Chapter 7
Chapter seven
She was drowning, trapped in a thundercloud.
Green light sliced through the dark, flaring behind her eyes as something vast and ancient twisted through her ribs.
She couldn’t scream. Couldn’t move.
The air reeked of static and rot, and scraping voices clawed at the edge of her mind, rising in a frenzied, wordless chorus.
Gold flashed. Talons stretched wide, caught in the web. Then pressure, slick and cold, drove between her ribs before it closed around her heart like a vice, sucking.
Her body arched, suspended mid-air, not by gravity but by something moist and humming.
Her nerves sang with fire. Every heartbeat heaved agony like iron hooks.
Lightning swelled. Her soul fractured open.
The orb pulsed.
A shape leaned in—shadow and teeth—and then another. And another.
She tried to surface, to remember, to rise, but there was only light and pain.
Endless and empty.
She bolted upright, limbs flailing against the shadows crawling over her skin.
Where am I?!
Her hands clawed through the darkness, pushing at the lingering presence, as if she could tear it off before it swallowed her whole.
“No!” The word ripped free as she twisted sideways, caught in a tangle of sheets and sweat. Her body jolted off the edge of the bed, shoulder first, before gravity yanked her the rest of the way down—directly on top of the man sleeping below her.
She landed hard, an elbow driving into his sternum, punching the air out of him in a startled grunt. Her other hand struck his shoulder, still raking at the air as he jerked awake beneath her.
“Rynna?”
She barely heard him, toes scraping across the rug, searching for leverage that wasn’t there. Her heart pounded, ribs constricted around the drumming as her eyes strained for focus, drawing shapes from the dim room—starlight through an open window, a small table, a simple hearth.
“Where am I…” Fists drove into the supple folds of the thin blanket next to the man, gripping the fabric like an anchor in the dark.
“Shh, shhh.” Kaelith’s hands came up, cradling her face. “Shhh, Rynna. You’re okay now. I’ve got you.”
His voice was steady, calm, and her fingers loosened.
The tension in her spine gave way as her eyes locked on his—dark, familiar, deep enough to fall into.
She exhaled, and the world stopped spinning.
“Kae?”
Her focus sharpened as his face settled into view—the furrow in his brow, the crease beside his mouth, all of it shaped by concern.
She swallowed. The nightmare.
Remembering anything from whatever came before landing in this world was nearly impossible, but that—
A shiver crept through her. She squeezed her eyes shut. She remembered that.
“I’m here, Rynna.”
His thumbs swept gently under her eyes, catching the remnants of tears she hadn’t realized she’d shed.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured.
Adjusting her weight, she sank deeper into his lap.
Oh. Her eyes widened as her mouth went dry.
The press of him beneath her was unmistakable—thick and hard against the thin barrier of his pants. Larger than she’d imagined, and impossible to ignore. Her bottom lip caught between her teeth as her hips tilted forward on instinct, drawing friction through the sudden ache thrumming in her core.
Kaelith stilled beneath her.
“My dreams were, perhaps, more pleasant than yours.” His hands slid down from her face, fingers skimming her neck, tracing along her arms until both hands settled at her hips.
Bowing her head, dark hair slipped across her cheek, curtaining her view as her hands moved lower, trailing over his bare stomach to the waistband of his sleeping pants.
“These dreams.” She toyed with the fabric, tugging the edge back and forth, watching the muscles beneath his skin flex and flutter in response to her touch. “Were they of me, Kaelith?”
“Since the first night I found you.” The words came rough, nearly a growl.
His mouth opened like he meant to say more, but nothing followed, at least, not right away.
“Rynna…” He steadied himself, eyes flashing violet in the dark. “If you don’t want this…”
It felt like standing at the edge of a cliff, wind screaming around her, threatening to push her over. But what if she wanted the fall?
“Will you chase away the nightmare, Kae?” Her voice was barely a whisper as her fingers dipped beneath the waistband and his grip flexed on her hips—possessive, thumbs pressing into her skin.
“Will you do that for me?” Her gaze held his. “Can you?”
Kaelith’s mouth shut. Then he moved.
A sudden flex from his hips bucked her upward just as his arms encircled her, drawing her flush to his body. Heat surged between them as he rolled and lowered her back to the floor, palm sliding behind her head to break the fall.
Hovering above her, he bracketed her body with his own, arms planted on either side of her shoulders. His chest rose and fell with the force of a wave straining to break.
“I…” The rough stubble on his cheek grazed hers as he pressed in close.
Then—
Two points of contact, impossibly precise, glided in tandem over her neck. Too fluid to be a fingertip. Too agile for a normal tongue. It slithered over her skin, tasting her, sliding from the hollow beneath her ear up to its edge.
Fuck…. Her hips jerked up against him.
It moved again, one tip flicking lightly over the sensitive skin just behind her earlobe, while the other lingered at the curve of her jaw. Her body arched, the sensation alien, intimate, and electric all at once.
That fucking tongue. Gods, it made her burn.
A slow swallow followed, his throat bobbing just above hers.
“Rynna.” The sound rumbled out, a promise uncoiling. “I will devour any thought, each dream, and every nightmare you’ve ever had.” His lashes fluttered against her skin. “If you but let me.”
He was giving her an out. She could end this now, before she crossed a line she couldn't uncross. Before she lost herself in everything he was offering.
She should stop. She should think. The Mission—
She already cared for him, despite her every effort not to. If she let this happen…
“Please.” The word barely passed her lips as her eyes squeezed shut.
“Please, what?” His voice was velvet.
A thumb pressed to her mouth, teasing the line of her lips. It traced the swell, then slipped between them, moving deeper, dragging across the edge of a suddenly piercing canine.
Blood splashed over her tongue. And bliss burst behind her eyes, flashing down her spine. Her thighs tensed, hips bucking beneath him again as the taste hit. Copper, heat, and everything that made him him.
She moaned, deep and wrecked, vision blurring as sensation folded through her from the inside out.
“Oh my…” Kaelith chuckled darkly as he eased back, removing his hand from her mouth and sitting back on his heels.
The loss hit like a slap.
Her body arched after him, desperate for contact. She shoved her hands forward, catching his hips, yanking him closer as her fingers reached lower.
“Fuck, Kae.” She found him—hot, heavy, already straining.
Air hissed through his teeth as his cock jumped in her hand.
She tightened her hold, thumb gliding over the tip, spreading the fresh moisture there in slow, deliberate circles. Her mouth parted, tongue flicking against her teeth, chasing the last taste of his blood, humming low in her throat like it was the only thing keeping her grounded.
Kaelith looked up at the ceiling, his knuckles flexing once, then twice at his sides, before he looked down at her.
A hand shot out and caught her wrist. Hard.
“As if I’d make it that easy.” The promise of bruises bloomed in his grip. “Naughty girl.”
The pant tore from her lips before she could stop it. And need throbbed through her as damp fabric clung between her legs like a confession.
Then, the world spun as he flipped her, and she was on her belly.
He moved fast—one arm banded around her waist while the other anchored in the crease between her thigh and hip to yank her ass high into the air.
Her palms slammed the floor, nails scratching. Then, cool air grazed the backs of her thighs as her shorts were eased down, exposing her inch by inch.
“Kaelith…” Her cheek pressed to the mat. “If you don’t fuck me—”
Then, his tongue lashed out, and her words shattered.
One long, slow stroke from the top of her pussy, all the way back. Long and sinuous. It rippled as it moved, undulating side to side like a serpent winding its way across her sensitive skin.
Her legs seized, and her hips shook without rhythm. The damp trail he left behind made her gasp, but it was the motion, the deliberate, sidewinding sway of it, that tore her open. Her forehead hit the mat, and her mouth parted around a moan.
“Great Elements, woman…” Kaelith’s voice came rough, almost reverent, as he sank his teeth into the swell of her ass. “I could drown between your legs, you’re so soaked.”
Growling against her skin, he licked lower—deliberate, filthy, hot—flicking over that space where everything met. “Is that all for me?”
A small, broken squeak slipped from her throat as she tried to swallow air and find her voice.
“I will kill you, snake.” Her cheek pressed to the mat. “If you don’t take that unreasonably fucking huge—”
The tongue vanished.
And Rynna barely had time to whimper before she felt it—hard and thick, the head of him sliding between her thighs. He didn’t thrust, not yet. Just pressed forward, easing through the mess he’d already made of her.
“Empty Night.” Stars sparked behind her eyelids. “Fuck me. Fuck me now.”
He didn’t move.
His fingers curled into the meat of her thighs, firm enough to make her yelp.
Then—
“As if I could ever deny you anything, Rynna.”
He sank into her, and her mouth fell open in a silent cry as he filled her in a single, fluid pulse.
Within her, he rocked once, deep and slow. And her whole body stretched and opened around him as his weight came down, claiming her fully.
Then again.
And again.
“Kaelith!” She cried as the room dissolved around her.
And soon…floor, stars, breath, name—it all vanished, until there was nothing left but the rhythm of his hips, the burn of her body taking him in, and the ruin of her own voice as she broke apart beneath him.