“You look so good with my knot inside you,” he purred, rough and low. Anguish and bliss collided in his words as his powerful climax shook them both. “Better than I imagined. You were made to take me, weren’t you? I need you to come on it, Ves. Come for me.” Working a hand between them, his fingers brushed against her clit.
She was made and undone in that single touch from him. Her mind fractured as ripples of exquisite pain and heated pleasure overtook every single nerve. “Kedar!” she cried out.
“Give me all of it,” he said through gritted teeth as he pressed into her, holding her upright with his body as much as his arms.
It was no mere orgasm. It was every moment she had wanted him. Every unspoken desire. It was seven years of hatred, five years of devotion. Every infinite possibility, every decision they didn’t make. There was no cold, no cave. No vengeance or heartache. They’d stripped each other of weapons and armor, loss and lies, until there was nothing left of them but this. They began and ended here.
Vessa convulsed in his arms, wept. Each time she felt herself coming down, a new wave of infinite pleasure overtook her.
Hours passed, or maybe only minutes. But it was Kedar who dropped to his knees, dragging her down with him.
They were both wrung out. Irrevocably altered. They’d taken everything they could from each other.
Almost.
With his head thrown back, the thick column of his throat was exposed to her. She leaned forward and ran her tongue up the side of it. He tasted of salt and sin. “Sit,” she commanded before sinking her teeth into his flesh, nipping him hard.
Every muscle in his body strained as he made the simple transition to move onto the cold stone of the cavern floor. He let out a shuddering breath as she ground her hips experimentally against him. His knot was still thick inside of her but slowly releasing. “Please,” he rasped.
And she understood his plea.
They were chest to chest, embracing, his hands grasping her ass reverently. Their sweat and blood mixed together. She reached up and pushed her fingertips beneath his mask. “You’ll face me now,” she said. “There is no honor between us. Only this mess we’ve made.”
He didn’t stop her, but his chest heaved as she lifted the helmet off him and let it fall amongst the shattered remains of the icicles.
The remaining flarelight revealed his secrets to her. His dark, blue-purple lips parted in pleasure and agony, his four pointed fangs exposed and gleaming. Carved cheekbones and a chiseled jaw. Thick strands of void-black hair stuck up messily where it was longer. But it was his eyes she wanted to see most. They were in shadow, and she tilted his head to find him staring at her with such an open expression she could see every emotion in them. Every galaxy, every future, was held in the stars of his violet eyes. They were at once familiar andmore. They were absolutelydevastating.She searched them, was lost and found in them. “I see you,” she murmured, lifting her fingertips to his cheeks.
He wrapped his hand around her neck, fisted her hair, drawing her face closer to his until they shared breath. “I seeyou.” His voice was a broken thing meant only for her. “And I yield to you.”
She dragged her tongue across his bottom lip as she lifted her hips high off him and sank down again. He made a hissed sound of pleasure as his calloused hands traced down her sides and landed on her waist.
She grabbed his chin, met his wide-pupiled gaze. He wasstarvedfor her. And that same hunger lived inside her. “I’m going to ride you slow.” She ground against him before rising up again. “You thought having me would fix it all, but only ruin is found here.”
He pulled her in closer, causing her back to arch. His fangs scraped against her neck and his tongue trailed a path across the Xaal mark he’d given her long ago. “Then ruin me, Ves.”
She was a dark cosmic queen upon the throne she’d conquered.
And she would have his soul next.
Chapter 15
Vessa
Vessa lost time in the aftermath of their apocalypse.
In their exhaustion, there were no more sharp words or weapons to be used. No more energy for fury or bitterness. All that remained were their vulnerabilities with no armor to protect them.
Kedar cleaned her while whispering into her flesh devotion and regrets she only caught pieces of. His fangs grazed her as his tongue traveled over small cuts she’d sustained. His hands were everywhere, gripping and exploring.
Then he held her without reservation. Without needing to accomplish anything other than touching her. He held her like this was what he’d been hunting for these last seven years.
Vessa had yearned for it, too. Even as she hated him. Why else had she never let anyone in? Her face was buried against his neck, and she breathed in his scent. It was night moss and salt, sanctuary andhome. It had always been him. It always would be.
But it couldn’t last.
“I owe you the truth,” Kedar rumbled.
She propped herself up on his chest. Those violet eyes she’d dreamed of more than she cared to admit took her in. Every time he looked at her, he searched her face like it was she who had worn a mask all this time. “And I need to hear it.”
