Chapter Twenty-One
I ROSE ON MY TIPTOES AND KISSED HIM back, trying to consume his very soul through his mouth. He met me with equal need—teeth clashing, tongues sliding, hands gripping hard enough to leave marks.
My fictitious nightgown tore apart beneath his urgent fingers. His clothes burned off in sudden flares of golden flame.
No slow build or teasing.
We crashed together like the world was ending and this was the only way to stop it.
Lucien lifted me and carried me to the tree. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he pressed me against the trunk. We didn’t stop kissing, touching, pawing—utterly starving to connect.
The pain we felt was already fading—just an annoying little distraction instead of life and death. Life shot into my limbs. Wetness welled between my legs.
Reaching between our nakedness, he fisted himself and notched against my core. I shivered as he slipped in a single inch, holding himself back from taking me fully. Breaking the kiss, his eyes danced over mine, asking for permission.
He never had to ask.
My answer was always yes.
He heard me. Accepted me. And I cried out as he drove inside with one deliciously deep stroke. Ice flared awake around my heart. His skin smouldered with smoke.
We’d been with each other often, but this time...this time felt different. It wasn’t just about physical pleasure, but energy. A synergy of his heart and mine—the ultimate connection that flowed through our bond, rekindled our power, and hauled us back from the brink.
And I felt him.
Not just inside me, but deeper. I felt him rewriting me, healing me, giving me what I needed to stay alive another day.
Closing my eyes, I tried to concentrate on the intensity. On how strength rushed back into my cells as if I fed off him—replenishing my system from the rawness of our joining and the love flowing from his heart.
He thrust again and it felt unbelievably good. “More.” I moaned, growing greedy, needy. “More. Give me more.”
He growled and drove deeper. Every thrust pushed his fire into my veins, encouraging more ice to flare.
Every clench of my body drew his heat deeper, melting the frozen edges of my soul.
Frost bloomed across my skin, webbing over his shoulders where I wrapped my freezing arms around him.
Our mirroring powers clashed and soothed.
Every moan, every slap of skin, every bite and lick and gasp wove the bond tighter, healing us quicker, eradicating the weakness and fear.
A ripple of delicious need clenched my core as he dropped his mouth to my throat and kissed his way along my collarbone. He groaned as I raked my nails down his back as another wave of healing energy crashed through me.
“Fuck.” Angling his hips, he hit that perfect spot inside me.
Stars exploded behind my eyes. “I can feel myself feeding off you,” he groaned.
“I can feel the fire getting stronger the longer I’m inside you.
I can feel your ice getting colder the longer I ride you.
” Burying his face in my neck, he bit down hard as he drove faster.
“Tell me I’m not hurting you. Tell me I’m not making you worse. ”
“You’re not making me worse.” I held on as we writhed together, tree bark bruising my spine. “You’re making it better. So, so much better.”
“In that case...” He surged into me and I couldn’t stop it.
A savage orgasm tore free. I screamed his name as my body clenched around his and for a fraction of a second everything stopped.
Everything ended. Restarted. Renewed.
I surrendered as the most intense release of my life detonated.
Fire and ice collided with the forces of solar and polar as our energies unravelled and knotted, trapping us in a vortex of silver and gold.
Our kiss turned reckless as we rocked harder, vicious and violent. Elemental power surged again—feeding each other, saving each other, creating a perfect harmony.
His heart thundered against mine, and I couldn’t tell if he made love to my body, mind, or soul.
“I can feel you,” I whispered into his mouth. “I can feel you everywhere.”
“Same. I feel you in every part of me. I can feel you fixing me.” His eyes smouldered a dangerous red. “And I’m not going to stop until I’m cured.”
A blast of fire tore through me, searing his oath onto my heart.
Something changed between us. Something fundamental. Our connection deepened from mortal to cosmic.
It felt like falling.
Like drowning.
Like every hidden part of me was suddenly laid exquisitely, excruciatingly bare.
He penetrated my very existence, walking in my spirit and heart. The bridge between us turned permanent and impenetrable, allowing him to stroll into my soul, just like I trespassed into his.
I’d never felt this way before. This bonded, this wanted.
We kissed as if this was the last time we would ever be together—like the world would end the moment our pleasure ceased. And who knew...perhaps it would.
The snow globe flexed around us. Mist wisped around the endless meadow, weaving around frosty grass, ice flowers, and blazing blossoms.
His arm snapped tight around my waist, his hand pressing on my lower back as he wrung out the waves of my release. And as his tongue touched mine, I felt him deep, deep inside me. Deeper than flesh or bone, deeper than soul and spirit. I felt him in my very essence—entwined and everlasting.
My heart burst wide open as our energy reached a fever pitch.
His hand slid up my spine until his fingers tangled in my hair, his scarlet-ringed eyes catching mine. We stared at each other as if we could see straight through death and into the immortality that was killing us. The centuries we could have. The eternity we could spend.
Without a word, his hand slid from my hair to cup my cheek. His touch was reverent even as his face etched with fierce hunger. His thumb brushed under my eye, wiping away a tear I didn’t know I’d shed.
“I love you.” Pressing his forehead to mine, he withdrew then surged back inside, falling over the edge of his own orgasm.
His power crashed into me as he came, hot and untamed, filling every icy, hollow corner. I arched in his arms as delicious heat and vibrant energy swept through me, making my frost sing with potential.
And as we slowly came down from chaos, we never looked away from each other, fearing we’d done something catastrophic.
It felt as if we’d defied the very law of nature.
Strayed into a place that didn’t exist in our world.
And changed our fate...all because we loved each other.