“Life in the Darkage will not be easy. The seven kingdoms will march to war soon. But I promise you, I will protect you with every breath in my body, always. Your life and happiness will always be my priority.”
She leaned in and brushed her lips against his, then lower over his jaw. Her tongue was like a stroke of silk across his skin. She barely touched him, featherlight, but it was the most sensual sensation he’d ever experienced.
“And I promise you the same, Lachlan Ravenswood. I am not as soft and fragile as I seem. I will guard your happiness and soul with every breath in my body, and you’ll have my love forever.”
Her voice caressed him like a physical touch, soft, smoky, soothing, sensual, and the darkness within was content.
“I must warn you, I do plan to stay in Dxyriah to aid my sister for several days, and to register for exile. I do plan to visit Serange often, and my sister, if it will be allowed.”
“It will be,” he promised, working very hard to keep his tone mild, and not to echo the brutal resolve flowing through his veins. Anything that would cause her unhappiness was a threat.
She rested her forehead against his. “How I ache for you.” Then she reached between them and took his length in her soft palms. She couldn’t encircle his width with the delicate fingers of one hand, so she held his cock with both hands, shimmered down and lowered her mouth toward his jutting length which had risen above the water. His entire body clenched, anticipation shivering through him. That first hot stroke of her tongue had a growl slipping from him.
He pulled her up, his hands no longer gentle, though he fought to keep from bruising her with his strength.
“You forget your blood has changed me, touch me without the fear that I might break,” she teased, brushing against his mind with sweetness and passion.
He twisted with her, and she braced her hands on the bath. Gripping one edge of the tub, he braced his weight above her, using his other hand Lachlan arched her hips from the water and trailed his lips over the sparkling droplets of water down to her belly button so his tongue could take a leisurely dip. He went lower, tasting and breathing her aroused fragrance into his lungs. He lapped at her wet sex with a gentleness he hadn’t thought himself capable of, especially given the hunger flaming through his body.
“Lachlan!” She moaned his name in a needy voice that threatened to shatter his rigid control.
Rising above her, he flowed with the shadows, so she was once again on top, her knees bracketing his hips in the bath. He curved her body to his, pressed his length against her wet, scalding entrance and thrust upward. He entered her slowly, inch by, deliberately slow, inch, holding her still until she was seated fully on his throbbing length. Everything was wet, tight heat and pleasure so intense his entire body trembled.
“I love you,” she gasped, the stars in her eyes fracturing, powerful emotions pouring through their link, which had wrapped around them, burning them with fire.
He gripped her lush ass in his palms, urging her up, and then down, lifting her and dropping her again and again, gritting his teeth at the sublime ecstasy of her tight sheath. Her muscles clenched on his cock as he whispered his words of love against her lips. “I could taste you forever and need nothing else to sustain me, my mate.” Not blood, or negative energy. Just this woman herself.
Their minds merged. Her soul invaded his, peeling him down to the barest essence—the man linked within the darkness. She rode him, slow, but deep, her eyes opened on his. Her body was damp with sweat, her cheeks were flushed pink, her lips glistened with his taste, and her eyes burned with love and passion. The ache of her slow ride was sweet and terrible. His mate trembled, her breath coming in shallow, ragged gasps. She took him, with slow, provocative rolls of her hips, their eyes connected, never closing, even when the pleasure threatened their sanity.
Passion rocked his body with jarring force. He curled his fingers a
round the nape of her neck and drew her closer. When he sank his fangs into the curve of her throat, he was gentle, showing restraint when he wanted to devour her. He drew her exquisite taste into him, and he fed her mind with his need of her, his love of her, and his promise that she would always be cherished.
He lifted his head. Her blood seeped from the two pinpricks and trickled down the creamy slope of her breast to her taut nipple. He cupped her breasts in his hands, his thumbs brushing her nipples before he dipped his head and licked the blood from their berry ripeness.
A deep hum reverberated through their link and her scream of release rippled through his mind, and wetness bathed his cock. He pulled her closer, caging her in his arms, gliding his hand down her back to the curve of her buttocks where he gripped her.
“Ride harder.”
A small keening moan escaped her throat at his command. She grew slicker, her heart pounded, the scent of her arousal got spicier. Her fingers gripped his hair, and she rode him, sliding her wet, yet impossibly tight pussy over his aching length.
The temptation of tasting him was a dark whisper in her soul.
“Drink of me.”
She dipped her head and kissed along the corded muscles of his shoulder. Small, wickedly sharp fangs struck his neck. Lightning sizzled through his body. He jerked, water sloshed from the bath onto the floor. Another shockwave of pleasure washed through her and ecstasy crashed upon their senses. She shuddered, her pleasure ripping through her life fire as she climaxed on his cock, dragging his release from deep inside him.
He rolled over dipping into the shadows, taking her with him so that she sprawled across his chest as he appeared on her enormous bed. The smell of lavender and honeysuckle mixed with sex, hot and wild, lingered on the air and on her body. Satisfaction rumbled from him, and she smiled.
Lachlan wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. In the war to come, he would protect his love with all means possible.
“I know you will, but you won’t have to. I won’t be soft. I’ll be the steel to your blade even when it is merciless, the light to your darkness, and I will be your queen in all ways when needed.”
He’d never felt more content—or more complete.
The End
Author’s Note