Chapter 28
GARRICK
I waited as long as I could to return, but it was never long enough.
No number of hours would erase my need for Koryn.
Every part of me yearned for her. I wanted the closeness we’d shared in the Seven Gates, in constant danger but shielded from the rest of Velora.
We had not shared our pasts, but we’d shown our wounds. Now she gave me nothing.
So, every night, I waited until she was asleep.
Or, at least, pretending to be. Then I removed my outer layers and took up my spot on the chair.
When her eyes were closed, I let myself watch her.
I imagined lying beside her in my bed, listening to her unburden her worries.
Slowly, we would ask the questions we had not dared before.
We’d take each other apart, layer by layer, until everything was bare and honest between us.
And then I would lay her back and take her body, worship her curves, show her how much I loved her in every way I could imagine.
But those were my waking dreams. Once I fell asleep, I only had nightmares. Balar Shan held too many memories, each one determined to destroy another piece of me. Without Koryn safe in my arms, it would destroy her, too.
Exhaustion tugged at me as I rounded the final corner to our bedroom.
I did not know if she still thought of it as mine.
Every word between us was difficult. Stilted.
Words had always been hard. Actions were easier.
Touching her was easiest. But like the damn idiot I was, I’d told her and myself that I’d only take her body when I could also have her heart.
I stopped just short of the door. I’d learned to control my emotions without the techniques that Koryn used.
But since meeting her, the control I’d so long prided myself on had shredded.
I dragged in a breath and counted, just as I’d seen her do.
How high did she count… one, two, three, four…
I leaned my head forward to rest it against the solid plane of the door…
Koryn’s cry punched through the thick wood, reaching me with more clarity than it should have. Rational thought deserted me, replaced by the primal need to get to her.
But the door creaked open before I even touched the handle.
I could not have frozen faster if Koryn had used her power to root me to the ground, or if my father had compelled my feet to fasten in place.
The sound of soft moans, low and needy, assaulted my ears. I sucked in a breath, only to be overwhelmed by the thick scent of her arousal. The room was familiar, but the scene inside was completely new. Except that it was eerily close to my daydreams. The ones I staunchly ignored.
The door was only open a few inches, but it was enough for me to see my Lifebind, kneeling on the bed.
Her face was buried between her arms, her full breasts skimming across the coverlet as she rocked back and forth.
I knew those sounds, even the muffled ones, as she shifted and thrashed.
She was desperate with need. Desperate for the man who stood behind her. The Dark God.
The long planes of his naked body were as elegant and unbelievably perfect as the black leather he always wore. His olive skin glinted, moonlight gilding one side, firelight the other. There was power in his limbs, unmistakably. But it was subtler than my own. More refined.
A dark blue tattoo marked his chest, right over his heart. I recognized the symbol—two chevrons nestled together. I’d seen the matching one, smaller but identical, on the inside of Koryn’s thigh. The mark of her bargain with the Dark God.
As I watched, Koryn’s sounds became more frantic. She was only seconds away from begging.
“I will get you there, sweetling. I promise,” the Dark God crooned.
He reached around her hips. From this angle, I could not quite see his hand, but I recognized the low keening sound from Koryn’s lips as his long fingers found her clit.
It should have hurt to see them together like this.
Any sane man would have been enraged to see the one he loved being pleasured by another—giving herself to another.
Despite what Koryn said, she was incapable of giving only her body.
Her heart was too big for that. To allow him to touch her like this meant she’d already given him some piece of her soul.
Instead, I ached.
For her touch… and for his.
I wanted to be the one holding Koryn’s hips, wringing those feral sounds from her throat. And I wanted to know what touches would bring the almighty Dark God to his knees.
He pulled away his hand long enough to position himself at her entrance.
Koryn trembled at the loss, her soft curves loose and full of need.
I caught a glint of silver just as he entered her.
Fucking hell. Two metal balls bracketed the piercing through the head of his cock.
I held my breath to keep in the groan that built inside my throat.
Then he slammed into her, the round cheeks of her ass wobbling as his cock disappeared inside of her, and I gave in. I reached for my own.
I fumbled with the wool of my trousers. Koryn was not the only one desperate for release. I lodged my lower lip between my teeth as I finally managed to pull my cock free, swallowing the sound of relief. It was only my hand, but I needed it more than I’d realized.
The Dark God pulled back slowly until only the very tip of his cock remained inside her. I mimicked the motion with my hand, pinching the tip between my thumb and forefinger. The sight of Koryn spread out before him was almost enough to make me spill.
As I watched, he leaned over and pressed a kiss to the nape of her neck. She shivered on his cock. His reaction was immediate. He threw back his head, his normally still features transformed. His thick, dark brows knitted together, his plush mouth pursed as he sucked in a frantic breath of air.
Koryn could not see it. She’d drawn it from him, but I was the one who got to see it. That exquisite moment belonged to both of us.
I leaned into the doorframe, my body tremoring in tandem with Koryn’s.
The Dark God regained himself enough to move. He slid inside of her again, and this time he did not draw it out. He set a punishing rhythm. Koryn took it all so beautifully, and still cried out, “More!”
His hand returned to her clit. I slid my own down to cup my balls while the other stroked my cock in time to the Dark God’s relentless pace.
I would not be able to hold off much longer.
Thankfully, neither would Koryn. We’d only been together a few times, but every sound she’d ever made in my arms was tattooed in my mind as permanently as the Lifebind on my wrist.
The Dark God stopped, suddenly. He spread his palm out wide on the rounded cheek of Koryn’s bottom. His chest heaved mightily. I recognized the feeling, the way he grappled for control. I couldn’t see his face now; it was bent close to his chest. Then Koryn whimpered and the moment fractured.
He thrust into her a final time, and that was all it took.
Koryn screamed her climax to the world, unfettered and unconcerned about who heard.
I devoured it the same way I wished to devour her.
My own release exploded out of me, coating my hand, fist, and the front of my trousers.
The Dark God threw his head back again, the only sound a low, inhuman groan as he found his completion.
My body did not want to move, but it had to.
I eased myself back from the door. The hand that was not coated in my own release curled around the handle and closed it silently.
I got it closed just in time to press my forehead against it.
The door was thick, but I kept my breaths shallow so that they would not be heard on the other side.
My breathing had almost returned to normal. I was tucking myself back inside my trousers, wiping my hand on the ruined pantleg, when he appeared.
“Did you enjoy the show, halfling?” the Dark God crooned.
This time, he did not appear on the opposite wall.
He stood right next to me, one shoulder resting against the wall, arms folded.
His leathers were back in place, but he hadn’t bothered with a shirt or vest. I could see all of that without lifting my head from where it was still pressed against the door.
“I have a name. So does she,” I growled, keeping my voice low. Koryn was on the other side of that door.
Of everything I’d just witnessed, that was what haunted me. I’d hold the image of them in my mind, forever. Even now, my cock stirred at the memory. But the name. Sweetling. Koryn hated nicknames; she’d told me so. Yet he’d called her sweetling, and she’d let him. And he called me halfling.
The Dark God hummed, as if considering. “Names are intimate,” he said.
“And this wasn’t?” I turned to face him, still supporting my weight on the door. “You knew I was watching.”
He did not confirm it. But he did not deny it, either. He just lifted his dark brows, then narrowed them as he considered my expression.
“You could have joined us,” he finally said. “She misses you. Terribly.”
It was the first pain the interaction had caused, and he wielded it like a knife—straight to my chest.
“She wanted you,” I said. My voice was gruffer than I wanted, but what did it matter? This was the Dark God. The most powerful of the pantheon. The creator of the witches. The bonded of my bonded.
His blue-black eyes bore into mine. He was the one missing clothes, yet I felt exposed.
“It does not have to be one or the other,” he said. His gaze dropped to my mouth. “But I am more interested in knowing what you want.”
My spent cock twitched again as the Dark God swiped his tongue over his bottom lip. But it was my heart that answered. Her heart might not beat any longer, but mine did—for her.
“She is the only thing I have let myself want since…” I paused long enough to shove down the pain. If I let the past pile on top of the present, I’d never dig myself out. “In a very long time.”
The Dark God seemed to consider that. He leaned his own head to the side until it rested against the brick wall, parallel now with mine. We stood there in silence for several long heartbeats, staring at one another.
“Do you want to know my name, Garrick?” he asked, his voice as quiet as mine, holding the moment close, keeping it between the two of us.
Hoping was how I got hurt. But wanting… I could not stop it. Not now. Koryn had shoved her way into my heart, and now it was wide open. I should have said no. Instead, I told the truth.
“Yes.”
I expected him to disappear. I’d blink, and he’d be gone, leaving me with a half-hardened cock and the irritation of knowing he had the upper hand.
But instead, the Dark God of Velora leaned in.
He pressed his cheek against mine and inhaled deeply.
Then he brushed his lips over the stubble just below my ear.
“Syleris,” he breathed.
Intensity built in my chest. My eyes closed. Syleris.
For one inhale, one exhale, our breaths mingled. Then I opened my eyes, and he was gone. Syleris was gone. But I was not alone.