50. Raea
Raea
The roll is a symphony of warm, toasted grain and salted cream.
The butter explodes against my tongue in a way that makes my new, sensitive nerves ignite.
It’s a full-body experience, a collision of taste and texture that feels like it’s filling the hollow spaces the awakening carved into me.
The soft center melts against my tongue, rich and airy and impossibly indulgent.
Eating feels utterly decadent and almost sinful in its pleasure.
“Is that right, Princess?” Ryker hums through my mind. “Then I haven’t been doing a thorough job. Let me remind you.” His voice scrapes through my mind like an experience of its own. He seems pleased when a long, soft moan rolls from my body.
Gods, he hasn’t even touched me yet, and the level of pleasure flooding my body feels unreal. If there’s one upside to becoming an entirely different race, it’s this.
Honestly, it should be a selling point.
I’ll have to find a way to subtly convince Aolyn and Ciara they want this. Ryker’s fingers hook into my leathers, and he forces them down my legs.
When I look down, he’s kneeling on the floor between my legs, I can’t help but be amazed. So much is different, and so much is the same. His bare stomach is carved with deep lines, shadows forming valleys between hard planes of muscle.
My mouth waters when I think about what he tasted like earlier. His eyes swirl with amusement. “Eat, Soraea,” he commands. I know he can feel how much this food is fueling me, and if the way he’s looking at me is any indication, I’m going to need all the strength I can get.
He waits until I bring the fork to my mouth before hooking my legs over his shoulders. The food fades to nothing as my focus shifts entirely to him. I watch him bring my ankle to his mouth. His gaze holds with mine as he presses his mouth there.
If I thought I needed him earlier in the hall, then I’m burning for him now. Food forgotten, I set the plate on the bed beside me, leaning back on my hands. The rate at which he is moving up my thigh is torturous, but I have no desire to rush him.
No, I want to revel tonight.
Our new bodies are strong, and I know that I don’t need the same amount of sleep or nutrition.
Yes, we went through the most exhausting change, but sleep is for later.
I have no doubt in my mind that when I close my eyes, I will fall into the deepest sleep of my life. For now, though…I want to burn.
His mouth hovers over my thigh, and I know what he’s asking. I’m still getting used to this whole communication thing, but I don’t even have to nod before his excitement floods my system.
His sharp canines graze the tender skin of my inner thigh—a lethal promise that sends a jolt of electricity straight to my core. He’s claiming me with a predator’s focus. Heat pools in my core, and I know he can smell every ounce of desire on me.
I know because I can smell his desire. Hell, I can feel it. We are two people, but I feel like there’s no distance between us anymore. What he feels, I feel, and vice versa.
Strong hands grip my waist as he tugs me to the edge. “Are you ready, Soraea?” It’s not really a question, but a warning.
I nod, gripping the comforter. Ryker licks up my center, drawing out a guttural moan from me.
“Look at me,” he commands with another swirl of his tongue. I force my gaze to meet his, and it’s nearly my undoing. There’s something about watching this beautiful man between my thighs that nearly undoes me.
It’s a fight not to reach down and hold him there.
My desire climbs higher and higher. Nearly unbearable. When my legs clamp around him, he pins them down with his elbows. One hand traces small, teasing circles over my sensitive bud while the other slips lower, two fingers stroking deep inside along my front wall.
“I can’t—” I moan, letting my head fall back as my eyes close. My right hand moves to his head, running my fingers through the dark strands and then pinning him to me.
His amusement rushes through me before his filthy words do. I can’t help but blush as he asks questions, already knowing the answer. I think it’s pretty obvious that yes, I do enjoy riding his face.
Before, I might have been embarrassed, but it’s pretty difficult to feel that way when he keeps reminding me how beautiful and breathtaking I am. He doesn’t even need to say the words—I feel their truth in every touch, every pulse of the Bond.
It’s working. I have never felt so beautiful, so confident, so…worthy as I do now. He could have told me for the next ten years, and I’m not sure I would have fully understood or believed him. Being able to feel it though…
Heat licks up my spine, across my extremities, before my orgasm crests. “Ryker,” I cry, holding him closer.
He flicks his fingers, stroking me faster, no longer teasing. “I’ve got you,” he says as I shatter.
My orgasm crashes through me in a powerful wave, shattering everything in its wake. I let it take me, my eyes rolling to the back of my head. There’s no point in fighting it. I roll and tumble, swept away by a pleasure so intense I know that if this had been pain, I would surely have died.
He strokes me as his mouth trails up my hips. One orgasm blends with the next.
“Can’t…breathe,” I moan, clutching the bedding like it can somehow keep me grounded.
Earlier, I had only known agony. It had felt endless—like I would never again feel anything but pain. I had been so sure I was dying. The Bond burning when the Veil fell had nearly broken me. I thought then I would never feel anything close again.
I was wrong.
Because this…gods.
They say pain and pleasure are a fine line, but I don’t believe that anymore. Pain had been suffocating—an unending darkness I couldn’t escape.
This feels like soaring.
I feel alive in a way I never have.
Ryker’s mouth curls with dark amusement as he slowly withdraws his fingers, licking them clean. Somehow I’ve ended up flat on my back, him kneeling on the bed between my legs.
I drink in the sight of him, my gaze snagging on where he’s straining against the black leather pants. “I need you,” I plead, already reaching for him.
He bats my hand away at the same time he tsks. “Not yet, love.” His voice is raspy and thick with desire. “First, I need to finish undressing you.”
He reaches for the hem of my shirt, pulling me up to a sitting position as he drags the material over my head. His large hand settles over my chest, where my breasts are spilling out of my bra. But he’s not focused on that. His attention is on my racing heartbeat.
His head tilts to the side. “Our hearts beat much slower now,” he murmurs, “and yet—”
His gaze snaps to mine, a smirk curling at his lips. “Yours, Soraea, is beating faster than when you were human.”
With a single hand, he has the clasp of my bra free as he settles over me, taking my mouth with his. This new body feels like I get to experience a whole new first with him. With my heightened senses, I notice all the things I didn’t before.
His hips shift, grinding against my sensitive core, making me gasp.
“Anders Rykerson, you better get undressed now, or I will use my magic to melt them away.”
As I say it, the spark of my magic roars to life, answering the call of my desire. My skin glows with a soft, golden heat—embers of a star finally finding its fire. It doesn't burn. It's a radiant, controlled power that pulses in time with my racing heart.
He rolls off me with a low, dangerous laugh, kicking off his pants. When he settles between my legs again, I can’t help but reach down and touch him. Gods, he grew here too.
My legs fall open, eager and ready.
“I believe you wanted me to shatter you,” he muses, biting down on my bottom lip, dragging his canines along. “It would be my pleasure.” His fingers wrap around my hand where I’ve gripped him. Guiding my hand, he notches himself at my entrance.
I shift my hips, desperate for the friction, for the weight, for the reality of him. Ryker shakes his head, his hands framing my face with a reverence that almost makes me weep.
“I love you, Soraea,” he whispers down our Bond, his blue eyes swirling with a silver frost. “And I will spend every one of our thousands of lifetimes reminding you that you are mine.”
Before I can breathe out a response, he drives his hips forward. He fills me completely, a delicious, heavy stretch that finally anchors my soul to the world. Our union is more than flesh and desire—together we are destiny finally taking shape.