Chapter 8
KASTIEL
The connecting door between our suites had never felt so thick. I paced my quarters like a caged animal, shadows writhing at my feet as the mate bond pulled at me with relentless force. Every instinct screamed that something was wrong. Isolde’s presence on the other side of the wall felt too quiet.
I couldn’t shake how her green eyes had shimmered with unshed tears even as she tried to smile when I’d left after dinner. The guilt I’d seen there had twisted something deep in my chest.
I stopped pacing and pressed my palm to the door, feeling for her through the wards. The faint crackle of her aura was there, but it was moving. Heading toward the hallway.
She was leaving.
The realization hit me like a physical blow. My demon roared, fury and fear blending into a single, deafening demand—stop her.
I moved before conscious thought caught up. I raced through my living room, and the door to the hallway flew open under my touch. I crossed the short distance toward the elevator in long strides and found Isolde with a small bag slung over her shoulder, her eyes wide with shock and guilt.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
She flinched, clutching the strap of the bag tighter. “I can’t stay. The Council rep made it clear what’s at stake. I’m ruining everything for you. If I disappear, the pressure stops. You can go back to the life you built before I showed up.”
She thought she was protecting me, but it couldn’t be further from the truth.
I stepped forward, crowding her against the wall. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“You don’t understand,” she whispered, shaking her head. “I heard what the Council rep said. They’ll remove you if you keep me here. I won’t let you lose everything because of me.”
My control snapped. I braced one hand on the wall beside her head. My other hand cupped her cheek, my thumb brushing away a tear she hadn’t realized had fallen.
“You think I give a damn about my position if it means losing you?” My voice was raw, the demon riding every word.
“You’re my fated mate, Isolde. That bond isn’t something I can walk away from.
I’m done pretending I can keep my distance when every instinct I have is screaming to keep you close.
Don’t you get it? My life isn’t worth anything without you in it. ”
Her breath hitched, her emerald eyes wide and shimmering with more tears. “But what if my aura—”
“Your allure can’t trap me because I’m already ensnared.” I leaned in until our foreheads nearly touched, my shadows curling gently around her wrists. “The only one here at risk of being caught is you, my little spark.”
She trembled, but she didn’t pull away. “If you’re not worried about my aura flares, why do you call me that?”
I wasn’t used to being vulnerable, but Isolde deserved my honesty. “Because you represent the first real light and warmth I’ve allowed myself to feel since I crawled out of my self-made hell two centuries ago.”
“Sounds like there’s quite a story there,” she murmured.
“One I’ll share with you.” I tugged her close. “Later.”
“I’d like that.”
The mate bond flared between us, her aura sparking softly against my skin before it softened into that velvety glow I was quickly becoming addicted to.
Dipping my head, I gave her one last chance to stop me. But she didn’t. So I kissed her.
The moment our lips met, the bond ignited. It was hungry, centuries of waiting pouring into every brush of my mouth against hers. She gasped into the kiss, her hands fisting in my shirt as if she was afraid I’d disappear.
I lifted her easily, her legs wrapping around my waist on instinct as I carried her to my suite.
When I kicked the door shut behind us, she dropped her bag to the floor with a thunk.
I set her down with more care than my demon wanted, but I refused to rush this.
She was my mate. She deserved to be worshipped, not taken.
The adrenaline rush from almost losing her hadn’t waned, and my demon was no longer willing to wait. He wanted to remind Isolde who she belonged to in a way that would brand her forever.
My lips crashed down on hers, and I explored the depths of her mouth with my tongue, swallowing her gasps. I only broke the kiss long enough to look down at her and rasp, “Tell me to stop, and I will. Any time.”
She shook her head, her fingers sliding into my hair. “Don’t stop. Please.”
That was exactly what I hoped to hear.
I spread her out on the mattress and used my shadows first—coiling tendrils that wrapped around her wrists and pinned them lightly above her head. To show her I was in control. That every touch was mine to give.
“You’re not forcing me.” I kissed my way down the delicate column of her neck. “Feel that? I’m choosing you because you were meant to be mine.”
She arched beneath me, a soft moan escaping as my shadows teased along her sides, brushing the sensitive skin beneath the hem of her sweater. Her aura responded, wrapping around me with a velvety caress.
I stripped her slowly, savoring every inch of pale skin revealed. When she was bare beneath me, trembling and flushed, I let my own clothes dissolve into smoke, my demon form hovering just beneath the surface and urging me to claim her.
I used my shadows to tease her with light touches along her inner thighs, a gentle coil around one breast, and finally a velvet stroke against her core. She gasped, her hips lifting and green eyes dark with need. “Kastiel, please.”
“Shh, little spark. Let me show you how good it can feel when you stop fighting.”
I lowered my head, my tongue stroking through her drenched folds as my shadows continued their gentle assault. She came apart quickly, crying out my name as her aura flared in a beautiful, velvety wave that washed over me like warm silk.
Gliding my palms up her torso to tweak her nipples, I settled between her legs until my cock pressed against her glistening pussy lips. “I’m not going to brand you until you’re ready, but I’m going to fuck this perfect pussy that was made to take me.”
Her cheeks turned the prettiest shade of pink before she confessed, “Um, I should probably mention I’ve never done this before.”
My demon practically beat his chest as he gave a possessive roar in my head, filled with satisfaction to know that no other man would know what it felt like to take her.
“Doesn’t change my plan, baby. I’m going to pop your cherry and fill you so deep that you won’t be able to forget that you’re mine.
” I pressed my hands into the mattress on both sides of her head and bent low to nip at the fluttering pulse at the base of her neck.
“And when I’m done, you’ll be drenched in my scent so no other man will doubt who you belong to. ”
My sensual vow only made Isolde wetter, making it even easier to slide my cock through her folds. She moaned with each glide of my hips. “You want to feel me moving inside you, don’t you, baby?”
She nodded, but I needed to hear it from her sweet lips. Inching away from her, I smirked when she whimpered in protest. “Tell me you’re mine and always will be, Isolde.”
“I’m yours,” she panted.
It felt so damn good to hear her admit it, finally.
Going to my knees, I smoothed my hands over her silky skin.
Then I uncoiled my shadows from her wrists and pulled her up until she was kneeling in front of me.
Palming her ass, I brought her flush against my body, forcing her to spread her legs wide so she straddled me.
Gripping her hips to lift her, I lined my cock up with her drenched opening.
I slowly brought her down, easing myself into her tight channel. “Fucking hell, you feel even better than I expected, little spark.”
I had to work my way into her tight heat, doing my best to be gentle since this was her first time. But all my good intentions shattered when I felt my tip bump the barrier of her innocence.
She’d already told me I was her first, but feeling the proof that I was the only one to ever possess her shredded what was left of my control.
I thrust my hips up at the same time as I slammed her down on my cock, seating myself fully inside her heat.
Her inner walls were soft from the climax I gave her with my mouth, and I hadn’t given her enough time to tense up before my invasion.
But she still cried out, and I searched her face to make sure she was all right.
“No. Don’t stop, Kastiel,” she pleaded. “Please. Take me.”
The demon inside me roared with satisfaction. “So fucking perfect for me.”
I moved inside her with deep, steady thrusts each time she sank down.
“Kastiel! Yes!” Isolde dropped her head back, lost in the moment. With her back arched like that, I had to pull my demon back before he branded her to mark her as ours forever. Forcing Isolde to accept my claim would only prove to her that she’d been right to resist the bond.
Even my demon half wanted Isolde to choose that commitment, which was the only reason I was able to take control again.
Isolde’s inner muscles clenched, and she cried out my name as I drove into her as deep as possible, trying to make us one. Stars exploded before my eyes as shots of pure bliss rocketed around my body. “Fuck. That feels so good. Squeeze that pussy, my little spark. Oh, fuck yes!”
I switched our positions, moving Isolde onto her back while I loomed over her. Then I grabbed her legs and pushed her knees to her chest, opening them wide so I could watch as my cock slid in and out of her tight heat.
It was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen, and I knew I wouldn’t last much longer. “Come again for me, baby. Right the fuck now.”
I wedged my arm between our bodies to flick her clit with my thumb, and Isolde flew apart, screaming my name and shuddering from her climax. “Kastiel! Yes! Oh yes!”
Thrusting inside her, I bottomed out, and my balls slapped against her. I planted myself deep and shouted her name as my orgasm hit me. “Fuck yeah, Isolde!”
We collapsed together, breathing hard, her body soft and pliant beneath mine.
She smiled up at me with wonder in her eyes, her fingers tracing the scar on my jaw. For the first time since discovering our mate bond, she looked truly at peace. And I knew I would burn the world down before I let anyone take her from me.