Page 107 of Of Shadows and Blood

“Okay.” I dig my forearms into the sheets and spread my knees wider.

In any other situation, your partner mentioning another woman would be a turn off. But she isn’t the other. She’s within me and by the way my body reacts, I think I agree with her passions.

Cedric’s hand plants on my hip crease as he pulls me back to him. With his free hand, he guides himself back into me. As he reaches his hilt, the passion takes over in the moment. He begins plunging into me with no control, his hand smacking me and adding to the intensity of our joining tonight.

I grip one of the pillows we left on the bed, biting my mouth into the feathers. He grabs my throat and pulls me back against him as he continues his destroying thrusts. I turn my chin down and take his thumb into my mouth, sucking.

“Is,” he groans, “this good for you?”

“Yes,” I whine. Gods, yes.

Cedric hisses behind me and begins to build his movements. I feel a natural encouraging of it, my hips finding a rhythm against him. He drives into me, our climaxes coming to a peak together. The aching feeling between my legs vibrates up into my lower belly and into my chest. With his thumb in my mouth, I puncture it slightly and suck his intoxicating blood again. On my cue, Cedric slides my hair to the left and bites into my neck.

Everything bottled up within me from the last release comes to a head and Cedric pulls back so that we may look at each other in our pleasure. His hands grip my hips as he slams into me one, two, three, four times in equal succession. On the last thrust I scream, moan, something unintelligible before Cedric captures my mouth, groaning into it.

“Oh my Gods,” I moan into the space between us as he slows down, ebbing out the last pangs of our joining. The light my body emits slowly goes back under the surface.

“The Gods do not worship you as I do,” he replies kissing the healing spot where he drew my blood. “But I agree. That was…”

“Infinite.”

Cedric nods and pulls out of me slowly, bringing me down to the bed with him. Reaching over, he grabs his discarded shirt from the floor and wipes himself.

“One second…” He gets up and walks to an armoire, presenting a small cloth for me.

“Ever the gentleman,” I giggle.

Cedric grabs my hand, pausing me from cleaning up. His eyes darken as he inhales deeply.

“Everything okay?”

“Perfectly. Just –” his eyes flick down to my exposed body – “hold off on cleaning up. You smell like me and I want to keep it like that for a moment. It’s been so long since I’ve scented our bond.” He inhales as if he has lacked breath for years.

“Okay, vampyr king, I get that. But I do need to clean myself up.”

Cedric groans and kisses me before sliding off the bed and offering his hand. “A bath, dear Liv? I’m not opposed to you walking around like this, though.”

“You’re an animal.” I swat at his hand and stand.

“It’s my basic nature.”

I follow him through the connecting door on the left side of his room. A large bathroom opens up, stone floors warmed thanks to the cess magic. A shadow slides out from Cedric like a branch. It flicks two knobs over to the right and water begins to cascade from an opening above the large bathtub set against a large mirror in the corner. The bathtub, up close, is shaped like a ten-pointed star. The mirror behind it has subtle specks of rust and my mind trails off, thinking of the naughty things we could get into during a bath.

Thinking pure thoughts, baby?

You know me.

Cedric chuckles and dips his hand into the bath before adding salts and herbs to the water. The ceiling has a sky light, which gives us the perfect view into the night sky. The stars are barely making their way out, but it is incredibly peaceful.

I step into the basin, eager to warm up again. Goosebumps pebble my skin at the luxurious heat creeping up my body. Cedric steps in behind me and places me between his legs. His shadow reaches out and turns the water off when it reaches the top.

“What can your shadows actually do? I don’t see them often,” I ask, watching the silky matter disappear under the water. Something tickles me and I jump.

“Things like that,” Cedric laughs in my ear.

“Ass.”

He reaches and grabs a pouf, squeezing a light green bottle of soap onto it before scrubbing my back and arms.