Chapter 56
Chapter Fifty-Six
I watched him saunter away, a smug look still plastered on his face. Gods, I hated him. The only upside? I got to check him out from behind.
His back was a work of art—rippled muscle carved by survival, not vanity. Every inch of him had been forged by fire, and I couldn’t stop staring.
There wasn’t a single part of him that hadn’t adapted to the wild, the war, the weight of the world. And I wanted all of it.
“Don’t make me come and get you, Princess,” Maalikai growled over his shoulder.
I didn’t have a choice. Either I hardened up and got in the water—or Maalikai would drag me in himself. Or worse... he’d follow through on his threat to stop giving me exactly what I craved. And while I doubted he had the restraint to resist me, I wasn’t about to tempt fate.
In a single motion, my clothes joined his in a crumpled heap. I straightened, standing tall in nothing but the two wisps of silk, teasingly insubstantial, channeling every inch of Goddess energy I could conjure. When I stepped forward, Maalikai looked up.
The intensity of his gaze hit me like a physical blow, stealing the breath straight from my lungs. His usual playful smirk was gone—replaced by pure, unfiltered hunger .
That look? It was a sin.
All-consuming, devouring, the kind of heat that left nothing untouched. It was like being flayed open by a dagger made of fire, except I begged for him to flay me.
A flush rose to my cheeks—and lower—as his eyes devoured every inch of me. I took a step into the stream, gasping as cold water licked at my skin. Frost replaced fire, burning in its own savage way. I welcomed it. I needed the shock—the balance—because inside, I was still unbridled fire.
I waded in deeper, letting the glacial water bite into me, subduing the wildfire that Maalikai had ignited. Then, with one last breath, I plunged.
The water snapped around me like glass. But it grounded me. The ache in my chest, the want clawing under my skin—it dulled for a moment. Just long enough for me to catch my breath.
When I surfaced, water streamed down my face. Ripples broke around me in concentric waves as I caught sight of him—standing only feet away.
My serenity didn’t stand a chance.
He was already moving. His body, sun-warmed and radiant, was a Gods-damn contrast to my frozen limbs. Heat radiated off him like a furnace, teasing across the surface of my skin.
He was fire.
I was ice.
A hurricane meeting a volcano.
Destructive. Cataclysmic. Inevitable.
He didn’t say a word. Just stepped into me. His chest pressed against mine, and the sheer contact sent a gasp tearing from my lips. Nerve endings I didn’t know I had lit up like lightning. He reached for me—fingers threading through my wet hair, brushing it back behind my ear. The simple act was tender. Reverent.
It undid me.
“You are so beautiful.”
Shame bloomed in my chest, sharp and bitter. I dropped my gaze. He was wrong. I wasn’t beautiful. Not like him—flawless, dangerous, carved by fate and fire.
Compared to him, I was chaos. Raw. Uneven.
“I mean it,” he whispered, lifting my chin with a finger until I had no choice but to meet his eyes.
And what I saw there wrecked me.
There was no pretense. No smugness. Just truth . Devotion. That primal pull that said I wasn’t just wanted .
I was his .
And fuck, when he looked at me like that? I almost believed I was worthy.
Heat flushed my cheeks, but I didn’t look away. I couldn’t. The world had narrowed to this: me, him, the icy water around us, and the fire roaring between our bodies.
I needed a distraction. Something to break the tension. To stop my soul from unraveling beneath his gaze.
So I kissed him.
Hard.
My lips crashed into his, claiming what was already mine. He didn’t hesitate—his mouth opened, welcoming me with a growl that rumbled through his chest. His fingers tangled in my hair, tipping my head back, exposing the sensitive line of my neck. He bit. Scraped. Soothed. I shuddered, completely at his mercy.
“Fuck, I want you,” he growled, voice shredded with need.
Breathless, I looked up. “Out here?”
His eyes glinted. “Why not? Unless you’re not comfortable.”
That daring lilt in his tone? It flipped a switch in me.
We’d only ever been intimate in bed. Places with walls. Boundaries. Control.
But right now? I didn’t want control.
I wanted chaos.
I wanted h im.
“Where would we… you know… do it?”
A rumble of laughter escaped him. “Do you mean have sex?”
“Mmm hmm.”
He nipped my ear again, harder this time. “You are so Gods-damn innocent, Princess. It makes my fucking heart swell.”
“Oh, really?”
He leaned in, brushing his lips against mine. “Mmm hmm.”
He used my words against me. That cocky bastard.
Fuck it.
I reached down, my hand slipping past the waistband of his underwear before he could blink. My fingers wrapped around him—hot, hard, thick—and he inhaled sharply.
“Princess,” he choked, his jaw going slack.
“Something wrong?” I asked sweetly, stroking him slow. Deliberate.
“No, I just?—”
“If you’d like, I can go back to being innocent little me.” I bit my lip, smiling like sin.
Maalikai’s eyes darkened to midnight as he stared at me like I was prey and he’d just remembered he was a predator.
“Please don’t,” he rasped.
My hand moved faster. His breath turned ragged. His fingers slid into my panties, finding me already soaked.
“Can I take these off?” he asked, voice wrecked.
“Only if I can take off yours.”
Seconds later, both our undergarments were discarded on the bank with a wet slap. Maalikai scooped me into his arms like I weighed nothing, and I wrapped my legs around him, locking us together.
“Are you sure?” he whispered, breath trembling.
I didn’t answer with words.
I guided him inside me.
He filled me in a single, perfect thrust—stretching me until I couldn’t breathe.
“Fuck me,” I gasped.
His mouth parted on a moan. “Gods… Princess.”
I rode him slow at first, letting the rhythm build, letting him feel every inch of me. The water added a pressure, a weight, a friction that made everything feel more . He held my hips, guiding me harder, deeper.
His head dropped to my shoulder as he lost himself in me.
“You are so fucking tight,” he growled.
“You are so fucking big,” I shot back, biting his neck.
The water churned around us as we moved—waves rippling with every thrust, every gasp. He gripped me tighter, angled deeper, and I shattered around him—my release ripping through me like a spell breaking free.
“Maalik,” I whimpered.
He cursed, teeth clenched as he followed me over the edge. “Fuck.”
He held me there, breathing hard against my neck.
“You are a fucking Goddess.” I smiled, still breathless. “I can never get enough of your body.”
“Just my body?” I teased.
His lips trailed down my collarbone. “Not just your body. All of you. You bring me to my knees.” He plucked a leaf from my hair and let it drift into the breeze. “But that body? That fucking body… you’ll be the death of me.”
I kissed the bridge of his nose, heart still pounding.
“As you will be mine.”
“Gods,” he murmured, voice wrecked and reverent. “You obliterate everything that makes me, me.”
My lips curved. “Good.”
A low growl escaped him, vibrating through the length of me. “You’re dangerous when you take control like that.”
“But you like it?”
His gaze locked onto mine—dark, hooded, still storm-swept from the chaos we’d just created. “You have no fucking idea.”
I ran a hand down his chest, nails grazing just enough to make him twitch. “Maybe I should find out.”
His jaw flexed, that internal storm building again—rising to something even I could barely contain.
“Oh, Princess.” He groaned the title like a curse and a prayer. “You’re playing with fire.”
“I’m not playing,” I whispered. “I’m bathing in it. Forged in fire. And now its damn queen.”
Before he could respond, I rolled my hips—slow, sinuous—grinding against him and feeling him still hard between my legs. His breath hitched. His gaze collided with mine.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” he rasped.
I wasn’t.
Not even close.
I leaned in, my lips brushing his neck. “You said I was the death of you,” I whispered. “Let me kill you a little more.”
He growled— actually growled—and slammed his mouth to mine, rougher this time. Wilder. The kiss was all tongue and desperation, his hands gripping my thighs as I rocked against him, coaxing him back to full hardness.
“I’m not going to last if you keep doing that,” he warned, breath ragged.
“Then don’t hold back.”
My fingers dug into his shoulders as I lifted myself, lining us up again. He was hot, pulsing, waiting—and then I sank down.
Slowly.
Purposefully.
A strangled moan tore from his throat as I took him inch by inch, stretching until I was full of him again. Stretched to the brink. Shaking.
“Fuck,” he hissed. “You feel even tighter the second time.”
“Maybe you’re just bigger.”
His hips bucked. “Gods, stop talking.”
“No,” I breathed against his lips, “make me.”
That was it.
He grabbed my ass and slammed up into me, water splashing violently around us, echoing through the trees like a war drum. I cried out, pleasure scorching through me like lightning.
And that’s exactly what it was.
My power reacted—bolts of lightning cracked through the air, scorching the shoreline. Fire exploded where the energy touched, smoke curling into the sky.
“Shit.” Maalikai’s eyes widened, wild as he took in the devastation. “Maybe we should stop.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
“Fuck no, but if we keep going, you’ll be the death of Ophelia.”
I raised a single hand, curling my fingers into a fist. With barely a blink, I quenched the flames.
“No need to worry,” I said coolly. “I’ve got this.”
His smile was instant— soft, rare, real . It was the kind of smile that ruined me, because I knew I was the only one who’d ever seen it. The only one who had earned it.
He didn’t hold back.
This time, he took everything .
His thrusts turned brutal, relentless. His mouth found my breast—teeth scraping, tongue circling. I moaned, nails clawing down his back as I moved with him, challenging him, daring him to lose control .
We were soaked. Wild. Wrecked.
My moans turned to gasps, breathless and raw. The pressure was building too fast—deeper, sharper. My body already remembered how to fall apart for him.
“I’m close,” I gasped.
“So am I,” he growled. “Come with me. Don’t hold back.”
He grabbed my face and kissed me like I was the last breath he’d ever take.
I shattered—again—screaming into his mouth as I fell, and he followed, thrusting one final time with a guttural sound, spilling inside me with a curse that cracked like thunder.
We held each other through the aftershocks, trembling, breathless, lips still locked like we were afraid it might end.
The water lapped gently around us, quiet now, as if even the stream knew it had witnessed something sacred.
Maalikai still held me, our bodies pressed together—his breath brushing my earlobe, his hands curled tight around my hips like he wasn’t ready to let go.
Eventually, Maalikai leaned his forehead against mine, both of us panting, wrecked.
“I’m not sure I can feel my legs,” I whispered.
He smirked, breathless. “I can carry you.”
“Please don’t. My pride’s already hanging by a thread.”
His hand slid along my waist, fingers splayed, tender and possessive. “If it makes you feel better... the way you have complete control over me? It commands all my pride. So take it. All of it.”
I snorted. “Gods, that was cheesy.”
His lips brushed my jaw. “You liked it.”
I sighed, dramatic and content. “Maybe a little.”