I could feel it. Him.Us.
There was a desperation then, to be tied to him, locked together.
Blake’s hips ground into me, and I gasped into his mouth, my body arching in response. The friction was maddening, the pressure of him teasing, as if he knew exactly how to push me to the edge and keep me there. I whimpered, the sound muffled by his lips, and his grip tightened on my wrists, holding me still as he rocked his hips harder, each movement sending shock waves of pleasure through me.
His other hand played against my nipple, circling the peak slowly, until it felt like that tease alone would have me bursting.
“Blake,” I breathed, half a plea, half a challenge.
He pulled back, just enough to let me catch a breath, his lips barely brushing mine.
“Tell me what you want, Rubi.” His voice was low, molten, edged with command that seeped into every syllable.
My mind flashed through every filthy way I wanted him to touch me, stroke me, lick me. I ached for him, body thrumming with need, but it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough. My heart pounded like it was trying to tear free of my chest, and somewhere beneath the hunger was a hollow I couldn’t fill with pleasure alone. I needed more. Needed him. All of him. His rage, his loyalty, his fear, his truth. His soul next to mine.
The melody in my blood was an incomplete song, seeking a harmony I hadn’t yet found. Seeking the one note that could make it whole. My voice broke under the weight of it, and the words fell from me like a wound torn open.
“Pair with me.”
He froze, pulling back to look at me. Embarrassment lit my cheeks, and I couldn’t meet his eyes. What if that wasn’t what he—
“Rubi,” he said my name like a prayer. He lifted a finger undermy chin until my eyes locked on his. The desire I saw there, the hope—it was almost too much. “Is that…Is that truly what you want?”
I nodded, my eyes bright and welling with the need.
“I want to feel you,” I whispered. “Please, Blake—I just…I need—”
“Shh,” he cooed. “I know what you need.”
My body crumbled beneath his gentle, steadying tone. He settled himself tighter against my aching core, his pants still in the way, his hands smoothing up my bare skin, along my extended arms, until he grasped my right wrist in his left hand.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
I nodded again. “Only if you want—”
A hoarse laugh burst from him. “Rubi, this isallI want. To be Paired to you…it would be anhonor.”
His words made my throat catch.
I was a yin magic user with a magic I didn’t understand and couldn’t control, nothing worth speaking of. I was an Azure in a dominion built for Silvers. I was a foreigner who had no memories, barely anything that made me Rubi. And he was…nearly royal. The strongest metal mage to exist, a Zenith, the Twin Blade to a king who wanted me dead.
To feel so worthy, sodesiredin this way.
“Please,” I whispered as his forehead pressed gently to my own, his eyes closing.
And then he spread my palms open and pressed his Marks against mine.
A faint shimmer of light appeared between our hands, barely visible at first. A delicate strand, pulsing with an ethereal glow. It wound through the space between us, pulling tighter, as if drawing us together.
My heart raced as the shimmer became clearer, turning into ared thread that bound us, soft but unbreakable, stretching across the distance between us.
His mouth pressed into the skin of my neck, soothing kisses and licks while I watched, transfixed. The thread glowed a deep crimson, the same shade of red that legends spoke of—the red thread of fate that tied two souls together, binding them across time, distance, and circumstance.
It looped around my wrist, the delicate thread spiraling in and out of my fingers before connecting to Blake’s hand, twining around his wrist and up his arm.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. I could feel Blake’s energy pulsing through the thread, his magic brushing against mine, hot and alive.
The thread tightened, and with that, the pull between us became almost unbearable.
