Page 45 of The Unbound Witch

I shook my head. “Why?”

Another step. “Because she would burn the world down for you. If she could hear you, she would shift the salt circle and break the barrier.”

“Kirsi, help,” I whispered.

His dark chuckle at my weakness was nearly my ruination.

“And the barrier will hold?”

A sly smile as his hand wrapped around my waist. “It will hold.”

He closed the gap the second I even thought of conceding, pulling my dress over my head in one single motion. Apt fingers removed what was left of my undergarments until I stood before him, bare and wanting. The Dark King was insatiable as he fell to his knees before me, lifting a thigh over his shoulder and pressing his lips over me, stroking with his tongue, hitting that spot in a perfect cadence. I could hardly hold on, my legs falling weak as he devoured me with such delight in his eyes, I thought they alone would be my undoing. If ever I was the strong one, it would never be the case in his presence.

Fingers dug into my thigh as he groaned against me, his shadows tangible, moving over my body until every inch was consumed, every part desperate for more and more of him. He stroked a thumb down my opening. I tossed my head back, the ends of my curls brushing the small of my back. One finger, and then two, filled me. Up and up I went until I stood at the edge of that peak, my breaths growing short before I fell into euphoric oblivion.

He stood, undressing as I watched him with hooded eyes. Within seconds, we were two bodies pressed together. Melting together. Lifting me, he pressed my back against the hard barrier, releasing me slowly down until I took in every solid inch of the Dark King. He growled, nipping at my neck with teeth and tongue, slamming into me, filling me, releasing all of his pent-up tension and longing.

Pressing his forehead to mine, he stared into my face, consuming the pleasure he found there, making sure I felt every single part of him. Digging my nails into his arms, I moaned, feeling myself weaken for him. Every wall rebuilt between us shattered as he reminded me that I was bound to him in a way I could not fight. My power rising to meet his. Those shadows licking my skin, the world coming undone below us as we climbed and climbed.

His swollen lips trailed my jawline as he moved below me. One arm wrapped around me, lifting me up and down, the other hand kneading a breast. Every part of Bastian worshiped my body, calling forth the pool of desire within my belly. The heat between my legs as he thrust.

I moaned again, unable to help the sound escaping my lips. He bit into my earlobe, sending a wave of sweet pain directly to my core. Breaths shortened, bodies slickened, we could have stayed like that forever.

I could see it in his eyes. The way he needed me matched that thrumming of my own heart. There was the world outside, and this one inside. The one we’d begun to build together, the one we’d both die for. Ours.

My breasts grew heavy, the pressure building. I dropped my head to his shoulder, muscles clenched as he tightened beneath me. Legs trembling, we exploded together, his seed filling me as the world disappeared, and, for a moment, it was just his heartbeat and mine. Climbing to the heavens to dance among the stars before falling back to this darkened world.

There was fire in his eyes as we dressed wordlessly. He pressed me back against the barrier time and time again to kiss me. To crush his body to mine as he bowed his head in silent prayer. The barrier was right there, ready to be dropped, but he couldn’t find the strength to do it.

He moved his hand down the magical wall. “We could stay, Little Witch. It’s safe here.”

I wrapped my arms around him, looking up to those beautiful silver eyes. “It’s not really safe anywhere, Bastian.”

“I know,” he whispered. “Not yet.”

19

KIRSI

“Iknow freshly fucked hair when I see it.”

Raven, cheeks flushed, huffed as she dug through the packed closet in the back room looking for the cots and bedding.

“It was nothing,” she hissed, turning away from me again as she yanked on a blanket and three more toppled out from the small storage space. “Don't you want to hear about the goddess?”

“No. Nope.” I floated around her until we were face to face. “I'd much rather hear about Bastian in bed. Oh, or was he Grey? Can we say ‘in bed’ if you were literally feet from us hidden in a salt circle?”

“Kir!”

“Ugh,” I groaned. “Fine. You are such a fun-hater.”

She tossed a small blanket at me, but it soared right through my torso and landed on the freshly clean floor in the back of the room.

“What do you think it means?” I asked, all sarcasm gone from my tone. “Cursed by Death, blessed by the goddess.”

She finally turned, her face solemn. “I don't know. Truly. But I think I need to go see my mother. I know Bastian wants to get to the castle. We need to know the state of this world, but I need to know what my mother did when I was a baby. She knew I was the thirteenth witch and tried to save me, but what did she do?”

I lifted a shoulder. “I'll go with you, if you want?”