Countless emotions slam into me at once—awe, surprise,betrayal, hurt—I don’t know what to do with it all. My Lightborne marking roars to life, illuminating the room around us in pure, white light. Without conscious thought, I pull my hands back, gather force, and shove Kael’s chest with every shred of strength I have in my body.
He stumbles back, surprise taking root in his expression, but I shove him again before he regroups.
“You fucking lied to me all this time!” I scream, voice shrill and hoarse with the effort. “You fucking liar!” The words tear out of me.
I pound my fists into his chest, but sobs wrack my body, stealing my strength.
I feel a faint wisp of cool air coiling around my legs, but I don’t care what it is or who is watching.
“I know,” Kael soothes, wrapping his arms around me but not stopping my fists. “I know.”
“I just want,” I say, sobbing and gasping for air, “to be wanted for me.”
Kael holds me, wrapping one of his firm, broad hands around my head and the other rubbing soothing circles on my back, “Elyssara, I want you.” He tilts my head back, locking eyes with me, “I want you, okay? I want you.” I want to believe him, and Stars fucking save me, but I do. I have no reason to believe him, but I do.
“I hate you,” I whisper, “But I want you, too.”
Then I realize the room is blanketed in darkness, shadows wrapping around us in a protective shield, insulating us from prying eyes and ears and soothing my magic, just as he soothed me.
“I hate that I want you,” I say, staring into his eyes, knowing that his arms are the safest and most dangerous place I’ll ever know.
He looks down at me with primal possession in his eyes, “It was always meant to be me and you, Duskae.” He strokes my hair back from my face, “I meant it when I said it the first time; you’re mine.” Then, his lips are on me.
Possessive, commanding, and seductive, he claims my mouth like he’s breathing after drowning. His tongue sweeps into my mouth, hot and dominant, tasting me, savoring me, devouring me.
I grab his tunic that’s splayed open over his chest, bunching it inmy hands. I push him away just enough to pry his lips from mine. I can’t want this. I will never trust him. Never know if there’s not another secret, another layer that he keeps buried inside. I’ll never know if I’m anything more than a game.
“You lied to me,” I pant, my mind muddled with the scent of him wrapping around me, caressing me, branding me.
He looks at me with carnal lust and something deeper that borders on obsession, “Do you want me to stop, Elyssara?” His hand lightly brushes over my hip, as he flicks his wicked tongue along his lower lip, and my traitorous fucking body goes languid at the sight.
Yes.
“No,” I rasp, desperate to get lost in his touch.
He frames my face with his hands, brushing back the strands that have fallen forward, and possesses my mouth with heat and intensity that turns me molten. He moves me backward to his bed, cupping my ass with one hand, and cradling my head with the other like I’m something sacred and breakable all at once. He lowers me down gently and unties my linen trousers and easily slips them over my hips and legs. “Let me worship you, El,” he says, the words a promise. “Let me show you how much I want you.”
A small moan escapes me, and I fucking hate that he can do this to me.
With slow, seductive precision, Kael removes my tunic and underthings, peeling them from me as if my body is something holy. He lays me bare before him, his gaze roaming every dip and hollow, before pausing at my pussy. I am dripping wet for him. Kael drops his head back and exhales deeply, “I fucking love how wet you get for me, El.”
He steps back, eyes still roaming my body, as if committing every inch to memory. “You are fucking perfection.”
I whimper then, barely able to contain my hunger for him. I want him to make me moan, to make me come apart beneath him, to make me forget everything that’s at stake.Everything he’s done.
“Will you let me fuck you like no one has ever fucked you before, Elyssara?” His voice a primal growl.
My pussy is dripping wet, my arousal running down my inner thighs. I give him a small nod.
“I’m going to need to hear you say it, El. Let me fuck you,” he commands.
I let out a huff of frustration, impatience and hunger wearing me down, “Fuck me, Kael,” I rasp the words, desperate for his touch again.
“That’s my girl,” Kael unties the laces of his leathers, the long, hard length of his cock springing free, and I can’t help but moan at the sight.
“Can I taste you first, Duskae?” he asks, arousal thick in his words.
“Yes,” I pant.
