The stretch was brutal. Perfect. I was split wide, unraveling as I tried to fit him. My walls fluttered around him, clenching hard.
Mist spilled across the bed, licking up my spine, sliding along my hips, coiling my wrists like silver vines. It pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat.
Lines of molten gold traced my skin, racing over my ribs. I could feel his magic flooding into me, into my blood, as he began to move.
Each thrust dragged a moan from me. I felt every inch of him. The thick slide, the pressure building, his hair-roughenedchest, the slabs of muscle—he was perfect. The mist rose around us in glowing tendrils, weaving between our bodies.
Kairos tossed me on the bed, my back hitting the mattress. He plunged into me, grabbing my neck, and the world splintered. He filled me so deep, I couldn’t fucking breathe.
He pounded into me again, and again—gods, it was too much. The mist curled around us, playing with me. His magic swam in my veins like fire and honey, claiming me from the inside out.
His pace turned punishing. I whimpered, my body tightening as he nipped at my throat.
I clutched his shoulders. “Do it.”
He stilled, then sank his teeth in.
His magic slammed into me like a flood bursting free. I cried out as my orgasm surged—twisting, spiraling, burning me alive.
But it wasn’t just from his thrusting.
The mist thickened into a red hue. It slithered over my thighs, over my breasts, brushing my nipples like a tongue. I gasped as it stroked my clit, teasing the bundle of nerves Kairos had wrecked, and I screamed as the pleasure tipped over into unbearable.
I looked down at my arms.
My skinglowed. Red-gold threads throbbed under the surface, coiling from my shoulder to my fingertips, wrapping me, blooming across my stomach like fire-kissed vines. Each pulse synced to his thrusts.
I felt it touching places I didn’t know could feel. My nipples stiffened into points, as though invisible mouths were suckling them. I was beingfuckedin every way.
And I wantedmore.
“Don’t stop,” I sobbed. “Please, don’t stop.”
The mist cinched tighter around us as the orgasm hit again. I shattered against him, crying out. My back arched and my fingernails dragged down his muscles, the rune on his chest flaring bright crimson, pulsing with his hips.
His rhythm broke as he went rigid, tendons straining in his neck. His eyes squeezed shut as he buried himself to the hilt and heat spilled into me in hot, staggering pulses.
His hands slammed down beside my head, fists knotting in the furs as a groan ripped out of him, then another, each more broken than the last.
Kairos folded over me, pressing his forehead to the curve of my neck. His frantic heartbeat pounded against my ribs and his breaths came in uneven bursts. I seized his hair, dragging him closer because I couldn’t hold myself together. I was shaking.
I’d been right. I’d known what would happen if I let him have me, and I’d done it anyway, and now I was exactly where I’d feared I’d be. Defenseless. So full of him there was no room left for walls.
Slowly, he lifted his head. Our eyes met, and something inside me cracked.
I love him.
That cracked through me like lightning. I loved him. I’d been so careful. I’d told myself I could have this without losing myself. That I could keep some part of me safe. I was a fool. He was the mist curling around me, the solid strength holding me, the pulse in my soul.
“Aelie,” he breathed.
A tear slid down my cheek.
He softened, pulling me against his chest. I clung to him, fingers digging into his skin. I pressed my face into his neck and breathed him in, trying to steady myself.
Don’t take this from me. Please.
54
