Chapter Quote by Unknown
Do not seek the shadows of the deep
~ Unknown
I was not unfamiliar with the sight of Dahlia suffering at the hands of our enemies.
Kroans. Xhoth. Her own dreams or the cruel hands of men.
But when that thing appeared to me, wearing the skin of a man in a poor attempt to fool me, none of those other instances could compare.
Everything I had ever fought for, everything I had ever fought to keep, seemed entirely insignificant when I watched her get ripped from my world.
When I watched him tear into her. Violate her. Destroy her before my eyes.
To find out it was a lie was the greatest relief I’d ever felt.
To know Dahlia had endured such things many times in the weeks past battered my heart and tore me to shreds.
I thought her lost. I thought I was soon to follow… until the veil fell from my eyes and the falsities were exposed for what they were. Dahlia was just as strong and resilient as I knew she was from the beginning. She was the woman I fell in love with. The woman I would die for.
In the end, she won.
That half of my heart had survived and prevailed against the tyrant that had been haunting her since before our paths had crossed again.
Now, that half of me was sleeping against my side, soundless as I ran my fingers continually through her silky tresses.
I was in awe over the fact that we were both still alive and we’d managed to sail from that godforsaken drowned city.
There was much to talk about and even more to attend to, but for the moment, I could not think of anything else except the siren pressed beside me.
The mere weight of her leg draped over my thighs was like a taste of heaven.
“Will you not be sleeping?” she whispered.
“I have slept quite a bit the past couple days. I would rather savor your touch a while longer before I close my eyes.”
She reached across my body, running the tips of her fingers over the layers of bandages wrapped around my torso.
“I nearly killed you.”
“We’ve nearly killed each other a dozen times, love. I won’t be holding this one against you.”
Her gray eyes found mine when she lifted her head, blinking slowly up at me.
“Does it hurt?”
“Barely,” I sighed. “Your aim is faulty.”
“My aim is impeccable. I didn’t want to kill you. My hand knew it even if my mind did not.” Her knee slid up my thigh, brushing against the side of my groin. “I do wish my aim had been even less accurate, though. You’ll be weakened by this wound for some time, I assume.”
“Mmm,” I groaned softly. “Weakened, perhaps. If you want me, you’ll have to do all the work. And I know you too well to think you’re not eager to have me right now.”
She lifted her head again as if to ask something, but there was no question on her lips.
Only a soft little smirk before she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, teasing.
Lifting on her elbow, she scooted closer, bringing her mouth to mine.
God, I missed her lips. Any time they were not pressed against my mouth, I missed them, and when we kissed, pain was a distant memory.
She slid her tongue into my mouth, her fingers dancing across my bare abdomen, and then pushed past the waistband on my britches.
Her fingers slid around my cock, her touch like magic, instantly making me hard.
I moaned softly against her lips as she stroked me, her caresses igniting my core.
“Use me,” I whispered.
“I could open your stitches.”
“Then control yourself,” I taunted.
“You ask too much of me.”
She squeezed my cock in her fist, stroking it a couple of times before she swung her leg over me and sat up astride my hips.
Her fingers nimbly pulled the laces loose on my pants and shimmied the waistband down until my cock sprang from its confines, already painfully hard.
I had to admit that staring up at her magnificent form, feeling her weight against my groin, was a feeling I could easily get addicted to.
She peered down at me with hooded eyes, her fingers dancing across my chest and tracing every little scar she could find as if worshipping them.
When she brushed her fingers over my bandages, I could see the fire in her eyes die a little. I reached up, taking her wrist.
“I am in some amount of pain and at risk of tearing the stitches Aeris worked very hard on, but I will roll you over and fuck the guilt right out of you if you don’t stop looking at me like that,” I rasped.
She pulled up the hem of her blouse, lifting the loose fabric over her head.
Her body, in all of its dreadful beauty, unveiled itself to me.
She did not attempt to look more human that night.
Her skin, pale as bone ash, was something I once thought horrifying.
Her eyes, like clouds announcing a deadly tempest, glowed in the low light.
Every scar, marking, and flaw made her what she was.
A siren. A monster. My monster, gorgeous in ways I did not think one could be.
Her midnight hair framed her face as she sucked her lower lip between sharp teeth again.
“I want to know what it feels like,” she whispered.
“What’s that?”
She reached down between us, notching the head of my cock at her entrance.
“To fuck you without the shadows of his voice moving about my mind. Without the fear of him looking over my shoulder.”
Slowly, she began to sink down onto my length, savoring every inch.
She squeezed me like she was trying to snap my dick off as she gradually started to roll her hips back and forth.
I closed my eyes, my palms resting on her thighs as she rode me, her motions torturously slow.
And still, my stomach began to tighten. Be it hard and untamed or careful, when I was inside of her, my body was flooded with desire.
I moaned her name, clutching her hips just to feel her move.
Her breath deepened, growing more labored with every thrust. And with every thrust, she began to lose herself in her pleasure.
Her eyes fluttered closed, her body arching back until her hands were rested on my thighs.
“You deserve all of me,” she panted, her head dropping to look at me, eyes black as onyx. “And now you have all of me.”
“You’re a fucking monster,” I groaned.
“I’m your monster.”
Nodding, I pushed my hips up, encouraging her to go faster. When she started to ride me harder, I reached up with one hand, cupping the back of her neck and pulling her toward me.
“Harder, love,” I breathed against her lips.
“I’ll hurt you.”
My fingers curled in her hair as I collared her throat with my other hand.
“Aye, but I said to use me and the way you’re squeezing my cock, I know you need more. So, fuck me the way you want to fuck me.”
I released her, staring into her predatory gaze as she sat up again, her body moving with renewed desperation.
She watched me as if to seek approval and I simply challenged her, my jaw ticking at the way she was starting to move her hips.
Reaching back, I tucked my hands beneath my pillow, forcing myself not to intervene again.
Dahlia began to moan and gasp, adjusting her motions until each one made her whimper with pleasure.
“I rather like the sight of you beneath me,” she breathed.
“I rather like the sight of you looking down at me like that,” I smirked. “Like the queen I know you are.”
“Queen of what? Pain?”
“Me, love. You reign over my every thought.”
She reached out to touch my face, her fingers tracing my parted lips.
My tongue darted out to taste her and as it did, she slid her fingers into my mouth, letting me suck the length of them before she moved her slickened fingers between her legs.
The sight of her toying with herself nearly finished me.
My balls started to draw up, desperate for relief, but I deprived myself, holding my breath as I awaited the small signs that Dahlia was close to her own pinnacle.
I was relentlessly drawn to her, a longing that resonated deep within me.
Dahlia caressed herself gently, her breath quickening, each inhale a testament to her rising passion.
As a shiver swept through her, her body tightened, and a soft, muffled sound escaped her lips.
I was captivated by the sight of her exquisite form trembling in ecstasy.
I clenched my fists beneath my head, an overwhelming warmth surging through me, overshadowing any pain I was feeling beneath my bandages.
A low groan escaped me as I surrendered to the profound connection we shared, pouring my heart into her, claiming her as my own once more, for an eternity.
Panting, Dahlia collapsed against me, careful to fall to one side and avoid my wound, which I was fairly certain had torn open despite our efforts.
I swore under my breath as my body relaxed from the glorious high, wrapping my arm around Dahlia’s shoulders to keep her close.
“I shall need food soon,” she said.
“Of what variety?”
I could feel her smile against my chest. “Whatever is available. I am not about to hunt a sorry soul after everything.”
“The men killed a boar yesterday. Boil will have plenty to give you.”
“Have you figured out where we are?”
“No, but we will replenish what we can here and when we are rested, we will set sail again.”
“And go where?”
I turned my head into her hair, breathing her in. “Wherever we want.”
“And… Lyla? What about her? Did I imagine her being there or was that real?”
“That was real, as strange as it is to admit.”
“How?”
“Aeris let her out.” She looked up at me, brows furrowing.
“I’ll let her explain her reasoning. Something about ‘feeling her intentions.’ Let us just be thankful her hunch was correct.
Lyla cut my binds when I was unable to do it myself.
And then, for some ungodly reason, trusted that I could slay four xhoth when half of my blood was in a pool around me already. ”
“How did you manage that?”
“It was amazing the amount of strength I was able to find when I realized you were still alive, Dahlia.”
She smiled at that, longing in her eyes. “I am proven wrong again. I thought I was weakened by my affections toward you. But you do indeed make me stronger.”
“As do you. As for Lyla, she left before we even reached the island. She seemed terribly confused.”
She exhaled loudly, tucking her face against me as if troubled by that thought.
“I do not want to think about anything right now,” she said. “I only want to be grateful that we are here. And hopeful that the waters will begin to heal now, even if we do not live long enough to see it.”
“In time, perhaps. But you are free of that monster and that is all I ever wanted. You are… aren’t you? Free of him?”
“I feel as if I am. There is a part of me that is missing, but I do not mourn it. It is like a disease that has been slowing me my whole life has finally been burned away. I pray that he is truly gone, for all our sakes. And if he ever returns, I pray it is long after we’re gone.”
“Either way,” I said, bringing her hand to my lips and kissing her knuckles. “We have survived against impossible odds. We will face impossible odds again, but we will protect each other.”
“We will protect each other,” she echoed.