Page 127 of Shadowborne: Reckoning

‘I know.’ I swallowed hard, though we hadn’t spoken out loud. ‘And you know, I don’t want to go, but I can do this.’

He nodded slowly, but one vein in his forehead rose, and those lines of worry and stress appeared.

Then he moved, slipping impossibly quickly across the space between us and taking my face in his hands, his eyes burning pinpoints of light that pierced skin and bone and threatened to lay open my heart as he searched my gaze. I gripped his waist, the quivering tension in him turning his sides marble under my hands as he leaned in, until his breath fluttered across my lips and his pupils expanded to turn his eyes nearly black. “I fear losing you more than I fear losing my own life.”

I might have choked on tears at the ragged, desperate words. But I knew. “I feel the same way,” I breathed. “Donavyn how—”

He shook his head quickly, sensing my descending panic. “The Creator makes a way. Every time. I have wished for you. I have ached for you. I’ve been given you. Now… now I will do everything in my power to overcome this bastard—I will send him to his grave, Bren. And then I’ll come for you.”

I gave a shaky laugh and clawed my hands into his hair, holding him still so he couldn’t look away. “You won’t have to. I’m coming back. I’m burying that traitor in his own lies, then I’m coming for you.”

His lips twitched, the hint of a smile, there then gone.

“Then we are agreed… this isn’t goodbye,” he rasped, then he descended on me, his kiss a slow, searing drag that lit up my skin like the night flowers we’d watched over the maze—tiny explosions that trailed down my spine, like cold comets plummeting to earth.

I heard his breath hitch and I froze, clinging to him as he hunched over me, clinging, his body trembling.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you, too.”

He cupped my face and pulled me in again, inhaling deeply, his breath shuddering. The sound raised the small hairs all over my body. I grabbed for him, panic overwhelming me as the reality of what was about to happen came home.

Last time. Last touch. Last taste…

Donavyn wrapped those steel arms around me, murmuring my name with a tormented gasp, walking me backwards, both of us stumbling, clinging, desperate, touching, unbuttoning, unbuckling, pushing everything away but each other, until my bare back came up against the wall, and I pulled his iron warmth to me. Tighter. Harder. He couldn’t get close enough because I knew it would be mere moments until we couldn’t touch at all. The thought sent a shivering jolt through my core and I whimpered.

Donavyn, sensing my fear, pinned me hard against the wall, his body pressed to mine from hip to kiss, hands clawed into my hair, holding me there. I clung, clawing down his back, gasping, fingers shaking, body trembling under his touch, begging him not to let me go as every inch of my skin pebbled.

He trapped me against the wall with his weight until I couldn’t move—and I wanted nothing more. Held him closer. Harder.

He tilted his head to take the kiss deeper, sucking in as his tongue traced mine, his fingers tangling in my hair, his hips rolling, pressing himself, sliding against me—and I wanted him so badly, so desperately, I arched and hissed when he passed over me, denying me.

Fingers tightening in my hair, he pulled my head back so I could drink in the sight of his stubbled jaw, slack, fire blazing in his eyes—but flickering with deep shadows. In the bond I felt his rush of want and need, overwhelmed with tremulous fear. Still keeping me pinned so I couldn’t even rock, he held me there, sipping at my lips, but his eyes open and locked on mine.

He slid one hand down my thigh, hiking it high and pressing even harder against me. When my head fell into his hands, a deep, guttural rumble started in his chest.

‘I am yours, Bren. Always. To my soul.’

‘Don’t let him take you from me, Donavyn. Don’t you dare let him take you.’

‘He can’t.’

‘But—’

Without warning, his whole palm cupping under my thigh, he tugged my leg higher and took me, cursing when my mouth fell open and my breath stopped.

Tingling, glorious pleasure exploded where we joined, and spiraled out through every vein and muscle, to my limbs, leaving me breathless and shaking, urging him on, gasping.

But I couldn’t move. I was held. Covered. Helpless. Hungry. Full.

Neither of us blinked, and to hold his bonfire sent the flames in me roaring higher, higher with every roll of his hips, and grasp of his trembling hands.

That gaze was the sun, pouring love and light and hope through me—the bond singing with it, yet shrieking in dissonant chorus.

Last time. Last touch. Last taste…

It couldn’t be. We couldn’t let it be!