Page 5 of Hers to Rule

He squeezed again, and she knew what he wanted immediately. She began moving her hips in long, slow strokes, fucking herself on his cock, her magic rising inside her like a dark tide she had no hope of holding back.

She let herself really enjoy the slick friction of his cock entering her body over and over, allowing the noises of pleasure to rise up and crest until she was sure they shook the windows and poured out into the yard. Cisco didn’t move beyond curling his fingers every so often to slightly adjust her angle. He let her desire run the show, and it made her feel so powerful in this moment that exposed her in a way she’d never been exposed before. She rode his entire length, picking up speed slowly and increasing the intensity until their bodies slapped together with every stroke. The power rising inside her felt too damned good.

“It’s so hot watching you take my dick like this.” His voice rumbled around her. “Like you were made for it.”

Her climax roared over her, inevitable as a tidal wave. She embraced the sensation, letting it crash over her and around her and through her. She knew those still out in the yard would feel the magic crest, and somehow, that felt exactly right.

Cisco took over when her movement stuttered as she clenched around him. He dug his hands into her ass and fucked her forcefully, grunting as he drove into her. He didn’t give her a moment of respite as he took his pleasure from her still quivering body. She collapsed back on the bed, and she moaned helplessly as he continued, unable to fight the surging of his powerful body any longer.

She held on for dear life. The only thing keeping her in her body was the feeling of his hands on her and the impact of his hips against her. She came again, the pleasure twisting and sharp, like she was being rent apart from the inside out. This time, she cried out, wordless and triumphant, though the sound was muted by the ringing of her ears. Her power finally fully unfurled, releasing into the network of wards that centered on the compound around them and into Cisco because he was in intimate contact with her.

The movement of his hips sent jolts of sensation and prickles of power into her. Still, her traitorous hips lifted to welcome him, unable to get enough of the feeling of him surging into her even though she was wrung out and getting sore. He held her fast, making her feel every inch of him as he drove into her repeatedly.

Plunging to the hilt one last time, he gripped her ass tightly as he groaned with his release. He tensed over her, his pulsing cock buried deep within her. When he recovered a few moments later, he leaned over her to claim her mouth with a long, slow kiss.

As the kiss lingered, her body started to respond to him again, her skin heating and her back arching. He pulled back slightly and grinned down at her.

Her nipples hardened as they rubbed against his chest. “Saints, how am I horny for you again already?”

He moved to cradle her face in one hand. “You’re a sex witch who hasn’t been able to properly exercise her libido. It’s to be expected.”

She leaned into his touch. “I can’t wait to feel all the ways you’re going to help me exercise it.”

He chuckled, low and dark. “Neither can I. But right now, I have a few things I need to go over with the guards to get ready for tomorrow.” He pulled the blanket around her, kissing her twice softly. “Wait here. I’ll send Rio in to keep you company.”

She tried to convince him to stay a while longer, and it almost worked, but he grumbled good-naturedly and wrapped a few more blankets around her before settling her in the middle of the bed. She watched him as he went into the bathroom to clean up a bit and splashed water over his head to calm his curls.

After buttoning his shirt, he stopped by the bed again on his way out. He kissed her upturned mouth with the longing of all the years they’d wanted each other somehow wrapped into it; filled with the promise of a lifetime of carnal pleasures ahead of them. When he began to pull away, she pressed her face into the base of his throat, inhaling the scent of him so she would never forget it: orange and spice. Some combination of hair product and cologne and him that she hoped she never unraveled. She snuggled down into the blankets with a smile as she watched him walk out the door.

Once she was alone, she reached out with her magic. She’d been afraid that without her father, her magic would no longer be harnessed properly, but she felt the lines of power humming around her, heavy and potent with what they had just released. Satisfied that the wards that protected this compound and the entire city weren’t going to collapse overnight, she relaxed back into the bed.

Chapter 3

After Cisco was gone, Rio stood in the doorway, not saying anything for a heartachingly long time, still staring off in the direction his gargoyle had gone.

“You can come in,” Mari said as gently as she could. Even so, he started when she spoke.

He moved like someone who wasn’t sure what to do with all his limbs, crossing toward the bed where she lay wrapped in the truly ridiculous number of blankets Cisco had bundled around her. Rio looked down at his hands briefly and then back up at her for an instant before glancing away again. “Cisco said I could sleep in here?”

The concerned look on his face tore her heart into a million pieces. She wondered how many pieces his was torn into to make him wear an expression like that. “You can.”

“You’re sure it’s alright?” He was so nervous his deep brown eyes had shifted to golden as they darted around the room. He probably wasn’t even aware of the change.

At first, she thought he was worried about what Cisco might do, but she quickly realized Cisco wasn’t who Rio was worried about hurting him. “Rio, look at me.” She waited for the eternity it took him to meet her gaze. “I would never punish you for doing something I told you to do. Never.”

All of the breath rushed out of him in a shaking sigh. “Gracias, princesa.”

Mari didn’t tell him not to call her that for the millionth time. She knew by now it would never work. “There’s no clothes allowed in my bed though.” She saw the quick calculation in his expression when he glanced over her quickly, and it made her smile when the tension in his body increased.

Rio started unbuttoning his shirt without taking his eyes from her. Mari didn’t let herself look away from the scars on his chest, no matter how much it hurt. He’d been an easy outlet for her father’s wrath, because hurting him hurt Cisco so much. She honestly had no idea how either of them had survived this long. They should have been broken by what her father had done to them, but they had hung on just long enough. She only hoped she could help put them back together again before they shattered.

He folded his shirt with great care, resting it on the table she indicated near the closet when he was done. His belt came next, and she shivered under the blankets at the rasping sound of it sliding out of the loops. All of his clothes were treated with the same immense respect and arranged perfectly on the table. When he was done, he stood while she inspected him.

Rio was a glorious specimen of a man, chiseled and honed to perfection in every detail, except for the scars. They faintly marked the golden-brown skin of his chest and thighs. It wasn’t easy to scar a shifter so extensively without killing them, but her father had managed with cruel patience and silver.

His black hair curled carelessly, a little too long to be properly styled but somehow looking exactly the right kind of messy. A day or two of stubble roughened his jaw and made him look even more vulnerable.

“Come here, beautiful,” she murmured as she untucked the blankets from around her body.

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