Page 16 of Flameborne: Fury (Emberquell Academy #2)

~ DONAVYN ~

“Mine,” I rasped. “You’re mine, Bren.”

Kgosi roared, but as I retreated from her body, my mate’s eyes went wide with fear and she clawed her nails into my scalp. “Don’t—”

I plunged back into her, calling for her, her hair in my fist, her body tightening on me, both of us gasping, overwhelmed with bliss.

I kissed her with the desperation that hummed in my bones. Then, forehead pressed to hers, bodies shaking, our breaths and cries mingling, I locked eyes with her and tumbled deeper as the fire she’d ignited in me flared and coursed, my heartbeat pumping undiluted fire in my veins.

With a guttural groan, I took her again and she rose to meet me, gasping. Then I drew out until I’d left her, and she whimpered, her fingernails digging into my shoulders like she still feared I’d run. Until I took her again.

And again.

Meeting and falling away. Calling, then unbreathing.

We moved together and the world disappeared. Everything sucked in and tunneled until the only thing that existed was her, and that space in my chest that had ached, and weighed, pressed on my ribs, and spun with fear when I walked away from her. But now the hollowness inside it burned.

With every roar Kgosi unleashed in the storm, the word reverberated through my head.

Mate.

Mine.

And I’m yours.

With every thrust and roll, Bren cried my name and reached for me, pulling me ever closer, begging me not to leave her.

I wouldn’t.

I couldn’t.

She came alive inside that space, a tiny, fragile flame at first, flickering and glowing, but almost blown out in the wind of this world.

Fighting for control, I let my head sink back, closed my eyes and took her again, calling to her.

And her gasping response called me closer.

When I dropped my chin again, quaking, desperate to gather the shreds of my control, it was to find her staring, wide-eyed and awed, her chin rising as we moved together, but her eyes never leaving my face.

Sucked into that gaze, I hissed her name through my teeth and something in her softened. She reached for me, hand cupping my neck as I took her again and her eyes almost closed, but then her fingers slid higher, clawing into my scalp and holding me there, locked in.

The heat riding my blood washed into that spiraling space in my chest, pooling, filling, expanding. Feeding the bellows of my heart, fueling her flame, and pumping into my limbs, until it seemed every inch of my skin had sensitized to even the whisper of her.

Everything fell away. Everything. I forgot the King. Forgot Emberquell, or my rank. I forgot her age, or the pains she’d suffered. I forgot that we twisted together on a fur in a cave outside the borders because someone had attempted to sabotage her.

Only one clear thought sliced through me: someone had tried to take her from me.

I growled and Kgosi screamed, images coming alive in my head. Kgosi barreling down on Akhane—and a whole new thrust of desire shoving me closer to my mate.

When I arched my back and braced on my hands to look down on her, to drink her in, Bren whimpered and curled up, locking her arms around my neck and pulling herself up to bury her face in my throat, and suddenly even this wasn’t enough.

Kgosi rumbled in my head, but I shook him off.

She was mine. I had to see her, to know her. Every inch.

Sitting back on my heels I pulled her up with me. She gave a little shriek, her eyes flying open as she fell into my chest, but I pulled my knees up behind her to keep her close, plunged both hands into her hair, and took her mouth with the same vigor I possessed her body.

Mouth open and breath heavy, she wrapped both arms around my neck and rode me, gasping, keening, driving me on, and now from this position I could touch her, kiss her, own her.

The salty skin under her ear, and that soft, delicate throat. The rounds of her breasts, first pressed against me, and then, when I leaned her back against my knees, bare and soft, puckered and bouncing with every thrust.

I curled forward, opening my mouth on one of those rosy peaks, sucking, laving it with my tongue, almost coming when she cried my name at the pleasure of it.

All the while, that heat pooling in my chest began to spiral and suck, a whirlpool of need and emotion that threatened to steal my wits. It rippled when I grasped her hips and held her down, pounding into her, watching her breasts bounce.

It surged when I splayed a hand at her back and bent her backwards, bowing her spine and dragging the other hand down her body, watching her skin pebble in the wake of my touch.

It crackled with energy and threatened to burst the confines of my chest when I cupped one hand at the back of her neck and the other behind her knee, laying her out on my lap and watching her cry as I took her, over and over, my frenetic desire placing my control in peril.

And finally, for the first time, I saw the shackles of her fear fall away.

My mate gave herself into my hands, let me move her, take her, roll her, gather her.

When I pulled her closer, she clung. When I bent her away, she arched into my hand.

She ignited my skin, her hands trailing over my shoulders, into my hair, following my spine, tracing my sides.

And through it all, she touched, and writhed, and called for me.

There was a moment when the vision of her mouth, her swollen lips open and jaw slack, brought my pleasure to such a peak that I shook and almost came. But there was more. Something between us. Something necessary.

Desperate to find her, to bring her through this journey with me, I pulled her back up to sit over me and held her there, cupping her face in both hands, chest heaving, hips still rolling, and locked eyes with her once more.

Bren gripped my wrists in the same way she had that night in the stables, and I saw the moment she remembered that too. She blinked and for a breath, fear flashed in her eyes.

“No,” I rasped, stroking her cheeks with my thumbs and not letting her flee my gaze. “Never fear me, never.”

Her eyes fluttered closed as I took her sharply, groaning, and kissed her again, but as we rocked together, riding ever closer to the crest of this wave, that spiraling heat in my chest crashed against my ribs and drove me forward.

“Look at me, Bren. Look at me.”

When her eyes flew open again, I was there, an inch from her nose, praying she’d see the truth in me. Know me for the man I tried to be. Praying she’d take me. “I’m here, Bren,” I graveled. “You’re mine. And I’m yours. This is meant to be.”

Her forehead pinched. I slid both hands into her hair, holding her there as we moved together, that coiling heat in my chest battering and burning, trying to break free.

“Will you have me, Bren?” I whispered, pleading. “Take me forever?”

“I…” she trailed off, her eyes searching mine, glazing, fluttering as our pleasure peaked. I had seconds.

We were about to crash into this together and I needed her to hear me.

“I vow myself to you,” I rasped. “Forever, Bren.” That hot pool in my chest rose in a wave, a tsunami, sucking the tide out from the shore. “You’re mine . Will you have me?”

“Yes— oh god!” Her eyes went round and she grabbed for me, her elbow braced on my shoulder, hand gripping my hair. “Donavyn, yes.”

With all the power and depth of the sea, that wave within me crashed, breaking against the shores of my heart, tearing through my bones, riding my veins. I bellowed as it tore out of my skin and rushed to her and over her, and suddenly we were one.

The form of her, her skin, her limbs, her beautiful eyes, every strand of hair, every rushing breath became mine.

Deep in my chest, I felt her heart thump, her blood boil, the aching yearn of her body for mine—felt the rise of her pleasure as I took her again and I no longer needed eyes open.

I did not end where she began. Every part of her belonged to me, and every inch of me was hers to command.

We were lifted and rolled, tumbled and drowned in that wave that picked us up and threw us against the rocks of this world—but we both clung and cried, bodies arched and fighting the drag of the sea, the force that would crush us together, or tear us apart.

But it would not succeed.

I knew her in every breath and touch, held her in every twist and coil. I had her within me, while her heart flew wide to welcome me, the petals of a rare and precious flower opening to the sun.

We reached the summit of this miracle together, bodies thrumming, singing, bliss careening through me and into her, to twist loops around her heart and drag her back to me.

I had no control, and every ounce of it.

I didn’t know which way was up—but I could point to her heart with my eyes closed.

My mind and body were overwhelmed by sensation, yet I could count the hairs rising on her arm.

The wave of perfect pleasure dashed us over the edge of a cliff into freefall, but even as my instincts screamed in fear, my soul sang.

I knew her. And she was mine.

The dragons sang too, their calls thrown into the storm and blown to us to whip through the cave, and as our four voices rose together, we were braided, drawn in and near, twisted together.

I bellowed with the stunning sensation of being melded, pulling Bren with me, as the dragons held us to the sun and melted away the last of the ice on my heart.

Then I was boneless. Panting. Collapsed over a small, warm, lithe body, one arm curled over her head, my face in her neck, and my body covering hers.

My chest heaved. Bren’s trembling fingers dug into my sweaty back. And outside the dragons raised calls that warmed and calmed the storm within—while the storm without raged on.