Page 60

“A child with remarkably familiar shadow magic,” he observed, and turned to face me fully. His eyes, sharp and assessing, missed nothing. “Shadow magic that responds to mine in a way I’ve only seen in those sharing blood ties.”

“Kiraz has unique abilities,” I said. “Even Nadine doesn’t fully understand them.”

Hakan stepped closer, his height allowing him to tower over me without effort. “Who is her father, Ada?”

“I told you, he’s not in the picture,” I repeated, and forced myself to hold his gaze.

"That's not what I asked." Another step closer, shadows stretching between us in probing fingers. "Shadow magic is hereditary, passed through bloodlines tied to the shadow realm. It doesn't simply appear randomly in light realm children."

"Why are you so interested in my niece?" I countered, desperate to divert his focus.

"Because her shadows react to mine through family magic," he said relentlessly. "Because she has both shadow and light magic?—"

I kissed him. It wasn't calculated—it was pure panic, a desperate act spawned by terror at what he was about to discover.

My mind raced with frantic thoughts—how could I tell him now?

The man who had turned me away when I sought him out, who had made it clear he never wanted children.

I didn't trust him with this truth, not with our daughter's future at stake.

I surged forward, cutting off his words with my mouth crushed hard to his.

For one heartbeat, he froze, clearly shocked by my sudden movement, and I was certain he would pull away.

His scent sent a surge of heat through my core, and my heart threw itself at my ribcage.

Our binding flared to life at the contact, that magical connection between us igniting through dry timber touched by flame.

The desperation in my kiss—initially spawned by panic—transformed into something else entirely while our magics recognized each other, while five years of denial and want crashed through the barriers I'd so carefully constructed.

Then something snapped inside him—some final restraint, some last barrier between us. His arms locked around me with bruising intensity, his mouth claiming mine with five years of pent-up hunger, something that should be impossible unless?—

The kiss was nothing like our tentative exchanges of years past. Nothing like our recent encounter in the Shadow Court, when our argument had exploded into that violent passion upon the wall, only to dissolve back into anger afterward.

This was something else entirely—raw, visceral—teeth and tongue and desperate need.

His shadows engulfed us both, a cocoon of darkness that heightened every sensation.

Hakan growled, kissing me through a man starved of his deepest needs; his mouth was raw and possessive.

My light flared in response, not fighting but joining, creating a fusion of power that mirrored what we'd seen in Kiraz's small hands.

"What game are you playing?" he growled into my mouth, even though his hands tangled in my hair, tilting my head back to deepen the kiss.

I was breathless, turned on, and ready to rip his clothes off, just so he could enter me.

"No game," I panted, arching into him while his teeth grazed my throat, his hands fisted my hair.

I hated my weakness for him, how my body betrayed me even when my mind screamed warnings.

His shadows spread down my thighs, igniting every cell in my body.

I wanted him so much it was almost painful, even while I used that desire to distract him from truths he wasn't ready for—truths that could destroy everything.

"Just tired of fighting what's between us. "

He made a sound deep in his chest—half disbelief, half surrender—then claimed my mouth again with savage intensity, his hard chest crushed to mine. His hands were everywhere, relearning my body with possessive determination.

He tore at the laces of my bodice, impatient for access to my breasts and my soaked pussy; he molded and caressed my nipples in slow motions.

I arched my head backward, entangled by his shadows; a loud moan escaped me while he licked the left nipple, then the right.

I was throbbing for him, lost in desire and madness of what was happening between us.

I reached out with my hands and grabbed his erect cock, and he growled loudly with approval.

Then he fumbled with his pants, frantically trying to release his cock, his mouth sucking on my nipples as though his life depended on it.

I was no gentler, stroking my fingers over the tip of his shaft, frantically helping him get rid of his pants.

We were deep in the forest, light and darkness tantalizing around us, creating a vortex of power that extended beyond our bodies.

When I glanced up, the previously clear sky had darkened with gathering storm clouds—our magic affecting the natural world around us.

The ancient texts had mentioned this phenomenon—weather responding to powerful magical binding.

I didn't care about the implications, I only needed him inside me, even though our binding was clearly entering its third phase—magical manifestation beyond our bodies.

The air became dense, suddenly charged with electric currents, magnifying every sensation where our skin touched.

"Fuck Ada…fuck…we shouldn't," he panted even while he backed me toward the trunk of an ancient oak. "But if you tell me to stop, I will."

"Don't you dare," I warned him, while he pushed his hand between my legs, then released a savage growl when he discovered that my folds were dripping with arousal. "I want you. Now. Fuck me."

The admission shattered something in him—some last vestige of control, of restraint.

With a growl that raised the hairs on my neck, he forced me to turn around, so I was bent over in front of that oak tree, pressing my hands to it to keep my balance.

His shadow circled, pinching and rolling over my breasts while Hakan ripped my panties off quickly then tossed them away.

His fingers probed down through the rear opening, finding my ass first, then through my slit.

“I’m the only one that will ever worship your pussy,” he said roughly, sliding two fingers inside me while his thumb pressed over my clit.

My eyes rolled back, my heart was pounding deep, his shadow causing havoc around my light.

“Ever since the spell faded, I’ve dreamed of you, dreamed of worshipping you every night after I found you again.”

I gasped while he thrust his fingers in and out of me, then his mouth pressed over my butt, his tongue stroking through my rear entrance, licking and caressing slowly at first, but then quicker, his strokes forceful and visceral.

I panted for air, but then Hakan withdrew his fingers and slapped my butt hard, leaving me completely drenched.

I cried out when I was just about to come, but then he entered me with one powerful thrust. There was no gentle preparation, no gradual joining—just the sudden, perfect fullness while he kept thrusting his hard cock into me over and over again.

I cried out, the sound swallowed by his mouth when he grabbed my jaw and kissed me again.

He gave me no time to adjust, setting a punishing rhythm that spoke of years of denial, of need too long suppressed.

My light collided with his shadows, the thunder and lightning shattered above us, and I moaned loudly, the sound of thunder following.

Each thrust drove me forward, pain mingling with pleasure in a heady cocktail.

Then the rain fell while Hakan fucked me, pounding into me hard and fast. Soon we were both soaked with the overpowering rain when another roll of thunder and flash of lightning swept through the territories of Light Court.

Our magic responded to our passion, shadows and light dancing roaring around us, intertwining in patterns that mirrored our joined bodies.

The air grew thick with power, with the scent of ozone and darkness and sex.

"Mine," Hakan growled into my throat, the word raw and possessive. His hands gripped me harder, fingers digging into my flesh with bruising force. "Scream for your Shadow Lord, my light, scream so everyone knows who you belong to."

In that moment, lost in sensation, I couldn't deny it.

Despite five years of separation, of hatred, passion, and his shadow tortures, some part of me had remained his—just while some part of him had always been mine.

Now he was claiming me back, causing destruction and havoc, thrusting into me, his shadow claiming my light.

My release built with startling speed, propelled by the intensity of his thrusts, by the way his shadows stroked my skin wherever his hands couldn't reach.

When it crashed over me, it was with a force that tore a scream from my throat, my light exploding outward in a pulse that momentarily blinded us both.

Hakan followed moments later, his rhythm faltering when his own climax overtook him. His shadows flared with his release, merging with my light in a display of magic that would have been visible for miles had we not been hidden in the dense forest.

For long moments afterward, we remained joined, his forehead pressed to my back, both of us breathing hard.

His shadows gradually receded, returning to their usual place around him rather than enveloping us both.

The storm was slowly descending, but rain kept falling while I tried to gather my thoughts.

“That was…fuck, Ada,” he began, then seemed to lose the thread of what he’d meant to say.

“Yes,” I agreed, understanding without needing the words. “It was.”

He pulled me closer to him, though his hands lingered on my waist as if he was reluctant to break contact completely.

I adjusted my clothing with hands that weren’t entirely steady, suddenly unable to meet his gaze.

My mind raced. I shouldn’t have lost control like that, but at least I’d managed to distract him.

Yet part of me ached at the deception—the same part that had never stopped loving him, despite everything he’d done.

“Ada,” he said, his voice softer than I’d heard it in years. “What was that about?”

“Does it need to be about anything?” I asked, finally glanced up at him, hiding the truth behind half-truths.

How could I tell him that I’d just used our connection to keep him from discovering the daughter he’d once told me he never wanted?

The daughter he had unknowingly rejected when he’d refused to see me five years ago?

“Can’t it just be what it was—release, connection, need? ”

His eyes searched mine, seeking deception, for calculation. I let him see only what I wanted him to see—desire, confusion, vulnerability. Not fear, not desperation.

“We should return to the village,” I said when the silence had stretched too long. “Kiraz is probably looking for us.”

“Kiraz,” he repeated, as if just remembering our previous conversation.

For a moment, I thought he might return to his questions about her, about her father and her impossible magic. Then his expression cleared, desire evidently having driven the suspicions temporarily from his mind.

“Yes, we should go back.”

When we walked toward the village, maintaining a respectable distance that belied what had just transpired between us, I caught sight of Kiraz playing with the other children.

The storm our passion had created had left puddles throughout the village square, and the children squealed with delight while they splashed through them.

Kiraz glanced up at our approach, her small face lighting with joy as she waved to us both—to her mother and the father she didn’t know she had.

The sight of them together—Hakan with his blond hair and commanding presence, Kiraz with that same stubborn set to her chin, that same intensity in her gaze—sent an ache through my chest, both love and fear.

She was completely unaware of the precarious balance of secrets surrounding her, of how close her father had come to uncovering the truth.

I had bought time with my body, with the connection that still burned between Hakan and me despite everything.

But time for what? To continue the deception?

To find a way to tell him the truth that he had rejected before even hearing it?

To spirit Kiraz away before he could discover who she truly was and perhaps reject her again?

He had made his feelings about fatherhood clear long ago—could I risk our daughter’s heart on the hope he’d changed?

I had no answers, only the knowledge that despite my best intentions, I was still drawn to him like light to darkness—opposing forces that somehow, impossibly, strengthened rather than destroyed each other.

Just like the magic that flowed through our daughter’s veins.