CALLUM
I started a fire for light when I walked in the door then sat on the couch and faced the entryway. I waited for her to come back from her conversation with Viper, and my heart pumped so hard in my chest, it stole my attention. It was throbbing inside me, the pace faster than war drums, the vibrations spreading through my body.
I realized that I was still in my armor, armor I no longer needed in the privacy of the villa I hoped we would share together. I removed each piece before I gently set it aside to return to Talon. I could tell it was made of dragon scales, so it was prized beyond measure. Perhaps it was an extra set for Hawk or for one of the commanders.
I wanted to remove my shirt because the fire was warm next to me, but that might seem presumptuous to Lily, so I kept it on. I wore the trousers and shirt Talon had gifted me after I’d returned to the mortal world because I literally had nothing else.
I waited and waited. I didn’t wonder about the specifics of their conversation because it didn’t matter to me. It was impossible to be jealous when my love for her was so pure. Men would always want her. It would be unrealistic to expect anything else. Princess of the Southern Isles, the Death Queen, a woman who possessed the strength of a god. Of course everyone wanted her.
Her footsteps sounded on the other side of the door.
My heart started to race again, waiting for her to cross the threshold and come back to me.
She turned the knob and stepped inside, barefoot because she’d abandoned her shoes in the underworld. In the black dress that had been knitted by witches and the branch crown she wore, she looked like a dark goddess. She shut the door behind her absent-mindedly as she looked at me where I sat on the couch.
Then she came closer, eyes confident, intense, desperate.
My heart raced faster. I swallowed. Just her presence in the same room filled my heart with ecstasy.
She stopped before me, her leg gently pressing against my knee, and then she slowly slipped one strap over her shoulder, where it fell the rest of the way.
My hands were resting on my knees, so my fingertips automatically reached for the fabric of her dress, wanting to touch bare skin, to provide her warmth when she was undoubtedly cold from the night air.
With her eyes locked on mine, she pushed down the otherstrap, and then the dress slowly fell away, slipping down her body to her waist and exposing her tits.
I swallowed again, seeing them glowing beautifully in the firelight, her little nipples hard, her skin covered in tiny bumps when her bare skin left the comfort of the fabric.
She pushed the gown over her hips, and it fell the rest of the way on its own. All that was left was a pair of little black underwear, and she stepped out of that next, revealing a patch of dark hair because she hadn’t been able to keep up her grooming while trapped in another realm.
Then she was on me, her hand moving to my shoulder to push me back against the couch as she straddled my waist, sliding her fingers into my hair as her lips came down on mine.
I’d kissed her in the forest and felt my lips go numb at her touch, but now they were set aflame by a blaze of fire that burned everything around us. I couldn’t believe the moment was real, that we were together with beating hearts, both human and alive. The flames of our love burned inside me, but it still couldn’t convince me of the truth.
My hands went to her muscular thighs, her skin soft to the touch as I glided over the smooth planes toward her ass. Then I palmed the bigger muscle, digging my fingers deep into her flesh.
The fire inside me roared to life because I finally began to understand.
It wasn’t a dream.
This was real.
My mouth left her lips and moved down her neck to her shoulder. I pressed hard kisses to her delicious skin everywhere, kissed the hollow of her throat, tasted the sweat that had dried on her flesh.
I hooked my arm around the small of her back and tugged her hard into my chest as I kissed her again, my fingers digging deep into her hair to keep it from her face, our mouths dancing together perfectly as if we’d never been apart. It’d been a week for me, but for her a month…or several months. Even longer than that for her, because she had to fight a battle alone and accept my absence.
I didn’t want to rush into consummation if she was emotionally scarred by my abandonment, but her hands palmed my body like she felt no restraint. She’d denied Viper a second time and had come to this villa to make love to me instead.
I rose to my feet and lifted her with me, feeling her legs hook around my waist automatically. I navigated the furniture as I headed to her bedroom from memory, the rest of the house dark without the light of the fire.
She kissed the shell of my ear as I carried her and whispered, “I love you, Callum.” She whispered it more than once and made my entire body ache for her.
I reached the bed and laid her down on it gently, unsurprised that she still weighed nothing to me, even though I’d lost my strength as a god. Now she was the one who had it, who might even be able to pick me up if she wanted to.
She pulled my shirt over my head as I held myself above her, and then her eyes widened and she gave the sexiest moan atthe sight of me, running her hands up the grooves of my abs and then my hard chest. Her hands quickly went down to my trousers and got them loose in a couple quick tugs.
I slipped off my boots over the edge of the bed, and she helped me get my bottoms off before I kicked them free.
Then it was just the two of us in her bed, and I looked down at her perfect body with her gorgeous skin and felt more desire than I’d ever experienced in my life. I’d never wanted a woman more on a purely masculine level. Her hair was perfectly spread out on the pillow behind her, and she looked at me with the hungriest eyes I’d ever seen. Her tits were plump and hard, her nipples begging to be bitten. She tilted her hips and then squeezed mine with her strong thighs like she was desperate to feel me inside her the way I was anxious to fill her.
