He drew her down with him; the gentle lap of water at their feet was warm and sensual. Osborn stretched alongside her, his mouth and hands seeking her breasts. His lips teased and tormented her nipple until he finally drew her into the warmth of his mouth. Breena arched to meet him, her body aching and slick for the joining of their bodies. She’d been ready for this man a lifetime. Across her dreams to his.
“We have to take this slow, Breena. This will be your first time, and I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Then touch me.” She ached for his hands in her most secret of places.
“Here?” he asked, skimming the skin of her rib cage.
“Lower.”
Now his hand smoothed over her belly. “What about here?”
“Lower,” she urged.
His fingers slid easily along the wetness between her legs.
“Yes.” Her voice was a moan. A wave of sensation flooded her at his caress.
“Touching is good, but I’d rather taste.” Osborn hooked one of her legs over his shoulder, then kissed where her very awareness seemed centered.
Osborn circled his tongue, ramping up her pleasure. She felt the gentle probe of his finger. He slid inside her, and her inner muscles clamped.
“This is going to be so good,” he told her, then proved it by laving her with his tongue.
A second finger joined the first, and he gave a tiny thrust that left her aching and needing release. Her whole body began to surge and tremble.
“Don’t make me wait anymore, Osborn.”
A line formed between his brows. “I don’t want to hurt you. I’d do anything not to cause you pain.”
“I don’t care. I need you. Need you inside me. Now.”
He moved between her legs, his cock so long and thick she almost rethought her readiness. He positioned himself where his fingers had been.
“Watch,” he told her. “See your body welcoming mine.”
With gentle pressure, he thrust inside her, found the barrier of her virginity and broke through.
There was pain, but there was so much more. The weight of him on her body. The gentle kiss he placed on her temple. The pleasure shaping his beautiful face. And then the pain was gone. Replaced by a blissful frenzy. The fullness of him. The length of him inside her. Osborn began to move his hips and her tender body grew used to the motion.
“Harder?” he asked.
Breena didn’t know if harder was what she wanted but she was willing to give it a try. “Yes,” she whispered.
Osborn complied. Yes, harder was definitely what she wanted. He thrust again and again, going faster, the sensations growing more intense. Breena raised her hips to meet his hips. Needing more of him. She’d experienced pleasure with him once before. She craved that now. Her thirst for the thrill building and building.
“Wrap your legs behind my back,” he instructed.
The change brought the core of her need hard up against his thrusts. Osborn licked below her ear. Squeezed her breast. He was everywhere. Over her. In her. She breathed him inside her with each breath she took.
“You feel so good, Breena.”
The raw pleasure in his words sent her over the edge. She gasped. “Osborn, I’m—”
“Yes, Breena, yes,” and he surged within her.
A current of sensation shimmered through her body, and she squeezed the hard length of him. With a groan, his back stiffened and he poured himself into her.
Spent, he slumped against her, balancing the bulk of his weight on his arms. They lay there together, unable to move. Then Osborn rolled to his back, taking her with him, and cradled her head against his chest.
Breena couldn’t imagine sharing something so intimate with anyone but Osborn. When Elden was restored, she’d refuse any match Nicolai would make on her behalf. She wanted no one but Osborn. His arms holding her tight. His lips on hers. His body giving her pleasure.
She trailed her fingertip along the warm skin of his chest. “Does your berserker ever come out when…you know.”
Osborn laughed, and she closed her eyes in pleasure. She had done this to him. Made him happy. Lifted him from the agony he’d consigned himself to. Breena had never truly understood or appreciated the gift that was her magic.
“Give me a few minutes and we can try.”
All that force and strength and power, it was a little daunting. “How did you become berserker?”
Osborn twined his fingers with hers. “Our ancestors tell us man and bear were once one bermannen. Bermannen and his mate were clever, too clever for the gods’ liking. They captured the secrets of lightning and made fire. They stole the key to the clouds and could control the weather. Bermannen and his mate even grew wise enough to discover the mysteries of the soil to grow their own food. The two needed nothing from the gods.”
Breena propped herself up on her elbow to gaze down at Osborn. “What happened?” She knew many tales, but none that involved the Ursan deities.
“The gods grew jealous, so they separated the two. All the strength and power went to bear, while wisdom went to man. Mannen and ber cried to be united. Then grew angry. The berserker rage comes from our need to be as one, and it cannot ever fully be. Feeling pity, the gods gave man the gift of his use of fire and knowledge of the land. Bear received strength, and sacred lands where they are free to roam.”
“You did know a story.”
“Ber and mannen were broken, but they were still clever and discovered a way to defeat the gods and their interference.”
“How?”
“Through death the two spirits merge. Bear and man battle, but only one can win.”
“You fought a bear to become berserker?”
Osborn pointed to the scar crossing his body. Breena gasped, then traced the path of the scar. Leaned down to kiss it.
“I am one with ber, but only through his honorable death. The berserkergang is always there, but it’s the pelt that merges us, makes me what you saw in the alley, and why I couldn’t kill the scout here at the lake.”
“You were naked. And that pelt you wear was the bear’s. That’s so sad.”
Osborn raised a brow. “Are you wishing the bear had won? Often they do.”
She shook her head quickly.
“Man can merge with bear, or bear can join with man. It is our way.” Osborn lifted her hand from his chest. “I love your tender heart.”
Her heart slammed into her ribs. Love. He loved her heart. It was a start.
He kissed each one of her fingers. Sucking on the last.
“Yesterday when you were bathing, I heard you gasp. Were you thinking of me, Breena? Were you touching yourself and thinking of me?”
She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat and willed herself not to blush. Breena could only nod.
A slow satisfied smile spread across his face. “I’d like to watch.”
His request sounded so outrageous, she sputtered.
“Feel how the idea of it gets me.” Osborn took her hand, and placed it on the hard length of his cock.
Moisture gathered between her legs. “You really want to see that?”
“Gods, yes. Here—” he tweaked her nipple “—and here.” His fingers delved into her woman’s heat. “Sit up.”
Breena braced herself off the ground, and Osborn reached for her hips.
“Straddle me.”
Me on top. You on top. You on all fours like the beasts in the woods.
Those words of his had hollowed her. Intrigued her. Made her burn.
Breena lifted herself up onto him, and he grew in length.
“Put me inside.”
There was that weak feeling again. Breena reached for his cock, smooth and hard. She gripped him gently and he groaned. “I wanted you that day as I was bathing,” she told him. “Wanted it to be you touching me.”