Chapter 51
Elariya
“Where Shadow and Desire Burn”
Itook the last set of stairs, the pull toward Wolfe guiding me like an invisible chain wrapped around my heart. Feeling him through the shackle was completely different from this. This magnetic pull was a living map blooming inside me, drawing me toward him like a tide.
My footsteps echoed as I stepped onto the landing.
I’d only been in the highest tower of the manor once before, on my tour with Arielle.
Wolfe held meetings up here, so I’d stayed away.
Now, with each step closer, I couldn’t shake the worry that he’d chosen a business setting for a reason. To break bad news.
It would be cruel to live out the last days of this reset watching him prepare to marry someone else. Crueler still to forget him and somehow, deep down, still feel like I was meant to be his.
The door to his study clicked open, cutting through my thoughts.
I stepped inside, the pull tightening with every stride. When I rounded the bookshelf, I found Wolfe standing at the long glass window, his back to me as he gazed at the mountains in the distance.
He seemed taller today, his shoulders broader.
And I couldn’t look at him without picturing the ink and muscle I’d traced with my hands last night, or remembering the things he’d made me feel, things I’d never imagined giving to anyone.
The memory alone sent a tremor through my core, and damn it, I was wet.
As if sensing my thoughts, Wolfe cocked his head. His hair was in a half-up, half-down style, revealing just enough of his profile for me to catch what might have been a faint smile.
I stopped before the desk, my nerves spiking. My heart pounded like it would leap out of my chest and keep running. Suspense gnawed at me, and it only deepened when he turned slowly to face me.
“You figured it out, Ziyka. You found me.” His eyes lit with fascination.
“I did. I felt… you.”
“But did you figure out why, little mage?”
Gods, his voice. And that smile. Both were dangerous. But I forced myself back to his question. “Desire.”
His smile widened. “You’re learning fast.”
“But you knew. From the other day.”
“Of course. Even though you hate to want me, I knew you’d soon learn you have no choice in the matter when it comes to me.”
I bit back a smile. “I guess you’re right, because I’m here. But… why am I here?”
His gaze sharpened. “You’re here because I want you.”
“Oh.” The rawness in his tone shot straight to my core, but I pushed past it to ask what mattered most. “But… what does that mean for the princess? For your uncle's plans?"
His jaw hardened, a muscle ticking with something sharper than hesitation.
“I told my uncle I’m not marrying her.” His tone brooked no argument
My heart surged, and hope sparked through me. “Really?”
“Yes, really.” His voice dropped lower, intimate now.
“Won’t that cause… problems?”
“If my decision causes problems, they can answer to me.” A deadly smirk curved his mouth. “I won’t be a pawn in my uncle’s political games.”
He stepped closer, his eyes never leaving mine, not even for a breath. He stopped before me, swallowing the air between us. That heat in his eyes, dark and possessive, pinned me in place. My skin prickled with awareness, every nerve ending suddenly alive.
“I’m glad you have the freedom to choose a wife for yourself,” I murmured. “No one should have their life dictated by political alliances.”
His fingers brushed my jaw, a light graze that made my pulse spike. He tilted my chin up until we were eye to eye. “I turned him down because I chose you, Elariya.”
My mouth went dry, and my knees trembled, threatening to buckle.
“Me?” My breath stuttered.
“You.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips over mine in a teasing kiss.
The intoxication of being chosen, chosen over duty and politics, left me reeling. But what did this truly mean for us?
What did it mean for me?
I was still the daughter of his father’s murderer and still a captive here. On top of that, I wasn’t as perfect or purebred as Princess Seraphina or any of the other Fae women I’d seen. The damned curse alone was enough for him not to want me. Yet he’d chosen me?
“Why… me?” I had to know. It may be silly to question him, but I wanted my heart to remember his answer.
Wolfe’s gaze intensified as if he could see straight through me. Right through to the parts of me that held on to my dreams. “Because there’s no one like you. Because you’re you. Because there’s no one better for me than you. I crossed realms to find you. That makes you mine, Ziyka.”
The deepest awe filled me, so powerful I forgot how to breathe. He’d said something similar to me back on the ship, but this…
It was everything my soul needed to thrive.
“I think you just claimed my heart, Wolfe Nightblade.” My chest tightened with the weight of my confession, but relief soared through me at finally being able to voice what I’d been too afraid to acknowledge.
He grinned. “I already told you your heart always belonged to me.”
“You’re right.”
He nodded with confidence and gave me an arrogant smile. “No more talk of this, Ziyka.” He grazed my lips again. “My body misses yours. I called you up here because you’ve been in my head all day. Now you’re going to be under me, taking everything I give you.”
My body went up in flames, my throat becoming so dry it would take an ocean to soothe me. “Oh… I see.”
“Every time I come into this room, I imagine you laid out on that desk wearing nothing but pleasure on your face.” His stare deepened.
“I can’t stop thinking about all the ways I want to give you that pleasure.
I can’t decide which sounds best: bending you over the table and fucking you from behind, or taking you on top, or both.
Or all of the above and more. Maybe we should get started and see where we go. How does that sound to you?”
“I… like that idea,” I breathed, my mouth watering from the sinful images flooding my mind.
“Come here.” He beckoned me closer with a crook of his finger.
I leaned in, and Wolfe kissed me like he wanted to brand his taste into my soul. When he pulled back, my body felt light, like I might float away.
“Take your clothes off for me, Ziyka.” His gaze drifted down my body, and tremors raced through my veins like lightning. “Nice… and slow.”
Blessed Mother. Wolfe Nightblade was going to be the death of me. The chaos he’d unleashed inside me left me teetering between melting into nothing or burning alive.
“Come on, Ziyka. Don’t keep me waiting.”
With a quick tug, I undid the laces on the front of my dress. As soon as it loosened, my sleeves slinked down my shoulders. Wolfe watched with hungry eyes, my skin burning beneath his gaze.
I pushed the dress down my body, and it floated to the floor. My underwear and shoes followed next. A breath later, I stood naked before him, and he stared at me as if it were the first time he was seeing me bare.
Shadows bled into his heated gaze, darkening his eyes to a twilight blue. A lust-filled grin slid across his face, revealing long, sharp fangs that could pierce the skin and draw endless blood.
Watching him look at me with so much desire was something I couldn't quite describe. Being wanted was one thing, but Wolfe stared at me as if I was his queen and he'd worship the ground I walked on for the rest of eternity.
Taking his time, the ruthless Fae prince prowled around me in a slow circle, his eyes tracking every detail of my body like a predator savoring the hunt before the kill.
The intensity of his gaze burned my skin, and I almost feared what would happen to me when he touched me.
He faced me again, and the desire in his eyes increased a hundredfold. “You’re even better than my fantasies, mage.”
I could hardly believe that he—the epitome of all fantasies—fantasized about little old me. “Am I?”
“You most certainly are, Ziyka. And I’m about to create more wild fantasies with you.”
With his gaze still locked on mine, he crouched before me, parted my thighs, and nuzzled his face between them. Then he looked up with a wicked smile that ignited the fire in my core.
“I know exactly how we should start our next fantasy.” His hands slid to my hips, grip firm and possessive. “Sit on my face and let me ruin you.”
The words stole the air from my lungs, and my pulse thundered through my body.
Before I could even form a reply, Wolfe rose in one smooth movement, his hands locking beneath my thighs. I let out a startled gasp as he lifted me effortlessly, hoisting me over his shoulder.
He crossed the room quicker than a heartbeat and lowered himself onto the chaise, keeping me straddled over him. His palms smoothed up the backs of my legs, urging them wider until I was balanced above him, breathless and trembling.
“Wolfe…” I gasped, my voice shaking.
“Shh, mage. Just be a good girl and let me taste you.”
He pulled me down until I was seated over him, my knees sinking into the plush cushion on either side of his head. His breath grazed my inner thighs, then his mouth was on me, his tongue sliding through my folds in a slow, claiming stroke that made my head fall back and a gasp tear from my throat.
“Gods…” I whispered, gripping the back of the chaise for balance as he tasted me like he was starving, every stroke of his tongue dragging me closer to the edge.
His tongue circled my clit, slow and deliberate, before he sucked it between his lips with just enough pressure to make my thighs tighten around his head.
I whimpered, my fingers threading through his hair as he licked deeper, tasting me like he meant to memorize every inch.
“Mmm… that’s it,” he murmured against me, flicking my clit with quick, merciless strokes that made my hips rock against his mouth. “Let me hear you, Ziyka. Don’t you dare hold back from me.”