Page 11 of Realm of Crows (Wings of Ink #5)

Nine

Ayna

No sooner has he spoken the words than I slide to the edge of the bed, reaching behind his neck and gently pulling him up until his face is level with mine and he’s kneeling between my knees.

“Always yours ,” I breathe onto his lips, relishing the heat of his skin so close, the thrilling sensation of his breath hitching as I graze my mouth over his. “I’ll always be yours , Myron.”

A deep, throaty sound escapes his lips as my fingers knot in his hair, and I could swear the shadows spilling from his hands start creeping along the bed, the floor, the walls as he remains perfectly still, eyes closed and the slightest of smiles on his lips.

“You should be resting, Ayna,” he utters into my hair as I trail kisses along his jaw, the strong column of his neck, until the collar of his tunic prevents me from tasting more of him.

The way his shadows sling around my waist, though, pulling me tighter against him, tells a different story.

They don’t seem to care if I’m still exhausted or that my body was broken when I arrived at the palace.

My fingers are busy unfastening the leather ties along the front of his tunic, and I couldn’t care less what I should or shouldn’t be doing.

“If you think I’ll waste this moment by lying down and closing my eyes, think again.”

That earns me a wicked chuckle from Myron.

So fast, I can’t even yelp, I’m flat on my back, and he’s on top of me, hands braced on either side of my head.

He lowers his head until his mouth brushes my ear, and I think I could die right now, and I’d go in bliss at the mere sensation of his breath tickling my skin.

“You don’t need to rest in order to lie down and close your eyes, Ayna,” he growls, and heat pools in my core at what he implies—at what I want .

More than anything, I want to feel him, want all of him in an inferno of emotions and excitement.

As though on a command, my eyes close, and I hand over all control, unafraid of what the next weeks will bring, or what will happen to me in this world, as long as we’re together.

A moan slips from my mouth as he starts caressing the shell of my ear, tongue gliding over the delicate tip that is so much more sensitive than the rest of it.

My hands are in his hair, tangling with the silken strands while my back arches, pressing my chest against his, eager for more contact.

The hard muscles bunch and flex under my fingertips as I slide my hands along his neck and shoulders, down his back. There’s too much fabric between us.

As if he feels the same way about it, Myron shifts his weight to one arm while the other works the buttons of my shirt open. His breath is a wave of heat cresting against my breasts, my nipples peaking under each featherlight touch of his lips.

Had I thought I’d missed him before? Only now that I feel him against me do I realize how much I’ve truly missed him. More, even, than I miss the turquoise waters of the seas and the wind and brine on my skin. And I need him—more than I need air to breathe.

I don’t tell him in words, though, my hands doing a much better job as they tug his tunic over his head and trace the planes of his abdomen all the way down to the waistband of his pants.

A soft hiss skitters over my chest as I free him from the constraints of the leather and take his arousal between my palms. He’s so hard and full my mouth goes dry, but Myron’s lips cover mine, tongue sliding between my lips the moment I open.

With deft strokes he teases us into a dance of want and need while my fingers move up and down along his cock, squeezing ever so slightly.

Gods, I can’t wait another heartbeat to feel him inside of me. But I don’t want this to be over just yet. We’ve been separated too long to reunite in a flash of heat .

“You know I will devour you, Ayna,” Myron growls, and I whimper as he thrusts into my hands. My body knows exactly what it feels like when he does that inside of me, the way he stretches me with such exquisite pressure my veins fill with heat and my vision splinters.

As if to emphasize what is awaiting us, he thrusts again before he pulls out of my grasp and slides lower, his mouth roaming my breasts, nipping and lapping until my nipples are so sensitive I think I might climax from a touch alone.

But Myron isn’t done with me. He’s only just starting. While his hands catch mine reaching for his cock, the dark power spilling from him tears away my pants. Myron sits back on his heels, a pure male smile on his face, and releases my hands.

“Spread your legs, little Crow.” His eyes gleam the color of the purest waters despite the dirty thoughts I can read in them.

I don’t care who might walk in on us or what they may see; I do as Myron asked and angle my knees as I spread my legs wide for him, eager to have that thick length of him inside of me.

Unlike I expect him to, he doesn’t pounce. All he does is take in the view with hungry eyes.

“Perfect, Ayna.” His breathless tone drives a shiver along my skin, leaving gooseflesh in its wake.

“You’re absolutely perfect.” He doesn’t give me a moment to gather my thoughts as he puts his mouth on me, sucking and licking the bundle of nerves at the apex of my thighs, and a throaty, needy sound comes out of me .

“I need you inside of me.”

I can’t finish my thought before two of his fingers are poised at my entrance, teasing in idle strokes.

“Please—” My voice breaks as I undulate my hips, trying to get him to slide into me.

“You’re so deliciously wet, Ayna. I might not want to use my fingers.”

It’s the only warning I get as he pulls back his hand, pinning my hips with it instead and slides his tongue straight into me.

I moan his name as he tastes me, thrusting his tongue into me again and again, groans of approval accompanying every movement.

My hands knot in his hair, grab onto his forearms, reach for his shoulders, anything to feel him closer.

I could burst from this—explode into a million shards, and still I’d want more. More, always more with Myron. And he knows it.

Like an extension of him, his inky power wanders along my torso, stroking and teasing my breasts, caressing my neck. My mouth falls open with a deep moan, and the shadows take the opportunity to slither along my lips, into my mouth.

I still at the foreign sensation of cool smoke on my tongue.

“Breathe, Ayna.” Myron pauses his ministrations long enough to meet my panicked gaze, his own eyes wild with desire and something more that threatens to destroy me. A vulnerability that this most powerful Crow shows to no one but me. “Trust me. Breathe. ”

So I do.

I take a deep breath, opening my mouth wide as I allow the smoke to spill over my tongue, down my throat, into my lungs.

I don’t know what I expect, but not the delicious taste that is like nothing I’ve ever experienced and is undeniably Myron.

Intoxicating. With each breath, he settles deeper in my system, until all I can feel is him.

He’s everywhere, a million fingertips trailing my body, a hundred lips whispering against my skin—all I can smell is him; all I can taste is him; all I can feel is him .

I’m still Ayna, but I’m the night, too, and Myron just lit up a myriad of stars.

I’m faintly aware of him watching me, of the awe and lust warring in his eyes.

“I want to fuck you right now, Ayna,” he murmurs like he himself has drifted off into this state of ecstasy with me. “But I can’t seem to move an inch for fear of destroying this.”

I understand without explanation. I don’t want it to end, but I can’t live another heartbeat without him inside of me either, so I will my hand to grasp him and pull him over me, until our bodies are lined up perfectly and all he needs to do is sink into me with his cock the way he did with his power.

“Do it.”

I don’t need to repeat myself; Myron thrusts into me in one long stroke, and gods ?—

My scream of pleasure echoes through the room, and a part of me wonders if anyone may have heard it, but then the sweet friction of him moving inside of me tunes out all thoughts that aren’t of Myron.

I’m a leaf on the ocean of both our desire.

I’m a slave to my senses as I inhale his kisses, eager for more of his power to fill me.

Every touch is like summer rain washing over my skin, every kiss a star igniting in our universe.

Heat builds in my belly, coiling tight and tighter with every time he sheaths himself inside me, and I hold onto him with all I have as he drives me to the edge of sanity with every cresting wave of pleasure.

“I love you,” he whispers as I tumble into oblivion, and a moment later, he follows with a roar, quivering with his own release—a pleasure so intense, I experience it through our mating bond and climax all over again.

“I love you, too.”

For a long while, we remain like this, Myron on top of me, braced on one arm, and playing with my hair as he watches my face like he can see the past, the present, and the future there.

Only when footsteps sound in the hallway does he finally slide off me, his inky power retreating into his palms and vanishing beneath his skin. I want to hold my breath to prevent the shadows I inhaled from leaving my body, but Myron’s knowing half-smile tells me he isn’t going to retrieve them.

“This way we’ll be forever close, no matter what claim Ephegos lays to you.”

I hate that the traitor Crow intrudes on our moment like that, but I don’t object to the idea of keeping this piece of Myron forever.

I don’t get to tell him, though, because whoever is at the threshold is polite enough to knock on the doorframe before stepping inside through the open door .

“Kaira!” I squeal, reaching for the blanket to cover myself, but Myron’s inky smoke is already swirling around me in a gown of night and stars.

“You couldn’t have waited another minute?” Myron growls at her, half-amused, half-annoyed, and apparently not caring in the slightest that he’s still naked. “I told you, give me enough time for a proper reunion before you claim all of my mate’s attention.”

Cocking her head, Kaira leans against the wall beside the door frame, folding her arms over her chest and bunching the brown woolen shirt she’s wearing.

“Nothing about this situation seems proper .” Brows raised, she grins at Myron as she watches him pick up his pants and scramble into them.

“Besides, it’s not my fault you can’t satisfy your mate a little faster. ”

Myron grunts a curse at her while he helps me into my shirt, shadows slowly slipping away from my skin.

“Good to see you, Kaira.” I muster an awkward grin past Myron’s shoulder while he buttons up my shirt before handing me my pants.

“Good to see you, too.”