Chapter Twenty-Three #5
She’s missed that sound. She’s missed the feel of him inside her. She’s missed him.
She trails her fingers between her breasts, dragging his eyes lower.
She keeps going, fingers following the honed curve of her stomach, until she reaches lower still.
Her fingers fall to the apex of her thighs, instantly adding firm pressure and friction against her clit.
An appreciative rumble moves through Kael’s chest. “Godsdamned perfect,” he says, eyes rolling back in bliss.
“Don’t look away, my love. I want you to see how I come undone for you,” Elyssara moans, the sound all velvet and victory.
She rolls her hips faster, letting her climax build now. Kael’s rough, calloused hands grip her hips again, rocking them so she can take him full and deep.
She strokes her clit in the steady rhythm she likes, and pleasure pools low in her belly.
“Come for me,” Kael encourages, his own restraint heartbeats from snapping.
A moan tears free from her lips. Ecstasy colliding with healing.
Kael’s biceps bulge with the effort of supporting her ass and hips, the veins cutting through muscle only serving Elyssara more.
Her pleasure begins to bloom outwards, slow, steady. Her lips part in breathy moans, her breasts bouncing with the fervor of Kael’s grip, her grind.
“Just like that, my love,” Kael pants, eyes raking over her, taking every inch of her in.
And they move.
Grinding.
Gripping.
Grinding.
Gripping.
His grip tightens, digging into the flesh of her ass, resisting his bliss. He always pleases her first. Always holds himself back for her pleasure.
But she’s tired of his restraint. Tired of him leashing himself. Tired of his permanent control.
She doesn’t want him to resist. Or rest. She wants him to return.
To come home to her.
So she moves her body upright, placing her hands over his and gripping hard, locking herself in place.
She spreads her knees wider, taking in the final inch of him.
A rough sigh grinds from his throat.
That’s when she knows she’s won.
She feels the exact moment he breaks for her.
The exact moment restraint stops being stronger than need.
So she ruins him with two words: “Fill me.”
“Fuck,” he groans, his body at her whim. His heart in her hands.
His hips buck wildly, the muscles in his chest and shoulders pulling rigid and taut as he spills into her.
His body jerks, his fingers pressing firmer, pulling her to the depth of him. And for the first time since the Decay took root, he lets himself fall completely.
So Elyssara lets go.
She drops her head back, letting her own pleasure take over. It spreads through her body from core to fingertips. Her mind swims, drifting blissfully in the place between here and there.
Every fiber of her being lights up, crackling and releasing, taking her over so completely that she forgets where he ends and she begins.
A long, slow groan howls from her lips, the vibration rumbling through her chest only adding to the bliss.
Her hands snake up her body, past the long lines of her torso, and settle on her breasts. She presses her peaked nipples between her fingers, elongating her pleasure until her whole body hums with the same blissful melody.
“You’re taking me so well, El,” he grits out, and the sound of his praise breaks the final shred of her restraint.
She comes. Hard, forceful. Her pussy clenches around Kael’s cock in involuntary surges.
She cries out, he growls unrestrained.
And they ride it out together, breaths mingling, fingers tangling, bodies moving hypnotically.
Transcendentally.
For one suspended heartbeat, neither of them is saving the other. They are simply meeting—whole, unguarded, alive.
Her eyes find his as she moves her hips for the final time, wringing out their pleasure, and staring back at her are the ocean-lightning eyes of her Starbound. No Decay. No trace of the rot that crawls under his skin. Just the ocean eyes she fell in love with.
She didn’t realize how terrified she’d been that he wouldn’t come back.
Relief floods her.
“Welcome back, my love,” she breathes.
And she collapses against his sweat-slicked chest.
His heartbeat slows into a predictable rhythm, his breathing evens out, and his fingers trace idle circles on her back.
His lips press a long, tender kiss to the top of her head. He doesn’t pull away. Just leaves his mouth nestled against her auburn waves.
“Thank you for finding me in the dark,” he murmurs.
He says it like he knows she always will—and like it terrifies him more than the darkness ever could.
She doesn’t hesitate. “Always.”
Because Elyssara will do it as many times as she needs to—she’ll always find him. She will always reach for him in the dark. Always pry him from the grip of whatever seeks to take him from her.
Because there’s one thing she knows for sure: the only reason Kael will ever stop fighting… is to protect her.
But she doesn’t need protection. She needs him.
But as her eyes flutter closed, heavy and pleasure-addled, her mind drifts to something powerful: the fragment of Decay can’t be defeated by the force of love, but it cannot withstand it, either.
And she has no idea what to do about that.