4. Make You Mine
~ VOSKI ~
Taking Grace was the single most consuming sensation I’d ever felt. Body and soul. My existence shivered, as if in one single motion, I’d finally, wholly, and for the first time, come home.
Not to the dark, cold place I’d been raised. But to her.
Her heart.
Her mind.
And her incredible body.
I watched her take me, watched her swallow pain and celebrate pleasure. She clutched, desperate, not just wanting, but needing me closer.
I could feel it, the pressure building within her, the need so much bigger than simple arousal.
I felt it too—something in the deepest reaches of my heart. The bond. A place only she could touch. And having her…
It feels like my heart has taken a body—a beautiful, desirable body—and now walks on its own, outside of my chest. She is… beauty. And fierce joy. Bolstering strength. She is my delight. While my heart walks outside of me, it is also full. That place behind my ribs where she resides, it glows.
And glow it did. The bond was luminous—radiant with the beauty of her, the feeling of her body’s embrace, the joy of her pleasure…
I had never felt anything like it.
It humbled me.
It satisfied me.
And it scared the living shit out of me.
But in that moment, I vowed I’d never, ever give her up. And I prayed for control.
The desire to simply have her—to ignore her inexperience and be the beast, to pound her over the edge, to hunt for my pleasure without concern for hers—was strong. But not nearly as undeniable as I’d expected.
She was within me as surely as I was within her. And even in the storm of my need, her heart soothed me.
This was new for her. I wanted to thrill, not frighten her.
Praying for control, to not grow mindless, I eased into her again, moaning when she arched and her fingernails dug into my back.
Her enthusiasm, though unpolished, was stunning. She held me, embraced me, met my need, pressed me forward.
“Voski… please!”
I almost laughed with the sheer delight of anticipating watching her come apart again. I kissed her as her climax loomed, whispered her name, urged her to come for me, tried to keep my touches tender, when all I wanted to do was consume her.
The need… clambering, desperate, scouring.
The bond… shining, pulsing, blazing.
Light and heat.
That’s what we were. That’s what the bond sang.
Her light.
My heat.
Need and joy.
Thrill, and protection.
The echoes of my fear remained, lurking in the shadows, but I refused to let them loom. She deserved more. Deserved better. And if I couldn’t run, I wouldn’t retreat.
Whatever we faced, she would not face it alone.
I prayed for her safety in it.
As our bodies pressed for the summit, and her cries grew higher, I punched a hand into the pillow and held on, bracing on my palms to look down at her, watch her bow and cry, watch her eyes roll back in her head, hear her sweet, soft calls.
Grace held onto me, but let herself be. She abandoned herself into my care—and it thrilled me as this act never had before.
She had no knowledge, no way to anticipate—she only sought. The sensation. The joy. Me. And she responded, rippling into my touch, panting into my kiss, gripping, arching to take me deeper, pleading with me for more.
And the sound of her voice, ragged and harsh, called me closer.
There was no resistance. My defenses had been stripped. My chest cracked wide, and my quivering heart revealed. She had peeled back the layers of me, leaving me bare.
But instead of cold, dark malice, instead of cunning triumph, her warmth and light glowed in my deepest reaches.
Grace clasped hands at the back of my neck, and beamed.
I basked in that smile, in the light that emanated from her.
Joy. She was pure joy. Sunlight that would warm cold bones, and maybe bring them back to life.
The sheer wave of emotion nearly had me weeping. But I only had to look at her—cheeks flushed, hair messy, back arched and eyes closed tightly as her pretty mouth went slack, open on my name, and her body writhed to meet me—to know I would never let her go again.
I was sucked deeper.
It was too late.
She was mine.
We clung to each other until it was impossible to know where I ended and she began.
Desperate not to end this, but equally as desperate to carry her to the summit, I slid a hand under her head and kissed her desperately. My breath tore in and out as I took her again and again, faster and faster, and she curled tighter into me, clenching around me, whimpering.
Then her eyes flew wide and her hand clapped to the back of my neck. With one, high cry, she yanked me over the edge of control.
Overcome, I bucked and twitched, calling to her, clinging, shattering… then falling with her into the kaleidoscope of sensation and desire that tumbled me like a child in a storm wave.
I was thrown, gasping, airless, into an ocean of ecstasy. The bond exploded with light.
We hung in that moment together, and I would swear her soul embraced mine, that everything that made us both human spiraled out and tangled together, igniting each other like fuses—the small flame that existed between us, flaring, growing, fueled to burn through our veins.
But instead of leaving destruction in its wake, as the wave drew out and sanity returned, as I gasped and sweated, and begged her to tell me I hadn’t hurt her, I found myself full.
It was her.
It had always been her.
As the last of my defenses fell, something deep in my chest screamed a warning. A single lightning bolt of fear crackled through me. But it was gone in the same flash it arrived.
I fell over Grace, holding her, panting, kissing the side of her neck, whispering, smiling when she gasped my name and held me too tightly.
We were one. We were meant to be.
I would face fear. I’d face death for her.
That chilling voice reminded me that she didn’t yet know. That she’d given herself without full understanding, but I pushed it away.
I knew I should prop up on my elbows to take my weight from her, but when I shifted to do so, she shook her head and pulled me down.
So, I held her as tightly as she held me. Both of us tangled, and sweaty, and full of joy. Sated.
And I lay there, stroking her hair, quietly awed by the golden cord that now glowed between us.
It had lassoed my heart, and tied me to her. It pulsed and shone, slowing in its frantic burn, but not disappearing. It did not die—thank God. There was a fog over it, a few clouds that the sun of it would need to burn away. But it was beautiful. And I wouldn’t go back.
Grace sighed, and deep in my chest, in that space that had yawned empty until today, I sensed her…
First, ecstasy. Sheer bliss.
Then thrill.
A hint of mischief—she felt naughty? Like a child, bubbling with a secret. And that made me smile.
I lifted my head to look at her, and found her grinning.
She reached up with one trembling hand, combing my hair back with her elegant fingers. And her eyes sparkled again.
She was stunned. And stunning.
“Are you well?” I croaked.
She nodded, eyes round. “Is it always like that?”
I almost coughed. “It’s never been like that. That… that was…”
She smiled, but I saw the pinch of a question around her eyes. I did prop myself up on my elbows so we could see each other properly, but I didn’t move away. I cupped her face and let her have my gaze as I shook my head.
“What?” she asked, suddenly still.
I smiled. “You. It’s just you. You’re incredible.”
Then her beaming smile returned, and the bond glowed.
Every day, I vowed, I would make her smile like that again.
Every fucking day.