Page 54 of The Storm of the Empire

“It’s a compliment.” I squeezed around him, lifting up on my knees before taking him slowly back in. I loved every single reaction from him.

He dropped his face to my neck, kissing and sucking while his hands explored my body. He touched me like I was a work of art.

“Fuck.” He forced me down hard while his cock pulsed deep inside me, filling me.

I rode out his release, taking all of him until we were both spent.

EIGHTEEN

LUKA

We laid tangled in each other on her bed as the storm rolled over us, but we couldn’t stay there forever. We had to get dressed to go and find Alora and her egg.

Watching Hazel slide into her leathers was enough to make my own uncomfortable. I groaned, shoving myself down to lace my pants. She smiled when she noticed and moved towards me.

“Oh, no you don’t,” I said, trying to sidestep her. “If you start that again, we will never leave.”

She reached forward to straighten the front of my tunic for me, though, not undress me again. Which was more of a disappointment than a relief. Then, as her fingers slid down to the center of my collar, she hissed and snatched her hand away.

“What’s wrong?” I gasped, realizing with a start that my pendant had heated up against my skin.

“Something burned me.” She rubbed at her hand.

“I think it was this.” I held the pendant out by the chain, not wanting to touch the hot vial.

She grabbed the chain, staring into the vial.

“What are you doing?” I tried to pull away, but the chain around my neck didn’t allow me to with her hold on it.

“Let me get a look at it. Hold still.” She did her best to hold it up to the light and scowled at it for long moments.

“It’s just a pendant,” I hedged, knowing after Zaria’s experience, it was slightly more than that. But I’d lived a good life with no magic, and I didn’t have some mate hunting me down, so what was the point of rocking the boat? It was my only connection to my past. I’d left everything else behind, and whether it was sentiment or fear, I had no interest in taking it off. This burning thing was new, though.

“Do you know what’s in there?” she asked. Her tone was almost accusing.

“Some kind of sand glass, I think. Zaria had one, too. We all did at the compound. It’s supposed to represent our connection to the Goddess.”

“Draco Fulgurite?” she asked hesitantly.

“Something like that.”

Hazel muttered a litany of curses. “We need to get this off you,” she said, tugging at the chain.

“Hey, no. I’ll keep it on, thanks.” It made me sick to think about taking it off.

“Luka, this is a problem. It’s imbued with the power of the storm. It disrupts magic. It should never be worn—especially not by someone not native to storm.”

“It’s fine, though, because I don’t have magic to disrupt.” I reached up and grabbed it from her, but as we both had our hands on it, a pulse blasted through the space between us. I staggered. The only thing that kept me from keeling over was her grip on me. Flashes buzzed behind my eyes, a million blips and images none of which made any sense, and they crushed in on me until I was completely lost.

“Luka!” Hazel called, panic pitching her voice higher. I couldn’t make out her face in the chaos.

I blinked, and when my vision cleared, I found I was looking up into her worried face. I didn’t know how I got on the ground, but I was laid out on the floor beside her bed while my brain tried to push its way out of my skull from the inside.

Hazel leaned over me. “What was that?”

I groaned.

“Luka?”

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