Page 81 of Yearning For Her

I want your mark on me, heart, body, and soul.

The emotions radiating from Willow intensified. Her pain was still there, her fear, but they were overpowered now by something stronger. Kian had often detected it from mortals, but he’d never felt anything like it directed toward him.

And he’d never encountered anything nearly as potent as what he felt from Willow in that moment. It was warm, vast, and full.

It was staggering.

He knew what it was, and he sensed all the complexities that came with it, all the hopes, doubts, and fears. But he could not bring himself to admit it, to name it.

It was not for incubi to experience. At least, he’d never believed it was, much less that anyone would feel it for him.

Or that he might feel it.

Yet here he was—and there it was. His chest was brimming with that emotion.

“Ah, Willow.” He pulled back and brushed his knuckles down her cheek. Her eyes shone, the lingering moisture from her tears making the green even more vibrant. As his hand continued down, he stroked her mouth with his thumb, coaxing her lips to part. “I could spend a hundred thousand years walking every realm and never find another soul as beautiful as yours.”

She clutched the top of the towel and let out a shuddering breath.

My mate. She’s my mate.

Mine.

The beast at Kian’s core roused in response to that thought. He needed to mark her. To make it clear to this universe and all others that she belonged to him. To rut her until she could take no more, and then rut her again, and again.

To take everything from her.

No.

This was not about feeding. This was not about lust. This was more.

Tonight, he would cherish the gift that had been given to him, that had been fated to him. The gift that was his and his alone, that was more precious than any Kian or anyone else had ever received.

Tonight, he would give back. He would give to her.

Kian tipped her head back farther and leaned down. He touched his lips to her cheek, trailing light kisses across her damp skin. The saltiness of her tears blended with her usual sweetness, creating a new taste that was uniquely Willow, and though he hated how it had come to be, he loved that he was experiencing her in a new way.

When she closed her eyes, he kissed her eyelids, and then his mouth followed the bridge of her nose down to its tip. Each kiss altered the fires that burned within him, making their heat warmer and more tender but no less intense.

He leaned his forehead against Willow’s. Her soft, hesitant exhalation teased his lips before he slanted his mouth over hers.

She yielded to him, and Kian led her in a slow, sensual dance of lips and tongues, of mixed breaths, of twining souls.

Willow smoothed her hands up his chest to settle them on his shoulders. The desire radiating from her suffused Kian and made every sensation sharper, stronger. Her soft, sweet mouth grew more pliant with each beat of their hearts.

Kian slid his hand up along her jaw and into her hair to cup the back of her head. He broke the kiss, smiling when she leaned toward him, seeking more. Her eyes slowly opened.

“My lovely mortal.” Kian pressed another kiss to her lips before tilting her head to the side. “Do you know how hard it has been to resist you?”

He dipped his head, kissing her jaw. “Do you know how utterly you have consumed me?” His mouth moved to her neck, trailing down, caressing her smooth flesh. “Do you understand how fiercely I have yearned for you?”

When he reached the purple mark Lachlan had left, Kian had to swallow back another surge of rage. He brushed his lips over the bruise. “I would kill for you.”

Willow shivered, and her fingers curled against his shoulders. “Kian…”

He kissed that spot again, dabbing it with his tongue. “Anyone who hurts you will learn the meaning of pain. I will rend the flesh from their bones with claws and fangs.”

He moved his mouth down and kissed the hollow at the base of her throat. Then he did the same to each of her shoulders. “And then I will tend to your every need, my Violet. Fulfill your every desire.”

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