Willow’s tenuous control shatters. Her entire body shakes as she sobs against my chest.
I sink down to the floor with her held in my arms, rubbing her back in slow circles, whispering words of love with my lips pressed to her hair until she has no more tears to cry.
Silence holds sway as I help her remove her bloodstained clothes, then shed the rest of mine and guide her into the shower. The water runs red, and as I brush Willow’s hair away from her neck, my rage threatens to boil over.
Despite the healing power of the vampire’s blood, deep purple bruises mar her collarbone, her arms, both shoulders, and several ribs. But that’s not the worst of the devastation raged over her body. An angry red scar rings her throat. She shies away when I skim my finger just below the mark. “Don’t…please.”
“Killian said power chains were unbreakable. How did you manage?—“
“Love.” She shudders, despite the heat of the spray. “And the strength of all the whispers who came before. The grimoire condemned every one of the Whisper Keepers to death because that’s all it ever showed them. They spent centuries trapped in the void. Afraid. Alone. But they figured it out.Wefigured it out. The only way to survive was to do it together.”
Sweeping her against me, I claim her lips. Willow melts in my arms, but kisses me back with such passion, my cock springs to life, and a low growl rumbles in my throat.
“Gabriel,” she pants when we come up for air. “I need… Make me feelalive.”
I press her back against the wall and turn off the spray. Avoiding her bruises proves difficult. My lips graze her collarbone. She whimpers, but it is not pain in her tone. It is need. So pure and raw, it almost overwhelms me.
Raining kisses over her skin, to the hollow of her throat just below the scar, down to her breasts, her waist, all the way to her mound, I savor every moan, every tremor, and the scent of her arousal.
“You are so fucking wet, my love. I would take you right here if I could wait another second to taste you.”
Willow braces her arms against the shower walls as I swipe my tongue through her folds. She is rain. Spring. Love.
Sliding two fingers deep in her channel, I pump my hand in time with my tongue lapping at her clit. It takes only minutes forher to fly apart, screaming my name as her body quakes and her knees go weak.
I catch her before she falls. “Hold onto me,deliciae.For what comes next, this shower is much too small.”
Her breath hitches, and a fresh wave of her arousal washes over me. “I need you inside me,” she pleads, her voice husky from her release.
I wrap her in one of the black, fluffy towels and carry her into the bedroom. “You will have everything you need soon enough.”
Her hooded eyes flutter as I lay her down, then suck one peaked nipple into my mouth. Willow’s back arches. Her soft moans are life itself to me now.
“I am going to memorize every inch of you,” I whisper against her skin. “What you like. What you need. What makes you scream.”
She shudders as I kiss my way along her collarbone. “Gabriel. Please…”
Sinking her fingers into my damp hair, she angles my head and guides me to her mouth. Her tongue demands entrance. I let her take the control she needs—for now. I will claim her pleasure soon enough.
Pain prickles along my scalp as she tightens her grip. The sensation shoots straight to my cock, and I groan. How can this one woman wield so much power over me? I have laid my soul bare for her, and I would do it again a thousand times over.
Her hips swivel in the most delicious way. My hard length rasps against her clit. A drop of my seed escapes. Willow breaks off the kiss and licks her lips.
“Can I…?”
“My love, you never need to ask. I am yours until the end of time itself.”
She scoots back against a mound of pillows, tiny lines of pain bracing her eyes. Fuck me. She is too fragile to have my cockin her mouth tonight. But she will not be deterred. “Help me. I need this—and what comes next—more than anything.”
I get to my knees, straddling her so my cock is only inches from her glistening lips.
“You test my control, Willow. I want to be inside you in any way—in every way.” Bracing one hand on the headboard, I give my length a stroke with the other.
Her eyes follow my movements. Another drop of my seed escapes. Willow scents me. She licks her lips. Her tongue sweeps over my crown.
Fuck. Willow teases me with the lightest of touches before she surges forward and wraps her hand around the base of my shaft.
I’m sucked deep in a single move. Willow hollows out her cheeks and takes me all the way to the back of her throat. She knows what she wants—and how to take it. That someone so pure, so innocent, so brilliant would want an angel like me for a partner is?—“
