“Ido.” Aofe smiled, tugging his hand to rest over her heart. “I feel it right here. A little piece of you. And maybe we don’t have the same language for it, but the concept of a bonded soul… I know it exists, because I met you. Because you are myhome, Kizros, and I love you more than anything.”
Kizros leaned forward to kiss her, meetingher smile with his own as he pulled her into his arms. She sank into his body, holding on and returning his passion with one he’d tasted on her before but never fully experienced.
He nipped at her lip, then whispered, “You’re still on that adrenaline high, aren’t you?”
Aofe nodded against him, breath coming quickly. “So much.”
“I need to be inside you, right now.”
“Yup. That. Please.” She licked along his jaw, but just as she pressed a kiss under his ear, she jerked back. “Wait, what about…”
Aofe made a strange motion with her chin, and after several awkward seconds, he finally understood.
Kizros looked up to see Tholvich still very much conscious, glaring down as Tim pulled him further and further into his depths. “The guard is probably too busy with the Dreadmoor monster to help us right now?—”
“The what?”
“—but he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Unless Tim swallows him, but we’ve got an hour or so before that happens.” He smirked. “Too bad my cock is going to be buried in Aofe the rest of the night. We’ll dig your bones out in the morning.”
Tholvich’s eyes widened in fear, but Kizros was already scooping Aofe into his arms and heading for the stairs.
22
FAVORITE COLOR
Aofe
Aofe didn’t break her kiss, even as Kizros not-so-gracefully collapsed onto the bed with her straddling him. She was on fire, the heat from his body fueling the swirling emotions in her chest.
Kizros loved her. Just as she loved him.
“Wait, wait,” she muttered, though she didn’t actually stop herself as she unhooked the buttons from Kizros’s shirt. Not that Kizros had much restraint either, one hand firmly tangled in her hair as he tilted her head to kiss her neck, avoiding a tender spot she didn’t remember getting from the fight. “Tim’s not really going to eat him, right?”
“Hmm, don’t care after he threatened you,” he grunted, tossing his glasses aside before diving back to the hollow ofher throat and replacing the soreness with something much nicer. “I didn’t see what rune you made, so while it’s possible, I don’t think your intention was to devour or consume when you cast it.”
As disgusting as that idea was, it didn’t dampen her mood as she slid Kizros’s shirt off his shoulders. “I just wanted him away from me and to keep him from doing any more damage to the shop. I think I also was sick of listening to him talk.”
Kizros huffed against her skin, heated palms sliding under her sweater while she ground down on his hardness. “Fuck, that’s hot, sunshine. Remind me to be concerned about encouraging violence from you later.”
“Maybe I could try a rune that tiesyouup this time?”
Something shattered and then crashed to her left, and Aofe reluctantly pulled away from Kizros, who muttered a curse. His tail had dropped her crutch, but in the process, knocked the glass of water off the table.
And tipped the table.
“Shit, I forgot your other crutch,” he muttered, hands flexing against her ribs. He sat up straighter, presumably to go and retrieve it, but Aofe placed a hand on his chest.
“Later.” She’d managed before, with difficulty, but there was another reason she stopped him now. “Just… don’t leave.”
With one heavy look, Aofe knew he saw every meaning of her words.
Don’t leave me alone.
Don’t leave me when we’re done.
Don’t leave me.
Kizros’s hands left her skin, but then he was cupping her cheeks to hold her gaze. “Never, Aofe. Honestly, you’re about to be sick of me because it’s going to take a lot of effort to not be constantly touching you after everything today.” He leaned in, kissing her so hard and long she forgot what she’d ever been worried about. Especially when he whispered against her lips, “I need to know how you’re feeling because I have some very imaginative ideas on how I’ll be claiming you tonight.”
