Page 61 of A Sky of Emerald Stars

His tongue licked into my mouth, pulling a moan from me as his free hand skimmed up my wet body. I shoved him away,growling, one last fleeting attempt, but when he just stood there, waiting for me to decide if this is what I truly wanted, I knew I was done with these games. Panting, I reached for him, practically willing his body into mine. He found the clasps at my shoulders and pulled the pins free, pulling the wet fabric down my body without breaking our kiss. I stepped out of my wet dress, pulling open the V of his shirt and then ripping it the rest of the way.

He laughed against my mouth as his shirt hit the ground with a wet splat. He lifted me up by my ass, my back sliding up the tiles and my legs hooking around his hips. He unbuckled his belt and freed himself as I ground myself into his belly, writhing and desperate.

His hands found my hips and he stilled me. “I love you,” he said, forcing me to meet his eyes. “Even if I shouldn’t. Even if it makes no sense. I love you, Sadie. Every song in my soul sings your name.”

My hands gripped Navin tighter, desperate for this feeling to deepen even further, knowing exactly how I wanted to take him. I still feared the truth of everything I was feeling, but I needed his body so desperately it was going to drive me mad.

“And you love me,” Navin rumbled, the claiming in his voice making me ache with desire.

His cock was poised below me, waiting, and I couldn’t bear the anticipation, needing all of him. I let out a snarl as I moved against him, wanting to be filled and hating him for his cursed patience. He’d wait all night for me to acknowledge his words just to torture me. I knew he would, knew he saw all the ways I still pushed him away.

“I hate you!” One last protest. One last vestige of strength but my grip was slipping.

“No. You don’t.” He rocked his hips, the tip of him rubbing against me, zapping me with such acute pleasure it felt like a lightning strike.

“Yes—”

“No,” he said quietly, but with a strength like the rumbling thunder. If he put me down right now, my legs would not hold me. But he wasn’t putting me down. He would do this forever. Hold me and tease me and get what he wanted from me. He’d told me he loved me and he knew I loved him back.

And I cursed him and thanked him in equal measure for making me say it, making me face the torrent of undeniable emotions inside. He and I both knew there would be no coming back from this moment. Might as well lay it all bare.

“Yes,” I moaned, my hand finding his cock and positioning him at my entrance.

His eyes guttered, a groan pulling from his throat, but he didn’t move. “Yes, what?”

I looked up at the tiled ceiling, droplets tracing down my skin between us, my chest heaving, and I prayed to the Moon Goddess to forgive me as I said, “Yes, I love you.”

He thrust up into me, cutting off my words in a sharp moan. The pain that had been in my heart shattered as his claiming pulled me apart and put me back together. My head rolled back, leaning against the tiled wall, as I reveled in the sensation of him, so deep, so full. My thighs quivered around him. Gods, he felt so good. He pulled out slowly inch by inch and slid back in, stretching me each time in the most delicious way. I didn’t think humans could fuck as good as Wolves, but I was very,veryhappy to be mistaken.

I let out a high-pitched whine and dug my fingernails into his back. Tilting my hips, riding him as he drove back into me. My breasts bounced with each thrust and Navin dropped his head to suck one hardened nipple into his mouth. I cried out, the feeling making everything happening between my legs even more heightened. My fingers delved into his wet hair and held him to my breast as he tested my nipple with his teeth and then sucked again.

“Yes,” I panted, and his hips moved faster. I slid up and down the tiles, completely at his mercy as he impaled me onto himagain and again. I clawed down his back, desperately hanging on as he drove harder and deeper, hitting that spot inside me that made my eyes cross and my moan catch in my throat.

“Sadie,” he groaned against my breast, and I knew by the erratic movements of his hips he was close and just that thought alone pushed me higher toward my own release.

One hand strayed from my ass, shifting to my throbbing clit. One long finger snaked between us and he began circling me. The sensations were too much. I was practically scrambling up the wall away from the building power of my orgasm. I clawed up Navin’s back as he pumped into me faster, that finger circling my swollen bud. With a broken cry, I came.

Lightning flashed outside, mirroring the bright lights shooting within me. My body clenched around Navin, pulling his own climax from him. He dropped his forehead to my shoulder and groaned even as his finger kept circling me, kept chasing my own rolling release. My body felt heavy and light, shattered and whole, everything in me pulling apart and mending back together as I came down from that euphoric high.

When my limbs fell limp to my sides and my head dropped to Navin’s shoulder, he stepped away from the wall, cradling me to him while still inside me. His hand trailed down my back, his other cupping my ass as he carried me down the hall and into his bedroom.

All I kept thinking wasthe rain is magic, the rain is magic, the rain is magic...

Sadie

Sunlight peeked through the windows of Navin’s room. My head lay upon his bare chest as I listened to his steady, sleepy heartbeat. We lay across the couch built into the floor. It was positioned between a row of marble columns that propped up the frescoed ceiling. Behind us was a bed so large it could easily sleep five people, dotted with satin pillows and embroidered blankets. To think Navin spent most of his time sleeping in a cramped bunk in Galen den’ Mora... Thisrefugelooked built for a king.

Navin dropped a kiss to the top of my head, his hand trailing lazily up and down my bare back. I felt sated, smug, and more than a little confused. The sun had risen but I wasn’t ready to pick back up my weapons. There were things we did, things we said, that we could never turn back from now. I didn’t want to go back to pretending. It was too late to pull away, only forge ahead.

“Should I prepare the tea?” Navin asked as he idly explored my skin with his mouth and hands.

“Wolves don’t need the tea,” I said with a sigh, curling my toes and stretching my arms above my head. “We have our own ways of preventing unwanted pregnancies. The last thing either of us needs is a half-wolf running around.”

“I’d never really thought about it before. Children,” he corrected, “not half-wolves.”

I chuckled. “Galen den’ Mora doesn’t seem like the most practical option.”

“Nor does the life of a soldier,” he said, and I bobbed my chin in agreement.

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