Chapter 25
T he blood drained from Asherah’s face as we climbed the steps to her quarters. Mayana’s forehead creased with concern as we reached the landing, clearly not expecting us for another hour or so. Asherah’s quick, uneven breaths and fidgeting hands were a clear indication that she wasn’t dealing with this incident well. Her hands shook as she reached for the doorknob. I’d been tracking every step, every breath, every movement. To say the town hall hadn’t gone the way we’d planned was an understatement.
Asherah entered her quarters in a daze, leaving the door open in her wake. As I passed, I leaned into Mayana’s ear and murmured, “Do me a favor. No one comes through this door. Not the maids, not Atabey herself.”
Mayana’s charcoal-colored eyes widened. “And Cathan?”
I blew out a breath. “I doubt he’ll come up here any time soon. But even him if you can.”
Mayana’s perfectly pleated braid swayed as she shook her head. “What happened?”
“Too long of a story to get into just now.” My gaze drifted to the open door. “And she needs me. Just hold them off if you can.”
“Yes, Commander.”
I closed the door behind me with a deafening click, my steps carrying me to her bedroom, where I knew she would be. Sure enough, Asherah stood in the middle of her room, her slender arms folded and her stare fixed on the floor. My heart ached for her, knowing that she’d never taken someone’s life, knowing that it was tearing her apart. The first kill was never the easiest. The motherfucker deserved to die for attempting to take her life. I didn’t care if he was a fellow Atlantian. He threatened my future bonded. I should’ve been the one to take that asshole’s life—to spare her the feelings that are likely gripping her soul at this very moment.
Oh, but how she had looked when she sent those spikes through the Fae’s face. Confident. Measured. Lethal.
Beautiful.
My cock stiffened. What that said about me, I didn’t know. I also didn’t care. Asherah was magnificent. It took my Guardians years to develop the kind of fluidity I’d witnessed. She was—in short—extraordinary.
I carefully approached her, noticing the trembling in her shoulders. My arms slid around her, lending her the strength of my hold. It did very little to ease her shaking. “Take a deep breath, nanichi. ”
She blew out a measured breath. “I just killed a male,” she croaked.
I rested my chin on her head, the strands of her brown hair tickling my skin. “It was self-defense. You did what you had to do.”
“But did I?”
“Yes, Asherah. You had to. It was either you or him. Would you have preferred it to be you?”
“No,” she whispered.
I turned her around, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. My thumb instinctively wiped one that had escaped down her cheek. “You have the heart of a warrior, one that has never been tested. You passed.”
Her bottom lip began to wobble. “Then why do I feel like a failure?”
I stepped into her, cupping her face. “Because in that heart of a warrior is also the heart of someone with compassion and empathy. You are not only a Queen who’s captured my heart but a Queen who will capture the hearts of her people when she stands and fights to protect them. Whether they see that now or later doesn’t matter. I know it. Your father knows it. Dax and the entire damn guard know it.”
Asherah closed her eyes, the tears streaming steadily down her face now. “Make me forget,” she whispered.
Her request sent an instant jolt to my cock. My thumbs brushed against her damp cheekbones. “How should I make you forget, Asherah?”
Her mesmerizing eyes searched mine as she said, “Take me, Draevyn. Make me feel something else. Please.”
I really should insist that the first time I bed her be something special, something romantic—with faelights flickering around the room and soft, soothing music, perhaps the scent of rose or jasmine permeating the air. But the way her hooded gaze held me captive let me know that what she needed from me right now was a distraction—a taking.
And I would deliver.
“Drop your scales, Asherah.”
She took a step back, and I lost my damn breath when each scale slowly receded to reveal her exquisite body. Her emerald eyes glistened with the remnants of her tears, the lush sweetness of her lips parting as she revealed her slender shoulders and full breasts that fit perfectly in my able hands. The warm, sunkissed skin of her tight abdomen caused my length to push harder against my scales, begging for a hot, wet heat to plunge into. The light dusting of curls at the apex of her thighs was the perfect home it sought, with deliciously sculpted muscular thighs I needed wrapping around my head. My perfect, beautiful future bondmate. I couldn’t wait to make her mine.
“Take me,” she breathed.
That was all the invitation I needed. My scales dropped, and I relished in the way her gaze fixed on the evidence of how she aroused me. I waited no more.
I took her.
My lips reached hers, the salt of her tears spreading across my tongue as our kiss turned ravenous. The telltale pull in my solar plexus hummed to life, wanting me to take her and make her mine. Bonding ceremony be damned. If Asherah Delmar wanted me to make her forget, I would give her this.
We were a frenzy of touching, kissing, nibbling. Desperate kisses given and taken as we gripped for dear life onto one another. I gently pushed her to lay before me on the bed, her body completely bare for me as she crawled back. I could scarcely breathe seeing her on display like this for me—rose-colored nipples tightening and ready to be sucked and lashed and licked. The silken swell of her breasts heaved as she labored to steady her breath. I nearly lost control when Asherah’s beautiful, heated gaze locked on mine just as she parted those lovely legs—her pussy already glistening and ready for me. A primal instinct took over my body. No one. No one would ever take her away. She was mine .
Kneeling at the altar of Asherah’s parted legs, my tongue licked a line on the inside of her knee and ventured down her delicious thighs—the lines of muscle had my cock aching with need. I placed soft, chaste kisses along the way until I reached what I could no longer resist. I sought out those beautiful blue eyes that mesmerized me, pleading for permission.
“Please,” she begged, biting her luscious bottom lip.
I threw her legs over my bare shoulders, licking the petal soft folds of her soaking slit. She tasted of sweetness. Perfection.
Mine .
I sucked her tight, swollen bud into my mouth, and my eyes nearly rolled back in my head when she jerked beneath me, moaning my name. My hand splayed against her stomach, holding her to the bed. I was desperate to hear that fucking moan again. My tongue swirled endlessly around her clit, and a deep sense of satisfaction arose when her fingers combed through my hair, gripping me to her sex. My control was completely decimated; my hips thrust into the soft bedding, the friction giving little relief for what my cock desperately wanted. I speared my tongue through her opening, my length aching to be inside her. Her little breaths came up short, and her legs began to tremble. Knowing I was so close to summoning her ultimate pleasure, I devoured her and placed my thumb on her swollen bud to bring her to release. Her hips bucked against my face as her climax tore through her body.
“Draevyn. Get inside me. Now,” she breathed.
I could feel the smirk emerge on my face. “Is that a command, my Queen?”
Her answering tug underneath my arms, pulling me above her, was answer enough. I reached down and gave a few strokes on my aching length before I ran the throbbing head through her slit, coating myself with her desire. With my gaze held on hers, I pushed the head of my aching cock into her tight pussy. We gasped in unison as I thrust my hips forward and sank into her wet heat. Of all the times I envisioned this moment—all the times I’d finished myself at the mere thought of burying myself inside her—it didn’t compare to the reality. The warm center of her welcomed me, and my body felt like it had finally come home.
To her.
To my Asherah.
Her delicate hands dug into the muscles of my ass, and she pushed me further into her. I could no longer hold back. I slammed into her, Asherah’s body arcing into mine. My hands landed on the headboard above her, my hips snapping forward, thrusting harder, her tight walls clenching around my length. Her smooth legs wrapped around my hips—her pert breasts jumping in rhythm with my thrusts.
She was pure perfection.
“You take my cock so beautifully, my Queen.” I couldn’t hold back my groan when the muscles of her sheath fluttered around my cock. “Fuck. You’re so close. Come with me, Asherah.”
My arms slid behind her back, lifting her, her nipples like pebbles against my chest as I thrust into her over and over and over. Her hips met mine in a perfect rhythm of bliss. I steadied her with one hand and reached for her clit circling it.
“Draevyn,” she cried as she bucked in my lap.
And that was my undoing.
Asherah sent me over the edge, and my release spilled inside her warm heat. I felt it then, that inexplicable, undeniable connection to her. And as the last drips of my cum shot into her core, my soul whispered, ‘My mate. My mate. My mate.’
Mine .
We panted into long, lazy kisses, my hips slowly rolling—riding the last crests of our waves of pleasure. With her arms held tightly around my neck, we both sank into the bed—limbs exhausted, minds muddled. We said nothing further. Didn’t need to. We just held each other until the afternoon light dimmed and the stars breached the sky. Asherah’s eyes finally drooped with the exhaustion of the day. And as she fell asleep in my arms, I took pleasure in her steady breaths and the knowledge that she would officially be my bondmate.
One day.