Desire Unchained

“S’genesis.” A moan rumbled from deep in his chest, which was bare, like the rest of him.

Her eyes dropped to his groin, where his sex strained upward so rigidly he had to be in pain. She slid her gaze up, over skin that glowed, radiated scorching heat. The dermoire on his arm writhed angrily, and around his neck, a shadow pulsed with the rhythm of his heartbeat just beneath the surface of his skin.

“This is your Change?” she asked, and he nodded. He hadn’t said how the actual transition would occur, or how long it would take, and she certainly hadn’t expected it to be this intense.

“Hurts.” As though his body agreed, it convulsed violently.

“What can I do?”

His lips drew back from his clenched teeth.“I … need … you.”

His words washed away the hurtful things he’d said last night. He needed her. “I’m here. Take what you need.”

His eyes peeled open. There was no warning. Just his body pinning hers to a tree. She cried out as the bark dug into her spine and his mouth crushed her. “Forgive me,” he mumbled against her lips. “Please. Forgive me for what I’m going to do to you.”





Shade woke up with a groan. Every muscle ached, his head throbbed, and his skin felt as if it had been bathed in acid. Next to him on the bare floor of the cave, Runa lay curled in a ball on her side. She opened one groggy eye.

“Do you need me again?” she croaked.

He inhaled, took in her scent, the savory aroma of the nonstop sex they’d had. He didn’t need her again, but he wanted her. Now more than ever. She was his mate, and he had completed The Change. All his focus, all of his desires, were now concentrated fully on her, and one of his new desires was to fill her with his seed, his young.

And wouldn’t that be a disaster. He was possessive enough as it was, could hardly bear the thought of doing what must be done in order to save his life, but if she were carrying his child …

“No.” His voice was as hoarse as hers, a result of hours of panting, shouting, and straining during the marathon sex that had taken place in their normal forms all day yesterday, and then all night long in their warg bodies. “Rest. I think it’s over.”

“Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure.” Eidolon’s s’genesis had been different, had taken place over the course of a few days, with minimal sexual side effects, a result of his months of holding it off with an experimental treatment using his own blood. Shade’s change had been faster and more intense, but thank the gods he’d had a mate to spend himself on.

Shame sat like a weight in the pit of his stomach. All this time he’d been bitching about having a mate, and yet, he’d been happy to use her to make his transition to a fully mature male easier. Hell’s bells, he was a bastard.

Images from the last eighteen hours came to him in bits and pieces, erotic images of everything they’d done as he’d felt the s’genesis breaking through the surface. Runa had never resisted him, had offered herself as a willing sacrifice to the constant need. Then again, he’d given her little choice.

He touched his throat, winced at the sensitivity. “Do I have a new mark?”

She stroked where his fingers had been. Instead of hurting, her touch soothed. “You have another ring around your neck. Knotted symbols that link to the other ring.”

He was fertile now. Closing his eyes, he let her stroke him, felt himself sway toward her. “Are you okay?”

“Fine. What about you?”

He swallowed, opened his eyes, took in the angry bite marks on her shoulder, the welts left by his nails on her back and buttocks. After what he’d done to her, he didn’t deserve her concern. He didn’t deserve her.

With a curse, he shoved to his feet, ignoring her calls as he fled to the waterfall.

“Shade.”

“Dammit,” he growled, swinging around to her. “What?”

She was nude, gloriously naked, but she hugged herself as if she regretted not getting dressed before she followed him outside. “What would have happened if I hadn’t been around for your s’genesis?”

“If we hadn’t been bonded, you mean?” The cool spray eased his burning skin as he stood there. “I’d have been forced to seek out human and demon females. As many as I needed. I wouldn’t have cared about consent or their desires.” The idea made him sick, because he doubted he’d cared much about Runa’s consent last night, when the worst of it hit him, when he’d felt only the insane, driving urge to spill inside her.

“You didn’t rape me, Shade.”

His mouth fell open, and he had to snap it shut. He knew she couldn’t feel his emotions because she didn’t share the link with him, but somehow, she knew what he was thinking. “I didn’t give you much choice.”

She moved forward, took his hand in one of her delicate ones. “If I’d wanted to defend myself, I could have.”