Page 25 of Song of Night

“Only you, Asher,” I gasp. “You know it’s only you.”

He growls and the vibration of it in my ear pushes me over the edge. As I begin to convulse and cry out, he speeds up the pulsing of his finger and I am lost to ecstasy.

This time when Asher lifts me, he does toss me on the bed, not waiting for me to recover from my intense climax. He stands at the edge, pulling his shirt off over his head in one swift movement. His eyes devour me as he whips his belt off and steps out of his pants, revealing the huge length of him. I shiver as he bends over me, his hands going to the V of my night shirt. He rips it right down the middle, and the pieces of it flutter to each side.

“This does not mean I forgive you,” he says, and then he thrusts inside me.

I cry out as the length of him fills me. My fingers dig into his back and I wrap my legs around him as he rolls his hips, pulling back and entering me again. Asher is not gentle, and neither am I. He growls and lets out a moan of pain and pleasure as my nails cut into the backs of his shoulder blades, and he thrusts harder into me. I rock my hips up to meet him as we crash together, in and out, faster and faster.

A strange buzz of energy builds between us. My head is still fuzzy from my release a few minutes before, and now the room grows hazy, heat flaming off of us, as if we might actually catch fire. The pleasure is growing in waves again, sucking me toward an inexorable release. With each thrust, it feels like Asher and I are dissolving into each other, melding into one. I can feel his anger and his passion, his hunger and his need. And I can feel my own, swirling around his like we’re two moons colliding.

Abruptly, Asher rolls me into an upright position so I’m straddling his lap. Our chests press together and his eyes burn into mine. I wrap my arms around his neck and roll my hips, grinding into him, moving up and down along the length of his cock. The fingers of one hand twist into his hair. He holds my hips tightly, digging his fingers into me as I move.

When he kisses up the side of my neck, I shudder and let out a whimper.

“Not yet,” he growls. “You will wait for me, Zara.”

His teeth graze my soft skin, and then they plunge into me.

Bliss unfolds within me and I bite my lip to keep from going over the edge, so hard I can taste my own blood. Feeling the hard length of Asher inside my core while his teeth penetrate me at the same time is too much. Despite his directive, I’m not going to be able to hold on much longer. Ecstasy is burning through me, and that same strange buzz is getting stronger and stronger. A pressure building, separate from the pleasure of our physicality.

Asher sucks at my neck, his lips tight on my skin. His arms slide up to wrap around my back, crushing me closer to him. I feel him start to shake as I pulse my hips faster, feel his fingers tighten, bruising my skin where they dig into me. A cry rips from my throat as the first wave of my climax hits me. Pleasure blossoms in my center and radiates from where Asher’s teeth have punctured me.

He releases my neck and his lips find mine, his tongue claiming my mouth. Another moan ripples through me, vibrating between us. He probes me hard as if tasting my desire, then he pulls back, letting out a yell and driving his hips up into me as he releases. His final thrust sends me spinning over the crystalline edge of ecstasy, wave after wave of it rolling through me as I collapse against him, convulsing and crying out.

As I cling to Asher, feeling as if I’ve been utterly destroyed and brought back to life again, I realize that there’s something else shimmering between us, hanging between the sheen of sweat on our bodies and the lingering pleasure.

My heart goes still.

“I can feel my magic,” I whisper.

Chapter Sixteen

ASHER

As I hold Zara in my arms, I forget momentarily that she betrayed me, that there is no future between us. None of that exists, and she is just this shimmering, delicate creature who speaks to my soul in a way no one else ever has.

“I can feel my magic,” she says, her words warm against the skin of my neck where we cling to each other.

And I realize, in the stillness between us, that I can feel mine, too.

It’s very faint, nothing like the immense force of Night that, until very recently, thrummed inside of me, a storm always on the verge of breaking loose. No, this is a fragile feeling, a soft glow in my chest. The barest, glittering hope.

“I feel it, too,” I murmur.

Zara straightens slightly, meeting my eyes. “Do you think…”

She trails off, and I shake my head as reality comes crashing in around me. I slide my hands down to her hips and lift her off of me, setting her on the bed and getting up.

If Zara and I joining together is the key to our magic returning…

Is it a temporary thing, until the full strength of our magic returns? Or does this mean I’m bonded to her forever? Just a few days ago I would have wanted nothing more, but now that I know who she really is, nothing is the same. It can’t be.

“Asher,” she says softly.

“I need time to think,” I growl, stalking out onto the balcony.

I stand there, in the darkness and the cold sea air, my thoughts spinning for an interminable length of time. The magic spinning within me is so meager that I don’t dare try to summon it. But even as weak as it is, I feel something else now, too. A line of connection to Night, like the thinnest gossamer strand of a spider’s web, stretching from my solar plexus eastward toward my home. What is happening there in my absence? Is the city collapsing deeper and deeper into chaos as the wild magic runs rampant? How many lives have been lost?

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