Chapter 22
22
RIORDAN
I was about to lose control.
Evie’s wet core clenched around my fingers as I drove them into her again, her hands slipping on the rim of the tub, head thrown back in ecstasy while water sloshed around her writhing body, over the edges. Her skin was wet, flushed pink, and she smelled absolutely ripe . I swiped my tongue over my aching fangs and tasted blood.
I’d much fucking rather be tasting hers. Or her tasting mine.
“Rohr. Please . Either get in here, or I’m getting out.” Her husky plea ripped through me, my cock jackhammering against the seam of my soaked pants. I should have stripped completely before her bath, but I hadn’t wanted to spook her.
I’d been too impatient to get her clean, to wash her father’s and uncle’s dirt off her. Those fuckers …
The growl was still rumbling in my throat when I found Evie staring at me, “Riordan. What the hell was that?”
“Nothing.” I rose, snagged a towel from the stack. “Come here. Let me dry you off.”
This whole scene felt…bizarre. I wanted to fuck her like an animal, I wanted to take care of her like she was the most precious thing in the world. Two sides of myself were at war, yet, on some primal level, everything made perfect sense.
Mine to claim. Mine to keep. Mine to love.
And when I dropped to my knees before her, head bent, carefully drying her legs, her ankles, her feet, this, too felt…right. I might be a king, but Evangeline deserved to be worshipped like a queen.
“Turn around.” I ordered, then pressed my nose between her legs and inhaled.
Sweet as honey, hot like a desert storm, every perfumed inhale sent me deeper and deeper into insanity. All I wanted to do was take, take, take . And then, when she was limp and boneless…take every single thing she had left.
I wanted every breathy sigh, every moan, every scream and I wanted to bottle them all up and make them mine forever. Make her mine forever .
I shoved her thighs wider, her fingers twisting into my hair, yanking against my scalp as she fought to keep her balance, my tongue sweeping between her drenched folds, licking off her dewy moisture like I was fucking starving.
Two weeks had been longer than a lifetime, and her entire body convulsed beneath my mouth, sending a fresh gush of delicious spice into my mouth. Silver had invaded every part of me—body, heart, soul—and I could deny the truth all I wanted, but I would never be free of her. I never wanted to be free of her, fingers dimpling her thighs as I feasted like I couldn’t get enough.
I rocked back on my heels, her fingers sliding through my hair until I gazed up at her, my hands gripping her hips. “You belong to me tonight, Evangeline. Mine to do whatever I want with. Do you agree?”
“Yes.” Her pupils were so blown there was no blue left in her eyes, but her smile was dazzling. “Anything you want, Rohr.”
I scooped her up and strode into my bedroom, tossed her on the bed and dove between her legs again, spreading her wider so I could drive my tongue deeper, work her harder. I wanted her to scream, wanted her to come apart in my hands so I could piece her back together and start all over again.
“Rohr…please…please, I can’t… Oh, my God .” Evie’s entire body bowed up off the bed, my name a keening wail ending in a curse as she climaxed, her body one long line of gorgeous, taut muscle, beasts peaked, flat stomach tensing as I licked her through her release, gathering drop after precious drop on my tongue before kissing my way up her trembling stomach.
Then all I could do was stare.
Evangeline’s full lips were wet, parted, moaning out my name. Mine .
Her nipples were erect, body undulating against the dark red silk like a wave of water, hands gripping the covers, trying to ground herself. She was liquid fire, the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen and she was mine. All fucking mine .
“Please…Rohr. I need you inside me.” A bone-deep shudder rippled down the length of her body, her pupils blown with lust. Please Rohr, I want this. I want you. Even if it’s only for tonight, I want every part of you.
I didn’t make her wait, stripping my wet pants off and lining the head of my cock up with her pussy and driving in hard, taking her the way I wanted, like she was mine to claim.
Mine to possess.
We groaned together, stretching her wide as I sank in deep, her swollen pussy swallowing my cock in a grip so tight I bowed my head, breathing hard. I had to make this last. I couldn’t blow my load like a fucking greenling getting his cock wet for the first time.
No, I would fuck her to another orgasm, then pump her full of my seed, and then…then we’d play . I ran my mouth down her throat and Evie turned her head, giving me better access.
Mine , something ancient and primeval whispered. Mine to keep forever .
The tingle in my balls subsided, enough for me to pull out to the tip, then crash back in, her wet, hot pussy resisting my girth. The feel of my hard flesh gilding inside her softness was even more addictive than her blood. This was terrifying. I could lose myself in her, and never come up for air again.
One more hard thrust and she moaned, a strangled version of my name that had me smiling, her hips arching up to take more of me, and I caught her wrists in one hand, looped my arm beneath one leg and spread her wider.
“I’m going to fuck you hard, Silver. I’m planting myself so deep you’ll never scrape me back out.”
Her eyes fluttered open, barely a sliver of blue left. “Do it.”
I unleashed myself, hips slapping against hers, angling my cock so I hit deep enough for her to throw her head back with an incoherent cry. “If I could stamp myself on your soul, Evangeline, I would. I would write my name on your very being, so everyone knew exactly who the fuck you belonged to. Me. You fucking belong to me .”
How had I ever thought one night would be enough?
A lifetime—two lifetimes, ten—would never be enough.
I wanted more. I wanted all of her. I pulled out, flipped her over and dragged her to the edge of the bed, spread her legs and shoved back inside, hand braced on the back of her neck as I held her down and claimed this female who had become my entire world.
Fiery pleasure inched up my spine, my body on fire, balls tightening as she mewled, unable to do anything but take the storm I’d unleashed on her body.
My growls mixed with her moans, begging to give her more, harder, please, Rohr , my head spinning with every brutal, claiming thrust. I covered her body with mine, her softness giving beneath my weight, hands twisting so violently in the crimson covers, the fabric shredded.
“You belong to me, Evangeline. Me . You are mine and I claim you, here and now and forever.”
Her body went boneless, her lips parted breathlessly. “Yes, Rohr. I’m all yours. I always have been.”
That was all I needed to hear, my mouth finding that soft, tender place between her neck and shoulder, fangs sinking in. Not to drink, but to claim. To mark. To own.
Evangeline went still, her muscles tightening, core clenching around me, like she meant to hold me inside her forever, but it was her scream that broke me apart, “Fuck…Riordan… fuck .”
I bowed my head and let myself go, pumping everything I had into her.
For a minute I couldn’t move, my head a scramble of pure emotion and not a single rational thought.
But clear. For the first time in days, my head was clear, no trace of the roaring magic or creeping malevolence that came with it. I laved my tongue over Evie’s neck and rolled off her, bringing her with me, arms banded around her middle.
I rearranged us, until she was tucked beneath my chin, pressed chest to chest, hearts beating in tandem as I bent my head to the side. “Drink, Evie, take as much as you need. And don’t argue.”
Her hands crept up over my shoulders with surprising strength, then she was pressing me down to the bed, throwing on leg over me, straddling my hips, her pussy sliding along my hardening cock.
“I wouldn’t think of it, your majesty.” Her hooded eyes traced down the length of my torso, fingers dancing along my tattoos. “You’re not the only one who has plans .”
She leaned in and caught my mouth in a scorching kiss, tongue working against mine, like she was every bit as impatient as I to take this to the next level. And when she dipped her head lower and sank her teeth into my throat, I hugged her tighter and closed my eyes.
This was better than fucking heaven.
This was coming home.