“And you have,” Vexen's voice went primal—deeper and darker than usual. “Now it's time to speed up.”
“What was it that you wanted again?”
He growled at me and snapped his teeth together, baring his fangs.
I laughed harder, but also lowered myself between his legs. I didn't have far to go. His cock was reaching for me, stretching long and proud across the distance. I'd never be able to get all of it inside my mouth. I'd have to take him down my throat or in hand. I chose to wrap my hand around his base.
“Oh, fuck!” Vexen's hips jerked up into my grip. “Ember!”
I gaped at him, all humor gone. Vex looked feral. Desperate.
“All right, baby,” I said as I went down on him.
I didn't bother with teasing, not with him in that state. I just gobbled as much of him as I could. A happy rumbling came from Vex as his taste delighted my tongue. I inhaled deeply, his scent enhancing that male flavor. And then I was bobbing over him, my lips tight around his hard flesh and my fist grippinghis base like a sword. The feel of his silky skin over my tongue was the pinnacle of lust, taking my treat into divine territory. I groaned and relaxed my throat, taking him deeper.
“Enough,” Vex nearly shouted. “I need to be inside you now, Ember!”
I sat up. “How do you—”
He was already moving, driving me onto my back and spreading my legs, my head at the foot of the bed. Vex had the maneuver down perfect, moving gracefully into position and pressing against my entrance without having to angle himself. But he was so long that when he pushed forward, his shaft shifted aside. Vex snarled and let go of my left leg to reach between us and steady his cock.
It prodded. Gently. All that savagery contained out of concern for me. It made me love him even more. And with that burst of heart energy, the binding magic gathered strength. I felt my wraith collecting it to take upward.
“Vex,” I said.
“Easy, love,” Vex said. “I've almost got you loosened enough.”
“Vex,” I moaned. “Hurry.”
The magic shimmered beneath my skin, and I writhed in lust and love, drowning in it. Vex finally noticed that things were not as they would normally be. Something was a bit unusual. He paused to gape at me.
“Vex!” I shouted.
Vexen's hips shot forward, and we groaned together as he penetrated me at last. Ecstasy took over, winding its way up my spine only to spin around my wraith and dive back to my cock. I jerked and shuddered as Vex worked deeper and deeper, going further than anyone before him. Almost too far. I was worried for a second, but then his hips hit my thighs and his pelvis pressed into my balls. He was as deep as he could go. Thank the Goddess. Any further and I would have had to stop him.
“Ember,” Vex sighed. “You feel amazing.” He pumped slowly in and out.
“Vex!” I couldn't hold back anymore.
My wraith, white and blinding as a ray of sunshine, barreled out of me and into Vex. He jerked back with the hit, but then drove forward, his body instinctively thrusting, continuing the joining. The claiming. But who claimed who?
A piece of my soul. That's what my wraith was. And it was inside Vexen. I could feel him. His intricacies. The poetry and the violence. My warrior bard. He was a complicated work of art. Then he bent forward, those pale green eyes full of love and shining with magic. His braids swayed with him, the fall of his dark hair framing his face, but his glowing eyes caught the highlights in those strands and turned them gold. He shone.
“I love you, Ember,” Vex said. “And I see all of you now. I love you even more than before. You are beautiful.”
“So are you.” I pushed back his hair, then eased him down for a kiss.
Vex slowed his pumping to kiss me, my soul still churning inside him. Finding its home. It was his now. A piece of me to keep. My hand slid down the side of his throat and over hischest. That's when I realized that my wraith wasn't trying to settle, it was dancing. My soul was ecstatic to be inside Vex. It rose under my palm to brush joyfully against me. We were home at last.
Vex arched forward, sliding out of our kiss as his head went back. His powerful jaw opened on a roar, and then he was thrusting and thrusting, and I had to brace myself to take him. I grabbed the back of my knees and pulled, giving him the freedom to go wild. With an approving snarl, Vex bent over me and did just that.
I stared up into his savage face, the skin pulled tight and sharp fangs bared, and thought there was nothing as beautiful as Vex in that moment. Hair swinging, eyes flashing, and cock surging, he was more than a warrior or a poet. More than a man. He was a tiger. A force of nature. All the elements combined to create a miracle. Seeing him like that was all I needed. I shuddered and let myself go, squeezing around him as I reached my bliss.
That must have been exactly what Vex needed. Because as he watched me climax, he shuddered. Somehow, he managed to hold back until I finished, and then he was locked up against me, emptying into me, his body bowed into magnificence and glowing with our bond.
Coming down from that was a shuddering ride for both of us, but Vex managed to roll to one side of me and then pull me in against him. I didn't have the strength to do more than sprawl there, my cheek pillowed on his chest.
“That was . . .” Vex whispered.
