whatever thin thread of control he had left.

When he pulled back, blood smeared his lips.

My blood.

His eyes were nearly black now. Wild. Ravenous. Glowing like he was over taken by a spell.

And then he crawled over me.

Didn’t ask.

Didn’t pause.

Just shoved his cock inside me like he had to like his life depended on it.

I screamed again. Not from pain.

From being too full.

From how deep he went.

From how perfectly his body curved into mine like the bond had shaped us for this.

He fucked me like the world was ending.

Hard. Brutal. Desperate.

Every thrust was a promise.

Every sound he made was a curse.

And I took it. Every inch. Every wave of it.

I came again. Loud. Writhing. My nails raked down his back.

He cursed and buried his face in my neck, still moving, still claiming.

“You’re mine,” he gasped. “You feel it. You’re—fuck—you’re mine.”

When I came a third time body convulsing, legs locked around his waist Azric’s thrusts turned desperate.

Uncontrolled. Savage.

He held me like I was the only thing anchoring him to the world, hips grinding deeper, faster, teeth clenched like he was trying to hold back a roar.

But then it hit him.

Hard.

His entire body seized, a raw, broken groan ripping from his throat as he spilled inside me, cock twitching with each pulse of his orgasm. His head dropped to my shoulder, his entire body shaking as he came so deep I felt it in my chest.

And that’s when it happened.

The bond sealed.

It slammed into place with such brutal finality I almost blacked out. Fire surged through me, but not just flame, thoughts.

Mine. She’s mine. Fuck, she’s perfect. I’d die if she left me. I’d burn kingdoms for her—

I gasped.

“Azric—”

She’s scared. I can feel it. Don’t let her pull away. Don’t let her hate me—

My eyes flew open. My hands pushed against his chest.

“I can hear you,” I whispered. “I can fucking hear you.”

He froze.

I scrambled away from him, back hitting the headboard, heart pounding.

“What the fuck did you do to me?” I snapped.

Azric looked just as stunned. His lips parted. “I—I don’t know. I didn’t know that would happen—”

I shook my head, wild. Unstable. “This bond this isn’t just sex. You took something from me.”

“I didn’t mean to—”

But I wasn’t listening anymore.

Because that’s when I heard it.

Another voice.

Not Azric’s.

Where is she? Why hasn’t she come back? I can still taste her scent in the air...

It was low. Rough. Feral. And it wasn’t coming from anyone nearby.

And then another.

She’s trying to block it. Clever girl. But I felt that surge. Who fucking touched her?

This voice was colder. Sharper. Velvet soaked in steel.

I clutched my head, gasping. “What the fuck.. what the fuck—”

Azric lunged for me, trying to steady me, but I slapped his hand away.

“I can hear them,” I hissed. “I can hear you. I can hear... others.”

His eyes widened.

“You mean—”

I laughed. A broken, unhinged sound.

“I don’t know who the fuck they are,” I snapped. “But they’re in my head. They’re—gods, they’re thinking about me. About touching me. About claiming me—”

The bond roared inside me. My fire reacted, bursting out in a pulse that singed the edge of the bedsheets. Azric stepped back, stunned.

“Valkhara,” he said carefully. “They might be...”

“No.”

I shook my head.

“No. Don’t say it.”

He didn’t have to.

I already knew.

Three.

Not one.

Not two

Three mates.

And now?

I could hear all of them.

And I wasn’t ready for any of it.