She froze. Even with her head turned, I saw the way her shoulders locked, her nails digging into her arms. Whatever storm raged inside her, I knew this wasn’t the time to push, but I also couldn’t stay silent.
I wrapped my arms around her. She made a weak attempt to pull away, but I only held her tighter. Her head dropped against my chest, and I breathed her in, that warm, sweet, musky scent that was hers alone.
“You’re my flame,” I whispered.
She tensed and tried to pull again, harder this time, but I didn’t let go. I anchored her.
“You’re it for me,” I said, “but it’s not just the mate bond. It’s because you’re fierce. Loyal. You take care of your people like they’re your own. You lead, you fight, youfeel.”
She stopped struggling, and I kept going.
“You’re a little bratty,” I added with a soft laugh, “but it’s so fun I don’t care.”
She huffed a quiet chuckle, and I smiled against her hair.
“You’re everything I want in a partner, in life, in business. No one else even comes close. The way you take over my mind, my body…. There’s no one else who could fill that role.”
I kissed the top of her shoulder, and she shivered in my arms.
“I’ll wait,” I said, the words steady, sure. “Until my last breath. Until you’re ready to see me. I’m not going anywhere. Ever.”
?*Cold, soft hands slipped beneath my shirt, her fingertips trailing fire as they melted the skin they touched. Her lips ghosted over my chest, breath warm against my skin. “I don’t want you to go. Ever.”
The dam inside me shattered.
My hands moved on instinct, tangling in her hair as I tilted her head back and kissed her. Hard. Desperate. This kiss was meant to brand her with memory, to stake my place in her life with something she couldn’t forget.
We collided like starving flames—mouths open, teeth clashing, tongues claiming. Fingers dug in, bodies pressed tight. It wasn’t just a kiss. It was years of repression. Every second we’d denied this,us, ignited between our lips.
She raked her nails down my stomach, and I moaned into her mouth, the sting of it anchoring me deeper into the moment. Her marks were mine to carry now, proof that I washersin a way no one else could be.
I fisted the back of her hair, yanking her head to the side as I ran my teeth down her neck. She gasped, trembling, and when I licked over her pulsing vein, she moaned like it unraveled her.
My hand cupped her breast, thumb brushing over the nipple until it peaked beneath her silk dress. I lowered my head and took it into my mouth, sucking around the fabric, licking the taut nub until her knees buckled.
“Van... oh, fuck, Van,” she whimpered, her fingers yanking at my hair until my scalp burned, but I welcomed the pain. Craved it.
Just the sound of my name falling from her lips had my cock straining, thick and hard, pressing up between her thighs, aching for the fire I knew she was keeping just for me.
One moment I was in control. The next, her wings flared open. She spun us around, slamming my back into the railing. My pants were around my ankles before I could blink.
Then her mouth was on me.
My legs nearly gave out, so thank the gods for the rail behind me. I gripped it like a lifeline as she swallowed me down, hot, wet, relentless. My stomach clenched as her nails trailed up my abdomen, then scraped down in eight searing lines that made my vision spark.
Her tongue swirled around the head of my cock, teasing the pierced metal balls with a flick that made my eyes roll back in my head.
She wasn’t just a woman. She wasn’t a fairy. She was a demon, a succubus sent to steal my soul through my dick, and I was going to let her. Fuck, she could have it all if she wanted it.
When her hands gripped my ass, spreading me apart and anchoring me like she was preparing for something deeper, I knew I was done. There wasn’t a force in this world that could save me from her now.
She opened her mouth wider, tongue fully out, before shoving me in farther, gagging around me as my cock hit the back of her throat. My entire body convulsed. If someone had asked me my name right then, I couldn’t have answered. I was nothing but the moans, gasps, and incoherent groans that onlyshecould pull from me.
Then came the real blissful torture.
She'd pull back just slightly, keeping her lips tight, and her teeth would gently tug the metal balls, making my eyes go cross-eyed before she slammed forward, taking me all the way again, over and over. This wet tug-of-war with my cock that was driving me beyond mad. By the third time, I was a wreck.
My spine arched, metal creaking beneath my hands as I thrust forward and bellowed into the night.
