“Gods, look at you.” Logan’s eyes roam hungrily over me, his hands hovering above the electricity dancing across my skin, as if he’s frozen between worship and terror. “Silver and fire.”
“Does it hurt you?” I ask, suddenly worried. “My electricity?”
His laugh is low and bitter. “Everything about you hurts, Jade. And I can’t get enough of it.”
When he touches me again, the burst of fire and electricity illuminates the circle. We both gasp at the contact, and his pupils dilate, his control wavering before he locks it down again.
“I’ve memorized you.” His words come out almost pained, like he’s admitting to something he shouldn’t have done. “You have no idea how long I’ve been memorizing you, how long I’ve spent learning everything about you.”
“Logan...” I don’t know what to say to that, to the raw need in his voice mixed with what sounds like regret. “Why do you make it sound like a confession? Like something you should be ashamed of?”
His eyes close briefly, and when they open again, there’s something ancient in them, something that makes me shiver.
But he doesn’t answer my question. Instead, he lifts me easily, pressing me against the stone wall as my legs wrap around his waist. The hard length of him presses against my core, and I roll my hips, seeking more contact, more friction, more of him. The pressure is maddening, the ache between my thighs almost unbearable.
But even now, even like this, his muscles are coiled tight with restraint. His hands on my hips are gentle, and his kisses are careful, when I want them to be consuming.
“Are you sure?” He presses his forehead to mine, and I realize he’s not really asking me. He’s asking himself. “After we do this, there’s no going back. You need to understand—” He stops, his jaw clenching, and I can practically see him swallowing whatever he was about to say.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,” I tell him. “Unless you don’t want…”
“Want?”His laugh is sharp, almost angry. “I want you so badly I can’t breathe. I want you so much it’s been destroying me from the inside out.”
His words hit like a physical force, making my magic flare brighter. But there’s something broken in the way he says it, like he’s confessing to a crime rather than declaring his feelings.
“I love you,” I tell him, and he shudders, like my words are everything he wanted and everything he feared.
He’s still for a long moment, his eyes closed, every part of him controlled. The battle plays out in the tension of his shoulders, the way his fire flickers between colors, and the slight tremor in his hands where they grip my hips.
Then, like he’s made some impossible decision, he’s pressing hot and insistent against my entrance, teasing me, torturing me.
“Tell me if I hurt you.” There’s something desperate in his voice, like he’s terrified of his own strength. “Tell me if you need me to stop.”
“You won’t hurt me.” I trust him completely, even as my body tenses with anticipation. “I’m not made of glass, Logan. Stop treating me like I’ll break.”
Hunger flashes in his eyes. “Done,” he says, and when he pushes inside me, I gasp, my nails biting into his shoulders as he fills me to the hilt. The stretch burns in the most perfect way, and my thighs quiver, my body adjusting to this new sensation—full, claimed, and complete.
“Breathe,” he coaches me like he did in the trials, sweat beading on his forehead, his hands shaking where they grip my hips. “I’ve got you.”
I swear I can hear the Fury Loop’s magic like a heartbeat in the stone, amplifying everything we feel until it’s almost too much to bear. It’s like I was made for this moment. Like I was made forhim.
His body trembles with restraint, and when I shift slightly, he makes a sound like I’m killing him. His grip on my hips tightens almost painfully, and his eyes flutter closed, his jaw clenching as he fights for control.
“Don’t hold back,” I whisper against his ear. “I want all of you. The darkness, the hunger, and everything you’re so afraid of. I want it all.”
I deliberately clench around him, and he releases a strangled groan before pulling back and thrusting hard, slamming into me with a force that knocks the air from my lungs. Pleasure sharpens with pain, and I cry out, clinging to him as he does it again, and again, and again. My body’s molding around him until there’s no space between us, only fire and electricity and the sound of skin slapping against skin.
“Is this what you wanted?” His voice is rough, almost angry. “To make me lose control?”
“Yes,” I gasp, but I can’t say anything more, because he drives himself into me again with a particularly deep thrust that makes me see stars. My head falls back against the stone, and he immediately takes advantage, his mouth finding that sensitive spot where my neck meets my shoulder.
My mind goes blank except for him—the feel of him, the taste of him, the desperate sounds he makes against my neck as his lips trace the delicate, sensitive skin there. Every touch feels like lightning, every kiss like drowning.
But then he groans and stops, his eyes going distant, and he blinks hard, his jaw tightening like he’s desperate for control again.
“No.” My hands slide down to grip his hips, pulling him deeper, burying him in me completely.
“Fuck, Jade—” His hand slams against the wall beside my head, his body shuddering as his fire explodes outward in purple-black waves that scorch new patterns into the already damaged stone.
