Page 55 of Silent Lucidity

She fell back against the bedding, panting, until the tip of his tongue flicked toward the top of her sex and slid over a small, hardened nub. Her hips jerked upward, and she released a soft moan.

Tenthil glanced up over her body, between her pert breasts, to see her head tilted back, allowing him only a glimpse of her face—eyes closed, cheeks flushed, and lips parted. Her chest heaved with her rapid breaths. He wrapped his arms around her thighs and held them open as he licked the spot again.

She dug her nails into his scalp. “Yes! Right there, Tenthil.”

Abella’s pleasure sparked a new, prideful fire in his chest, making his desire burn hotter. He quickened his tongue, flicking it ruthlessly over and over against the nub that brought her so much delight. She writhed beneath him, grinding her sex against his mouth, her sweet cries permeating the room. He would never be able to bear silence again after hearing such a sound.

She released his hair, and her hand fell to grasp the covers.

He tightened his hold on her, unwilling to let her escape. He latched his lips onto that nub and sucked. Abella gasped, squeezing her eyes shut as her body tensed and her back arched off the bed. Her scent strengthened, and a rush of heat flowed from her. He relinquished his hold on that sensitive little bud to lap at her sex, drinking every drop of delicious nectar her body offered, and slipped his tongue inside her to take straight from the source. Her inners walls clenched and quivered.

Licking his lips, Tenthil pushed himself up on his arms and growled at the ache in his cock. He took hold of her hips and pulled her limp body toward him, guiding her legs around his waist. Her eyes, dark and hooded with desire, met his. Without a word, he moved over her, pressed his cock to her entrance, and plunged into her depths.

Abella gasped, digging her heels into his lower back as she tilted her head back.

For a moment, Tenthil held himself still. Blissful heat embraced his cock, her flesh smooth and soft but tight,sotight. The feel of her mouth and hand on his shaft had been sublime, but this was on an entirely new level; it was otherworldly, divine.

It was beyond his capability to put into adequate words.

Tenthil lowered his head and pressed his face against her neck. Flexing his hips, he pushed himself into her until he was fully sheathed by her sex. A low groan escaped him.

Abella’s arms slid around his sides to embrace him. Turning her head, she rubbed her cheek against his hair.

A fresh torrent venom dripped from his fangs, its sweetness miniscule compared to hers. Muscles tense, he bunched wads of the blanket in his fists and pushed himself up, easing his hips back. The slide of her inner walls around his shaft made him shudder in ecstasy; he’d never felt anything so good. As the rim of his cock’s head neared her entrance, he pushed forward again.

The change in direction altered the glide of flesh against flesh, creating powerful new sensations. He swallowed a mouthful of venom and stared down into her eyes as he continued moving at a slow, steady pace. The pressure building inside him made his muscles tremble.

She panted beneath him, lifting her hips to meet his every thrust. Each time their pelvises came together, their force increased infinitesimally, heightening the already overwhelming pleasure by an equal degree. Her eyelids drooped, but she held his gaze. She slid her hands up, over his arms and shoulders, to slip her hands into his hair again.

“Tenthil,” she whispered, her hold on him tightening as she moaned.

His senses overloaded in that moment—the feel of their coupling, the scent of her arousal, the taste lingering on his tongue, and the sight of her blissful expression combined with the sound of his name on her lips to become something new, something mind-shattering in its potency.

This is mine.Sheis mine.

Mine.

For an instant, his chest swelled, and all his muscles bulged simultaneously with a burst of untold strength. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t hear his heart beating. Then his head dropped, and his fangs, as though guided by an outside force, sank into the same place they had before—the intersection of her shoulder and neck. That sweet venom pumped into her as his hips bucked wildly, introducing a new, frantic pace to their joining. Her body welcomed him, her inner walls clamping around his shaft and pulling it ever deeper.

Ragged, bestial breaths tore from his burning lungs, each closer to a guttural grunt than the last. The metallic tang of her blood crossed his tongue; it urged him on harder, faster.

She was his, and she would know it. The whole city would know it.

Abella tensed around him. She dropped her hands and buried her nails in his shoulders, releasing a choked cry as her sex tightened, its inner muscles fluttering maddeningly around his cock. Hot nectar poured from her, bolstering the scent in the air, amplifying his ever-growing need. Her cries escalated in pitch and volume with each of his thrusts.

He pushed harder and faster still; he needed to leave his mark on her, inside and out, needed to brand her as his and his alone. He needed to show her this was what she wanted—what sheneeded—as well.

His sack tightened, and something in the pit of his stomach lurched. For an instant, his limbs threatened to give out, and a sound rose from his chest to catch in his throat. The immense pressure within him threatened to tear him to pieces, would leave nothing of him when it was done. During that moment—an eternity in his mind—he teetered on the edge of a precipice both familiar and unknown, a point from which there was no return. A point from which he neverwantedto return.

Tenthil lifted his mouth from her neck and exploded with a roar that sounded from the deepest part of his soul. His mind fragmented, and its pieces careened across the universe, finding Abella everywhere—all her, only her. His seed filled her, and her body demanded more, more, more, milking him dry. He complied, bucking his hips despite all his muscles locking at once.

He growled what must’ve been her name—it was the only word he knew, the only word that mattered.

He wasn’t sure how much time passed as his racing heart calmed and his breathing eased. Abella’s breath, sweet and warm, fanned over his sweat-dampened chest. He turned his face into her hair and inhaled. Their mingling scents forced a swift wave of possessiveness through him.

Abella gently stroked his shoulders and back with her hands, her touch as soothing as it was arousing. He flexed his hips, burying himself deeper inside her, and she moaned, squeezing her thighs around his hips. He didn’t want to leave this spot. For this little while, they could be as one. It was a feeling he’d never experienced, had never imagined possible, and a small part of him feared he would never have it again once this ended.

He lifted his head and slid his fingers into her hair, tilting her face toward his to meet her tired but sated gaze. “You are mine, Abella,” he rasped. “Forever.”

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