Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 51358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Water hits me, grips my aching cock, as if she’s freed herself and plunged her hand down my pants.
“Fuck,” I hiss, shock making my power slip a fraction.
Annika’s smile is brilliant. “Two can play this game,” she says, breathless, as I get control of myself and increase the pressure of the water against her sensitive flesh.
She gasps, her eyes fluttering, but she doesn’t stop gripping me with the water too. I’ve never felt anything like this—the way she matches me on every level and exceeds me in all others. She’s my match in every way.
My mate.
My everything.
And that scares the shit out of me.
“Dagon,” she sighs my name, her hold on the water she’s using to toy with me slipping a bit as she trembles before me. “I…I’m…”
“Coming,” I say as I watch her convulse before me, her power over the water evaporating entirely as she loses herself to me. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, watching her come undone like that.
“I could watch you like that every night for the rest of forever,” I say before I can stop myself. “And I wouldn’t get tired of it.”
Her eyes meet mine, pleasure-coated but serious. An unspoken need flares to life between us, begging us to voice all the things we’ve kept buried since that mark appeared on her back.
I part my lips, desperate to ask her to accept me, to be mine officially.
I can’t.
Not when we’re at a war with no end. Not when Samuel, if he found out, would use her against me, just like he’d done with Avianna against Hawke. Talia against Zachariah.
I crush my mouth on hers before I can say something that will damn us both. The kiss is a punishment and an awakening, slowing to something more than I can ever admit.
I release her bonds, and her arms fly around my neck, her legs wrapping around my waist. We’re a flurry of greedy mouths as I suck her needy little tongue into my mouth. We break apart only to rid ourselves of our suits before we crash together again, a frantic clash within the pool.
“Dagon,” she says my name like a plea. “I…I need you.”
“Fucking more than you know,” I growl as I haul her against me, situating her heat right above my cock. I pause there, hesitating as our eyes meet.
I can’t keep pretending this is just great chemistry.
I can’t keep burying how damn right she feels in my arms.
I can’t keep my heart from latching on to everything that is her.
Slowly, I help her sink atop me, inch by sweet inch, until she’s seated to the hilt.
“You’re amazing,” I say, holding us poised there. My heart races as I dip down to kiss her again, gentler this time. “You’re…”
Mine. I want to say it so fucking badly.
“Amazing,” I groan when she kisses me back, languid and intimate, slow and burning. As if we have all the time in the world to explore each other, to appreciate this connection. As if we don’t have a war waiting for us or enemies who would gladly use either of us to their advantage.
Annika moves atop me, drawing my focus right where it should be.
Her. Here. Now.
Mine.
“Dagon,” she says my name with a hint of demand. “Fuck me like you mean it.”
Lightning strikes down my spine at that mouth, and I plunge into her with all the force of need I possess. Her moan is a symphony as I do it over and over again. As her nails dig into my shoulders and she meets my every thrust, her thighs clenching around my hips as we crash together.
We cling to each other until there’s nothing but heat and pleasure, the rest of the world dying around us to an inconsequential thing.
We crash together until that connection between us is searing with the need for attention and acceptance.
And we don’t stop until neither of us can hold on a second longer, the two of us coming together like we’ve always been in sync.
A match.
We’re a match.
And I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.
“Annika…” I cup her face in my hand as I hold her against me, the two of us trembling. “Goddamn it,” I growl. “I love you.”
“I fucking love you too.” Annika smiles, huffing a laugh before her lips meet mine again. “Took you long enough.”
CHAPTER 16
Annika
“Yes,” I coo at the bundle in my arms. “You and I are going to be best friends for eternity.”
Selene coos up at me, and I melt a little more than I already have. I turn, smiling at my aunt from where she’s taking a much-needed break in the chair next to me.
“You hear that? She agrees,” I say.
“Of course she does,” Oliva says, grinning at her baby in my arms. My aunt looks a thousand times better than she did six weeks ago when Selene was born. Her cheeks are flushed, her eyes are bright, and she looks well fed. No doubt Ransom has been taking exceptional care of her and their daughter, as any mate would do.