My stomach twisted. I dragged in a slow breath, trying to smother the panic clawing its way up my throat. She couldn’t see it. She didn’t know. I had to keep it that way.
“Yes. That old man pissed me off,” I lied as I looked back to my mating bond.
I had no desire to follow it because it didn’t go to her. Elowyn was not my mate, and even though Thomas had said as much, I had still believed he was wrong. I stood there now, with the truth thrumming in my chest like a betrayal, refusing to accept it. I turned around when I felt eyes on my back.
Thomas was standing in his doorway watching me with pity, as if he could see the bond blazing from me. As if he knew I had waited my entire existence for this and now wanted nothing to do with it. His expression told me everything. He knew exactly what had happened.
I grabbed Elowyn and used my magic to take us home.
When my magic faded, Nate stared at us. Clearly he knew something was upsetting me because his gaze kept flickering to me.
“Sorry he was drunk, but hopefully that helped.” Nate gave us a look like he knew we both hated the news. “I’m going to get going and let you two talk. I’ll see you around.”
He headed toward his horse. I was sure he could feel the tension choking the air around us.
I looked at Elowyn, and something inside me cracked wide open. I wanted to erase this night, erase that man’s words, erase the bond still pulsing in the back of my mind like a threat. We should have never gone to Falgon. We should have stayed home. We should have never stepped foot outside again so we could keep pretending this was ours, that we weren’t running out of time.
“Abram,” Elowyn began, her voice soft with worry. “Maybe we should talk—”
I kissed her. I kissed her before she could pull us into the truth I was not ready to face. I poured everything into it. The fear. The denial. The hopeless want that had lived in me since the moment I met her. If the heavens truly made me for someone else, then why in the hells did Elowyn feel like the only thing that would make me happy?
A sound tore from my chest as I lifted her into my arms, holding her like I could anchor myself with her alone. I carried her inside, desperate to drown out fate with the only choice I still had—her.
She wrapped her legs around me and clung to me like letting go meant losing me forever. The desperation in her hold punched the air from my lungs. I kicked the door shut behind us and carried her to the table, setting her on it with hands that shook more than I wanted to admit. Then I tore at our clothing like the fabric itself was the thing trying to keep her from me.
“Abram…”
“Please, I don’t want to talk. I want to lose myself to you.” I looked at her.
She looked at me with tears in her eyes and nodded. I gently pushed her back on the table so she was on her back, then leaned over her, kissing between her breasts. I trailed kisses down her stomach as she arched into my touch.
I dropped to my knees like my body couldn’t hold itself up without her. I dragged her to the edge of the table with a grip that shook, needing her closer, needing her now. My tongue ran up her pussy in one slow, starving stroke before I sucked her clit into my mouth. The moan she gave me punched straight into my chest, filling it with a longing so fierce I almost groaned against her.
I did it again, chasing that sound like it was the only thing that could keep me alive. It was burned into my mind, into my bones, into the part of me that wasn’t allowed to want her—but didanyway. She sighed, hips rising to meet my mouth, and I nearly lost myself right then.
I wrapped my arms around her legs and held her down, palms splayed over her stomach like I could keep her anchored to me. I couldn’t get enough. I didn’t want enough. I wanted everything.
My tongue dipped into her, tasting her, claiming her, and her loud moan made my head spin. I pushed my tongue in and out of her, desperate, frantic, worshipping her like she was the only thing left in my world.
“Abe…,” she cried softly. “Don’t stop.”
My mouth closed around her clit and sucked it gently before flicking my tongue over it. Her body started shaking against me. My movements became more frantic, like I would die if I didn’t have her cum all over my face.
I stuck my tongue out and yanked her pussy up and down it roughly until her hands slammed into the tabletop, looking for something to grip as her orgasm tore through her. Her moans had me closing my eyes tightly so I could keep that sound on repeat in my mind forever, and I stayed that way as she slowed down, riding out the finishing waves of pleasure.
As I stood, she was already sitting up and pulling me down to her mouth. Her tongue twisted with mine, tasting her own arousal as her hand stroked me. She pulled back and looked up through her dark lashes. Her honey-colored eyes pinned me to where I stood.
“You’re so pretty, little weaver,” I whispered.
She gave me a seductive smile as she leaned forward and kissed my bare chest. I pulled her hips toward me, and she adjusted me so I was sliding through her arousal.
“Fuck.” I moaned as my eyes closed.
“You like that?” she whispered. “I want you to open those eyes and watch me take all of you.”
My eyes snapped open, dragged to the sight of her guiding me to her entrance. She held me there, teasing, before sliding her hips forward and pushing down on my cock. Slow. Controlled. Torturous. I sank into her inch by inch.
“Godsdamn it,” I hissed when I finally settled all the way into her.
