A shadow wraps around her throat, a dark collar against flushed skin.
Another tightens along her ribs, staking its claim without mercy.
The boldest of them slides between us, tracing the curve of her collarbone before curling beneath her jaw, lifting her chin, offering her to me.
Aurora exhales a sharp, needy breath, and my shadows pulse in response. She commands them as easily as she commands me.
The power she has to make me submit? To bring me to my knees? To turn me into something desperate?
It’s utterly terrifying.
I kiss her with all the hunger the void left behind, the kind of dark hunger that demands bruised lips and gnashing teeth. The kind of hunger that consumes everything in its path and still isn’t satisfied.
My shadows snap around us, their rhythm faltering, their control slipping.
Even the darkness pulls closer, as if it can’t help but worship her too.
I grip her like I’ll fall apart if I let go. Then I break the kiss with a curse, dragging myself back just far enough to meet her eyes.
There’s more fire than moss now.
It’s so fucking beautiful.
She’s so fucking beautiful.
“Are you ready, Aurora? I know you said the words I needed to hear, but it’s okay if you’ve changed your mind.”
The dark, primal thing inside of me rages, urging me to take what’s mine.
That thing has had control over me for millennia.
I want to do better … be better.
Especially for her.
“Yes, Ezra. I’m ready. Please,” she breathes, her slick heat dragging along my cock with every desperate grind.
I run my knuckles down her soft cheek, then take a moment to memorize every detail of this moment. Once she claims her power, everything will change.
I plant my hands on the bed beside her head and settle between her thighs.
I drag my cock between her slick folds, teasing her clit until she bucks beneath me. I don’t want to cause her any pain, so I ease my hips forward, pushing into her, inch by inch.
Her hips lift off the bed, dragging me deeper, like her body’s known me for lifetimes. The last few inches of my cock sink into her, and something primal and broken tears out of me.
The growl escapes before I can stop it. The darkest part of me doesn’t want to stop. It wants to break her, to fuck her until she’s sobbing and begging for mercy.
Instead, I slowly pull out, savoring the way her tight walls cling to me, begging me to stay nestled in her heat. Then I ease back in, taking my time, until I’m buried deep again. Every shift of her hips sharpens my senses, coiling my restraint tighter.
“Are you well, Aurora?”
She doesn’t answer with words. Just breath and heat and the sharp rise of her chest.
“Ezra.” She breathes my name like a threat. “Shut up and fuck me.”
Her eyes snap open, and I swear the fire in them sears itself into my skin.
That look makes me ache. Not just in my cock, but somewhere deeper. Somewhere I thought was long-dead and hollow.
