Loveit. But while Az had made a declaration to me during a tense, emotion-filled moment where none of us had been sure exactly how bad our casualties would end up being, Sam and I hadn’t yet expressed those kind of emotions. The two of us had shared far more than I’d shared with any of the other Fallen, but I didn’t want to voice my feelings aloud. Not yet, anyway. In fact, maybe it wasbecausewe’d shared so much that I was scared to voice my truth. I didn’t want to lose what we had. Just in case he didn’t see me that way. I knew he wanted me. I knew he cared. But I didn’t know how much further than that itwent.
Of course, I wasn’t opposed to enjoying his affections, however deep, for all they wereworth.
He arched an eyebrow. “Some might say that youwhat?”
Leaning forward, I pressed my palms flat to his warm chest. “Some might say that Iwanttheroom.”
He got the point. With a low growl, he lifted me from the floor and tossed me onto the bed as if I weighed nothing more than a single angelic feather. The bed itself was surprisingly soft and bouncy, and I sunk into the luxurious covers as a gasp slipped out of mythroat.
“I love it when you throw me around,” I whispered, gazing up at him while he slowly pulled his shirt over his head. The chest laid bare was sculpted to perfection, hardened from years spent training for battle. There were scars, too. Two small crisscrosses that dotted his abs. It only added to the allure ofhim.
He was strong. He was powerful. He wasmine.
He grasped my wrists in his hands and pinned them to the bed on either side of me. I squirmed against his touch, only half-heartedly trying to break free. Sam was taking control, and the thrill of his raw maleness made an aching heat spread between mythighs.
“Do you know that from the moment I saw you…” He trailed hot kisses across the curve of my jaw as he murmured his words, “I wanted to have you underneath me just like this? Squirming for me? Aching forme?”
My core clenched tight. My god, what was he doing? Sam and I had spent more than one night together but never like this. His words were so raw. They were animalistic. And something deep within me was answering to it like my body never hadbefore.
His grip around my wrists loosened for just long enough for him to rip my shirt wide open. I gasped and glanced down at the shredded material, my chest now bare for his hungry eyes. He dropped his gaze to my peaked breasts, smiling with appreciation. And then he rubbed his thumb against my nipple, and I shuddered inresponse.
“There is no one else like you, Erela. And there never willbe.”
He pushed off the bed and slid his jeans to the floor, shimmying mine from my thighs after he climbed back onto the bed. When he settled back over me again, I thought for a moment that his dark, flashing eyes meant he would grab ahold of my wrists, taking control just like before. But instead, he grabbed me by the waist, flipped me over, and growled into my ear. My entire body shuddered inresponse.
I gasped as he pushed my face against the silk sheets, his fingers twisting tightly in my hair. For a moment, he stilled. The only sound was my heart hammering loudly in myears.
“Is this okay?” he asked. “I only want to do something you’denjoy.”
“Of course it’s okay,” I whispered, my whole body taut with anticipation of what would comenext.
His fingers tightened around my hair, and the length of him pushed inside of me. Stars lit up in my eyes. Hot electric pleasure shot through my core. The first few thrusts were slow and caring, just as they’d been when we’d first made love. But it didn’t take long for the animal to return. He grasped me tight, his slow rhythm intensifying into pounding thrusts. I could barely breathe around the aching pleasure that filled up every molecule of mybeing.
He pushed down on my face even harder. His hands tightened even more around my hair. He was taking me as his, fully commanding my body. And the roughness of it all made it that much more exhilarating. My pleasure was building up inside of me strong and fast. I screamed out his name when it finally shook through me, my whole body spasming like it never hadbefore.
Chapter Five
Erela
ONE WEEKLATER
We awoke to a crash.And not the rhythmic crashing of waves that I’d begun to get accustomed to during our time spent on the ocean. No, this was something much louder. A boom that shook the very core of the ship. It was as if something large and heavy was knocking against the underside of the boat, and I had the sudden fear that we’d somehow drifted too far north and crashed into an iceberg, like that old human ship,Titanic.
Sam was on his feet within seconds, pressing his face against the frosted glass of the porthole. “I was afraid of this. We’ve come upon a group of waterdemons.”
I arched a brow as I scrambled off the bed. “Water demons? This far north? I thought they liked warmwaters.”
“Yeah, well. They’ve adapted, and they aren’t so shy about the cold anymore.” He pointed at the daggers I’d placed on the table next to my side of the bed. “Grab your weapons. You’re going to needthem.”
The rest of the Order was on the deck when Sam and I emerged from below. They each held a weapon in their hands, gazes hard on the churning waters as the yacht moved further and further into the blue expanse before us. Ramiel stood in front, as always, hands tight around abow.
“Good of you to join us,” he said almost too quietly to hear over the rush of water and wind. “The water demons have been banging against the boat for the pasthour.”
“What do they want?” I asked, ignoring his clipped tone. When I’d first met Ramiel, his stoniness had gotten to me at times. I’d taken it personally, but he was like this with everyone. It was his shield against his emotions. The only way he knew how to be. He was the boss, the leader, the one in charge of our lives. And he took it far more seriously than any of the rest of us wouldcombined.
“I’m guessing they want to see us drown, little Seraphim girl,” Az said. “They might not realize we’re angels yet. ‘Course, we have a bunch of humans on board,so.”
So, while we wouldn’t drown if the demons managed to tip us over (one of the perks of being an angel), the humanswould.
