“Titus,” I whispered, shaking my head. “I don’t need a ring. I just need you.”
He stood so fast it felt like gravity shifted, and he kissed me like a vow, like he was sealing something holy that no council or law could take from us again.
We lost ourselves in the heat of the moment. After everything we had survived, everything we had nearly lost, it felt inevitable—our hearts already intertwined, longing eclipsing fear, and now our bodies aching to follow where they had already led.
I slid my straps down, baring swollen breasts and hard nipples aching for his mouth.
He didn’t hesitate—he latched onto one, sucking, while his hand worked the other, rubbing it sensually until I moaned and clenched my thighs together, pleasure pulsing between my legs.
My shift slid down to my hips as he trailed kisses down my abdomen.
“You want to know the worst part about waking up from a coma?” he asked, voice menacing.
I lifted a brow, confused, breath shaking.
“How fucking hungry I am,” he growled, and like an animal he dove between my legs and began to devour me.
I cried out, a shocked moan tearing free as I braced myself with one hand behind me on the counter. My fingers raked into his patchy, uneven hair, gripping hard as the sharp thrills built fast at my core.
He sucked on my clit mercilessly. My toes curled, my legs shook, and that delicious pain rose higher and higher until I broke. My arousal dripped from his glistening lips.
He scraped his teeth along his bottom lip like he was savoring it, then groaned, “Mmmm. My favorite flavor.”
How could I be this in love and this consumed by him? I wanted him now, no restraint left to cling to. Death had brushed against me twice, and it had left me craving something alive, something powerful. Only Titus felt strong enough to anchor me back to my body. Only Titus could answer the fire he lit in me.
“Do you remember the day you healed me from the bee reaction?” I asked, still trembling.
“I do,” he said, and his head tilted slightly, confusion flickering.
“The magic you filled me with… it was so intimate,” I admitted, cheeks burning. “I felt you in every fiber of myself, and ever since, I’ve longed for it.”
His mouth curved with a loving smile, and he kissed me—sweet and tangy with my own taste still on his lips.
“It was pleasurable for me too,” he murmured. “I’d never done that before, so it surprised me as well.” His mouth brushed theshell of my ear. “Do you want me to fill you with my magic while I fuck you, princess?”
Goosebumps prickled my skin.
“Will it strain you?” I asked, worry breaking through the heat. “You’re still recovering.”
He grinned, cocky and masculine, white teeth flashing. “Did you forget who your mate is? No, love. It takes only a small fraction of my power to fill you with my healing magic.”
He leaned in and took my lips, and then I felt it—warmth like sunlight poured into cold bones, slow at first and then everywhere, threading through my veins, remembering what it felt like to be safe.
Titus freed himself from his pants, and I wrapped my hand around his girth, stroking his impressive length. He groaned into my mouth, pressing the flared head at my entrance.
I shifted to the edge of the counter, bracing on my palms as I leaned back to take him. His broad body hunched over me, connected at the lips, and he drove into my slick center while his magic thrummed through my veins. I wanted his healing magic simply for the connection and pleasure, but I instantly noticed my irritated sunburnt skin had healed in a matter of moments.
It was euphoric—his warmth lighting up every part of me, his power smoothing jagged edges inside my chest I hadn’t even known were bleeding. My burns healed beneath his magic, but it was my spirit that unraveled and rewove itself. His soul threaded with mine as our bodies became one and I had never felt anything so strong. The ache I had carried since Danny, since every version of myself I had buried, loosened its grip. In Titus’s power there was heat, yes, but there was also mercy. And for the first time in a long time, I did not feel broken.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught our reflection in the mirror— and we were glowing. The same amber that lived in his eyes illuminated our skin as his magic pulsed from him to me.
He pulled back from my kiss abruptly, breath ragged. “Oh, fuck, princess. I feel you everywhere,” he groaned. “You need to come for me, because I’m not going to last.”
He kissed me again and started thrusting harder, viciously, and I moaned his name so loud I couldn’t even control the sound. Pleasure built and built until my muscles clenched tight around him.
“Fuck, baby,” he groaned, breathless. “You’re squeezing me so tightly… are you going to come on my cock?”
The sound of skin slapping, our moans, our cries—it felt like the entire world narrowed down to this.
