Chapter 218: No Gentleman

Alek nodded, biting down on her lip nervously.

"No." Dimitri said it before he’d even finished thinking. "I’m not taking you for the first time out here like we’re two people sneaking away for a quick fuck."

Alek’s brows rose.

"You’re my mate," he continued. "Your first time isn’t going to be with dirt beneath your back and half the academy somewhere in these woods. You deserve more respect than that."

"What if that’s what I want?"

The sheer disbelief that crossed Dimitri’s face was one for the records. He had braced himself for shy Alek, not this.

"You want me to take you right here? On the forest floor?"

Alek nodded, although the warmth creeping into her cheeks betrayed some of her confidence.

"Baby girl, there are leaves and God knows what else on that ground." He glanced around them before returning his incredulous gaze to her. "I’m a wolf, yes, but that doesn’t mean I intend to behave like an animal when I’m making love to you for the first time."

Alek’s mouth twitched. "You are an animal."

Dimitri gave her a look.

She grinned back at him.

"That’s not the point."

"I think it’s a little bit the point."

"Alek."

"Dimitri..." Alek said. "I’m a virgin. You’ve known since our first kiss, and I love that you want my first time to be special. But special doesn’t have to mean a bed, flowers and you treating me like I’ll break."

She drew in a breath. "I’ve listened to my friends talk about sex for years. All the ridiculous places they’ve done it, the things they’ve tried, the things they would never admit to anyone outside our room. And I’ve always been the one listening. The sensible one. The careful one."

Dimitri watched her closely.

"Maybe I want to know what it feels like not to be sensible for once...." She swallowed. "I don’t want you to be a gentleman tonight."

"Alek."

His jaw flexed, the warning in her name sending a thrill through her. But Alek wasn’t finished. She could see him struggling against his own instincts, and she knew exactly how to make that struggle harder.

She leaned in until her lips brushed the shell of his ear.

"Don’t tell me your wolf hasn’t thought about it," she whispered. "Laying me down in the dirt with the earth against my back and nobody but the moon watching. Pinning me there and taking me hard enough that I still feel you tomorrow."

A growl rolled out of Dimitri’s chest. His eyes flared bright, his wolf rising so close to the surface that she could see it looking back at her. Alek’s pulse jumped at the sight, but she didn’t retreat.

Dimitri caught her chin gently, forcing himself to hold her gaze instead of giving in to everything she’d just put inside his head.

"And you’re certain?" His voice had gone rough. "This isn’t something you have to do to prove anything to me."

"I know." Alek’s answer came without hesitation. "I’m not trying to prove anything. I want you. I want this. And if I change my mind, I’ll tell you."

Dimitri released a slow breath and rested his forehead against hers. "You’re going to be the death of me, woman."

Alek smirked. "I take it I won, then."

"You’ll always win with me, baby girl."

"Then I’ll consider myself honored."

Dimitri brushed a few strands of red hair away from her face, his expression caught somewhere between affection and disbelief.

"Last chance to tell me to stop."

But Alek rolled her hips against him and felt him swell against her, his breath hissing out through his teeth.

"I want you now," she whispered.

Slowly, Dimitri lowered himself to his knees and laid her down on the bed of leaves and soft earth, one hand cradling the back of her head so it never touched the ground. The faint moonlight fell across her face, her red hair spread dark against the soil, and Dimitri looked at her as if he had never seen anything so beautiful.

"And Dimitri?"

"Yes, baby girl?"

"You’re still being a gentleman."

His eyes flared gold, and his smile turned slow and dangerous.

"Not for much longer."

Dimitri’s hands closed around her knees, and he pushed her legs apart with such force that Alek’s breath shuddered out of her. The cool night air touched her where she was bare and open to him, and she felt his gaze travel over every inch of her.

He dragged the bunched fabric of her dress up to her waist and hooked his fingers into her panties. He pulled them down her legs, past her boots, and this time he didn’t tuck them away. Instead, Dimitri balled the damp lace in his fist, leaned over her, and pressed it between her lips.

Alek stared up at him with wide eyes.

"A gentleman wouldn’t do that, would he?" His voice was calm, almost pleasant, and the wolf in his gaze was anything but.

Alek’s hands were free. She could have pulled the lace out and told him exactly what she thought of him. Instead, her fingers curled into the leaves beside her head, and she held his stare. The taste of herself on the fabric made heat flood her face, and she felt him see that and approve.

"Good girl."

He sat back on his heels and stripped off his shirt, then unbuckled his belt and shoved his ruined pants down his hips. Alek’s eyes dropped, and widened.

What the fuck?

She had heard that werewolves were generously made. Worse, she had felt how well endowed he was the times they had played around. But feeling it was nothing like seeing it, thick and flushed and heavy, standing against his stomach as though it had never been spent.

Fear closed around her throat. How was that supposed to fit inside her? She made a small, muffled sound against the lace, and Dimitri caught it.

"You asked for it, baby girl." He wrapped a hand around himself and stroked once, slowly, holding her stare. "You’ll get what you want. And you were made for me, so don’t be frightened. You’ll take me so well."

The words steadied Alek, but they didn’t make her any less afraid. She nodded anyway.

Then Dimitri settled between her knees and kissed the inside of her thigh, finishing it with a sharp bite that made her core clench around nothing. He was so close, and still not close enough.

Finally, his tongue dragged through her in one long, rough stroke, and Alek’s whole body jerked, a cry swallowed by the fabric in her mouth.

Good Lord. Every thought in her head short-circuited at once.

Dimitri didn’t ease into it. He licked her with slow, heavy strokes that made her thighs shake, then closed his lips around her clit and sucked until her fingers tore at the leaves and her hips began to lift on their own. His hands held her thighs open, pinning her where she was, and every moan she tried to make came out thick and muffled.

When her legs started trembling, he slid a thick finger inside her. Alek went rigid at the intrusion. She was tight, impossibly tight, and the stretch burned.

"Breathe," Dimitri murmured against her. "Look at me. That’s it."

He worked the finger in and out in patient strokes, his mouth never leaving her clit, until the burn gave way to a deep, melting ache. Then he added a second finger, and her back arched off the ground. Her moans came faster, higher, and she stopped caring how loud they were. When he hooked his fingers just right, a startled cry ripped out of her.

"There it is." He lifted his head, his chin glistening, and looked up at her flushed face. "You’re ready."

He withdrew his hand, braced himself over her, and drew the lace from her mouth. "I want to hear you."

"Yes, I’m ready!" She shouted, impatient.

So he lined himself up. The blunt head of him pressed against her entrance, and Alek’s courage faltered for a single breath. But she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on.

Right then, Dimitri went still.

At first she thought he was savoring the moment. But his eyes had gone blank, the beautiful brown dulled to something distant and unfocused, like he were listening to a voice only he could hear. His arms slackened. His weight sagged against her, and he didn’t breathe.

"Dimitri?"

He didn’t answer.

"Maverick," he breathed a moment later, so quietly she almost missed it, and it wasn’t meant for her.

Alek’s heart stumbled. A chill poured through her that had nothing to do with the night air, and her stomach dropped. She knew exactly what this meant, and she dreaded it.

Then his eyes cleared. Dimitri blinked, and when he looked down at her, the hunger had drained out of his face. What replaced it was far worse, the look of a man who hated what he was about to say.

"I’m sorry," he said quietly. "We have to go back to the arena."