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CHAPTER TWELVE

ADOM

M y cock was twitching in my pants. It strained at the fastenings, eager to part the curtains and put on a show for her. I wanted her. Desperately.

Her kisses were a heady drug. I was far past drunk on them. I had expected fear, hesitation, even disgust. But all I saw in her wide, glimmering eyes was desire—pure, unflinching desire. She kissed me like she enjoyed it, like she wanted me.

I had bedded actresses. Women who pretended they wanted me, when what they truly wanted was a favor or coin. I used them as they used me, granting them a favor, or handing over payment and then slacking my lust with their bodies.

Charlotte had asked nothing of me. Except to see my cock.

Her lips were swollen from our kisses. Her chest rose and fell as she gazed at me from the bed. Her hair spilled over her shoulders like liquid silk. Her wings were spread out on the pillow. She looked like an offering, a gift from the gods who I had only ever known to be cruel.

“I'll turn out the lights.” I reached for the nearest wall sconce. My claws brushed the gas valve, ready to extinguish the light.

“Why?”

Her question stopped me cold. Surely she didn't want to see me, all of me. I was a monster, and monsters belonged in the dark.

“Why would you turn out the lights?" She tilted her head, her expression curious, soft. "If you do, we can't see each other.”

I wanted to see her. I never wanted her to leave my sight. That wasn't the problem.

“So you don’t…” My tongue felt thick in my mouth. “So you don’t have to see me.”

Her brows furrowed as though I’d just spoken nonsense. “But I want to see you.”

My claws curled into my palms as I fought to process her words. I shook my head, my mane brushing my shoulders as I looked away. “I don’t want you to be afraid.”

She moved then. Her scent enveloped me along with her arms—warm, sweet nectar. Her hand rose to cup my cheek. I closed my eyes and leaned into her palm. She had no idea how she had laid me bare. She could've gutted me in this moment, and I would've thanked her for holding my guts in her hands.

“I’m not afraid of the dark, Adom.”

"You're not afraid of me, either. Are you?"

"Why would I be afraid of you? You won't hurt me. I watched you tear apart four trolls that threatened me. Then you growled at and terrorized any and everything that moved on the road tonight because it got too close to me. Fear of you is the last thing I'd ever feel. I know I'm safe with you."

I met her eyes, searching for the lie. There was none.

That was when I knew. Knew, with absolute certainty, that I was in trouble. I wasn’t supposed to feel the thing blooming inside my chest. But as her hand lingered on my face, as her words settled deep in my chest, I was helpless to it.

My heart left my body and latched itself on to her. Forever.

I sprang off the bed and tore off my clothing. She gasped, but I knew it wasn't at my body. It was at my actions. She looked at the fabric as though offended by my treatment of the garment. Then she shrugged, likely because she knew she could fix it and tailor it better. I looked forward to having her dress me, but first I wanted to undress her.

"Yeah, you are a big boy, aren't you?" Her gaze had left my discarded clothing and rested on the restless beast between my thighs.

I grinned as I lifted her dress off, careful to not tear any of her buttons or fabrics. She lifted her arms over her head, completely trusting of my every motion. She'd read me right; fear was the last thing she ever need feel for me. I would give my life to keep her safe.

She spread her thighs, letting my big body settle between her legs. It felt like home.

My cock pressed against her core. The tip of that massive beast wept with gratitude. She was wet, but not enough for the likes of me.

In the past, women had lathered themselves with ointment to receive me. I had none here.

I stared down at my claws. The sharp, curved talons had defined me since birth. I’d come into this world with them out, scratching my mother's womb as I emerged—a cursed child from the very start. These claws had been my greatest weapon, the tools that had kept my people safe and my enemies at bay. But now, looking at Charlotte's soft flesh, they felt like a curse all over again.

My choices were to work my massive cock into her inch by painstaking inch—and I had a lot of inches on me. Or draw blood as her intimate muscles clenched around the sharp points of my claws.

"Please, Adom, please."

The sound of her begging would've brought me to my knees if I wasn't already on them. Her legs were spread obscenely wide on either side of my thighs. I watched her beautiful body writhe beneath mine. Purple and tawny brown, how beautiful together.

She reached down to her sex and parted her folds. Oh, how she glistened for me. Still, it wasn't enough.

"Put your fingers inside yourself."

She did as she was told, placing her index finger and middle finger into her core. They pumped in dry and came out sopping wet. Sweet fucking nectar. The slurping sound of the suction had me swallowing hard. I couldn't wait to get my mouth on her, but my cock demanded its due.

"That's a good girl . Add a third finger."

She did as she was told. Her low back arched up off the bed, pressing her ass into the mattress as she did so. Her wings fanned out, beating in time to her fingers pumping in and out of her. She was close, and I couldn't wait any longer.

I snagged her wrist and pulled her hand away from her core. I placed her fingers in my mouth at the same time as I pressed the tip of my cock into her. We both lost our breath.

"Good?"

My sweet princess mewled like a kitten. No, not a kitten. She was too courageous to be a kitten. She was a lioness cub. With wings. A sphinx.

I growled low in my belly as her nectar slid past my tongue. I sucked her fingers as I pressed myself forward, stealing another inch into her. Her nipples were the deepest purple, near black. I ran one of my canines over her index finger the way I wanted to handle the peak of her breast.

"Okay, okay. You're big. No, no—don't withdraw. Just let me catch my breath."

"Don't stop breathing, little sphinx."

"I can't fit both you and my full lungs in my body at the same time."

I chuckled. She did too. Leaning down, I captured her laugh with my lips. She tasted like pure sunshine.

"We're gonna do this." Her eyes were dark pools of desire as she looked at me.

"Have sex? It certainly looks that way."

"I mean, we're going to get married."

I gathered both her wrists in one hand and pulled her arms over her head, trapping her. “I told you, if you run, I will catch you. Your scent isn't just in my nose. It's in my mouth. It's down my throat. It's on my cock. You're inside me, little sphinx.”

Her body undulated beneath mine. She wasn't trying to get away. She was trying to take more of me into her. "I'm going to like being yours. I'm going to like it very much."

Every word that came out of her mouth was not what I expected. She was not what I expected. She was everything I never dared hope for.

The next time she shifted her body up, I pressed deeper into her. She breathed through the invasion. We breathed together. Until I was settled deep inside of her.

When I was, I just held there, staring at her. She stared back. Neither of us said anything. We couldn't fit words between us. So when she was ready, she nodded.

I withdrew to the tip. We both inhaled into the vacuum left behind. I had every intention of taking it slowly, to be gentle. Halfway through the first thrust, I lost control over that plan.

My body rushed back into hers, hating any parsec between us. Her cry emptied her lungs of any remaining breath. I filled her to the brim, then pressed impossibly deeper, craving more of her. We both took a shallow breath as I only barely withdrew from her a second time. She clenched around my length, trying to hold me inside her. That's how the battle began.

My thrusts became rapid fire. Each retreat was shorter and shorter as I advanced deeper and deeper into her. She held the line, clenching her inner muscles so hard that I whimpered in defeat as much as I groaned in triumph. When her first peak hit her, the detonation set us both back on our heels.

A roar loud enough to be heard by all thirteen moons tore through me. I released my heart, my soul, my very being into my bride. For the first time in my life, I sent up a prayer of thanks to Avarix for forcing my hand and giving this gift to me.

The moon was right. She was the perfect choice for me. In the morning, the curse would be broken, and I would come to her as a full man.