Page 96 of Ashen Wings

“More than I want to survive.” I string my arms around his neck and bury my nails into skin. This is insane, but I don’t care. I’ve lost myself in time, in space, in him.

His tongue parts my lips and dances with mine. Another frantic, agonizing surge explodes through me when he pulls us closer. His rigid cock twitches through his trousers and I fucking melt. I want the full length of him inside me, stretching and filling me, until I see godsdamned stars.

“More.” I buck my hips against him. “I need more, Jace.”

My hands slide to his tunic and tighten their grip. He pulls his lips from mine. Utter darkness seeps from his features as he takes in every inch of me. His gaze devours me until I’m squirming and breathless and entirely his.

“Then take more,” he whispers.

Reality comes in glimpses. Jace’s palms sliding under my shirt, my mouth against his neck, his thigh spreading my legs. My mind rattles with another earth-shattering wave of tension, when he pinches my nipple, and circles it between his fingertips.

“Fuck, you’re perfect,” he whispers through ravenous kisses. He pulls my collar down my shoulder, letting the fabric fall into the swirling water around our thighs. Every inch of skin, now exposed to the chilled air, puckers for him as he slides his tongue from my jaw, my neck, to my collarbone.

And when his lips wrap around my nipple, my hips buck into him. Fuck, the sensation is everything. Sweet, blazing tension floods my system with a cry I can’t swallow.

“Tell me if you want me to stop.” Not a question this time, but a command.

“If you stop, I might die,” I reply, my vision hazy and dilated.

He hums against my skin and takes my nipple in again, sucking, circling, and forcing my body rigid.

“Show me where you need me.” His breath is warm when he finds his way back to my lips.

I join my fingers with his and slide them down my abdomen. His touch sparks my skin like metal against stone, and I grind myself against his thigh, scavenging for relief from the ache of anticipation

A growl escapes him, dark and deadly, when I bring our adjoined hands under my trousers.

“Here.”

I don’t bother to ready myself with slow moving circles or gentle, lingering strokes. I’m slick and throbbing already. Jace goes still when I slide his fingers through my slit and sheathe them to the fucking hilt.

“Fuck…” he groans, curling his fingers inside me. My walls clench around him as he strokes the fire of tension, gaining in intensity like a godsdamned war pyre.

I bite my lip, stifling the moan now spilling from my throat.

“Is this what you want, starling?” He presses a thumb to the bud of nerves at my center, already swollen and pleading for release.

“Yes.” I thrust myself onto his fingers.

“Then ride my fingers until you shatter, starling. I’ll be here to pick up the pieces, don’t worry.”

Jace watches me with smoldering intensity as I rock my hips back, drawing his fingers from me, only to slam myself down them again. I chase my release higher and higher with each thrust until I’ve ascended above the cloud cover, above the stars, above the cosmos themselves.

“That’s it,” he whispers, circling my clit with his thumb. My teeth gnash as I grind into him again.

Pleasure builds throughout my entire godsdamned body as we find a rhythm—my hips moving in time with the stroke of his thumb—first slow and steady, then hungry and rapid. I’m entirely consumed, entirely unraveled, in him—his scent, his taste, the feel of his perfect fingers, stiff and rigid inside me.

When I reach the pinnacle, and the world fades away, every fiber threatens to come undone, to combust into blazing stardust. One last thrust and his fingers slam into me, sending me spiraling from the heavens, plummeting back to earth, in fragments.

My body relaxes as I fall into his chest, extinguishing the flames of my release with hoarse, ragged cries.

Jace’s hands wrap around my waist, and he takes my full weight in his arms. My head tucks into his neck, and his scent blankets me in chilled, starlit bliss.

I don’t have time to revel in his sanctuary, though. Claws scratch up my spine, light enough to draw only a drop of blood, but rough enough for my eyes to fly open.

“Nova…” A shudder spreads over Jace’s body. His eyes find mine in a frantic flurry of panic and my pulse skids to a stop. Only crimson stained irises gaze back at me. “I need you to run.”

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