CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR #2
He moved slowly, circling his wrist so the pad of his finger brushed along every sensitive place inside me, exploring with patient curiosity that made my stomach twist and my thighs tremble around his hand.
A whimper tore from my throat and my hands flew to his chest, nails digging into the hard muscle and leaving faint crescents in his skin.
His mouth curved when his finger found the same spot again.
“Right there,” he murmured softly.
A second finger pressed forward, easing into the tight heat beside the first. The stretch pulled a sharp hiss from my lips and instinctively my hips shifted back, my body tightening around him at the unfamiliar fullness.
Talon stilled instantly.
His eyes flicked up to mine, the teasing heat in them fading into something searching.
“Too much?” he asked quietly.
Heat flooded my cheeks and I turned my face away, focusing on the faint glow of the river rather than the intensity of his gaze.
“Kaelia.”
His finger slipped beneath my chin, guiding my face back toward him with a gentleness that left me no choice but to meet those pale eyes.
“If you want me to stop,” he said, his voice low and rough, “you tell me.”
My lips parted but no words came out.
His thumb brushed slowly across my jaw, the touch almost reverent. “But do not hide from me.”
“I am not hiding,” I whispered.
His gaze dropped to my mouth, then lower, to the place where his hand still rested between my thighs.
“Then let me see you.”
Before I could respond he shifted, guiding my wrists away from my chest and spreading them gently against the soft furs behind me, his palms sliding up to cup the weight of my breasts. His fingers tightened slightly, and a soft gasp spilled from my lips at the rough pressure.
“Do not ever doubt my want for you,” he murmured.
Then he lowered himself between my thighs.
His hands slid beneath my legs, urging them wider as his dark head dipped forward, his breath warm against the sensitive heat between my thighs before his tongue finally dragged through my center in a slow stroke.
My fingers buried instantly in his hair.
A cry escaped me as my hips lifted into his mouth, chasing the sensation, my entire body tightening when his lips closed around me with hungry precision.
He moved with devastating patience, his tongue working slowly while his fingers slid back inside me, stretching me again, deeper this time. The initial ache melted quickly beneath the wave of heat his mouth pulled from me, pleasure building until my thighs trembled around his shoulders.
“Talon,” I breathed.
I tugged hard at his hair, dragging his mouth away from me when the sensation grew too sharp, too overwhelming. He lifted his head immediately, lips swollen and wet, his gaze dark and heavy as it met mine.
He rose over me, caging me against the furs, his eyes burning as they searched my face.
“I want you,” I whimpered. “Now.”
Appreciation with a tinge of excitement stirred in his eyes, his lips softly brushing against mine.
“Anything for you, little flame.”
He grasped my hips, steadying me as he shifted our bodies, guiding me back against the thick furs until the world narrowed to the warmth of the cavern and the heat of him between my thighs.
The heavy length of him pressed against me, the blunt head finding the place where my body throbbed with anticipation.
A shaky breath escaped me when he dragged himself slowly through my slick folds, coating himself in the evidence of how desperately my body had begun to crave him. The friction sent a pulse of heat curling low in my belly, my fingers tightening instinctively against his shoulders.
His hands tightened slightly on my hips, anchoring me in place while he lowered his forehead to my temple, his breath warm against my skin.
Talon shifted forward slowly, the thick tip of him slowly entering me.
“Breathe and take me,” he murmured quietly.
I realized that he was holding himself still for me, restraining the obvious tension coiled through his body while he waited for me to adjust.
“You already have my soul,” he continued softly. “Let me give you the rest of me.”
I shifted beneath him, allowing my hips to tilt, allowing the slow pressure of him to press further inside.
My body tensed around him, unprepared for the sheer heat of him. My fingers tightened in his shoulders, the muscles beneath my palms flexing in response.
He did not move.
Not even when my inner walls clenched around him.
Instead, his thumb brushed slowly along the curve of my hip as he continue inching his way forward.
I felt my body yield to the fullness of him, only tensing slightly when his pelvis pressed to mine and he was fully seated inside of me.
Talon sighed, his head dropping to the crook of my neck. “All of me belongs to you, little flame.”
He gave a shallow thrust of his hips, the movement softening the burn into pleasure.
“Talon,” I gasped.
The fullness of him pressed into places inside me that felt impossibly sensitive, the slow glide of him filling me until my back arched off the furs.
“Perfect,” he ground out. “Made for me.”
A shiver ran down my spine at his words. Because he was right, every inch of him filled me so utterly, so perfectly, I could barely tell where I ended and he began.
His hips began a steady pace, each thrust driving me deeper into the furs beneath my back.
My fingers loosened on his shoulders, sliding upward into the dark strands of his hair as I pulled him closer, pressing my forehead against his.
“I want it all,” I pleaded, my hips arching up to meet him.
“Kaelia,” Talon groaned against my throat. “I will not be able to hold back.”
My fingers dug into the cords of his neck, pulling his lips down to mine. His mouth crashed against mine, messy and raw, his tongue thrusting deep to tangle with mine.
“I do not want you to,” I whispered against him.
He tucked his face back into the hollow of my neck and groaned.
The muscles beneath my palms flexed and tightened, his breath growing heavier where his mouth pressed against my neck. A low sound rumbled through his chest as his hips rolled forward again, deeper this time, the motion drawing a startled gasp from my lips.
He repeated the motion, giving a sharper thrust, hitting a spot deep inside me that had my toes curling.
The steady rhythm turned sharper, more urgent, his hips driving forward with increasing intensity as though something inside him had finally broken free.
The blankets shifted beneath us, bunching up with the force of his movement, and I felt the tremor running through his body each time he buried himself deep inside me.
My senses blurred.
The cavern, the river, the cool air against my skin—everything faded until the only thing left was the overwhelming awareness of him.
Of the heat of his body.
Of the powerful rhythm pulling me further and further into the storm of sensation building inside me.
My hands slid into his hair, gripping the midnight strands as the rising tension inside me grew almost unbearable.
“Talon,” I breathed again.
He lifted his head.
His eyes were darker than I had ever seen them, the ice-blue depths burning with a raw intensity that made my stomach twist.
“I want to mark you,” he murmured hoarsely against my skin. “Leave no part of you untouched.”
My muscles tightened helplessly around him, the sudden wave of sensation stealing the breath from my lungs as the pressure that had been building inside me finally shattered.
My body convulsed beneath him, his continuous thrusts coaxing me through my climax.
His name tore from my throat as the pleasure crashed through me in blinding waves, my vision flooding with bursts of violet light that flickered behind my closed eyelids.
Talon answered with a rough growl.
His final movements lost the last of their restraint, his body tightening as he drove forward one last time before going still above me. The tension that had been coiled through him snapped, and I felt the shudder that rippled through his frame as he gave in to his own release.
I felt the hot flood of him spilling into me, claiming me from the inside out.
The bond between us pulsed softly, the echo of our shared climax humming through the space between our souls like the fading reverberation of a struck bell.
Then Talon’s weight settled more fully against me.
His chest rose and fell heavily as he lowered his head, his lips brushing the curve of my collarbone while his arm tightened around my waist, holding me close against him.
Even as his breathing slowly steadied, he remained buried deep within me, his hips shifting in a slow, absent roll that sent lingering ripples of warmth through my exhausted body.
“You will always feel it,” he whispered. “I am anchored inside you now.”