Saint
“What is the most favorite place you’ve visited?” Aurora asks me, her head resting on my chest as we lay in my bed.
I’d been on a hunt earlier, chasing down a lead with Dagon and the rest of the hunters. Unfortunately, we found no trace of Samuel or the Sons in the witch territory. The sting of disappointment was lessoned when I came back to the residence, to my mate.
Still can’t believe she’s mine. Even as I hold her, feed her, fuck her. It seems too good to be true.
“Our orders took us all over the world,” I finally answer, running my fingers through her long red hair. “I’ve seen places that no longer exist and ones that have withstood the test of time.” I shift to look down at her, my heart in my throat. “But Edgemont is my favorite.”
Aurora crinkles her nose. “Edgemont? Seriously. Out of all the places you’ve seen?”
I grin, shifting so I roll atop her, situating her beneath me. “This is the place that led me to you.” Her pink lips part, her eyes glittering as she smiles up at me. I drag my lips over her jaw, then down her neck and back up again. “Nothing will ever top finding you.”
A flash of how exactly I found Aurora, chained up and nearly starved, bursts behind my eyes. The two of us thinking of the memory at the same moment, our minds colliding and delivering the reminder in crystal-clear quality.
I cringe against it as the familiar burn of anger sweeps through me. I go very still, not wanting any instinct to affect Aurora as I hold her.
“I’m okay,” she assures me, reaching up to cup my cheek. She shifts beneath me, spreading her thighs and wrapping her legs around my back when I make an attempt to move off of her. “I promise. Saint. Look at me.”
I open my eyes, my jaw locked as I try to get ahold of the agony ripping through me. “I should’ve stopped him sooner.”
“And what if you had?” she asks, not for the first time. “Do you think we would’ve ever met?”
“I think fate would’ve put me in your path no matter what. You’re my mate.”
“Maybe,” she says. “Maybe not. Maybe it happened exactly how fate planned.”
“You shouldn’t have had to endure what you did.”
“But I would endure it again.” She stares up at me, nothing but love radiating in her eyes. “I would go through that a thousand times over if finding you was the end result.”
I dip down, brushing my lips over hers. I don’t have the words to respond to that kind of love, that kind of acceptance. I shake my head against her. “I don’t—”
She kisses me harder, stopping any argument I may have.
I slide an arm beneath her, holding her more tightly beneath me.
“You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” she says against my lips.
“Don’t for one second doubt that. Regardless of my nightmares.
Regardless of the trauma we’re both still working through.
This…” She moves her hand over my heart. “You and me? Is worth everything.”
“Fucking love you,” I growl, claiming her mouth again.
“Love you,” she says back, whimpering as I suck her bottom lip into my mouth. “Speaking of worth everything,” she says, drawing back an inch. “Have you thought any more about my plan? Did you pitch it to the others?”
“No.” The answer is sharp and immediate. The idea of her being used as bait makes my vision switch to thermal.
“Saint,” she chides me. “We could have the upper hand. We could finish this. We could have a life outside these walls.”
“And I want to give you that life. Everything I do, every move I make, is to ensure you get to live that life.”
“We get to live that life,” she corrects me. “We. Stop acting like you won’t be around to enjoy it with me.”
Guilt slices through me. We’ve gone in circles about the twin bond and my need to be the one to end Samuel.
“I never in a million years thought I’d be deserving of a mate, let alone be bound to someone as incredible as you.
The last thing I want is to be separated from you, but you can’t ask me to risk your life. Would you so easily risk mine?”
She purses her lips at me, her eyes narrowing. She can’t argue with me on that point. She wouldn’t risk me.
“I’m stronger now,” she finally says. “Your training has assured that. Practicing with Gabriel has helped too. I can be an asset to you and the others.”
“You are an asset. Aurora, you’re my entire reason.”
“Then let me help finish this—”
I kiss her gently, relishing the way she melts into me. “I won’t risk you,” I say before kissing her again. “But maybe I can help with part of your request. If you’ll let me. Trust me?”
“Of course I trust you,” she says.
“Then close your eyes.”
Aurora immediately closes her eyes, and I internally reach for my power.
It’s all too easy to slip into her mind and grab hold of her reality.
All too easy to have the room surrounding us melt away.
To sweep away the memories urging her to action, the dark pieces of her that call out for justice.
The ones where she helps finish this battle so we can have our happily ever after.
All of that dissolves as I weave a new reality for us, one I desperately hope she likes.
“Saint,” she gasps as the image takes hold of us.
We’re no longer in my bed but walking along the beach she loved so much on Cassandra’s island, only this time, the sun is glittering off the ocean, making the sand warm beneath our feet.
“I forgot,” she says. “I forgot what it feels like to walk in the sun.”
“It’s been so long, I almost did too.” Thank fuck for modern day nature documentaries. I likely wouldn’t be able to construct such a convincing reality had I not watched so many with Talon after we were awakened. “Do you like it?”
She tilts her head toward the sun, bathing her body in the golden rays. “I love it.” She glances down, noting the sheer cover-up I’ve dressed her in. The only thing I’ve dressed her in. “Love this too.” She runs her fingertips over the light, breezy fabric. “What do you think?”
I swallow hard as her fingers trail over her breasts, which are visible breath the sheer fabric. Her nipples peak as she strokes them, then moves her hands lower over her hips.
“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” My fangs punch out, my instincts roaring to follow everywhere she’s touching herself.
“Even in the sun?” she asks.
“In the sun. In the moonlight. I would recognize your beauty in complete darkness.”
“Who knew you could be so poetic,” she says, stepping into my space and splaying her hands along my bare chest. She glances over her shoulder, admiring the view of the ocean, the beach, and the stretch of jungle beyond. Then she looks back up at me again. “My hunter.”
I grin down at her, bending, my lips aimed for her neck. She grips my chin, claiming my mouth with hers in a punishing kiss that sets my blood on fire.
“You want to bite me, hunter?” she teases.
A low growl rumbles from me in answer. I go for her neck again, but she darts out of my embrace.
“Then catch me.” Her grin is pure mischief and challenge before she takes off toward the jungle.
Shock and anticipation burst through me, my instincts sharpening to an aching point. Oh, she has no idea the game she’s started. I lock my muscles, quelling those hunter responses for as long as I can.
Lava streaks through my veins when she disappears into the trees. That’s all it takes before I rush off after her. I slow my speed a fraction, devouring the anticipation crackling beneath my skin at the hunt.
I clear the trees, the thick vegetation brushing against my arms as I come to a stop. We’re sharing a mind space, but she’s my mate and we’ve learned our bond allows her to bend my power just enough while in here.
She’s hidden, the little vixen.
My eyes flash to thermal and that preternatural stillness slides over me as I go silent. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.” The words are gravelly as I speak, my senses on absolute fire.
I take a careful step deeper into the brush, honing my focus.
“When I catch you, mate, I will do whatever it is I want with you.” It’s a vow as I continue the hunt.
A little gasp to my left has my head jerking that direction.
“There you are.”
Aurora’s red hair is a flash of flame before she sprints off again, but this time, I’m on her trail in an instant. My fangs throb as I chase her through the trees, blood pumping like liquid magma.
Catch. Bite. Drink. Fuck.
Aurora picks up her speed, zig-zagging to the left. I anticipate the direction, correcting my path and collide with her. I slow us before we both crash into a nearby tree, her back pressed tightly against my chest.
“Got you,” I growl, winding her long hair around my fist, my other hand catching her attempt to break my hold. I pin her wrists above her head and nudge her feet apart to spread her legs as I press her against that tree. “Clever little mate.”
Aurora is breathless as I tug on her hair, exposing her neck as I grind against her from behind. She whimpers, pushing her perfect ass against me. “What are you going to do to me?”
The submission in her voice is laced with desire, and it spins my head in the best fucking way.
“Feast.” It’s the only word I can get out before I sink my fangs into her neck.
Her hot blood spills into my mouth like the sweetest fucking wine.
I drink her down, releasing her wrists to quickly drop the shorts I wear.
I shift her sheer cover-up to the side and guide my aching cock through her heat.
“So slick. My teasing mate likes the chase.”
“Saint,” she gasps as I line my cock up with her center. I press into her, teasing her. “Please.” Her hands move to reach behind her, but I pin them above her head again.
“Ah, ah. I caught you. I get you in whatever way I like and you know how much I love you submitting like this.”
“Oh, God,” she moans as I bring us flush, sinking into her another inch.
Then another before I plunge in, allowing her slick heat to envelop my cock.
“Fuck.” I growl as I drag myself out of her and pump into her again. Hard and fast and sharp. The instincts of the chase take over me completely, fueled by her breathy little moans as she pushes back against me. “Fucking made for me.”
“Yes,” she gasps as I thrust into her over and over again.
I bite her again, relishing the pleasure that sweetens her blood as it spills into my mouth. I’m claiming her in every way imaginable, the bond between us searing each time we connect. She’s my beginning and my end. My ruin and my salvation.
“God, Saint.” She clenches around my cock, her pussy fluttering as her orgasm tears through her. I drink her down, pumping into her just the way she likes, dragging one orgasm into another until she’s panting.
I lick her wounds closed, then release her wrists, dragging my forearm down to her mouth. “Bite.”
She immediately obeys, her little fangs sinking into my flesh, making my cock even harder as I continue to take her from behind. She drinks me down, moaning as I find my pleasure in her body, her mind, her soul.
“Aurora,” I growl, my head emptying of all thought as she pushes back to meet my every thrust, taking me deeper as she drinks and drinks and drinks. She’s starved for me. Just. For. Me.
“Yes,” she groans against my flesh. “I love it when you fuck me like this.”
My orgasm rips through me so hard I see stars. I spill into her, clinging to her like my life depends on it. And when my vision clears, the reality I spun has melted away. I’m deep inside her, the two of us in my bed, her lips stained red with my blood.
And she’s looking up at me with the most adorable little smirk.
“Next time, you won’t catch me as fast,” she teases.
My eyes flare. “Where did you come from?”
She pushes up enough to drag her lips over mine. “Straight out of your dreams.”
We both laugh, the two of us lost in a madness that I never want to end.