Page 1 of A Fate of Blood and Magic
Chapter
One
ELIAS
As soon asmy hands touched Teddy’s bare skin, the noise in my mind quieted. Every burden and demand slipped away beneath my fingertips. She let out a soft whimper as I kneaded the tension from her shoulders, and that sound unraveled the months of ache that have lived in my chest.
I kissed her, slow and reverent. One kiss for every lonely night I’d spent away from her. One for each breath I’d taken in a realm that didn’t have her in it. One for every smile I’d missed. I pressed my lips to her skin again and again, letting each kiss speak for me.
I was back though, and I was starved.
Her crimson hair fell over her neck and back in loose waves and I swept it aside to kiss the slope of her shoulder. I trailed lower. My hands followed her spine, memorizing her body all over again.
Every touch against her soft body melted my own anxieties away.
Her sigh was a beautiful sound caught between relief anddesire. When she looked back at me from over her shoulder, the heat in her eyes made my heart pound.
She tried to roll beneath me, but I held her in place with a teasing grin. Her lips parted, her cheeks flushed. I leaned in to press a kiss over her lower back above a light speckling of freckles. She bowed into my touch and hissed out my name.
For months, our time together had been rushed with nothing more than stolen moments between my missions. A kiss here, a night there. Quick touches. Shared moments stolen away too soon. Then I’d be forced to leave again, pulled back to duty and responsibility and a vow I had to keep.
But earlier this afternoon, I’d completed my mission. Each fae was back home from the regions they’d been stationed. It’d taken three months, but there was no longer a command for me to answer.
So, tonight I could take my time loving my soul-bound mate. I could be greedy.
I licked along the curve of her spine and smiled at the way her muscles quivered in response.
“Elias.” The burning fire of her husky tone inflamed my lungs.
She shifted to the side, and I moved with her, trailing my palm on her stomach, high enough that my fingers skimmed the underside of her breast. She turned to lie on her back, and I followed her so that I hovered just above her. She arched, her hips rubbing against my length, and my breath hitched.
I pressed my cock between her thighs, teasing without entering and dragged my tongue over her nipple, swirling slowly. She inhaled a broken breath when I grazed her with my canine. A single bead of blood pebbled, and I licked it clean, tasting her on my tongue.
Guardians, I’d missed this. Missed her.
I took her breast in my mouth, my teeth tugging gently. Her fingers sank into my hair, and when she pulled, I peered up at her, and the raw hunger in her gaze nearly undid me.
Her thumb grazed my lips, her own lips parting when I took her thumb in my mouth.
“Elias,” she whispered, raising her hips up again.
Trailing my lips across her jaw, I kissed and nipped my way to her mouth.
“I want to take my time with you,” I told her, whispering my words across her lips. She moaned when I dragged my shaft against her clit, her eyes fluttering shut as I added, “I want to taste every inch of you.”
I ran a finger over her swollen slit and she gasped, her hands fisting around the bed sheets. When I brought my fingers up, wet from her arousal, her eyes narrowed.
“Suck your fingers clean,” she said. “Then touch me again.”
I did as she requested, my cock throbbing at her moan.
Her hips rolled against my touch and I slipped two fingers inside her. She threw her head back, her throat arched like an offering. I kissed a path up her body, taking in every sigh, every tremor.
“Bite me.” Her words came out in a breathless plea.
“So many orders from my queen.” My laugh was throaty, heavy with the same desperate need that thrummed inside me.
While I’d wanted to make her come on my tongue, I did as she asked and plunged my canines into the sweet spot where her neck and shoulder met. Her hands clutched the back of my head as she cried out my name, her magic flaring as she came, trembling beneath me. I licked her, healing the bite with a kiss, thenpressed my nose to her skin, taking in her seductive scent.
