Page 9

“I need you, Lucas… Now…” I moaned again.

This time, he lowered his head, burying his nose in my neck. I could hear his hot breath. I could feel it spill onto my own body, eager to have his.

His lips latched onto my nipple, drawing it into the heat of his mouth. He suckled at it hard, adjusting himself on top of me. I closed my eyes, relishing the sound of his belt buckle clicking out of place.

He didn’t wait for me to undress him. I didn’t want him to wait any longer. He threw his shirt over his head, working his way out of his pants as well. A moment later, he was on top of me again, my breasts hitting the hard muscles of his chest as he lay on top of me.

I didn’t want him to kiss me. I wanted him to fuck me mindlessly, breathlessly, until we both came undone.

He worshipped my breasts with his tongue, his hands working on the buttons of my pants, sliding them off of me. He didn’t remove my panties. I knew what he wanted to do… just slide them to the side, that thin piece of fabric enflaming his imagination even more.

My entire body was already shaking. I wanted him to take me now.

He placed his hand between my thighs. He could feel how hot and wet I already was. But he didn’t take me yet.

Crazed as I was for him, he wanted to torment me some more by pressing kisses over my hips, then tracing an invisible line inward. I grabbed a fistful of his hair, keeping him in place. I closed my eyes, biting my lower lip. He knew exactly how to bring me to the brink, then pull away and make me go there again.

He drew me into his mouth, the very essence of my pleasure, palpitating on his tongue. I couldn’t fight my need any longer.

“Take me,” I begged.

This time, he listened. He got on top of me, covering my entire body with his.

Without thinking, I wrapped my legs around him, drawing him close. I could feel the tip of his manhood pressing against my wet heat.

“Now?” he asked with that devilish grin.

“Now,” I nodded breathlessly.

He dropped his forehead to mine, drawing his hips into me. He slid inside effortlessly, beautifully in one powerful stroke.

I moaned with pleasure. He groaned in turn.

Heaven. It was pure heaven.

He kept thrusting into me hard, just the way he knew I liked. His fingers gripped me, kept me in place, until my insides exploded all around him, pulsating around him.

“Argh, Annika…” he groaned softly, thrusting a few more times, then tightening as he came inside of me.

A moment later, he settled next to me, wrapping his arms around me. The room smelled like smoke and sweat and him. My head was on his chest, my fingers tracing lazy patterns on his skin.

He was quiet, his breathing steady. Protective, as always. But I knew he wasn’t sleeping. Not really.

Neither was I.

I closed my eyes and listened to the slow thud of his heart. It didn’t match mine. It never did. His beat slower, steadier—like he had all the time in the world, while mine raced, sharp and frantic. It had always been that way.

But tonight, it felt different.

Tonight, the world felt like it was tilting, like something was shifting beneath us. I could feel it in the weight of the air, in the way Lucas’s grip tightened whenever I moved. Like he was afraid to let go.

I was afraid too.

I thought about the dagger—the way it pulsed like something alive. The way Kael’s voice had stayed so calm while he told me my blood could wake a monster. I thought about the mark under my skin and the way Lucas looked at me when he saw it, like he was already bracing for a fight he couldn’t win.

I hated that look.

I hated the fear that coiled low in my stomach, threatening to drown me. But more than that, I hated the thought of losing this. Us.