I freeze.
“Kaia—”
“Hold me there.” Her voice is soft but certain. “I want you to hold me there. I want to feel you everywhere. I want to give you everything.”
Something breaks open in my chest.
I reach up. Wrap my fingers around both her wrists. Pin them gently but firmly to the furs above her head.
She arches into me immediately — a full-body shiver, her breath catching, her pupils blowing wide.
“Yes,” she breathes. “Like that. Just like that.”
I hold her there. Let her feel the weight of my grip. Let her feel how much I want this — how much I’ve always wanted this.
“Look at me,” I murmur.
She does. Violet eyes dark with need, lips swollen from my kisses, cheeks flushed with pleasure.
“I love you.” The words come easier than I expected. Maybe because I’ve been holding them for centuries. “I have loved you since you were a child looking up at my dragon like I was something beautiful instead of something terrifying. I have loved you through time and death and realms. I will love you until the stars burn out and the gods forget their names.”
Tears slip down her temples.
“Kieran—”
I push into her.
Slow. Inch by inch. Giving her time to adjust to the size of me, the stretch.
Her head falls back, mouth open on a silent cry. Her wrists strain against my grip. Her legs fall open wider, welcoming me deeper.
“You feel—” She can’t finish. Can’t form words. “Kieran.”
I seat myself fully inside her and hold still.
She’s so tight. So warm. Soperfectthat I have to close my eyes and breathe through the urge to come right now.
“I can feel you,” she gasps. “Through the bond — I can feel everything you’re feeling—”
“I know.” I press deeper, impossibly deeper, and she moans. “I feel it too. Everything. Your pleasure. Your need. Your love.”
I start to move.
Slow at first. Long, deep strokes that drag against every sensitive spot inside her. She whimpers with each one, her hips trying to roll up to meet me, her wrists pulling against my grip.
“More,” she breathes. “Please, Kieran. I need more.”
“Tell me what you need.”
“Harder.” She wraps her legs around my waist, heels digging into my back. “Faster. I need— I need—”
I give her what she needs.
The pace breaks. My control shatters.
I drive into her — hard, deep, relentless. She meets every thrust with a roll of her hips and a cry that echoes through the empty hall. The sound of our bodies coming together fills the space. Wet. Obscene.Perfect.
She pulls against my grip on her wrists — not to get free, just to feel it. Just to feel held. Just to feelowned.
