“Lead the way, little bird.”
Damien and I excused ourselves from the room. He shut the door behind us as I walked across the white tile to start the shower.
Once the shower was on, I turned around as Damien caged me against the glass door. The cold surface on my back was welcome as my body heated from Damien's proximity.
He groaned, leaning closer until his forehead met mine. “This dragon shit is more complicated than I thought. Why can’t you just make our bond snap into place so I can keep you safer?”
My breath caught as his breath fanned over my lips. “If I could, I would.”
“I want to punish you for making me wait,” he growled, and pain flashed in his eyes. “I’ve been obsessed with you since day one, and yet you’ve mated a firedrake and a fae before me.”
“Damien,” I gasped. “I—”
“There’s no fucking reason I should be so fucking dependent on you, but I am.” He edged closer, his nose touching mine. “You’re my mate, little bird. I don’t care if we don't have the matebond. Let me mate you.”
“How?” I rasped, my body buzzing with need.
“Shadow demons mark their mate with a tendril of their shadow. I essentially give you a piece of me.” He chuckled. “As if you don’t own every part of me anyway... You’ll be able to wield this tendril too. It’ll help make you safer.”
“Done. Mark me,” I whispered, and my heart thumped in my throat. “Damien, I love you.”
His irises expanded, and his lips parted in shock. “My little bird loves me…”
“I do.” I reached up and cupped his face. “I have for a while.”
“My little bird fucking loves me,” he repeated and stepped back.
Using his powers to open the shower door, he unbuttoned each button before stripping me out of Rowan’s shirt until I was fully naked in front of him.
“So fucking perfect.” His eyes were wide with emotion, and he used his powers to undress himself, and in moments, he stood in front of me bare.
My gaze scoured each part of his exposed, toned body. His tattoos were so thick there were only small gaps of skin uninked within them, and they seemed to move as if they were actually the shadows themselves.
He reached down and grabbed himself, and I bit down on my lip as I ran my gaze over the length of him. There were iridescent sound waves on his inner thigh from his academy mark, and it was beautiful. A glint of light bounced off the silver jewel adorning the tip of his penis, and I sucked in a breath.
“Are you ready, little bird?”
“Yes,” I breathed.
“I don’t think I have it in me to be gentle. Not when I’ve waited so long for you.” He tongued one of his lip rings as his gaze raked down my body and back.
“I can take it.”
“Yes, you can.” His eyes twinkled, and his shadows wrapped around my body until I was floating at eye level. His cold shadows tightened around my limbs and waist, moving me into the shadow and the stream of water hit my back, and I wriggled against the bindings of his shadows.
A dark chuckle left his lips as he stepped into the shadow and shut the door behind him. “You look so good bound by my shadows, little bird.”
My skin prickled with heat, and desire coated my inner thighs.
He twirled his finger and spread my legs wider before dropping to his knees and bringing me toward him, suspended in the air. “So wet for me already.”
“You know what you do to me,” I whined, every sensitive spot on me throbbing in need.
“But do you know what you do to me?” he asked before his tongue licked from my opening up to my nub painfully slow.
“Damien, please,” I rasped, my body jerking with each moment that passed. “I don’t want to wait any longer. Mark me."
He rose to his feet, licking up my body until he stopped between my breasts. “This is the perfect spot.”
