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Still, I worked my way downward, lips brushing along her stomach. When I reached her legs, I spread them wide, running my hands up and down her thighs. “Gods, these legs of yours… So perfect. You think I want to bury my face between a pair of twigs?”

I leaned in and licked her inner thigh, letting my tongue explore the underside of her leg. She panted and gasped, eyes closing as I tasted her.

“No,” I breathed against her skin. “You are a goddess, and I only want more of you, Cerise. More to worship. More to taste.” I dragged my tongue directly over her center, and she let out a hoarse cry.

But it wasn’t enough. I could make her come undone with my tongue, but I wanted to be fully inside her. I wanted her to know just how perfectly she could fit me.

I tugged on her legs, dragging her farther down the mattress until we were at eye level. I spread her legs wider and brought my hard cock between her thighs.

“You think you’re big?” I rasped. “Well, so am I.” I pushed myself inside her.

She moaned, the sound loud and harsh. I pulled out slightly before I plunged into her again, deeper this time. She reached for me, but I grabbed her hands, pinning her wrists above her head. Her eyes met mine, dark and heady. My lips went to her ear and I whispered, “Feel that? Do you feel how well you take me? That’s perfection, Cerise.”

I slid out, then slammed into her again. Her voice broke, her exclamations getting wilder and more unhinged. The bed beneath us creaked, and the headboard rattled.

“So perfect,” I growled, gliding out and then driving into her a third time. Harder. Deeper. My eyes closed as white-hot need pounded through me, making my cock pulse inside her. “That’s it, Cerise.” Out, then in again. She grunted from the impact. “Good girl.” I pushed her legs upward, bringing her knees against her chest, then rolled my hips as I thrust into her at a sharper angle. Pleasure, thick and potent, flooded my body, making me see stars.

Cerise’s shouts mingled with mine, her breaths coming hard and fast, her voice rising in pitch. Sweat gleamed along her forehead, and her eyes closed as she threw her head back.

“Come, my love,” I rasped, driving in and out, my pace quickening. “Come for me.”

The sounds that escaped her were manic and desperate. She was so close now. All she needed was a push and she’d tumble off that cliff. I pounded into her viciously, holding nothing back. She screamed, arms straining against my grip on her wrists. The bed shook more violently. Her hips lifted as she met each of my thrusts with her own. Our bodies collided as we thrashed against one another.

A loud crack split the air, and the bed frame snapped. The mattress sagged underneath us, but we continued slamming against each other like waves on the shore in the midst of a storm. She cried out my name as she met her release, her body quivering underneath me. I followed soon after with a deafening roar, pounding harder and harder until the fire consumed me, sweeping through my body and scorching my blood. The headboard groaned then split in two, the wood splintering.

When the fire in my body cooled, I could barely breathe. I leaned my forehead against Cerise’s, feeling her own racing pulse and the rise and fall of her chest with each ragged gasp. Her eyes opened and fixed on me, her pupils blown wide and her skin flushed and sweaty. She pressed a hand to my cheek, toying with my beard.

“I love you,” she said breathlessly.

Heat bloomed in my chest, healing the chasm that had formed there. My heart soared, and I let out a shaky laugh before pressing a kiss to her swollen lips. Her mouth opened fully for me, allowing my tongue to caress hers. “My heart and soul are yours, witchling. Now and forever.”

Thirty-Nine

THE WITCH

For a long moment, I lay in bed with my head on Alaric’s chest and my legs tangled with his. His soft, slow breathing soothed the anxiety still coursing through me at the thought of what he would have to face at Noontide. As much as I yearned to succumb to sleep, I knew there was work to be done.

When the moon dipped below the horizon, the room was plunged into utter darkness. My pulse quickened, and my eyes flared wide. But I couldn’t see anything. Panic seeped into my chest.

“Breathe, Cerise,” Sasha said soothingly. “I know it’s still new for you, but trust your Mage senses.”

I blinked several times but still saw nothing but darkness. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. My fingers twitched along Alaric’s chest. I focused on the warmth of his skin on mine and the smattering of hairs on his breast. His steady heartbeat thumped against my ear, the sound a comfort to my nerves.

Another deep breath. My eyes opened and closed again. Gradually, shapes and silhouettes appeared. I could make out Alaric’s form beside me and the outline of the armoire across the room. The more I blinked, the more I could see. The ocean painting on the wall, the small table by the bed, and even the fireplace from across the room. It was still astounding, given there was no light source.

“That’s incredible,” I said to Sasha. “How?”

“It’s the magic in our blood. Our species has lived for generations on an Isle with no sunlight. It’s natural for our senses to adapt to that.” There was a note of pride in her voice.

Our species. I was one of them. A Mage.

It was still odd for me. I hadn’t fully accepted it yet.

Sasha had been rather quiet, but I was grateful she’d given me and Alaric the privacy we needed. Now that we’d been intimate a second time, I wasn’t sure if I could ever let him go again. I would never get enough of this—our naked bodies intertwined, experiencing such exquisite pleasure that I felt my soul leave my body for a moment.

Nothing could take him from me. Not my own foolish choices, and certainly not the Council of Elders. I refused to give him up so easily.

Resolve coursed through me as I slid off the bed, stumbling slightly from the crooked mattress. I suppressed a laugh as I recalled how we’d broken the bed frame. But I had no regrets.