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My fingers grazed the sharp edge of his jaw. For him I would sacrifice it all again and again. I kissed him, naked, arching against his body. A travesty since he was fully clothed. I made quick work of shedding his tunic and trousers while he hurriedly sloughed his boots to the side.

Kage walked us to our bed, but I turned when we reached the edge, pinning his shoulders to the mattress, and straddled his hips. Kage kissed my breasts, my throat, breath hot against my skin as he spoke in old mage language, all the words firing through his head. Words like—his eternally, vicious, intoxicating, beautiful.

My hands roved across the planes of his chest, kissing a few new gashes still fading from the battle. Like Kage, where my hands touched, my mouth followed. Halfway down his stomach, I lifted my gaze. “You are my reason for it all, Kage Wilder. You’ve always been my reason.”

Kage’s breath quickened when I surrounded the tip of his cockwith my lips, then drew him in deep. His jaw tightened and he gripped my tangled hair, neck arched. His gasps, his moans, his pleas coiled in tight pleasure low in my belly the longer I tormented him with my kiss, my tongue, my lips.

“Wildling . . .” Kage fought the urge to rock his hips. “I’m going to?—”

I cut off his words, drawing him in deeper. He hissed his pleasure through his teeth, another muffled warning, before my name tore from his lips through his release. Kage’s arms collapsed at his sides. His breaths were heavy when I reeled over him and kissed him.

His dark eyes gleamed with a touch of mischief when I pulled away. “Oh, we’re not even close to being done, Wife.”

I shrieked when he rolled me under his body, teeth scraping against my neck. I sighed and tilted my head, giving him more access. Heat trembled up my arms.

Warming seasons at the Sanctuary, hunts on the Wildlands, nights where a tricky prince would pretend to be indifferent while seeing to it the blood mage daughter was given the largest pieces of a pastry, or had the books I enjoyed stocked in the palace library—those were the days I fell in love with Kage Wilder.

Love that carried us through death, through battle and curses, until it could flourish now. When we could at lastlive. All of it was worth every step to end in this man’s arms.

He slid a rough palm between my breasts, down my belly, until his fingers teased my slickened core. Kage hummed, grinning. “All this for me.”

Deep, long thrusts of one finger, then two, dragged me toward a burning precipice. I let my head fall back, rough gasps slid from my throat. My legs trembled. “Kage. . . I need you.”

“You have me.” He tightened his hold on my waist and tugged my nipple between his teeth.

“I need you inside me.”

A deep growl rumbled from his throat. Kage removed his fingers, licked the tips, then gripped my chin, tugging my face close to his. “On your knees.”

A rush of pleasure flooded my core at the mere tone of his demands.

Naked, exposed, I turned away from the king. Kage crowded me from behind and snaked his arm around my middle, rubbing his open palm across my smooth skin. A whimper slid from my throat, and I leveraged one knee onto the furs of the bed.

He tugged and lifted my hips with a silent demand, both forceful and gentle. His tongue slicked between my shoulders.

“Kage . . .”

One palm slipped between my thighs, and Kage curled a finger inside me again. With my face pressed into the bed, hips up, I widened my knees, offering more of myself.

“You. I want you inside me. Now.”

“As you say.” Kage aligned the tip of his length with my entrance, chuckling when I moaned into the furs of our bed. Little by little, my husband slid inside, stretching me. Filling me.

“Adira, skies.” Kage stilled for a breath, holding my body to his. “You are made for me.”

I let out a gasp when he shifted and felt so beautifully deep.

Kage dug his fingernails into my hips, pounding into me. Hells, the angle, the depth, there was nothing like it. With every thrust, he slowly worked his hand down my body again until his fingers found my throbbing core.

The wooden posts on the bed slammed against the wall as the king quickened his movements. I was weightless and free.

“From the beginning,” Kage said through a grunt, bucking his hips, deep and swift. “I knew I was yours and you were mine.”

The bed sounded like it might crack at any moment. My body split into a thousand pieces, a beautiful collision of passion, pleasure, and untamed love. His name spilled over my lips in a sob.

Kage pumped his hips once more, and the heat of his release spilled inside. His length twitched, and I felt the slick warmth drip down my inner thighs.

I collapsed onto my stomach. Kage slumped over the top of me for a few moments before he slid out and propped his head onto hispalm. I rolled onto my shoulder and slung a leg over his hips, grinning.

“I love you.” He kissed the tips of my fingers. “You are the light of my soul, Adira.”

I kissed him. I kissed him for the broken past. I kissed him for the bright future we had yet to live until the next life called—but even then, he would still be mine.