Page 72 of The Reaping Rose

“What do you think you’re doing, Starfire?”

Her face glows with the sunlight streaming through the windows. “I know I should probably let you sleep, but…”

Her fingers tighten, and I nearly shoot my release all over my stomach at the innocent little smile she offers. Especially as she crawls down the bed with every inch of her smooth skin on display. She kneels between my legs. Her perfect breasts fit in the cups of my hands, and I bite my tongue thinking how good it would feel to trace it over the peaks of her perky nipples.

The Beating could claim me this very moment, and I’d happily drift to the After.

Elorie leans down, taking her time playing with me. Dragging her tongue up the underside of my cock until I’m gripping the sheets so tightly that I might rip them from the bed. Her nails bite into my thighs as she sinks onto me, taking me deep. Tears spring to her eyes, but she doesn’t pull back as she looks up at me and swallows.

Damn the stars, I’m going to lose my mind as she does it again.

And again.

Every preoccupation that kept me up late into the night washes away with her silvery stare—her touch.

She grips what she can’t fit down her throat, and I’m seeing the frays at the edge of fate as she looks up at me. Beauty that is so vast I could close my eyes and still feel the warmth of her heart pouring out.

Aether sparks in the air, and my fingertips draw it inward until my runes are glowing. Until Elorie’s magic can’t help meeting it with flecks of starlight crawling up my body. I’m not just feeling her on my cock—she’s everywhere.

Pumping through my bloodstream.

Seeping through my bones.

As good as it feels, it makes me need more—I need all of her. Something she must sense through the thread as she runs her tongue in a circle over the head of my cock and then smirks as she releases it.

“Having fun, Starfire?”

“How could I not be when I have all this to play with?” Her nails drag a path up my stomach and chest until she’s straddling me.

I smirk. “You want to play? Then get up here and sit on my face.”

Not waiting for her to move, I bind aether around her hips, snagging her legs and pulling her until her fingers grip the stone wall behind the bed, and her knees are at either side of my head.

Her silver eyes meet mine as I shove her down on my mouth. The sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted.

Elorie’s lashes flutter as I run circles with my tongue, until her thighs shake around my ears. With my hands on her hips, I guide her pace as she slowly starts to rock over me.

She tastes like a winter paradise.

Crisp and fresh and snow-kissed.

Like something I shouldn’t be allowed with all the things I’ve done. The blood I’ve spilled.

Her fingers grip the stone as I shove my tongue into her perfect core, and her head tips back with her scream.

I throw my magic out, casting a shell around our room. No one gets to hear her but me. No one gets to see her but me.

She’s mine.

My mate.

Her core clenches in a steady pulse as she slows her movements, and I shift her down my body, dragging her soaking heat over my cock as her hands grip my shoulders. I’m impatient, not soft and sweet, as this need to be inside her swarms every thought. My fingers dig into her hips as I shove her down on me, claiming her like I can’t stand another second without being connected to her in every way.

I never understood the mating bond until this tie to her snapped into place. This insatiable need that can’t be quelled. A peak that can’t be reached. The more of her I have, the more desperate I become.

Craving her unlike anything I’ve encountered in six hundred years.

How did I get so lucky?