Chapter 26
Vaelor had explained the Puer Mortis, but the horrifying sight would haunt my damned nightmares, I was sure of it.
I’d chided him several times, and while he did apologize for me having to wake up to that sight, he’d also finish with something along the lines of, “If I was willing to risk his mate’s life to find out, then I was going to find out every unnerving detail.”
We’d had this conversation at least three times, and they’d all ended the exact same way: I’d roll my eyes at him talking about me in third person like I wasn’t here, he’d ask me if I needed a reminder on exactly who I belonged to, my cheeks would burn, and he would, in fact, remind me in every delicious way.
But for Goddess’ sake, they could have at least faced me away. He did regret that much, that I opened my eyes to the creature rather than bringing me in later.
Either way, I had seen it, and I would never forget it.
While I couldn’t imagine going through something like that or subjecting someone I love to it, I would never question another, because love differed for everyone. Some loves transcended this realm, this time, souls so tied and inseparable that they refused to leave the other, even in death, and Puer Mortis were proof of that. Why else would a soul cling to the veil rather than transition smoothly?
Vaelor had said that was one of the necessary components to create one: the soul must be “clinging to the veil” by refusing to leave the realm of the living. They became ghosts—unseen, unheard, and untouchable to everyone but the family who created the creatures.
There they would remain, split between worlds, until they were either stitched back into their body or rigor mortis set in—whichever came first. At that point, they’d missed their chance and would be forced to the other side.
Every aspect of the procedure was nightmarish, but to them, nothing was more horrible than being separated from their soul’s counterpart, so I understood.
Love trumped all, death included, and everyone else be damned apparently because Puer Mortis ate souls. I couldn’t even fathom what that meant, but Vaelor said they could survive on animals.
After that…experience, we’d spent days in Canyon, bouncing between the sleeping chamber, the inn, any shadowed corners or isolated hallways. An insatiable need had arisen in Vaelor since he allowed himself to want me, and while I was thoroughly and utterly spent—over and over and over—I reveled in it.
Vaelor had awoken something in me too, a darkness I hadn’t realized was there, one he yanked from me: a dark need to be possessed and fucked for his own pleasure. I wanted to be used, although it never ended there. He made sure I came too many times to count, dragging them from me even when I felt like there was nothing left, even when I was so sensitive, it nearly hurt, even when I could no longer lift my limbs and I was holding onto consciousness for dear life.
But I wanted to be taken, and take he did. Repeatedly. Incessantly. Beautifully.
Hewas beautiful when he was free—raw and powerful and unrestrained.
He laced his fingers through mine, undoubtedly smelling the desire arising from my depraved thoughts, and tugged me through the crowded alleyway.
“Where are we going?” I asked, nervousness fluttering like butterflies in my belly.
He glanced over his shoulder, that heart-stopping grin curving his lips. “You’ll see, sun ray.”
I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly dry. My heart thumped in my throat when he turned and led me deeper and deeper into the stone. The tunnel grew darker the farther we went until the candles, sporadically lit, became more common, but the light wasn’t a normal flame. It was blue, the normal flickering orange replaced with what looked like…rippling water.
Water?
My fingers tightened around Vaelor’s as my feet slowed before coming to a stop when the entire cave reflected that rippling water. He turned to me and lifted his arm over my head without releasing my hand, essentially binding me as he edged me back. I hit the stone wall with a faint gasp, and he slid his fingers up the column of my throat, grazing his mark before he tilted my chin up.
“If you want to leave at any point, just say the word, and we leave, all right?”
My eyes bounced between his two silver ones before I swallowed hard and nodded.
“I need to hear that you’ll tell me, love,” he whispered, his thumb gliding along my bottom lip.
Warmth swelled in my chest, loosening panic’s grip. “I’ll tell you.”
He smiled and pressed his lips to mine, his kiss slow. I whimpered when he nipped my lower lip, but a low chuckle slipped into my mouth, the wicked sound going straight to my core. He inhaled slowly, and heat spread over my skin.
He brushed his lips along mine as he whispered, “I could take you right here, couldn’t I?”
My heart lurched, my thoughts fragmented and words lost, but he had his answer when he lowered to the mate mark and inhaled again. With a deep groan, he dipped his hand beneath my dress and skimmed his fingers up my inner thigh to cup my bare core.
His eyes flashed at my lack of undergarments, and a wave of satisfaction rolled through me. “I could fuck you right here against the wall for anyone to see, and you’d let me, wouldn’t you?”
He didn’t give me a chance to respond before his lips recaptured mine, demanding this time, as I moaned against his mouth and nodded fiercely. I was at his mercy—exactly where I wanted to be. Two fingers thrust into me, and I bowed off the wall into him, my sharp gasp echoing down the empty hallway.
“I love the way you react to me.” He moved his hand to my throat and tightened his fingers as he leaned back, holding me against the wall. With my dress bunched around my waist, he watched his fingers slide in and out of me with hungry eyes. “The way your body reacts to any part of me—fingers, tongue, cock. You take whatever I give you so greedily, and it’s fucking beautiful.”
I didn’t know what prompted my next words. Perhaps it was because there was more euphoric delirium flowing through my veins than blood, but I couldn’t stop them. “Do…Do humans bite their mates too?”
His heated gaze snapped to mine and let loose another cacophony of flaming butterflies in my lower belly. He stepped closer again, forcing me to crane my neck to look at him as that horribly perverse smirk returned. His entire face was cast in ripping cerulean light, and his metallic eyes caught it beautifully, turning a soft silver blue.
“Do you want to bite me, dear, sweet Elora?”
I returned his smirk and ground my hips into his hand, which earned an approving groan from him. “There are a great many things I would like to do to you, Vaelor.”
Hearing his real name from my lips always did things to him, and this time was no different. He nearly shuttered as I enunciated it, my voice low and sultry.
“Is that so?” His breath sent shivers over my skin.
I grinned, biting my lip as I nodded. His answering smile was so beautiful, so genuine, I couldn’t help but cup his cheeks and pull him down to me as I stood on my tiptoes. I needed to kiss that smile, to feel his lips against mine when he felt this free, this happy.
And his kiss felt as freeing as he looked.
My freedom at the tip of my fingers.
His own at the tip of his.
When he broke the kiss, I whimpered, but he pulled his fingers from my pussy and slid three back in. My body arched, my head falling back on the wall with a moan, louder and breathless. His chest rumbled with a low laugh before he ran the thumb of his free hand along my jaw, my bottom lip, my cheekbone.
I met his gaze and fell into molten silver, so hot it could’ve melted me on the spot.
He looked at me, the same way he did back in that ballroom all those months ago. My heart fluttered, the flush growing in my cheeks, but I studied him in return, as best I could while he continued to move his hand between my thighs. I took in every plane of his face, the stubble along his chin and the waves in his hair, the fresh tan on his skin and his hard body beneath his unbuttoned white shirt. With his sleeves rolled up, the veins in his forearms were on full display, the muscles rippling with each thrust of his fingers.
My eyes shot back to his when I found his palm slick with my own desire.
He flashed his wicked grin, stoking the ever-growing fire in my chest, and a breath slipped past my parted lips. The very air around us felt electrified, my skin tingling.
He truly was carved by the Goddess, specifically for me. I hoped he felt the same way when he looked upon me—impossibly enamored—because I knew, without a single doubt, that I stared into my fate’s eyes when I met his gaze.
Vaelor Wrynwood was my fate and I his.
“An artist and his muse,” he whispered.
With that, he stepped back, pulling his hands from my skin, specifically from one soaked and aching part, and I furrowed my brows, protest on the tip of my tongue. My eyes widened when he slid his fingers into my mouth. I squeaked and froze.
“I thought you deserved a taste too.” He swirled his fingers over my tongue until I sucked them, and his eyes darkened. “Exquisite, hmm?”
He pulled them out to grip my jaw with his wet fingers, and his lips crashed to mine hungrily, a growl rumbling through him as if he’d been starved until this moment. His tongue slipped into my mouth, exploring and tasting, while his other hand gripped my waist, my back pressed into the wall as he pushed himself farther into me like he couldn’t get close enough.
When he finally released me, I sucked in a breath, giddy and feverish—intoxicated.
“Sweet, sweet Elora, how will I ever get enough of you?”
“Never,” I mumbled. “You’ll never get enough.”
He cupped the nape of my neck, craning my face to his. “And neither will you.”
I shook my head, and he slid his hand from my neck down my spine, sending a wave of chills over my skin. When his hand found my lower back, he motioned me forward, deeper into the cave.
I sucked in a breath as we rounded the next corner.
Water.
Lots of water.
Dark water.
A pool, reflecting on the stone walls, steam rising in waves.
I hadn’t realized I was gasping until Vaelor planted himself between the water and me, his palms on my cheeks. He’d lowered himself to my eye level, his voice soft and steady as he said, “You are safe, love. You’re in control. You decide what we do here, how far we go.”
I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t nod. I could barely breathe. A faint wisp of betrayal wound around my heart, and it took several breaths before I could muster, “Why…Why would you bring me here, Vaelor?”
He dropped to one knee so I was looking down at him. “Because you helped me overcome my fear. It’s because of you that I can be…happy, for the first time in many, many decades. You saved me, Elora.”
My eyes stung, and I placed a hand on his cheek.
Fear was a visceral feeling, overriding any rationale, any thought, any want or need or desire. It was an all-consuming beast that took utter control of its victims, and to think of Vaelor facing this every time he looked at me, every time I forced him to speak with me, every time he touched me, held me, kissed me…
A tear slipped past my lashes. “My brave artist.”
He wiped it away with his thumb before pulling me to sit on his knee, winding an arm around my waist. “It’s your turn to face your fears, my brave soldier, if you’re ready.”
I nodded slowly. Twenty-two years was long enough, wasn’t it? Still, I didn’t look away from him, afraid that if I did, I’d lose all sense of courage.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face in his chest, my words barely audible. “Will you carry me into the water?”
“Of course.” He kissed the top of my head before gently setting me on my feet and lifting my gown over my head. He dropped it to the ground and removed his own clothing, leaving us both bare.
I flinched when his fingers skimmed along my skin, moving down to my ass. When he lifted me, I buried my face in his neck and wrapped my legs around his waist.
As he walked into the humid room, my muscles tensed so tightly, I feared they might snap. Flashes of falling and crashing and tumbling, submerging and sinking, dark water and icy agony bombarded my mind, the feeling so palpable, I had to force myself back to the present, to Vaelor’s warmth around me.
Despite the flashbacks, I kept my eyes screwed shut, my breathing and pulse erratic. Each step was torture, each and every step bringing me closer to water, to ice, to death.
It wasn’t logical. I knew it wasn’t, but fear was never logical.
This was water. This was that river. This was that night.
I was going to die.
We were going to die.
“Sun ray,” he whispered.
I shook my head, but he stopped walking. The stillness somehow set me further on edge, like if he didn’t hurry and sink us beneath the surface, I would run or burst into tears or?—
“Do you want to sit here for a moment?” My eyes peeled open slowly to see his tanned skin. “Perhaps we could just…look at the pool? We could listen and watch, observe until your nerves settle.”
I paused and felt him, his warm and solid body against mine, his arms beneath me and love surrounding me, consuming every inch of my heart, soothing my soul. I said nothing as I laid my head on his shoulder and breathed, slow and steady, and he didn’t rush me.
We stood there for Goddess knew how long, but eventually, I shook my head. “No, let’s go in. I want to be brave with you.”
He tightened his hold and took the last few steps to the pool. My heart threatened to beat out of my chest, but I inhaled and exhaled slowly, forcing the air in and out of my lungs, reminding myself I was in Vaelor’s hold.
When he stepped into the water, though, the slight splash ignited the panic. I wrenched around him, my body so taut, my limbs trembled. I had to be hurting him, but he held strong and took each step with caution, as if giving me time to adjust.
When the liquid touched my foot, a sob broke free, muffled by Vaelor’s chest. Still, he didn’t stop.
Inch by inch, we were swallowed until the surface lapped at my waist. It took several agonizing minutes, maybe hours, days for all I knew, before the tears stopped and terror was replaced by exhaustion.
At some point, Vaelor had taken a seat on an underwater bench, and I rested weightlessly on his lap, still wrapped in his embrace—my safe haven.
Finally, with swollen, tired eyes, I lifted my face to see our surroundings, and my gut instantly knotted. The water was dark inside the cave, lit only by blue-flame candles, and I couldn’t see beneath it. I couldn’t see my hips, my legs, my feet.
My breath shook, but I forced myself to look as I moved my stiff legs. I deeply disliked the feel of water swaying around me, but Vaelor’s skin was slick against mine, solid and here—alive, with me.
Swallowing hard, I unwound my arms from around his neck and turned on his lap to recline my head on his chest. I crossed my arms to rest my hands on my shoulders, but he held them instead, his thumbs drawing circles on my palms.
This water was warm, not freezing.
It was a still pool, not a fast-moving river.
I wasn’t drowning, in water or fear.
I wasn’t…dying.
I was in water, and I wasn’t dying.
Partially submerged and not dying.
I’m not dying.
A shaky laugh suddenly escaped me, and I sagged into Vaelor’s body with relief. Sucking in a breath, I lifted my hand to cover my mouth, but it was wet on my lips. I pulled back to stare at it before glancing at the other one, finding it underwater, resting on Vaelor’s. They both had been, and I hadn’t even noticed.
Vaelor traced those damned circles on my hands until I relaxed enough for him to pull my arms under the surface too.
Goddess bless him.
With one deep, slow breath, I sank into him, and thus, the water. It surpassed my nipples, and I closed my eyes as my head reclined again, moving with his steady breaths.
His finger slid up my forearm to the crease of my elbow, the seemingly innocent touch sending a shiver down my spine. “I’m so proud of you, you know that? Always so brave.”
My heart fluttered—among other things.
His hand continued upwards, tracing my bicep, my shoulder, my collarbone. When he slid it across my chest to the other side, his arm barred over me while his other hand slid along my leg.
His teasing fingers skimmed along the inside of my knee, my thigh, closer, closer, closer…
My knees fell open, my legs on either side of his thighs, spreading me wide for him as his hand finally swiped over my now-aching pussy, the need returning tenfold.
It was astonishing, the way my body responded to his lightest touch—utterly insatiable.
A growl reverberated from his throat when he sank two fingers into me, the sound mingling with my moan, both echoing off the water and stone.
“Beautiful,” he hummed. “I want those sounds, your beautiful moans, to fill this cavern, love.” Adding a third finger, he curled them inside me to hit that sensitive spot he loved to torment, and I bowed against him, clawing at his forearm still wrapped over my chest, holding me against him. “Sing for me.”
Already wracked with exhaustion and edged for what seemed like hours, I shattered within minutes, yet he didn’t stop. I shook my head when he pulled his fingers from me slowly and swirled them around my swollen clit.
“Vaelor…I can’t,” I panted, writhing against him.
He held me firmly locked against his large body as he dipped his head to whisper, “You can and you will, love.”
My brows furrowed as my head fell back to his chest, still shaking back and forth. When he thrust his hips so his cock slid between my thighs and along my pussy, I snapped my legs shut with another breathless moan, and he groaned, each thrust in rhythm with his fingers, teasing my entrance.
“You’re so perfect, dear, sweet Elora, truly made for me.” His last word came in tandem with another thrust, but this time, his cock buried inside me, and I screamed, tears springing to my eyes.
It was too good, too much, and I wanted to combust. I wanted to explode or transcend or break into pieces before him—it felt like I would.
He didn’t give me a moment to adjust. Hell, I didn’t even suck in a breath before he pulled out and slammed back in hard enough to spark stars in my vision. His hands moved from my chest and clit to grab my waist, and my breathing quickened, my heart hammering.
“Spread your legs.”
I did so immediately, and he rewarded me with a kiss over the mark on my throat. I whimpered at the touch, and he kissed it again as he lifted me off his cock until just the tip remained, my legs dangling on either side of his, spreading me wide and entirely at his mercy.
“I love you,” he whispered and bit.
His teeth broke my skin as he thrust into me, bottoming out—then, it was endless, merciless, and I could hardly breathe, let alone do anything else. My head fell back, eyes closed as I basked in him.
There wasn’t an intelligible word in my head as he moved with delicious expertise—other than fuck, which seemed to be stuck on repeat.
He moved faster, deeper, hungrier than he ever had, holding me at the right height for my core to swallow every inch of him as his teeth marked me again and again. I was sure blood flowed from the wound, but I couldn’t be bothered to care—not as his sparks licked at every surface of my body.
Suddenly, with his cock buried inside me, he stood and turned, lying me face down on the stone edge, cold beneath my sensitive nipples. My knees hit the bench, and I lifted my hips to meet his, which hadn’t stopped moving, thrusting, pounding, reducing me to nothing but a puddle—a pleasure-filled, screaming, wanton puddle.
But then, an actual spark slid along my spine, and I gasped. When I jerked up to turn, he pressed a hand between my shoulder blades and lowered me back down.
My chest rose and fell quickly as the shimmering electricity lit the stone below us with pale blue light before it slid down my arms and around my wrist.
“Vaelor?”
His lightning tightened like rope, slipping over the back of my hands and between my fingers before sinking into the stone. My heart raced as I jerked at them, but they didn’t budge. I was shackled to the ground, fingers splayed and palms flat.
His low chuckle was my only warning. Another spark kissed my clit and vibrated.
I’m going to die.
There was no air, no thoughts, no realm.
Just us and this pool.
His cock, his magic—he would kill me, and I would die with a love-drunk smile on my damned face.
“You’re not going to die, Elora,” he growled behind me, his voice husky and breathless. I hadn’t realized my thoughts escaped my lips, but again, I couldn’t be bothered to care. I looked over my shoulder and met his gaze—silver and molten, sizzling and powerful. He was power, tall and towering, his muscled abdomen rippling with each thrust, rivulets of water rolling down his body. “Not today. Not ever.”
I nodded helplessly, melting into moan after moan as I held his gaze, refusing to look away from such beauty, because damn it all, he was beautiful.
“I love you,” I sobbed. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”
One of his hands released my waist to wrap around my face and turn me to him as he leaned over me. His mouth met mine in another devastating kiss, hot and insatiable.
“I love you too, sun ray.” His hand lowered to my throat as he whispered, “Shatter for me.”
More sparks wound their way to my nipples, and I threw my head back, unable to do anything against his relentless onslaught of pleasure. He was everywhere all at once, determined to drown me in him—and for the first time in my life, drowning didn’t seem like such a bad thing.
It dawned on me then, like this hadn’t been the case for weeks, months, years: I was completely and utterly lost to him. My heart was consumed with wanderlust and his soul the only thing I cared to explore.
A blinding orgasm ripped through me, and my nails dug into the stone, pulling at the binding. Tears poured down my cheeks, sobs and moans and screams slipping past my lips until he slammed into me one final time, spilling into me with a groan of his own.
When we finally caught our breath, he pulled away and his magic dissipated into thin air. He scooped me up and sat back on the bench with me in his lap, kissing my forehead.
The rest of the evening was spent in soft adoration. He held me, kissed me, smiled and whispered, every word and action loving, gentle. He washed my hair and skin, and I did the same for him. Everything about it, aboutus was warm.
Iwas warm, inside and out, my chest a glowing ember he’d ignited—one I knew in the depths of my soul would burn until my last breath, and even then, I believed it’d follow me into the afterlife too.