"Then you shall have me." I sit back, pulling my shirt over my head, unfastening my trousers. Her eyes track my movements, hungry and afraid and desperately hopeful.
When I am bare, I lower myself over her again. Skin to skin. The heat of her against the cool of me. The bond singing between us.
"Look at me," I tell her. "Don't close your eyes. Stay with me."
She nods, her gaze locked on mine.
I reach between us, find her slick and ready. She gasps when my fingers slide through her folds, her hips jerking up against my hand.
"So wet," I murmur. "So perfect. You want this."
"Yes."
"Say it."
"I want this. I want you." Her voice is steadier now. Surer. "Please, Cadeon. Please."
I position myself at her entrance and pause. The clock ticks toward midnight. The fire crackles. The magic holds its breath.
"I love you," I tell her again. "I choose you. Now and always."
"I love you too." Her hand comes up to cup my face. "I choose you. I need you. I'm yours."
I push inside her.
She cries out, her back arching, her nails digging into my shoulders. The sensation is overwhelming. Tight heat surrounding me, the bond flaring bright between us, her pleasure and mine tangling together until I cannot tell where I end and she begins.
"Oh god," she gasps. "I can feel you. Everything you're feeling, I can?—"
"I know." I pull back slowly, thrust in again. "I feel you too. It's the bond. It's us."
I set a slow rhythm, wanting to draw this out, wanting to give her time to adjust. But she is having none of it. Her hips rise to meet mine, demanding more, and through the bond I feel her desperation.
More. Harder. Please.
I give her what she needs.
My thrusts become faster, deeper. She wraps her legs around my waist, pulling me closer, and the angle changes, makes her cry out with every stroke. I can feel her building toward climax, can feel my own orgasm coiling at the base of my spine.
"Let go," I tell her. "Stop trying to control it. Just feel."
"I can't?—"
"You can." I grip her hip with one hand, tilt her pelvis, and on the next thrust I hit something inside her that makes her scream. "Let go, Iris. I have you. I'm not going anywhere."
The clock begins to strike midnight.
One chime. Two.
"I'm scared," she gasps.
"I know." Three chimes. Four. "I'm here."
"I need?—"
"Tell me."
Five chimes. Six.
