“You don’t know that. He might change his mind when he realizes his mother and father are in danger. I have to ask.”
“Cassius will want to help,” Damien concedes. “But he answers to his coven masters. If Sabrina and Tobias refuse, he is bound.”
I lick my lips, almost afraid to say this next part aloud. “I plan to ask Sabrina and Tobias directly for military support, not just for Cassius himself but some of his men. If I could bring a vampire army through the key to fight for us?—”
“Is thatpossible?” he asks in a low voice, as if the prospecthad never occurred to him. He rinses the soap from my back with water from his cupped hand and skims his fingers over my tattoo, my sigil, the physical reminder of my power.
“I’m not sure if the coven master, Sabrina, will agree to it, but I believe I am capable of it. The key symbol would have to be the biggest I’ve ever activated, and I’d have to hold it open while everyone came through. I’m strong enough, though. Stronger than I’ve ever been. If she agrees to send her warriors, I will do what it takes to bring them here.”
He rinses the other side of me, smoothing the last of the suds off my skin.
“You don’t like the idea,” I say.
“I like it far better than you staying with Jaqual in exchange for his mercenaries.”
“So then, you’re supportive of the idea. When I travel to Earth for this wedding, I will visit with Morpheus and Cassius and ask them for help.”
“Yes,” he finally says. “Please be careful, my little dragon. Your world is a long way away, and I don’t think I can do what I must do here without you.”
I take his face in my wet hands. “You won’t have to. A few days. That’s all.”
A low rumble begins in his chest, and his lids lower over his diamond stare. He grips my lower jaw. “If we must spend time apart, I’m going to need a dose of you to hold me over, little bird.”
I lift one corner of my smile off my fangs. My voice is a low croon as I say, “Then take your medicine, mate.”
He rises to sit on the edge of the tub, his massive erection jutting between us. The way he’s looking at me,hungry, wanting, with that soul-deep need I can feel down the bond, I know what he wants.
In our relationship, most of the time, he’s felt like the predator and I, the prey. Not long ago, he even fed on me. But here, now, he’s flipped the script. He wants me in control. And I think I understand why. With everything that’s happened, with his jealousy of Jaqual so fresh in his mind, he wants to feel how much I want him. He wants to experience the full force of my desire.
Goddess, if that’s what he needs, I will give it to him.
I rise onto my knees and grip his thighs, pulling myself closer. The water only comes up to my belly button, and droplets bead off my peaked breasts. Damien’s gaze drifts over the slope of my neck, the curve of each of my breasts, my torso, and the surface of the water, where the rest of me is lost beneath the refraction of light. Then his gaze rises again to my mouth.
The rumble of his purr grows louder, and the swollen head of his dick weeps for me. I lean over and run the flat of my tongue along the underside of his shaft and swirl it over the sensitive tip. The taste of him is pure ecstasy. Our mating means that we are each other’s special recipe, a match made by the goddess. The salty sweetness of him only makes me want more.
He curses under his breath and grips the side of the tub. I’m reminded of the first time I did this, in the kitchen of Harcourt Manor, when it was the sides of the chair he was gripping. Different place. Different circumstances. But he feels just as vulnerable. I suck his cock to the back of my throat, taking him as deep as I dare.
His moan is all the encouragement I need. I start to move, drawing back slowly before taking him in again. Ihollow my cheeks and suck hard, bringing my lips almost to the tip, swirling my tongue, before driving him to the back of my throat again.
The growl that tears from him is more animal than shade. He releases his hold on the tub and sinks his wet fingers into the back of my head, tangling them in my red curls. I raise my eyes to meet his as he begins to match my movements, thrusting to the back of my throat until my eyes water from the intensity. I don’t let up. I move faster, alternating suction with licks and swirls. I cup the heavy weights at the base of his shaft, rolling them in my palm.
His balls tighten and he roars. Hot jets hit the back of my throat, and I swallow him down, my body reacting almost to the point of orgasm from the experience of feeling him come. This is Damien, though. Once he’s finished, he’s far from done.
He sweeps me from the water, spins me around, and braces my hands against the wall behind the tub. He hooks his fingers and lifts one of my knees, bracing my foot on the ledge. Before I can draw my next breath, he’s inside me from behind and reaching around my hips to circle my clit with his strong, capable fingers.
Our joining isn’t gentle. His thrusts come full force, his bigger body wrapping around me, driving deep and fast as his arm holds me tight against him and his fingers rub with exacting circles of pressure.
I shatter into a million falling stars. Or, should I say, falling shadows? I feel myself come apart, something I’ve been trying and failing to do for months. And then just as naturally, just as organically, I come back together.
“Good girl,” he whispers in my ear, and as always, the praise sends a jolt through me I can’t explain. My kneestremble, and he holds me there, our hearts beating in unison.
After several minutes, when I’ve caught my breath, I turn in his arms.
“Did I…break into shadow?” I ask, still unable to believe it.
“Yes,” he says. “Spectacularly.”
“Why can I do it now and not when I want to?”
