Page 25 of Bought By the Manticore

Something stirred in the shadows. Smooth, dark vines emerged from the cracks in the floor, curling around my ankles and sliding up my calves. They wound around my thighs and my lower back, weaving together to form a solid cradle.

He lifted me. My bare feet left the floor as he suspended me in the air above the cold basalt.

I let my head fall back. For years, I had hated the flesh that betrayed me. Now, held naked in his grip, I didn’t feel ashamed. I was completely bare, and I was completely his. He carried my weight effortlessly.

A thicker vine uncoiled from the darkness beneath the bed. It rose into the air and hovered just in front of my face. A glowing asphodel rested at the tip. It brushed against my cheek, trailing down my jawline before stopping over my parted lips.

Let me inside,his voice rumbled in my mind, rough with a desperate hunger.Let me taste you.

I opened my mouth for him, my breath hitching in my chest.

A smooth tendril extended from the center of the petals. It slid past my lips and over my tongue. I easily accepted it. The tendril tasted of damp earth, sweet rain, and the primal power of the city. It pushed gently into my mouth, delving deep, all the way into my throat.

The moment it settled inside me, a wave of rushing death energy flooded my airways. It filled the hollow spaces in my lungs, claiming me from the inside out.

Other shoots joined the embrace, and I let out a muffled gasp. Slender vines wrapped around my ribcage, creeping upward to cup my breasts. Skaros’s possessive touch brushed back and forth over my sensitive skin. He pinched and teased my nipples until they tightened into hard, aching peaks.

A sharp heat pooled in my belly. I shifted my hips, parting my legs wider.

I was already soaking wet, slick and desperate, needing everything he could give me and more. And he knew that. A thick, smooth stem glided up my inner thigh. It reached the juncture between my legs and pressed firmly against my dripping folds.

The vine thrummed with his energy. It slid upward, dragging heavily against my most sensitive flesh. I arched my spine. A muffled moan vibrated around the tendril lodged deep in my throat.

Ianthe,he projected into my mind, his thoughts ragged with his ache for me.My mate.

I don’t need a body, Skaros,I pushed the thought back to him, gripping the vines wrapped around my waist.I only need you. Show me everything.

The thick stem at my center shifted. It found my wet entrance and pushed inward, moving slow and deep. I whimpered as he breached me, but he didn’t stop. Instead, the vine expanded slightly. Skaros was adapting perfectly to my shape, stretching my inner walls, claiming me from within.

His addictive touch sent rushing waves of tingling pleasure straight into my blood. And then, Skaros began to move.

At first, he withdrew slowly, pulling a keening sound from my throat. A part of me feared that this would end, that he’d leave me and disappear back into the dark. But he didn’t. He drove deep inside me once again, setting a steady, relentless rhythm.

With every thrust, Skaros touched me everywhere at once. The vine in my throat pulsed with his breath. The leaves on my breasts teased my nipples mercilessly. The stem moving inside my core drove me toward madness. But he wasn’t satisfied. He was a starving beast who had finally found his meal, and he wanted all of me.

Another vine, slightly thinner but just as firm and hot, slithered up the back of my thighs. It bypassed my wet folds and pressed insistently against my back entrance.

I gasped, my eyes flying open in the dim light.

Do you trust me?The question brushed against my consciousness, dark and utterly possessive.Let me claim every part of you.

Yes,I sobbed in my mind.Yes. Please.

I relaxed my muscles, bearing down slightly to grant him access. The secondary vine pushed inward, breaching my tightest ring of muscle. The intense stretch left me utterly breathless. He slid deep into my back passage and settled firmly inside me.

I hung suspended in the air, completely possessed. He filled my mouth and throat. He claimed every part of me, grounding me even as pleasure shot up my spine. I belonged wholly to him.

The two vines inside my lower body began to move in tandem. The wet sounds of our mating echoed through the dark stone chamber. The thick stems withdrew in unison, almost leaving my body entirely, before driving back inside me. The tendril in my throat pulsed in time with his thrusts, flooding me with his energy.

I couldn’t form a coherent thought. My vision swam. I could only cling to him, taking what he offered the same way that I’d taken him in.

Let go,Skaros growled in my mind.Give me your pleasure, Ianthe.

I couldn’t have denied him even if I had wanted to. With a muffled cry, I fell over the edge. My inner walls tightened around the thick stems inside me, my body instinctively trying to draw closer, deeper.

A blinding rush of pure sensation ripped through my body. I surrendered everything to him, riding the overwhelming waves of pleasure. I felt him drink in my release and accept the massive surge of my energy without hesitation.

I trembled in his hold, my chest heaving as I struggled to catch my breath. Tears of relief streamed down my face. I slumped against the supportive cradle of his vines, stripped of all remaining strength.