26 #3
Each thrust is deep. Brutal. Making the bed frame slam against the wall with a rhythm that would be embarrassing if I gave a fuck about anything except burying myself in her over and over.
"Is this what you want?" My voice is rough. Barely controlled. The Ice King completely shattered. "You want the monster?"
"Yes—" She's pushing back against me. Meeting each thrust. Taking everything I'm giving her and demanding more. "God, yes—don't stop—"
I reach around. Find her clit. Circle it with rough fingers while I continue fucking her from behind.
She comes apart. Fast. Her whole body shaking, her arms giving out so she collapses face-first into the mattress, her ass still up because I'm holding her hips in place.
I don't stop. Don't give her a chance to recover. Just adjust the angle slightly. Keep moving. Keep pushing her higher.
"Too much—" she gasps into the pillow. Her voice muffled. "Evander, I can't—I already—"
"Yes, you can." I lean over her. Bite the back of her neck. Hard. "You can take it. You're going to take everything I give you and you're going to come again. Understand?"
She moans. Long and broken. Her hands fisting in the sheets.
I fuck her through one orgasm. Then another. Until she's trembling and sobbing and begging. Until her voice is hoarse from screaming my name. Until I'm sure—absolutely certain—that she'll never forget who she belongs to.
Only then do I let myself go. Chase my own release with single-minded focus. Bury myself as deep as possible and come with her name on my lips like a prayer.
We collapse together. Tangled in sheets that are damp with sweat. Both of us breathing like we've run a marathon. Both of us completely wrecked.
I can't move. Can barely think past the overwhelming sensation of her body beneath mine, her heart pounding in sync with my own, her soft gasps as she tries to catch her breath.
But I don't want to move. Don't want any space between us. Don't want anything except this—my body covering hers, keeping her safe, keeping her close.
── ? ──
AURORA
I can't feel my legs. Can't think past the overwhelming fullness of having Evander still inside me, his weight pressing me into the mattress, his ragged breathing hot against the back of my neck.
But I don't want him to move. Don't want him to pull out, don't want any space between us. Don't want anything except this perfect, overwhelming sensation of being completely claimed.
"Aurora—" His voice is hoarse. Wrecked. "Did I hurt you? Was I too rough? I didn't mean to—"
"No." I reach back blindly. Find his hand where it's still gripping my hip. Lace our fingers together. "You were perfect. Exactly what I needed."
He makes a sound that might be relief or disbelief. "I left bruises."
"Good." I turn my head enough to see him over my shoulder. "I want your marks. Want to see them tomorrow and remember this. Remember you."
His eyes darken. "You're going to be sore."
"I don't care." And I don't. The ache between my thighs is perfect. A reminder that he was here. That this was real. That I'm his. "I want to feel you tomorrow. Want to be reminded of exactly who I belong to."
He finally moves. Pulling out slowly. We both wince at the sensitivity. The loss.
He rolls us onto our sides so we're facing each other. His hand comes up to cup my face, thumb brushing across my cheekbone with a gentleness that's completely at odds with how rough he just was.
"I threatened to let Landon murder my mother tonight," he says quietly.
Like he needs me to understand exactly what he became for me.
"I stood in her office while he drove a fountain pen through a security guard's throat.
And I felt nothing except satisfaction that someone was finally protecting me the way I should have been protected as a child. "
I stare at him. Processing. "You watched Landon kill someone."
"Yes." His voice is calm. Matter-of-fact. But I can see the uncertainty in his eyes. The fear that this revelation will make me run. "And then I told my mother that if she ever came near you or Liam again, I'd kill her myself. Or let Landon do it. Either way."
The words should probably scare me. Should make me question what I'm getting into. What kind of life we're going to have if casual murder is how we solve problems.
They don't scare me at all.
"Good," I say simply.
His eyes widen slightly. "Good?"
"She threatened Liam." I reach up. Touch his face. Feel the sharp line of his jaw, the slight stubble that's starting to come in. "She forced me to break both our hearts. She deserved everything you did to her and more."
"Aurora—"
"I'm not a good person, Evander." I cut him off. "I don't have the luxury of moral high ground. I've spent my entire life doing whatever it takes to survive. To protect Liam. If that makes me complicit in whatever you and Landon did tonight, fine. I don't care."
He's looking at me like he's seeing me for the first time. Like he's realizing something important.
"We're the same," he says quietly. "Both monsters. Both willing to burn the world to protect the people we love."
"Yes." I pull him down for a kiss. Soft. Gentle. Everything the past hour wasn't. "So stop looking at me like you're afraid I'm going to judge you. I chose you knowing exactly what you are. That hasn't changed."
He kisses me like I'm the antidote to a poison that was slowly killing him. Like he's still not quite sure I'm real.
When he finally pulls back, his forehead rests against mine. "I quit Laurent Global," he says. "Walked away from the family legacy. Chose you over everything my mother spent twenty-one years conditioning me to prioritize."
"That's not what I'm worried about."
"Then what are you worried about?"
I take a breath. Voice the fear that's been building. "That you'll regret it. That someday you'll wake up and realize you gave up your entire legacy for me and you'll resent me for it."
He pulls me closer. Kisses my forehead. "The only thing I'd regret is losing you. Laurent Global is just a company. A name. A legacy built on manipulation and control and breaking children to maintain power."
He pauses. Meets my eyes.
"You're everything. You're the only thing that matters. And I will never—never—regret choosing you."
Tears sting my eyes. Again. I've cried more in the past twelve hours than I have in months.
"I love you," I whisper. "Even when you're terrifying. Even when you threaten to let your psychopath best friend murder people. I love you."
He laughs. The sound is rough. Almost broken. "Landon did more than threaten. He killed one of my mother's security guards. Casually. Like it was nothing. And then he threatened to murder my mother if she ever came near you or Liam again."
I'm processing. Trying to reconcile the image of Landon Ashford—golden boy, perfect student, the saint of their group—with someone who commits casual murder.
"And you're... okay with that?" I ask carefully.
"I don't know." Honest. Direct. "I should probably be horrified. Should probably be questioning everything I know about him. But mostly I'm just—"
He pauses. Searching for words.
"Grateful," he finally says. "He did what needed to be done. Protected me when I was too focused on my mother to protect myself. And now—now you and Liam are under his protection too. All of theirs. Tristan, Lucius, Landon. The Princes of Ardencrest."