Page 11 of Crown Me (Immortal Vices and Virtues: All Hallows’ Eve #3)

Bron

I ’d give anything to be able to take away her sadness. To make everything better. Holding her feels so fucking inadequate as she sobs against my chest.

But I also know that whatever nightmares and fears she’s facing, she needs to make her way through the pain if she’s going to reach the light.

I do, too.

The past can’t be changed. I have to forgive myself for it. For not reaching my mate in time. And I have to forgive myself for taking hope from the future.

When she’s finally cried herself out, her whole body warm and relaxed against me, her head snuggling against my shoulder, I try to find the words.

It’s impossible to speak the right ones.

“My bear thinks…” I clear my throat. “ I think…”

She tips her head back, her eyes red from crying, her cheeks blotchy, still as beautiful as she was when she was furious.

Finally, I manage a growl. “I want you in my life, too.”

A smile lights up her brown eyes, but with it comes an instant surge of fear.

“Why?” I ask her softly, determined that whatever fear I’m detecting doesn’t grow. “What frightens you about this?” I can’t stop the tension forming in my shoulders. “Is it my bear? I promise I’ll keep him under control.”

“No,” she whispers. “I like your bear.”

Mate , my bear announces, even more smugly than before.

But damn, my chest hurts. “Then… It’s me?”

“No.” Her response is even quicker this time, her hand pressing to my chest. “It’s because I’m not?—”

Her voice breaks and I wait for her to go on, all while the fear in her eyes grows.

I want to take it away. All her nightmares. All her fears.

“Not what?” I prompt softly.

She closes her eyes, her voice a rasp. “I’m not loveable.”

My jaw drops. Then my rage surges. If I could find whoever made her believe this, I’d fucking tear them apart. “Look at me.”

Any sane person would startle at the snarl in my voice, but not her. She sighs against my throat, her lips brushing my skin, kissing me there as if she’s soaking up all the rumbling vibrations of my increasing growls.

“Please, Adeline.” I try as hard as I can to stifle my anger. “Look at me.”

She finally looks up and I’m not sure if I’m grateful or if I miss the way her lips were brushing my neck.

“I thought my bear was out of his mind when he said you’re our mate,” I say. “Hell, he is out of his mind. My past broke me. I was eking out my remaining time on this Earth waiting for the day when the witches had no choice but to end me. And then you came along.”

My hands rise across her back, pulling her closer. “If you’ll let me, I will spend a lifetime proving you wrong. I will show you, every damn day, how loveable you are.”

Her lips part with a quickly indrawn breath, one hand sliding up the side of my neck, the other pressing at my chest. If it weren’t for the way she wraps her fingers against the side of my neck, I’d think she was trying to push herself out of my arms.

But instead, she repositions herself, slipping her legs to either side of my hips where I’m kneeling on the ground. Her pelvis presses to mine, sending rivers of heat through my thoughts, but I’m not about to make any assumptions about her wishes.

Her head tips back, her chin lifting as her eyes meet mine. “Start now.”

With that, she leans forward, slowly, testing the space between us as she closes the gap and presses her lips to mine. A careful brush, so soft, it nearly drives me crazy before she draws back.

There’s a question in her voice this time. “Start now?”

I lean forward, claiming her sweet mouth.

She moans against my lips, her hands clasping my shoulders, her body rocking against me where her pelvis presses to mine.

When she draws back to slip off her top, leaving her only in her bra, I force myself to take a breath.

I don’t want to rush this, no matter how hard my body is and how heated the desire burning my blood.

To my surprise, it’s my bear who holds me back, constraining my animal instincts to mate and bond with her—to fuck her. He slows me down, maintaining the clarity I need to whisper against her mouth, asking for her consent to explore her body.

First her breasts, the soft curves of them, then her taut nipples, pausing over the lacy material of her bra. “Would you like it if I kiss you here?”

“Yes,” she gasps, her pupils dilating at my question, as if the sound of my voice triggers as much pleasure for her as the sensation when I close my mouth over her nipple, teasing and licking through the material.

She arches back, swiftly reaching for the clasp to release the bra, pushing it off her body before drawing my head back to her breasts, her hands clawing around my shoulders.

With a satisfied growl at her response, I gently roll my tongue across both her nipples one after the other, supporting her back as she arches in my arms.

My voice rumbling against her chest, I ask, “Would you like it if it if I take off your pants?”

She bucks against me, a near-sob in her voice as she replies, “Yes.”

As I lay her back on the moss, slowly drawing her long, black pants down her legs, I can smell her arousal, sweet and subtle, vanilla I need to taste on my tongue.

But again, I’m not going to rush this. Starting at her ankles, I stroke upward along the curves of her calves, kneading the tight muscles as I work my way up the inside of her thighs, gratified when she lifts her ass off the ground, bringing her pelvis closer to my mouth.

“Would you like it if I?—”

“Please,” she moans. “Fuck me.”

“Soon,” I whisper, startled by how ready she seems, her whole body trembling as if it will only take a stroke of my fingers against her clit to send her into oblivion.

I’d like nothing more than to rip off her underpants and give her that release, but I won’t make assumptions that she’s truly ready for me. Not until I’m certain.

Still, I’m swift with the dispensing of that final layer of material, barely managing to remove her panties without ripping them before I bury my head between her legs.

Where I slow down again, exhaling softly against her clit.

She jerks against me, bringing her body to my mouth.

My tongue flicks against her clit and she moans, her fingers digging into my sides, but still, I stay slow. “Do you like this?”

“Fuck, yes,” she gasps. “Do it more.”

My mouth closes fully over her clit, my tongue swirling against her sensitive nub until she thrashes against me, rocking hard.

“Do you want to come this way?” I ask, fully prepared to give her the release she wants without asking anything in return.

“No,” she snarls, as fiercely as a bear, her hands flying to my head, dragging my mouth away from her sweet, vanilla core. “I want to come while you’re inside me.”

I take a breath. Then another. But my bear isn’t constraining me anymore and I have her consent.

Rising to my feet, I pull off my pants, then drop to kneel in front of her, prepared to fuck her against the ground, but she takes control, pushing me onto my back and climbing up onto me.

She takes a brief glance at my hard length and I wonder if she’ll rethink because taking me all the way in could overwhelm her, but at least she’s on top, so?—

Rational thought disappears as she sinks onto me, slowly at first, adjusting her downward descent, closing her eyes, feeling her way and I don’t rush her because… fuck me.

She consumes me.

Her hands brace on my shoulders as she draws herself back up and then moves faster, driving herself downward. A cry leaves her lips, a wild desire filling her eyes as she focuses on me, her breath rasping.

Again, she lifts herself before plunging downward, her whole body trembling.

I can’t help myself. I want her to feel every pleasure, to claim every sensation, so I rear up beneath her, reaching for her breasts, drawing her left nipple into my mouth, keeping myself in a sitting position so I can drag every moan from her lips.

As she rides me, her moans are everything.

She is everything.

As her cries increase, my heart hurts, a tearing sensation as all the bad memories rip away and I finally, resolutely put away the past.

I sense the moment before she comes, the way she gives herself over, the tightening of this bond between us, and then the crash.

Hers and mine coming together at the same time, a wild, overwhelming heat, waves and waves of pleasure as she cries out and rides me even harder until she drops to my chest, trembling against me, her breathing erratic and the sound of her heartbeat hammering in my ears.

She doesn’t separate from me. Not yet. And I sense how fragile this moment is, how carefully I need to move, because her thudding heartbeats tell me she’s afraid now. No doubt, afraid for her heart.

Slowly, I slip my arms across her back, stroking her skin, slow, circular movements. Pressing light kisses to the top of her head, her forehead, her high cheekbones, sensing the moment when she relaxes again, sighing against my chest, and her heartbeat calms, any threatening anxiety vanishing.

For long moments, we lie in the flowers and we only separate when I ask her, “Would you like to get dressed but then come right back here again?”

She lifts her head, a smile on her lips. “Yes.” She bites her lip. “I like your questions.”

We pull on our clothing. Well, most of it. Pants for both of us and she pulls on her bra without bothering with her shirt. And then I draw her back to the ground, where she lies on top of me, resting her head in the crook of my neck.

For another long moment, I close my eyes and drink in her scent and the lingering taste of her on my tongue.

I need to name this feeling, to acknowledge what happened between us, and ask her if she’ll be my mate. Even though there’s a clear bond between us, I need to give her the chance to accept it or reject it, but I need to ask her at a moment when her body and her desires aren’t dictating her actions.

“Adeline,” I begin quietly. “Would you?—”

I’m suddenly aware of agitated clucking nearby.

Bessy disappeared into the flowers when I started kissing Adeline, but now she rushes toward us in a flurry of feathers and squawking.

Adeline jolts upward off my chest. “Bessy?”

The ground rumbles beneath us, the only warning before tree roots erupt in every direction, piercing the soil around us, ripping it away.

No!

Adeline’s startled eyes meet mine, and then we’re falling again, tumbling downward through crumbling soil and rocks.

I try to catch hold of Adeline, but she tumbles from my arms, the same sapphire-blue thread we saw earlier wrapping around her, a streak of light in the darkness whipping her away from me.

My bear rages to the surface, his strength propelling us toward her, but it’s no use.

An immense pressure forces us down, down, down .

A short, deadly fall.

Adeline’s scream is the last thing I hear before I slam toward jagged rocks.