Page 8 of Hers to Claim

Oh, how she wanted it. How she hungered for it. She knew how satisfying it would be. Howsweet.

Her body clenched with the need for it. She looked down at Rio. His head was thrown back, a moan falling from his lips. Somehow, she knew the magic required for what she needed. Without conscious thought, she started to twine her power around him, the tendrils of it blue and smokey.

Flexing this other part of her felt so good, like scratching an itch she just couldn’t reach until exactly this moment.

When she glanced over her shoulder at Dohal, the approval and desire were naked in what she could see of his expression. Suddenly, she doubted the intentions of the urge that filled her.Whatever it was she was about to do might really hurt Rio, and she had sworn to herself that she would never do that.

She shook her head, pulling her magic back, curling it back into herself. The backlash stung enough that she flinched. “I won’t.”

“Perhaps you need a more sturdy lover who can sate the monster inside you.”

That felt like the truth, like exactly what she’d felt in that moment when her magic had almost gotten away from her. “Are you volunteering?”

A dark chuckle wrapped around her, filling her with his arousal, thick and heady. “What you need I can’t give you. But perhaps there are others who can.”

“And what is it that you think I need?”

His smile was slow and sultry. “Sacrifice.”

When the long, sibilant final syllable left his decadent lips, she shattered. Her orgasm threw her from the vision—or visitation—back into normal time. As the pleasure overwhelmed her, she fell forward, gripping Rio’s chest.

He jolted as her magic coursed through him, tensing as his own climax pulled him under. She shuddered as the aftershocks continued to move through her, knowing how close she’d come to doing something unforgivable. Leaning down to kiss him, Mari rocked her hips to coax a groan from him. She drank in his desire for her, trying to soothe the thing inside her that still craved more.

“Spirits,” Rio said with a chuckle when she finally moved to rest her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her to hold her close. “That was the biggest surge yet.”

She nuzzled his neck. “Dohal came to me again.”

Rio grunted. “He really does have quite the sense of timing.”

“He says I call to him.”

He trailed one hand over her back slowly. “Do you think that’s true?”

She’d been trying to figure that out, but hadn’t come to any real conclusions. “I have no idea. Possibly? There’s definitely something in me that responds to him.”

Rio reached for her chin and gently turned her face to meet his eyes. “You don’t sound excited about that.”

Guilt made her chest tight, but she knew she couldn’t keep this from him. He trusted her to take care of him, and part of that was admitting when something like this happened. “I think he wanted me to do something with my magic that would have hurt you.”

His eyebrows drew down. “Are you sure? You’ve never done anything to hurt me before.”

“This was different. It came from a different place. It felt—I don’t know—primal?”

“I don’t mind a little pain.” He showed her a breathtaking smile. “Most of the time I even like it.”

“I’ve never played with anyone that way, and I’m certainly not going to start with you.” Her hand drifted over his chest where scars marked his skin. Her father had harmed him so badly that the idea of doing anything that might remind him of that experience turned her stomach. “Plus, I have no idea what I’m doing with my magic at the best of times.”

“Cisco could teach you. The non-magic part at least.”

“And maybe Pricilla could help me figure out where the magical urges are coming from?”

“That sounds like a solid plan.” Rio leaned to kiss her forehead. “And it sounds like you’re feeling better.”

“You always make me feel better. That’s your magic.” She tilted her chin to kiss him, sweetly at first, and then with more fervor. She slid her hands up his arms, moving them so they were above his head, her fingers interweaving with his. His cocksurged eagerly to life between them once more. He purred when she rubbed against him. She decided that further discussions could wait until later, after she had shown him her appreciation at least once more, maybe twice more.

“It looks like I’m interrupting something.”

They glanced up to find Cisco standing in the doorway, watching them with the sharp gaze of a predator.

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