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“I should go,” I say quickly, pushing against his chest to slip out of the muscular cage he somehow boxed me in. A slight prickle of panic licks down my spine and raises the hair on the back of my neck. I’ve been missing for too long—long enough for someone to notice and come looking for me.
“Don’t.” One simple word holds so much desperation that it causes me to halt my movements. The hand along my ribs tightens as his thumb brushes just under the swell of my breast. The warmth of his touch spreads over my skin and goosebumps rise along my body. I lift my gaze to find his blue eyes waiting as they probe mine. “Are you okay?”
His question catches me off guard, and I end up staring wide at him as the tether in my chest intensifies, threatening to make my knees buckle.
But I manage to stay steady and choke out a response. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because you were overboard in a sea that’s growing angrier by the minute. And I saw you get crushed beneath a massive wave in the midst of a rebellion.” Right as the words leave his lips, another explosion hits. It rattles the ship and causes more screams to screech in the distance.
The cries of terror are distant in my ears as I remain fixated on him. His words leave me…speechless. That’s what I am right now as my heart hammers against my ribs. I bet if I ripped his chest open to look at his heart, it would shine like pure gold. Dented with imperfections and demons he’s defeated, but proof that he would be a fallen just like the Masiren described. And together, we will rise and suffocate our demons on the smoke of the flames they lit to try and burn our hearts to ash.
His calloused palm gently cups my face, tipping his head to touch his forehead to mine. “My heart died a thousand deaths at that moment. Seeing you get sucked under. Watching arrows miss you by a thread.” Our breaths mingle together as we share the same air with our lips only an inch apart. “You are mine, Emma.” My breath hitches as his thumb traces the curve of my cheek bone. “And I protect what’s mine.”
My heart is racing, but I remain silent. He hasn’t pulled away even though it seems like he’s fighting a war within himself as he swallows roughly.
Achingly slow, he slides his hand to the small of my back and pulls me flush against him. Now, our lips are only a hair’s breadth away. The hum of the bond inside me sparks every nerve ending in my body. Making me fully aware of every part of me that is touching him and, with it, bringing back everything he has made me feel in the past. Every skip of my heart, moments of overheated skin, and the way my core clenches for him.
“You must know…” He clears his throat, his fingers digging harder into my back while the one still cupping my face is feather soft. A dizzying contrast that has me wetting my lips. “I am not a strong enough male to live in a world where I only get a glimpse of you. To only carry memories of what we shared while watching you from a distance. My heart beats too intensely for you, and you alone.” He pauses to take a shaky breath in before releasing it slowly.
He pulls back, just far enough to look down into my blackened eyes.
“I would rather fall prey to your shadows and live each and every day in the darkest hell than live a single day where you’re in his arms and I have no hope of touching you again. To taste you.” His eyelids fall slightly when they drop to my lips, the muscles in his jaw clenches as if all he wants is to kiss me like his life depends on it. Before I can fully finish that thought, his gaze once again claims mine. “To hold you. Love you. I may be the chosen one from my bloodline, but you, Emma, are who I choose. Fate aligned us, but without you, I’m as good as gone.”
My heart is beating rapidly, and I’m sure with his exceptional hearing that he can hear it’s on the brink of exploding right out of my chest. I catch a glimpse of his eyes flaring to silver before he pulls my head to press against his strong chest, cradling it. His heart beats loudly against my ear, calming me from the inside out.
His voice is hoarse when he speaks after a few moments. “I will walk in the darkness with you and destroy all that is good if that’s what you wish.”
I think I stop breathing as a lump forms in my throat. I bring my hand up to tightly grip his soaked shirt, relishing in the warmth of it against my cheek. “Draven,” I whisper.
He draws his head back with wide eyes as they bounce back and forth between mine. I can feel his chest rising and falling in quick, shallow breaths. His thumb sweeps across my bottom lip and I swear I’m a goner.
“Say that again.” His voice scratches against his throat as he chokes out the words.
My brows furrow together, not quite understanding. I do what he says, anyway. “Draven,” I say softly, with a hint of a question filling my tone.
A small grin breaks across his face when he huffs out a harsh breath. “That’s the first time you have called me by my first name since the darkness claimed you.” I try to rack my brain to remember our interaction before, and I suppose he’s right. Now that I have dug up the lost part of myself that was buried away, my thoughts are once again my own. Which only makes my heart cleave in two at feeling the full force of my love for him—when he’s my next task.
Before I can say anything, he places his hand over my chest. My heart speaks for me as it beats roughly against his touch. “I can feel you so strongly,” he says.
“Why did I not recognize you as my mate right away?” I can’t help but ask. I knew fated mates existed, but no one taught me what happened after. The brief knowledge I have is only from the books I used to read, and those were mostly whimsical stories created from one’s imagination.
“I think your heart always knew. It’s why we couldn’t stay away from each other before. Even after the necklace was gone, I believe the darkness muted the bond, but only to an extent. Because even when you are consumed, you still melt to my touch, your body responds to my words, and you feel when we are together.” His eyes drop to my lips. “Nothing is more powerful than the mate bond.”
The tension between us is all-consuming as my eyes do a quick dip to his lips, too. This bond is growing more intensely every day. It’s igniting and pulling us so powerfully together to connect us as one. On pure instinct and need to touch him, I place my palm over his heart. The hum of our powers swirls around us, drowning out the chaos raging above. Making it feel like it’s just the two of us concealed in our own bubble as everything else falls away.
“I see that, because…I can feel you strongly, too.” His eyes snap back up to mine with such heat, it takes me by surprise.
Suddenly, his mouth slams against mine, stealing my next breath and closing the space between us with a growl vibrating under my hand from his chest. Heat races down to my core as my heartrate kicks up another notch. My fingers curl into his shirt, clinging in desperation to pull him closer, even though I know I should push him away. Anyone could walk down here at any moment, and we are right in the line of sight to the stairs. But given the chaos erupting above, their focus is targeted elsewhere than the two lone souls finding each other beneath their feet.
As if sensing my thoughts, his mouth presses harder to mine. With a swipe of his tongue across the seam of my lips, I open willingly, and all previous thoughts are forgotten. A soft whimper escapes me, and he swallows it down.
My skin buzzes with ecstasy at the feel of him and the way he kisses me like I’m the only thing keeping his heart beating. A kiss that feels like it’s pulling us both underneath the water, drowning us together and we are each other’s oxygen. Consuming the other like we are our final breath.
Nothing else exists at this moment, only his lips on mine with the ship swaying beneath our feet. All I can hear is the pounding of my heart thumping loudly in my ears and the deep groans eliciting from his throat. I push up on my toes, needing to be closer. Needing more.
He growls deeply, grabbing fistfuls of my dress to hike it up before shoving his knee between my legs. A moan rips free from my throat. His strong leg pushes right against my core, putting pressure exactly where I need it. I gasp as my clit pulses, the desperate ache in me starting to build. He rubs his knee back and forth, and I can’t help how my hips begin to rock against him.
“That’s it,” he says between kisses on a hurried breath. “Ride my leg.”
