Page 75 of A Clash of Embers

I smiled, "But even now, I choose you."

Our eyes were burning for each other. Here was the one person my soul was designed for and I had refused him.

He leaned in, kissing me slightly, and whispered into my lips, "You are my forever. The marking might have disappeared when we tied ourselves in marriage, but the promise never did."

I pinched my brows together, pulling back. "Ev, I didn't know. I wouldn't have—" but his fingers stopped on my mouth, silencing me.

"That wasn't your fault. It was mine. I pushed you away. I even pushed you towards him." I saw a slight smirk in the corner of his mouth, and I nudged him.

"Why are you smiling like that?" I asked him.

Purple-laced eyes flickered back to mine, "Because even when you came for him, you were still thinking of me." He leaned into my space, his fangs shimmering, "And I get to ravage you for the rest of your life. No one will ever come close to you again unless I allow it."

His hunger was intensifying my own. My senses exploded as he overtook me. All of him. He picked me up, placing me on the top of the mattress with my head on the pillow. When I hit the pillow, feathers came out and floated around, and we giggled. I grabbed one and held it up to show him, but he knocked it out of my hand.

"The only feathers I want in your hands are mine," he chuckled and leaned down to kiss me. His hands trailed over my legs, lifting my dress up in the process and making my skin heat as I focused on my breath, calming myself down as much as I could.

"Tonight is only the beginning," he whispered into my lips.

Chapter 37

My entire body was humming as his hands slid across my thighs ghosting the pebbled skin, reacting to him. The feeling that lingered between us was intense. A spark that was already burning just burst into a thousand fires that seared my body, my soul, and my mind. Everything was consumed by him. There was nothing that existed outside of us—Clara and Evander.

I heard a chuckle before Ev pulled back looking at me with glossy eyes. I squinted at him and said, "What? What's so funny?"

He sighed leaning back down over me and whispered, "You called me Evander in that beautiful head of yours. You are the only person that I ever wanted to call me by that name. Eros is my given name but Evander was chosen under the curse byme." He pressed a soft kiss into my mouth, but I couldn't help but ask the question in the forefront of my mind, which made him pause slightly, pulling away from our kiss.

"So, what do you want me to call you? There are so many options," I said smiling and his eyes squinted with his bright smile in reaction to my question.

"You can call me anything you want, Clara. As long as I'm yours, that's all that matters."

The butterflies in my belly were fluttering south, waiting for him to take over me. It wasn't just a want anymore; it was aneed.I needed him just as much as he needed me. Everything between us was real and from this point forward, there wouldn't be any stopping us.

His hard body pressed into mine and he sighed, "Stop thinking so much and kiss me."

I smiled into his lips as he drowned me in kisses that were slow and resolute. Pulling the invisible string within me closer to him as his hands slid into mine, pushing them above my head and into the mattress. My hips tilted into him as his tongue lingered along the side of my neck, causing my body to arch into him. I felt the tingles slide down my body like a wave washing over me, cooling the heat that had spread throughout my body.

"I want to taste you, but not tonight. I want it to just be you and me. No powers, no monsters, no one else. We never stopped being each other's mates and you have always been my wife. Even when I take my last breath in this world, I'll still be yours. For eternity."

The tears were welling in the corner of my eyes, and as I blinked, I felt the warmth of them slide down my skin. I watched Ev lean in to kiss them. He peppered my face with tender kisses, taking his time. He stopped over my lips, leaning down and gently pressing his into mine. He gently nipped at my bottom lip, and I saw the smirk on his face and without even trying, I knew exactly what he was thinking. He said he didn't want to taste me, but we both knew he just couldn't help himself.

The stubble on his cheeks was rough against my skin as he continued down my body stopping on the inside of my thigh kissing and pulling my lace undergarments down. His midnight black hair was messy and out of control, just like we were for one another.

The dress gathered around my hips, opening the parts of me that only he could devour in the most seductive way. His warm breath coasted over my skin as it pebbled under his touch. I watched his eyes light up that special lavender color for me and I chuckled.

"I thought you said no power. Just us?" I asked.

He smirked as he pressed his lips over the most tender and needy part of me. He answered me softly between his gentle kisses. "I can't control my mate marking. It glows for you. When you're near me. When I touch you. When I think about you. You light up every gods' damned part of me."

I sighed as he slid his tongue over me in languid strokes, causing my hips to jolt off the bed, and his hands gripped the sides of my thighs pulling me towards him. "Don't go running off, darling. I've got big plans for you."

I moaned as he continued to devour me. My toes were pressing into his sides as he held me in place—I was unmoving. I felt the warmth of my orgasm start to spread down my belly and legs. But just as I was about to lose my mind he stopped.

As quickly as he pulled away, he gripped my hips and hoisted me into his lap. I saw the gleam of my wetness across his chin and he didn't bother to wipe it away. "I need to see you. This dress—" He reached around the back of this gods' awfully tight dress and ripped it in one swift movement. I gasped as he continued to pull it down off my shoulders. "This dress... needs to come off. This skin, this body, needs to be worshiped."

His lips pressed into mine as he moved me above him straddling his hips. "Clara." I hummed slightly hearing myname out of his mouth. His hands pulled the dress off of me completely leaving me naked and willing to do anything with him.

"What about your clothes?" I asked him sweetly and curiously as he started to unbutton the shirt that clung to every curve of his muscles. He slid the shirt off of his arms, throwing it to the ground and pulling me against his torso. The warmth of his skin made me smile as I pulled my hands into his hair pulling it slightly with my fingertips.

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