Page 37 of The Discovered
“I hate seeing these.” His eyes met mine, staring at me deeply, probingly. “I would never hurt you, Áine. Well, maybe if you wanted me to.”
I raised a brow. “Kinky.”
He chuckled as he pulled off his shirt. “Is that what the humans call it?”
I nodded, in a daze. I just wanted him to touch me again. I had never wanted anything more.
In one quick movement he picked me up again and moved me to the center of the bed. He straddled me. After first kissing my mouth, he trailed light kisses down my neck then moved lower to my collarbone, and then my breasts, tugging lightly at my skin with his teeth. I moaned softly, and as I reached to touch his hair, he grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head. My breath caught in my throat as he kissed just next to my lips, teasing me.
“Don’t move,” he growled. He stared at me until I nodded, biting my lip. The corners of his turned up.
I felt myself falling under his spell, unconvinced there wasn’t real magick at play here. Why else did I hang on his every command? As if he was the one tethering me to this realm—this universe.
He undid the clasp of my skirt, a guttural noise escaping his lips as I arched my back to help him as he tugged it down my legs and threw it to the floor. I didn’t dare move my hands from their place above my head, as if he had physically restrained them there. This made me remember his strange comment about power:
Power is a social contract between you and others. It can be exchanged, given, and taken at your will. What good is your magick if you don’t desire to wield it on me?
And I now understood what he meant. I wouldn’t wield my magick against him for the same reason I wouldn’t move my hands until he told me I could.
He unclasped my bra. “You can move, little witch.”
This was also the first time I thought the pet name was sweet rather than condescending. I helped him get me out of the last of my clothes and watched as he shrugged out of his jeans. His body was captivating, with tight, defined muscles spanning every inch.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said. “Every inch of you.”
“Funny, I was just thinking the same about you.”
He moved back on top of me, trailing his fingers down the length of my body until they reached their ultimate target. He moved his fingers slowly, sending waves of pleasure that were never quite satisfying enough and left me yearning for more.
I was always yearning for more with Daelon.
“Please,” I breathed against his lips.
“Please what?” His other hand stroked the side of my face, and I leaned into his touch.
“I want you.”
“No, Áine,” he said, the domineering tone of his voice was juxtaposed with the smile that played at his lips. “Not yet. We’re making memories, remember?”
I frowned. The point of that conversation wasn’t just about creating amazing moments with my mothers, it was also about the way those memories haunted me after the good times faded into grief and emptiness. We barely knew each other, and I already feared the void that Daelon could leave in my life when this all inevitably crumbled away.
“What is it?” Daelon stopped his teasing, searching my eyes. “Show me.”
I hesitated, but then grasped his forearm and let the feeling pass from me to him. It was so intimate, even more so than being naked underneath him, to let this emotion pass from my mind to his.
His face fell for a moment as he received my psychic message, but he soon shifted back into seductive, in-control, and alluring. “Counterpoint,” he said softly, pressing his hand into my cheek.
A different impression flooded my system, one that was teeming with reddish hues of desire, but also… devotion. This fortress of energy was built for the sole intent of keeping me safe. It was nearly overpowering—teeming with warmth and sincerity—but it was also strikingly thirsty for control. He justcouldn’tlose me, not when he’d already lost so much. He’d never wanted to hold on to anything more, like I was his anchor in a turbulent, murky sea.
Beneath his dominance lay a kind of desperation. He was desperate for me to know how much he wanted to shield me from the cold, the dark, the painful—his devotion to protecting me at all costs—and those costs felt great, almost insurmountable. What he felt for me mirrored what I saw in him, definitive and beyond reason, because we reminded each other of something we had lost and missed dearly, pulled together by a force that transcended conscious understanding.
This energetic kaleidoscope of color, thought, and emotion passed through my mind quickly, and began to ease my doubts.
“Yes,” I said. “That is an excellent counterpoint.” I couldn’t stop my staring, and I could’ve sworn a flash of raw vulnerability passed through my fierce protector’s eyes. I didn’t think he was used to sharing his energy with anyone, not with his fortress of shields. But he knew how much I craved it. He knew how much I wanted to see him—all of him.
He kissed my forehead. “Now, where were we?”
I smiled. Whatever lay between us wasn’t just lust. It ran much deeper, and despite it all, I needed it to. I needed an anchor of my own.
