He was going to destroy me in the best way.
I caught the scent of his honey and cedarwood blood at the same time he gave a guttural groan. I realized that my claws had raked down his shoulder blades in my frenzy and was about to apologize for maiming him. But instead of withdrawing in pain, Sage merely laughed and reached up to wrap a hand around my throat.
“I should have known my fierce little mate would not submit so easily,” he panted.
And then he was squeezing. Not enough to cut off my oxygen as before, but enough to exert command over me. And I was uncertain what it was, but there was something about having his hand around my throat that made every ounce of willpower drain out of my body.
“That’s it. Eyes on me,” he ordered softly even as his hips continued to pound into me mercilessly.
“Sage…” I groaned in shock when my body quickened suddenly with the promise of another orgasm.
He felt it too and groaned roughly before dropping his forehead down to mine. I felt a subtle heat beginning to emanate from him, and the air grew heavy as the water on our skin and all around us began to evaporate.
“Don’t… Please don’t stop,” I begged breathlessly.
He gave another groan, this one agonized, and I knew he must be close. The heat on his skin indicated as much. But he kept up the brutal momentum until I was coming apart and crying out beneath him. My eyes squeezed shut as I was consumed in ecstasy, but I snapped them open again when light suddenly hit my eyelids.
Fire. There was liquid fire under his skin, and I had never seen anything more beautiful.
At least not until he came, raw and utterly uninhibited with a deep bellow. His massive body shuddered over me, and I felt the jets of heat begin to fill me.
His hand had slid from my neck to help brace himself, but he still almost crushed me as he seemed to lose every one of his senses. It was several moments before either of us could regain any semblance of composure.
He shifted, dislodging his softening cock and began to nuzzle my shoulder. I could hear him drawing in my scent there deeply, his nostrils flaring as he located the mating gland I had somehow hit perfectly when I bit him.
And then his teeth cut me. There was nothing pleasant about his bite, and I had to battle my instinct to retaliate, but theinstant shift in my scent wasintoxicating.
Sage held on a moment to ensure his mark was deep and undeniable. Then he released me and shifted his head to my other side where he bit and marked again.
I wanted to get up and mark the other side of his neck. But I lay on the stone floor, feeling thoroughly fucked and claimed, as he rose to his knees to survey me with clear satisfaction. His grin only widened when he looked down at where I could feel his cum seeping out of me. I was not sure what to expect, but it was certainly not for him to gently push it all back inside me. Then he looked back up at me with so much male pride in those striking purple eyes that it made me smile languidly back at him.
“Yours,” I said, and he grunted in fierce affirmation as he bent back over me to kiss me deeply.
“Mine,” he agreed.
Chapter forty-six
FRIENDS AND FAMILY
Ornella
It had been hours since we left the cavern and returned to the encampment. I had lost track of how many times we had made love since then, but it seemed like we might have finally exhausted ourselves. We were both tangled in his silk sheets that clung to our damp skin as we caught our breath. I had been healing Sage periodically through the day as my power or that of the others was replenished, but it was starting to feel like it would never be enough.
“How are you feeling?” I asked him, and he tensed as if he knew what he was about to say would upset me.
“There is no… wound. And yet it aches as if my flesh was stripped raw,” he admitted as his hand rose to rub at his unblemished sternum as if he were in pain.
“My magic isn’t helping you at all?” I asked in alarm, covering his hand with mine so it stilled on his chest.
“It is. You have healed the physical strains. But there is still an ache that feels like it is…” His voice trailed off, and I knew he was unsure whether he wanted to burden me with the full extent of whatever was wrong.
“Sage,” I breathed his name in a soft plea for him to be completely honest with me, and he sighed.
“I think this pain is something that may never be fullyhealed for me,” he whispered my deepest dread aloud.
I exhaled hard as if his words were a physical blow that knocked the air out of me. My lips rolled between my teeth as I tried to breathe through my nose while my eyes immediately filled with unshed tears.
“Sage… are you okay?” I whispered, barely managing to keep the tremble out of my voice.
