Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“Just tell me, baby.” Slade’s voice in the darkness was low and intimate. “Whatever’s wrong, let me help you with it.”
“How do you know something’s wrong with me?” I asked defensively.
“The way you’re acting. And I can feel it—Fated Mates get a kind of sixth sense about each other. Right now mine is telling me you’re in pain somehow. So what is it? What’s hurting you?”
“It’s my nipples, all right?” I said in a low voice. “They hurt—they ache. They’re so tight it’s painful but I don’t know why. Just like I don’t know why I’m so cold when I’m not touching you!”
“Hmm, I think I know,” he murmured.
“Well then could you please tell me? Because it’s driving me crazy!” I exclaimed. “I’m so restless I can’t sleep and my nipples really hurt!”
“It doesn’t have anything to do with the Holy Wine we drank at the ceremony—it’s the Need, baby,” he explained.
“The Need? What’s that?” I demanded.
“It’s a group of symptoms a woman develops once she finds her Fated Mate and starts getting close to him,” Slade explained. “That is if her Fated Mate is a Brute, like me.”
“A group of symptoms?” This sounded ominous to me. “What are you talking about? What other symptoms might I get?”
“Let’s not get into that right now,” he said. “For now let’s deal with the ones you’ve got—extreme cold and painful nipples. Is there anything else?”
I thought about telling him that my pussy was throbbing with desire…and pushed the idea away at once. That would only give the big Enforcer ideas. So I just shook my head.
“No—that’s all.”
“Hmm…not sure if I believe you, Princess. But let’s deal with what we’ve got. First, the cold.”
And without even asking, he began stripping off the silk robe I was still wearing!
“Hey, what are you doing? Stop that!” I demanded, sitting up to get away from him. But the minute I did, the cold came back full force and my teeth started chattering.
“Relax, Princess—I’m trying to give you more skin-to-skin contact,” Slade said. “Look, the thing you have to realize is that every symptom of The Need can be cured, but only by your Fated Mate—that’s me. So I’m just trying to help you.”
“Help m-me bu-bu-by stripping me nuh-nuh-naked? R-right,” I scoffed, but I could barely get the words out. “J-just stay away f-f-from m-me!”
Slade’s glowing eyes narrowed in the dark.
“I don’t think so. I’m not going to let you freeze to death just because you’re stubborn, Princess. Come here!”
He reached for me and before I knew it, I found myself wrapped in his long arms again with my entire nude body pressed against his.
“You…you bastard!” I exclaimed, twisting in his arms. But as angry as I was, I could feel the cold chill leaving my body almost at once as he pressed me against his naked warmth.
“Yeah, I’m a bastard for not letting you turn yourself into a human icicle,” he growled. “Hold still for a minute and let me warm you up.”
I finally stopped struggling—mostly because I could tell it wasn’t doing any good—and lay still in his arms. My nipples were still aching—even worst than before—but I wasn’t sure what I could do about that and I didn’t want to ask Slade for help when I was angry with him.
But he brought it up himself.
“All right, now that you’re getting warmer, let’s talk about your other symptoms,” he said calmly, sounding almost like a doctor. “How are your nipples feeling now?”
“They still hurt,” I said sullenly. There was no point in lying. “But I’m sure you know a way to make them feel better, right?” I didn’t bother to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.
“I do, actually,” he said mildly. “Remember I told you that every symptom you have can be cured by your Fated Mate?”
“Which according to you is you,” I pointed out. “That’s pretty convenient—don’t you think?”
“I’m not just your Fated Mate, I’m also your husband.” His voice had dropped to a low, warning growl. “Don’t forget that, wife.”
I wanted to talk back—to “sass him” as my maid, Pansy would have said. But I couldn’t deny his words. We were married and according to the way I had been raised, the big Brute owned me now. So I stayed silent.
“All right,” Slade said. “Now listen, the cure for your nipples is the same thing that would cure the other problem you’re having—if you’d only let me do it.”
“What other problem?” I demanded. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about how your soft little pussy is hot and wet and achy—how badly you need to come,” he growled.
“How…how did you know about that?” I demanded, squeezing my thighs together.
“Because that’s the number one symptom of The Need,” he said. “Also, I can feel it radiating off you—the need to come—to reach the peak.”