River & Her Royal Mate

##Chapter 16 - Killer Instincts

River twisted and moaned.
Unbearable.
That's what all of this was.
And amazing.
The sheets went from feeling like sandpaper against her heated flesh to an orgasmic silken touch, one minute to the next. She was writhing in discomfort one minute and in pleasure the next.
This 'heat' business was not something she had been prepared for.
Neither had she expected to ever be so...insatiable. But fortunately, neither was her lover.
Kai dragged his bottom lip upward, grazing the inside of her thighs, sending little tingles of lightening into her toes. It was a brief distraction from where his mouth had just been.
Her writhing was currently the good kind.
Scratch that. The un-fucking-believable kind.
River tried, and failed again, to utter anything other than a wordless groan. He was teasing her and it was fucking driving her insane.
The torture continued for a few more seconds, his lips, his teeth, his tongue.
"More. Now. Please." She finally thrust down the mental link and into his thoughts.
A languid smile curled the edges of his lips.
River glared down at him.
Then he pressed his mouth to her, his tongue rolling around the heart of her desire, twisting in a spiral and sucking gently on her exposed summit. One dream-fulfilling finger curled up into her, pressing rhythmically against the center of her pleasure. The pressure built up inside her.
As she tried to rise up off the bed he firmly pressed one hand down on her abdomen, pinning her with unfaltering strength.
The pressure reached a boiling point.
In seconds, she was crying out to the pulses of sweet release that wracked her body, his mouth never leaving her searing skin, even as she jerked and writhed to pull away.
Not that she wanted it to stop. It was just...
Too much.
But at the same time, not enough. Even though her legs were cramping from so much orgasmic tension.
The fugue of her deepest need had her pulling him up, to kiss her, to hold her, to fill her with every inch of him.
He complied.
Again and again she had asked -- no she had begged -- for his hands, his mouth, and finally, and repeatedly, his cock. It was the only thing that soothed the raging fires that drove her body into a fever every few hours.
He was her source of remedy as much as he was the cause of the sickness.
Somewhere, lost in the outer reaches of her logical brain it made her mad. But at least he was attempting to address the problem he was causing.
And it wouldn't last forever.
Of course, that was a double edged sword. She almost wished it would.
That they could stay locked in his bedroom eternally.
Another tremor started, completely destroying her thoughts.
Kai growled alongside her scream and she felt him fill her from deep inside. Her body convulsed, her legs quaking involuntarily to yet another mind shattering explosion within her.
Her fingers and heels dug into Kai's back as she clung to him for dear life.
After what felt like an hour or after-shocks, the mind-numbing pleasure subsided into a static tingle.
She ached. Her muscles were more sore than they had ever been. And each time she tossed and turned with cramping muscles, he kneaded them back into relaxation with precise and firm hands.
And it was absolute heaven.
This had gone on for the better part of two days.
After the night in the garden River had slept for nearly twelve hours. The previous few days had been taxing, between the emotional upheavals and the physical danger of Clay's assault and the fire.
When she awoke, in Kai's bed and wrapped securely in his embrace, she had immediately demanded more of what they had shared under the stars.
They hadn't spoken more than a handful of words since.
Food was delivered outside the chamber doors.
Herbs and towels and other luxuries were provided without any request made. River suspected Anna was the true source of the accommodations. They wanted for nothing all of that day and the next as she indulged her desires and her needs.
Well, she did want for Kai.
And again. And again.
She had to give him credit. The male was clearly exhausted by the end of the first day. But each time she awoke, feverish and soaking the sheets with a lot more than just sweat, he rose to the occasion.
God, how he rose.
Just the thought of his rock hard body almost drove her to reach down for him again, to help him rise to another occasion. But he was laying halfway across her, his head on her exposed breasts, breathing deeply.
Her prince was fast asleep.
She toyed with a curl of particularly golden hair and sighed.
More like swooned.
Malachi was...
She couldn't find words to put to the feelings he was starting to draw out of her. She knew some of it was infatuation. The beginning crush, the honeymoon phase, or whatever you wanted to call it.
But he was everything.
He all but had her heart in his soft but powerful hands.
She should just give in.
She wanted to.
Except for that little snarl in the back of her brain. It was almost indistinguishable from her worry, her anxiety. But it was violently protective. Defensive.
It held just enough pull on her senses to keep her on her toes. To maintain that just-safe-enough distance between her love and the prince who would give her his in return.
Or maybe that was it.
Did he love her?
How could he? Kai had only known her for the same few days she had known him.
And how could she just dive in and fall for someone who she hardly knew? That was more dangerous than any foolish risk she had ever taken with her heart, hoping that Clay would turn out to be better than he was.
Time skipped by. River awoke, yawning.
She felt...better.
More whole. Stronger. Vibrant, even.
Faint light oozed into the room underneath the heavy, drawn velvet curtains. River rose and tugged them aside just enough to peek out the bay windows. Dawn was just breaching the horizon.
Wow. She had slept another afternoon, evening, and night.
Now she felt like she never needed to sleep again.
She felt electric.
The tops of the trees swayed in a current of breeze in the dim blue outside. That breath found its match in her chest, a deep inhale of excitement.
A very different kind of need than the past few days.
Without a second thought she stormed the closet, finding her things already put away there. Shorts. Shirt.
She didn't bother with shoes.
Softly, on the balls of her feet, she managed to slip out, keeping a wary eye on Kai as she did not want to disturb him.
He had earned all the sleep he could get.
She clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. She never imagined what it could be like, having a lover, living out the contents of a steamy romance novel.
Then she was off.
The halls of the castle blurred around her, a few early morning staff members hollering in her passing, surprised.
"Sorry!" was all she offered over her shoulder as she bolted down the back staircase, through the kitchens and out across the lawn.
Then she really let loose.
In seconds she was leaping over the final hedge of the garden and into the dense, dim forest. River ran until her blood burned in every muscle.
Then she tore through her clothing as she leapt and shifted.
Her wolf form was beginning to feel natural, comfortable.
River ran, dodging trunks and diving over streams, reveling in the cold of the morning in the wild. Thoughts slipped into subconscious and she completely gave into the rush of instinct.
That's when she caught the scent.
Musk hung in the air and on the trees nearby.
Prey.
Misting breath puffed clouds from her nostrils as she slowed to find the trail. A buck. And it was wounded.
Iron, copper, and fear filled every sense.
Another burst of deadly silent speed brought her to the edge of a clear space in the trees. The freshest droplets of blood led out from the shadows into a patch of early morning sunlight cutting down at an angle.
The buck slowed, limping, breathes coming in heaves.
Its head shot up to the snap of a branch underfoot.
River froze.
And then she spotted the hunter. Human. Invading her woods.
A guttural growl rumbled through her.
With a bleat of terror, the buck found renewed energy to bound away into the brush.
Flashing rage rose up, clouding River's thoughts and tinging her vision red at the edges. This creature cost her her prey. And it had no business being here. This was her domain.
She stalked forward, her blood roaring in her ears. Her lips peeled back from her fangs in a savage snarl.
Hunt. Kill.
The smell of pure, unfiltered fear practically poured out of the human. His eyes bulged at the sight of her.
A muddy blur of anger, hunger, and joy washed across her senses.
This was what is was to be wolf!
Instinct. Raw emotion. Need.
She felt her entire body tense, readying to pounce. The man-thing didn't stand a chance.
"River!" a booming voice clapped in her hypersensitive ears, startling her.
River blinked, her thoughts clearing slightly.
The old man dropped the rifle he was holding and ran.
What the hell had she been about to do?!
Oliver emerged from the tree line wearing only a pair of rough outdoor pants. Behind him, Annalise peered around the trunk of a tree, covering herself only with a blanket.
Almost instantly, River was back in her skin, shaking.
Not from the cold.
Oliver and Annalise said nothing as they tromped back toward the castle. He had given River an oversized shirt to cover herself with.
Annalise split off from them close to the gardens, smiling a little guiltily at River. Oliver led her down a corridor between two of the towering walls of the castle's outer buildings.
Spinning on her, he got right up in her face. River didn't flinch in spite of the scowl he gave her. The male didn't smell aggressive, just irritated, and he didn't raise a hand to her or threaten her as he spoke.
"You need to get a handle on your wolf. Royal Fated Mate or not, you can't just kill people. Even if he was trespassing on our land."
"Oliver, I-I didn't mean-"
"I know you didn't. That doesn't make it OK. You're just lucky I was there to stop you."
"And Anna. Thank you."
"Wrong. She wasn't there. Neither was I." His eyebrows shot up expectantly.
"Right," she nodded, hugging herself. " I just went for a run."
Did Oliver really think no one knew about his little nightly runs with the princess? Maybe it was some sort of unspoken rule. Forbidden activities.
River tucked that information away for another time.
Oliver opened a side door and showed her to a servant's stairwell that led back up to Kai's chambers.
The prince was already dressed and leaving when she arrived.
"Kai, where are you going?"
"Hey! There you are. Figured you took off for some morning exercise, huh?" He shrugged on his coat. "I've been called away. I have to go oversee another ascension, apparently. Emergency."
"Oh. Then let me-"
"No, no. Sorry, River, but I have to leave immediately. Stay. I promise I will be back quickly. And I will bring you something special. A keepsake to remind you of me." His grin disarmed any protest that she might have offered.
She returned his smile and let him pull her into a hug, followed by a deep kiss.
"Have fun. Relax. I'll see you soon."
"OK. Be safe. I-I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too, Riv."
River grinned and giggled just a little, watching him walk down the hall and out of sight.
She was turning into a mushy mess.
But she loved it.
She wondered momentarily what Malachi might bring her when he returned that could remind her of him. Her stomach did a little flip.
Then it sank slightly, an uneasy feeling settling over her.
Why did she have a bad feeling about this all of a sudden?