Chapter 36 #2
My pulse quickens as his lips trail along the nape of my neck.
He pauses, taking his time stroking my sensitive skin with his tongue and when he finally pulls away, his breath tickles me.
I remove his jacket first before he pulls his shirt over his head, leaving his hair in a wild mess that reminds me of the early mornings I would wake up next to him.
His movements are gentle and yet determined as he removes my clothes.
Each step he takes forward moves us closer to the bed until the back of my knees hit the edge.
I sit down on the soft sheets that feel like velvet against my bare skin.
The way he’s looking down at me sends a wave of heat pulsating between my legs.
When I spread my knees, his gaze falls, and a wicked smile tugs at the corners of his mouth. I look up at him and slip a finger into his waistband, pulling him closer to me. Once I have him where I want him, I undo his pants, freeing him completely. I reach for him, but he stops me.
“I’ve got some making up to do.” His voice is low and husky in my ear as he repositions me on the bed using only one arm. “Where would you like me to start?”
“Here,” I say, lifting my foot in front of his face. I was only kidding, but his mouth is already sucking on my toe, and I can’t stop the laugher. “Now here.”
He removes my toe from his mouth and throws my leg over his shoulder, making his way to my inner thigh. I lie back, taking in the feel of his kisses and tongue on my skin. It feels familiar and yet new.
He takes his time, closing in on my wet opening that is beating with fervent need. Just when I think he’s going to make his claim, he pulls away, teasing me.
“Tell me where.”
He’s looking at me with pleading eyes, waiting for permission.
“Here.”
His jaw clenches as he watches my finger slowly run along the part of me that is slick with anticipation. I can tell by the way his eyes have locked on their target that it was the answer he was waiting for.
He wraps both of his arms around my legs and pulls me in closer. I lean back, but not before noticing his fingers lace through one another as a way of restraining himself.
Just the thought of me being the reason he has to work so hard to control himself makes my body heat.
Quiet moans of pleasure escape me as his tongue circles around my clit that has a heartbeat of its own.
His mouth touches every inch of me, tasting my need for him.
I can’t stop my body from moving as he sucks on the part of me that needs release.
His tongue strokes me in all the right places like he knows exactly what my body needs from him.
My mind seems to go dark as the desire for release grows stronger.
Everything he does makes me lose more and more control.
My body drips with insatiable hunger and he licks up every bit of me.
His movements seem to quicken as if he knows I’m seconds away from exploding.
I’m on the very edge when his fingers curl inside of me, claiming victory as a whimper slips from my lips.
I’m still panting when he towers over me with a look of accomplishment written all over his beautiful face. I reach up, running my hands through his soft, loose curls.
It wasn’t all a lie.
The Damien I loved still exists, and he’s here with me. There’s no curse or spell separating the two of us now. It’s just me and him. Both reborn as something different. Something new.
The muscles along his arm flex as he lowers himself down to kiss me. I run my hands over them, appreciating the hard work it took to form them. When he lifts himself back up, there’s a softness that wasn’t there a moment ago. He rolls to his side, bringing me with him.
As we lay next to one another, he grabs my thigh, pulling it on top of his. Our hands interlock above our heads while little space separates our bodies.
“I have to tell you something.”
“You can tell me anything,” he reassures, running his fingers through my hair with his free hand.
I try to find the words, but I don’t know how to start. Ryder was the one to tell the others about what happened on that mountain the day of the Throne Room attack. I haven’t had to try to explain what I am to anyone yet.
Damien must sense my discomfort because he kisses my forehead and adds, “It’s okay, Reign. Just tell me.”
“You remember that nightmare I used to have? The one with King Cimmerian ordering Kane to kill me?” He nods and his face tenses as he listens to me continue. “Well, it was more of a premonition than a nightmare.”
He releases his hand from mine and sits up on his elbow. “What do you mean by that?”
“The day of the palace attack, he took me to the mountain I had dreamed about so many times before. That same exact nightmare played out just as it had in my dreams, word for word.”
“But Kane didn’t unleash his dragon-fire on you?”
“He did.” Despite knowing that I’m alive, Damien’s face is full of panic and concern. I put my hand on his chest in an attempt to slow his accelerating heart rate. “I died that day. Turned into a pile of ash—at least that’s how Ryder described it. He got there but not in time.”
“I don’t understand.”
“We always knew I was different. That my power was more advanced. It just turns out to be a little bit more than that.” His brows furrow.
“When I went to Cyron with Cylas, Artemus rescued me. We went to a safe house and while I was there, I was able to translate my father’s letter.
After that, Ryder took me to see the Divinity Oracle.
It turns out that my parents weren’t my biological parents.
They were just my guardians that the Oracle had sent to me when I was a baby.
The truth is, I was born from The Mother.
Not as a witch…but as a phoenix.” His expression is impossible to read. “Say something.”
“I—I don’t know what to say.”
“Oh.”
I move away from him slightly, but he instantly pulls me back in. “Not because I’m scared or love you any less.” He traces his thumb across my cheek and down my jaw as his eyes follow. “But because I guess some part of me always knew there was something different, something special about you.”
“Do you think of me differently now?”
“No. I’ve always seen you as extraordinary. Phoenix or not.”
He pulls me in, kissing me so deeply that it feels like it’s being imprinted on my heart.
A wave of relief washes over me, knowing that he accepts every part of me, even the parts he hasn’t seen for himself.
As if it had never left, that feeling of safety I seem to only feel with him comes rushing back.
“I love you, Damien Delecroix.”
“I love you, Reign Calloway.”
He rubs his fingers over the curve of my ass in soothing motions that could put me to sleep if I didn’t have an insatiable desire to be closer to him.
He must be feeling the same because he grabs two handfuls of ass and pulls me on top of him.
I reach for him, needing him as much as I need air to breathe.
He’s rock hard when my hand wraps around him and his hands squeeze my hips, reacting to my touch. When he slides into me, it’s as if my body remembers him. He tosses his head back into the pillows as he slips deeper inside me.
“Fuck.”
My fingers dig into his chest with each movement.
We alternate between fast and slow strokes.
Each of us holding on as long as we can.
When I move my hips in small circles around him, his eyes roll back.
It takes him a moment to come back to me, but when he does, his mouth wraps around my breast like he’ll die if he doesn’t claim every inch of me.
He gently removes the hair from my shoulder and kisses it as I press my body into his.
We’re wrapped in a blanket of overwhelming love.
Our breaths become unified as we cling to one another.
For so long it has felt like a piece of me has been missing, but now it feels like everything has been set right again.
Every move he makes sends an electrical current through my body.
The sound of his low moans in my ear makes it harder for me to hang on.
I can tell by the way his veins are bulging that he’s just as close as I am.
My lips crash into his and with one last thrust, sweet release falls upon us.
We breathe into each other as our bodies shake with pleasure.
When the stars in my mind fade away, I rest my head on his chest, closing my eyes as I cling to this moment that feels like a dream I never want to wake up from. His arm pins me to him and the familiar sound of his heartbeat matches my own as if we are one body.
One heart.
One soul.