Lysaria
When I woke up in the early hours of the morning, the fire in my blood was already burning. I groaned, opening my eyes and blinking in confusion. There was a warm weight around my waist, and I tensed. Then I relaxed, realizing it was Zayne.
What was happening? The heat had never returned so quickly; we usually had more time before it threatened to consume us again.
I groaned again, stretching against him, unable to resist rubbing my body against his.
We were both still naked, and I blushed when I remembered seeking him out last night.
But I didn’t regret it. Waking up in his arms felt good, even if my feelings were being influenced by the heat.
He stirred, groaning in pleasure, his other arm coming up and cupping my cheek. He kissed me softly, his lips warm as they moved over mine. The fire flared, and I groaned against his mouth. I could feel the length of him, hot and hard between us, and I shuddered.
I hooked my leg over his hip and pressed myself against him, letting him feel how much I needed him.
“Lysaria,” he groaned against my lips. His hands ran down my back, following the curve of my hips, gripping me tightly and holding me in place. I shifted, reaching between us and aligning our bodies. Then I shifted my hips, guiding him in, sighing with pleasure at the way he stretched me.
Then he began to move, and I cried out in ecstasy, my fingers digging into his shoulders. It was a fast, furious coupling, a mating of need and heat. I screamed his name as the world dissolved into fire.
We lay there panting as the heat faded. I smiled as he kissed my forehead and then stood up with a groan.
“I’m going to jump in the shower,” he said.
“You can join me if you want.” He winked and lightly swatted my backside before walking towards the bathroom.
I laid there watching him go, appreciating the view he presented as he walked away.
I smiled to myself and considered following him but closed my eyes, thinking I would rest just for a minute before getting up.
I woke some time later, alone in his bed.
The heat was back already. It started as a low thrum, a familiar warmth beneath my skin that I had come to know, even anticipate.
But this time, the warmth didn’t build; it detonated.
It was a flash flood of molten lava that erupted in my core and incinerated every nerve ending in its path.
A scream was torn from my throat, a raw, animalistic sound of pure agony.
The door burst open and Zayne was suddenly there. He snatched me from the bed, pressing me to his chest and looking around wildly for a threat. I shuddered in his arms, lost in a fog of uncontrollable desire. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t speak; I felt like I was burning up from the inside out.
He looked at me and seemed to realize what was wrong. He laid me back onto the bed, and his hands and lips were on me instantly. I whimpered, writhing against him.
“Zayne,” I said, my voice thin and breathy.
“It’s okay, love,” he growled against my ear. “I’ve got you.”
The first day was a blur of frantic motion.
Zayne was there, his voice a low, steady murmur against the roaring in my ears, his hands the only anchor in a sea of pain.
We mated on the floor, against the wall, in the shower.
His body was a desperate balm, a temporary extinguisher that offered a few moments of blessed, mind-numbing relief before the fire roared back, hotter and more vicious than before.
The temporary peace was a cruel joke, a brief glimpse of heaven before being dragged back into a hell that grew more inventive with each passing hour.
By the second day, the frantic energy had burned away, leaving behind a smoldering, relentless agony.
My skin was no longer my own; it was a living thing stretched too tight over my bones, buzzing and humming with a power that felt more like a parasite than a part of me.
Every touch, even the gentle brush of Zayne’s fingers, was both a salvation and a fresh torture.
The pleasure was there, but it was a thin, sharp-edged thing, completely overwhelmed by the all-consuming fire that demanded more, more, more.
I was no longer a person. I was a vessel for pain.
A whimpering, sobbing creature curled in the center of the bed, the sheets soaked with sweat and tears.
I could hear myself making sounds, small, broken noises that didn’t seem human.
My throat was raw from screaming, my muscles trembled with a constant, deep-seated exhaustion, but sleep was impossible.
How could you sleep when you were being burned alive from the inside out?
Zayne never left. He was a constant, solid presence.
He held me when the shudders wracked my body, murmuring words I could no longer comprehend.
He brought me water, holding the cup to my lips when my hands shook too badly to lift it.
He tried to feed me, but the scent of food made my stomach churn violently.
He bathed me with cool cloths, his touch infinitely gentle, but even that felt like sandpaper against my hypersensitive skin.
Through the haze of agony, I watched him.
I saw the dark circles of exhaustion under his eyes, the strain etched around his mouth.
He was as trapped as I was, a prisoner of my biology.
He was trying so hard to be gentle, to be the man who had coaxed my wolf from the shadows, but with every wave of the heat, I felt the wolf inside him snarl with frustration and a primal, desperate need to fix it.
His control was a fragile, precious thing, and it was shattering under the strain.
The third day was the end. The fire was no longer just in my veins; it was in my soul.
It was a malevolent, sentient entity that was consuming me from the inside out, devouring my memories, my strength, my very will to live.
I could feel my wolf, but she wasn’t the curious presence from before.
She was a terrified animal, pacing in a cage of fire, her sapphire-flecked silver eyes wide with a panic that mirrored my own.
She was shrinking, her whimpers of fear a constant echo in my mind. We were being unmade.
I lay on my side, my knees drawn up to my chest, rocking back and forth in a futile attempt to soothe myself.
The tears had long since stopped falling; there was nothing left.
I was a hollowed-out shell, and the fire was the only thing that filled me.
This was it. This was how I would die. Not at the hands of a cruel abuser, but from the curse of my own nature, from a bond that was supposed to be a gift but had become a death sentence.
I could feel Zayne’s presence behind me. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his shoulders slumped in defeat. He had run out of ideas. There was no more pleasure to be had, no more relief to be given. There was only the fire, and the waiting. He was going to watch me burn to death.
A new kind of pain sliced through me, sharper than the physical agony.
It was the pain of his loss. I thought of his easy smile, the way he looked at me with wonder, the sound of his laugh.
I thought of the future he had promised me, one of patience and healing and a life I had never dared to dream of.
All of it was turning to ash in the fire that was consuming me.
I couldn't die. I couldn't leave him to this. I couldn't let our story end here, in this suffocating room that smelled of despair and singed hope.
With a strength I didn't know I possessed, I forced myself to turn over. The movement sent a fresh wave of fire through me, and I cried out, but I didn't stop. I had to see him.
He was looking down at his hands, his expression one of utter devastation. His hair was a mess, his jaw dark with stubble, and he looked as though he had aged a decade in three days. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
Our eyes met. His were a stormy, tormented grey, full of a grief so profound it mirrored my own. He saw the resignation in my gaze, and a fresh wave of anguish washed over his face. He thought I was giving up.
But I wasn't looking at him with fear. I wasn't looking at him with resignation. I was looking at him with every last shred of hope I had left. I was looking at my anchor, my sanctuary, my whole world.
My lips were cracked and swollen, my voice a dry, ruined whisper. I had to force the air from my burning lungs, shape the words with a tongue that felt thick and foreign. It was the hardest thing I had ever done.
"Help me," I whispered.