My head tilts ever so slightly. “What do you mean?”
He holds me closer in his arms, and I’m suddenly no longer tired. Nothing could wake me up more than the hanging silence Ryke is clinging to right now.
“I mean... I’m not attractive. I wasn’t attractive as a Valkyrie, and I’m definitely not any better as one of your sister’s fucked-up monsters.”
My brows pull together hard as my heart dips in my chest.
“Your smile is pretty,” I say like a blushing school girl, and his lips twitch up against my fingertips. “You’re holding me here like I weigh nothing. That’s sexy. Your resilient power, that’s sexy. Your determination. Sexy. These,” I run my fingers down the scarred lines of his rock-hard abdomen, “Maybe no one’s told you, but these are sexy, Ryke.” My hand slips between us, and my fingers curl around his member that’s so thick, I can’t wrap my hand fully around him. “This—this is so fucking sexy, Ryke,” I say with a smile as I kiss him so slowly, his dick pulses in my palm.
“Yeah?” he asks with a smile that I kiss over and over again.
“That’s enough of the pleasant small talk. Either fuck her or give her back,” Krave says from behind us.
I lift in Ryke’s arms, and he watches me in the darkness as I ever-so-slowly guide his thickness against my sex. Inch by inch, I take my time gliding down his shaft, and without breath in my lungs, I can hear every hard-cutting inhale he takes.
It’s empowering sensuality.
My hips rock against his, and he meets every languid thrust I give. We cling to one other, breathing in the shaking breaths lingering between us as we steal away the sounds each of us gives up to one another. Sex with Ryke feels like being kissed by the sweet heavens while being fucked by the darkness of hell.
When I grind against the head of his cock before sliding down once more, he takes two big steps, and I’m slammed against a wall that rattles with picture frames. His pace turns lashing. Faster and faster, he drills into me. My nails sink into his skin just as sharp teeth drag over my throat, biting hard before sucking even harder.
The sensations climb together so high, I can’t contain them.
And they spiral out of control when he sinks in as far as he can go, filling me so deeply, emotions burst inside of me in trembling waves that pulse all through my body.
The sound of my shaking moans echo around the room, and it just fuels him on. Faster and faster and faster until finally, he stills.
His big shoulders are rigid beneath my touch as he groans harshly against my neck in a way that feels animalist and delicious.
Silence settles around us. He slides out of me as he kisses the spot just beneath my ear with tender care. It’s chaste, and it’s sweet, and it makes me wonder... if he feels the torrent of energy that always surrounds us when we’re like this.
Does he know?
I peer at him, but the shadows steal away the emotion on our faces.
He doesn’t.
He doesn’t know, because he has too much magic in his veins. There’s already powerful energy in him at all times. It probably makes it impossible for him to feel the gentle tug of two hearts sealing together.
So he may never know what I know in this moment.
He’s my mate.
They all are.
21
Forever Yours
Aries
The euphoric bliss I had last night is nowhere to be found today.
“I’d say red roses,” my mother tells the castle florist. “Nathiale was pure like our kingdom’s roses.”
I close my eyes hard to stop myself from giving the world record for most epic eye roll. Pen arches a pale brow at me, but we both remain silent at the empty dinner table. Once again, three demons and a pink-feathered angel stand behind me. Zaviar hasn’t said a word to me all day, and it’s just one more thing I’ve tossed onto the anxiety pile that I’m carrying around this evening.
“Or maybe white. White symbolizes purity,” Mother whispers just as the florist starts to walk away with her long list my mother gave her.
