For a moment, nothing else exists.
Just beauty, and pure bliss.
I wrap my legs around his broad back. He slides his hands over my hips and grasps my waist. He takes me higher. I slide off the bench, slipping underwater, and he goes with me, holding me in a dark entanglement.
There’s no air. There’s only the gentle sound of water, swishing and swirling.
He grips my thighs and sucks me harder. I reach for the surface, my head breaking through the water, and I gasp as he triggers my release.
Still holding me tightly.
Never relenting.
He’s in complete control, and I’m lost, and I don’t mind.
I float on the surface, and still he caresses me with his tongue.
And at last, I come, gently writhing and twisting as the water holds me aloft; as Corvan’s rough-yet-tender hands encircle my wrists.
I let out a great sigh of contentment as he scoops me up into his harms and lifts me out of the water, gliding up the stone steps, padding across the cavernous chamber without a sound, gently wrapping me in thick, fragrant towels that feel like silk against my bare skin.
Then he carries me down the stone corridor, through silence and into his bedchambers, which are filled with the soft light of dawn. He pulls back the covers and gently deposits me into his soft, luxurious bed. The sheets are buttery silk. A soft floral fragrance surrounds us. I’m warm and spent and tingling all over. The room is toasty, thanks to the fire in the hearth.
Corvan stands at the bedside for a moment, looking down at me. His eyes glow in the firelight. His skin is illuminated by the soft pinkish glow filtering through the windows—the first light of dawn.
He hasn’t dried himself. He’s still wet and glistening from the bath. His hair is slicked back. His body gleams, every rippling muscle and plane accentuated.
My gaze is drawn to his cock, which is unashamedly erect and dangerously hard.
He’s a prime specimen, eyes glowing with thirst and desire.
And my body, still reeling from his decadent caress, yearns for him.
I’m a mess. He’s completely unravelled me.
This wasn’t my intention at all, but when have I ever been in control of my fate?
“Corvan,” I whisper. “Just…”
He leans in and gently caresses my cheek. “I know, Finley. I know.” His voice is deep and smooth and tender, a salve for my desperate need.
He comes into the bed, hovering over me, his gleaming body rapidly drying in the warmth. Only his hair remains damp.
He lowers his lips to my ear and cups my cheek. “Don’t worry about a thing. Everything’s going to be fine.”
He’s warm. Powerful. Right now, he’s everything.
He hooks my leg up, exposing me; tender, throbbing, desperately needing him. One hand goes around my neck. The other, around my thigh.
Something inside him seems to break.
He trembles all over, and the tension inside him spills out through his gaze, which is as hard as rubies and as hot as molten lava.
He enters me slowly, with devastating intent. His cock stretches me and fills me with overwhelming pleasure. Tightly coiled bliss unfurls throughout my body, and I cry out in tension and delight as he fucks me gently.
I become even more lost, cocooned in warm sheets and engulfed by his body. Not a single inch of me desires to be in control right now. It’s all him.
Ever so slowly, he increases the pressure, moving a little faster, a little harder. He lowers himself until his body is pressed against mine, his heat seeping right through me. Then he puts his lips on my neck, kissing me just above the hollow, and he’s shaking all over, his grip tightening, his motions growing ever more frantic.
I know what he wants.
Apart from this, of course.
And I’m surprised at how much I want it too; the exquisite pain of his fangs upon my skin, the feeling of his lips against me, the slow-burning draining of my essence.
The thought arouses me ever further.
“You can,” I whisper. “Corvan, you—”
He doesn’t hesitate.
He bites me and takes my blood again. This time, I’m not even feeling drained. The trees have done something to me. I feel lighter. Stronger. More alive. There’s no weariness. The wounds from the last time have already healed.
“You’re so fucking sweet,” he whispers.
I unravel completely.
He takes me closer to the edge of oblivion.
Madness overtakes me. Just as he needs my essence, I need his. I take his face into my hands and raise his lips to mine. The taste of my blood lingers on his mouth. It’s coppery but also sweet. I kiss him and bite down on his lower lip, breaking his skin.
“Mm,” he moans as he thrusts deeper.
My bite sends him into a frenzy. He fucks me harder, completely filling me, engulfing me with his presence.
And as soon as his blood hits my tongue, I feel it, as if it’s infused with hot spices and effervescent magic. It dances down my throat and sparks the feeling of warm pressure in my chest—again.
Magic.
Mine, reacting to his.
Engulfed in his presence, I can barely question the impossible.
Better just to accept.
It feels good. I want this—I want him.
And he devours me, both inside and out.
He tenses and shudders, his thrusts becoming more and more savage. He clamps his lips on my neck again and bites.
He takes, and takes.
Then he finds release, and it’s blissful.
The dancing energy inside me bursts forth. I wrap my arms and legs around him and hold on tightly as wave after wave of pleasure crashes through me, making me twist and writhe against him.
He holds me.
I’m filled with the sudden urge to consume him—his dark intensity; his tapestry of secrets and pain.
And the magic in me unravels, wild and uncontrolled.
The sun bursts forth through the high windows, crowning us in gold. The world shifts and tilts. My mind explodes with pain and desire and wanting.
My fingers thrum with power. I run them through his soft, damp hair and let out a soft moan.
I come.
Again.
The bed seems to buckle and melt. It bows in the center. I open my eyes just in time to see the wooden posts twisting and bending, splitting into multiple tendrils that weave together to form a living-wood cage around us.
If Corvan notices at all, he doesn’t show it.
This is my power, but I don’t know how to stop it. Panic rises in me, along with urgency, along with euphoria, mingling with the afterglow of the most intense pleasure I’ve ever known.
The living wood closes in around us, wrapping us in a strange cocoon.
It doesn’t hurt us, though. Its touch is gentle; almost a caress.
And then it stops moving. It solidifies.
I look up at Corvan in surprise, meeting his smoldering half-lidded gaze.
A lazy smile drifts across his lips. “What did you do to us, Finley?”
At least the rogue wooden tendril-monster—which has developed a mind of its own—isn’t stopping us from being face to face. I can see him so clearly, right down to every last inhumanly perfect detail. His eyelashes are long and dark and soft against his austere features. His gaze is molten. I could drown in him.
And although my powers are out of control, I don’t even feel afraid right now.
“I don’t quite know,” I murmur, tempted to rest my head against his broad chest and close my eyes. “I don’t know anything anymore.”