Page 129 of Until the Stars Fall

Reluctantly I pulled my eyes away and glanced around the dark room. “I seem to remember we left off with me on my back,” I said, turning to read the words etched across his skin.

Without warning, Connor hoisted me up in his arms, his hands supporting my backside. I wrapped my legs around his waist. Taking his face in my hands, I cupped his jaw and searched his golden eyes. What I hoped to see, I didn’t know. Maybe I wanted some sign that this wasn’t just my imagination run amok. Maybe I hoped I’d wake up and he’d really be lying beside me.

Stars be damned.Just enjoy this, Lieke!

I’d be awake soon enough, thrown back into my role of being temporarily engaged to a male who couldn’t even look at me. The Connor holding me here, though, was doing far more than that.

He claimed me, consumed me, threatened to undo me with nothing but his gaze.

“Wolfie?” I whispered, and part of me screamed in protest at my hesitancy.

Connor’s eyes roved over my face hungrily. “Yes, Sapphire?”

My mind blanked, and all words escaped me when his lips pulled back in a smirk.

Never mind.

I thrust my lips against his. Sliding my hands past his pointed ears, I kneaded my fingers through his hair as I ran my tongue along the seam of his still smirking lips, begging him to recreate the sensual dance of tongues we’d shared the night before. A moan thrummed in his throat, and I whimpered as his hands pulled me tighter against him. Then we were across the room. My back slammed hard against the stone wall.

Connor’s lips refused to release me. Pinning me to the wall, he pressed his hips against mine and eased his hands up to my waist and over my ribs. He continued kissing me slowly, leading me deeper into a blissful world where there were no alliances or rebels, no rules or pretenses. A world where we could be wrapped in each other, needing nothing more than moments like this.

But then his lips slipped away from mine, and fear flooded my heart. Holding my breath, I closed my eyes, not wanting to witness his inevitable regret and retreat again.

“Open your eyes, Sapphire,” he whispered, his breath warming my jaw as I obeyed. He pulled his face back just enough to catch my gaze, his golden-brown eyes shining with loyalty and devotion and promise and…a question. “I’m yours,” he said, “if you’ll have me.”

All I could manage was a nod before he was kissing me again, the first in a string of tender kisses that trailed along my jaw and down my neck. I dropped my head back against the wall as his soft lips caressed me and his tongue swept across my skin. Then his kisses became hungry. Dropping one hand back down to my thigh, he clasped the other onto my neck. Firmly, he held me captive to his ravenous lips, which continued to taste and explore inch after inch—down my neck, across my shoulder, along my collarbone. A whimper escaped my lips when his kisses turned to nibbles, his teeth nipping their way back up to my neck. I gasped as his teeth sank into the tender flesh above my collarbone, plunging me into a drunken ecstasy I never wanted to end.

My heart pounded in my ears, loud and urgent, when his lips found mine again. I needed him, needed more. Frantically, I dropped my hands. My fingers fumbled for his belt, and without pausing his kisses, he adjusted me in his arms to grant me access to what I craved. A low note of need rumbled in my chest as I gripped him, guiding him out of his trousers.

“Are you sure?” Connor whispered against my mouth. I laughed darkly, and he pulled away slightly.

“If I wasn’t, would I be doing this?” I asked as I slowly and greedily stroked him with my hand.

He groaned, his eyes darkening, and his fingers slipped beneath my undergarment to find me more than ready for him. With a wicked grin, he slid the thin fabric out of the way and inched his hips closer to me, teasing me for several tortuous breaths. When I pulled his lips back to mine, cradling his jaw in my palms, his hands lifted my hips and he pressed himself inside me so slowly I almost growled in my impatience. My eyes fell closed, and another moan of pleasure hummed in my throat. Each inch of himself he offered dragged me deeper into an epic bliss edged with pain and fear.

I rolled my body against his, shuddering with each thrust as he met my every move. When his lips found my breasts—his tongue and teeth and lips devouring each pebbled peak with slow, deliberate attention—my head fell back against the stones, and I looked up toward the stars. He lifted his face to mine and slipped his fingers deep into my hair, forcing me to stare into his eyes—eyes brimming with a warmth and desire that overtook my heart.

“You’re mine, Sapphire,” he said, his breathing ragged as we moved together. “And I’m yours. From here and now to forever and beyond, we are one.”

“Forever and beyond,” I breathed, nodding my agreement as tears clouded my vision.

Then his mouth was back on my throat, claiming me, consuming me as his hips pushed faster. Thrusting harder and deeper, pulling moan after blessed moan from my soul, he guided us together—as one—to that precipice among the stars—glimmering, dancing, falling around us. And then I was careening toward a blissful end I’d never imagined, made even more perfect because Connor was with me, for every breath, every heartbeat. We collapsed against one another, sighing. Our foreheads pressed together as our names graced each other’s lips, whispered with utterly satisfied breaths.

But as I looked into his eyes now, I realized the horrible truth.

I might never have this—never have him—outside of my dreams.

And this wasn’t enough.

After I awakened, I was restless and agitated, aching for something I couldn’t have. I couldn’t sit still in my room any longer. I needed to get out of here, get some fresh air into my lungs, get myself moving. The palace was still quiet as I made my way to the front door. When I stepped out into the chill morning air, I was greeted by the sound of approaching horses. My throat tightened when Matthias and the guards rode into view. The fae commander caught sight of me and turned his mare, dismounting before she’d come to a full stop.

“Is he okay?” Matthias asked, concern deepening the creases in his brow as he searched my face.

I swallowed hard, my mouth suddenly going dry. “I don’t know,” I finally managed to say.

Matthias’s eyes widened slightly. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

Images from last night’s dreams flashed into focus, and my throat tightened as the now-too-familiar feeling of rejection overwhelmed me. I took a slow breath and forced my voice to remain steady as I responded, “I haven’t seen him since we got back.”

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