She nodded. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, pushing me out of this. But I’m already a part of it.” She shrugged with a nonchalance that didn’t fool me in the slightest. “I might as well see this through to the end. You know, make sure the Djinn are taken care of.”
Ethim beamed, a blazing display of affection that made me cringe. Especially because his Darkness compelled me. I wondered if Ellie found it hard to refuse her father anything.
“I see. Well then. I’ll leave you two alone. Protected, but alone. Arim? There are things we need to discuss.”
Arim glanced from Ethim to me then focused on Ellie with a puzzled frown. “I suppose. As long as you stay put,” he directed to me. “We’re not even close to being done our discussion.”
I prayed my uncle wouldn’t see the darkness inside me. “Fine, sure. I’ll be right here, protecting Ellie.”
Arim snorted his disbelief before turning back to Ethim. “How about Shathra in the Between?”
“It’s in Shadow.” Ethim considered it. “That will work. Ellie, call if you need me.” He disappeared without a whisper, and Arim soon followed, leaving us alone at last.
“So,” I said slowly, taking in her unsteady breath, her wandering gaze that rested briefly on my lips. “You don’t feel safe?”
“It was the best I could do to get my father out of here. When he gets that look in his eye, you just want to disappear.” She began roving the living room, straightening pillows and magazines that didn’t need straightening.
“If my being here makes you uncomfortable, perhaps I should go with Ethim,” I said quietly, wanting her to look at me.
At my words, she stilled, her back to me. She was so tense, so uneasy, and I didn’t understand what her father had done to make her so unnerved.
“It’s not my father, it’s you,” she said sharply and turned to face me. Her eyes were so bright they glowed, and I took a step back. Dark, hungry energy slid through the air, caressing and curling around me, drawing me closer to the precipice I didn’t want to cross.
“I can’t stop thinking about you. You’re all I can see and hear. All I can think about.” Her breath caught, and she glided nearer, as if stalking me. Her nipples beaded through her T-shirt, and I swore I could sense her desire as if a living thing. “You’re like a spell that’s taken me over. Magic in my once-normal world.”
“Ellie,” I said thickly, telling myself over and over that this had to be her decision. The urge to take her, to throw her down on the floor, and fuck her until neither of us could walk was overpowering. But I refused to let my cock direct my actions.
Ellie took the decision out of my hands. Snarling, she closed the distance between us. “You jerk.” Plastering her mouth over mine, she stole every thought as my blood rushed below my beltline.
Moments later, when she finally let me go, I gasped for breath. “Fuck, Ellie.”
“Yes, fuck Ellie,” she urged, tugging at my shirt and unsnapping my jeans. She ran her hands over my chest, leaving trails of heat surging through my blood. Mountains of lust erupted, consuming me despite my desire to take things slow.
She whispered my name, and I was lost.
Cotton and denim flew everywhere until skin met skin, and I sighed into her mouth. The feel of her full breasts against my chest nearly made me come, and her answering need pulsed in her thoughts, images of what she wanted me to do her sending me over the edge.
“I’m going to make you scream,” I whispered in her ear before darting in my tongue to make her shiver. Running my lips down her throat, I sucked at her hammering pulse. She arched closer, responding as if made for me.
I kissed and nipped my way to her breasts, bringing us to our knees as I sucked, biting with enough pressure to make her sigh with pleasure.
Unable to resist, I stroked down her belly and toyed with her breasts. The silver ring piercing her navel felt cool against my fingers, and I tugged gently on it before continuing my search lower. I petted the blond curls guarding her sex then thrust my finger between her soft folds, lost in the wet heat of her.
“You’re ready for me,” I growled and unconsciously thrust my swelling cock against her belly. “So ready for me to fuck you.”
“Cadmus.” She held me to her breast with shaking hands. “I can’t believe how much I need you.”
Need you. Not need this. Male satisfaction poured through me, a heady mixture of lust and affection for the woman in my arms that made me want to do more than simply fuck her body. I wanted to claim her, to brand her as my own so no one else could touch her.
“Elliara.” I thrust my finger in and out of her, then added another. She was a goddess I planned to worship with reverence. I sucked her nipple deep, gratified by her moaning and trembling. “I’m going to love you so hard, so deep, baby.”
I continued to kiss her, moving back to her luscious mouth. By the Light, my Ellie knew how to kiss. She used her whole mouth, her lips inviting while her tongue ravaged my mouth. Stroking and sliding, she mimicked lovemaking so urgently I was soon lost to finesse.
With an animalistic growl, I brought us to the floor. Looming over her, I nudged her thighs wide, lowering myself to the heat of her. Her wetness covered my tip, and with a loud curse, I plunged deep through the tight, hugging flesh that welcomed my intrusion.
“Cadmus,” she cried, clutching me tightly. “Oh, yes, yes.”
She wrapped her ankles around my waist as I took her like a man possessed. In and out, hard and without cease. I deliberately rotated my pelvis to rub her clit, the slap of my flesh against hers beyond erotic.
