“In Wilheim, two people who choose each other are called pair bonds. I’ll gladly be both your pair bond and youranam-cara—and anything else you need me to be—for the rest of our lives.” I ghosted her lips with mine. “You have no idea… Every day around you was a struggle. A constant battle between what I felt and what I didn’t want to admit. Saying it now,feelingthis way… It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever been able to experience. And that’s all thanks to you.”
A beautiful look of relief washed over her face. “I love you, Noc. With everything that I have.”
A deep groan shattered my chest, and I buried my face in her neck. “I love you, too.” Gripping her waist, I pulled her close. Felt the steady beat of her heart against mine. To love and be loved, after I’d locked away my emotions for so long… The feeling shook my world and tied me to her. Forever.
Fire sparked between us as she trailed her hands down my back. Pressed herself close. Her lips skimmed my chest before she tilted her head up and sought out my mouth. Heat and longing uncoiled low in my stomach. After declaring our love, all I wanted was to be with her. Fully. But only if it wouldn’t break her further. She’d been through so much.
Pulling away for a moment, I brushed my thumb along her lips. “We don’t have to do anything here.”
“I want to be with you.”
There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation in her hazel gaze, and I didn’t have the strength to deny her. Nor did I want to. Pressing her flush against the wall, I tasted her neck. She gasped, arching her back and leaning into my touch.
I hoisted her up against me and guided her legs around my waist. She hooked her ankles together to anchor herself in place. Desire rippled from her, a thick and heavy scent flirting with my nose, and wetness unrelated to the shower slicked across the base of my abdomen. I’d never grow tired of her smell. Still working the skin of her neck, I dropped my kiss lower toward her breasts.
Gentle. We could be frantic later, but not now. Not after what she’d been through. She needed soft touches and tender devotion. Feelings of true love to erase all that she’d suffered.
I laved her nipples with my tongue, and her grip tightened.
“Noc.” Her moan made me light-headed. She needed me as much as I needed her. Softly, she rocked her hips into me and rubbed her clit along the head of my cock. Wetness and heat and desire flooded from her to me, and I cursed at the feel of it all.
Intense hazel eyes locked with mine, and I was undone. Bit by bit, I sheathed myself inside her, and I slanted my lips across hers. Wrapping my fingers in her hair, I held her lips beneath mine. Our tongues danced, an unhurried exploration full of emotion. I continued to move inside her, torturously slowly and so wonderfully deep. Her breaths mingled with mine, and together, we fell into each other completely.
The heat of the shower didn’t compare to the warmth of her skin. She was a mess of water and breathy moans, and she was the most stunning being I’d ever seen. Breasts and stomach slipping against me. Thighs squeezed tightly around my waist. The deep heat of her core as she wrung tight around me.
She was the ache in my heart. The breath in my lungs. This was Leena. This was my life.
She kissed me with enough raw passion to bring tears to the backs of my eyes. I broke our kiss to trail my lips down her neck. Along her necklace. Over her heart. She trembled and snuck a finger under my chin, bringing my mouth back to hers. I angled her hips against me and ground into her, rocking deep into her core and drawing heated moans from her chest.
“Don’t stop.” Her voice was no more than a breathless groan.
Meeting her gaze, I whispered, “Never.”
Her body shivered and tightened, pulling me in deeper, and she pressed her head against the wall. Mouth open, she cried out as her orgasm throbbed through her, and the sensation wrecked me.
“I love you, Leena.” Pressing into her, I rode out the last of her tremors. Heavy breaths spilling from her, she cupped my face and slid her tongue into my mouth. The taste of her shattered the last of my control.
Groaning, I spilled myself inside her and clutched her tight against my chest. Never again would I lose her. Never again would she endure the horrors still lingering in her teary gaze. Never. She was mine to protect and love.
And I would follow her anywhere.
Thirty-six
Leena
I never wanted to leave the safety of the shower, but while Noc would never say it, I could see the anxiety in the depths of his eyes. He wanted to get back to his people. To check on Calem. To assure himself that his brothers were safe like the Council had promised. So we dressed and ate in hurried silence, each of us consumed by the unknown path our future would take.
When we emerged from our room, Gaige was already waiting for us. Dressed in a cranberry-colored tunic, a black vest, and slim-fitting trousers, he wore a nonchalant smile that didn’t match the curiosity burning behind his steel-blue gaze. “Ready to go? I’ll be accompanying you.”
Tension sparked like an electric current between the men. Noc’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Thank you.”
Gaige didn’t falter. “Shall we?”
Waiting at the edge of the forest, our assassins lingered in a darkness of their own making. Standing near Oz and Calem, Kost said something to his brothers and smiled. Then he turned, caught me with his stare. His smile strained but didn’t disappear completely. With a pointed look between me and Noc, he nodded, just the slightest tilt. I wasn’t sure he’d ever count me as a friend, but at least he seemed to accept my relationship with Noc. There was hope yet.
I glanced at Noc in time to see a pained tightening to his jaw, and he sped up to meet Emelia and Iov. He could finally feel again. Show the breadth of his emotions. And not a moment too soon, because his brethren needed comfort. He placed a gentle hand on Iov’s forearm, worried eyes inspecting the bandages clinging to the wound just above his heart.
Morbid silence deafened the life of the wood, drowning out birdcalls and keeping beasts away. Beds of furling shadows carried our dead. Assassins walked beside them, eyes tight and focused on the path before us. I couldn’t bring myself to look at them for more than a moment. Noc floated between them all, whispering condolences and soothing whatever pain he could with his words.
