Page 53

“Hands up,” I order, and he lifts them into the air, smirking. I tug his shirt off, exposing his pale chest marred with red healing marks from my talons. Groaning, I drag my hand down his skin to his pants as he bucks. Licking my own lips, I unbuckle them and tug them off, leaving him naked for me.

His hard cock bobs for my attention, pressing against his stomach and smearing his need across his skin as he watches me. I straddle him once more, dragging my talons up and down his chest to his cock, which I circle until his hips buck. The control I have over him is heady, and when I tighten my hand and stroke him, he cries out, lifting his hips as he bucks for me.

“Ferol,” he begs, grabbing my hips.

When he touches my skin, I stop. “Did I say you could touch me?” I snap, and he lifts his hands, pressing them to the leather, his chest heaving as he waits for instructions.

I keep playing, stroking him before cupping his balls. He gasps, thrashing his head into the leather. My pretty boy is wild with his need, just like the storm that lives inside him.

When I lift and hover over his length, he watches with restrained hunger. “Ferol, please, I’ve been good.”

“That you have, and good boys get rewards.” I sink down onto his length, both of us crying out as electricity sparks from his cock inside me, stimulating all my nerves until I slam down, taking him all the way.

Groaning, he lifts his hips, but I keep us still for a moment, pressing my lips against his in a hurried, messy kiss before I start to move with slow rolls of my hips. When I can’t take my own teasing anymore, I move faster, letting his thrusts meet mine as I slide my hands up his chest, across his arms, and to his hands. My fingers interlock with his, and we swallow each other’s moans.

The bond purrs in happiness as our pleasure flows through us, one big circuit growing stronger as the loud slap of our bodies fills the room.

Gods, he feels so good. The electricity warms his cock inside me and sparks every time I bottom out. It drives me mad.

I lean backwards, my back almost touching the floor as I stretch out, feeling him deep within me, but he grabs me and hauls me up, holding my hips and back as he lifts and drops me, taking over. My good boy takes what he wants as he kisses my chin, neck, then my chest. When lightning arcs from his skin, I know he’s lost control.

“Ray.” I gasp, pressing closer before grabbing his hair and watching his face. His powers are extensive, and I felt how he held them back last time, but I want it. I want all of him.

I want to ride his storm and survive.

“Let go. I can take it,” I promise, and he shatters.

His mouth opens in a scream, but all that comes out is the fury and wonder of thunder as lightning flashes around the room, blinding me for a moment. He comes apart until every inch of his skin glows from within, and he fills me with his release. He is so beautiful, I can’t look away, can only cling to him as his pleasure sends me over the edge. I cry out my release as I’m swept up on his wild ferocity.

We exist in the centre of the storm for what seems like infinite time before it slowly ebbs away. When I slump into his chest, I feel his heart hammering as he wraps his shaking arms around me. When he looks around, I see the destruction we caused through his eyes, and I can’t help but laugh.

“Kitt is going to kick my ass,” he grumbles, even as he kisses my head. “Worth it, you’re worth it.”

It’s a throwaway sentence, yet it hits me like his lightning did. Worth it? I’ve never been worth it, not to my mother, my court, my love, or my friends.

Could I ever truly be worth it to him?

CHAPTER

TWENTY-EIGHT

Ithought they would avoid me, but I’m staring into the fridge, trying to decide what to cook, when they file into the room. Moving me out of the way without a word, Bram lifts me and perches me on the counter, handing me a drink with a wink. They don’t speak as they start to prepare a meal. I suppose I could help, but I just lean back and watch. It’s almost comfortable. Even when I was little, I didn’t have this. Meals were prepared and serviced by the lower staff, so I was never involved. I never got to help and watch, and meals were cold and utilitarian, lorded over by my mother. I’m also not hunting and scarfing down whatever I can get.

I enjoy watching them work together seamlessly, their hive mind allowing for that. When we sit down to eat, they even try to talk to one another out loud.

It’s jerky and more random thoughts than conversation, which lets me know it’s probably what they would be saying internally, but it’s the effort that counts, and that scares me.

“Alright, what’s going on?” I demand when I’m done eating.

“What do you mean?” Emrys asks, wiping blood from his mouth since he had his steak raw.

“This, being nice to me, including me, talking out loud. It’s weird. Are you planning to sacrifice me to the gods of the sea or something? Spoiler alert, I’d make them my bitch.” Raiden’s lips twitch, and Kitt rolls his eyes. Torrin winks at me, reaching over and shovelling down Bram’s leftovers. Bram looks at the others then me, struggling with words.

“We’ve decided,” Bram states somewhat seriously and sadly, “that tonight is our last night with you before we hit land tomorrow and break this bond, so we are going to make the most of it. Tonight, we’ll give in, and tomorrow we’ll go back to being enemies.”

Right, I forgot about that. I guess time passes oddly at sea.

The stubborn stab of pain in my chest makes it hard to breathe.