Chapter 21
twenty-one
Kaiden
I stared down at Eryn, watching her sleep. There was a feeling of contentment, of satisfaction I didn’t expect to feel without completing the bond. I thought we were a long way off from this—years away—but Eryn’s wide-eyed admission hit me right in the center of my chest. This wasn’t all one-sided.
She felt something for me. It wasn’t a love declaration by any means, and me revealing the true depth of my feelings for her would probably unravel all our progress, but…it meant something. Gods, it meant something. What though? That was the newest question hounding my every thought.
It’s why I wasn’t asleep, and instead, watched my bond with this new, excited thrill I couldn’t shake. It was why my bag sat packed at the door, ready for the four-hour drive I now really didn’t want to make because it would mean leaving her side, even for just a short while.
The tribunal called an emergency meeting.
All faction seats and their heirs were required to attend.
Our enemy would be there, the one pulling the strings behind Eryn’s attacks.
I knew who it was the second I saw that illusioned pit bull snarling at my bond yesterday.
The damned dog was the calling card of Kol Von Bauer, the heir to the djinn faction.
Combined with Eryn’s description of who stabbed her along with what he said, it was a perfect fit.
And not at all unexpected. I couldn’t make a move against him outright, but his presence was also required at the meeting.
Eryn should be safe until I returned. Ezra could handle any low-level hunters still lingering in my absence.
Forcing myself to leave was a harder task than I anticipated, however.
A cascade of dark curls fell across the pillow she’d stolen from between us.
On her back, Eryn’s shirt rode up, revealing her soft green panties and a slice of her toned stomach.
The sheets were clenched in her fists, and her face was crumpled in a frown.
Nightmares plagued her as of late, often waking us both with their potency and tendency to make her thrash.
I was usually too late to stop them, waking at the same time as her, but not tonight.
Tonight, I watched as the terrors in her memories took hold and spun their web of pain.
I planned to redirect those thoughts and leave her with other memories to keep her company while I was away.
Before the nightmare grew strong enough to reach me, even through the blocks in our bond, I ran a gentle finger from her shoulder to elbow and whispered her name.
Waking her too suddenly could have the opposite effect of what I was trying to do.
Her head jerked, one way and then the other.
I maintained my gentle touch from her elbow, down her forearm, and into her palm.
“Wake up, princess.” Her eyes fluttered behind clenched lids. “You can do it. Follow my voice.” Deep emerald orbs, glinting with moonlight and confusion met my steady gaze. “You were slipping into another nightmare,” I told her, my finger still dancing across her skin.
“I thought you’d be gone by now.” Her voice was raw with sleep, and the deepness of it did funny things to me. “Shouldn’t you have left already?”
I really should have, but I couldn’t go after seeing her like that or without leaving her with something to help fight off the darkness in my absence. Who knew how long this meeting would keep me away?
“I have a present for you first.” That tiny smile was reward enough and worth whatever punishment awaited me if I was late. “Turn on your stomach.”
She hesitated, her trust in me still so new, but eventually rolled and tucked her arms under her pillow.
I took a moment to admire the slope of her lower back and where it met the delicious curve of her ass, before rising to my knees and settling over her.
She tensed, but the first touches of my hands on the muscles in her shoulders had her melting into the mattress with a groan.
I smirked. “Working some of this tension out of your body might help your mind relax as well.”
She responded with another low groan, and my dick jumped behind the fabric that confined it. Working my way down the sides of her spine, I soaked in her little moans of pleasure: both a gift and the most exquisite form of torture. Our bond awoke at the first sign of interest from one or both of us.
It burned in my chest, likely hers as well, and egged us on.
I was cautious of its influence but allowed it more rein than usual.
Eryn wasn’t afraid of it like she was before.
That gave us more room to play. I reached the small of her back and dug my thumbs into the tense muscles there.
The sounds that left Eryn’s lips were needy, desperate.
Her hips lifted the slightest bit. Pushing her shirt higher, I pressed on those muscles again, testing. She deliberately lifted and wiggled that ass at me. Hint taken, princess.
“Tell me again,” I demanded, slipping under the waistband of her panties to get at the muscles there. Another deliberate wiggle and my control broke. I threw myself back and spread her legs. She mewed in response but didn’t speak, so I ran a finger down her center. Gods. “You’re fucking soaked.”
I did it again, making her squirm, but she didn’t deny my touch, not even when that finger slipped beneath the near-transparent cotton.
“If you want more, it’s going to cost a little honesty.” I delved deeper, drenching my finger to the first knuckle. “If you can admit what this means, I’ll let you come.”
Sliding her panties off, I returned to her wet heat with one fingertip. She writhed and lifted her hips once more in invitation, but nothing slipped past those lips other than her frustrated whines.
“Shall I help you?” I crooned. “Do you need a hint?”
I left her entrance and strummed her clit until she squealed, then backed away, once again content to play far from where she wanted me most.
“K-kaiden. Godsdammit!” She cried when all her squirming got my fingers no closer to her throbbing bundle of nerves.
“Admitting how you feel won’t snap the bond in place.” I circled her clit, not allowing even the slightest graze. “It’s okay to like one another.” Muffled curses and unintelligible words were smothered by her pillow. She was close. “What was that?”
She turned her head to the side, those curls covering her face in a wild tangle.
“I like you,” she panted.
About damn time. I’d longed to hear those words since I learned her name. Since her picture first slid across my desk. They weren’t the exact words I was holding out for, but those would come in time. My power begged for release, and I let it free.
“Good fucking girl.” My shadows pushed on the backs of her thighs until she understood what they wanted. She lifted onto her knees, and they wound around her waist. “Hips up,” I commanded, my magick already adjusting her.
I couldn’t hold back my deep growl of approval. Face down and that perfect ass propped up on display, her juices dripping down her inner thighs. I’d wanted a taste of her ever since that small sample I got off my fingers in the stairwell. I used my thumbs to spread her open, ready to jump right in.
“What are you doing?” she whimpered, her body tense now.
“Something you’re going to love,” I told her. I hope she loved it. I would never do something that hurt her. “If I do something you don’t like, you can always tell me to stop. I swear on the gods, I will.”
I rubbed up and down, spreading that sweet proof of her desire. Leaning in, I allowed my breath to ghost over the most vulnerable part of her. When that didn’t push her from fear to curiosity, I blew a steady stream of air right on her clit.
“We can’t,” she gasped, but there was no power behind her voice. Better still, arousal saturated the bond.
“We can,” I hummed and dipped a thumb down to her entrance, pressing. “And I’m gonna, so you better get ready.”
My thumb sank all the way inside and rubbed along her walls while I blew once more on her clit. I paused, giving her one more chance to stop me, but that was the last thing on her mind. Her thighs trembled so hard only my shadows kept her up and presented for me.
“Arch your back.” She did, and I made her scream with one swipe of my tongue. Her hips curved, trying in vain to escape the now overwhelming touch, and I slapped her ass strong enough to leave a mark. “Now, princess. Arch your back and leave it there.”
Pushing her knees wider, I leaned in and went to work.
My hands held her in place as my tongue worked in tandem with my fingers to bring her to the edge again and again.
I sucked and nibbled her onto the cusp of an orgasm, then filled her tight channel with a digit until she tightened so much it couldn’t move.
I licked up every drop that escaped her.
Ignoring her pleas for mercy, I pressed my tongue deep inside her until she clenched around it.
Until she tried to escape. Until I couldn’t understand the cries coming from her lips—some variation of ‘please’ and ‘I can’t take it.
’ I traced my way back to her clit, and as soon as my lips wrapped around it, she shattered, my name ringing off the walls from the force of her shout.
She rode it out on my tongue until she went limp and boneless, held up only by my magick. I gently set her back down on her stomach with her legs spread and glistening from my attention. It would be so easy to slide inside her, to break her with round after round of more earth-shattering pleasure.
Instead, I held on tight to my control and forced myself to cover her with a blanket. She was already halfway asleep and hopefully worn out enough that the nightmares wouldn’t return tonight. Pulling the blanket up to her shoulders, I brushed her hair to the side and left a light kiss on her cheek.
“I like you too, princess.”