Chapter 31
Vaeron returned to the sleeping room with only a thin pair of pants slung low on his hips. Air stuttered and snagged in my throat as my gaze drifted lower. The fabric strained obscenely against the thick length of him, impossible to ignore—a silent reminder of just how precarious my resolve was.
Lust coursed through our fated connection as he drank me in.
And I him.
I sucked in a shuddering breath. The whole time he’d bathed, I’d mulled over what I wanted to do. How I wanted to proceed.
Every instinct, honed by horrific visions of him, screamed at me to retreat. To protect myself. To remember who he was.
And yet, I was exhausted from running. From fighting this undeniable pull.
Even though this step felt like I was betraying myself, I wanted to take it.
“Can we start over?” I asked, treading forward on tentative ground.
He approached the bed, his frame eating up all the space around me. No cold cruelty glinted in his eyes. Instead, they were soft and wanting.
His calloused palm slid against mine as I laced my fingers through his.
“I would like that very much,” he murmured, attention fixed on where we were intertwined as though it was a sacred thing. As if hypnotized, he brought our joined hands to his mouth. His lips pressed to the tips of my fingers. A low moan quaked in my throat.
Heat pooled between my thighs as he dragged his teeth over the pad of one.
“Tell me something good,” I panted, every muscle tight with want and warning as he joined me on the bed, my fingers still dangerously close to his tongue. Because if I let him keep touching me like this, fear and loathing would become optional.
“From the moment I first saw you, I thought you were the most stunning female I had ever seen.” He kissed my knuckles, then flipped my arm up and brushed another over my wrist.
I hoped he couldn’t feel my heart trip.
“When I chased you, I didn’t want it to end. You made me feel alive for the first time in a long time,” he murmured, his mouth moving higher along my flesh. Even through the fabric of my robe, every place he touched me burned.
Our bond flooded with satisfaction.
“Your scent,” he groaned, his nose brushing against my shoulder. His hard body, mere inches from mine, vibrated with restraint. “One whiff and I was swept away. I guess I knew, somewhere deep down, that you were more than just a Seer I was meant to capture. There was always something about you.”
I forgot how to inhale. I reached up, threading my fingers in Vaeron’s damp hair. Tugged him closer. He planted a kiss on the underside of my jaw. Another on my pulse point. A third at the base of my throat.
His tongue moved up the other side of my neck until it halted just below my ear. “Now I know it was because you are my mate. And the chase hasn’t stopped, not really. I’m still in pursuit of you, Sylaira.”
Vaeron’s intensity bordered on overwhelming.
But there was something oddly…comforting about being wanted with such relentlessness.
There was no question of where I stood with him.
There was no question, either, about what he would do to protect me—even if it violated the very values I clutched to my chest.
So when he slanted his lips against mine, I surrendered. Wrapping my hands around his head, my back arched to meet his torso. His strong, steady arms wrapped around my waist, bringing me closer still as he deepened our kiss.
With surprising control, he eased me onto my back, his hard body aligned with mine. The bulk of him slotted against me, angled in such a way that nothing harmed my left leg.
Breathless, he broke away, but he didn’t stop. Didn’t retreat. Didn’t run. Merely moved his mouth lower, trailing kisses along my collarbone. My nipples were sharp and visible through the silk fabric. He dragged his teeth over the peak of one, eliciting a whimper.
His hands gripped the sides of the robe and tugged. Mine shot out to stop him. “Wait.”
Confusion dipped his brows, and with a tense jaw, he pulled away. “Sorry. I got carried away.”
“No it’s okay,” I explained quickly, not wanting him to think I was rejecting him again. We’d just formed this tentative peace…
“What is it then?” he asked me, his tone like running velvet over my skin. It was entirely too hypnotizing.
I sat upright. “I’m…” I trailed off, trying to find the strength to voice the core of my feelings. He deserved that much. “Terrified.”
He cocked his head ever so slightly to the side, iron hair falling with the movement. “Why?”
I unbound the towel from my own head and tossed it to the side, shaking out my locks. “Because of what it might mean. Of what comes after.”
Because I might lose myself in him.
He sighed, a heavy, burdened sound, head dropping. “I am too. Because you make me feel.” His gaze collided with mine, and the depth of torment in his eyes mirrored what was buried in my soul. “And emotions have always been a very dangerous thing for me.”
“I know,” I murmured, reaching up and cupping his cheek. I stroked my fingers on the stubble he hadn’t shaved yet.
He leaned into the touch like a man starved of it for far too long. The thought twisted a knife between my ribs. “I don’t know if I can handle you rejecting me again, Sylaira.”
His vulnerability, his pain, cracked something open inside me.
And after what he’d shared the previous day, I couldn’t even convince myself in the moment that he was the monster I’d always feared.
He was far more complex than that.
So I dropped away from him and slid my fingers down my ribs. He tracked the movement like a predator testing its prey.
And yet, I found myself wanting him to hunt me in that way.
I eased the robe open, not just for him—but for me. For the piece that had been stolen the moment the Goddess forced my first vision into my head. The seductive move was a reclamation of choice, of autonomy, of self.
Vaeron’s eyes darkened at the sight of my breasts rising and falling with my trembling breath.
“So fucking beautiful,” he praised, his own fingers joining mine in brushing against my heated flesh. He curved down again and dragged his teeth over my nipple.
“Oh,” I whimpered as he palmed the other and squeezed. He continued to work me, creating an ocean of want between my thighs. Our bond danced with excitement, like after all this time, it was finally getting what it wanted.
“Tell me when to stop,” he said. Air stilled in my lungs at the dark desire in his glacial irises. “We go at your pace.”
I nodded, unable to speak as all reason, all protest, fled my mind with the expert way he rolled the bud between his fingers.
He captured my mouth in his, his kiss bruising, brutal, claiming. I met his tongue stroke for stroke. His cock dug into my thigh, and my center gave an answering flutter.
Our bodies synced like we danced the Dark Swan.
My hands traveled the expanse of his torso, his muscles tightening where I touched. That delicious dip at his hips led me straight to his hardness. He swore, breaking our kiss, when I palmed his length.
“Touch me like that again and I don’t know that I’ll be able to hold back, Sylaira.” His words were a warning wrapped in velvet.
I didn’t heed it. Lust shut out everything but the icy blue color of his eyes, captivating me in an entirely different way than in my very first vision.
The intensity of his desire crashed into me, carrying me out to the sea of him. Mine matched, defying all logic, all reason. But then again, so did mate magic.
“I can’t touch you nearly the way I want to,” he groaned, dipping his lips to my neck again. His tongue flattened over my fluttering pulse. “Not without hurting your leg.”
Something between a moan and a laugh slipped out of me. “I’m a dancer. Flexibility comes with the territory.”
At that, another wave of lust swept between us. “Fuck,” Vaeron swore, rearing back.
I followed him up to my elbows, shuffling to the middle of the bed. He chased me, hunger in his heavy gaze. “You’ll need to remove this first, though,” I told him, indicating the robe half-draped around my torso.
Without breaking our connection, he tugged the ties of the belt, baring every part of me.
His eyes locked onto my glistening slit, impossible to ignore with how thoroughly I dripped. Weeks of this tension did not help matters. Nor did my earlier activity.
Embarrassment scorched my cheeks, and I resisted the urge to turn my face.
“You have no idea what this sight is doing to me,” Vaeron murmured darkly. His hand drifted to his dick, and he gave it a hard squeeze.
I lifted my right leg, toe pointed automatically, and settled it high, revealing more of myself. He cursed again, the words stirring a primal pride at his unraveling.
“I need you to do the other,” I whispered. While I could slightly bend my knee now, I worried about actively using the muscles of my leg in such a way and harming my healing bone.
With reverence, he cupped my calf and my thigh, easing them off the bed and in an arc toward my hip. Pain tugged on the muscles of my inner thigh, pulling a hiss from my teeth.
He halted, gaze snapping to mine. “Did I hurt you? Do you want to stop?”
“I’m fine. This should be enough,” I told him.
A growl of approval rumbled in his chest. “More than enough for what I want to do to you.” He curved over me, pressing his lips to mine. A roll of his hips had his hardness digging into my center.
I moaned as pleasure flooded my veins. Yet there was still fabric between us, preventing him from entering me. My core throbbed at the emptiness.
But I hadn’t had sex in a long, long time, and if the feel of him was any indication, he was huge.
Breaking our kiss, he trailed his tongue down my body. A cool breeze peaked my nipples further. Pebbles dusted my skin as he captured one between his teeth.
“That feels so, so good,” I panted, fingers threading in his hair and holding him there. He obliged me with more suckling until my hips bucked of their own accord, chasing a release he promised to give.