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Aster didn’t stop moving, though. And my pulse raced as he brushed up against me, my nipples pressing into his chest.

“Wren…” he whispered, and his hand reached out to cup my chin. “Look at me.”

I did, and it was a mistake.

His deep green eyes found mine and locked me in place. I couldn’t trust where his loyalties were, but in that very moment, I couldn’t seem to care. My throat went dry, and my lips parted, trying to fill my lungs that had stopped working. His fingertips found my lower lip and ran over the soft pad before two fingers entered my mouth. Then his thumb replaced them and ran over my tongue, and I closed my lips around it. His gaze darkened.

The surrounding air was unbearably hot… and I tried to persuade myself that Aster was probably the enemy now. But I couldn’t convince my naked body of the threat. Only my thundering heart knew the danger of what I was about to do. He had only ever brought exquisite pleasure, coupled with heartbreaking loss. But I had always ignored all sense when it came to him.

So, I pressed closer into his warm and powerful arms. And for this moment—just a moment—I let myself pretend we could be more. Out here in the mountains, we had that chance.

My chest fluttered, and I took in every inch of his beautiful face. Strong jaw. Full lips. Eyes… They were the eyes that once saw me. The eyes that saw through the masks he had made me create to survive.

“Tell me to stop.” His fingers ran down my spine and met my hipbone, caressing it; I arched into him as his thumb rubbed over the sensitive skin there. Every word had left me, but Aster didn’t ever let my silence take hold. He leant into the shell of my ear. “Tell. Me.” He had never been this soft. And I didn’t want him careful.

No sound escaped; instead, his hand found my ass and he dragged me closer.

He spoke into my mouth. “You consume every part of me… Tell me to stop. If we start now, I’ll never stop. Out here…”

Out here, we’re free.

“You’re mine.”

I shook my head—I wasn’t anymore—but then I pressed every inch of me into his touch.

His mouth descended on the pulse point between my neck and my shoulder—just below the gouges—and his teeth ran over my skin. So close to the pain that would erupt if those teeth found the raw wounds. My skin goosebumped and my head fell back of its own accord. He wove his hand into my curls and gripped them so tightly it stung as he crushed our mouths together.

Every part of me pressed into every part of him.

“Gods… Wren…” His breath was jagged and hungry. His mouth consumed mine, and I breathed him in.

He groaned, or I did, as lightning flashed between us. He was everywhere, all at once. His hands explored my body, and his mouth dominated mine. Then he pulled back. For the briefest second, he gazed into my eyes, telling me that this was all he wanted, before he descended towards my chest and pulled me into his mouth, between his teeth, and then the sting was softened by his warm tongue.

“What do you want?” he murmured into my skin.

You.

“I need…” I wrapped my arms around his neck as he lifted me, turning and sinking onto a stone seat built into the side. His bruising fingers dug into soft skin, and he pressed against me, pooling heat all the way down to my core.

I rubbed against him, and he rolled his hips in reply. His finger moved lower and then circled round and round, making a moan break free and echo around us. Then his hard length was nudging into me but not going any further. It was a silent question, and he was waiting for an answer. Desire coiled in my stomach, and I sank down until he was buried deep inside me, and then cupped his face in my hands. The longing in his eyes made me drag him closer, and my lips crashed over his, trying to drink him in and keep this moment.

“I…” A lump built in my throat, not from sadness, but from a never-ending longing that was momentarily sated.

His hands grabbed my waist, and he lifted me up and then rolled me forward, hitting the spot inside me that made my vision blur. My eyelids closed as I tightened around him.

“Come for me.”

“Gods… Az…” And then he thrust up again and again, and I couldn’t think or talk.

“I’m going to take you over and over again so that you feel me every time you move tomorrow.”

And pleasure sparked through me, goosebumps covered my skin, obliterating everything but the depth of him inside me.

Then he was shuddering too. “Gods, you’re…”

Then a phoenix cried out.

Shattering everything.