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Ash still held back, his swirling silver eyes locked on mine as his hips punched forward, hard and deep. And I took him. I brought both knees up, hooking my legs around his waist. For a moment, neither of us moved. Our bodies were flush, hip to hip, chest to chest.

Then he moved, just like I wanted, fast and hard. I couldn’t even keep up. All I could do was hold on as he took me.

“Fates, nothing feels like this,” he uttered against my mouth. “Nothing feels like you.”

I felt the same, but I couldn’t get the words out as pleasure started to build again as he drove me to the breaking point, over and over. His mouth found mine, and he worked an arm under me, tilting my hips up.

Then I lost all sense of time. It was just the sounds of our bodies coming together and the wind above, stirring the branches. I felt him swelling and tightening with each deep, pounding thrust. The tension returned, building deep inside me until every muscle in my body tensed.

There was no slow build, no coming to the edge and then pulling back. The coil spinning inside me unfurled at a shocking rate. Crying out his name, the most intense pleasure I’d ever felt rolled over me in tight, hot waves that stretched every nerve ending.

Mindlessly, I threw my head back, but Ash’s hand was there, preventing it from hitting the ground. He cradled the back of my head and ground his hips into mine, sending pulses of uncontrollable ecstasy through every nerve in my body.

“Liessa.” His voice was rough and low. He pressed into me, joining me in release with a hoarse shout. “Sera.”

I held on to him, even as the rest of my body went limp. I just held him to me as pleasure took him in the same endless way.

“I never wanted…” Ash whispered against my skin, even as I felt him still spasming inside me. He kissed my neck, then the corner of my lips. “I never wanted until you.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Ash’s lips coasted over mine, and his words echoed in my mind.

I never wanted.

Looping my arms around his shoulders, I held him tightly. The kiss deepened until we were drowning in each other.

I never wanted until you.

His heart pounded against mine as our lips reluctantly parted. We were both breathless and yearning—

The Primal essence suddenly throbbed intensely throughout me, causing me to suck in a short breath. Ash’s head jerked up at that exact moment.

A low rumble of thunder traveled through the air, seeming to emanate from every direction, both above and below us. Tiny bumps of dread raced across my skin, and my eyes locked on his.

“Kolis,” snarled Ash, shadows rapidly appearing in his cheeks as his flesh thinned. “They’ve found him.”

“And he’s conscious,” I whispered.

Time…

We were out of time.

The rumble picked up, and the ground trembled, causing the trees to sway and sending several leaves falling.

I wasn’t ready.

But I had to be.

I had to face the end because this was it. This wasn’t a close call. There would be no tomorrows. No afters. This was it.

I stared into Ash’s whirling silver eyes as a hundred—no, a thousand—different things rose to the tip of my tongue. I still wanted to know and say so much. All of it would take a lifetime or more, but I had mere minutes. Not even hours now.

Minutes.

Panic sliced through my chest, sending adrenaline surging through my veins.

The tendrils of eather brightened in Ash’s gaze as he sucked in a sharp breath.