Page 36

BUT SATISFACTION brOUGHT IT BACK

Severath

S everath was in agony and bliss both. His mouth and chin were soaked in the tangy, sweet scent of Ember, igniting a feral drive that told him he had claimed his soulbonded by giving her so much pleasure she collapsed.

But also his cock was throbbing .

She had teased him with her small hands, brought her lips so close to the tip, blew breaths over his sensitive skin, and she simply existed .

Ember’s voice, her body, her presence pushed him toward that tangible edge, and then the gift of her taste pushed him toward the sentimental one.

There was no more hiding from the truth now.

Whether humans were capable of having their souls bound or not, his was already tied to hers forever.

Ember’s light form lay over his own, legs spread by the width of his chest and rounded ass tipped up, a sheen of wetness in the shadowy place he had just worshiped.

He had seen when she’d touched herself for him, but that wasn’t anything like having her center grinding against his face.

Unlike female demons, her most pleasurable spot was right at the front rather than buried inside, and it took so very little to make her squeal and shudder under his tongue.

Blazes, he would’ve liked to do that again—and again and again—but his wrists were still tied overhead, and she had fallen out of his tongue’s reach. He couldn’t even nip at that glorious backside like he’d threatened, and the agony only intensified.

But then, relief. Slight and surprising, there was a tightening around the base of Severath’s cock that came with a sound that rumbled up against his stomach where she laid her head.

“Ember?” he croaked.

She responded with another sweet noise, her hips shifting, grip tightening.

The pain between his legs shifted as well, a wave of pleasure rising up his body as Ember too rose.

Her head and shoulders lifted, the pressure of her free hand on his stomach as she pushed herself to sit.

He wanted more of her hands—gods, her fucking hands would be his undoing, the way they so carefully inspected, wandered, played.

She smoothed fingers over a ridge on his stomach, lower, lower, until they came to meet the others already wrapped around him, and then he felt his entire cock be encircled by her grip.

He tried to speak, not that he knew what he’d say, but the words were strangled by the new restraint around his length. She held on so tightly, everything so tight, but then her shoulders moved, warm skin sliding over the slight muscles in her back as the tension climbed to his crown.

The dip of her spine ran all the way to her ass planted firmly on his chest, sliding forward and back with the rhythmic pumping of her hands.

Her black hair dusted her shoulders, damp on its ends as a bead of sweat trailed along her spine’s hollow, his tongue too far away to lap it up.

He could imagine her taking him, demanding to be made his.

But then the feel would be different, it would be warmer, wetter, fuller just like… fuck, just like that .

Severath’s bleary gaze adjusted as Ember’s head disappeared, back rounding, and his whole being pulsed with the next throb of his cock. She’d taken him in her mouth, the strength of her hands replaced by the slippery embrace of her tongue, and he shuddered under the exquisite sensation.

He hadn’t even thought to hope she would want to taste him too, yet she was lapping at his weeping tip and then humming a noise of satisfaction.

Ember squeezed his middle with her thighs, her toes curling up against his skin.

He couldn’t see beyond her back, he couldn’t move beyond a wriggle, and yet it was like the world had opened up and given him total freedom.

Every lick was like one hundred, every gentle caress like a vice.

He tested his binds, itching to take her by the hips, to touch her at all, but she had put him where he was, and he would do whatever she wanted. Now. Forever.

“Close,” he managed to rasp as his stomach clenched and his own toes curled.

Ember hummed again and sat up, hands slowing as she peeked over her shoulder. Her dark eyes found his, lids heavy, and through pinched lips asked, “Are you sure?”

Severath nodded as best he could with what little movement he had, muscles pulled taut and hips following the rhythm of her strokes.

“I see,” she said, and it was true, she did see, watching his face with a bitten lip and an unwavering gaze.

Severath took his next breaths through his nose as he held himself back. She responded with harder pumps, and he tightened his jaw even as he jerked into her hands. “Can I?” he bit out.

“Can you?” Her next stroke was even slower, but then she smiled. “You’ve been so good. I think you’ve earned it.”

Severath had perhaps earned satisfaction, but it was Ember who was on the receiving end of his release.

She gasped, body jerking as his seed doused her front, unseen but not unfelt.

Severath watched her back as it arched further, hands still working his cock until the final pulse was pulled out of him.

He was panting when it was over, every limb boneless, even his tail, and he would have totally collapsed if not for the binds .

Ember shifted on his stomach, and he blinked up at her as she slid a sweaty leg over his torso and turned to face him. Her breasts glistened with what had been inside him, marking her.

His.

His .

Severath was stopped just as he tried to sit up and embrace her.

The rope tensed, and he growled but fell still once again.

She watched him with a quiet interest and then swiped a finger through his seed as it dripped down her breast. Ember’s tongue curled around her fingertip, and then she took the length like she had done to his cock.

Her eyes rolled back, and she sighed. “I can’t believe you taste like this,” she murmured as she wiped at her mouth. “So good.”

Severath would have given her more if she’d asked.

He would have remained there and let her use him for her pleasure until time collapsed, but she was leaning over his face, reaching for the ropes.

Her nipple hovered inches above his face, and he blew a breath over the glistening skin.

She dipped it lower as she worked at the knot above his head, and that was the permission he needed, taking her into his mouth and making her squeal again with pleasure.

The moment his arms were free, he took her by the sides, and she didn’t scream or gasp, but she did laugh, pulling him into an embrace as she fell in beside him. Sticky and exhausted, their bodies slid up against each other, and she nuzzled her head under his chin.

“You were so good for me,” she whispered into the hollow of his throat.

Severath wrapped himself around her and made an unspoken promise to always be. Instead of words, he pressed his lips to the top of her head and laid his tail over her hips. One of her hands slid down his body until she found its tip, and she caressed it as gently as she had his cock.

“Still disgusting?” he asked, petting her hip as she in turn stroked him.

“A little.” She snickered. “But I’m getting used to it.”

When morning came, Severath was loath to disentangle them, but if he meant to be his best for her, there were things to do.

He gathered his meticulous notes from the past few days, wrote an awkward if crucial addendum, and sent them off to Councilor Fineril, the Horn of Arbitration, on the wings of a drayk.

He did not hear back, expected but no less distressing.

Unspoken but palpable became their norm as the days went on.

Amrian, Rasmos, and Bazzie returned for more training, and Lazerath visited with a fresh batch of cookies, predictably overstaying his welcome.

Balran came to check on Severath’s healing and asked after the marks left on his wrists.

He told her they were “nothing” too quickly, but she was gracious enough only to smile and chastise him for neglecting to use the entirety of the balm for his broken horn.

There would be no lessening the marks though, not when each night was Ember and Severath’s alone to explore.

Mornings were perhaps the nicest, though, as Severath woke to Ember’s snuggles instead of screams, even when his tail tightened around her.

They languished in bed until the moon rose and their bellies growled, and then they taunted one another in the kitchen over the best ways to slice fruit or flip eggs.

Severath’s home was no longer so quiet, but he didn’t miss the silence at all until the morning when there was a rapid knock at his door.

The red-headed human Brioni stood there out of breath, hand extended with a summons stamped with Councilor Harrox’s seal. There was no accompanying information, but delivery not by drayk meant he needed to respond immediately.

He hesitated leaving Ember alone, but when he explained it was the Horn of the Guard summoning him, she gave him a wide smile. “Your evaluation,” she said, taking him by the wrists and giving him a shake.

“Oh, gods,” he groaned, dipping his head.

“This is your chance,” she snapped, and he immediately straightened. “Go show them how much you’ve improved.”

I haven’t , was what he wanted to say—he hadn’t even mended his favorite bow despite Ember’s assistance and encouragement—but the determination in those shimmering brown eyes of hers refused to let him be fatalistic.

Severath nodded, and the warmth of her grip emboldened him.

This was, after all, his chance to reclaim his position and prove he was a worthy mate, that he could provide, and then he could finally tell her everything he’d been holding inside.

“Oh, you have to go take some sort of test?” a bubbly voice sparked from behind.

Severath turned, and Brioni was still standing in his entry, the open summons in hand as she studied it.

“Don’t worry, you’re going to do great!”

Severath and Ember traded quick, acidic glances but grinned. “Thank you,” he said with more cordiality than he expected. At least while he was gone, Ember would have someone to talk to whether she wanted the companionship or not.