Chapter 100 Will You Betray Me?
The words hit the space between them like a thrown blade. For a heartbeat, Gavriel didn’t move. His eyes, dark as a storm, flickered with something she couldn’t quite name—anger, hunger, respect.
The grip on her hips tightened, but not cruelly; it was as if he were holding her together instead of breaking her apart.
“Then prove it,” he rasped, his mouth brushing the shell of her ear. Althea’s breath came fast, chest rising and falling as his words sank into her. She could feel him—thick, unrelenting, pulsing beneath her—and the demand in his voice sent a shiver through her body.
“Take me in,” he hoarsely commanded.
Her lips parted, and instead of obeying at once, she rocked her hips slowly, deliberately teasing him. The motion made his jaw tense, his control fraying by the second.
“Is this what you want, my king?” Althea whispered, her voice low but edged with defiance. “I can be more than just someone to satisfy your desires,” she reminded him.
She didn’t want Gavriel to see her as nothing more than a body to use at his whim. The thought cut deep, yet she forced herself to bury the ache. Survival demanded more than feelings—it demanded control. So she steeled herself, reminding her heart to stay silent as she played her part in this dangerous game.
His eyes snapped to hers, dark and burning. “Don’t test me.”
But she did. She moved again, a slow grind that pressed him deeper, making her moan despite herself. The sound only sharpened his hunger.
With a growl, his hands clamped down on her waist, dragging her down hard onto him. The force made her cry out, her body clenching around him. Her nails raked across his shoulders, leaving red lines on his skin.
“That’s riding,” Gavriel muttered against her mouth, his lips brushing hers without kissing her yet. “Not that teasing you think you can get away with.”
She gasped, breathless, but refused to give in fully. “Maybe I like teasing you.”
He let out a dark laugh, thrusting upward into her so hard her words broke into another moan. “You’ll pay for that.”
His mouth claimed hers then, rough and demanding, swallowing her cry as he guided her movements—up, down, faster, harder. Every thrust drove deeper, the heat and steam curling around them until she felt consumed.
Her body responded helplessly, hips moving to match his rhythm, each motion dragging a new sound from her lips. He growled against her, biting her bottom lip before pulling back just enough to look at her, his eyes sharp and merciless.
“Will you betray me?” he asked again, voice gravel and fire. His thrusts never slowed, every word punctuated by the way he filled her. “Will you betray me like how your father betray my sister, his own mate?”
Althea’s fingers gripped his shoulders tight, her body trembling but her voice steady. “No. I’m not him. I’ll never be him.”
“Swear it,” he commanded, pulling her down harder against him, forcing her to take all of him.
“I swear it!” she cried out, her body arching as the pleasure built higher, hotter, overwhelming her senses.
His smirk returned, fierce and hungry. “Good. Because if you ever do…” He thrust so deep she nearly screamed, “…I’ll remind you like this. Over and over. Until you break.”
Instead of flinching, she clung to him tighter, riding him harder, faster, her own boldness meeting his dominance head-on. “Then don’t give me a reason to,” she whispered fiercely, her words shaking with pleasure and defiance.
That broke his restraint. His hands slammed against her back, pulling her flush against him as he took control of her movements completely, driving her down again and again until her cries filled the chamber.
His teeth grazed her throat, then sank against her skin in a claiming bite that made her shudder violently.
Her answer came not in words but in the way she moved against him, fierce and unyielding, matching his fire with her own.
Althea barely had time to breathe before Gavriel moved. With one hard motion, he gripped her thighs and shifted, forcing her down into the warm water of the tub.
Her back met the cool stone edge as his body loomed over hers, wet skin sliding against wet skin. His mouth claimed hers in a bruising kiss before breaking away, lips trailing fire along her throat.
“Gavriel—” her voice hitched, half moan, half plea.
He silenced her with a sharp thrust, his hard length sliding into her in one unrelenting stroke.
Her cry echoed off the walls, sharp and breathless, her body clenching around him as her nails dug into his shoulders.
He lifted her legs, hooking them over his shoulders, folding her beneath him. The angle forced her open, left her vulnerable, but the sheer intensity in his stare rooted her in place.
“Look at me,” he ordered, voice rough and commanding. His hips pressed forward, slow at first, making her feel every thick inch of him filling her. “Don’t look away.”
Althea’s eyes fluttered, body trembling, but she obeyed. The weight of his stare pinned her more than his grip did, cold and burning all at once.
“Feel that?” he growled, dragging out of her only to sink back in deeper. Her breath broke on a gasp as the water sloshed around them. “You will bear me my heirs, Althea.”
His pace quickened, no mercy in the steady rhythm that built harder, deeper, until the tub rocked beneath them. Every thrust tore another cry from her lips, each one swallowed by the steam-filled air.
She tried to speak, tried to push his name past her lips, but he drove her higher with each movement, her voice reduced to gasps and shuddering moans.
Her hands slid down his arms, clinging to him, needing his strength as much as she resented the claim in his words. But when he angled his hips just right, hitting deep and hard, her back arched and her defiance broke into a sob of pleasure.
Gavriel’s teeth grazed her jaw as he pressed her legs higher, driving himself into her with ruthless precision. “Say it,” he demanded between thrusts, his voice dark and steady despite the storm in his body. “Say you’re mine.”