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Chapter thirteen

Umbral Star

Zayne

I had to have her.

I couldn’t imagine another night sleeping by her side without claiming her. Last evening had awoken what we shared, and now, watching the way that red dress hit her body, the way everyone watched her like she was a treat...

We couldn’t board the boat fast enough.

Quickly, I told Vanessa of our plans, instructing her to sail through the night.

I barely noticed how sweetly Rimu said goodbye to Ninti, their noses touching.

And when we finally finally passed through the gates of Mer—the guards opening and closing them just for us—I tugged Ayla’s hand, dragging her into the small cabin.

My shadows constricted as we entered, ensuring nobody would hear the moans I planned to draw from her lips.

Honestly, Ayla didn’t seem to mind.

She slammed the door behind us and flung herself against me, colliding her lips with mine. Immediately, her hands slipped under my shirt.

Gasping, I kissed her back, one hand digging into her hair. I wrapped my other hand around her, lifting her as her ankles wrapped around my waist.

“Mine,” I growled into her lips. “Watching you tonight, trapped in the shadows… It was torture.”

She tensed in my arms as our tether stiffened. Light ebbed from her hands. After a painfully long heartbeat, she closed her eyes with a long, steady exhale. “I’m not used to being important. And the Starlit King… My magic…”

I placed my finger on her lips. “No more talk of him. ” Not when I needed all her attention on me. “We’re together now.”

“I want that. I want you, Zayne.”

She didn’t have time to finish saying my name before I was upon her, lips joining hers as I settled her on the large bed that filled most of the cabin. She leaned back on her hands and looked up at me, arching her back as her nipples peeked through the red sweetheart bodice.

My fingers ached to remove the dress completely. “Ayla, I claim you. You are mine.”

“Yours,” she agreed, her hands on my chest.

I lifted my shirt over my head. “I vow to learn everything about you. Maybe you’re not used to being treasured, but you will thrive under my care.”

Whatever resistance remained faded away as her gaze drifted over my chest. Her lips parted, but she didn’t find any words.

“Mine,” I repeated, crawling onto the bed and trapping her under my arms. She widened her knees, allowing me to fall between them.

I leaned down and teased her breast into my mouth, wetting her nipple through the dress.

She mewed beneath me, grinding her hips against me, still clothed. I groaned in reply.

“Zayne, I…”

At the sound of her hesitation, I surfaced from my all-consuming need, and when I looked around, I caught sight of the brilliant light radiating from her hands. She stared at it, gaping.

I sat back on my knees. Her magic had flared up, just like her arousal. Her short skirt bunched around her waist, showing off her drenched lacy undies. She squirmed under my gaze, and I couldn’t tell if she wanted me to pleasure her or back off.

Both, the tether suggested.

“I’m not ready for sex,” she finally gasped. “At least not in that way.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m not ready for you inside me.” Another breath. “Do you understand?”

My mind sputtered, and my cock twitched. I ignored them both. “I don’t need to be inside you to give you pleasure.” I leaned back, gripping her thigh and stroking the inside with my thumb.

She shimmied against my hands. “I still want you… We’re just…”

I cupped her chin, hoping she’d look at me. “I understand. You lead the pace, okay?”

“Okay.” She met my gaze, making my stomach summersault. Her lips lifted in a nervous smile. “What now?”

“We take it slow,” I answered, sliding my hand higher up her thigh. “Is this all right?”

“Yes.”

Moving higher still, I edged my pinky to the fringe of her panties. “How about this?”

She squeezed her eyes shut, adorably frustrated. “I want more than that. And I think you know it.”

“I do.” The tether clamored with her need.

My knuckles grazed her sex as I reached for her hip, tugging her panties down, sliding them off. I tossed the thin lace scrap to a corner of the room, her scent blooming on the air. Cherry and spice.

I looked down at her sex, her glistening folds begging for my touch. “You’re beautiful.”

She tilted her hips, moaning in reply.

How I longed to reach out and satisfy her, but first… I glared at the complicated ties that fastened her rumpled dress in place. “Will you undress for me?” I begged. “I want to see all of you.”

She leaned up on her elbows. “Under one condition.”

“Anything,” I rasped.

“You get naked first.”

Ayla

“You get naked first.”

I flushed, embarrassed I’d just said that, ordering my shadow prince to undress even as I asked him to slow things down.

I trust him. I really do.

The tether was warm, assuring me that his intentions were kind. And, by Teyr, I was desperate to see him, to learn him beyond the shadows of the balcony. When he hesitated, I leaned closer and looked down the bed toward him, still kneeling between my thighs.

In answer, he loosened his pants. “If that’s what you want.”

Had I ever wanted something this bad?

I held my breath as his pants slid away, dropping to his ankles. My eyes soaked in the sight of his muscled stomach, with abs that cut a perfect line down to his defined hip bones, and my gaze narrowed, centering on his cock, bulging against his snug underwear.

He loosened his shoes and stepped out of them, moving far too slow. “Is that better?”

“Not quite.” My mouth dried as I shifted to the edge of the bed and kissed his hip. My fingers wiggled under his waistband, pawing at him with growing need. He set his hands over mine, and together we tugged the last of his clothes away.

His cock sprung forth, bulging like it must hurt him. His erection was long, longer than I had realized. And my stomach knotted, awed that I had taken him so deep into my throat the night before.

He was a miracle, and I teased my lip as his cock throbbed between us.

“Now will you please take off your dress?” he asked, stepping closer, his cock bumping against my cheek. “Or else I’ll ruin it.”

My throat tightened as I reached for the hidden ties. The dress slipped down, bunching at my waist as my breasts tumbled free.

He shifted his weight, clenching his fist with restraint as he tore his gaze from my chest to the cinched fabric. “Take it all off,” he instructed.

I glanced at his cock and didn’t think twice, shimmying the skirt over my butt. I tossed the dress aside.

He froze, his gaze piercing as he raked my body. My butt clenched, back arched, and thighs widened as I exposed myself to him.

I’d never felt more naked, more exposed. More safe.

He lunged upon me, kissing me, touching me. Through our bond, I felt his hunger for me as I grabbed his cock, desperate to feel him. He groaned at my touch, relieving any doubt that I wouldn’t be enough.

He adored me, treated me like I was valuable. His embrace made me burn.

I stroked his length, up and down, and then squeezed. The resulting growl crashed into my core as fresh desire pooled along my folds. He groaned again.

Loving that sound, needing to see him lose control, I continued to work him, but he pressed his fingers into my hip, trailing them down to the hairline of my sex. “Not yet. I want to explore you first. Tonight, I will learn every inch of your pleasure.”

At the promise in his words, I moaned. The sound was barely out of my throat before he touched me, his fingers teasing my folds open. He ran a finger inward, and when he brushed my oversensitive clit, I lost it.

Pressure pulsed through me as my nerves sparked.

I lifted my hips and grinded against his hand.

He stroked me, his petting becoming almost abrasive as he answered the rising volume of my desire.

I writhed against his palm, showing him my sensitive spots.

My light grew brighter, a halo surrounding us, protecting us.

He listened so well, as if my cries were a language he understood like a native speaker.

Soon I could smell my own desire, and from the glazed expression on Zayne’s face, I knew the scent had struck him too. It was that fae sort of look. Carnal. Hedonistic. The craving for pleasure that humans never seemed to understand.

And he’s mine.

The tether tightened, tying us further together as it strengthened into place. My magic glowed brighter still. Zayne’s eyes widened, and when he rubbed his palm against me, his lips curled into a snarl.

I rubbed myself against him, heat rising in my core.

More! I need, I need…

I reached out to touch him, but as I neared his cock, he batted me away. “Not yet. Let me claim you.”

Claim.

He already owned me, first my heart and now the tether. We were bound—what more could he want? I didn’t know. Couldn’t think. I fell back on the bed and surrendered.

“I need this.” He lifted his hand away, and I whimpered from its absence. He pressed his palms to my thighs, spreading them further apart, baring my sex for his gaze. In the absence of his touch, cool air kissed my moist lower lips.

Desperate, my hips lifted, searching for friction.

“Nobody can know you the way I do.” Zayne leaned forward and pressed my clit like a button.

I gasped, crying out at the onslaught of sensation.

“Nobody can pleasure you the way I can.” He touched me again, but this time, softer and with a swirl. “Ayla, you’re mine.”

I never knew being claimed could feel so good. I melted against his hand.

His fingers drifted lower, finding my entrance. He dipped a single finger within, hooked it, and swept it around my outer wall, probing. Pressure built within me, slower than before, but steady and growing stronger. His thumb found my clit as his finger pressed the sensitive spot within.

It felt good. All of it.