Wanting to give him the same, I close my eyes. I’m met with the ribbon of light that is the runic bond.
I let my mind roam toward Alexus, let myself drift on that silken ribbon. It still feels dangerous as I face the darkness between us, that seething void that awaits me every time I seek our connection. It feels as though I’m a moment away from falling off the edge of the world and entering a darkness from which I will never return.
But then I’m with him, and I know he feels me and my longing to give him a fraction of what he’s given me. My adoration. My trust. My desire and yearning.
“Fuck yes, Raina,” he whispers against my mouth. “I swear to the gods that nothing else exists when I’m inside you. Nothing but us. The Empyreal Fields are not as perfect as this.”
I kiss his bearded cheek and press my face to his. I feel the same way. Good or bad. Villain or hero. Light or darkness. Right now I cannot care, because of this feeling. Of him. Inside me. Bound to me.
It’s everything.
Moved by the emotion between us, he kisses me, our mouths open and hungry. When he finally pulls away, he buries his face in the crook of my shoulder, hooks my ankle over his hip, and in one swift and punishing stroke, plunges all that breathtaking hardness inside me.
Gasping, I bury my fingers in his hair and arch my spine, so wonderfully filled with him. He grips my ass and pushes in even deeper, until I can’t think of anything other than the incandescent desire flooding my veins.
He rests his forehead against mine, closes his hand on my thigh, and begins to move, slowly at first, and with the same expertise that shocks me each time he takes me. It isn’t long before he’s thrusting, tip to root, each deep rub angled perfectly. Somehow, he knows exactly how to ride that tender place inside me that sends my mind reeling.
But that pulsating energy…
That concentrated power…
I can hardly stand it. Each withdrawal and advance muddles the remains of any coherent thought I’ve tried to hold on to.
An almost pained sound of deepest need leaves Alexus as I tighten my legs around his waist and curve my hips toward his. I’m fully aware of what it does to him, but I’m utterly stunned by what it does to me with this new sensation pulsing inside me.
My release still looms so close, and Alexus seems to sense it, perhaps through the bond, because after a powerful thrust that pushes my entire body up the fur beneath us, he pulls out.
All the air rushes from my lungs, my orgasm left teetering on the edge of a cliff as he pushes to his knees, hooks his arms under my legs, and drags me close. With those strong hands, he presses my legs apart.
“Do you like it when I taste you?” He drags his thumb along my slit and licks my wetness off the tip. “When my tongue is inside you?”
Any remaining composure crumbles to nothing. Wanton, I nod and lift my hips again, bearing myself completely. A desperate plea.
A wicked grin curves his mouth. “Always so eager,” he says, tightening his grip on my thighs. “What must I do to teach you a little patience?”
I begin to reply, the words burning inside my hands absolutely lascivious. But the orbs of light flicker around Alexus like moths drawn to a candle’s flame, and I become captivated by the sight of his rugged, scarred body kneeling in their golden aura. His knees are spread wide, his slick cock hard and jutting, the broad head swollen and ready.
With his green gaze on my body, hunger raging in his eyes like he could devour me, he buries his mouth between my legs and licks a long line up my center.
My eyes roll back, and I tangle my hands into his hair as he teases my clit with his tongue, his magick trickling over that sensitive bud. I could come from this alone, but Alexus is a master with my body, knowing exactly how much is too little and how much is enough. Right now, he withholds, keeping me teetering on a cliff’s edge, plunging his tongue inside me like he can’t get deep enough.
When he finally lifts his dark head, lips glistening, those bright, feral eyes almost silver in the orbs’ light, a shiver crawls up my spine.
He is glorious.
He rises to his knees and angles his tip toward my entrance. “Much as I want to taste your release, and I swear I fucking will, soon, I need to feel you come. There’s little sweeter than that tight little flutter on my cock.”
Gods. I almost sign that if he doesn’t stop talking like that, it’s going to happen sooner rather than later. But he pushes inside me, deep and slow, just like I asked for, stealing my breath and staying my words, every delicious inch of him threatening to unravel me.
As he moves his hips, taking his time, he splays his hand across my abdomen and touches his thumb to my clit, rubbing circles with perfect pressure. It feels so good, so needed, my body clamps down on him in response.
He utters a guttural sound, and the pulse of magick in his cock intensifies, making me writhe and pant, my hands clutching the fur beneath me.
“Fuck all, Raina. If I could do this the way I want, the earth would quake from here to the godsdamn sea.”
The promise in his words sends a surge of excitement through me—and through the bond—and with a ravenous ferocity of my own, I meet his long thrusts, forcing him deeper, aching as his building release swells, mingling with the awareness of my own threatening climax.
I reach for him, and as though compelled by my need, he crawls over me. With that beautiful face staring down, I draw him into a bruising kiss, keeping us close so I can swallow the too-loud sighs and moans that will inevitably leave him.
