Page 31 of Fate Unchained

She moaned, and her fingernails bit deeper. “That sounds …” She gulped. “Yes.”

Propping himself on his side, slowly but steadily, he ran his fingers over her arms, up her neck. He trailed the back of his knuckles over her face. Letting her get used to his touch. Letting him fully claim every inch of her skin.

She was his.

He ran his lips down her neck to her breast and licked over the tip. When he sucked it into his mouth, she almost came off the bedding, letting out a small cry.

He took his time, dipping from one breast to the other with his mouth, using his thumb and forefinger to tease the tips until she writhed under him and panted. She trembled when he trailed down her stomach, letting her know he was heading south to where she really needed him. He ran his hands up her legs, letting her decide if she wanted to part them.

She did.

He trailed his lips up her inner thigh, and she whimpered, then spread her legs farther. She wanted him to slake her need. Finally, he dipped to her center.

He started softly, letting his tongue run up her seam to the needy part above her sex. When he skated over it, she cried out, and her hips rose for more. Slowly, ever so slowly, he teased back and forth, barely letting his tongue touch her.

Her back arched. He’d discover every single thing she enjoyed.

“I need more. Please.” Her hands raked across the sleeping skins.

His tongue dipped to her entrance, and he groaned. She tasted like heaven, and she was so ready for him. He plunged inside.

Her back arched, her muscles going taut, and she gasped. He let her discover what a vulk’s tongue could do. With powerful, curled strokes, he licked deep. As he lapped, his hands went to her waist, and he felt when she trembled. When she held her breath. When she liked something so much, she circled her hips for more.

He withdrew and dragged his tongue outside again, this time using the tip of his tongue and applying more pressure. Her skin grew warm under his hands, and she quivered. He teased. Inside. Outside. Until she shook so hard, he took pity on her. He spread her thighs wider and sucked.

Lilah screamed his name and shattered under him, her back bowing. Her hips snapped, and her legs wrapped around him. He kept sucking until he’d wrung every last bit of response. Only then did he let her collapse back against the blankets. She lay there, her body flushed, the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

He stretched out next to her and pulled her onto her side to collapse against him, purring again. She nuzzled his chest, then wrapped her arm around him. “All right, this was better than anything I tried before.”

He rubbed his jaw over her head. “I know.” Damn, this was a bad idea. If she’d been a distraction before, now she’d claimed his attention so it was solely on her. But while his body raged for her, a voice in the back of his head nagged. What if she’s working with the Dark Cabal? He believed everything she’d told him earlier, but still, she’d agreed to make a pact with him for a reason. Everyone had a reason.

12

She awoke with Kyril wrapped around her, his arm pinning her to his chest. After they’d washed in the back of the cave, with Kyril drying her carefully with one of the sleeping skins, he’d tucked her into him, placing her head on his bicep, and they’d stayed like that while she’d drifted off to sleep. She hadn’t expected him to be so affectionate, then again he kept surprising her. She’d never been a cuddler, but she let herself melt into him again for a moment. Something inside her sighed as if it had finally found relief.

With a sigh, she scooted backward, creating some distance between them. What was she thinking? Getting intimate with Kyril was so stupid. She’d lost herself completely. It was fire. Explosions. A need unlike anything she’d ever known.

And it couldn’t happen again.

While she did think he’d help her as long as she was useful to him, she didn’t trust him beyond that. They both needed something from each other and when he got it, he’d leave, and she’d return to her normal life. Which was exactly what she wanted. She wasn’t going to have yet one more person let her down.

She sat, and his arm fell away. Kyril was awake, watching her with his dark eyes, but he didn’t say anything as she made space between them. “I need to work on the rune again. We need to get out of this cave.” She almost added, so we don’t need to share a bed anymore, but she didn’t.

He flipped from lying on his back to standing up in one fluid motion. Still stark naked, his manhood waving in the breeze. She couldn’t look away from it.

“No. We already discussed this. You aren’t using your power again.”

“I wish I had some of my books here. I’m sure I’d be able to figure out what to do.” Or at least bury herself in her book so she didn’t have to figure out what to say to Kyril after what just happened. What was she supposed to say to the vulk who’d just seen her naked? In books, the heroines always knew the right snappy comeback. She didn’t have that skill. Never had and never would.

She scooped up her clothes, scowling at the tatters that used to be her knickers and put the other items back on. When she was done, Kyril had his trousers back on too. While she’d slept, the fire had ebbed to coals, and Kyril placed more wood on top, then blew on the embers. Without looking at her, he said, “Tell me what you know about your abilities. I’m not letting you collapse again, so I need to know what you can do and what you can’t.”

“I’m not letting myself collapse again.”

He shrugged, still not looking her way.

Fine, if he wanted to pretend nothing had happened, all the better. She squared her shoulders. “I’ve researched my abilities quite a bit.” Her voice was prim, exactly how she spoke at work when informing the young ones not to run and hide in the stacks. “At night, I see glowing books. They have secret information locked by runes, and I can unlock them. But seriously, until I trapped you, I’d only ever used a rune on books.”

He stood. “You use magic with the runes?”

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