95 What Have I Done?
Her heart was racing.
Ashleigh felt the pleasure moving over her body. Her skin tingled and burned everywhere he touched and kissed her. His hands began to roam over her hips, his fingertips slowly moving under the hem of her shirt.
“Granger…” she called out between thick breaths; her head was clearing slowly. She brought her hands to his shoulders and gently pushed at him. “Come on, we need to stop…ah… before….”
“Why…?” Granger asked, catching her earlobe between his teeth softly as he once more pressed himself against her.
“Ah..!” Ashleigh gasped, pain-filled pleasure spilling over her again.
“You want this as much as I do…” his hot breath whispered into her ear, drawing another moan from her lips.
“We can’t…!” she gasped. Granger’s fingertips moved up her spine.
“Why not?” he asked, kissing along her jaw.
“Granger…” she whispered. Ashleigh felt like she was losing control, and she didn’t like it.
Granger smiled and continued to kiss her throat until he found it once more. The spot that he ached to lick, kiss, suck… bite. A dark satisfaction grew inside of him as he got closer and closer. All he needed to do to make her his, to keep her from Caleb, was mark her.
Ashleigh felt his mouth getting closer to that bundle of nerves. She remembered the last time when he had bit her as Galen had entered the room…the memory left a bitter taste in her mouth.
She wanted to stop, push him away and tell him to control himself. But her body was out of control, and she couldn’t stop the pleasure she was experiencing.
“You can’t…” she managed to whisper.
“What?” he asked, nipping at her throat.
Ashleigh closed her eyes. She tried to calm herself down. Granger noticed; he smiled to himself and ran his tongue tenderly along her collarbone once more.
A warm and intense feeling worked its way through her body, landing heavily and satisfyingly in her most private areas. The sensation sent a shockwave through her body, causing her to grip Granger’s shoulders and bite down on her own lip.
The pain of her bite was enough to bring her to her senses once more.
“Stop,” she demanded. Then, through heaving breaths, she stared Granger in the eyes, “we need to stop. We can’t do this!”
“Why?” Granger replied, a growl at the edges of his words. He pressed his arousal against her insistently, drawing another gasp from her lips.
“We aren’t married!” she managed to shout quickly. “You can’t mark me until we are married!”
The intimate pressure against her was muddling her mind.
“Is that the problem?” he asked in a heated whisper in her ear.
“What?” she asked.
“You don’t want me to mark you?” he growled into her ear.
A cold shiver ran down her spine now. This was not like before. There was no pleasure. Something in Granger’s voice alarmed her. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
“Of course, I want you to mark me…” she answered immediately. “But we can’t, not until we’re married.”
Granger sighed and lay his head down on her shoulder. His movements against her body had stopped, and she was finally able to take a breath. Ashleigh laid her head back against the tree, relief washing over her.
Granger lifted his head and nuzzled her throat, inhaling her scent deeply.
“Then I will have to remind you in another way,” he whispered against her throat.
“What?” she asked, unsure of what he meant.
Granger lifted his gaze to her, and she was frightened by what she saw for the first time. His pale blue eyes were brighter than she had ever seen before, and yet darkness swam in them. Her heart slowed, and her breathing got heavy.
“That you are mine,” he growled, “always mine. Only mine.”
His movements were too fast. He grabbed both of Ashleigh’s hands and pinned them to the tree above her head. While his other hand moved out from under her shirt, it continued to travel down. Finally, his fingertips pulled at the top of her pants, slipping past the waistband.
“Granger, no, stop–!” she tried to shout, but her protests were cut off by his mouth crashing down on her.
Granger’s kiss was hard and painful. Ashleigh could feel the inside of her lip had been cut against her tooth. The bark pressed against her wrists cut into her flesh as Granger held her forcefully to the tree.
His hand was moving across her stomach from her hip. His fingertips grazed the skin just below the waistline. The light feathery touch along her flesh would have sent shivers of pleasure through her entire being. If her senses were not already overwhelmed by the panic she was feeling.
His mouth prevented her screams. His hands, one held her in place as the other snaked down her body. She wondered if it would hurt when he touched her. Would she feel anything but pain and regret?
‘Stop! Please stop!’ she screamed in her mind. ‘Please!’
Ashleigh was a warrior, the best warrior in all of Winter. And yet… tears fell from her closed eyes.
They had sparred together many times; Ashleigh had taken him down more times than she could count. She was stronger and quicker than him. But somehow, she felt as though none of that was true at this moment. Her strength, her prowess, her combat skills. None of it mattered because, at this moment, she could not act.
His hand moved further into her pants. She felt a faint shiver, a light flicker of pleasure that filled her with shame. A part of her enjoyed his touch. Longed to complete the bond, to be mated, in every way.
‘Maybe this is for the best,’ she thought to herself woefully, ‘maybe this way there is no more confusion. I will belong to him and him alone. Maybe this is what was always meant to be.’
Her eyes were hot with her tears, her wrists were sore from his grip. All over her body, she had begun to feel the aches and pains of his aggressive acts of intimacy.
Granger pulled away from her to catch his breath. Ashleigh did not open her eyes, afraid of what she would see looking back at her.
He looked up at her face, expecting to see a look of desire in her eyes. But, instead, he found her eyes shut tightly, fresh tears streaming down her face. Sobs, rather than moans escaping her lips. Fear. That was all he saw. No desire, no pleasure.
Her heartbeat. Granger assumed it beat so fast from a desire for him, not fear.
“Please,” she whispered miserably, “please stop.”
Her pained expression and broken voice tore at his heart.
‘What have I done?’
Granger let go of her wrists. He wanted to hug her, apologize, and beg for forgiveness.
But before he could get the chance, he found himself suddenly ripped away from her. He flew through the air and slammed hard against a tree. The pain echoed throughout his body. He tried to sit up but once again found himself moving not of his own accord.
He was pulled up from where he had fallen, lifted off the ground. He found a thick arm that held him up as he tried to lift his head. His eyes trailed up the arm, finding a pair of glowing grey eyes staring back at him enraged.