Page 60 of When Roses Burn

I’d been keeping my desire under control, but blood flooded my shaft until it ached as I watched the rise and fall of her chest. I wanted to cup those breasts in my hand and watch her reaction play across her features. At one time, she’d looked at me with such love that I’d felt invincible; her love had fed my starving soul.

“And what does the beast want?” she inquired.

You.

That answer, and the strength of it, astounded me. The beast never wanted for anything other than to kill, destroy, and protect. It took over for me in the harem and allowed me to slip away while the casters used it, but it didn’t desire anything for itself… until her.

Resentment filled me. For years, the beast protected me, and now it was betraying me by lusting after the one woman who’d created this mess… the one who’d betrayed us.

But maybe that’s why the beast desired her. Without Briar, it wouldn’t exist.

However, I knew it was more than that. I’d scented her arousal through walls, doors, and from hundreds of feet away. Shifters had extraordinary senses, but I wouldn’t have detected anyone else, not from that far away, and they wouldn’t have woken me from a deep sleep.

Only Briar could do such a thing.

“The beast wants freedom,” I replied as I rested my hand on the wall beside her head.

When her breath hitched, her breasts rose higher against the thin fabric, and my mouth watered at the memory of how her skin tasted. She tasted as sweet as she smelled but also salty, like the sea I’d planned to take her to.

My claws lengthened at the memory of our shattered plans. They scraped the stone wall. Briar’s gaze fell to my arm as orange fur briefly covered it before I suppressed my anger.

“And what do you want?” she asked.

The answer remained the same—you—but I would never voice it.

Instead, I shifted the conversation. “I never took you for a voyeur, Briar. Did you like what you saw?”

When her gaze returned to the window, her tongue nervously wet her luscious lips.

Fuck, I inwardly groaned as my entire being screamed to taste her lips again. They’d be soft and yielding, warm and lush beneath my mouth, but more than that, they’d utter the most delicious sounds I’d ever hear.

Her breath had whispered against my ear and come faster as she neared release. She’d urged me on with her legs locked around my waist as she drew me deeper with her hands on my ass and her breasts against my chest.

Back then, I’d believed she was heaven. Now, I knew she was hell.

And what irritated me most was that I craved her hell.

Being so close to her, and with the memories of her bombarding me, I was harder than I’d been in years. As a man, I hadn’t experienced an erection since her… or at least not one outside my dreams of her.

That was one of the many reasons why the beast took over in the harem, as only she could awaken this part of me. And I loathed her more for it.

I also couldn’t deny it felt good to be hard, and this close to her, again.

“No,” she murmured. “I was just… stunned by what they’re doing.”

I chuckled. “I saw far worse and far more than that in the harem.”

When she swallowed, the movement of her delicate throat drew my attention, and so did the scars she bore. My scars… or at least they were the ones of the animal who existed before she shattered my world.

“But I can tell you like it,” I said as I leaned closer to her.

We were so close, her breath whispered across my lips as her pulse fluttered wildly in her throat. The beat of her heart pounded in my ears, and my cock throbbed as it strained against the thin material of my pants.

“Do you know how I can tell you like it?” I whispered.

Her big eyes locked on mine as she gulped before shaking her head.

Leaning closer, I whispered in her ear, “Because I can smell your cunt.”