Page 79 of Exquisite Monster
“Yes,” I said again. “Yes.”
Sirrus appeared at my side, lying across the rocks with me, taking my mouth in a kiss that could set us all on fire. Deeper than I thought possible. He traced lines of delicate heat over my skin, the mere touch warming me, teasing me, driving me higher.
It had been too long. It didn’t take much to make me fall into absolute bliss. I arched off the rocks, breaking our kiss and glimpsing the last traces of pink and purple and orange disappearing from the sky. Pleasure that left me breathing hard, but wasn’t nearly enough.
My hesitation was a dam that had been broken and now I needed more. Needed everything.
Come here, mate. Endre’s command had me shivering with desire. I went. He sat in the water, arms spread along the rocks like he had no cares in the world. But he reached for me when I approached him, arranged me over his legs where he was hard and waiting, but not yet moving.
My fingers wet his hair as I ran them through it. Endre closed his eyes, the simple pleasure of being touched by me ringing in the space between us. “I missed everything,” he whispered. “Even this.”
I swallowed, hoping all the emotions I still had carefully caged weren’t going to make another appearance. “When we—” I shook my head. It was so much more than my outburst today and the nameless fear that sat wedged between my lungs. The absence—the separation—right after our bonding would leave a mark. I didn’t know how long it would take to heal, if it ever truly would.
“I didn’t even realize how much I missed you until you were back,” I said. “It was like my body and soul were suddenly able to relax, and I hadn’t even known they were tense. I missed everything too.”
When Endre moved, he brought us together slowly. I didn’t know if it was because of how long we’d spent apart, or if it would always feel like a miracle. No matter what, I savored the feeling of him entering me, shivers of pleasure both heralding more and echoing into softness.
More than anything, the feeling ofcompletenessthat flowed through our bond nearly made me burst into tears all over again.
He kissed me, taking the words and our pain and guiding me toward that breathless, writhing bliss they always managed to pull out of me. And now that they could feel exactly what I did?
My voice echoed off the walls of the cave and out over the open sea.
The color drained from the sky, leaving us in near darkness. Moonlight painted the beach, but not enough. The second I opened my eyes, I shut them again, burying my face in Endre’s neck, fear clawing at my insides.
“I shouldn’t be afraid of this. She helped me survive.”
Endre slowly pulled out of me and helped me out of the pool and into the quickly cooling air. “Because of Skalisméra, we are used to being beneath the earth. But it will be a long time before I can truly summon my fire once more. Not without sickness soon following. If I see chains, or smell the dryness of the desert, I have no doubt I will feel the same.”
Instead of taking the dark stairs back up to the tower, we walked out onto the sand together. Zovai shifted and carried me up,dropping me just in time to catch me out of the air and sweep me back into the bedroom. “You could warn me,” I said with a laugh.
“And not get to feel the thrill when I catch you? The way your heart starts to pound?”
“Just… don’t drop me.”
Laying me on the bed, he stretched out over me, the golden eyes of his beast following every line and curve of my body. “Never,” he vowed. Then he blinked, human eyes appearing. “Can you take more, mate?”
I smiled and pulled him down to me. There was no such thing as too much. Not with them. I wantedeverything.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
________
KATALENA
There was no workshop on the island. Not the way there had been at Skalisméra, or even the makeshift one Gleym had. But it mattered little. I had taken so much when I left I didn’t need to replenish my stores yet, but I wanted something else. Something I hadn’t made.
Something to help me sleep.
Nightmares had woken me every night since the caves. Dreams of darkness and terror. A deep sense of loss and helplessness. The feeling of being utterlyalone.
It helped that I wasn’t alone when I woke. But I couldn’t shake the feelings that clung to me long after the nightmares had ended. The fear that accompanied that deep anger. Things that couldn’t and wouldn’t dissipate until we were truly safe and there wasn’t a cloud of doom over the entire continent.
“Your thoughts run in circles.”
Zovai’s voice made me jump. He stood in the doorway to the kitchen withVaríon his shoulder. The latter was a shade of red that matched my mate. Like he wanted to be a miniature version.
“Not exactly uncommon for me.”
