Page 31 of Hero of Havoc

“Ivy,” he murmurs, and my gaze snaps from his cock to his eyes.

Dammit.

“Sax,” I breathe, and he exhales, reaching a hand toward me, but he stops before he reaches me, letting his arm fall back to his side as he speaks.

“What was she doing here?”

I shake my head. “I don’t really know. I can’t make sense of it. She was questioning me about Leonardo and was familiar with the relic, but she threatened me with my father.”

Understanding flashes in his eyes. “She didn’t know.”

I shake my head. “No, and she didn’t believe me at first, but when I told her Leonardo did it, she combusted like…” My words trail off, my tongue unable to complete the sentence.

“Like you,” he mutters, and I nod.

“She was harming Ember too. She was distressed, disheveled, and almost dissociated from the reality around her.”

“I’m guessing she wasn’t always like that?” he asks, and my nose crinkles.

“Honestly, my mother has resembled a deliriously obtuse woman of leisure my whole life. If she wasn’t aware of her surroundings, it was because she didn’t care to be, especially if it wasn’t in connection with a gala or an event that required her attendance and beauty. Now, she’s almost unrecognizable,” I explain, and he hums in acknowledgment.

“Can I hug you?” he asks, a familiar question that anchored me yesterday, but this time, instead of taking the lead, I nod, and he eliminates the distance between us.

I sigh with relief as he wraps me in a warm embrace. I lean into him, my head resting against his chest as my arms bind around his middle.

For a moment, the world stills, my mind focuses on nothing but our connection, and I sink into him.

“How the hell did your mother and father produce you and Hugo? It doesn't add up,” he states, and I scoff, letting him rock me from side to side as he brushes his fingers through my hair.

I don’t answer because I don’t have one. Instead, I take his strength, and with every passing moment, my heart rate slows, but the tension that flooded these four walls shifts, intensifying with a different undertone.

It's like an electric charge zapping across my skin, igniting my magic and tingling my nerve endings.

“Ivy,” Sax rasps, leaning back just enough to capture my cheek in his hand.

There's need in his voice and passion in my veins as my pulse vibrates in my ears.

Rising onto my tiptoes, I throw caution to the wind and give in, pressing my lips against his.

His hands find my waist in an instant as I curl my arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

My spine stiffens as his hard length presses against my stomach, and the overwhelming need to taste him takes over.

I move on impulse, dropping to my knees with a thud before peering up at my hated mate through my lashes.

“Ivy,” he whispers, and I rake my teeth along my bottom lip as my hands trail over his thighs.

“Can I⁠—”

“Don’t ask. You never need to ask,” he rambles, pupils blown as he stares at me with an intensity that threatens to floor me.

“What if⁠—”

“Ivy, it’s you. I want everything with you. I told you yesterday, and I meant it. I’d follow you blindly, even into the darkness, even to my own demise, but I swear, your hands on me are a ticking time bomb and I’m about to come from the feeling of your fucking palms on my thighs,” he declares, and my heart lurches in my chest at the truth that shines bright in his eyes.

Instead of lingering on the ferocity of his words and tone, I let the passion firing through my veins take over as I lean closer, pressing a soft kiss to his strained cock.

“Fuck,” he rasps, making my thighs clench as desire falls from his tongue.