Her fingers moved delicately along his length, the underside of him, the tip, treating him to the same torturous movements he’d teased her with. Smirking at each gasp and curse that left his lips. Then, she knelt in front of him, her tongue following the same path as her fingers. Soaking up his taste, his sounds. Moaning against him as he gripped her hair, not to force but just tofeelher there.
She memorized every inch so she’d never forget the feel of him in her hand, her mouth, and inside her.
Only when he was trembling did she stand and wrap her legs around his waist, positioning him at her core. Gripping the hard muscles of his shoulders, she expected all four hells to be unleashed, but her gods-damned dragon was not done torturing her either.
Cason pushed in so slowly, she actually swore. Inch by torturous inch, he watched her with a fierceness that lit her insides on fire.
He only chuckled when he was finally seated inside her, then dipped his mouth to her breast as he withdrew slowly. She swore again, then lost all words as his teeth bit down on her nipple at the same time he plunged in.Hard.
His hands tightened on her hips, another cruelly slow withdrawal before another deep thrust shoved her against the wall. The wood groaned at the impact. But he remained content to hold her there, to circle his tongue around her breast and up her neck. Denying her desperate attempts to get him to go harder, faster,anything.
Brela wove her fingers through his hair and tilted his head until he was looking at her.
“Four hells, Cason,” she breathed. Then couldn’t help herself as she hauled him to her kiss, dragged her teeth over his lower lip, and whispered against his mouth. “Let it burn.”
The dragon smirked.
And then everything became roaring fire and crackling lightning and smoky darkness. He pounded into her until she was sure the wood behind her was going to splinter. She lost track of where shadow wolf ended and dragon began. Cason was ravenous, she was insatiable, and together they were going to burn all four hells.
Release ripped through her again—faster, stronger—her name on his lips as he came shortly after.
That’s when she felt it. The ripple of power that echoed through the room… and through her. Fire seeking shadow, curling around her magic. She nearly screamed in fear, but could only gasp in realization. That fire was prodding, not to burn, but to understand. Tapping against her fortress, seeking a hold.
It was… it wascaressingthe obsidian walls. Hickory smoke wrapping around something subtle. Something that wasmissingbut right there, just out of reach. Begging it to come out and play.
That bond. It wanted her to accept the tug.
But she couldn’t.
Brela blinked, and it severed. She fell back into herself, still shattering, still crying out, but it hurt. She was rupturing—not her body, but her soul. Denying what she so desperately wanted, because she could never truly have him. He could never truly have her, either. Not now, not ever.
This was ending. Permanently.
For his own good. For her own life.
But she could still pretend for a few more days. She could live in her perfect world for just a little longer. She could experiencethis momentbefore she ran out of time.
Cason pressed his forehead against hers, still holding her against the wall though he sagged slightly. Panting and completely unaware of what his magic had found inside her.
Thank the gods.
They sank together, and she wasted no time in pestering him with little kisses everywhere. His lips, cheeks, brow. Along the swirls of perception ink, the jagged points of lightning tattoos, and the endless yet insufficient fire marks. She kissed him until his laugh nearly melted her into his body again, then kissed him again until he was forced to restrain her against his chest so he could recover.
Brela swallowed those three words she wanted to whisper, shoved them deep into her fortress along with the shattered remains of that bond, and let his hands run idly up and down her spine until his fingers stilled.
Under the stars, limbs tangled, she watched Cason sleep.
Peaceful. Beautiful.
And though she knew the tattoos better than she knew her own skin, she leaned up and memorized them once more.
48
Darkness Eternal
Once dreading this trip to begin, Cason now dreaded the end.
Time continued to pass as it always did, but it felt too quick. The days were too short, the endless grasslands fading into mountains faster than they should have.
