Chapter 17 Elle #4
“This might be a dream, but what I want to do to you?” His voice dropped lower, intimate and dark. “That’s real. And when we wake up, when we’re back in the waking world, I’m going to make every moment of this a reality. Do you understand?”
I could barely breathe. “Yes.”
“Good.” He released me, stepping back. “Now, I’m going to show you exactly what I’ve been thinking about since the first time you challenged me in that forest.”
Wisteria vines erupted from the moss-covered walls—vibrant purple blossoms releasing a heady scent that made my head spin.
They moved with purpose, wrapping gently but firmly around my wrists, my ankles, lifting me out of the water and slightly off the ground until I was suspended in the alcove, spread bare before him.
“Kaelren—”
“No,” he said, his voice hard. “Words are done. From now on, the only things I want to hear are the sounds you make when you lose control and scream my name. Understood?”
I nodded, my heart pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat.
“Good girl.”
He moved to sit on a moss-covered ledge, deliberately putting distance between us. His eyes roamed over me with possessive hunger, taking in every detail like he was memorizing the moment.
“Do you know what I thought the first time I saw you?” he asked, his voice conversational but edged with darkness. “I thought you were going to die. That you were too soft, too human, too unprepared for this world. I thought I’d have to watch you break.”
More vines emerged, these ones thin and delicate, beginning to trace patterns across my skin. They moved like living things—curious, exploratory, maddeningly gentle.
“But you didn’t break,” he continued. “You fought. You adapted. You challenged me at every turn. And gods, Elle, do you have any idea how much that made me want you?”
A vine circled my breast, squeezing gently, and I couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped.
“That’s it,” he said, his voice rough with approval. “I want to hear every sound you make. Every gasp, every moan, every desperate plea when you need more.”
The vines continued their exploration. Some traced patterns across my stomach, my thighs, leaving trails of tingling sensation. Others were more direct—one wrapping around my other breast, squeezing in rhythm with the first. The sensation was maddening, too gentle and too much all at once.
“When we do this for real,” Kaelren said, and I watched his hand move to stroke himself slowly, “I’m going to take my time. I’m going to taste every inch of you, learn what makes you tremble, what makes you beg.”
Venus fly traps bloomed into existence, smaller than their mundane counterparts but no less fascinating. They attached themselves to my nipples with gentle pressure that made me cry out—not quite pain, but intense sensation that bordered on overwhelming.
“Fuck,” I gasped, and he smiled—dark and satisfied.
“You like that?” He stroked himself faster, his eyes never leaving me. “You like being at my mercy, spread out for me to watch?”
“Yes,” I admitted, past the point of pride.
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, I like it. I like—” I broke off as a vine slid between my thighs, not entering but teasing, sliding through the wetness that had nothing to do with the pool. “Oh gods—”
“Not gods,” he corrected. “Me. I’m the one doing this to you. Making you shake, making you wet, making you desperate.”
He was right. The vine between my legs continued its maddening exploration, sliding through my folds with deliberate slowness. Another joined it, this one focusing entirely on my clit with small, pulsing movements that made me whimper.
“That’s better,” Kaelren said, his breathing heavier now. “Keep making those sounds. I want to know exactly how close you are.”
I was already close—embarrassingly so. The combination of sensations, of being watched, of his dark promises about what he’d do when this was real, was pushing me toward the edge faster than I’d thought possible.
A thicker vine pressed against my entrance, not demanding but offering. When I tried to shift my hips, tried to take it inside, it pulled back teasingly.
“Please,” I begged, pride completely abandoned.
“Please what?” His hand moved faster on himself, and I could see how close he was too—muscles tense, jaw clenched. “Tell me exactly what you want.”
“I want you inside me. I want—”
The vine thrust in, and I screamed.
“That’s my good girl,” Kaelren groaned. “Taking it so well. Looking so perfect spread out, desperate and dripping for me.”
The vine began to move—slow, deep strokes that made me shake in my bonds. The one on my clit intensified its rhythm, and the venus fly traps pulsed in time with the thrusts. It was too much, too intense, too perfect.
“When I fuck you for real,” Kaelren growled, his control fraying, “I’m going to make you come just like this. Tied up, at my mercy, begging me for more. And I’ll give it to you, Elle. I’ll give you everything until you can’t remember anything but my name.”
“Kaelren—” I was right on the edge, every nerve singing.
“Come for me,” he commanded. “Now.”
I shattered.
The orgasm ripped through me in waves, made more intense by the vines that didn’t stop, that carried me through the pleasure until I was sobbing with the intensity of it. Through the haze, I heard Kaelren groan my name, watched him come with his eyes locked on me, claiming me even from a distance.
The vines lowered me gently, releasing their hold but remaining close like a living blanket. Kaelren moved to me immediately, gathering me against his chest, both of us breathing hard.
“When we do this for real,” I said against his skin, “I want everything. No holding back.”
“You’ll have it,” he promised, his voice rough. “All of me. Every dark, corrupted, possessive part. And you’re going to love it.”
“I already do,” I said with absolute certainty.
We stayed tangled together as our breathing slowed, as the alcove filled with softer light.
But then the alcove began to shake.
“What’s happening?” I asked as cracks appeared in the moss, as the waterfall’s light started to flicker.
“You’re waking up,” Kaelren said, regret heavy in his voice. “The dream’s ending.”
“No, wait, I’m not ready—”
“Elle.” He cupped my face, forcing me to meet his eyes. “Remember this. Remember that we’re possible. That we can be more than destiny’s puppets.”
“Kaelren—”
The world shattered like glass.
I jolted awake with a gasp, my heart pounding, my body still singing with phantom sensations. I was back in the monastery, lying on soft moss, covered with a blanket that smelled like pine.
And Kaelren was beside me, his hand still clasped in mine, his eyes snapping open at the same moment mine did.
We stared at each other in the dim phosphorescent light, both breathing hard, both knowing without words that we’d shared the same dream.
“That wasn’t—” I started.
“Just a dream,” he finished, his voice rough. “No. That was something else.”
Through our bond, I felt the echo of everything we’d done, everything we’d felt. Real or not, it had changed something between us.
Something we couldn’t take back.
And as I looked into his eyes, saw the same hunger and possessive intensity reflected there, I realized I didn’t want to take it back.
Whatever came next—convergence, corruption, the weight of seventeen failed iterations—we would face it together.
But first, we had to survive long enough to make that dream a reality.