Page 54 of The Raven

She nuzzled against me, giving herself a minute to catch her breath and gothrough the coping mechanisms her therapist had taught her. When her breathing returned to its normal pace, she pulled away.

“I’m okay. It was just a nightmare,” she said, reminding herself that whatever she’d seen wasn’t real.

“What happened?”

For the first few years of her nightmares, Raven refused to talk about them,but after several joint therapy sessions, she learnedthatby keeping them in, she was making it worse for herself. Whenever she had nightmares, I always asked what happened so she could share her burden.

“The usual. Grim standing over the bed, telling me he is waiting for me.”

I hated seeing the sadness in her eyes. Hatedthatafter all these years, Grimstill had a way of haunting her.

I cupped her face, leaning forward to lightly kiss her mouth.“Grim is rottingin hell, Blackbird. He’ll never be able to hurt you again,”I whispered against her lips.“Besides, he’d have to get past me first.”

“My hero,”she laughed, gazing at me with adoration shining in hereyes.

“You know it.”I kissed her again, the heavy tensionthathad engulfed usbeginning to lift.

I pulled away, resting my forehead against hers. For several long beats, westayed likethat, the two of us staring into the eyes of the other, peering deep into our souls, strengthening a connectionthatwould never break.

Her fingers gently stroked over the faded scar at my side.“I need you,Mase,”Raven whispered, a hint of desperation in her tone, and her words traveling straight to my cock.

I could never deny her when she said she needed me. Sometimes, she neededme tojustlisten as she purged herself of evil memories. Sometimes, she needed us to sit in complete silence so she could process her thoughts in her head. Other times, like now, she needed to feel something other than the pain Grim had caused her.

My mouth found hers again, her lips parting to allow my tongue totwirl with hers. A delicate moan left her when I trailed kisses from her mouth to her jawline, and down her throat before slipping the strap of her nightdress off her shoulder and kissing her bare skin.

Blood rushed to my cock as I lowered her onto her back, hovering over herto kiss my way down her body. Finding the hem of her nightdress, she wiggled her body as I lifted it over her head, leaving her completely naked.

Her legs parted as I moved between them and yanked my boxers down,kicking them off before lowering myself over her, my throbbing cock resting at her entrance.

When Raven woke from her coma, it took her months before she let metouch her, and it was almost a year later before we had sex again. I couldn’t be anything but patient with her; she needed time to process what Grim and the others had done, and she needed to find a way to knowthatit was me inside her, and no one else.

It took time. It took courage for her to let me explore her body, to taste her,and discover ways to keep her trauma away, but we got there. Now, sex was a way for Raven to continue to heal. A way for her to reclaim her consent. A way she could take what she needed, not have it taken away from her.

The two of us groaned as I pushed inside her soaking core, Raven’s armscircling the back of my neck as she wrapped her legs around my waist. Keeping my gaze trained on hers, I slowly thrusted in and out of her several times, watching in awe as her eyes brightened.

Sex with Raven wasn’tjustabout the physical act. Whenever I was insideher, our hearts beat in rhythm, our souls entwined a little tighter. We became one.

After several thrusts, the overwhelming need to beevendeeper inside herconsumed me. I rolled us over so she was straddling me before sitting up, and driving my cock in deeper.

Raven adjusted her position so her legs were behind me, and I wrapped myarms around her lower back, pulling her in tight against my chest. Together we rocked our hips in time, our heated pants combining as we refused to tear our gazes away from each other.

Our movements grew quicker, more desperate, as we chased our climaxes.When her core clamped down around me and she found her release with her head thrown back, I kissed the hollow of her throat before following her over the edge and spilling my release inside her.

Breathless, the two of us collapsed onto our backs. I pulled her into my arms,and she snuggled into my side, a contented sigh leaving her.

“I love you, Blackbird,”I whispered.

I felt her mouth tug into a smile against my ribs.“Forever?”

I kissed the top of her head, my own smile forming.“Forever.”

The end.