But one thing I did know was that I didn’t want anything between us. I shook my head and pushed his hand away. “No.”
Dathal tossed it over his shoulder, his wicked expression promising I’d never be the same after we did this. As if reading my mind, his gaze slid to the mark on my inner wrist. Now only two links instead of three that should be there.
Curling his fingers around it, he stroked over the ink. “I hate this.” The vehemence in his voice took me by surprise, his touch so gentle in contrast. “I hate that they stole your magic and locked it up for so many years.”
“I made bad choices, and this was the consequence.” I closed my eyes, his words hitting me in a soft, tender place. A reminder of how different we were, as if I needed one as I lay bathed in his magic from head to toe.
Dathal’s grip tightened to just this side of painful and I snapped my eyes open to stare at him, his expression fierce. “I don’t care about the witches’ council or their rules. Your magic is a part of you, and no one has the right to cage it like this.”
I stifled the urge to correct him—the council obviously had every right to do what they did to me—because I liked the way he didn’t give a fuck about anything other than me at this moment. Liked the way he’d started up the slow roll of his hips again, coaxing my cock back to life.
“It’s there.” He rubbed my mark again, back and forth, like he could erase it with the pads of his fingers. “Lurking under the surface, I canfeelit. I want to set it free.” His eyes met mine. The fierce determination in them should probably scare me, but all I felt was the thrill of anticipation zipping through my veins.
“Fuck me.” I’d never wanted anyone as much as I did him. I ached with the need to feel him inside me, taking me apart while putting me back together at the same time.
He opened me up with lube-slicked fingers, gaze never leaving mine. I couldn’t look away even if I wanted to, caught and held in place by violet eyes that seemed to see to the very heart of me.
How was that possible after so little time together?
“Let go,” he whispered, nudging my legs further apart and settling between them. I drew my knees up, spreading my thighs wide, breath catching as he started to push inside.
Sex with Dathal had been amazing, literally life changing. But this?
This was on a whole other level.
I felt him everywhere.
His body covered mine, chests pressed together as he gave me a moment to adjust. Fae magic, powerful and intoxicating, danced over my skin, seeping into my bones until I felt so full with magical energy I’d float away if he wasn’t tethering me to the bed. “More,” I moaned, arching into him, hands finding purchase on his back.
He laughed, wicked and delighted. “So demanding.”
In the furthest corners of my mind, I wondered if I should be worried. Dathal was addictive. Hismagicwas addictive. I didn’t care about that as much as I should.
But then he started to move, each thrust of his hips getting harder, faster, his magic pouring into me in a dizzying stream that made my eyes roll back, and I was lost to anything that wasn’t the feel of Dathal as he gave me everything I’d asked for.
I clung to him, greedy for every wave of pleasure he wrung from my body, desperately fighting not to succumb to the orgasm building inside me because I never wanted this to end. Never wanted to come down from the most all-consuming high I think I’d ever experienced.
Then he kissed me, hard and demanding, and I was powerless to hold it back any longer. My orgasm crashed through me, stealing my breath, as wave after wave of indescribable pleasure flooded my body. I hung on for dear life as Dathal fucked into me again and again, his grip on my shoulders biting and fierce. I’d have bruises for sure, welcomed them, a visual reminder of this moment that would linger beyond the time we spent in my bed.
With a guttural moan, his whole body stilled. Magic hit me like a tidal wave and he lifted his head to look me in the eye as he came inside me. I’d never experienced a more intimate moment in my entire life, and something shifted inside me. Something I wasn’t sure I could undo.
Or even if I wanted to.
Dathal stared down at me, gaze intent, the silence around us only broken by our laboured breaths. For once, my mind was blissfully blank, content to bask in the afterglow of the most intense orgasm ever. In a moment of tenderness, he reached up and ran his fingers through my hair before kissing me again, soft and lazy.
It took me a second to realise what he was doing when he settled himself next to me and took my hand in his.
“Look,” he murmured, lifting our joined fingers. His eyes shone with something I couldn’t decipher, but I recognised the sound of satisfaction in his voice.
The mark on my wrist throbbed with a warmth I’d only just noticed when Dathal drew my attention to it. The two links that had been there before were now one. One year left of a sentence that should’ve had three years left on it.
I waited for the fear to kick in. I’d have to tell David about this, and I was pretty sure we’d have to tell the council too now, but for some reason it never came. Maybe it was the calming effect that Dathal’s magic brought on as we lay side by side in my bed. Although the intensity faded with each passing second, enough of it still clung to me to give the illusion that I was whole.
One more encounter like this and I would be.
The thought brought me up short, and now panic kicked in. Losing time from my sentence was one thing. How would the council react if it was wiped out completely?
Dathal let go of my hand and gripped my jaw, gently tilting it until I met his gaze again. “What’s wrong?”
