Page 12 of Ashborne Forged

I knew this was the moment—both the fulfillment of everything I’d ever hoped, and the threat. Because if he ran now…

I could barely breathe. My nails scraping the muscles on his back because I clung so hard.

“Voski.” I whispered.

“I’m here.” He swallowed again and nodded, those strands of hair that fell over his forehead swaying between us.

“I’m scared.” It was the simple truth.

His brow furrowed. “It will only hurt the first time. Koa will help heal you, and—”

“No… Not that. This. Us. I’m scared.”

He went still for a moment, his hand on my head closing slowly to fist in my hair.

Our eyes locked. The little light still present highlighted sweat on his midnight eyes, pinched with need. His throat jumped and I held my breath. Would he run once more?

“I’ve got you,” he croaked, his fingers tightening in my hair. “Hold onto me.”

Then he tugged my head back slightly and lowered his mouth to kiss me—softly, but deeply. When he pulled back far enough to meet my eyes again, he rasped with his lips against mine.

“Don’t let go. Please, Grace. Don’t let go.”

I nodded and pulled him to me with something on the edge of a sob as he tipped his forehead against mine, gripped my hair, and took me in one long, slow slide, one thrilling wave of an entirely new sensation.

Filling. Stretching. Togetherness.

My breath stopped in my chest and I arched as he filled me, pleasure and want tangling suddenly with pain. But, though my body resisted his intrusion, my heart flew wide open.

I called to him, clung to him, my cries overwhelmed by the dragons’ call—and when he filled me wholly, when his weight fell over me and he rasped my name, the bond swelled.

Something washed through me—taking pain and fear and uncertainty, and replacing it with sheer, unadulterated pleasure… And love.

My spine arched, my head tipping back, lips seeking his.

He choked my name, laced his fingers over my head and rested his weight on his elbows, then smothered my cries with another kiss as he took me again.

And again.

And dearlordthankyoumayitneverstop, again.

And through it all, his eyes were dark. Keen. Eager. He watched me. He called me forward. And he told me, over and over again, how beautiful I was.

4. Make You Mine

~ VOSKI ~

Taking Grace was the single most consuming sensation I’d ever felt. Body and soul. My existence shivered, as if in one single motion, I’d finally, wholly, and for the first time, come home.

Not to the dark, cold place I’d been raised. But to her.

Her heart.

Her mind.

And her incredible body.

I watched her take me, watched her swallow pain and celebrate pleasure. She clutched, desperate, not just wanting, but needing me closer.