It was a mixture then, of the softer Blake and the intense Ambush Master. He made love like a warrior. Even now, I couldfeelthe power he held back, keeping himself leashed with me.
He gritted his teeth, the strain nearly too much, before Ishoved, gripping his hips with my legs, feet locked, tossing my body to flip him onto his back with a heavy push, helped by his own movements.
I settled myself on top of him, hands pressing to his chest with one punch of breath—becausegods, I’d thought him deep before? Now it was like he was in my throat.
He grinned beneath me, relaxing as he looked up at me straddling him.
“Eager, hmm?”
I smirked, rolling my hips experimentally, before leaning down to press my mouth to his ear. “Wild.”
I nipped my teeth at his ear for good measure, relishing the moan that burst from his lips in response.
“That’s it.” I took my turn to mock him. “Take me, Blake.”
He thrust up again, hips slamming mine and jostling me. I grabbed for his wrists, and he allowed me to hold them over his head as I rode him howIwanted it, using his body and watching as his walls and leashed intensity faltered. Just like they had under the moonlight, my ribbons around his wrists.
He was always so restrained, so buttoned up. The very image of duty and responsibility.
Was it…Could I have made him feel this safe?
I raised my palm, ready to offer to Pair, but he grabbed my wrist and lowered it to his mouth to press a kiss at the center.
“Not tonight, Rubi,” he whispered. “I just wantyou.”
Just me. Enough.
Maybe some part of me had been seeking that acceptance among my own people—fully. No matter my magic level or my ability to care for them. Blake was a Zenith, the strongest metal mage the world had seen in a generation, and I was a weak yin from a fallen dominion. And he still wantedme, Rubi, exactly as I was.
A weight lodged in my throat. This wasn’t just sex…. This was something more. Deeper than I’d planned. So deep it felt dangerous.
When my grip released, his hands swept through my hair, careful with me. I rode him harder, but he stayed tender. Sweet. Steady. A safe haven.
“I’m gonna—”
“Shh,” he whispered, pressing sweet kisses along my cheek. “Come for me, Rubi. Just for me, love.”
My body broke into a thousand pieces, every part of me burning so hot I was sure I would burst into flames and starlight. He kept thrusting, following after me with a moan. The sound was intoxicating, and I wanted it again and again.
Sinking down, he rolled me to my back on the bed and slowly pulled out of me. He laid a blanket over my waist, but I kicked it off, still too hot.
Blake stood, in all his towering nakedness, skin flushed as he sauntered to the bathroom. I raised myself up slightly and looked up, taking in how the massive headboard had split and warped, with whole sections of metal crumpled and torn apart when he’d lost control. I couldn’t help giggling.
When he returned, his eyes flickered to what I was looking at. The tips of his ears and his cheeked reddened. Clearing his throat, he said, “I’ll fix that later.”
I laughed until he started washing me with the warm cloth he’d brought back from the bathroom, caressing me so thoroughly my body started to heat again—and he used his hands to relieve me a third time, only stopping as I shoved his big hand away from me.
With a smoky chuckle, he tucked up behind me, wrapping me in his arms and pulling me so close it felt like our bodies fused together.
“Blake, I…”
He kissed my temple, softening me to him again. “Tomorrow, Rubi. Please, sleep.”
I didn’t fight it, letting his comforting presence soothe me like the lullaby I heard in my dreams.
35
“You’ll come back,” Nelly said, wringing her hands. “You have to come back.”
