"Tell me you don't feel this." I push forward slowly, watching pleasure flutter across her features. "Tell me this isn't where you belong."
Her legs wrap around my waist instinctively, drawing me deeper. "I—gods—"
"Your body knows." I capture her mouth, swallowing her moans as I begin to move. "Your soul knows. Stop fighting what's meant to be."
Tears spill from her eyes even as she meets each thrust. "I don't know how to surrender."
"Then let me teach you." I brace on my forearms, caging her beneath me, making her look into my eyes. "Let me love you, fierce one. Let me in."
Her fingers trace the muscles of my chest, feeling each tremor. "I've never..." She swallows hard. "I've never let anyone this close."
"I know." I roll my hips slowly, drawing a whimper from her throat. "That's why this terrifies you. Because you feel it too—how deep this goes."
Her inner walls clench around me, her body's honest response making us both gasp. "What if I'm not enough?" The confession spills from her lips like a secret prayer. "What if—"
I silence her with a deep thrust that makes her eyes roll back. "Feel that? Feel how perfectly you take my cock?" My voice is rough with emotion. "You're everything. Everything I never knew I needed. You're more than enough, Bryn."
Her platinum hair spreads across the bed as she writhes beneath me. "Erik, please—"
"Please what, little bird?" I catch her wrists, pinning them above her head with one hand while the other cups her face. "Tell me what you need."
"I need—" Her words dissolve into a moan as I drive deeper.
"Tell me, Bryn." Forcing those eyes to meet mine. Her walls are crumbling, and I see everything she's tried to hide—the fear of abandonment, the weight of never being enough, the crushing loneliness of standing apart.
"Make me forget everything but this." Her words come out in a desperate rush, punctuated by gasps and soft cries. "Make me forget how to be afraid—how not to be lonely, or rejected."
Her confession shatters mydefenses—this fierce Valkyrie finally revealing the wounds beneath her armor. Each word is a hard-won victory over pride, each truth a gift she's never given another.
I cradle her face, wiping tears she'd never let others see. Those mismatched eyes shine with raw vulnerability; her soul is bare beyond flesh. Her pain becomes mine—her father's rejection, lost wings, betrayed friendships, all the cruel weights she's carried alone.
"Look at me, Bryn," I demand softly, waiting until those eyes lock with mine. "You'remine."My hips snap forward, claiming her deeper, harder. "Do you hear me?" Each thrust punctuates the truth she keeps trying to deny. "Mine."
Her body trembles beneath me, pleasure and vulnerability warring on her face. "Show me," she whispers. "Show me what it means to be yours."
Her surrender makes my beast roar triumphantly. This fierce, magnificent creature is choosing me and finally accepting me. The ache in my chest is almost unbearable—eons of loneliness are about to end.
"Do you trust me, little bird?" I breathe against her throat, still moving inside her. "I promise I won't hurt you."
Her answer is simple: "Yes."
I trail kisses up her neck, my tongue finding her pulse point. My fangs descend of their own accord, and with infinite gentleness, I pierce her flesh. Bryn gasps as she clenches tighter, my cock aching inside her.
The taste that floods my mouth nearly undoes me—heaven and lightning, wild storms and ancient power—a sound between a growl and a groan tears from my throat. Afteryearsof bagged blood—no warm necks—this—her—is paradise.
Her essence is different from any blood I've tasted. Dani's blood has a sweet undertone of light—Bryn's blood tastes of winter winds and thunder, with notes of wild honey and storm-charged air. It's intoxicating, addictive, and perfect.
"Erik...Oh gods." Bryn's legs tighten around my waist, drawing my cock deeper into her as her arousal spikes sharply. Her inner walls flutter around me, her body responding to my claim.
My venom enters her veins, and she melts beneath me, pliant yet burning with need. The sensation of feeding while buried inside her threatens to shatter my control. Each pull of her essence makes me swell harder within her as she rises to meet my thrusts.
I withdraw my fangs and reach for her dagger. Her eyes—one gold as sunlight, one deep as stormy seas—connect with mine, heavy with desire and acceptance.
"Drink, little bird," I demand, drawing the blade across my throat. "Be mine. Only mine."
Her lips brush my throat, hesitant at first, then claims my blood with growing hunger. Each pull of her mouth sends shock waves through my veins, the sensation of her drinking while my cock thrustsdeep inside her nearly undoing me.
Ancient words rise unbidden to my lips, a sacred binding as old as time itself:
