31
Finn
Our flight back to the inn is mostly silent.
Not that there’s a lot of talking we can do over the rush of the wind, anyway, but what is there to say?
How do we move forward from this?
It would be entirely selfish of me to expect Soleil to give up what she’s been working toward her entire life.
Even if she did run away from it when she came here.
Even if I can see the storm of indecision behind her eyes when she talks about Ascending.
Even if the most terrible, selfish part of me still wants to convince her, beg her, do anything in my power to make her stay. Because even though I’ve only known her this short time, my soul has known her since the moment the Goddess forged us, and I can’t imagine my life without her.
“I think I could.”
I speak the words quietly just as we land on the balcony outside our room. Soleil tips her head up to meet my gaze with furrows on her brow and moonlight kissing her cheeks.
“Could what?”
I thread my fingers into her hair on either side of her face. “I think I could do it. Be there for you even after you Ascend. If that’s what you needed.”
Her throat bobs in a hard swallow. “I’d never ask that of you.”
“You wouldn’t have to.”
Soleil’s eyes are wide and searching as they trace my face. Almost disbelieving, as if she can’t quite bring herself to accept someone would choose her, no matter the cost or the circumstances.
But in this moment, I know.
Even though it would likely break my heart to never quite have her in the way I wish I could, I would do it.
For her, I would.
My mate must know I’d go to the ends of all the thirteen realms for her, and beyond.
Even if there’s nothing I can say to convince her, she must know.
And in the absence of those words, I do the only other thing I can.
I kiss her.
Slow and soft, meant to be nothing more than gentle reassurance, a promise I’m not going anywhere.
Until Soleil comes to life in my arms.
Her lips part, and her gasping groan breaks against my mouth. She wraps her arms around my neck and pulls herself closer, kisses me deeper, runs her tongue along the length of one of my fangs.
Fire spreads through my veins.
I’m hard as a damned rock almost immediately, and though a small, sane voice in the back of my head whispers perhaps this isn’t the best idea right now, it’s immediately drowned out by Soleil.
The scent of her.
The spark of her magick.
The embers kindling higher between us as I grab the backs of both her thighs and lift her high against me. She wraps her legs around my waist, her dress’s billowing skirt parting and letting me feel the heat of her.
Fuck, the heat of her.
Already damp against the fabric of her panties, she uses her strong, shapely thighs to grip me tighter, press herself closer.
As soon as we make it through the door, I kick it shut and then turn us so I can press her against the wall beside it.
Hips still flush to hers, I have to pull back and make myself take a few calming breaths.
Goddess, I’m already close.
Close to the edge, close to losing my mind completely, close to surrendering to the irresistible temptation of having my mate warm and wanting in my arms.
Soleil, as if sensing that hesitation, cups her hand around my jaw.
“Maybe we—” she gasps between panting breaths. “Maybe we shouldn’t. With everything so uncertain, we probably shouldn’t—”
“I don’t care,” I say, the words muffled against the soft skin of her neck as I lean in to kiss her there.
“Finn.”
The hesitation in her tone pierces the haze of my arousal. I pull away.
“Yes, sunshine?”
“Are you sure?” she asks in a small voice. “Even if I can’t… promise anything. Are you sure we should…”
Am I sure?
Perhaps not. Perhaps this will be a monumental mistake, and will only serve to haunt me if all of this falls apart. Perhaps I’m doing nothing more than being the architect of my own future suffering when my witch decides her life in the human realm is too important to choose me over.
But I don’t care.
If these stolen days are all we have, I’ll take them.
Greedily, shamelessly.
I’ll take everything she’ll give me.
“Do you want this?”
“I do,” she says, and it almost comes out like a moan. “Fuck, Finn, I do. I want—”
My mouth crashes into hers—hard, consuming. I kiss her until we’re both breathless.
“Then I want this.” Another kiss, another gasp, another shot of fire through my veins. “If you want it, I want it, Soleil.”
For a few long minutes, there are no more words.
There’s only the press of our bodies, our half-caught breaths, the heat of our lips and the rough rasp of teeth. Hands—searching, grasping, taking. Magick swirling higher and hotter between us.
I fall to my knees.
Shifting Soleil’s thighs so they rest over my shoulders, her back still supported by the wall, I lean in and run my tongue over the damp lace of her panties. I tease her like that, make her even wetter, give her a promise of what’s to come until—
“Off—” she pants. “—I want the dress, everything, off. Now.”
Who am I to resist my witch’s command?
I help her shakily back to her feet, moving us both closer to the bed.
Soleil reaches behind her back, tugging at the fabric for a few moments before letting out a huff of irritated breath.
“Need some help?”
She glares at me, and it’s absolutely adorable. “Yes. Please. Hurry.”
“Turn around.”
She obeys, and despite her grumpy command, I can’t stop myself from teasing her at least a little more.
I crowd into the space behind her, but instead of reaching for the dress’s fastenings right away, I run my hands over her hips, her ass, trail them up the column of her spine before carefully moving her long black curls out of the way.
Slowly, sensually, I ghost my lips over the back of her neck, and she shivers.
“Finn.” My name sounds more like a plea this time, and if there’s one thing I never want, it’s for my mate to feel like I won’t give her what she needs.
The dress is beautiful on her, but I’ve got a feeling it will look even prettier crumpled into a pile on the floor.
And I’ve got no patience for all the little buttons running down the back of it.
With one good tug, the fabric parts and exposes the beautiful curves of Soleil’s back. A slow slide over her hips and it pools around her feet.
My hands land on her panties next. I should take my time. Seduce her. Savor every moment of getting her out of her clothes, but my need is too great. It pounds through my veins in a powerful command for more. So the small scrap of lace joins the dress on the floor just a couple of seconds later.
It leaves my witch entirely bare, and I turn her to face me with a gentle grip on her shoulders.
The tent and the tub were nice.
Beyond nice.
Great. Wonderful. Life-changing.
But they weren’t like this.
They didn’t let me see her.
Not like this.
Fully bared before me, gilded in the candlelight, every inch of her mine to admire.
I must stare too long, because Soleil folds her arms around herself, shifts from one foot to the other. When I try to meet her gaze, her eyes are downcast.
My heart sinks. “Are you—”
“Fine,” she interrupts. “I’m fine. I’m just… I know my body might not be what you—”
“Sunshine,” I say firmly, cutting off whatever nonsense she was about to say.
“I find every inch of you so unbelievably sexy that I’m having a hard time deciding what I want to touch first. I want to take my time with you, want to kiss and lick and worship every inch of you, but I’m so goddessdamned hard I don’t know if I’ll be able to have that much patience. ”
She unfolds her arms, and I see my confident, powerful witch return bit by bit.
I fall back to my knees and take her by the hips, pulling her closer. Her soft flesh yields beneath my grip, so warm and supple. Perfect. Just perfect, my mate.
If she doesn’t believe it now, she will by the time we leave this room.
Leaning in, I brush my lips over the swell of her stomach—rounded and exquisitely feminine, like a goddess come to the mortal plane. I press little nipping kisses from her navel to her hip and then back again. The scent of her arousal spikes, even as she squirms against me.
“That tickles,” she gasps, and I do it again, and again, until she wraps her hands around my horns, pushes my head down in silent demand.
Soleil is delicious.
I’ll never tire of the taste of her, of the bright, earthy, slick arousal I lap up like it’s my last meal.
I could feast on Soleil for hours—run my tongue through her slick folds, tease the hard little bud of her clit, sink my fingers into her and crook them forward until her knees buckle and I have to pick her up and carry her to the bed before she collapses completely.
Even then, I don’t relent.
I eat my witch until she sees stars. Until her back bows off the bed and the rush of her orgasm coats my tongue, until her sweet moans echo in my ears and I know I’ve satisfied her.
And then I give her another.
It’s only when I go back in to start working her toward a third that she protests. Hands around my horns, she grumbles some incoherent, pleasure-soaked nonsense, but her meaning is clear enough.
I kiss my way up her body until I reach her pink, swollen lips and feed her the taste of herself so she’ll know how delicious she is, too.
Her face is flushed, her eyes glazed with pleasure, and I pull back far enough to simply admire her.
My beautiful mate.
“Hi,” she says in a raspy whisper as she reaches up to card her fingers through my hair.
I’m powerless to do anything but nuzzle into that touch. My eyes slide shut, and a long, satisfied sigh loosens all my muscles.
In my chest, the first faint stirrings of a purr.
Soleil’s eyes widen. “What is—”
“Sorry,” I mutter, swallowing hard in an attempt to quell the sound.
It doesn’t work.
The damned thing won’t be silenced, and gets even louder when my mate lays her hand against my chest.
“Are you… purring?”
Heat creeps up my cheeks. “I… yes. I am.”
Her eyes dart to my face, searching my expression. “Is that… bad?”
“No… it’s just…”
It’s just something I can only do for my mate. It’s just something that signifies how very deeply I feel for you, how comfortable I am with you, how much I wish this thing between us would last for the rest of our—
“It’s not a bad thing,” I say softly instead, pushing all those dangerous feelings aside.
“Okay,” she murmurs, but her hand doesn’t leave my chest.
It lingers there, tracing a path from the center of my sternum to just above my heart.
I wonder if she can feel how hard it’s beating.
I wonder if she knows that beat is just for her.
A heartbeat later, her lips follow the path her hand has made, caressing across the expanse of my chest and then higher, until they meet the pulse point at the side of my throat.
I’m almost certain she can feel that heartbeat now, that she knows how much it’s racing, how little control I have over—
“I like it,” she whispers into my skin.
“Like what?” I ask, too carried away and overwhelmed by her to be even remotely capable of carrying on a conversation.
“The purr.” Her lips curl into a knowing smile, and her hand flattens against my chest. “It’s nice.”
If only she knew how nice it was.
If only she knew how much I wish I could purr for her every day, how much it would please me to keep her with me, to care for her, protect her, shelter her, give her my purr for comfort whenever she was feeling sad or stressed or afraid.
Goddess, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Soleil shifts impatiently beneath me, canting her hips and fitting them more closely to mine. She tilts them just right so the heat of her core lines up with my—
“Witch,” I warn through gritted teeth, doing everything within my power not to thrust deep, fill her with one hard stroke.
“Demon,” she says, and it comes out like a taunt.
Her eyes sparkle with challenge, and I move my hips forward, the tip of my cock poised right at her entrance.
“Are you protected?” I make myself ask, because I know I should.
Instead of answering, she cants her hips again, rubs the slickness of her cunt over my shaft, pushes me so close to the brink
“Keep doing that, and I won’t last beyond a few thrusts.”
“Good,” she quips right back. “Maybe I want to see how fast I can make you fall apart.”
“If you only knew, sunshine,” I mutter, and make myself be still. “And you didn’t answer my question.”
“Yes. I’m protected.”
“You’re sure?”
She laughs. “Yes. I’m the best apprentice potions master the Crescent Coven has seen in three generations. I could make a contraceptive brew in my sleep.”
Fuck, I love my witch’s confidence. I love when she reminds me exactly who she is, when she remembers what power she holds and feels no compunction in sharing it.
I flex my hips, just breaching her entrance, and she gasps.
“And the best apprentice potions master the Crescent Coven has seen in three generations wants to fuck an intractable, incorrigible, good-for-nothing demon rake?”
I mean it as a joke, but Soleil’s eyes go soft.
“You’re good for so much more than you realize.”
“Like this?” Another flex, another inch, another gasp. Another deflection as I reach for pleasure instead of the soft, tender, painful emotions her words dredge up.
Later.
There will be time for those later.
Now, I want pleasure.
And I want her to have it, too.