Page 165 of To Ashes and Dust
My gaze lifted to Damien, his eyes glowing in the candlelight, and he spoke, his voice full of emotion and warmth. “Welcome home, Cassie Archonis.”
The tears threatened to return, and Damien pulled me into his arms, his lips crashing against mine as he held me. I could feel him, all that he was, and not just the touch of his skin, the feel of his lips claiming mine. No, his magicintertwinedwith mine, his presence like an air of warmth and resounding completion. My heart soared, my blood sang, and my body came to life.
I was his, and he was mine, and the very air hummed with the magic of our bond, the connection between our souls woven into the fabric of everything we were.
His hands drifted down to my lower back, pulling me tighter against him as his tongue slid against the seam of my lips. I parted for him, welcoming him, wanting him. His touch was electric against my skin, the feeling dulled where our clothes divided us. My hands glided up his chest, his heart racing under my touch. I pushed his coat back off his shoulders, and he shrugged it the rest of the way, one arm at a time, so he never released me, letting the coat fall to the floor as he started working on the back of my gown.
I gasped when my ass met the stone altar behind us, and Damien let out a throaty laugh against my lips as he pulled the ribbon free from my dress, the back of my gown falling open. I’d nearly gotten all the buttons undone on his shirt when his hands took mine. He pulled the remaining free, shrugging it off and tossing it aside. I broke the kiss for a moment, my fingers tracing over the new runes inked into his smooth skin.
His eyes dipped to where my fingers glided along his skin. “I missed seeing these markings,” he breathed.
My eyes lifted to him, my heart fluttering. “You…”
“They’re my vow to my goddess. To my mate.”
His eyes fell to my own markings, the skin between my breasts still tingling with the vow I’d made. He lifted his hand to brush his finger against the skin, and my breath hitched. “You honor me.”
He grabbed hold of my hips and lifted me onto the altar. His hands disappeared under the skirts of my gown, my chest heaving as the electric current washed over my skin, my magic responding to his. I couldn’t quite find words for how it felt, but each brush of our skin was different now, as if each touch was an echo of power, of perfection...
Of completion.
“Isn’t this some sort of temple?” I asked, glancing down at the altar he’d placed me on.
“It is,” he breathed against my lips, his fingers tracing along my thigh, back and forth in torturously slow strokes.
My breath hitched in my throat, my skin burning where he touched. “Isn’t it a bit… I don’t know sacrilegious to be doing this here?”
The corner of his lips kicked up into a wicked grin. “Iamworshipping a goddess, am I not?”
Air flooded my lungs as his finger dragged up my center, and he groaned his pleasure at the feel of the liquid heat already pooling between my thighs. “And it seems the worship is being well received.”
“You’re terribl—” I moaned as his finger pushed past my underwear, plunging into me, his eyes burning as my head fell back.
“I’mright,” he corrected, and his hand glided up my back until he took hold of the back of my neck, pulling me to him. “I promised you I’d enjoy making you call out my title in our bed once.”
Tension coiled between my thighs, my body throbbing with each word that slipped through those wicked lips.
“But I’m pretty damned tempted to make you call it out on this altar,” his eyes turned predatory, and the blue flame candles around us flickered, his magic rumbling through the room, the shadows in the corners shuddering in response.
My chest heaved as he withdrew his finger, all too slowly, the fire within me writhing and coiling, begging to be unleashed. “You are a wicked man, Damien Archonis.”
“And you like it, Cassie Archonis.”
A hum of laughter slipped from my throat as I bit my lip, eyes watching him. “Mmmm…I do.”
His hands pushed my gown up around my hips, and I shivered as he lifted it up and over my head, dropping it in a heap on the floor. His eyes drifted over me, over the delicate lace I wore. My cheeks warmed as my eyes flitted from his.
“I see you went exploring in the closet,” Damien said, his hips coming to rest against the stone altar between my legs.
“It’s a special occasion. Thought I’d surprise you with a treat,” I said with a grin. I’d never gotten the courage, nor had the time, to try on the lingerie he’d gotten for me.
His finger dragged down my sternum, over the ink marking our vows, and further down along the delicate lace that plunged to my navel. Ripples of electric ecstasy danced across my skin in the wake of his touch. I shivered as he gripped my hip firmly. His lashes lowered as he took me in, every detail.
“Quite the treat, indeed.”
He pulled me harder against him, his eyes lifting back to me. A rush of heat surged through me at the feel of his hot length pressed against me through his pants. He captured my lips with his own, his hands snaking around me to undo my teddy. God, he tasted divine, his tongue dancing with mine in a wild frenzy, as if we couldn’t get enough of each other.
We couldn’t.
