Page 87 of The Bonds of Nyx

“I won’t let that happen,” I vowed. “There is nothing I won’t do to protect you, Ivy.”

She shuddered in my arms and sunk further into my hold. “I don’t understand how you can be so…sure of this.”

“This?” I asked carefully.

She glanced up at me with those wide, brown eyes, worry warring with what she could feel from me. “This—the bond. Elias is the same, and I don’t get it. You guys barely know me, and you’re ready to just—”

“We grew up knowing the power and the blessing of a mate bond, Ivy.” I pressed a tender kiss against her shoulder and recalled the stories I’d been told. My father used to tell me of the day he met my mother; he’d been part of a group from one of the other academies, spending a semester at the palace in the Hall of Records as part of his degree.

He told me that while logging newly found documents from the old world, he’d looked up, and there she was. He’d called her an Angel, wound in gold, with a halo of stars around her head. At that moment, he said the entire world had shifted, and heknewhe’d never be able to leave her side.

“We’re taught from a young age the importance of a mate bond,” I continued, absentmindedly stroking a hand up her body. “I grew up around what it’s like to be mated to the Queen. All the knights, my mother’s mates, are completely and utterlydevoted to her. They would die for her, give their body and soul to protect her, and would do anything to make her happy.”

Ivy hummed under her breath. “That sounds romantic,” she murmured, capturing my hand and entwining our fingers. “But is that what you really want, or what you think you want?”

I stiffened at the uncertainty in her voice. “Are you asking me this because ofhim?”

She swallowed audibly and shrugged, but she didn’t respond right away. Through the bond, she tugged mercilessly at her thoughts as she tried to respond but couldn’t form what she wanted to say.

“He and I—and Elias—aren’t the same,” I said gently, squeezing her hand. “I’vedreamedof a love as strong as my parents’. To grow up and know that I might never get that…And now, having you right here in my arms where I want you, do you really think I’m going to give you up?”

I don’t know, she whispered down the bond.

I’ve been on my knees begging for you since the moment we met,I replied.Every day I saw you, I wanted nothing but you. I took that coffee date as the Goddess herself telling me we were meant to be.

“We can still take this at a slow pace, right?” she asked aloud. “This doesn’t mean everything has to change right now?”

I pressed another kiss to her head. “We do this at any pace you like. But get used to the sex.”

She snorted and shook her head. “That can be managed.”

“You’re going to need Elias and me more now,” I warned. “We can share the load of your power, but you have to rely on us. Especially without—” I stopped and sighed. “My mother has already warned me of what your power will be like now. So, Elias and I are prepared.”

“Does your mother know about…him?”

“No.” I tightened my grip on Ivy as my magic rose like a beast in my chest at the thought ofhim.Her first mate, the man who abandoned her. Who only made himself known whenheneeded something. “We’ll warn her when we get to Avalon, but for now, it’s safer for you and us if no one else is aware of him.”

“Good.” She huffed and sat up, pulling out of my grip. Slowly, she turned so she was almost sitting across from me, but based on the coy smile playing on her lips, there was something else she wanted.

“I don’t want to talk about anything else,” she murmured, climbing into my lap and straddling my thighs. “I want to enjoy the post-bond haze before we have to help with any more planning.”

I grinned and felt her reach beneath the water to palm my cock. I was already hard, ready for her, and when she guided me to her entrance, I held my breath.

She slid down, inch by inch until she was impaled on me. Ivy threw her head back with a moan and rocked her hips, clamping around me with each gentle movement.

I guided each deliberate stroke, each slow rise and fall, keeping my hands on her hips as she controlled the pace. There was something intimate about watching her wield her power over me.

“You are so perfect,” I said, catching the gleam of desire in her eyes as she speared herself on my cock again. “You own me completely, Ivy Wilson.”

Her smile lit up her face. “You make me feel so good,” she moaned, grinding against me. “Adrian, I’m going to come.”

I lifted her and slammed her down, watching the euphoric glow of her magic ignite across her skin. Her core fluttered with the next thrust.

She whispered my name and dug her nails into my shoulders. Her voice flickered down the bond, and with that, I came undone.

When we finished, I cleaned her again and carried her to the bed, losing myself in the feel of her body around mine. I gathered the blanket around our naked bodies and pulled her into my chest, her head resting perfectly against the steady beat of my heart—a heart that belonged to her and only her.

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