Page 23 of Shattered Galaxies (Tears of the Siren #6)
“Nothing, just trapped in thought,” I said.
The lie didn’t sit well on my tongue, though, and I didn’t think she bought it.
When I offered my hand, she took it and melted against me.
As my lips brushed the top of her forehead, I breathed in her scent of sea salt and stars, running my fingers through as I held her close, our connection radiating strongly between us.
“I can still feel us,” she whispered, pulling back and placing a hand on my chest, right above my heart. “I can feel my connection with all of you. She wasn’t lying; it really didn’t have to do with my siren.”
“Your siren may have created the connections, but those bonds are your own,” I promised her. “All of them are real, Lorcan. Every single one of them.”
Somehow, knowing they weren’t just because of her siren made them that much more special. At least in my mind.
Her voice was tight and filled with raw emotion.
“I didn’t know if I’d made the right choice…
I still don’t know. I know it’s the right choice for the universe, but for myself?
I don’t feel like I’ve lost anything, but what if I eventually regret it?
I’m so confused and exhausted. I can’t help but wonder, if I’m not a siren…
I mean, who am I without everything I’ve been through? ”
I wouldn’t offer her empty reassurances.
I cupped her jaw, speaking quietly. “You have still been through every moment of suffering. No one can take those moments from you, or take the moments of growth that came after. Those are imprinted on your soul. You are Lorcan , and after the war, you will be a version of yourself no longer burdened with being a siren.”
Lorcan’s eyes watered. “But it feels…it feels like cheating. Why should I get to give up being a siren? Especially when I’ve finally found peace with it.”
I chuckled. “Cheating? Lorcan, you’re giving up half of your soul for the survival of our universe! I’d hardly call that cheating. I don’t think you realize just how selfless your choice is.”
“It doesn’t feel selfish. It feels like all the work I’ve done to heal doesn’t matter anymore.
All the effort of finding solid ground, of coping with my trauma, all for nothing because now I don’t have to deal with the same things in the future.
I felt like I was preparing for a war, to fight this battle my entire life, and instead I’m surrendering the exact element responsible? ”
“Or maybe the reason your burden was so heavy was because it was never meant to be yours alone. That your power drew such an extreme response because it was meant for more.”
Lorcan’s eyes filled with relief as she nodded, putting her head against my chest. “Maybe. You may be right about that. The star calls, the intense desires I heard. The way people reacted to me was always so much worse for me than for Cormac.”
“How does your magic feel about your choice?”
Lorcan let out a soft laugh. “Like it’s the best decision I’ve ever made. She’s thrilled.”
“Then trust that. You can’t punish yourself because you believe you’ll never suffer again. You deserve happiness, starlight. And whatever comes next, I promise we’ll figure it out together.”
I hadn’t meant for my words to sound like a vow—or maybe I had.
In truth, I already belonged to her.
Lorcan heard it though, because she pulled back and examined my expression with a soft curiosity. There was an overwhelming sense of potential between the two of us, a new beginning to what we were. The depth of emotion I felt for this woman, the connection I felt to her, was almost indescribable.
It was like our souls had intertwined upon meeting, not reading the same story or singing the same verse, but recognizing the familiar words and notes.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for always believing in me and supporting me. You don’t have to, but you do anyway—so thank you.”
“You’re wrong.” I slid one hand around her waist and clenched the other tighter in her hair. “You’re wrong, starlight—I do have to.”
“Why?” she asked, her dark eyes growing wide with hope.
I’d tried to hold back before, but the confession fell from my lips this time without any warning.
“Because I’m falling in love with you.”
The gasp that left her lips sparked a silent storm, threads of aqua, purple, and gold energy wrapping around us.
Space itself trembled, and a cosmic hum seemed to answer my words.
It was gentle—as gentle as the universe could be—and I realized in a startling moment that the cosmos approved of this. Of us.
“Zander.” Lorcan’s voice was filled with wonder. “My soul recognized yours long before my mind caught up. I can’t imagine a future without you in it.”
A groan vibrated from my chest, and this time I didn’t hesitate, dipping my head and searing my lips to hers in a hard, desperate kiss. It should have been more reverent, respectful, but I needed to taste her. I needed to feel her against me.
I’d never touched anyone like this while in star form, and immediately I could sense the difference.
My nerves were on fire, every point of pleasure and pressure turning into a storm of need.
I lifted Lorcan, her legs wrapping around my hips as I laid her out underneath me, cradled by space and time itself.
I ran my tongue against hers as she let out a soft, needy moan.
“This feels amazing,” she whimpered as my kisses trailed down her jaw to her neck.
It wasn’t obvious to the eye, but in our star form we were naked—and as she grew more aroused, I could see the effects I was having on her body.
Her breasts were tight and her nipples hard, the peaks a blush pink as if her human form was breaking through.
As she writhed beneath me, I savored each peak, keeping her trapped.
“Zander, please?—”
Snapping my head up, I held her gaze. “Let me taste you, starlight. After torturing me on that jet, let me take my fill. Please.”
Her sharp inhale and nod made me swell with pride.
I loved that despite her need to tease me—to make me suffer—she was willing to give grace, to allow me to worship her.
As I teased her other breast, nipping hard, I brought my thumb up to her mouth.
Her tongue wrapped around it as my cock pulsed, and I wondered what it would feel like to be deep inside her throat. Fucking glorious.
Moving my hand down, I slid my wet thumb over her clit as she spread her legs.
She was so wet, soaking my fingers as I began to tease her tight opening.
The way she jolted as I slid a finger inside of her had my gaze moving downward.
It was mesmerizing, watching my star-covered fingers moving in and out of her body as she lay stretched out, the space around us bending as if to create a bed.
“I’ve wanted to taste you for so long,” I growled, letting out a sound that vibrated through her.
Her eyes were heavy as I slid a second finger in, her body arching as she let out a moan of frustration at my slow pace.
“But it’s so fucking pretty when you cum from teasing me—I didn’t want to take that away from you. ”
“I like you watching, but I love this.” She gasped, and her sweet words nearly made me climax. I wrapped my free hand around my cock as I continued to pump my fingers into her. Pre-cum dripped down onto her pussy, the liquid glistening on her skin.
“I haven’t come since meeting you, even by my own hand.” I let out a low rumble, holding her surprised gaze.
“Why?” she asked as my thumb rolled over her clit again. Her eyes fluttered shut as a climax rolled over her, small but intense—a cry of my name echoing throughout the space around us.
“I wanted to give that moment to you. I wanted you to have all of it—every drop. Do you want that, starlight?”
“Yes,” she gasped, the needy noise that left her throat urging me on.
In a quick movement, I rolled us so that she hovered over me, her celestial form decorating the sky as her legs trembled. I let out a groan of her name as she wrapped her hand around my cock, stroking it and holding my gaze.
“I want to watch you,” I demanded. “I want to watch you take all of me.”
Lorcan eagerly ran the tip of my cock right over her tight slit and hissed as I punched forward, unable to help myself—lodging myself halfway into her. Her nails grew sharp as she grasped my chest and sank the rest of the way down onto my cock.
“Fuck.” My voice was raw and rough as my breathing grew uneven.
“This feels…holy shit, Zander.” Lorcan whimpered, rolling her hips and beginning to ride me.
Her perfect ass fit in the palm of my hands as she rocked her hips, and I marveled at how tight she was, the way she gripped me as she milked my cock.
My balls were tight and I could feel the urge to fill her practically bearing down on me.
“You’re absolute perfection, Lorcan.” I couldn’t help but praise her as I watched her body, absolutely entranced by the way she moved.
“I love how you feel,” she hissed as her pace grew faster. I pulled her down, wrapping my fingers around the back of her neck as I began to pump up into her hard and fast. She bit down on my shoulder, the sensation of her marking me making my cock pulse eagerly.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be able to last,” I growled. “It feels so right being buried deep inside of you.
“I want to feel you come inside of me.” She moaned, tossing her head back as she braced herself on my chest once more. “I want to feel you lodged so deep inside of me that I take all of your cum—Zander!”
I couldn’t control myself. Her words had me rolling us once more as I took control of the pace, holding her hips and pumping in and out of her—impaling her on my length.
The way she moaned my name, the way she surrendered her body to me was a fucking aphrodisiac.
I could feel our bond solidifying and the way it seemed to materialize and sparkle between us, like a rope that tethered our two souls, only cemented how fucking real this was.
“Zander—I’m coming!” she shouted, her voice vibrating through the cosmos, as she detonated around me.
I couldn’t hold back my need to fill her anymore, and I slammed deep inside of her, lodging myself against her womb.
My cock pulsed as I released stream after stream of my seed into her, my body nearly breaking at the relief.
Dipping, I seared my lips against Lorcan’s and felt her melt under my touch. No matter what happened with the war, or with her siren—Lorcan was mine.