Page 120 of Shattered & Returned

“Look at me.” Her voice was a firm command, and I obeyed, playing the role. Her eyes were wild, pupils hazy with lust and something darker. Power. “You’remine.”

“Always,” I rasped through her grip on my throat. “In every lifetime. Every realm. Yours.”

Her grip tightened, stealing my breath. My vision blurred at the edges, but I didn’t resist. Every sting from her hands was a gift. Too soon, she released me, oblivious to the fact that death couldn’t claim me. I exhaled sharply, the way her sex clenched around me driving me over the edge.

“Good answer,”she panted, still riding me with reckless abandon.“Because I’m never letting you go.”

I hauled her against me, my teeth claiming the curve of her breast. Her scream ripped through the room, her nails scoring my skin.

“My turn, babe.” My palm cracked against her ass, the sound echoing off the walls.

She retaliated instantly, fisting my hair and wrenching my head back. Her mouth found my throat—teeth, tongue, and white-hot possession.

“Harder,”she demanded, hips grinding down on me.“You might not believe it, but I won’t break.”

I gave it to her. I flipped her beneath me, one hand pinning her wrists above her head while the other closed around her throat. I squeezed as I drove into her, watching her eyes roll back in ecstasy. That trust—letting me control her breath, her pleasure—was an offering.

A surrender.

“Pain defines us,” I growled in her ear.“But you—you make me remember why life matters.”

I was the death god, and I loved her more than anything.

She wrapped her legs around me, using the leverage to meet my brutal thrusts. Words had long since deserted us; now there were only gasps, moans, the slick friction of skin on skin.

She slid down my torso, palms braced against my chest, then took me inside her again. A whimper escaped her as she arched against my size, the sound melting into a moan of pure satisfaction. She rode me savagely, her body rising and falling in a frantic rhythm.

I yielded control, letting her take what she needed. She was my eternal mate, even if she didn’t yet know it. There was nothing I wouldn’t give her.

I drove up into her, meeting her wildness with my own.

I felt her pleasure as if it were mine. Her eyes glazed over as I cupped her breasts, pinching her nipples just shy of too hard, walking the thin edge between pain and ecstasy.

“Oh stars,”she moaned.“I missed home. I missed you, my king.”

I went still. She had spoken in the tongue of Underworld.Is she remembering?

I waited, breath trapped in my lungs, my heart nearly escaping my ribcage, but she said nothing more.

“What did you just say, baby?”I coaxed, keeping my voice soft and careful, though every muscle was coiled tight.“Say it again.”

She blinked in confusion, then shook her head as if clearing a haze. I wanted to push, to pry the truth loose—but I couldn’t.

“I don’t know,”she murmured.“I’m sorry. It was just nonsense. You’ve made me lose my mind.”

“It’s alright, love.”I pulled her to me, comforting her with a kiss while she rode my cock.

Then suddenly, there was a note of wrongness, a split-second warning, before the windows exploded.

A tornado ripped through the night, tearing the roof away. Glass shattered like falling stars. Wind and rain lashed inward, howling.

My thoughts burned sharp, lightning-quick.

Ambush.A strike this precise required power only Olympians could wield—multiple major gods, relics, spells woven together. And one unforgivable truth hit me:someone in my circle had betrayed me.

Dante?

Orren?

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