FORBIDDEN BLOOM

16 — TAMING THE BEAST, CHOOSING HER

LEONIDAS

We didn’t stop.

The pleasure had built to a breaking point within me. Only one thing held me back from taking what I truly wanted: fear.

Again, I pushed it to the side.

Vanessa’s body glistened with sweat and now she had my waist wrapped with her long legs.

I had already brought her to climax three…or was it four times? I’d lost count.

She kept coming back for me, taking and taking.

Her p***y clamped lightly around my c**k with every slow thrust, pulling me deeper, tempting me to lose control.

And I was so close.

Her hands clutched my shoulders as I pounded into her with powerful strokes that made the obscene sounds of our beautiful mess fill the quiet room.

Just when I started to chase after my own climax, my worst fear seemed to manifest itself before me.

There was the sound of a different moan. But higher and breathier than Vanessa’s. It echoed in my mind like a broken record.

‘Leonidas…yes, just like that…’

Her body arched beneath me, pale skin flushed pink with the urgent need burning through us.

All of a sudden, my fingers lengthened into sharp claws but were dripping with blood.

My movements faltered for half a second.

“Glory…” I whispered, Vanessa’s voice drowning in the back of my mind like static.

My vision swam with red bleeding into the edges and the beast stirring deep in my chest with a hungry growl.

It wanted her.

It wanted to rip and claim and destroy the way it had destroyed Glory.

I wouldn’t let it. Not her. Not again.

It was Vanessa’s soft cry that pulled me back.

“Leonidas, stay with me! Don’t give in to the beast.”

I blinked hard to fight off the red haze and luckily was able to.

My thrusts were still sensual and worshipful as I looked down at her dark hair spread across the pillow and eyes full of trust and desire.

This was Vanessa.

Not the ghost from my past. Not the woman I had failed.

But the beast did not care. It was not done. It was waiting for the right moment to strike.

It surged forward again, trying to take the wheel of my mind and just…kill.

All it wanted was blood.

For one terrifying moment, my fingers twitched where they held her waist and I saw them sharpening into claws.

My vision flickered again from red to normal and back. Red again. And normal.

“No…not again. You won’t have her this time,” I repeated, struggling to rid my head of the monster feeding my subconscious with dark thoughts.

Red. Normal. Red. Normal.

But who was I kidding? In the end, he was as much a part of me as I was him.

One soft hand cupped my cheek, bringing me back for one beautiful moment. Vanessa.

Her thumb stroked gently across my jaw.

“Fight it.” Her voice brought me back, steadying me. “Focus on me. Not the beast. Feel me, Leo. I’m all yours tonight, stay with me.”

Her touch cut through the fog of my madness as I leaned into her palm, breathing in the sweet essence of her; Jasmine and the scent of her arousal.

The love I felt for her flooded my chest, brighter and stronger than the darkness.

All I had to do was take it and wrap it around the beast like chains of silver. Shove it down and lock it away with every ounce of will I possessed.

“I’m here,” I rasped with a hoarse voice when it was done. “Only you.”

I began to move again, picking up the rhythm where I had left it, letting my thrusts drag along every sensitive inch inside her.

Our eyes stayed locked onto each other with me refusing to break it, terrified that looking away would set the beast free and I’d be back to square one.

Every stroke became my silent vow to her, my redemption.

Every gasp she gave was a victory over the monster inside.

I was not going to ruin her. Not tonight. Not ever. It was done.

Vanessa began to clench all around me as her moans grew sweeter and higher. “Yes…just like that. I feel you so…deep.”

The tingling pressure built again in the bottom of my spine, spreading to my balls slapping against her wetness and moving down my thighs.

I gripped her waist and, to my relief, my fingers were still mine, while I watched my c**k disappear into her slick heat and reappear shining with her wetness.

The sight alone sent me to a new high.

The feel of her velvet heat stole the breath from my very lungs. I wanted to drink her, immerse myself in her and lose myself in her all at once.

She was all that I could think of.

Everything that mattered to me in this world.

My mate.

“I love you,” I whispered, feeling those three words so intensely it hurt. “I won’t let it take you. Not this time.”

Her fingers threaded through my hair to pull me down into a deep open-mouthed kiss.

Our tongues slid together as our bodies moved in perfect sync. The beast howled somewhere far away, locked behind iron bars of willpower…and love.

Love. What a powerful weapon.

My orgasm approached and this time, I didn’t fight it. I let it build until it crashed over both of us at once.

Vanessa came first, clamping her p***y down in jerking waves which sent a fresh rush of heat flooding my c**k as she cried out against my lips.

The sensation of her vise-like grip sent me over the edge.

My vision blacked out completely for a moment as pleasure soared through me. So powerful my body almost crushed hers.

My thrusts became harder as I emptied myself inside her, thick ropes of c*m shooting deep into her womb.

When the blackout faded, I was still moving through the aftershocks with my body trembling from the force of what had just happened.

I forced myself to gentle my movements, afraid that I might have hurt her.

“Vanessa?” Silence.

I collapsed over her carefully, bracing my weight on my forearms so I wouldn’t crush her.

Her eyes were closed.

“Vanessa? Baby, are you here?”

My c**k was still buried inside her, twitching but my eyes searched her face and my heart raced with fear.

“Baby, look at me, did I hurt you?” I whispered, frightened for her life. “Open your eyes and tell me I didn’t.”

Slowly, a radiant smile crept up her face and she smiled at me. Reaching up, she brushed the damp hair from my forehead.

“You didn’t hurt me. I’m very hard to kill, you know. Better get that in your thick skull. Now, sleep.”

I pressed my forehead to hers, breathing her in, deeply relieved that she was still alive.

I will not hurt her in this lifetime.

I will cherish her.

I will win against the beast and keep her as I promised long ago.

With a small sound of content, she wrapped her arms around me, holding me close.

Our bodies still joined in the most intimate way but the steady beat of her heart against mine was soothing to the soul.

Her fingers sweeping through my hair was the last thing I felt before sleep claimed me.

Somewhere in the middle of my slumber-filled haze, I found out that she was gone.