Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
T he wooden steps creaked loudly as Kaden carried me up to his room. The light from iron sconces flickered through the cut-outs of the intricately carved balusters, each depicting a slice of a forest scene. A gnarled tree. A crescent moon. The silhouette of a woman’s face.
Reaching the top of the stairs, Kaden took one step and tripped on the corner of a worn wool runner, cursing softly under his breath.
I chuckled, the sound reverberating off dark paneled walls lined with oil paintings in gilded frames.
There was an endearing yet chaotic feel to the artwork on this floor. Tiny landscapes and oversized portraits that bore a faint resemblance to the demon prince crowded the walls, their gold frames gleaming in the low light.
Unlike the House of Guile, this place felt lived in. Worn. Loved. Imperfect and comforting the way family homes were.
Another winding flight of stairs, and we reached a small landing with a single set of double doors. They burst open on a wave of Kaden’s magic, and he practically ran with me into the bedchamber.
Someone had pulled back the heavy green curtains, sending silver ribbons of moonlight spilling over the hardwood floor. As if activated by his presence, flames sputtered in candles around the room, and a fire roared to life in the polished marble hearth.
I shivered as the warmth danced over my skin. Every inch of me still hummed from my release, and the heat from the fire made me want to melt into Kaden’s embrace until I’d forgotten my own name.
At the center of the room stood a magnificent four-poster bed that looked big enough to accommodate ten fae. It was hung with green velvet drapes that reminded me of Kaden’s home in the Quarter, though the bedding was a mix of airy cream linens and soft-looking ivory quilts.
Pausing at the foot of the bed, Kaden laid me down on top of the covers and ripped my shirt in two.
I reached up to undo his weapons belt, but my hands were shaking too badly. Kaden mercifully took up the task, tossing it onto the nightstand.
I unbuttoned his pants and started tugging them down his hips, but the infernal things were too tight. Then I felt the whisper of magic between us, and his clothes disappeared on a wisp of shadow.
He stood before me in all his glory, nothing but tanned, inked flesh and rippling muscle. My gaze drifted down the ridges of his abs to the V between his hips, which pointed right to his straining erection.
I sucked in a breath and wrapped my hand around his length, sweeping my tongue along the sensitive outer ridge.
Kaden squeezed his eyes shut, his expression almost pained, and a fresh surge of heat bloomed in my core as I tasted his salty essence.
Squeezing my thighs together, I took him into my mouth, marveling at how I could make his muscles bunch and clench with the lightest stroke of my tongue.
I took my time teasing him, pulling away to swirl around the tip of him before plunging back onto his length. Kaden groaned and fisted my hair, dragging me up to look at him.
His eyes were pure molten silver, deceptively calm despite the way his abdominals quivered at my touch.
“You keep doing that, and I won’t be able to fuck you properly.”
“No one ever accused you of being proper,” I teased.
“ Lyra .” My name came out as a growl. “I need to be inside you.”
The urgency in his voice made my stomach tighten, and I slid back to make room for him on the bed.
My breath caught as he prowled toward me, moving with a predatory grace. Those strong arms surrounded me as he captured my mouth in a punishing kiss, and I wrapped my legs around his hips, my body aching to get closer.
His tongue speared into my mouth, and I welcomed him in as he slid his length along my slick folds, brushing against my clit.
Gripping his hair, I kissed him deeper, rolling my hips into his hardness. Chasing that friction. That heat.
A shadow fell over us, and I opened my eyes to find Kaden’s wings on full display. It was as if he’d lost the tenuous hold on the magic that kept them hidden. They fanned out behind him, the glow of the fire illuminating a riot of blues and blacks and stealing the air from my lungs .
He was beautiful . Deadly and magnificent. Sinister and sweet.
Kaden pressed his lips to the corner of my mouth, dropping kisses along my neck, across my collarbones, and over the swells of my breasts.
He paused to lick a lazy circle around my peaked nipple, and I gasped when his tongue flicked out to tease the sensitive bud.
I writhed on the bed as he sucked it into his mouth, rolling it between his teeth.
“Kaden,” I whimpered, shivering as that ache between my legs built to an unbearable throb. “ Please .”
A low chuckle rumbled through him, sending tiny jolts of pleasure straight to my core.
“Patience, little huntress,” he purred against my breast. “I’ve waited too long to devour you. I want to take my time.”
“You’re evil.”
I’d meant for the accusation to come out as a snarl, but my voice shook.
“I’ve been called worse, love. By you, in fact.”
I rolled my eyes. But then his hand drifted between my legs, his fingers making lazy circles over that swollen bundle of nerves.
I groaned and arched into his touch, but Kaden kept the pressure light, drawing out the agonizing build of pleasure until I thought I would implode.
He resumed his trail of kisses down my stomach, spreading my legs as he descended before turning his head to press a kiss along my inner thigh. The gesture was so tender and disarming that I had to fight the impulse to flee.
This wasn’t just sex.
For weeks, I’d dismissed what I felt for Kaden as pure chemical attraction. I’d blamed his demon magic. Blamed his good looks. But it was more than lust, this pull between us.
Kaden wasn’t merely another warm body to rub up against, and I didn’t just want to fuck him.
I wanted to consume him.
When his hot mouth reached my dripping core, my whole body sang. Fire surged in my veins, chased by a heady sort of madness I only felt with him.
A moan rushed out of me as I rolled against him, shivering as his tongue teased my entrance.
Kaden feasted on me as though I were his last meal, several days’ worth of scruff scraping against my sensitive flesh and sending agonizing tingles through my core all the way to the base of my spine.
He nipped at me, and I cried out — that tiny jolt of pain somehow compounding the pleasure.
“You are delicious,” he growled against me, taking a long, luxurious lick.
The unrefined male lust in his voice nearly unraveled me then and there. I needed —
Kaden slipped a finger inside me, and I let out a throaty gasp. He thrust in and out as he sucked my clit into his mouth, driving me to the edge of insanity.
I could feel the pressure building low in my core, my climax thrashing beneath the surface.
I rode his hand, grinding into his face and allowing the sensation to take me.
A dry sob wrenched from my throat as my release crashed through me, obliterating everything I’d been before.
Kaden continued his steady strokes, milking each wave — every flutter of my body around him.
When I met his gaze, his eyes were hooded with desire. But there was a vulnerability in his expression as he lined himself up with my entrance.
His fingers wound through my hair as he branded me with another kiss. I felt the tip of him at my center and moaned into his mouth.
Digging my nails into the back of his neck, I raised my hips to meet his velvety crown.
He eased in an inch, then two, and I bit down on his shoulder to muffle my cry. It was at once too much and not enough. Pleasure and overwhelming sensation.
Kaden withdrew, pulling back to look at me. “Did I hurt you?”
“No.” My voice was barely more than a whisper, and my body ached at his absence.
“If you want me to stop —”
“ Don’t stop .”
The words came out in a snarl, and my prince obliged — burying himself inside of me.
A strangled noise ripped from my throat as he seated himself to the hilt, filling me completely. Sensation ricocheted through my body as I clenched around his length, and his wings snapped out behind him.
My whole body hummed at the rightness of it. Like I’d found a part of me I’d been missing.
“ Fuck , Lyra,” he gritted out, sliding out and thrusting back in. “You’ll be the death of me.”
I knew how he felt.
Destroyed and renewed.
Shattered and whole.
I was lost in the sensation of where we were joined. His leather-and-night scent. I was alive — truly alive — as we came together again and again .
Kaden kissed me savagely as he snapped his hips, finding the very end of me. It was a claiming— feral, possessive, and raw. I took him just the same, gripping his ass to drive him deeper.
A torrent of pleasure raged inside me, thrashing against some invisible dam.
Kaden withdrew before slamming back in with an uncontrolled groan of pleasure. Magic crackled, my spine tingled, and I felt the wall between us crumble.
Fuck, she feels so good. Like she was made for me.
Gods, she’s perfect.
All I want.
This — her.
A jumble of emotions collided in my mind, as if I were feeling too many things at once.
Desire. Elation. Resignation. Terror.
The terror wasn’t my own, I realized, though it held my heart in an iron vise.
The swirling emotions tangled with my own, but I shoved them aside and allowed myself to feel every bit of him .
The ache in my core was almost unbearable. I needed him harder. Faster. Deeper.
As if he’d somehow sensed my need, Kaden set a punishing rhythm. My body shook as the pressure built, threatening to destroy me when I finally detonated.
“Kaden,” I breathed. It was too much. And somehow, not enough.
Then the dam inside me broke, unleashing a wave of sensation that had me screaming his name again.
Kaden’s shoulders tensed as a blast of his power fanned out across the room. His wings flared as he found his release, a low cry chasing his shadows as the paintings rattled on the walls.
My attention went to the place we were joined and the steady pulse of my body around his.
Kaden collapsed on top of me, his wings coming down in a gentle cocoon. My heart pounded, our chests heaving as we fought to regain our breath.
I closed my eyes, inhaling his scent and savoring the warm weight of his body. The hair on his legs tickled my skin, and a fine sheen of sweat clung to his chest.
Then he shifted, and I opened my eyes as he propped himself on his elbows. The demon prince was staring down at me with an edge of wariness in his silver gaze.
My stomach pitched, and a sliver of self-consciousness cut through my postcoital fog.
Why was he looking at me like that? Did he regret what we’d done?
I opened my mouth, but then I felt it — that glimmering cord of magic between us that seemed to pull taut as he studied my face.
Fuck.
Kaden’s voice echoed in my mind, though his lips hadn’t moved.
Did he just —
His eyes widened in surprise, and then his mouth twisted in a smirk.
Shit.
I was mated to the demon prince, and I’d just heard his thoughts.