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He walks me backward until my spine hits the crystal wall. The surface gives, molding to my back in response to the way my body melts into Elionn. He crowds closer, one hand sliding down to grasp my thigh, hiking it up around his hip, and the remains of my skirt bunch between us.
“I’ve been craving to touch you again ever since you left,” he murmurs against my neck, teeth grazing the sensitive skin.
My head falls back, giving him better access. “You should have come to see me, then.”
“I will next time.” His hand travels higher, pushing my skirt up as his fingers trace a fiery line up my inner thigh. “I’ll find you. Wherever you go.”
The stone comes alive between our pressed bodies, and his desire floods through me, mingling with my own until I can’t tell where his ends and mine begins. He truly means it, my consciousness flooding with his raw, unfiltered longing.
I tug at the fastenings of his hunting leathers, fingers clumsy with urgency. “We don’t have much time.”
He pulls back. “Then we take what we can.”
My hands fumble with his belt, the buckle finally giving way. His mouth returns to mine, stealing my breath as he works the remains of my dress up my body.
“Off,” I command, and he obeys, stepping back long enough to shed his upper garments.
His chest gleams in the shifting light, muscles defined and perfect. Silver scars map his skin, each one telling a story of hunts and battles I want to learn. Later. There will be time later.
I believe this lie because I need to.
His hands slide to my hips, lifting me higher. My legs wrap around his waist as he tears away the last barrier between us. The cold crystal at my back contrasts with his burning skin against mine, sensations multiplied through our connection.
“I’ve dreamed of your taste,” he whispers, his mouth trailing down my throat. “Of having you beneath me again.”
His words send shivers racing across my skin. “And did your memory hold up?”
“No.” His fingers dig into my flesh, hard enough to bruise. “So much better than I remembered.”
Elionn’s cock notches at my entrance, and he claims me with one firm thrust, the initial shock of our joining fading into a rhythm that speaks of need too long denied.
My hands grip his shoulders, nails biting into flesh. He hisses in pleasure-pain, the sensation echoing back through our bond. Every touch, every movement amplifies through our bond until his pleasure becomes indistinguishable from my own.
“You should have stayed,” he growls into my ear, punctuating each word with a thrust that steals my breath. “With me.”
“You should have asked me to.” The words tumble from my lips before I can stop them.
“Would you have said yes?”
I capture his cheeks between my palms, the court’s power humming through me. “We’ll never know now.”
What might have been between us, without blood bonds, without the court’s intervention, is lost to our choices, and it cuts deep.
His forehead rests against mine. “We have this moment.”
“Then don’t waste it.”
His hand finds mine, fingers intertwining as he pins it to the wall beside my head. Our joined hands cover the tattoo that binds us to each other, to the court, to this fate we never chose.
“I can feel everything,” I gasp, overwhelmed by the dual sensations flooding through me. “You. Me. Us.”
“That’s the stone.” His control frays another degree. “Our bond.”
Every sensation multiplies, the friction of his skin on mine, the coiling tension tightening low inside me, and the electric shock of his lips on my throat all culminating.
“Elionn,” I cry out as pleasure crests through me in waves.
He follows, my name on his lips as our shared climax rebounds between us, feeding back on itself until neither of us can tell where one ends and the other begins.
