19. Chapter Five
Chapter Five
I walked back to our cottage with exhaustion sinking into my bones, but my mind raced with all the thoughts of everything that had happened in one day. How much life could change in a blink of an eye.
As immortal fae, time was infinite. But when your entire world was on the cusp of war, it made every moment that much more precious.
I walked through the door. The smell of cooked meat and bread caught me off guard, making my stomach grumble.
But a sweeter, familiar, exotic floral scent mixed with the ocean breeze made me turn my head.
I wasn’t expecting Baron to be home with what was coming at dawn, but I felt his calloused hands as they covered my eyes from behind me and I leaned back into his hard chest.
“What’s all this?” I asked as a smile spread across my cheeks.
“Dinner with your favorite person who’s not a dragon,” he crooned in my ear, his voice low and soft. He kept my eyes covered but placed a kiss on my neck, and a shiver licked down my spine. “I have a surprise for you.”
“Wait, I have to tell you about—”
He turned me around to face him, placing his forefinger over my lips. “You can tell me later,” he whispered.
The gravelly sound of his voice made heat rise to my cheeks as I leaned in to kiss him. His finger glided down my bottom lip, past my chin, to the center of my chest, running between my breasts.
“Not yet.” But he leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on my lips, anyway. “I got something for you. Close your eyes.” I did as he asked. As he walked to the other room, I could hear his steps along the floor. “Keep them closed,” he demanded as he called over his shoulder, catching me peeking.
“Okay, okay, they’re closed.” I obeyed, squeezing my eyes shut, giggling to myself.
“Okay, open.” I opened my eyes to a full bouquet of violet hyacinths. Bright purple blooms popped from all directions of the stalks he held in front of me. Their scent filled the room and made me remember the smell from when I walked in.
“How did you get these?!” I squealed.
“I took a small trip today to find them,” he said.
“Small? Baron, these don’t grow anywhere near here.
You didn’t have to do this! They’re beautiful, thank you.
” Violet hyacinths grew on one of the secluded small islands of Espien, only blooming once a year.
Their rare beauty had always been something I loved.
I placed them in a small clay vase on the table where dinner was already sitting before turning back to Baron.
“I wanted to be sure you got to see them one last time before tomorrow.” A heavy silence weighed between us for a moment at the thought of tomorrow before he stepped up to me.
He wrapped an arm around my waist, holding it at the small of my back while he brought his other hand up to cup my cheek.
He pulled me into a passionate kiss. His hand slid to the nape of my neck as he started trailing kisses down my jawline, to my neck.
He pulled the straps of my blouse downward to glide his lips down my chest. A breathy hum of pleasure escaped from me; my body clenched with need from all his small touches.
I nibbled my lip as Baron licked and sucked on my peaked nipples before he slowly ripped the rest of my shirt off so he could move down to my torso. He paused, looking up at me through his light lashes, and grinned wolfishly.
Undoing my leathers, he pulled them to the ground. I stood completely bare to him. “I love the sounds you make from my touch.” His voice skidded over my middle as he dropped lower, and my breath hitched at feeling his warm breath against my inner thighs. I bit down harder on my bottom lip.
“Don’t hold back, love.” His husky voice vibrated across my center.
Teasing with his hot tongue, his mouth lingered and kissed over my folds.
As his breath skittered over my opening, I arched into him, feeling the first touch of his tongue inside me.
Licking me up and down made my legs give out from under me.
Crazed sensations pulsed through me as Baron pushed me back against the door of our home, and my legs wrapped around his bare shoulders as he devoured me.
My head fell back; panted breaths turned to loud moans.
Liquid heat pooled in my center from craving him, all of him.
Baron didn’t relent. He wrapped his hands around my hips, gripped my ass, and pushed himself farther between my thighs, licking and suckling at my small bundle of nerves.
Faster, harder, he sent an uproar of tingling fire through my limbs.
I writhed farther into his mouth, the euphoria building unbearably high as I threaded my hands in his long hair.
“Baron!” I screamed his name as my release shuddered through my whole body, making my hips buck against him as I cried out.
He ground against my core, sucking and lapping until my screams were nothing but small moans and heaving breaths.
Baron kneeled, bringing me back down to the ground from the wall he had pinned me against. Bringing my legs down from his shoulders, I leaned against the wall, trying to regain my composure on shaky legs.
He slowly kissed his way back up my body before he found my lips.
Seeing his eyes filled with heat as his hard length pushed against my front, my body reacted, ready for him, ready for more.
I opened my mouth, letting our tongues explore as I tasted my bliss still gleaming on his lips.
Baron lifted me without breaking our passionate kisses and carried me to our bed.
“If tonight is our last, then we’re not leaving this bed until dawn.
” He undid his trousers, yanking them down before he crawled up between my legs like a feral animal stalking its prey.
Feeling his hardened length tip into my center made me squirm.
His body weight pressed down onto me, fitting perfectly between my thighs.
I rolled my hips into his, craving his touch, desperate with need.
I wrapped my legs around his waist, positioning him at my entrance.
He thrust into me deep and slow. His movements were steady, rolling, long strokes.
He made sweet love to me as he trailed kisses up my neck and back and across my jawline until his lips finally claimed mine.
He slid out almost to his tip, painfully slowly, before he thrust deeply into me again.
His tender pace filled my body with a carnal need for more.
A throaty moan escaped me as our lips broke apart.
“Baron—please,” I begged as he looked down at me with a teasing grin.
“How bad do you want it, love?” he questioned breathlessly as I grabbed his hips, pulling him deeper, harder into me, insistent that he move faster. A low moaned laugh escaped him as he obeyed my desires. His body rolled with mine, demanding, claiming, wanting.
His mouth swallowed my cries of pleasure.
As I writhed harder against him, unable to control my movements, I grabbed and scratched at his muscled back.
His thrusts quickened, inching us both to the edge.
Our movements became frenzied. Baron wrapped his hands in my braids, clutching against my scalp, pounding deeper into me.
The guttural noises we made for each other became raw and feral—unworldly.
My body tightened against his, and I closed my eyes, letting my body begin to fall over the ledge into euphoric bliss again.
“Look at me,” Baron groaned, his voice guttural. “I want to watch you come undone on my cock.”
His body went rigid against mine, his veins bulging as he tightened his grip on my hair and slammed into me, our skin slapping. I cried out as my climax coursed through my limbs. Hot wetness pooled between my thighs as Baron’s release spilled into me while he watched me.
The fiery buzz clawed through my nerves. Our breaths were heavy pants as he dropped his head into the crook of my shoulder. I tried to calm my racing heart. Baron slipped himself out of me. Leaning over to the side, he brought his hand up to my dewy face and brushed a thumb over my rosy cheeks.
“You’re breathtaking.”
Being mated, the love I had for this man was indescribable—all-consuming. I could only say three words, but no matter how many times I said them to him, they would never be enough.
“I love you, Baron,” I whispered in a shaky breath. He leaned over, placing a soft kiss on my full lips.
“I love you too, Shay.” His voice was raw and thick with emotion. Knowing what awaited us at dawn made it that much more meaningful. If I could pause and stay in this moment for the rest of eternity, I would. But we didn’t have the luxury of time anymore.
In between a night filled with lust and love, sleep found me. When I woke, Baron was sitting up in bed. He had been running his fingers loosely through my small braids while I slept.
“Did you get any rest?” I asked, my voice still filled with sleep as I looked up at him.
“No.” His eyes never met mine. He observed his fingers roaming through my hair instead of meeting my gaze.
“You should have gotten some rest.”
“I couldn’t sleep.” His voice was low, and his shoulders sagged.
“Baron—” I sat up, stopping him, forcing him to look at me. “—you sound as if we’ve already lost.”
“Ember is powerful, Shay. We’ve seen what they are capable of after what they did to Heavensreach. They destroyed an entire race just to kill one Sky Elf they felt was in their way.”
“We can’t just cave. We have to try and fight.”
“We will.” His voice graveled through his chest before it broke. “But if things go amiss…”
“Baron, don’t—” He silenced me with his touch as one of his hands came up to cup my face.
“Shay.” His eyes pierced mine, his features growing more serious. “I will watch this world fall before I lose you.”
I turned my cheek into his hand, kissing his palm. “You won’t lose me.”
“You’re right. I won’t allow it.” Heat reddened my cheeks as my lips curved up at his sincerity.
Something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye.
Specks of darkness fell from the sky through our window.
I looked at Baron, brow already furrowed, realizing what was happening.
We both quickly got up and gathered our clothes.
As Baron prepared himself, so did I. I shimmied my thick hips into my tight leathers, laced my daggers to my thighs and across my chest, and strapped my sword to my side.
I placed my bow and arrow on my back. We both looked at each other when we were done, our faces strained, ready for war.
As we stepped outside, other warriors were already getting into their positions, some still restless from a night of no sleep.
Black soot slowly blanketed the ground like the first snow of winter.
The warships that burned through coal were so close now, you could see them lined against the orange glow of the horizon.
The charcoal stench rained down like a cloud of terror, foreshadowing the destruction before it fully arrived.
Ember was encroaching on our shores, and they were thirsty for blood.