Page 73 of How to Claim A Shadow King

“Malakai,” she moans, and I suck hard, working one hand down her waist, trying to free what I want from the prison of her skirts.

My shadows surge upward from the forest floor unbidden, wrapping around her thighs, her back, and my shoulders, caging us away from the world.

I pull her other breast out, laving it with my tongue, until her nipples are stiff, bright pink peaks.

“Can I touch you?” I ask, finally pulling away her undergarments until she’s bare under her dress, her wetness dripping onto my pants, the heat of her cunt driving me insane.

“Please.” The word is half sobbed, and I smile before I kiss her again, slowly working my fingers to where I want them.

She cries out as I find the bud of her sex, and I smile into her neck as she leans full on me, her legs held up by my shadows. I make slow, gentle circles there, dipping my head to suck on her tender nipples as she pants and writhes against me.

“So wet. So wet and tight,” I mutter, gently working one finger into her sex, rubbing her clit with my thumb. She’s loud, too, choking out praise and my name as I bring her to climax.

I love it.

She tightens around me, her inner walls beginning to flutter.

“Look at me,” I demand, and she does, her blue eyes wide with a mixture of awe and disbelief. I stroke her clit again, carefully slipping a second finger in, slowly pumping as she stares up at me, rocking her hips against my palm.

When she falls apart, her head thrown back, limp against me, I feel like I’ve conquered the entire world.

I kiss her until her lips are swollen and burning, until her chest heaves in shallow, ragged gasps against mine, taking every single ounce of her sweetness until we are both trembling with the force of it.

When I finally tear my mouth away with a heavy, ragged shudder, my forehead crashes against hers. My chest heaves, my hands locked tightly under her hips, keeping her pinned to the bark because if I let her down now, my knees will give out.

Aveline stares up at me, her eyes dark, her breathing a frantic, pathetic ruin as she clutches at my shoulders and neck. The standoffish duchess is entirely gone, replaced by a woman completely consumed by the same wildfire raging in my veins.

“Take me back,” she says, her eyes gleaming, a faint sheen of sweat on her silken skin. “I want more.”

"We are not going back to the castle yet," I pant, my voice gravelly against her wet lips.

"Where..." she clears her throat, her voice a breathless whisper. "Where are we going?"

"To finish our evening," I murmur, kissing the corner of her swollen mouth one last time before lifting her back onto the horse.

We ride straight to the edge of the Wild Oak Woods, the twilight turning the sky a bruised, deep purple by the time we reach the thatched and tiled roofs of the village. I have no intention of sharing her with the coven tonight, nor do I intend to let the posturing of my idiot brothers interrupt the courtship she deserves.

Before we arrived, I sent a wave of power ahead, a request of shadow and gold. Longleaf Brews is ours for the remainder of the evening.

Lila and Druze have closed the tea house early just for the two of us, drawing the heavy velvet curtains across the glass storefront to ensure absolute privacy from the town.

When I push the carved wooden door open, the interior is a silent sanctuary.

Lila stands near the counter and offers Aveline a smile of greeting. "The kitchen is fully prepared. The privacy of the alcove is yours." With a respectful dip of her chin, she and her dryad husband slip out the back door, leaving the entire establishment to us.

I guide Aveline through the pinwheel of rooms until we reach the secluded booth hidden within the massive, hollowed tree trunk.

The magical orbs float lazily above the wood, casting a soft, ambient gold light over her flushed face, while the green vines along the wall curl inward, providing a living, protective curtain around our table.

“You look beautiful like this.” I help her into her seat, my hand lightly brushing the small of her back, relishing in the immediate warmth that always sparks between us.

Aveline wears a slightly dazed expression, and I’m delighted I’m the one to have put it there.

"One of everything, I assume?" I ask, a genuine, roguish grin finally breaking across my features as I take my seat opposite her.

Aveline looks around the beautiful, empty tea house, then turns her gaze back to me, the amulet at her throat catching the candlelight. The tension of the Unseelie attack has completely dissolved, replaced by a quiet, charged intimacy that makes the physical ache in my chest settle into a deep, possessive thrum.

"One of everything," she agrees softly, a stunning, genuine smile breaking across her rosebud mouth. “I worked up an appetite.”