Chapter 24 When All Control Is Lost #2
Of course, I had pleasured myself. I wasn’t so naive that I didn't know what was coming next.
But let's just say, the last three years didn't really offer much of a chance of dating. Up until recently, I hadn’t even known that Riley had felt the same way about me.
The thought hit like a punch to the gut, sharp and unexpected, as his face flashed across my mind for one fleeting moment.
I pushed it down almost instantly, because there was no denying this.
No denying what I felt now. I had fallen in love with Atlas, and that truth ran through me like a current I could no longer fight.
And when I compared the two, as harsh as that sounded, it made me see things clearly for the first time.
What I’d felt for Riley had been born of friendship, a deep connection that blurred the lines over time, confusing affection with something more.
I had tried to mold it into love, forcing it to fit into a space it was never meant to fill.
But this, what I felt for Atlas, was entirely different. It wasn’t fleeting or uncertain. It wasn’t born from comfort or habit. It was something wild and all-consuming, a love I had never known.
It was the kind of connection that could tame a beast. The kind that could pull a man back from the brink of his own darkness, reminding him of who he truly was. The kind of love that burned fiercely enough to make even monsters remember they were once human.
I thought back to how he had lost himself completely, surrendering to that primal, violent rage at the sight of my blood being spilled. I knew then that he would have died to protect me. And I realized, with a startling clarity, that I would have done the same for him.
So instead of saying what I knew he probably needed to hear, I stayed silent. I didn’t want to taint the moment with words when what I felt was already written in the space between us. In every breath, every heartbeat, every touch.
I didn’t want to give him a reason to stop. I wanted him to claim me here and now, not on some romantic bed of roses, not surrounded by candlelight or soft music or any of that corny crap. I wanted it pure, raw, and real.
That was why, even with my body pinned beneath his, I arched my neck just enough to whisper, my breath trembling against his ear,
“I need you. I want you. Make me yours.”
The growl that followed wasn’t one of a beast, this time, but of a man. A man utterly lost to me.
He started to tear at his clothes, ones that were already ripped as his body had been too big for the material to accommodate.
Which meant he made easy work of getting naked.
But I could see it in him, the way he fought against himself, as if he wanted something better for me, something purer than this.
Before that doubt could take root, I reached up, my fingers brushing his cheek, and whispered, “It’s perfect, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
And it was true, every word of it. Because out here, it wasn’t tainted by the rift or the pain that came with it.
Out here, it felt untouched, almost sacred.
For a moment, I could almost believe that the Rift had never happened at all, that fate had brought us together under gentler circumstances.
Something far more romantic than either of us had ever known.
Either way, I didn't care. My hands went to the button of my jeans as I fumbled, my fingers shaking in anticipation.
“Calm,” a soft command left his lips as he undid them for me, and I lifted to shimmy them down. I was too nervous to make a joke about how he was getting my pants off for a third time already.
When I was lying in nothing but my underwear, his eyes drank in the sight before him.
Then came the words, low and reverent. “Gods… you are so beautiful.”
My skin glowed beneath the scattered beams of light, and in that moment, I felt like something divine, his very own goddess, blushing scarlet beneath his gaze. He knew it too, because that damned smirk of his returned, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t find it just as sexy, if not more so.
If I was the goddess, then he was the God, every inch of him sculpted to perfection.
His body no longer looked made for war, for killing or command, but for pleasure, for worship.
I was getting lost in the lines of him, in the swirls of interconnecting symbols that mapped his skin like constellations written in another language.
His body was the night sky, and the stars upon it told a story I wanted to learn by heart.
I only wished I had more time to bask in the sight of him.
But I wasn't the only one impatient, as, once again, he held himself above me.
“Are you sure? For there is no going back from this, Alexandra. Once I make you mine, my claim on you is eternal,” he told me earnestly.
I closed my eyes as I let my heart absorb his words and the forever he spoke of. Then I reached for him, my hand cupping the back of his neck so that I could lead his lips back to mine.
“I have never wanted something so much in my life,” I told him, and this was all he needed to know.
A declaration made final and sealed with not just a kiss but something more final.
Because with a shift of his hips, he was right there, at the core of me.
That solid weight of his cock nudging at a place no one had ever been.
My legs were open and inviting him to make me his.
The junction between my thighs was soaked and ready, as if my body knew this was it.
Atlas placed his forehead to my own and completed the claim with words before action.
“My forever… Alexandra.”
Then, before my mind could conjure words in reply, he thrust forward, making me cry out at the intrusion I wasn't used to. The impossible size of him stretching me and filling me so completely, he was right… it did feel like being claimed.
His movement stilled as he realized the barrier he had torn through. He pulled back his face, his eyes displaying his utter astonishment.
I would have been embarrassed had he not placed his hand on my cheek, as he whispered, “You have no idea what a gift you’ve just given me.”
I nodded, breath trembling, and he stilled, his voice low and steady against my lips.
“Relax… breathe, sweetheart, I’ve got you.”
The words he always said to me, the ones that never failed to anchor me, were all I needed to hear. I did as he told me, and the pain eased, melting away until only warmth remained. And as if he could feel the change, he began to move, slow at first, and then the world slipped from beneath me.
The sensation that followed was nothing like before. It was consuming, breathtaking, and the sound that left my lips was his name, whispered like a prayer.
“Atlas… yes… oh yes… please!” I pleaded, and for what… I wasn’t quite sure.
For release, for him to never stop… for his promised forever. I didn’t know; I could only feel.
My mind and body were in turmoil, every muscle wound tight as if something was going to explode.
And as for the King who owned me, his thrusting continued like a steady beat to a madman’s song.
I found myself clawing at his back, the sounds he made only driving me closer to oblivion.
That cliff dive over the edge, the deep build inside of me promised, was so close.
Meanwhile, his hands were everywhere, as if he was memorizing my body with his palms. The cups of my bra were yanked down, parts of the lace tearing in his haste.
And I soon agreed with the rush as his mouth found my nipple, causing my back to arch.
The bite of pain as he rolled that taut bud in his teeth blurred the lines, and pleasure assaulted me so quickly, I was gasping for my breath.
The way he kept me on the pinnacle of coming was brutal and cruel and utterly addictive, along with his sadistic chuckle when I begged.
“Please… oh God, please, I need… I need…”
He left my breast so that I could feel his lips at my ear.
“I know what you need, little bird.” It came out as a slight growl, one he soon added to after he increased his pace, his cock inside hitting nerves I didn’t even know existed.
“Come for me… come now!”
I didn’t need to be told twice, and with the repeat of his command, I was already screaming my release.
“That’s it,” he murmured, his voice rough and tender all at once as my body arched into his.
Every inch of my body tensed before it spasmed with aftershocks.
Each jerk of my body a fluttering of pleasure that wished to remain, as one rolled into the next.
A continued cry tore from my throat as pleasure rolled through me like a tidal wave, fierce and unstoppable, crashing over every nerve before it receded, leaving only a quiet, euphoric calm in its wake.
I'd had an orgasm before, but not like this, never like this.
And I wasn't alone as he, too, found his release.
His pleasure echoed through the forest. A sound so raw and powerful that if there had been any wildlife nearby, they would have fled into the shadows.
It was wild and unrestrained, and hearing it made something inside me swell with pride.
Because I had been the one to draw it from him.
I had been the reason behind that sound, that release, and the satisfaction that came with it was like nothing I had ever known.
I basked in the sight of him, caught in the aftermath of his own pleasure, his body still trembling, his breath unsteady. It was intoxicating. This raw, unguarded side of his beast lay bare, and I knew I was addicted, falling fast and without restraint.
Before he could speak, before the moment could break back into words, I got there first.
I leaned up, my lips brushing his ear, when I finally told him the truth of my heart…
“I love you, Atlas.”