CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR #4
"You heard me, Ava. Your body is telling you to fucking slow down and you’re not listening to it." He was actually angry now, his eyes dark with it.
My own temper boiled over. I rolled my eyes, and that was clearly the final straw.
He gripped my thighs, a low growl in his throat, and helped me down to my feet. He grabbed the soap, his movements furious as he started scrubbing the grime from my arms.
"Asher—" I whispered. I could feel the conflict roaring through the bond. Since we’d been back, he’d been so open, so raw with me, and I’d been keeping the extent of my illness in the dark. "I understand you're trying to protect me. I just hate being a burden."
"Ava, like I’ve said before, we’re a team," he snapped, dropping to his knees to scrub the dried blood from my legs. The sensation of his rough hands sent a frantic chill down my spine.
"Your burdens are mine. We are literally fucking blood-bonded for life."
His gaze snapped up to mine, fierce and unyielding. Even with the steam and the anger, I could feel the heat shooting through the bond—a confusing, electric mix of fury and desire. His face was mere inches from my folds as he worked.
"Ava, I'm fucking serious," he growled, scrubbing harder at a stubborn patch of dirt.
"I know, I'm sorry," I said, the truth finally tumbling out. "I just... I didn't tell you because I was worried you only loved me because of the bond. Because of the hold it has on us."
He stopped scrubbing. The silence in the shower was absolute, save for the rhythmic pelt of the water.
His gaze fixed on mine, silver eyes boring into my soul with a look so intense it made my knees weak.
The anger in the bond didn't vanish—it transformed into something far more dangerous.
"You think this is the bond?" he rasped, his voice dropping to a lethal, velvet floor. "You think I’d tear a realm apart for a piece of magic?"
The impact against the tile was a jolt of cold against my fevered skin, but it was nothing compared to the sudden, fierce heat of Asher’s mouth. He shoved me back into the wall and buried his face between my thighs, his tongue a hot, demanding contrast to the stinging spray of the shower.
I let out a broken scream—half pain from the stitch in my leg, half agonizing pleasure.
My fingers scrambled for purchase on the slick walls, finally finding his hair and gripping tight as he claimed me with a desperation that bordered on feral.
His hands slid to the back of my thighs, his fingers digging into my skin, before moving up to grab my ass and pull me flush against him.
Then, he stopped.
I let out a ragged whimper at the sudden loss, my head lolling back against the tile.
Asher rose slowly, the water pouring off his shoulders in silver ribbons, his chest heaving. He looked down at me, and for a heartbeat, the bond was silent—heavy with the weight of my doubt.
"You think this is a spell?" he rasped, his voice vibrating with a raw, jagged hurt that made my heart ache.
"You think some ritual could make me feel the way I do when I almost lost you in there?"
He didn't wait for an answer. He leaned down, his lips brushing against the fresh, white bandages on my thigh. He kissed the skin just above the stitches, a gesture so tender and reverent it brought tears to my eyes.
"I love you, Ava. Not because our blood is tied, and not because the stars commanded it." He moved up, his mouth hovering inches from mine.
"I love you because you are the only thing in this gods-forsaken world that makes me want to be better. I love you because you're a stubborn, lethal, beautiful pain in my ass."
He crushed his mouth to mine, the kiss tasting of salt and absolute surrender. He hauled me up again, and this time when I winced, he didn't pull away—he just held me tighter, supporting my weight so my back didn't touch the wall.
"I am going to show you," he growled against my throat, his hands guiding my hips onto him.
"I am going to fuck you until you forget every doubt you’ve ever had. I’m going to make you feel exactly how much you belong to me, and how much I belong to you."
When he entered me, it wasn't just a physical connection; it was a collision of souls.
Every thrust was a declaration; a silent vow screamed through the bond. The anger was gone, replaced by a devastating, all-consuming need to prove that what we had was real.
I clung to him, my nails digging into his shoulders, my cries echoing off the shower walls.
In the steam and the heat, the world outside—the trials, the betrayals, the bruises—ceased to exist. There was only the rhythm of his body against mine and the steady, unbreakable pulse of his love hitting me in waves.
"Say it," he demanded, his eyes locking onto mine, silver burning into amber. "Tell me you know."
"I know," I sobbed, my head falling into the crook of his neck as the climax shattered me. "I know, Asher. I love you."
He held me through the aftershocks, the water turning lukewarm around us, but his grip never loosened. He had proven it. I wasn't a burden, and I wasn't just a partner in a bond. I was his entire world.