Page 210 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

Tessa held her breath, waiting to see what he was going to do next, the tension so thick between them, she could taste it. Holding her stare, his thumb slid along her entrance again, gathering her slickness before moving up to circle her clit. Her whimper was almost pained.

“You know what I want to hear, Tessa,” he said, his voice a dark rumble she felt vibrate through her.

She shook her head in refusal.

A soft, dark smile curled on his lips. “One day you will say it.”

“How can you still possibly believe that?” she gasped when he circled his thumb again.

“Because it’s more than a bond.”

Then she was crying out as he sank two fingers inside her, but it was quickly muffled by his hand sliding over her mouth. “I love hearing you, beautiful, but we have to keep it down.”

She tried to glare, but couldn’t muster it as he pumped his fingers in and out again. Her eyes rolled back, pleasure coursing through her, and she rocked into him, seeking more. Her magic thrashing to reach for him, the bond was intensifying everything.

“I will never tire of watching you take what you want from me,” he murmured, something akin to awe shining in his eyes.

“More pretty words,” she breathed.

“When will you realize I never lie to you?” The addition of a third finger kept her from answering as his hand muffled another cry. “I’ve come to collect what is mine. Give it to me, Tessa.”

She shattered around him, giving him exactly what he’d demanded from her. No thinking. No plotting. No secrets. Just pure pleasure. Just pure existing.

When she came down from her high, her brow was pressed to his chest, and he tilted her chin up to claim her mouth once more. He acted as if he thought he’d never get to do this again.

Maybe he was right.

“You’re my source,” she panted against his lips.

“Are you finally claiming me as yours, beautiful?” he asked between the small kisses he was peppering along her jaw.

She shook her head. “You’re my source of everything I hate.”

He went utterly still, pulling back to peer at her. “Tessa, I?—”

But he stopped when she pressed a finger to his lips to silence him.

“You are my source of everything I hate about this realm, but you are also my source of the things I crave. You are the source of what broke me, but you are also the source of what saved me. You are the source of my fury, but you are also the source ofevery dark desire. You are the source of what I have become, but you are also a source of complete acceptance of who that person is. You are the source of my own self-discovery, and how twisted is that, Theon?” she demanded, his emerald eyes staring back at her with a mixture of shock and tenderness. “How wrong is it that you are the source of everything that has happened these last weeks, months—that I loathe you so deeply in my soul—yet here I am?” Her power flared, lighting up the alcove where his darkness swirled around them. He sucked in a sharp breath at their magic mingling. “How wrong is it that I am light, and yet I crave the dark?”

“Because you are light and dark, Tessa,” he said, resolve sounding in each word. “You need both to have balance.”

“I do not understand how I can hate someone so much and still want them,” she went on. “You are the source of every confusing thought and frustrating want.”

“The bond makes things?—”

“It’s more than a bond,” she interrupted, her frustration climbing as she said those words, knowing they would damn her. Her next words were a whisper. “It’s always been more than a bond.”

She heard his sharp inhale of breath a second before he was gripping the back of her thighs and lifting her off her feet. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he rocked into the cradle of her hips. His cock strained against his pants, pressing to her center, and she moaned into his neck.

“I don’t understand it,” she said, the words raw and agonized. “I don’t understand any of it.”

“I know, Tessa,” he murmured. “I’m trying to find the answers for you.”

“You mean for you,” she panted when he rocked into her again.

“No, little storm. I mean exactly what I said. Foryou.”

“Why?”

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