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We had one hour until midnight. Until he opened the portals for The Nine to gather on One. And I would be there with him, in front of the council, by his side. Where I belonged.

But first, I needed to release the desperation from me.

I would allow myself a few more moments of selfishness before I searched Fort Gray. Before I stood before a council that would wish me dead.

“I choose us,” I whispered, running my hands across his chest. “I choose you.”

Leo didn’t say a word. Only stood silently, his body unearthly still.

I wasn’t sure he’d heard me until his hands were on my face and he was kissing me.

Not soft and sweet. But claiming and brutal.

Heat shot up my spine as I grabbed his hips, pulling him into me. His hardness pressed against my stomach. The ache between my legs almost painful from waiting for this moment with him.

I pulled at the button on his pants, wanting to see all he had to offer me, but his hands left my face, stopping me.

He shook his head, tsking, a smile creeping across his perfect lips. “Unfortunately, there’s not enough time for that,” he whispered, his mouth closing over the sensitive part of my ear. I made a strange whine as his voice whispered against my soul, “There’s only time for one of us to reach their pleasure, and it’s not going to be me, Bryn.”

I started to protest, but he pressed his lips to the base of my neck, biting, then licking away the sting.

“Don’t worry about me.” He smiled against my skin. “I’m going to enjoy this as much as you are.”

He turned me around so fast I squealed when my back pressed against him. My spine flush against his chest.

I bit my lip as he undid my pants and lifted my shirt, exposing my midriff. The coolness of his fingers dancing along my navel before splaying across my stomach fully, his other hand sliding down through my core, his fingertips curling slightly against my entrance.

“Fuck,” he hissed, dipping a finger inside of me, bringing it back up through my center to that delicate spot.

Working me with soft circles, I felt myself already tipping toward the edge I was craving.

“More,” I mumbled, resting the back of my head against his chest.

I needed him to take the ache away.

He drove two fingers inside me this time, pushing me back toward him so I could grind myself against him.

“That’s it,” he whispered, biting my neck with each pump of his hand.

My knees went to buckle, but he held me firm, wrapping his arm around me to keep me upright, while his other hand continued its grueling pattern of pumping in me, then circling above.

“Can you do something for me, Bryn?” he asked, a teasing tone in his deep voice.

I whimpered my response. Not a yes, but more of a mumble that told him I would do anything he asked me to do in this moment. I would let him do anything he wanted to me, and then some.

“Say my name when you come.”

I tightened against his fingers inside me at his order.

His command.

He plunged his fingers deeper, then back out quickly, using my slickness to make firmer and faster circles.

I reached behind me to steady myself against his thighs as I cried out his name. My body falling over the edge, a moment of shameless ecstasy coursing through me. The feeling of his muscles underneath my palms my only hold on reality.

Leo kept his rhythm through the fall of my first release, causing me to cascade over the edge one more time.

His name got lost in the back of my throat as his shadows danced between my legs.