Page 24

‘Good.’ And then he slid a finger inside her.

Thea cried out, her nails digging into the hard muscle of his shoulders. ‘Wilder —’

He answered by adding another finger, slowly moving inside her, drawing out delicate coils of pleasure. She turned molten, desperately rocking her hips against his hand as he worked her, seeking more, already aching for release.

‘I’m not done with you yet.’ Wilder fell to his knees before her, his mouth descending, painting her with tongue and teeth, blending rapture and pain in a way that had her panting, in the way only he knew how.

He kissed her inner thighs, his beard scraping lightly before he sank his teeth into her skin, hard enough to leave marks. She watched the tapered muscles of his tattooed back shift as he moved between her legs, draping them over his broad shoulders.

Thea trembled and whimpered in need as he slipped his fingers from her, only to replace them with his tongue a moment later.

The back of her head hit the window and she cried out again as he licked her with the flat of his tongue, right up her centre, a long, lavish stroke that would be enough to send the sanest woman mad. She squeezed her breasts and pinched her nipples to the point of pain, trying to alleviate some of the pent-up tension.

Wilder moaned against her and she looked down to find him watching her, his gaze hooded with lust.

‘You’re a masterpiece,’ he murmured against her, brazenly surveying her hands on her heaving breasts before his attention snapped back to her core, wet and wanting.

‘Wilder…’ she panted.

His silver eyes gleamed with feral desire. ‘Is there something you want, Princess?’

‘Please.’

‘Say it,’ he commanded. ‘I want you to say it.’

‘Make me come, Wilder. Please make me come.’

He put his mouth on her again. This time, he lavished her clit with attention, circling it with his tongue, sucking until she saw stars. All notion of restraint vanished and she rode his face with complete abandon, relishing every sweep of that talented tongue. She lost herself in him completely. Tighter and tighter she wound, ready to combust —

He pushed two fingers inside her and that was it.

‘Gods, Wilder —’ She unravelled in a tidal wave, her climax hitting her with such force that she went taut and limp all at once, shuddering around him with a sob. He didn’t stop until he’d wrung every last ounce of satisfaction from her, until she couldn’t hold herself up on the sill any longer.

Wilder scooped her up and took her to the bed, still surveying her with those molten silver eyes.

‘I’m real,’ she murmured, waiting for the uncertainty to hit.

But his handsome face broke into a grin, his gaze lingering on her naked body, still slick with her climax. ‘Oh, that I know.’

‘Is that so?’

‘No dream or spell can replicate that taste, those sounds…’

Thea flushed.

Wilder leant down and kissed her. ‘Thank you.’

‘I feel like I should be thanking you…’

Wilder smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear. ‘You can thank me later,’ he said, before disappearing into the bathing chamber.

Thea stared after him, still breathless, in awe of the Warsword, her Warsword. He was in her blood, as much a part of her as the lightning and thunder coursing through her.

And in that moment, her fate hit her like a blow to the chest. Were she not already on the bed, her knees would have buckled beneath her.

Time.

They had so little of it now.