Total pages in book: 222
Estimated words: 213974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1070(@200wpm)___ 856(@250wpm)___ 713(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 213974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1070(@200wpm)___ 856(@250wpm)___ 713(@300wpm)
I shuddered. That…that was what I wanted. Needed. I pushed down, moaning as I began taking him inside me. It wasn’t fast or deep enough.
He sensed that, driving his hips up, stretching and filling me in one thrust. He was such an enormous presence in my body. His throat muffled my cry of pleasure as I shook. The arm at my waist lifted me and then brought me back down, causing my toes to curl as I continued drinking deeply. Ripples of pleasure washed over me in waves with each lift and fall. I was humming now, the heat spreading, his body cooling even further. I could drink all of him. Take everything of him into me.
And he’d let me.
He’d give anything for me, even himself. Instinctively, I knew I couldn’t kill him like this, but I could weaken him, bring him to a point where his body would need to go into stasis.
I didn’t want that.
He moved under me, the pace of his rising hips feverish and overwhelming, making it difficult to think about anything but satisfying the dual, brutal needs.
But he was too important, and I would hurt him. I couldn’t do that. Because he was…he was my other half.
Body trembling, I slowed my feeding. The red haze of bloodlust dissipated, allowing my other thoughts to clear. It wasn’t just Primal blood I was feeding on. It wasn’t only a body giving me pleasure. It was his.
Ash.
My lover.
My King of Gods.
My husband, whom I was deeply in love with.
A sense of self returned to me. My name: Seraphena. Who I once was and was now. Who I was meant to become. The new sense of awareness was like a lock being turned. Memories didn’t come rushing back, they just returned to me, taking their rightful places.
A tremor ran through me.
Ash…he had saved me.
I didn’t know how. Holland had said the only way I could be saved was through love. And that was impossible, wasn’t it?
“I love you, even if I cannot,” Ash had screamed. “I’m in love with you.”
Gods, he’d wanted so badly to love me. Had he made some sort of deal? Had the Arae intervened? I didn’t know as I forced my jaw to relax. I lifted my mouth from the bite. Compelled by either the newly formed instinct or memories of Ash doing it, I nicked my lower lip. The sting of pain was barely noticeable amidst the coiling tension. Blood drawn, I kissed the wound I’d made, stopping the bleeding.
“Liessa,” Ash whispered.
Something beautiful.
Something powerful.
I brought my mouth to his and kissed him, knowing he likely tasted both his blood and mine on my lips. Angling my hips, I planted my hands on his chest and pushed him onto his back. It hadn’t required much strength. Just a slight pressure, and he obeyed, both hands falling to my hips. He clasped them. If he wanted to fight, we’d be equally matched, and I had no idea who would win.
I couldn’t wait to find out, though.
But it would have to wait.
Opening my eyes, I looked down at him and felt my chest loosen and tighten all at once. Everything about him was so much clearer, sharper now. The faint scar on his chin. The shape of his lips and their defined cupid’s bow. There was another scar on the bridge of his nose that I’d never seen before. I’d always thought his lashes were impossibly thick, but now I saw just how dense they were. And his eyes? The aura of eather behind his pupils was like stars, and the wisps churning in his irises a constellation. It was like seeing him for the first time. There was so much I wanted to say—so much I knew I needed to tell him—but the powerful muscles in his chest and shoulders flexed and rolled as his grip on my hips urged me to take what I wanted.
And I did.
I rode him, my pace quickening, causing several long curls to fall forward over my swaying breasts. A sharp burst of tingles spread as I ground against his hips. My lips parted, and the sensation of the tips of my fangs grazing my lower lip was an odd one.
The tension built and built. It was like a thread being pulled too taut. The coil snapped, and then lightning hit my veins. My head kicked back as I came. Pleasure hit every part of my body, sweeping me up and away in the bliss.
Slowly, all the tight muscles in my body relaxed, and my head fell forward. Only then did I realize that Ash had stopped moving and was still hard and thick inside me. Lifting my head, I opened my eyes. Through my tangled curls, our gazes locked.
Ash shuddered and then moved beneath me, sitting up. His hand clamped down on the back of my neck, tangling in my hair. He held my stare. “You know who I am?”