The claw retracted, replaced with the roughened pad of his finger at the top of my mound. Eye steadfast on mine, he took his time tracing the tear he’d made. I shivered. He swallowed thickly when he parted me. “Stars, you’re soaked.”

I raised a brow. “Is that a bad thing?” We both knew it wasn’t.

He grinned, then groaned when he reached my opening, and his finger slipped inside. “Fuck.” He sat back on his knees, pushed my skirts over my stomach, and barked, “Open these pretty thighs wide.” I did, and his chest rose as he hissed in a breath through his teeth. “Wider. Fuck yes.” With another groan, his eye flicked to my face as he began to lazily fuck me with his finger.

Sparks ignited when he pulled it free and lifted it to his mouth. His gaze refused to stray from mine as he sucked every morsel of me from the thick digit. Assaulted by another shiver, this one violent, I whispered, “I think I just…” I swallowed, my limbs tingling. “Maybe a little.”

He leaned over me. “Climaxed?” That earned me a furrow of his brow and a dark chuckle. The sound raised gooseflesh on my bare thighs. “We can’t have you unsure now, wildflower.”

That name again, coupled with his touch returning, his palm rubbing over me, and his finger inside me, gifted me with mindless want. “Need you,” I rasped. “Inside me.”

“Not until I’ve seen these legs shake.”

The slight desperation in his voice made me almost envious of his control. Biting my lip, I tugged down the neckline of my gown, exposing my breasts.

The wolf cursed, but his movements didn’t cease. He tortured me harder, palm pressing and his finger curling when my hands gripped my breasts.

Exhilaration, a burning I’d never felt trailing through my torso to my core, emboldened. This must be why, I mused silently. The freedom to be whoever you wanted, to let go entirely, had to be part of the reason people enjoyed bedding strangers.

It had to be why Rorn had destroyed me by doing so.

The commander’s thickened voice caused my hands to slacken. “If you undo me this thoroughly while still half clothed, I’m a little concerned about what might happen when I tear this dress from you.”

“You mustn’t wreck it,” I panted, panic attempting to distract at the mere thought. “I don’t have another.”

His eye narrowed, his curiosity brimming. But I gasped, arching into his slow thrusts and chasing the high he was taking his time to deliver.

“Fine,” he clipped at the same time he flicked me.

I mewled, hands shaking as my fingers clawed for purchase in the bedding and my hips bucked. My low moans soon turned into a muted scream when his hot mouth latched onto me, tongue dipping at my entrance to lap at what he’d done.