Page 52

Rae swallowed. She couldn’t do this. Not now. She cleared her throat. Held her head high. “I got enough.”

The fingers that had touched her gently before slid to her throat, Aidan’s grip tightening.

“You think I’m going to let you leave when you’ve just admitted you can take down every Vampire and Fae in the city?

” The words were harsh, both a promise and a threat that seemed to linger between them, but his eyes fell to her mouth, his thumb grazing her throat.

And Goddess damn her, but Rae leaned into his touch.

“It’s only a matter of time before Maddock discovers I’m here.

” She gave a light shrug, if only to hide the shiver of anticipation that slid through her.

“I know what you were trying to do, Vale. An alliance. It was a smart move.” Her attention dipped to his mouth, and she couldn’t help but rest a hand over the scar on his heart, a frown creasing her brow.

It was his anger she needed. His resentment, his rage.

All the feelings he had every right to over what she’d done, all of it because of him . “Don’t ask me to stay.”

Aidan didn’t say anything. Instead, he kissed her. It wasn’t a request or a plea. It was a confession, a declaration, a demand. It was hungry and wild and ravenous and furious and a mirror of everything she felt spiralling through her; Rae kissed him back just as greedily.

Resentment simmered in her veins, hot and molten, and she couldn’t have snuffed it out even if she tried.

Tell me to stop, Rae, he rasped in her thoughts.

Never. She pulled his shirt over her shoulders, fingers curling into his hair as he caught one of her nipples between his teeth, his tongue flicking over the tip.

Everything she’d endured. Every beating, every near drowning, every drop of pain had all been because of his magic inside of her. And Rae had hated him for it, loathed him for so long that wanting him like this, needing , only fuelled her wrath even more.

She bit down on his lip as she kissed him and Aidan groaned into her mouth, carrying her to his bed, her fingers already working his belt, one hand reaching for him, sliding down his cock as he lowered her to the mattress.

Rae leaned forwards to take him into her mouth, Aidan’s hand fisting into her hair at the back of her head as she moved up and down his length.

“ Fuuuck ,” he breathed. “You’ll be the end of me, Farren.”

Her other hand slid between her legs, fingers working to ease the tension building there until Aidan’s hand came down over hers. This was what she needed. What she didn’t dare let herself examine too closely.

With the hand fisted in her hair, he eased her off him, yanking her head back to angle her mouth up to meet his, canines grazing her lips.

Rae whimpered into his mouth, his fingers working faster, so close to what she wanted, what she craved, every muscle in her body tightening, breaths quickening, and then—Aidan pulled his hand away.

Shoved her back onto the bed. His shirt went first. Then his trousers.

He crawled over her, hooded eyes taking her in from her head to her feet and back up again.

“Part of me thinks it’s a fucking crime no one else has seen how beautiful you truly are in years, but the other part,” he told her, threading his fingers through the strands of her hair and twirling a lock between finger and thumb, “the selfish, possessive asshole part of me revels in the fact that this is all for me.” He trailed his knuckles from her jaw down her throat, his hand resting over her heart.

“I should have known you were a fucking queen the moment I met you.”

She should have snapped back, but her heart was doing that stupid thing again.

That thing it had no business doing. Dangerous, dangerous territory.

Because he was right. She could have changed her hair and eye colour before he returned to his room, but she’d wanted him to see her.

Really see her. Even though she knew he already did.

Knew that perhaps he was the only one to have ever truly seen her and not turn away.

Rae’s heart was like a caged bird in her chest—desire, excitement, anger, fear, all warring with each other, thick and all-consuming. Her body was alight from how close he’d brought her, aching, throbbing with the need for release.

The twitch of his lips let her know he felt it all, knew what she needed, what she sought as he came to rest over her, pressing himself over her wet core before pausing at her entrance.

Something settled over his face for a moment, so quick and then it was gone, and then he thrust into her, pinning her hands above her head, his mouth coming over one of her breasts.

Rae couldn’t help her moan as he moved, rough and hard and punishing.

She was too far gone, too close to—Aidan slowed, his thrusts turning shallow, so slow Rae wrapped her legs around his waist to push him into her.

His laugh hummed against her breast, but he took his precious time going slow, building up their rhythm again as he explored her body with his tongue, her hands still pinned above her.

His teeth grazed her flesh as he moved faster, fingers pressing firmly into the softness of her skin as her muscles coiled tight, tighter, and then he slowed again.

Slid his hands around her thighs to readjust her.

Aidan leaned back to look down at where their bodies joined, his hand trailing over her soft stomach, between her breasts, and settling over her heart again.

“Rae...” He breathed her name like a prayer falling from his lips, his expression more tender than she’d ever seen it.

“Do you have any idea how much I’ve fucking craved this? How much I want—”

“Don’t,” she murmured. Because she couldn’t—wouldn’t—let herself lose the too-brittle lid she had on her emotions.

Rae dug her heels into him with a needy groan, hips rising to meet his.

She knew exactly what he was doing. Denying her what she wanted.

Punishing her. And Goddess, it was torture of the best kind.

This time he moved a hand between them as his hips quickened, fingers moving circles over her centre, driving her crazy.

The need for release was almost painful, but she knew he wouldn’t let her have it, not yet, and she wondered if it was for the same stupid reason she didn’t want to, because she wasn’t ready for any part of this to be over.

Aidan’s mouth trailed between her breasts, along her collarbone, up to her neck, his canines dragging against her skin; Rae’s back bowed off the bed with how much her body needed what he was denying it.

She wanted to come so badly, to feel his teeth sink into her flesh.

Needed to. Vale, please, she begged. His teeth grazed her throat, right against her pulse. “Aidan,” she rasped.

The growl that came from him was nothing short of savage.

He fisted her hair, her head pulled back, his teeth sinking into her throat, and Rae lost herself in him.

In the strength of his thrusts, the way his fingers moved over her clit, the feeling of his mouth at her throat, the heat of his tongue, and the sting of his teeth as he drank from her vein.

Euphoric was the word humans used to describe how it felt to be fed on, but euphoric was far too inadequate to describe the way Aidan felt inside her, drinking from her, drawing out her pleasure, and pouring it back in all at once.

Every part of her lit up, her body convulsing with the force of her orgasm, and Aidan’s release quickly followed.

He held onto her until the haze began to clear and she registered the weight of his body again, one hand tangled in her hair, the other splayed over her heart, his mouth hot as he panted against her throat. He didn’t move away until her trembling ceased.

His teeth eased from her flesh first, his hot tongue lapping over the wound as if he couldn’t help himself, and a quiet voice in the back of Rae’s mind knew that this was different than what the humans had described.

That this was true torture, this thing between them.

This need, this connection, no matter how much she wanted to hate him.

Because how could she hate him if all she wanted was to have him do that to her again and again?

To have him inside her, drinking from her, working every last bit of pleasure from her body until she was limp in his arms?

“Rae,” he breathed again, dragging his eyes up to meet hers, molten silver staring back at her, every inch of bliss she felt reflected in his face.

Too many words were on the tip of her tongue, too many feelings hammering against her chest, dangerously close to a male who could read every last one of them.

This was the true torture. The bond they shared. And this was why she couldn’t stay. He opened his mouth to speak, but Rae cut him off, moving her hips, her breath catching when he twitched inside her, still achingly hard.

“Don’t ask me, Aidan, please,” she murmured against his mouth, hips rolling, already needing to chase the high before it slipped away.

He kissed her softly at first, and then exactly how she needed, tears pressing at the corners of her eyes as he gave in to whatever thought he seemed to be warring with.

His hips moved in time with hers, and there was nothing measured or slow about the way they moved.

No teasing. Her body was a question, and Aidan answered, giving her everything without hesitation.