Page 26 of The Last Heir of Elsewhere

11

SCION

THE WAYWOODS

Ifelt the moment my self-control splintered. It shattered like glass all around me, and I couldn’t remember why I had been denying myself in the first place.

I wasn’t thinking about mating bonds, or politics, or responsibility as I ducked my head and wrapped my lips around her perfect breast. I swirled my tongue against her nipple, sucking, and nipping, and she moaned, her head tipping back.

I had no thoughts except for her, and how sweet she tasted, and how much I wanted to both own and be owned by her when I gripped the backs of her thighs and drove my hips forward, taking every inch of her with my cock.

Lonnie made a strangled sound, neither a moan nor a scream, and stared directly at me, her huge brown eyes locked on mine.

My breath caught. Thoughts came flooding back, and I waited for half a second, pulsing inside her, wondering if something should happen. If I should feel different, or be filled with some sense ofknowing.Or even if I should drop dead on the spot.

Nothing happened.

I drew a long, sharp breath as realization flooded me in waves, crashing over me all at once. Except, it was not the realization of any bond, but rather, of my own fucking feelings. Of everything I’d been blind to.

I had her wrapped around my cock with a brand on her shoulder and my blood on her tongue and in her veins, yet I was still breathing. That could only mean one thing: Lonnie was not my mate. She was not fated for me.

Until now, I hadn’t realized that part of me thought she was.

I had thought that was why I could never manage to kill her, why she had bothered me to the point of obsession from our very first meeting, why I had felt willing to sacrifice my entire family to be with her.

There was no intervention of the gods, no magic drawing me in, which could only mean that I loved her. I was in love with her, and I had no excuse for it.

“Please,” she begged, writhing her hips against me, asking me to move inside her.

In a matter of seconds, my elation transformed into rage, almost as if someone had flicked a switch. I was angry at myself for falling into this trap, and at the gods for cursing me, and at Lonnie for being the cause of all my misery.

I shook slightly from the effort of not moving, and I wrapped my fingers around her hair, yanking her head to the side to bare her neck. My teeth sank into the soft skin of her throat.

I gripped her chin, not letting her turn away from me as I held her there, trapped between my chest and the wall, with ropes of shadows binding her arms.

“Please…” she said again.

I couldn’t bear to look at her like this. Couldn’t see that it was only the bloodlust and adrenaline causing her expression and nothing else. I couldn’t let her see anything in my face that would reveal the depth of my obsession.

I let her feet fall to the floor and spun her around until her cheek pressed into the rough wooden wall of the barn. She raised her hands above her head, laying her palms flat, and arched her back, seeking contact.

I pressed my body against hers, and slid sharply into her in a single stroke. She gasped and her back arched as I entered her deeply. A soft moan escaped her lips.

Shadows swirled, covering every part of her skin I couldn’t reach with my fingers, skating over her nipples and lower to graze the skin of her lower belly.

The faint scent of smoke seemed to fill the room, hot and suffocating, but I ignored it. Bringing my hand down hard against her ass, I smiled when she cried out and her scream was cut short by the rising shadows covering every part of her I couldn’t reach.

A sharp crack echoed behind me, the sound of splintering wood breaking through the heavy rhythm of my thrusts. But I didn’t bother to turn my head as I reached around, my fingers finding her clit, and rubbed up and down in punishing strokes. She shook, every muscle quaking.

I smacked her ass again, harder this time, and she screamed into the wall, all her muscles tightening around me.

“Fuck,” I hissed.

I dug my fingers into her hips and my vision went white. I let my head fall forward into her tangled hair, and didn’t let up as I came, filling her completely.

We stood, panting, for a full minute before I became truly aware of the scent of smoke filling the room. I slid out of her and turned around, before my eyes widened in shock.

Thick smoke billowed into the room, blinding and choking me. Through the haze, I could hear the ominous creaking of collapsing wood above us. Suddenly, a massive beam snapped and split, sending sharp splinters raining down.

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