Lightning cracked above, shockwaves hammering against the web of sparks Serenna had woven across the tower. She barely registered it. Vesryn moved like a storm given flesh, every thrust like a jolt of thunder driving her back against the ground.
Serenna wrapped her legs around his waist, dragging him closer, staking her claim with her body. No more careful touches. No more unspoken fear. Only hands reaching, skin meeting skin, and the truth of wanting that neither of them could soften.
Vesryn cursed something broken into her mouth as he thrust harder, deeper, branding himself into her in a relentless drive. He kissed her like he would die without it, like there was nothing else left in the world worth drawing breath for.
She wanted all of it—his wildness, his fire, the violence of choosing something so completely. Serenna’s hips drove up to match every savage plunge, meeting him with equal ferocity.
Vesryn’s hands slid upward. He caught one of her wrists, then the other. He shoved them above her head, pinning her to the fractured stone, his heartbeat slamming against her ribs.
“Look at me,” he growled, eyes bright enough to drown stars. “Look at me when you fall apart.”
The accepted bond stripped him bare. Every unspoken need flared, every ember of hunger hers to claim.
Serenna gasped as he summoned a darker current. Shadows spilled over her skin, mapping the path of his desire, gliding over her breasts before curling lower in a merciless caress that sent heat lashing through her core.
Above them, the storm screamed, bright enough to blind. A bolt split the sky, and lightning slammed into her net of power, hissing against the tangle of sparks.
Vesryn’s shadows writhed again, stroking low until sensation drowned thought. One sweep. Then another. A rhythm built to undo her. Designed to ruin.
Their eyes locked just as Serenna shattered.
Her body seized around him, a cry tearing free as a wave of pleasure crashed over her. Vesryn caught her mouth, swallowing the sound.
He didn’t relent, angling his next thrust to wrench another shriek loose. Like a male possessed, he rode the shuddering aftershocks of her release, wringing out every tremor until she could barely gasp his name.
“Stars, Serenna,” he groaned, muscles shaking with restraint.
For a heartbeat, neither of them moved—still joined, still trembling, the bond flung wide open between them with no shields left to hide behind.
Then Vesryn released her wrists only to grip her hips. The world flipped over and he sat upright beneath her, her body still wrapped around his length. He drew her down against him, every inch sinking deeper until a guttural sound broke loose from his throat.
The storm roared overhead, lightning cracking against her shield, while Serenna collapsed against his shoulder—shaking and undone, held fast in the cage of his body with the bond burning.
Vesryn’s hands shackled her in place, holding her down around him—buried so deep Serenna could barely breathe without inhalinghim. She whimpered, thighs quivering as Vesryn rolled his hips. Too slowly to satisfy the second ache that was already building.
Desperate to seize control, to chase pleasure’s next peak, Serenna rocked against him.
“Not yet,” Vesryn growled into her mouth. He clamped down on her waist, denying the motion. “Keep that up and I’m finished.”
Serenna clung to him, nails raking into his skin. He cursed and buried himself again in one brutal thrust. Then held. Just long enough for her whole body to shudder, his teeth grazing the edge of her jaw.
When he finally started to move again, the motion came slower, deeper, every roll of his hips meant to ravage her, not relieve her. She met the rhythm with a broken whisper of his name, tangling her fingers in his hair to haul his mouth back to hers.
Vesryn tried to speak, but whatever he meant to say dissolved against her tongue, lost to the next kiss before it could take shape. Release cresting, Serenna arched into him, ready to break all over again.
Vesryn lifted her as he rose, driving her spine against a fractured pillar. Her legs wrapped around his waist. Stone bit her shoulders as his hips slammed forward—hard and relentless, until she had no choice but to cling to him, arms locked around his neck.
“You’re going to feel me for days,” Vesryn rasped against her, every thrust a shock of pleasure. “Stars, Serenna… I was made for you.”
Staggering devotion flared through the bond, and Serenna’s heart answered it—a quiet, unguarded yielding that drew them even closer. Vesryn halted in a single, shaking breath, buried to the hilt, every muscle locked in restraint as pleasure blurred.
“You’re everything,” he whispered, his mouth brushing the base of her neck. “Come for me again.” His voice frayed as he dragged his lips lower, teeth grazing the soft curve of her breast. “Please—stars—let me feel you break around me.”
He hitched her knees higher, angling her hips until he struck that ruinous place inside her. Each thrust landed deeper. Harder. Wrenching sounds loose that she didn’t recognize.
Serenna’s whole body drew taut, breath suspended on the knife-edge of rapture. Pleasure surged, rising and climbing, as Vesryn slammed into her.
“That’s it,” he groaned, rhythm collapsing. “Take me with you.”
