Insulted, I narrow my eyes and he chuckles.
“You’re fierce, my lion princess. I know your fierceness firsthand and I admire it. But,” he scratches the base of his neck, “there are things about me I’d rather keep hidden.”
“Hidden?” I frown, pulling my eyebrows together. “We are to be married. Husband and wife. There must not be secrets between us.” I step into him, placing my hands on his wide shoulders and he shudders. “Show me, Noble. Show me what you hide from the world.”
I let my hands fall to the bottom of his shirt and glide a hand under it. Pressing a hand to his stomach, I let my touch wander as I explore the planes of his stomach and chest. I kiss his chin and when he tilts his head down, we steal a kiss. Soft, sweet. Wanting more, I take charge and slide his shirt off him between the hungry kisses I press to his delicious mouth.
We part, only to suck in desperate breaths, but in the instant that we disconnect, Noble pushes away from me. He crosses the room, quickly retreating from me. With the moonlight peeking through the window shades, the lines of his back muscles dance with every swift gait.
“Do you think me a virgin?” I chortle.
He whips his head back, anger brewing behind his eyes, deepening the creases between the bridge of his nose.
“Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being a virgin,” I coax, slipping the sleeves from my dress off my shoulders as I wiggle free from its constraints. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Noble. If you’re a virgin, I can teach you.”
He turns his full body toward me and I wait with bated breath as he approaches me. Long, elegant strides to me, his prize in this little feud. I leave my dress on the floor and meet him half way. Kneeling in front of me, he presses his warm lips onto my belly, licking and sucking as he moves down, past my navel. I shiver, my body trembling at the gentle contact. Slipping my fingers through his hair, I grab him and tug hard, forcing him to peer up at me.
“Take me,” I command.
He grunts, his eagerness evident in that one syllable. With a swift movement, I’m in his arms, my naked body pressed against his bare chest. He drops me on the bed and strips off his pants. Before I can admire the curvatures of his body, he leans into me and braces himself upright with an outstretched hand by my face. I inch my face toward it, taking in his scent that no longer feels foreign to me.
He lifts my left leg and places it over his shoulder. Then the other. He guides himself to me, the evidence of his arousal rubbing between my legs. My breath stutters and he steals it with a hard kiss. He hovers over me, and glides inside me with a gentleness that surprises me. He’s too gentle. Making it impossible for me to hold onto my sanity. His breath is slow, deliberate, a taunt for provoking him. It falls heavy on my shoulder, my neck, everywhere he presses silky kisses to my skin.
His scent, my scent, our scent grows potent, raw desire taking over with every unfurling heave of his hips. I breathe in his essence, hold it in my lungs and let it permeate into my soul so that one day, I can come to love the man who’s taking me from my home.
A small noise echoes in my ear, a whimper. Mine, definitely mine. It was far too delicate to come from the man claiming me as his.
“Silence,” he demands, his voice gruff.
I obey him, pursing my lips together. He slaps into me and I arch my back to meet him thrust for thrust. Eager, I rake my hands over his back, the need for release growing as he sinks into me over and over again.
He shivers. I know he’s close, so I slam into him, wanting us to reach euphoria together. Through gritted teeth, Noble grunts again and I gasp when he thrusts his erection deeper inside of me.
I scream out his name and he covers my mouth with a large hand. I bite him, making his eyes darken. Like a cyclone, he crashes into me. Each blow sends another spike of desire up my spine. Holding himself with his hands, fisting the fabric of my bed sheets, he strikes a final time, my name falling from his lips on a whisper.
His chest heaves, and he lifts my legs from his arms and place them down gently. Joining me on the bed, he lies beside me, both our breaths coming in rapid successions. I turn my head to him and take his lips with mine, drinking in his taste. He kisses me back, his body now on top of mine, while his hands roam over my figure softly as if he were afraid to leave a trace, some sort of proof that he had ventured there. His lips are warm, tender, sweet. As tender as his love making. When he pulls away, I grip his shoulders. A strong hand grips me, his fingers digging into my waist, showing me just how strong he actually is. He nips my chin and then my mouth. I open for him, our tongues dancing sinfully together. Each sweep of his tongue shows me how he chooses gentleness over the strength his body possesses.
Compassionate and powerful, that is where my future husband’s honor lies.
And there I rest, with Noble above me. I lose myself to him, letting our mutual goals for our realms fade to wispy wishes of love and affection.
Chapter 16
Liana
Night echoes into the early morning. It’s still dark out, a darkness where shadows cannot follow. We wait, my mother by my side with Noble’s parents next to her, anticipating the outcome of a battle not yet birthed. The other wives and my sisters sit behind us.
His parents, who had been summoned by the lion court to witness this battle, look distraught. His mother appears so frail in her uncertainty of Noble’s outcome. It makes me wish I had never asked Noble to fight for me. That I’d never chased him into the prairie after I saw him watching me in the first place. Then he wouldn’t be here, his life in the hands of so much unknown.
From my seat in our large auditorium, I look for my father among the tall grass of our battlefield and sense him before I spot him. Or not him, but the slight, shuffling grass as he stalks forward, hunting his prey. My future husband.
My prince wolf, who urged me out of his room six hours prior to this moment with a lingering kiss on my swollen lips. I twist my hands on my lap as I sit quietly on my throne, not permitting my emotions to cross over my features.
But I worry. Unaccustomed to fighting alone, Noble is at a disadvantage. He’s smaller than my father. He and his pack are patient hunters, sometimes studying their prey for days before they go in for the kill. Unlike the lions who are opportunists and pounce at first chance. The warm weather and our terrain further tip the scale in the king lion’s direction.
A natural born hider, Noble doesn’t see my father slowly approach him across the field. I lean forward, wanting to warn him. My mother nudges me with her elbow and flashes a smile I can’t return.