Page 47 of The Surrender

You gave her your strength. You gave her your heart. Then you took her to your bed. And she almost ripped you apart! I am your savior, Kyan. Not this little imposter with her pretty gray plumes of light.

I don’t respond.

Quintessa’s vym strengthens. It shoots through her pores like thousands of tiny ribbons, targeting the dragon’s hot blood. Yes, one of his most important attributes on account of how often it must leave his brain to fill his two cocks.

All strands of her moonstone gray hair unravel from their intricate braids from the vym, and I chastise myself internally for giving my brother grief when my insides tighten. And…enough blood swells to my cock to rival his two. Even my breath is fucked from how her vym has coupled with my power, triggering wind to swirl around her, pulling at the feathers and thin silk of her gown.

She’s wrecking me.

The Shadow and the deeper reminders of all the ones in my fucked-up mind return the darkest pain into my chest. The betrayal that gave power most to my demon. And the knowledge of how I lost myself for an age. Shoved down to where I felt nothing, no scars of the past. How Shadow became my armor, my fortress while I left my partner to satisfy the demon’s need for sadism.

And still, I can’t deny my pulse exploding as Quintessa heals my brother. How she’s eclipsed us all with her sacrifice.

The moment Drago’s people dragged the girl who stabbed him right into the Court of Ash, she dragged my sorry self to the surface. Driven first by unbridled curiosity when they dumped her at our feet. Second, came the need to protect her from the monster we—I created in Merikh by unleashing my monster on him for a millennium.

And finally...I hadn’t hesitated when I saw her. Shot my hand right into the Veil of Souls, damning it to a skeletal hell until she bonded with me. Restored in full when I fucked her and felt my wings, my true wings for the first time in thousands upon thousands of years.

Quinny’s eyes open. A glimmer radiates right through them, and I’d swear I behold starlight for the first time since before our curse. The beauty of those eyes, of the way her body softens and melts.

Fuck, she’s the eye of the storm.

My winds whirl all around her like the walls of a little tempest. A Quintessa-shaped squall to worship her blood-binder body.

Until nothing remains to heal. The winds still. Strength returns to my blood. Heat powers through me. And I can hardly wait to sink into her tight, soaked—

Quinny falls right onto Drago’s unconscious form.

“The hell?” I rush to her, but Merikh arrives first.

Mayce strides forward after, his voice chiming in, “Passed out, I presume?”

“No shit,” I snarl at him. “But she and Drago are soul bonded. It should not have required so much for her to heal him.”

I haul her into my arms as my partner combs her hair away from her face while flaring his nostrils. Bastard is scenting her.

“What the fuck are you—”

“Shut up, Kyanatu.”

I clamp my mouth shut at his citing my true god name but set my teeth. We will have words later. For now, I bend to the vampire. Stiffen as he jerks up the skirts of her gown, still drenched in dragon blood.

Unholy wrath bulges all the muscles of my body when he spreads her thighs, gets between them, and pushes his fingers into her center. Not that somnophilia is uncommon for us, but it should be the last thing on our minds...and cocks. A vein throbs in my brow. More strain in my neck. He has two seconds to get his fucking fingers out of my bonded pussy.

It takes him one to withdraw his fingers coated in her slick. He rises. And with a heavy sigh, says, “I had my suspicions when she was bathed. It took all I had to resist scenting her when she was covered in blood.”

My heart rate thunders in my ears as I look down at her. Her parted pouty lips. Her soft eyes. Her body and expression utterly serene—apart from the exhaustion crippling her consciousness. Fear rips through me at the thought of any internal damage. If my wind was too much for her and tore a storm inside her.

“With all the other scents in the village, it’s hardly a surprise we didn’t catch it,” explains Merikh, his eyes traveling higher even as I lower the ends of the dress to cover her. “Especially when we know I bear the sharpest senses even in my cursed state.”

“What are you blathering on ab—”

He shoves his fingers so hard toward my nostrils, I flinch before he gives me a bloody nose. But the scent of her slick on his skin is undeniable. The difference in the chemical composition. The unmistakable shift of hormones. The overall increase in her blood supply.

Blind disbelief tunnels my vision. Followed by that sense of possessiveness gripping my spine again. Except now, it’s an unstoppable venom. It burns through every other emotion and lights a fucking fuse right for my heart.

Shadow rears up inside me with every shade of rage coloring his hollow, black essence. Because the bond between me and Quintessa has just grown wings. It’s blazed right through the one I and my demon share and rises from the ashes on those fiery wings to soar into the gods-damned sunrise beyond the Veil of Souls.

I plant my palm on the small swell of her belly. The emotion smolders in my throat as I turn to my partner and confirm in the barest of whispers, "She's pregnant."

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