Page 54

Chapter

Forty

Bloom

Thorns and Roses

S omehow, I’d pulled Nero into the tub with me, kissing him like a starving woman, and he met me with equal desperation. His hands roamed my bare skin, his shirt and trousers drenched and clinging.

His mouth scorched me. My body was on fire. This need for him was primal, ravenous, as if lifetimes of hunger had gathered into this moment.

I ached for him. Only him. Heat coiled in my core. I rocked my hips against the hard ridge of his cock through the soaked fabric.

Liquid fire licked my sex, searing as it coiled tighter, consuming me. The heat became unbearable, and I urgently needed his cock in me, filling me and stretching me. Only then would this deep, hollow ache relent.

“Fuck me, Nero,” I whimpered, pressing my face into the crook of his neck.

“I plan to,” he growled. “After today, after nearly losing you, I need to be inside you. Tonight, I’ll claim your maidenhood.”

Only an immortal would say something like maidenhood, but I was ready, and there was no one but Nero I’d give this to.

He snapped his fingers, and suddenly, he stood naked before me.

My breath caught at the sight of him. He was carved like a god, as if a master sculptor had spent centuries perfecting each line. His chest was broad, his waist narrow, his abs taut with each breath. Scars mapped his body like badges of honor, each one a story of battles fought and won.

But it was his cock that held me spellbound—thick, hard, and jutting proudly. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, marveling at how something so intimidating could be so beautiful.

“I always crave you,” he said, his voice rough with need. “I’m thirsty for you forever.”

Water sloshed over the tub’s edge as we collided, hands ravenous, grasping. My fingers traced each scar, each ridge of muscle, while his mapped my body like he was memorizing me by touch alone.

Our mouths met in a clash of teeth and tongue, neither gentle nor patient.

He carried me from the water, my body dripping as he laid me gently on the vast bed. His gaze, dark with promise, never left mine, and my breath caught, his effect on me unchanging, undeniable.

I pulled him down with me, the silk sheets sticking to our damp skin.

“I want to sit on your face,” I said, the words bold, unashamed.

His chuckle was low, delicious. “Do you?” His voice roughened. “Use me. Do whatever you want.”

And then I was riding his face, rubbing my swollen folds against his lips, rubbing my clit on his nose.

His groan of approval only stoked the fire in me, sharpening my hunger.

His hands gripped my hips, fingers digging into my flesh as his tongue dragged over my slit before thrusting into my heat.

I threw my head back and moaned loudly at the incredible pleasure. This was beyond fantasy, beyond thought.

“Delicious.” His words slurred against my flesh, his tongue licking away the mess I made. “You taste like nectar.”

But I was no goddess. There was no ambrosia in me. Just heat, just need, just him. He’d remade me. I was no longer the timid girl who’d stumbled into Forsaken Academy, shaking like a leaf in a storm. Now I was bold. Fierce. And soon, I wouldn’t be a virgin anymore.

I didn’t tell him about the inhaler I no longer needed, lost when the bounty hunter took me. Nor did I confess the blood magic humming in my veins. That revelation could wait.

He lifted me from his face, lips still glistening. Lust darkened his gaze.

“I need to fuck you,” he growled. “Really fuck you.”

“Then do it,” I said. “Whenever you want, however you want.”

His grip tightened. “I’ll prepare you first.” A rough exhale. “I’ll still go slow.”

His mouth found my breast, tongue circling my nipple while his hand slipped between my thighs, fingers fondling my slick folds.

His lips brushed my heated skin as he growled,“So wet. Your body knows who it belongs to. Tell me, who owns this flesh?”

“You,”I gasped, arching into his touch. Why deny it? The truth was too obvious.

A cry tore from me as his fingers found that aching, desperate place, circling relentlessly.

“Please—”I wasn’t ashamed to beg. Every part of me demanded to be touched, all at once.

“Patience.”His voice was rough as he slid two fingers inside.“I’m getting you ready. It’s going to be hard. Rough. I can’t be gentle. Not after…”

He didn’t finish. He didn’t have to.

I understood his need and hunger. After today’s horrors, we both needed this desperately. And I was ready for him to mark me however he wanted.

His fingers thrust deeper. I gasped, especially when they curved just right, hitting a spot that made me see stars. He added another finger, his thumb working my clit like a charm.

“Look at you,” he purred with dark satisfaction. “Taking my fingers so well.”

“I want your cock inside me,” I said, trembling with need. “Now.”

“So impatient, so eager, so demanding,” he crooned, withdrawing his fingers slowly and licking my essence from them. He closed his eyes for a second to savor it and sighed in satisfaction. “You taste ripe and ready, little flower. You make my cock so fucking hard.”

Finally, he positioned himself between my thighs, the broad head of his cock pressing against my entrance.

My body tensed despite the heat coursing through me.

“Breathe, love,” he whispered, leaning down to kiss me softly, a stark contrast to our earlier frenzy. “I promised to go slow. I won’t break my promise. You’ve taken a few inches of me before. This is no different. I won’t hurt you.”

But I didn’t breathe. I held still, suspended, waiting for the moment when he would make me completely his.

He glided in inch by inch, heavy and massive. The pressure increased as he stretched my narrow passage. I quivered as he pressed past the resistance of my virgin body.

When my maidenhood gave way, the sharp burst of pain made me gasp, my nails biting into his shoulders.

He froze above me, his breath ragged.“Easy, baby. Breathe through it. The pleasure will come.”

And it did, slowly at first, then all at once, pain melting into something hotter, deeper, until my nerves sang with nothing but sensation. He pushed deeper still, seating himself fully inside me, my body straining to accommodate him.

His lips brushed my forehead, murmuring words in a tongue that shouldn’t have been familiar, yet somehow I understood. Then the words darkened, roughened.

“I’ll fuck you every morning,”he vowed, voice thick.

“Leave you wet and sore, aching so much you can’t walk straight.

You’ll spend all day thinking of me, waiting for me.

And when I return, you’ll beg for it.”His hips rolled, dragging a moan from my throat.

“And I’ll give it to you—every inch, as deep as you can take, until you’re screaming hoarse beneath me. ”

I believed him, and my lust boiled.

A dark chuckle rumbled in his chest as he whispered all the ways he planned to take me—his favorite positions, the places he’d claim, the sounds he’d wring from me.“Especially from behind,” he growled,“like a beast mounting his mate.”

Did he just say mate ?

Then he moved in me, slow at first, letting me adjust before driving deeper, faster, stoking the fire between us until my breath came in ragged gasps.

I trembled beneath him, pleasure crashing through me in relentless waves.

He fucked me like I was his, like I always had been, like no one else existed.

This male, immortal, powerful, my forbidden professor, consumed me without apology, setting every nerve alight. I propelled my hips up to meet his every plunge, determined to drag him deeper into my flame.

“I’m already burning,”he gritted out, as if plucking the thought from my mind.“Always burning for you.”

And for a heartbeat, it felt like déjà vu, as if we’d done this a thousand times before, star-crossed lovers reunited. A pang of something raw, almost mournful, twisted inside me, but I pushed it away. Tonight, I only wanted the fire. Only him.

“Don’t stop, please,” I pleaded between moans. “If you tease me now, I’ll come apart.”

His chuckle was low and sexy.“Oh, you’ll come apart anyway. I’ll make sure of it.”His thrusts deepened, each one hitting that devastating spot.“I’ll ruin you so completely, no one else will ever compare.”

He already had. The bridge was ash. The fire between us had seen to that.

He slammed into me at a maddening pace before switching to slow, long thrusts. He was fucking me, and he was making love to me.

Each thrust sent ripples of pleasure through my starved body.

The sound of skin slapping against skin filled the room, mixing with our moans and gasps of pleasure.

The scent of sex permeated the air, erotic and intoxicating.

His hand snaked around and found my clit, rubbing in tight circles, sending shocks of pleasure so intense my legs twitched helplessly.

He dragged me to heaven, then brought me to hell, and I was willing to follow him anywhere. Pleasure wracked me senseless. My heart pounded, my lungs expanding like magic. I’d never felt more alive. At this moment, I was indestructible.

“Don’t hold back,”I panted, nails scoring his skin.“You don’t need to be gentle. I’m not glass. I can take all of you.”

A sinful grin curved his mouth.“Who said I was holding back?” His grip tightened, possessive.“I was savoring you. And we’re just getting started.”

With a possessive growl, he pulled out and flipped me onto my hands and knees, his chest pressing against my back as his arm banded across my breasts. One powerful thrust buried him to the hilt, the delicious stretch drawing tears to my eyes.

“This,”he hissed against my ear,“is claiming. I’ll fuck you so thoroughly you’ll forget everything, until I make you remember who owns you.”His hips snapped forward, punctuating each word.“I’ll fill you with my seed and imprint your flesh, and neither of us will regret a damn thing.”

“No regret,”I gasped, bracing against the onslaught.

His answering growl thrummed through me as he set a brutal pace. I met him thrust for thrust, our bodies crashing together in a frenzy of skin and sweat. Stars burst behind my eyelids, my vision whiting out with each punishing drive of his hips.

“That’s my girl,”he snarled, pounding into me harder and faster.

I was lost to it, the wildfire between us, the coil of pleasure tightening to breaking point. When it snapped, I erupted on his cock and shattered with a scream, his name the only word left in my universe.

His teeth pierced the skin on my shoulder, the sharp sting tipping me over another edge. Beneath us, the earth responded, vines sprouting from the ground, twisting upward until a single rose bloomed: petals black as a starless night, edges glistening like fresh blood.