“Get on the bed.”
She does, and I crawl over her.
I let my hand trail to her throat, just tight enough to remind her who she belongs to. Her back arches, that perfect body trembling, already on edge from pleasuring me.
“Are you enjoying this, little rose?” I murmur. My mouth ghosts over her jaw, down her neck. I want herdesperatefor me.
Her moan resemblesyes, but that’s not enough. I still her with a look, and her breath hitches as if she’s seen something divine. Or terrifying. Same difference.
“Say it,” I command, tone dropping to a growl. “Tell me how good I am to you. Tell me who I am to you.”
She hesitates for a second. And gods, that second is agony.
Then she gives in.
“You’re,” she gasps as I roll my hips against hers, pulling another helpless sound from her throat, “you’re my mate.”
“More.”
“You’re beautiful,” she breathes, eyes fluttering shut. “Powerful. You make me feel like I’m?—”
“Yours,” I finish for her, sinking my teeth into the pulse at her neck, just enough to sting. It leaves a mark on her. She whimpers, clinging to me, melting beneath the pain-pleasure edge.
“Yes,” she moans. “Yours.”
That’s it. That’sexactlyit.
“I know,” I whisper against her skin. “Say it again. Say it like you mean it.”
And when she does, when her voice breaks on the wordyours, when her fingers dig into my back like I’m the only thing anchoring her to this world, I give her everything she’s asking for.
And everything she doesn’t know sheshouldfear.
I sink my cock inside her.
She cries out, teeth biting into my shoulder.
She feels like everything I’ve ever wanted. Everything I need. She’s the sun burning away every shadow lashed around my heart.Rose?—
“Cas, Cas, Cas,” she cries, grabbing my face, searching for something she won’t find.
Someone she’ll never find again.
I begin to move, savoring the sweet feeling of her wet heat. Magic coils beneath my skin, electric, barely leashed.
“I love you,” she says again.
“You’re mine,” I remind her, trying not to lose myself too deeply in her.
She gasps, her body arching into mine, and her fingers clutch the back of my neck.
“You feel that?” I murmur, brushing my lips against her temple. “That’s me, little rose. Inside you. Around you.Under your skin.”
She nods. Her lips part to speak, but I catch her chin between my fingers and tilt her head, forcing her to meet my gaze.
“Say it,” I command again. “Say what I am.”
“You’re…” She falters, dazed and aching, and it makes me smile. “You’re my prince.”
