Page 53

The night is silent, the kind of silence that hums with power, thick with something ancient and unchanging. The forest breathes around us, the trees bending slightly under the wind, bearing witness to what we are about to do. Above us, the moon hangs full, casting a glow over the clearing, making the world feel smaller, intimate, only ours.

This is it.

Dain stands before me, his golden eyes molten under the silver light, his wings slightly flared. He is bare, stripped of his armor, his weapons, his defenses. But he is not vulnerable. No—he is more. More than a warrior, more than a king of ruin, more than the vengeful creature I once feared.

He is mine.

Just as I am his.

Neither of us speak for a long moment, the ritual pressing against our skin, thick in the air, in the magic between us.

This bond isn’t fate. It isn’t destiny forcing our hands.

This is our hoice.

He lifts a clawed hand, his fingers grazing my jaw, tilting my face up. His touch is gentle, reverent, but there’s something wild in his gaze, something possessive, consuming, raw.

I swallow hard, my pulse thrumming beneath my skin.

“Do you know the words?” His voice is low, husky, filled with something dark and reverent.

I nod.

The words are etched in my soul, just as they are in his.

We stand close, so close our breaths mingle, the heat between us nearly unbearable.

Slowly, I speak first.

“I take you, Dain, as my mate. Bound in blood, bound in spirit, bound in eternity.” My voice doesn’t waver, even as the magic starts to stir, wrapping around us like invisible chains, sinking into our skin.

His eyes darken, his claws flexing, his chest rising and falling with slow, measured breaths.

His turn.

“I take you, Liora, as my mate. Bound in blood, bound in spirit, bound in eternity.”

The air shudders.

The magic around us tightens, holding us in place, branding the words onto our very beings. The bond ignites, no longer severed, no longer forced, no longer bound by fate but by choice.

I feel it thread through me, sinking into my marrows, into the very breath I take. It isn’t suffocating, isn’t a cage, it’s comfort, strength, the certainty that I will never be alone again.

Dain exhales sharply, his forehead pressing against mine. His hands grip my waist, trembling, and I can feel it, the control he’s barely holding onto, the wildfire beneath his skin, waiting to consume.

“Forever,” he breathes, his lips brushing against my cheek, my jaw, my throat. “Say it.”

I shudder, my fingers curling into his shoulders, dragging my nails over his skin, marking him as he has always marked me.

“Forever,” I whisper.

His restraint snaps.

Dain takes me to the ground, pinning me beneath him, his body heat and muscle and need, his hands sliding up my thighs, parting them, his mouth claiming mine in a kiss that is more than hunger, more than desperation, it’s a vow.

His lips sear me, his teeth scrape along my bottom lip, his tongue demanding entry, demanding submission.

I give it.

His cock presses against my slick entrance, the tip teasing my pussy, already throbbing with need. I whimper, my hips lifting instinctively, begging for him to fill me, to take me completely.

“Please, my mate…” I beg, wanting him to give his everything to me.

Dain doesn’t make me wait. With a single, deliberate thrust, he sheathes himself inside me, stretching me, claiming me in one swift motion. I cry out, the sensation overwhelming, a perfect blend of pleasure and pain, of fullness and fire.

“Oh, gods!” he moans, his body arching as he gazes into my eyes.

His growl vibrates through me, a feral sound that sends shivers down my spine. He pulls back slowly, almost entirely, before slamming into me again, harder this time, deeper.

“Yes!” I scream, my legs shaking from the impact, and my nerves fraying at the edges.

My pussy clenches around him, desperate to keep him close, to feel every inch of him as he moves. His rhythm is relentless, each thrust driving me further into the earth, each stroke igniting something primal within me.

“Liora,” he snarls, his voice rough, possessive, as his fangs graze the curve of my neck. His claws dig into my hip, holding me in place as he fucks me with a ferocity that leaves me breathless.

I can feel the bond between us burning brighter, hotter, as if his every movement is searing his mark into my very soul.

My magic flares, and I connect deeper into him, sealing the bond further. Oh. It’s beautiful as colors and emotions explode around me.

My hands claw at his back, my nails leaving trails of red as I cling to him, my body trembling with the force of his passion. His lips find mine, silencing my moans with a kiss that’s as demanding as his cock, as consuming as the fire building low in my belly. I can feel it—the tension coiling tighter, tighter, until I’m certain I’ll shatter.

“Dain, please,” I beg, my voice breaking as I teeter on the edge. He growls again, his pace quickening, his cock hitting that spot inside me that makes my vision blur.

“You feel so good,” he groans, licking my nipples and fondling my breasts lovingly. “Let’s come together.”

I choke an ascent, my throat too sore to answer.

My pussy tightens around him, my climax crashing over me like a wave, pulling me under, drowning me in pleasure. He follows me over the edge, his release hot and deep, his roar echoing in my ears as he spills himself inside me.

“My Liora,” he murmurs again, his voice softer now, but no less certain.

Without a doubt, I am too.

We’re bound.

Whole. Forever.

When it’s over, when I am spent and he is sated, when the night is quiet again and the magic has settled, I lay in his arms, my body a living brand of his touch, his claim, his love.

His hand rests over my stomach, fingers tracing lazy, possessive circles.

I turn my head, finding his gaze. “It’s done,” I whisper.

His lips curve into something dark, something satisfied, something utterly unrepentant.

“It only just begun.”

I laugh, breathless, exhausted, content.

Dain leans in, brushing his lips over mine, slow and tender, a promise of forever.

And in his arms, I am home.