Page 41 of The Shard and the Serpent (Shard Daughters #1)

Pink

Warrick

I glide Rayze’s hair back from her face, her lashes fluttering as she sleeps. Three days . My angel’s barely moved for seventy-two hours.

Water cascades down a stone wall of vines beside the bed, white flowers blooming between the cracks of an old chamber in Underground Palace. Torches are lit around the massive chamber, her small body curled beneath the covers of a large bed.

I sit propped up against the headboard, her head against my chest and my wounds resealed.

It took an hour to portal the cart of Skin to this palace—Aleksi, Sonya, and I shoving it through with the help of some of the Skin who’d finally awoken.

Rayze slept through all of it, her adorable snores accompanied with the occasional drool down my stomach.

The bedroom door swings open, and a woman in a canvas smock carries in a tray of food. Her small smile falters when she sees me, the tray rattling in her grip.

A Saved. That’s what the rescued are called here. They all wear the same tan, canvas smocks, too—Daughters more distinguishable in black.

I tried to get a good look at this so-called Underground Palace, but I was banned to the bedroom. Apparently, I make both Daughters and Saved nervous . I guess I can’t blame them, but clearly I’m cuddly.

Rayze curls a leg around me, nudging closer. Some of the Saved cleaned her up and put her in a robe. Her warmth radiates through and the Bond Godsdamn purrs in contentment.

I’ve had a hard-on for days.

“You can calm down. I’m not going to eat you,” I mutter, the Saved woman still standing in the doorway.

She clears her throat and hurries forward. “Soup,” she squeaks out, setting the tray on the bedside table. Then she rushes out of the room without another word and forgets to close the door.

I exhale, the loud rush of the hallway streaming into the room. Wandering eyes peer inside, women, men, and children dressed in the same canvas growing wide eyes when they see my tattoos.

There’s fucking hundreds of them down here. Hundreds . A whole damn city living in a palace myself and the Bossdoms thought was lost centuries ago.

My head falls back against the headboard. I slouch among the pillows, someone closing the bedroom door with a soft click. The laughter and conversations of the hallway turn to a soft muffle, and the steady lull of the small waterfall pushes me under.

Then Rayze shifts.

Her hand reaches up my leg, warm fingers skimming the outline of my cock over my briefs.

A grin breaks through my exhaustion, and I peel my eyes open, finding dark green watching me closely. “Just can’t let a man sleep, can you?”

“You can sleep if you want,” she murmurs, her voice rough with want as the Bond crackles with her lust.

“You’re mad if you think I’d pass on you.” I drag her thigh higher across me, her hand wedged between us.

She pulls me free, her soft exhale making me throb against her palm. My fingers dig into her thigh, steadying myself as she works me harder, thicker— desperate .

I shove her beneath me and spread her wide, hitching her robe up her hips. Then I sink into her, her hands snapping to my shoulders and squeezing tight.

We shudder in unison, her lips parting.

“Warrick,” she whispers.

“Tell me you feel better.” I groan and brace my elbows in the pillows, hovering my mouth over hers. “You made me wait far too long to do this after cutting our Bond.”

Her hips lift, her lashes fluttering. “Yes, but this doesn’t mean I’m ready to forgive you. I just…I want to drift.”

I thrust, and her breath hitches, the headboard cracking into the wall. “I’m yours,” I tell her.

My teeth grit and I lift back, wrenching her thighs and pounding into her sweet, fluttering core. The magic between us ripples with thrill, my gut squeezing.

“Pick a safe word, vicious,” I growl.

Rayze scrapes her nails down my chest. “Whatever’s your favorite color. I don’t care. Just fuck me.”

My eyes dip to her breasts, nipples peaking beneath candlelight as her robe falls open. Then my focus fastens on that mouth.

“Pink.” I lean forward and brush a thumb over her cheek.

“The color you flush.” She rolls her hips with a moan, and I drag my mouth over hers.

“The color of your lips, your tongue, your nipples—” Her chest caves when my hand slips between her thighs, my finger slicking through her wanting clit—“and we can’t forget here, can we? ”

“No,” she answers, and I pound deeper, “I don’t think we can.”

“You say pink, and we’ll stop, angel.” I slow my pace, cupping the back of her head and bringing her eyes to mine. “I mean it, Rayze. When it comes to sex, I don’t want you pretending with me.”

She wets her lips. “Harder. Please .”

Gods be good. My woman is perfect. She is stunning. Soft in the best places. Hard in all the ways needed to draw blood.

Her gasp. Her open legs. Her wide eyes. “Angel.” I shake my head. “If you ever have to knot my mind again, just don’t take this.” I tremble with the words. “If you want me to beg, I will, but don’t take this away. I’ll go insane. I know I will.”

“Part of me wants to promise you that,” she says, her voice rough.

“But?” I whisper and hang my head, dropping my mouth to her breast.

She arches into my mouth, and I grin. “But I don’t think you realize just how fun forgetting me could be.”

I run my tongue and its piercing over her hard nipple, sucking down. “Oh?” I murmur against her soft skin.

Her fingers twine through my hair. “Do you remember the woods? How it felt to chase me?”

I lick the side of her breast, running my tongue up its curve and stopping at the crook of her neck. I bite down on her pulse, and she squirms against my cock. “My angel wants to play tag?”

I pull out. Then I slam in, her back lifting off the bed as she shouts in approval.

“You want me to fuck you without knowing your name?”

The Bond quivers with her need.

“I asked you for one thing—not to take my mind—but you don’t know how to stop taking, do you, vicious?”

My hips slap between her thighs, and I wrench her legs over my shoulders, her mouth hanging open, gasping for air.

I know I should be angry. I know I should have asked far more questions. I also know I couldn’t give a fuck if it means I get to be with her.

I circle my thumb over her clit, her stomach spasming. “Come for me, vicious, and maybe I’ll let you have your way.”

“I need more. I need—” She gasps as I haul us out of bed.

I bump into the wooden frame and canopy, her arms locking around my neck. Then she pulses up and down on my aching cock as I walk.

I’m a fool, and I don’t give a fuck. Go ahead and consider me seduced.

Her tongue slides over my peck and I stagger toward the dresser, grasping her face when I set her against it. “Vicious, do you want me to fall?”

My arms shake, and I drop my forehead to hers. “I will,” I promise. “If you command it— I will .”

Rayze grasps my face, her green eyes flicking back and forth. Her mouth pulls into a small frown before she pinches the side of my neck.

“I can’t decide which I like better: your praise or your cock,” she whispers.

I chuckle and leave her warmth, dropping to my knees. “You’ll never have to choose again.”