“No, let me finish. After I lost my wing, I convinced myself that I wasn’t good enough for you. That you deserved more than a broken male. And when you kept needling me to talk about it, you played right into my assumptions. I thought you were trying tofixme. And I couldn’t bear the thought of disappointing you. But I think…I think I’ve finally realized that you weren’t trying to fix me at all. You were just trying to show me that I was worthy of love and acceptance. Broken pieces and all.” He brushed a strand of hair behind Xenia’s ear, his fingers trailing over her scar. “Iwillfind a way to get this out of you, Xenia. And afterward, you’remine. Where I go, you go. I will never leave you again.”
She surged against him, kissing him so fiercely she nearly tore her lower lip open on his fangs. His rumbling groan lit up her entire lower body, and she rocked her hips against his growing hardness. Weaving her fingers into the soft waves at the base of his neck, she pulled him closer. But not close enough. She wanted to consume him, to be consumed by him.
“Cael,” she moaned as he kissed across her collarbone, “I want you so badly.”
“I know, sweetheart,” he whispered. “As soon as it’s safe, you’ll haveallof me.”
She grumbled a protest that he silenced by plunging his tongue into her mouth. She sucked it down greedily as he tucked his fingers into the straps of her chemise, then peeled them down slowly. His mouth was wet and impossibly warm as he swirled his tongue around an aching nipple, then bit down gently. She cried out, arching into him, and he caught her around the waist. He lifted her from his lap, then placed her down on the shaggy rug, nearly as warm from the fire as her heated skin. She laid back against it as Cael spread her thighs and knelt between her legs.
She reached up to fist his shirt. “Take this off. I want to look at you.”
“Demanding,” Cael smirked, pulling his shirt off and tossing it onto a chair.
Cael’s reverent gaze crawled over her exposed flesh, her chemise bunched around her middle with nothing but her panties and stockings covering her lower half. She studied him as well—his lean, sculpted torso, his broad shoulders, those insane cuts of muscle that dipped below his waistband.
“Turn around,” she whispered.
He cocked an eyebrow, and for a moment, she thought he was going to protest. But he merely closed his eyes, and turned, tucking his wing to avoid smacking her with it.
She sat upright, then began to rub his shoulders. He relaxed under her ministrations, moaning softly. An encouraging sign. She moved her hands lower.
Toward his scar.
She rubbed a tentative finger over it and he tensed.
“Xenia,” he bit out. “You shouldn’t?—”
“Shh. It’s okay.”
He dipped his head forward, hanging it over his chest. “I haven’t even looked at it since it happened.”
Xenia used two fingers to caress the puckered skin, mimicking the movement with her other hand at his intact wing. Right where it met his shoulder blade. The most sensitive spot.
“Fuck, Blondie.” Cael’s breath went ragged as Xenia continued to stroke him.
“Do you want to know what I see when I look upon this scar, Cael?”
“If I say no, I suspect you’ll tell me anyway,” he chuckled, and she removed her fingers from his wing. “Wait, don’t stop. You can tell me whatever you want as long as you keep touching me there.”
She huffed a small laugh, then stroked her fingers down his wing and scar again. His responding moan was so addictive she wanted to inject it into her veins.
“I see bravery,” she said. “I see the male who butchered my captors. The male who rescued me. The male who healed my wounds and made me feel safe.”
She stroked her fingers harder, faster, trying to form the connection in Cael’s mind and body—the damaged part just as capable of bringing him immense pleasure. His muscles tensed and his breathing grew ragged.
“I see the male who iseverythingto me. A male who is not nearly as broken as he thinks he is.” She pressed her breasts against his back, then tucked her chin over his shoulder to whisper in his ear, “I see the male who makes me come hard enough to see stars.”
Cael’s restraint snapped. Snarling, he turned, then speared his hand into her hair and fused their mouths together. He pressed her back down onto the rug, curving over her and settling between her thighs. He was hard as a fucking rock.
He twisted her panties in his fist and tore them clean off. She yelped, slightly from pain, but more from delight at Cael’s base, feral state. And the knowledge thatshehad brought him there.
He thrust against her, running the hard length behind his thin black pants up through her soaked core and along her swollen clit. He peppered her jaw, her neck, her breasts with kisses, nibbling softly with his fangs. His rough hands mapped her body, holding her against him as he stroked her with his cock.
“You’re fucking soaked,” he breathed around a nipple. “Is that all for me?”
She arched upward, shoving her chest toward his mouth. “The poetry helped.”
He laughed, then clamped down on her breast nearly hard enough to break skin as he drove his hips into her harder.
