Page 42 of Thorns & Fire (The Ashes of Thezmarr #2)

Torj

‘The culmination of a soul bond is much like death... inevitable’

– Tethers and Magical Bonds Throughout History

T HE ADJOINING DOOR burst inwards after him, and Wren came charging in. ‘Do you know what you just did? What we just did?’

Torj stared at her, still trying to recover from the storm that raged within.

Wren didn’t back down. She never did. ‘You spoke into my mind, Torj. Into my fucking mind. And I heard it.’

‘What?’ He blinked at her, certain that she was speaking a language he didn’t understand for all the sense she was making.

But Wren was a living storm before him, power crackling all around her. ‘You spoke into my mind,’ she said again. ‘And don’t you dare tell me that you don’t know how.’

Torj had to brace himself against the back of the chair at his desk. Impossible . The word vibrated through him. Panicking, he wondered if she could hear that too. But he didn’t understand how. Not at all. Not when he’d destroyed the bond—

Suddenly, Wren was standing before him, close enough that he could scent the jasmine in her hair, could see the heat in her gaze, the certainty.

He drank in the sight of her, overwhelmed by the storm growing in his chest. ‘Furies know I have tried to stay away. I have tried to protect you from this. But the force of it, the force of you ...’

His body heaved, and something inside him snapped – the last remnants of his restraint.

He seized Wren, gripping her behind her thighs and shoving her up onto the desk. ‘I can’t take it any more. I want you , Wren. I want you so badly I can’t breathe.’

‘Why?’ she demanded. ‘Tell me why it’s like this, Torj. Tell me why I can feel you in my blood, under my skin. Tell me why I can see your memories and share your dreams. Tell me why I can hear your thoughts. Just tell me why—’

‘ Because we’re fucking soul bonded ,’ he roared.

Wren’s expression was triumphant, a queen grasping her hard-won victory.

‘At least... we were,’ he said quietly.

‘Were?’ Wren echoed with a laugh. ‘This doesn’t feel like were .’ She grabbed a fistful of his shirt. ‘I’m not going anywhere. I know what you are to me... And what I am to you.’

Torj couldn’t take it any more. Couldn’t hold back all that he felt. ‘You are everything to me.’ And then he covered her mouth with his.

Torj cupped her face in his hands, threaded his fingers through the hair escaping her pin, tilting her to him for better access. She opened for him, allowing his tongue to sweep in and explore, to brush against hers and elicit a gasp of pleasure from her.

Her legs parted around him, and he eagerly closed the gap between their bodies, pressing his cock into the heat between her thighs. Wren arched her back, grinding against him, seeking friction before she dragged him to the floor.

His lips found her throat, sucking the sensitive skin there, licking over the hurt before moving over her mouth again. The kiss was hungry, desperate, and he couldn’t get enough.

Wren’s hands were in his shirt, tracing over his skin in a fever, and he was molten beneath her touch.

He grabbed the hem of her skirt, drawing it up over her legs, bunching the fabric around her waist while Wren fumbled with his belt.

She made a delicious noise of frustration that he covered with his mouth, a noise that turned into a moan as he brushed the centre of her with a single knuckle.

She spread herself wider, baring herself to him. ‘I want to feel you inside me. I want to feel you dripping down my thighs.’

Her filthy words, the image she painted, sent a frisson of longing straight to Torj’s cock, ricocheting up his spine.

He licked his lips as he looked down at her, glistening and perfect.

Together, they watched as he circled her clit with his thumb, as he pushed two fingers inside her, feeling her walls clench around him.

He pumped the digits in and out, his cock begging to be freed from the confines of his leathers and sheathed inside of her, that hot, wet feel of her taunting him.

‘Gods,’ he murmured into the crook of her neck as she raised her hips to meet the thrusts of his fingers, her desire soaking his hand. Torj brought his mouth back to hers, stroking her tongue with his, coaxing desperate whimpers from her.

A deep, guttural moan escaped him, vibrating through his chest as her body collided with his. There were too many layers between them, too much fabric in the way.

But Wren was uninhibited, unapologetic. She tore at the buttons of his shirt, raking her nails down his exposed chest, over his nipples.

Astride him now, she ground herself against his cock, and Furies save him, he saw stars.

‘Too many clothes,’ Wren muttered against his lips, echoing his thoughts as she reached for his laces.

Torj finished shucking off his shirt, groaning as Wren palmed him through his leathers before tugging the wretched material down around his thighs.

‘ Fuck ...’

His erection sprang free, and Wren rubbed against him, eliciting another primal sound from him as his cock hit bare, wet skin. He was practically pawing at her, sitting upright to rip her apron over her head.

‘More fucking laces,’ he grunted as his fingers fumbled with the back of her gown. The material fell away, baring her shoulders to him.

Deepening another kiss, Torj let his fingers tangle in her hair as he bucked beneath her. He was distantly aware that they were behaving like wildcats, grinding and clawing at each other on the floor, but as Wren writhed above him, bunching her skirts around her waist, that observation vanished.

Tracing the curve of her hips up to the swell of her breasts, he leaned in and took her nipple in his mouth, coaxing a whimper from her as he grazed the tight peak with his teeth.

‘ Gods. ’ Wren moved against the length of him, crying out as his cock hit her clit.

Torj swallowed the sound with a savage kiss, and rubbed the head of his shaft against her, white-hot need blinding him.

‘Fuck me,’ Wren whispered desperately. ‘Fuck me hard, Bear Slayer.’

Her words set him on fire. Gripping her backside hard enough to bruise, he lifted her off him and had her on her back in seconds. Wren’s legs fell open for him, and he was cradled between her thighs, the tip of his cock pressing against her—

Wren’s eyes went wide. ‘Wait.’

Torj froze, heart suddenly in his throat. ‘Did I hurt you?’

Wren shook her head, catching her breath. ‘No. I...’ She seemed to take a moment to gather herself. ‘Are you still taking the contraceptive tonic?’

Torj’s stomach bottomed out, and he withdrew instantly. ‘No,’ he croaked. ‘I stopped the day... The day of the battle. I knew I wouldn’t need it.’ He could feel her eyes boring into him, could feel the questions in her smouldering gaze. ‘What about you?’ he asked hoarsely.

‘I still take it,’ she replied evenly. ‘But the tonic is most effective when both parties do.’

Torj speared a hand through his hair with a muttered curse, his cock still rock-hard, weeping at the tip, his heart still hammering wildly.

‘I won’t take that risk. Not even for you, Bear Slayer,’ Wren told him.

That got his attention, and he lifted his head to meet her eyes. ‘I would never ask you to.’

‘Good,’ she replied, her lips curving into a wicked smile. ‘Then I suggest we find alternative options in the meantime...’

Torj didn’t need telling twice.

He pushed her onto her back once more and dragged the dress bunched around her waist over her hips, tossing it aside at last, his own hunger reflected in her stormy eyes. Drinking in the sight of her, he mapped her throat with kisses before brushing his lips against hers.

‘Where to start, Embers... Where to fucking start...’