Chapter 7

Soothing strokes along my abdomen were what awoke me the following morning. A sense of Serenity and security washed over me as I opened my eyes to see that the King still wrapped his arms tightly around me. I felt utterly at peace and rested. It was my first peaceful night of sleep in a very long time. The morning sun flowed gently into the room from the cracked curtains, flooding the room with shades of orange, yellow, and red. Conri's hand idly caressed my stomach, causing my skin to tingle with electricity. His chest vibrated against my back with lazy purrs as he began to wake up. I twisted around in his arms to have them slightly tightening as if he thought I would leave him. He was staring down at me, his eyes half open as he fought off the last remnants of sleep. He gave me a growl of a greeting before capturing my lips with his, his tongue pushing against my lips and begging for entrance.

I deeply inhaled as I granted him access. His tongue slipped in, dancing with my own. I twisted further, whimpering slightly about the pressure on my left side. Conri's eyes flew open at the sound of my pain, but I didn't care about it then. The same heat from the previous night began to build back up with a vengeance. The apex of my thighs throbbed uncontrollably as if it had its own heartbeat. I growled possessively as Conri tried to pull away, but I entangled my fingers in his thick, soft black hair, pulling him closer as I deepened the kiss.

"Rieka…" He breathed between kisses. "Your side, love." I didn't care. I honestly couldn't care less about the stinging pain in my left side. Momentarily, all I cared about was satisfying my lust that felt like it would burn me from the inside out. He tried to push me away gently, but I growled in annoyance and held him tighter against me as I ran my tongue down the hollow of his throat. He groaned in delight, and I felt his erection twitch against my thighs. "Rieka…" He said my name through clenched teeth, and I could tell he was fighting his instincts.

Hypocrite… two could play that game, and I would win. I could make him break—anything to end this burning sensation in my gut. I swung my leg over his waist and straddled him, another whimper leaving my lips as the stiff muscles in my left side pulled from the movement. "Rieka… please…" The sound of the King of Guardians only fueled my pursuit. He twitched against me as I ran my tongue back up his throat, nipping at his jawline, trying to coax him to play with me. "You're going to hurt yourself."

I ground against him, a hiss leaving his mouth through clenched teeth as he tightly gripped my hands with both hands. He was hard as stone, and my throbbing clit told me that was a good thing. My pussy throbbed to its own beat as I rocked my hips against him, trying to find relief. I brushed my nose across his cheek as I inhaled his scent. "Rieka… you keep going, and I'm going to lose control," I smirked against his skin. Good. Then, that nagging voice in my head had to put its two cents in. It told me that this was wrong. A servant and a king shouldn't be in the same bed.

A violent shiver went up my spine as my human and lupine sides fought. Conri's aura crushed against me, pushing all the air out of my lungs as he commanded all his dominance to cloud me, forcing me to stop. I dug my nails into his shoulders, grinding my teeth as I buried my face in the crook of his neck and panted heavily. My human and wolf sides were battling with each other, one wanting to run away and hide like a scared little girl and the other wanting to devour Conri and let lust run the show. The war raged endlessly inside my head, and I whimpered as I struggled to decide which side to pick. My entire body trembled as I fought to control my urges. He ran his hands up and down my arms as his dominating aura turned into a soother, gentler energy. "I'm sorry, Rieka. I know I told you not to fight it, but you're still hurt and not fully healed. I don't want you to injure yourself any further."

Conri sighed heavily as if he was fighting his own battle, and his chest began to vibrate as he started to hum. My heart rate and breathing slowed. The sound it made instantly relaxed me, and I slumped against him. Immediately, the burning lust inside my gut dissipated. "That's it. Good girl. Just relax." My eyes drooped with sleepiness even though I had just woken up. I pressed my ear to his bare chest, the vibrations urging me to give into the darkness. I tried to open them, but the sound was like a lullaby, a drug, Keeping me under and relaxed.

I stayed in that darkness; it was softer and sweeter than the darkness I had been accustomed to in the wilderness. It was only when the humming stopped that the sleepiness and drowsiness subsided. I opened my eyes to see Conri leaning above me, and I was on my back. I don't remember moving from his chest. He grabbed the hem of my shirt and gingerly moved it up and over my head as I tried to process what had happened in the few minutes I was out of it. I realized I had no pants or underwear on, somehow removed while in my trance. My human side began to panic, but Conri was softly humming, barely audible, which allowed my body to stay submissive and serene. My stomach twisted and churned, and I groaned at the feeling. "It's because I stopped your instincts from overtaking you so suddenly. You came down from your high too quickly."

Conri explained as if he could sense the war in my abdomen. He peppered kisses along my jawline as if he was trying to apologize. "I just didn't want you hurting yourself any further. You're not fully healed, and your Shifter healing won't be effective until your first shift. But I can help you ease some of the discomforts if you let me." I blinked at him as he propped himself onto his left elbow, his right hand running soothingly across my stomach. He stared down at me, his hazel eyes dark with lust. He was fighting his own battle within himself. I blinked again, trying to process his words. Did he want to ease my discomfort?

When I finally understood what he meant, my cheeks heated, and I lowered my gaze from his. My human side told me that this was all moving way too fast and I shouldn't let him, but there was my wolf side again, begging and raging for release. "I won't do anything until I have your permission, Rieka." I looked back at him, chewing on my bottom lip in thought.

"You're the king; can't you just take what you want?" I asked blatantly, which caused him to snarl and bare his teeth, his eyes flashing a quick blue before returning to their usual color.

"You honestly think that lowly of me?" He sounded angry, and I shrank away from his tone shamefully. Of course, I didn't think of him as that type of person, but I didn't know which side of my personality to choose. Logic or emotion? Human or wolf?

"No, of course not, my lord… it's just…." I didn't know how to remedy my assumption, so I let my voice trail off. Conri closed his eyes and inhaled deeply as he lazily stroked my abdomen.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get angry. This must all be so new to you. I was the same way before my first shift. I just hate seeing you with so much discomfort. I want to make you happy and feel good." I blinked again, biting my lower lip. I only lived once and couldn't deny what my wolf wanted. Whether I liked it or not, my wolf side was a part of me. I squared my shoulders and nestled into the down feather pillows behind me.

"Then do it. Make me feel good." He let out a growl of satisfaction, a beast being let off his leash. His hand on my abdomen finally moved further south, and he blatantly dragged a finger up my center, a groan leaving me from deep in my throat. He snarled with satisfaction at the wetness that waited for him there.

"Just relax, Rieka; it'll feel so much better if you just relax," Conri whispered seductively. I whimpered as he brushed his thumb at the apex of my thighs, my hips jolting as lightning flashed through me. Conri pressed down fully on my clit, intensifying the lightning, and I cried out and whimpered for more. He teasingly began flicking his thumb back and forth, huffing a small laugh. His fingers traveled slowly down the slit of me, and my sole focus centered on those fingers. He slid a finger into me, and I gasped as he dropped his head to my abdomen and swore under his breath at the tightness. "Fucking virgin." He growled, pressing a kiss at the base of my navel. I bucked my hips again, squeezing my eyes shut from feeling full from just one finger.

He moved his finger more profoundly, and I whined, the noise sounding more wolf-like than human. I adjusted to his finger as Conri kissed each of my inner thighs. He slowly began working his finger in me, all the while continuing to flick his thumb across my clit. A new burning sensation started to build in my lower abdomen, and I panted breathlessly. Conri pushed himself up on his knees, pulling his finger almost all the way and adding a second finger before sliding back into me. I gasped as my clit throbbed. He placed his left palm flat on my lower abdomen and pressed down slightly as he curled his fingers inside me. I cried out and moaned loudly, my head falling back against the pillows; as he brushed against something so sensitive inside me, I thought I was going to fall off the edge that I was teetering on. I allowed my hips to begin moving on his fingers, and he swore again. Whenever he pulled his fingers out, he curled them against that sensitive spot before plunging back in faster, harder, and rougher.

I cried out again, trying to release whatever was building inside me. I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see straight. My attention was solely on his fingers as my lower abdomen began to tighten, the burning sensation rising higher and higher with every stroke of his fingers. He groaned my name, and that was my undoing. Release barreled threw me like a landslide, crashing into my essence as I cried out. He continued to move inside me as my walls clenched and fluttered, leaving me breathless. I couldn't breathe fast enough or hard enough as wave after wave of pure pleasure wrecked my body, leaving me trembling and limp beneath his large frame. He gently removed his fingers, running his hand up my body in long, soothing strokes, coaxing me back down from my high. His chest rumbled as he hummed softly, my body easing to the sound.

In the distance, my mind still foggy, I thought I heard a soft knock on the door. Conri snarled in that direction. "Leave." Conri turned his attention back to me, his face relaxing. I was barely able to furrow my brows in confusion. I was utterly, pleasantly wrecked that I barely had enough energy to make facial expressions. Conri chuckled softly. "We should have left a while ago. It's just Connor saying we should get a move on it."

"How far is the walk?" I asked quietly, my eyes drooping.

"A couple of days. We'll be leaving our territory and going into No Man's Land, so you must not leave my side. Do you understand, Rieka?" I nodded my understanding. "Good. Let's get dressed." He moved off the bed and grabbed a pair of pants and a shirt from his dresser. After throwing them on, he moved to a different drawer that looked like it had female clothing. I sat up, groaning as my clit continued to throb slightly. I pinched my brows together in confusion.

He had female clothes in his room? Did he have someone else? Conri looked over his shoulder before returning to the drawer before him. "It's not what you think, Rieka. I had a feeling that you would be staying in here sometime soon, so I had some clothes picked out for you." He grabbed a set of clothes and turned back to me, giving me a sly smirk. I raised a brow at him as he laughed and set the clothes at the foot of the bed. "Get dressed." I leaned down on the bed, grabbed the t-shirt and pants, and slipped them on. As I dressed, my logical side came back to taunt me, telling me that this mistake wouldn't last.

Like my instincts, I shoved the annoying little voice aside. Even if it didn't last, even if the King one day realized that this was a mistake, I didn't care. I would hold on to it for now and take what I could get. After all the pain and suffering I endured throughout my life, I deserved this little slice of heaven.