Page 19 of Of Masks and Fury

Isi obeyed.

As she should.

This woman was going to come hard but only when I’d told her she could do it.

Her legs trembled as she widened her stance, bracing herself against the door behind her. Sunlight streaming through the window caught the flush spreading across her skin, painting her in shades of rose and gold.

Beautiful. Mine.

I needed proof. Needed to taste her, touch her. I’d die if I couldn’t feel her pulse racing beneath my hands. It was the only way I could prove to myself that this wasn’t the nightmare I’d lived with for days after I woke up to find her gone.

I glided my fingertips up the inside of her thigh, and a fine tremor ran through her muscles. She sucked in a breath, and the sound shot straight to my groin.

“Don’t move,” I growled. “You stay exactly where I put you.”

“Trew—”

“Do you understand?”

She paused before speaking. “Yes.”

Magic erupted between us, her fire calling to mine until the very air around us shimmered with heat.

I kissed her inner thigh, and her pulse jumped beneath my lips. She smelled of salt and flowers and all her. I’d dreamed of her taste every night she was gone, woken aching for it.

I ran my tongue across her thigh while her fingers scrabbled against the door, seeking purchase on the smooth wood.

“Tell me what you feel,” I snarled.

“I—” Her breath hitched. “Your mouth.”

“Be more specific.”

“Hot. Wet. I feel—oh?—”

I found her center, licking her, and the sound she made went straight to my cock. It was sweet and desperate and exactly what I needed to hear.

I worked her slowly, clinging to every gasp and whimper. When her hips shifted forward, seeking more, I pulled back, frowning up at her. “I told you not to move.”

“Please.”

“No.” I met her gaze. “You fucking left me. You don’t get to come until I say. I couldn’t controlanything.” The word came out raw. “I couldn’t stop you from leaving. Couldn’t protect you. I couldn’t even get close to you without risking exposure. For six fucking days I had no control, Isi. None.”

My grip on her hips tightened. “But I have it right here. Right now. You’re going to feel what I felt. The desperation. The need. The loss of control. And I’m going to prove to myself that we’re together again.”

Her protest died when I returned my attention to her, using my tongue in slow, devastating strokes. I could feel her climbing toward the edge, her breathing shifting, becoming ragged and desperate.

Almost there. Almost?—

I pulled back, easing onto my heels.

Isi’s magic flared uncontrollably, the torches in the room flickering as if caught in a sudden wind. Magic thrummed between us, invisible threads binding her pleasure to my command.

“Trew.” The whimper in her voice showed perfect agony.

“You tortured me for six fucking days. Wondering where you were going. If someone was going to hurt you. If I’d ever get to hold you again.”

I gripped her hips hard enough to leave marks. I wanted to see the evidence of this tomorrow, proof that she was here, that I’d touched her, that she was mine.