Page 106 of Horns of Wicked Ebony (Deathcaller Duet #2)

“The time for the finale has come. You’re going to enjoy it,” Rokath sneered at Zaph. Then, he tilted his head over his shoulder, meeting my gaze as he spoke his next words. “You are mine, Assyria. No male will ever touch you again.”

A bronze dagger flashed in the low light, and then, the metallic scent of fresh blood filled the air again as Rokath sliced Zaph’s dick and balls from his groin.

Those lidless eyes went glassy and lifeless a moment later.

Rokath’s hands shook, but not from fear. The carnal need to destroy burned in him. Engulfed our bond. Scorched my veins.

“Rokath,” I whispered, my voice like a boom in the silence.

Yet the thread of his control continued to fray. He was a hound whose bloodlust had overtaken all reason. The only thing he wanted was more .

“Rokath,” I snapped, trying to draw his attention. “You killed him. You avenged me. Avenged us.”

Awareness returned to my mate in slow blinks. His peace was a fragile, tenuous thing. The beast beneath the surface, the one that harbored vast rage, unrelenting fury, was poised to strike again. My voice was his only tether to sanity.

“You didn’t slaughter him for vengeance alone. You did it for undying love.”

He plopped the offending organs on Zaph’s carved-up stomach. Chest heaving, he whirled on me. In two strides, he knocked my knees apart again. Garnet dusted his face, coated his hands, and yet, when his gaze crashed into mine, only aching, arduous adoration remained.

The riot of burgundy captivated me like nothing else ever had. Those orbs called to me, the same as the male who owned them. Every line of ink on his powerful frame was indescribable devotion. One no crown, no vow could command.

Only love. Only me.

Because both of us were grown from seeds of hate. Somehow in that unforgiving garden, we’d bloomed with sharp thorns. My mate wielded his on the battlefield, protecting us all. I wove mine into my words, into my undying will to free the females of the realm.

Together, we were devious ruin, wicked victory.

Together, we were unstoppable.

“Have I won you over today?” he murmured darkly, his tone like rocks rolling down the side of the mountains that surrounded us.

The heat pooling between my thighs offered a resounding yes.

“Not only for today. But always.” I reached out and ran my nails through his beard. “Thank you.”

Those two words shattered the glass behind which he imprisoned his self-control.

He captured my waist, pressing his sweat-soaked body against mine.

His grip was with the ferocity of a male starved.

He claimed my mouth with hot passion. I kissed him back, nipping his lower lip with my teeth, twisting my tongue with his, inhaling the spicy, masculine scent of him.

“Take me here,” I begged him down our mental connection. Breaking apart from him, even for a second, would destroy me.

Shadows exploded from his hands, weaving beneath our clothes and ripping them from our bodies. Before my ass hit the wood again, Rokath dragged me to the edge of it. In one powerful thrust, he seated himself to the hilt .

The thick, hard length of him touched every nerve inside me. Our bodies one, we moved together. Eyes locked, we became a singular being. Minds wide open, the place where I began and Rokath ended disappeared.

The world around us was no more.

All time, all words, all of everything disappeared until it was only he and I.

One infinite loop.

One perfect circle.

One endless moment.

He slid against that spot deep inside me, eased by how thoroughly I soaked his cock. My lashes fluttered against my cheekbones before a wordless nudge had me opening my eyes.

My mate loved to see the pleasure he delivered me.

Our breaths became a single tide, rising and retreating with each relentless thrust. My mouth popped open as he buried himself to the hilt. Ragged air dragged against my lungs, the sound matched by his own jagged breathing.

The tattoos decorating the hard muscles of his torso danced as we did, the blooming roses digging into the skulls nestled between them.

I gripped his shoulders, trying to find a semblance of balance as his thrusts grew more forceful.

Blood-soaked bones scattered as the table smacked against the wall.

The sound was nothing more than a distant echo of what no longer existed.

“Mine.”

“Yours.”

His arms caged me against his body. The heavy pound of his heart matched the pace of my own. I flattened my palm over his chest, desperate to feel the full force of the organ that beat only for me.

Rokath shifted his grip to mirror my position. Dark, smoky shadows leaked from beneath our palms. Ghosting across our skin, they wrapped us in a veiled shroud. Hiding us from what lay beyond. Disavowing any intrusion on this divine moment.

The two magics tangled, undulating together like they were meant to be a singular entity.

Rokath groaned, long, low, deep, primal , as my core clenched over his cock. “Come for me, mate. Shatter into a thousand tiny shards only I can piece back together.”

My breath stuttered as ecstasy flooded my veins. I was so, so close.

“Show me how much you appreciate me killing him. The way I tortured him for you.”

I gripped him harder, arching my back into him. “The way you protected me.”

“I will always protect you, mate. You are the most precious thing in all the worlds to me. Nothing can ever replace you. You are the only person who understands me. The only person who sees me. The only person I want to see me. I do not have to hide from you. I am in constant awe of you and the powerful leader you have blossomed into being.”

Tears welled in my eyes. Carved a love-guided path down my cheeks.

“You and I are anything but ordinary. Together? We’re legendary. Infinite. They’ll speak of us long after we have moved onto new worlds together.”

Our hearts pounded into the scars we’d carved into one another’s wrists, the constant reminder of who we were and who we belonged to.

“I love you, Rokath.”

He throbbed inside me, dragging me closer to the edge of bliss.

“I love you, Assyria.”

The vehemence to his profession fractured me into a thousand shimmering splinters. A whimper tore from my lips as my orgasm blazed through me. Rokath’s hand slipped from my heart to the back of my head. He pulled my forehead against his, forcing me to focus only on him. “My mate. My perfect mate.”

His hips worked faster, harder, lifting me from the table with the force of his thrusts. My pleasure tumbled on and on, and I was utterly lost to it, lost in the burgundy swirls of his eyes.

“Made perfectly for me,” he rasped, movements becoming jerky. “Made just for me.”

“All yours,” I whimpered. Ecstasy crackled under my skin.

“All mine,” he growled, spearing deep inside me. I cried out, sensitive from how hard I’d shattered. But he only gripped me harder, muscles trembling as he spilled himself deep inside me. His groan—low, longing—made me want to come again.

The inky strands around us ceased their frantic swirl as we relinquished our stolen moment. Covered in sweat and blood that didn’t belong to us. Joined in the very threads of our beings.

Rokath captured my mouth in a bruising kiss.

I fell into it, drowning in bliss. My center ached as he removed himself from me.

My breath hitched as his fingers replaced his cock.

“Sorry, I couldn’t pull out.” With a swipe through my center, he flung out combined arousal away.

“Let’s get back to our room, and I’ll wash you. ”

My body was boneless, limp, and utterly wrung out from the intensity of my orgasm. All I could do was nod. He brushed a kiss to my salty forehead, then handed me my clothes. I tugged them on, each movement a protest when sleep begged me to surrender to it.

“Do you want to walk?” he asked me, studying me with a smug, masculine smirk .

“I will forgo my independence this once if you can fly me,” I sighed, my legs trembling as I put weight on them.

He snorted, then threw me over his shoulder like a sack of grain. “Hey!” I protested, smacking his back. He grabbed our discarded armor, completely ignoring me as he walked us back through the dungeon, leaving Zaph’s body to rot.

The males on guard startled at the sight of us. A possessive growl vibrated in Rokath’s throat, and they quickly averted their gazes.

The moment we emerged into the late afternoon sun, his mighty wings sprung from his back. Not wanting to die, I shuffled around so I clung to his torso like a child. And then we were airborne, soaring toward the top of the primary building.

I let him carry me all the way to our room, into the bathing chamber, and strip me again, savoring the feeling of utter surrender, utter trust, in my mate.

One day, they’d sing of us. Our victory. Our love. They’d worship us like the Fates themselves.

As they should. Because we were transcendent.