“Neither can I?—”
The words are barely out of my mouth before he slams me back into the wall, pinning me with his hips. He seems to have no trouble standing now with his body pressed against mine—his muscled arms caging me in, eyes drinking me in with ravenous thirst. His nearness chases away every thought, every worry, and my resistance withers away like leaves in a snowstorm. His eyes drift closed, and his mouth sinks into mine.
Holy shit.
Zadynknowshow to kiss. I mean really kiss. The kind of weak-kneed, jelly-legged, make you faint kind of kiss you only read about in books. If I wasn’t sandwiched between him and the wall, I’d be a puddle at his feet. I don’t know where he learned to do that—or how. And frankly, the thought of him practicing on anyone else makes me blind with jealousy.
But right now, he’s mine.
He breaks off, his voice a low rumble against my lips. “Is this what you want?”
His words penetrate my skin, striking the very marrow of my bones. I nod, pressing myself against him.
“I need you to be certain. I need to hear you say it, Serena, because what I’m about to do to you?—”
“Do it,” I dare, my eyes burning into his. “Do it all, Zadyn.”
His lips pull back.
I’m not expecting it when he surges forward and sinks his teeth into the side of my neck. A high-pitched sound leaves me. It pinches for no longer than a breath. Past the dull pain, there is a budding euphoria starting in my toes, slowly creeping higher, generating a wildfire within me.
Then all I feel is surrender. It’s a marking of territory. A claim.
He lets out a muffled groan, tugging at the roots of my hair, angling my head the way he wants. I arch into him, feeling his fingers dig into my waist, and my only thought is of his handprints. How I want them on me, all over me.
I want everyone to see it. To know who I belong to.
He releases my neck and pulls back to look at me with blown-out pupils. I lean forward and flick my tongue out to clean the small drop of black off his lips.
And then it snaps.
I watch that precious restraint of his shatter like a crystallized wall of ice that I’ve just taken a steel bat to.
Animal hunger swallows his eyes as he plunges his mouth into mine with wild desperation. Years of pent-up longing. Years I didn’t even know he was there—that heexisted—or that his heart belonged to me, clueless as I was.
We’re still mauling each other when he hoists me up and hooks my thighs around his waist. My ass meets the edge of the tall dresser as his arm snakes behind me, sweeping across the surface and sending the contents clattering to the floor.
It’s ridiculously hot.
My legs part for him as I grapple with his shirt. “This needs to go.”
Hauling it over his head, my fingers glide over the outline of his chest, the tattoo over his heart that signifies our bond. His scar. Even hisskinfeels good—fevered, smooth, and electric.
“So does this,” he growls, twisting the hem of my shirt. I slowly tug at the laces down the front, testing his patience. In no mood for games, he gives me a scalding look before ripping it straight down the middle.
My jawdetachesfrom my skull and waddles out of the room.
“It was in my way,” he says unapologetically. “Deal with it.”
I gape at him for one more second before diving back into his lips.
“I wanted to murder Cece,” I gasp between kisses. “I wanted to rip her hair out every time she laid a hand on you.”
“I know the feeling,” he hums, his teeth scraping across my bottom lip.
God.
I run my hand over the seam of his pants, over the prominent ridge straining against the material.
