There’s not one thought in this moment. No need beyondwant. I want him. I want this. I don’t care if he’s my enemy. I don’t care if this is forbidden, if the tension between us yawns like a gaping chasm at my feet, threatening to drag me into it.
Growling like some feral animal, he eats at me, all teeth and tongue, his hands pinning my thighs down. The wave beckons, building higher, higher…
I bite my knuckles, desperate to contain it.
“Don’t you dare,” he gasps against my skin. “I want to hear every last sound you make. My name. On your tongue.”
No. I shake my head, because to give him that is to give him the ultimate surrender, but I cannot stop myself.
His tongue thrusts within me, he suckles hard on my clit, and I can’t stop my scream.
The wave crashes.
My body rocks against him as I dig my fingers into his hair and grind shamelessly against his face as waves of pleasure pulse through me.
It feels like forever.
And it leaves me shaking and boneless, hips jerking with aftershock.
Bael kisses his way back up my abdomen, a dark hunger in his expression. I barely have a chance to open my mouth before he claims it again, the hot, wet taste of my own musk slick on his tongue.
“We’re not finished yet,” he whispers, kissing his way along my jaw. “Part for me, my little lioness.”
The press of his cock strains against me, and I slide my palm between us and grab it with greedy hands, shocked by the sheer size of him.
The hot amber flames in his eyes glow as if the beast inside him is consuming him from the inside out. I stare back and hesmiles, something dangerous in his expression. “Last chance to turn back.”
“When have I ever known fear?” I whisper, curling my hand around the back of his neck. My pulse kicks faster, because I know this is it. This moment takes us over the edge, into a world neither of us know. “Do it.”
Claim this one last inch of me.
As if he hears me, Bael drives himself into me hard.
Pain sears my nerves, my body stretching at this unaccustomed sensation. I’ve never been afraid of pain, and there’s something about this feeling that goes beyond the physical. It feels like surrender, but not in the way I’ve always thought of that word. This is a giving of myself, and a taking. One wretched little thing, just for me. Just for the girl who threw herself away, letting the desperation of her quest consume her.
This feels like taking some part of me back.
And as the pain abates, I realize the feeling is not unpleasant. Not at all.
Bael stills, and when he looks down at me the fury in his face is fully feral. There’s nothing left of the mortal now. Only claws and those vicious amber-gold eyes. “You wereuntouched?”
The word is almost an accusation.
“I was,” I tell him boldly. “Now are you going to do something about it?”
He curses under his breath, pushing his weight up onto one elbow as if he’s suddenly determined to take exquisite care of me. I swear I hear the words, “You’re going to be the death of me…”
Kissing my jaw, he forces me to tilt my head back. His hips move in a slow rhythm that soon has me aching for more. I dig my nails into his ass. “More.”
His pace quickens, skin slick against skin. It’s an ancient dance, and I’m shocked at how easily I fall into the rhythm.Teeth find my shoulder, and Bael growls deep in his throat as he bites down. Hard.
I scream, body bucking against him. Orgasm crashes over me again as if he’s pulling it from me with his magic. The weight of him pushes me into the mattress, and I want more. I want all of him.
“Zyla,” he gasps.
“Bael! Bael, oh Gods!” I come again, the sounds I make half feral with surrender. “Yes.”
Bael’s fist clenches in my hair, and he buries his face in my throat as he drives himself inside me, skin slapping against skin. It’s a bruising, punishing rhythm, one that will leave marks on my body, and I love every second of it.
