As a bird crashed through the branches overhead in a flash of orange, Cal shifted down her body, eager and impatient. Her stomach jumped at the first touch of his mouth. She tried to cover herself again, and again, he batted her hands away withanother chastising clip of teeth. He kissed her belly, the smooth opaline expanse broken only by the well of her navel; he dipped his tongue into it before biting the downy skin beneath. Her fingers bit into his scalp when she felt his breath between her legs.
He bit playfully at her inner thigh, following that dimpled crease to the juncture between them covered in silky brown curls, which made her whimper. Cal spread her as wide as he could and bent his head, voracious in his willingness to devour. She moaned at the first lash of his tongue against her clit; it was a punishing kiss, rough and textured, honed by years of need left unfulfilled. It made her buck against his face, pulling at his hair hard enough that he felt a ripple of pain move across his skull like scattershot.
Without yielding, he slid two fingers into her cunt, plunging them deep, coating himself in her arousal as he worked her over with his tongue and teeth. She obliged him beautifully, writhing beneath him, hips flexing as she sought to gain control over the pace, but Cal pushed down against her, not bothering to be gentle.
Pleasure made her unfurl beneath him like an exotic orchid in full bloom. One of her hands was on her breast again, but now she was moaning softly, fingers moving in time to his thrusts. He was painfully hard now, pre-come spilling over his crown and down his shaft as he took in her flushed face and dripping cunt, her nipples kissed sore and red.
“You’re going to love it, Nadine,” he told her roughly. “You’re going to be begging me to have you every possible way, and I’m going to punish you by obliging.” Her eyes lifted to his, heavy and pleasure-drunk. “You raise my blood, little sparrow. You, and only you. And if you knew what that meant, you’d fucking run like hell. But you won’t, will you? Not now.”
“Cal, I—”
“You won’t,” he said. “Because if you do, I’ll find you—and I’ll catch you. I won’t put you into the green book, Nadine, but I’ll fuck you until you think you’re dead.”
Then he finished her off, making her scream so loudly that she startled the birds from the trees. “Ohgod,” she cried out, and he thought,Yes, darling—for you, in this place, I am.
When it seemed as if she could stand no more, Cal plunged his cock into her on a single stroke, until her breath left her body and her belly cradled the sharp just of her hipbones and her heart was knocking against his chest like it wanted to leap inside.
He ground his hips once, listening for the catch in her throat and—yes, fuckingthere.
Thatwas the sound that haunted his dreams.
After so many times together, her body could sheathe him like a glove crafted from silk and sea; her fingers wore grooves in his shoulders every time he grazed her still-tender clit, her face torn between pain and rapture as his thrusting cock stretched her to fullness and his arousal slicked her passage, allowing him to more precisely control both depth and speed.
She didn’t need a ring when she wore his marks like a troth.
Groaning, he commanded, “Give me your throat.”
Nadine turned her head obediently, and he sank his teeth into her on the next hard stroke, reaching out for her hand and caging her fingers beneath his as he branded her with his seed in this forest of ghosts, with the taste of her blood in his mouth like an unholy benediction.
C H A P T E R
S E V E N T E E N
bound to his infernal heart
The darkness of Ravensgate was absolute. In the absence of twinkling city lights, it reigned unchallenged, absorbing both sight and sound like a supermassive black hole.
Under the mantle of that very darkness, Cal lay in his sparrow’s bed, running his fingers through her hair as she slept, weaving the feather-soft strands into an idle plait before loosing it once more, over and over, until he wearied of the exercise and bent to kiss her throat.
How different would things be if she had come to him? If he’d had time to win her at his leisure like coaxing a shy creature from the trees, to give her some of the tenderness she craved?
Nadine stirred in response to his touch, her moan of protest going ravaged as she realized she was no longer alone. Turning to face him with a rustle of sheets, her breaths became unsteady. “It was you.” Her voice crackled. “You’ve been sneaking into my room.”
Cal let the words take substance, growing sharp and pointed like stalactites clinging to the mouth of a stubborn cave. “You say my name in your sleep.” He took his hand from her, resting it on his stomach instead. “Did you know that?”
“They weren’t good dreams.” She spoke defensively, clutching the sheets to her chest as if they could shield her from her own desires.
“Not ever?” He leaned forward again. “Not even the ones that leave you gasping?”
“They were nightmares,” she said, though she didn’t sound as certain this time.
“Well.”
Cal recaptured the lock of hair he’d been playing with, winding it around his finger. She shot upright, grazing him in the process, and her bare arm against his torso elicited a cascade of sensation that was like ice sliding down a parched throat.
“I’d rather be in your nightmares than not have you dream of me at all, Nadine.”
She didn’t reply, but she didn’t have to. He knew the depths and flavors of her silences like he knew the cadence of her breaths and the tastes of her body. He swung his leg over her thigh, kneeling astride her hips. Clasping her fingers, bracketing flesh with bone, he pinned her hand to the bed with one hand, the other reaching into his pants to slide himself free.
