Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
By the time I return to my room in Orion’s castle, my entire body is vibrating with restless energy.
I don’t know why, but I feel like things are moving too slowly.
Months have already passed since we first escaped the Ice Palace.
Who knows what wicked plans the Icehearts have been able to cook up during that time?
Pacing back and forth across the floor of my room, I can’t help but feel that time is running out. All of it. The time to mount a proper attack on the Icehearts. The time to prepare our own defenses. The time to fix what I did to Draven.
My heart squeezes painfully.
Every day that passes is another day where Draven only focuses on how much he hates me.
Soon enough, he will have spent more time hating me than he did loving me.
Even if I can somehow figure out how to remove that hatred from his chest, will it be enough?
Will everything actually go back to normal?
Or will our relationship already have changed too much by then?
A sudden wave of dread and panic threatens to overwhelm me, so I pull anger around me like a shield. I will make Draven remember how he feels about me if it’s the last fucking thing I do.
Stalking over to the bed, I throw myself down on my back and unbutton my pants. He told me after our kiss in the cave that he could feel my emotions through the mate bond. Well, let’s see how he handles this, then.
With that furious anger still burning through me, I slip my hand into my panties and start pleasuring myself.
A moan escapes my lips as I rub my fingers over my clit in exactly the way I like it.
While imagining that it’s Draven doing it, I continue moving my fingers until pleasure builds like a storm inside me.
There is a tugging sensation in my chest, and suddenly, I can feel a mix of hatred, yearning, and panic through what used to be our mate bond.
Throwing my head back, I grin up at the pale stone ceiling while I continue bringing myself towards an orgasm.
The door is yanked open.
Storm clouds and lightning crackle around Draven’s powerful body as he stalks into my room and throws the door shut behind him.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he snarls at me.
Slowly tilting my head back down, I meet his gaze head on while I nonchalantly continue pleasuring myself. “What does it look like?”
Just as I calculated, that exact phrasing of the question makes his gaze dart down to the hand between my spread legs. Burning hunger flares up in his eyes. Clenching his jaw, he flexes his hand and drags his gaze back up to my face.
“Stop doing that,” he growls at me.
Holding his gaze with a smug stare, I just continue pleasuring myself. “Why?”
“Because I can feel your… lust. And pleasure.”
“Huh. Interesting.” I run my tongue along my teeth. “It must be because I’m imagining that it’s your hand doing it.”
Desperate longing flashes across his face like a bolt of lightning.
The actual lightning around him crackles in the now even more violently churning storm clouds that ripple out from his broad shoulders.
Threats glint in his eyes as he suddenly starts moving forward, stalking towards me where I’m still lying on the pale sheets of the bed.
With one elbow braced on the mattress underneath me and my other hand still rubbing my clit, I just watch him advance on me while I raise my eyebrows in arrogant challenge.
The bed creaks as Draven places a hand on it, right next to me, and then leans down over me. There is a dangerous expression on his face, which just makes my clit throb harder.
“I said,” Draven grinds out, his voice dark. “Stop doing that.”
“Or what, Shadow of Death?” I taunt, my fingers still moving.
“Trust me, little rebel, you don’t want to play this game with me.”
My heart stutters at that nickname. He has barely called me that since I put the hatred in his chest. And hearing it now makes that boldness inside me swell.
Cocking my head, I flash him a smirk full of challenge. “You’re the one who came into my bedroom. The way I see it, you have two choices. You can either leave.” I flick a pointed glance down between my legs. “Or you can help.”
He drags in a highly controlled breath and flexes his hand again. Hatred and anger and desperate passion fight for supremacy in his eyes.
I rub my clit harder.
Pleasure spikes up my spine, and I throw my head back and gasp.
My heart jerks as a pair of strong hands suddenly grab my ankles and yank me farther down the bed.
Snapping my head back up, I now find myself closer to the edge where Draven is towering over me.
His hand shoots up and wraps around my wrist, yanking my hand away from my clit before releasing me, and then he grabs the top of my already unbuttoned pants with both hands and shoves them down my thighs along with my underwear.
“Oh.” I flash him a satisfied smirk. “You’ve decided to help, I see.”
“You infuriating little…” he growls under his breath while continuing to strip me naked.
Fabric flutters through the air as he yanks off my pants and underwear and tosses them down on the floor.
Grabbing me by the hips, he pulls me all the way to the edge with one firm yank.
My spread legs are now draped down over the edge of the bed on either side of Draven’s legs where he’s standing before me.
Leaning down over me again, he grabs the collar of my shirt.
And then rips it open.
I gasp, and fire crackles through my veins while my clit throbs.
After throwing the scraps of my shirt aside, he pauses for a second and just stares down at my now utterly naked body.
He is still dressed in full dragon scale armor.
And the complete difference in vulnerability between us somehow makes that fire in my veins even hotter.
I squirm against the sheets as my clit throbs with the need for him.
Deep desire burns in his eyes as he rakes his gaze over my naked body. The sight of it makes my heart skip a beat.
“Are you going to fuck me in full armor, or…?” I raise my eyebrows expectantly. Then a wicked smile blows across my lips as I spread my legs wider. “I’m already wet, so you—”
“Shut up.” It sounds more like a desperate plea than a command.
Dragging in deep breaths, it looks like he is franticly trying to convince himself to leave instead.
“I hate you so fucking much,” he says.
But a small cloud of black smoke appears as he shifts out of his fully human form and into his half-shift form.
Though I think the sudden shift had more to do with getting his clothes off efficiently than anything else.
While shifting, he can store the clothes he is wearing inside the black bracers on his forearms. He does that now, leaving his muscular body entirely naked except for those black bracers.
His imposing black wings flare out on either side of him as he grabs me by the hips and slams into me with all the fury and desperation that the hatred inside him is still making him feel.
Gasping, I arch up from the bed as pleasure pulses through me.
Draven’s hand locks around my throat while he pulls out and then thrusts back in again.
“Did you think I was going to make love to you?” he taunts, that anger and hatred still burning along with the desire in his eyes. His hand flexes around my throat as he starts up a commanding pace. “No, I’m going to fuck you. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”
A moan escapes my lips as he thrusts in again, creating the most incredible friction.
“That’s what I thought,” he says. “So don’t mistake this for anything other than what it is. I’m only here to prove that you are the one who is desperate for my cock. For me. So I’m going to fuck you until you’re nothing but a trembling mess begging me for another orgasm.”
Dark desire washes through me, and my clit throbs. I grin up at him. “Do your worst.”
His eyes gleam as he picks up the pace, fucking me dominantly and without mercy. He keeps one hand around my throat and the other on my hip to stop me from sliding up the sheets with every firm thrust of his hips.
Pleasure builds like a wave inside me.
I rake my gaze over his perfect body. His muscles flex with every commanding move, and light from the faelight gems glitter in his beautiful golden eyes. A deep sense of possessiveness burns through me. Mine. He is mine.
The mate bond thrums in my chest.
Draven gasps. Desire drowns out the hatred in his eyes for a fraction of a second before the two emotions are back to their unending battle again. He drags in a shuddering breath and flexes his hand around my throat.
A smirk tugs at my lips. He can feel it. He can feel what I feel right now.
That knowledge brings forth an idea. A wicked idea. But one that I’m going to use anyway.
While sliding a hand around my breast, I cast a lazy glance towards the ripped shirt on the ground. “You didn’t need to destroy the shirt, by the way. It was a gift from Orion.”
Draven’s eyes flash. “Don’t say his name. Don’t you fucking dare say his name while my cock is inside you.”
“Whose name?” I ask in my best innocent voice. “Ori—”
His hand shoots up from my throat to my mouth. I suck in a startled breath as he shoves his middle finger and ring finger into my open mouth. With them pressing down on my tongue, and his thumb pressing up underneath my chin, I can no longer form words.
While still fucking me hard, Draven leans closer and locks commanding eyes on me.
“You moan my name,” he growls. “Only my name. Or you lose speaking privileges. Understood?”
Heat pools at my core, and I squirm against the sheets as another wave of dark desire crashes over me.
Since he’s still keeping me gagged with his fingers, all I can do is nod in acknowledgement.
“Good,” he says.
But he doesn’t remove his hand.
Instead, he slides his other hand up from my hip and towards my breasts.