Chapter 44
FORTY-FOUR
LINDSAY
Time slows between us, and I’m pretty sure he’s dragging it out. The tension rises as he steps back, and I have to fight the urge to demand everything right now. Instead, I let him look at me.
Kael’s room is quiet in that heavy, watchful way—stone walls, low light, shadows pressed thick in every corner. Without his warmth wrapped around me, my bare skin remembers where my shirt used to be. I fight the urge to curl my arms over my chest as I shift on my feet.
If I lay on the bed, will he follow?
The fact that his shadows helped him strip my shirt off should unnerve me, but it does the opposite. What else can they do? I don’t know—but I want to find out.
Kael’s gaze drops, slow and intent, following the line of my collarbone with a hungry gaze. He holds himself back, still not touching me. That restraint is worse than hunger.
“You really don’t fear me, do you?” he asks quietly.
“No.”
“Even without my glamour?” His eyes flash red, then back to the dark color they had shifted to.
I lick my lips, hesitating only a second before asking, “Have I seen you without your full glamour?”
A slow smile pulls at his mouth, as if he didn’t expect me to ask that question. The air shifts around him, and his horns and wings shimmer out of view. It makes me realize he hasn’t worn this glamour in a while around me. He tilts his head, studying my face.
Then he drops the magic like water flowing over him.
His eyes turn red. His wings and horns return, his canine teeth sharpen—one resting against his lower lip. My breath catches.
He’s beautiful when he doesn’t hide who he is.
He must read the expression on my face because he exhales slowly, as though he’s been holding his breath for a long time. Then he steps closer again, close enough that I can feel the warmth of him without contact, close enough that my body leans forward attempting to close the space.
“You should,” he says, not unkindly.
“But I don’t,” I reply, lifting my chin. “I know you.”
His hand comes up then, knuckles brushing my ribs, warm and steady. The touch is almost careful.
The shadows slide higher, curling around my arms, my back, my hips. When they nudge me backward, I don’t resist. I let them steer me until the edge of the bed presses into the back of my knees.
Kael watches every second of it, and I’m suddenly very sure I’m about to find out exactly what he can do with his shadows.
“On the bed,” he commands.
The second my feet leave the floor, the shadows brush along my ankles, tugging off my boots. My socks follow shortly after. I curl my toes and scoot farther onto the bed once my feet are bare.
He runs the tip of his tongue over one sharp canine, and I swear the sensation goes straight between my legs. My heart has relocated.
Holy shit.
Will he bite me?
And is it fucked up that I sort of hope he does?
He doesn’t move closer. Instead, the shadows do.
They slide along the mattress, brushing my calves, my ankles, cool and deliberate. One curls around my foot, tracing the arch before drifting away again, like it’s testing to see if I’ll flinch.
I don’t.
Kael’s gaze darkens.
“You’re very still,” he observes.
“I’m trying not to beg,” I admit.
A low sound leaves him—something between amusement and approval. The shadows respond, slipping higher, skimming over my knees, my thighs, my stomach. Never lingering where I want them to most. Always stopping just short, retreating the second my body tilts toward the contact.
I bite my lip, frustrated and breathless.
“Maybe I want to hear you beg,” he says. His eyes are filled with so much desire I think I might burn up on the spot.
“Yeah?” I pant. He might get his wish if he keeps going. I’ve never been this worked up without being physically touched by the person I’m with.
The shadows tug at my pants, unfastening them with infuriating care before easing them down my legs. They take their time—until the fabric is gone, and I’m left in my underwear, exposed and waiting.
Kael doesn’t move.
His gaze drags over me, slow and deliberate, like he’s savoring the sight. One shadow brushes my hip, another traces the line of my thigh, then retreats again, leaving my skin buzzing with the absence.
“You’re doing very well,” he murmurs. “Still no begging.”
I swallow, my hands curling into the sheets as the shadows tease once more, feather-light and maddening.
“And yet,” he adds softly, stepping just close enough that I could touch him if I wanted to, “you want to.”
I reach for him.
He chuckles, low and satisfied, and the shadows react instantly—wrapping around my wrist and tugging it above my head, pinning my hand to the bed with effortless control.
“Kael…”
“Mmm,” he hums, eyes burning as he watches me strain against the hold. “Almost.”
The shadows tighten—not painful, just firm enough to remind me who’s in charge. Another brushes my side, then my thigh, then retreats again, leaving my skin aching for contact that never quite comes.
“You rush,” he says gently. “I don’t.”
He leans down then, close enough that his breath ghosts over my mouth, close enough that every nerve in my body lights up—but he doesn’t kiss me.
“I’m going to savor every second of this.”
I whimper despite myself.
His smile deepens.
The shadows respond, slipping higher again, tracing slow, maddening paths over my skin before pulling away at the last possible second. My body arches, chasing what they deny me, and Kael watches it all like it’s a private indulgence.
“You feel that?” he asks softly. “That need building?”
“Yes,” I breathe.
His thumb finally brushes my jaw, tilting my face up to his. For one perfect, torturous second, I think he’s going to close the distance—instead, he pauses. Lets the tension stretch. Lets me feel every inch of the space between us.
“I’ve felt this every second since I first saw you in that diner,” he says quietly. “I fought it. Tried not to admit I wanted it—just like you’re doing now.”
My chest tightens at the confession. At the raw honesty in his voice.
“I’m not fighting,” I whisper. “I’m exactly where I want to be.”
His gaze softens, just a fraction. “I know,” he says quietly. “That’s why I can take my time.”
The shadows shift, easing their hold just enough that I can move—but not enough to escape. Not that I want to. My breath stutters as they skim my skin again, slower now, more deliberate, like they’re savoring me the way he promised he would.
Kael leans closer, his forehead brushing mine.
“I wanted you long before you let yourself want me,” he murmurs. “And I won’t rush this. Not now. Not ever.”
The shadows respond to his words, sliding higher again, slower this time—no hurry, no urgency. They trace me like they have all the time in the world, and this moment belongs to them as much as it does to us.
My breath stutters, catching in my throat as they brush my chest. My nipples harden almost painfully as they withdraw and ghost down my stomach. I’m positive my panties are soaked already.
The shadows press closer, firmer now, urging my body to open to them, to sink deeper into the bed. They slide along my sides, my thighs, holding me exactly where he wants me. Then they work my underwear off, touching me everywhere at once.
Kael kisses me, his mouth brushing mine, grounding me while everything else feels like it’s pulling me apart. The contrast is dizzying—his lips are gentle and unhurried while the shadows continue their slow exploration, and he maps each reaction they draw from me.
I whimper into his mouth, the sound swallowed by another light kiss. His thumb brushes my jaw as he kisses the corner of my lips, lingering there.
“You can let yourself feel,” he murmurs against my lips. “Let me hear you.”
The shadows push again, bolder this time, coaxing a deeper arch from my body, and drawing a helpless moan from my lips that I don’t bother hiding.
When they brush my clit ,I think I might die.
But nope, it’s when they slip inside me, curling just right and another embarrassingly loud moan fills the room.
“That’s it,” he murmurs, his lips barely brushing mine between words. “You sound beautiful when you let go.”
I don’t have words after that.
My body tightens, the sensation cresting fast, his praise sinking into me deeper than anything else he’s done. My breath comes apart, every nerve tuned to him, to the shadows, to the way he’s watching me.
Fuck. I might have a praise kink.
Because if he calls me a good girl, I might actually lose it—and the thought alone makes my whole body shudder.
His mouth curves against mine. “You’re doing so good,” he whispers, voice low and deliberate, like he’s testing the words on purpose—as though he heard the thought as clearly as if I’d said it out loud.
Another tremor runs through me, my eyes fluttering shut as he kisses down my throat, over my collarbone. Everywhere his mouth is soft and reverent, the shadows are anything but—moving with intent, relentless and knowing, an extension of him that makes it impossible to separate the sensations.
I don’t know how this is possible. I don’t know how it works.
I just know that if he keeps going, I don’t care to understand it.
My first orgasm crashes over me, dragging me down. Holy shit, I just got off with the help of literal shadows. They roll over me, holding me the way a lover would, as I suck in lungfuls of air.
“Open your eyes, Lindsay.”
I do.
“Keep them on me,” he says softly.
He moves, the bed dipping as he stands up. His shadows withdraw, and I watch as he sheds the rest of his clothing. My mouth goes dry as his cock falls heavy between his legs. He’s large. No, that doesn’t even feel like an accurate description.
“That is not going to fit,” I say immediately.
He chuckles. “I’m pretty sure you were made for me. I’ll fit.”
I roll my lips between my teeth and watch as he climbs back onto the bed. He kneels between my legs, his eyes running over me. When he reaches out and touches me with his fingers, I swear it almost sends me straight into bliss again.
“You think I was made for you?”
The corner of his mouth kicks up. “Or I was made for you.”
My heart gives a happy little thump at his words. I do like the sound of that. The idea that he was made for me, that we were destined to be right here, in this moment, yeah…that settles something deep inside my soul.
He rolls his thumb over my clit as two of his fingers slide through the moisture caused by his shadows and sinks them inside of me. They feel different than the shadow did. Better even. Is that possible?
I’m so ready for more.
“We don’t need a condom,” I blurt out. My face heats immediately when he quirks a single brow.
“Condom?”
“Protection…”
“I know what a condom is, Sunshine.” Amusement flickers in his eyes. “But we don’t need protection. Demons don’t create life the same way others do. And we don’t carry disease.”
Oh.
I swallow. Would it be awkward to ask follow-up questions to that? Probably. Definitely a conversation for later.
Yep. Later.
I arch into his touch as he draws a slow circle that makes my breath hitch and my thoughts scatter.
“I need you,” I say, the words slipping out before I can second-guess them.
“Patience is a virtue,” he replies softly.
I let out a breathless laugh. “You’re a demon prince. I didn’t think virtues were high on the list.”
His mouth curves, fond and dark all at once. “Only when something matters.” He presses a kiss to my lips. “And you matter,” he adds.
His hard length replaces his hand and, as the tip runs through my folds, I gasp and arch up into him.
He groans, the sound sending tingles down my spine, settling in my belly.
When his crown sinks into me, I bite down so hard on my lip I taste blood.
The stretch is delicious. He pauses, not moving as he breathes through his nose, his eyes shut momentarily.
I reach up and brush my thumb over his cheek and move my hips slightly, testing the stretch.
“Fuck,” I moan.
“You’re doing so good,” he says as he presses deeper.
He obviously doesn’t know that I’m going to combust right here on his bed.
Magic is zipping through me, the bond that I always feel between us tightening.
I’m not going to last to feel him fully inside before I shatter into a million pieces.
I grip his shoulders, my legs wrapping around him, hips rising off the bed.
“Kael…”
Our breaths mingle, the sounds he makes mixing with my own. He kisses me, licking into my mouth as though he’s starving for me. Then he starts moving, thrusting in and out, the pace picking up as we both adjust to the sensations.
“This was worth the wait,” he gasps. “So fucking worth it.”
It doesn’t take long before we are both coming. He collapses on top of me, his weight the best feeling in the world, his wings cocooning us together, as he presses soft kisses all over my face.
“I’m yours, Lindsay. Forever.”