Chapter 23 #2
With a dark groan, he lowered his forehead to hers.
“My wily, reckless tempest,” he rasped. “A part of me wants to say no—but gods, I want you so damn much.” His big palms stroked her sides then anchored her hips, and she shivered, desire curling through her.
“If we do this, we go slow. I need to…to…” his throat moved, “prepare your body first—”
“Then prepare me,” she whispered. “Show me how to survive you.”
He shut his eyes, and Ash waited in trepidation as steam rose around them. They might have known each other for only a few weeks, yet it felt like a lifetime.
“If anything happens to you,” he growled, his eyes flashing open. “I will find the dragon pantheon and kill every one of those asshole deities who dared to decree this fucking fate on me.”
She wanted to smile at his ferocity, but didn’t, not when his fear beat like another heartbeat within her.
With a harsh inhale, he licked the claim mark on her neck, and her desire surged hotter.
“Once I bite you—” His gaze trapped hers. “I can’t remove my fangs. No matter the agony, I’ll be locked until the venom runs free.”
She nodded, resolute. “It’s just pain. For us, I can bear it.”
“By the dark gods—” His mouth came down on hers.
This time, there was nothing held back, as if he let every brick in his wall fall. The kiss was pure, heated hunger, and she craved it. His tongue swept inside, tasting, claiming. Then he deepened the kiss, sucking her tongue into his mouth. She moaned, dragging her blunt nails down his back.
“You taste like lightning,” he rasped against her mouth. He cupped her breasts in his hands, his thumbs brushing her nipples. “Every inch of you calls to me.”
She arched into his touch. “And I just want to crawl into you and stay there.”
He chuckled, then groaned as she grasped his massive erection and stroked him. “Ash, stop. My seed is heat, and you won’t fare well.”
“Right. Venom, first.”
“Indeed…” His mouth traced down her neck, lingering over his mark. “Let me show you how a dragon worships his mate.”
As his teeth grazed the sensitive spot, her knees nearly buckled, and she grabbed onto his biceps and moaned, “Race…”
He gently squeezed her breasts, and she shuddered. Then he grasped one nipple with his mouth and suckled, each pull sending a flood of liquid heat through her veins, amping her desire.
He slid his hand down her stomach to stroke her mound before sliding his fingers through her slit. Her body coiled tighter.
“You’re already so wet.” His voice roughened. “But I need you desperate. Need you mad with it.”
God, any more desperate and she’d erupt and burn—
“Oh!” She arched as his fingers found her clit, teasing and stroking.
His mouth returned to hers again while his fingers played her core like a maestro.
“Race,” she managed between gasps. “Please.”
“Soon, heart-fire.” He shifted, and his mouth trailed lower, imprinting hot kisses down her stomach. “But first I want—need—to taste you again.”
Ash couldn’t stop trembling as he knelt in front of her.
His gaze on hers, he stroked her leg and slid it over his shoulder.
The first swipe of his tongue along her core, and she shuddered.
Another flicker over her swollen flesh, and she fisted his wet hair, pleasure sweeping through her like wildfire.
Her abilities swelled and crackled as water cascaded over them.
“That’s it,” he rasped against her sensitive flesh, the sound spiking her nearer to orgasm, prickles sweeping through her. “Let me feel your power.”
Static sizzled around them, mingling with the steam as he drove her higher with licks and sucks. Then eased a finger into her, then another.
Christ, her precarious control slipped as lightning danced over her skin while he thrust in and out with his fingers and lapped at her clit, driving her to the edge and keeping her there.
She whimpered, pressing into his mouth, needing that push. “Race, please—”
“Come, my little tempest. Show me your storm.” His mouth grasped her aching clit. He suckled her flesh, then tugged with his lips—
“Dear God!” she cried out, her orgasm exploding, her lightning flickering and crackling through the bathroom.
“Just Race, but god would do,” he rumbled against her flesh.
She huffed, her body trembling, his hands on her stomach keeping her upright. Then he licked her core again—
“Nooo!” she squealed, pushing at his head. “Too much.”
He kissed her inner thigh before sliding her leg off his shoulder. He rose, turned off the shower, and scooped her boneless body into his arms. “Bed.”
Ash blinked up at him and met his tender gaze. “Ready to claim me properly, then?”
The heat in his crimson eyes dialed up to a blaze. “Oh, my sweet storm, we’re only getting started. That was just a taste of what’s to come.”
She managed a breathless laugh. “I cannot wait.”
Her gaze caressed the sculpted lines of his handsome face, meeting his desire-darkened eyes as he carried her to the bed. He set her down on the navy covers with surprising gentleness, despite the obvious need vibrating through him.
She scooted backward up the mattress.
He moved with her. Water dripped from his hair onto her skin as he braced himself above her, his erection hard and wet, jutting from his body.
“Last chance to change your mind,” he rasped, voice taut as if begging her to be the sane one. “Once I start, I won’t be able to stop.”
She reached up, tracing the tense line of his jaw. “I trust you.”
Something fierce flashed in his eyes. He caught her hand and kissed her palm, but his wariness tightened around her like a vise.
“We’re in this together.” She pulled him to her, and he settled between her parted legs.
He licked a bead of water from her face, his tongue trailing down to her chest, mapping and licking every droplet he found. She stroked his powerful shoulders. He cupped her breasts, swirling his tongue around one tight nipple, then suckled the hard nub into his mouth.
She shuddered and gripped his damp hair.
His mouth found hers again, the kiss deep, wild, and primal as his hands roamed her body.
Each touch a blaze on her sensitized skin.
His fingers slipped through her cleft again, teasing and tugging at the bundle of nerves.
Desire resurged in a tidal wave, and she pushed into his hand.
“Race, please…”
“Patience,” he rumbled against her skin, sliding down her body.
She slid her legs over his shoulders as his mouth closed around her throbbing flesh, and she arched into him, sensations flooding her.
God. So, so close again—
“Race!” She tugged at his hair, but he didn’t let her come.
He moved up her body like the predator he was, all silver hair and blazing burgundy eyes, and kissed her again then traced more heated, open-mouthed kisses along her jaw and throat.
Ash shuddered as his tongue laved the claim mark again, desire surging in waves. His fangs grazed her skin—lightly, teasingly—and his fingers stroked her clit again.
Christ. He was unraveling her completely.
He pushed a finger inside her, and her body clenched, then two more followed, stretching her. Ash whimpered and arched up, unable to think clearly, her body one massive ball of need.
“My venom,” his raspy voice came from a distance. He brushed his fangs along the crook of her neck. “It’s going to hurt—”
“I know,” she breathed, her eyes locked on his. “Just do it. Please.”
The first puncture of his fangs stung hard, and she froze. Then they sank into her neck, and she cried out as pain erupted.
She grabbed his head. “Race—”
He gripped both her hands with one of his, holding them above her head.
The burning, oh God, the burning! Like liquid fire pouring into her veins.
Ash couldn’t breathe, and a ragged cry tore free, tears spilling as the venom spread, scorching every inch of her.
“Race—” her voice broke on a sob. Even though he couldn’t speak, couldn’t remove his fangs yet, his touch said everything. I’ve got you. Stay with me.
Her insides burned, her heart hammering too fast, too hard as tears spilled down her cheeks. Her eyes squeezed shut, and she screamed and screamed and screamed—
She tried to pull away, but he held her through it, his touch steady even as her world dissolved into fire. The agony surged higher and higher until her screams shredded into silence, her throat burning raw. Her body shuddered violently as her vision blurred at the edges, oblivion closing in…
The pain began to shift.
The fire changed, a molten fever spreading low through her body, deep into her bones, her blood like acid. She couldn’t move, couldn’t think, only breathe through the scalding flames.
He still hadn’t withdrawn, his fangs buried in her neck. His free hand swept over her, gently massaging and gliding down her body again, then stroking her core, sending faint waves of pleasure through the blaze.
She shuddered.
Time blurred.
He continued touching her, keeping her tethered to him—but the blaze wouldn’t be doused.
This isn’t working.
She was being incinerated inside out.
A whimper broke free from her tight, swollen throat. I’m dying…
Yet somewhere in the dim recesses of her mind…
Something was happening.
The burning pressure on her neck eased, then a warm tongue laved her neck, soothing…replacing the awful agony. The contact sent a ripple through her—nothing like the sharp, devouring heat from before.
Different. Softer. A tether pulling her back from the edge.
Another lave of tongue on her neck, gentle, reverent.
“I have you,” Race whispered, his breath rough against her ear as he trailed soft kisses over her damp cheeks.
“I thought…” she rasped, barely able to speak, her bruised throat hurting. “I thought I was dying.”
“I know. You were…changing. You’re still burning through it.” He gently caressed her cheek with his lips. “I felt everything. Every anguished scream.”
Ash forced her eyes open, meeting his crimson stare—raw, unguarded, and tender.
She brushed her fingertips over his cheek. The fever still burned hot in her veins, but she no longer feared it. It wasn’t agony sweeping through her…but something alive, wild, and thrumming beneath her skin.
“Rest, heart-fire.” He licked the throbbing bite on her neck. “You’re safe. I’ll be here.”
Ohhh. A shudder rippled through her, the tremor spiraling low and deep. Heat surged, not the venom’s debilitating fire, but something far more primal.
The fever no longer burned to destroy her.
It burned…for him.