Page 36 of Claiming Pretty

I kissed him back just as fiercely, my fingers digging into his clothes, trying to tear them off, trying to strip away every last thing left between us.

It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t sweet. It was fire and fury, a battle of need and raw emotion.

We fell onto the bed, pushing and pulling at each other as we fought to strip each other down, both of us trying to claim the other.

Our naked bodies collided, and the tension was electric, dark and all-consuming. Every nerve in my body was alive, buzzing with an intensity that made me feel like I might come apart at the seams.

The guilt, the confusion, the lingering feelings for Ty—they all slipped away and the world narrowed to just us.

This raw, electric naked connection. This dark bond.

Ciaran’s lips only left mine to kiss down my neck to my breasts. He sucked at my nipples, the need tightening inside me to almost desperation, making me claw at his back with my nails.

“I painted this town red trying to get you back,” he rasped as he ran his fingers along my soaked slit, teasing my entrance.

I let out a cry and rocked my hips to him, begging formore. I was already too far gone. I didn’t need foreplay. I neededhim. Inside me. Now.

I stroked his cock, reveling in the weight of it, the thickness and heat.

“You killed Dr. Vale,” I whispered as I positioned him at my entrance.

“Yes,” he said, thrusting into me without hesitation, filling me, consuming me—taking up all the space in my heart once more.

We both groaned against each other’s mouths.

Fuck. My body and my heart felt like they were on the verge of exploding, every feeling—relief, pain, love, desperate need—hitting me all at once.

“And Liath’s father,” I said on a choke as my emotions threatened to overcome me.

He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look right into his eyes as he thrust into me again. “Yes.”

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, but I didn’t look away.

This man, my Scáth, had left a trail of blood and destruction in his wake for me. And yet, as wrong as it was, I couldn’t stop the surge of love that filled my chest.

This felt right. He felt right.

“And the other missing girls… you made their fathers disappear,” I said on a moan as I wrapped my legs around his waist to pull him in deeper.

“Yes,” he said again, each word punctuated with a thrust, his voice a brutal blend of pride and pain. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

I crushed my lips against his, my hands tangling in his hair as his grip on my hip tightened and he fucked me like I was his lifeline, like he couldn’t breathe without me.

“Fuck,” he growled, “I missed your tight little cunt. The way you grip me.”

“Please,” I whispered, my hips pushing back against him becoming frantic as my thighs trembled. “I’m so close.”

He held himself over me with one hand, wrapping his other around my throat, firmly but not enough to cut off my oxygen. Not enough for what I needed.

He slowed his thrusts so he could hold me on the edge. “Say my fucking name.”

“Scáth.”

“Myname, Ava.”

“Ciaran.”

“Fuck, yes.” His fingers tightened, my head spinning as the edges of my vision whitened. “You aremine. Say it.”

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