Page 21 of Veil of Shadows (Fae of Woodlands & Wild #2)

CHAPTER 21

I tossed and turned throughout the night, Jax’s presence calling to something deep inside me. The urge to be closer to him was almost a physical pain, but I didn’t allow myself to leave the bed.

Sleep came fitfully. Strange dreams came too. Dreams of my childhood. Dreams of being mounted atop a powerful black stag. And dreams of a masked male forever lurking in the shadows.

Something about being in the same room with Jax, with him so near yet so far, had my magic roiling and chilling within me.

The full moon was high in the sky when I finally fell into another restless sleep, but then a new dream began. An even stranger one.

A semelee swirled around me, crooning and wrapping its strength around my soul. “Daughter of Darkness, you’ve come to us again. What do you seek?”

I spun in a circle, surprise filling me at the realness of this dream. The Veiled Between stretched in every direction. Shadows and ink. Mist and planes. Over a dozen semelees swam in my vicinity, their power enthralling.

But I ignored the semelee’s question entirely and instead concentrated on my surroundings. I’m dreaming, right?

Confusion clogged my mind. I hung suspended in the shadowy mist. The weight of it felt heavy yet buoyant. The sensations I always felt when I traveled to this plane of reality pushed against me. Stars Above, but it felt real .

Reaching a hand out, I touched the back of one of the semelees. Its cool scaled skin met my fingertips.

My soul gasped. Its skin felt very real.

Eyes widening, I somehow managed to get out, Am I actually here?

Yes, Princess of Shadows, the semelee responded. You’ve come to us again. It’s been too long.

I spun around again, and it hit me that I was truly here. I’d traveled to the realm between realms, yet I had no memory of detaching from my body and purposefully spiraling through space to reach the Veil. I had no memory of pulling on another’s magic to perform a calling.

Surprise gripped me harder, and the semelees moved faster, crooning to me more, sliding past my fingertips at increasing speed.

I waited for my growing fear to elicit a shock from my collar. The pull of its magic still anchored me to the fae lands, yet...it didn’t come.

Another gasp shook my soul. The collar’s hold on my soul was too weak. I couldn’t follow it back, and I’d never been in the Veiled Between without it. I’d never learned how to exit this plane without the Veil within sight or my collar pulling me home.

I spun again in the darkness as genuine panic began to claw up my throat. Which way? Which way do I go? But my questions went unanswered. It was only me and the shadow creatures, the commanders of fate at my fingertips.

I wrenched on my magic, pulling more from the well in my soul, then demanded that the semelees come to heel completely. The nearest one eagerly surged forward, ready to do my bidding, but the largest coiled around me, seemingly content simply to touch me.

Stop , I commanded it. It paused, its massive weight stilling. Return me to the Veil.

But you belong here , it hissed.

Another pull from its massive body tugged me deeper into the Veiled Between, and the others, as though gaining confidence, began to do the same.

I fought the biggest one, my magic rising higher, and again it stilled. I was stronger now with the collar loosened, there was no doubt about that, and an idea suddenly struck me. If I was here, I could ask about my family. I could ask about Bastian. I could finally try to do a calling for myself and ask about Jax’s brother even if the prince had been fighting me on it all week.

Release me. The semelee slithered back and bowed submissively. Who was my mother? I asked. Tell me more about her. And where’s Bastian? Tell me exactly where the prince’s brother is at this moment.

The large semelee lifted its head and slid along my thigh anew. Are you trying to conduct a calling for yourself, Lorafin?

I am. Tell me.

But it slithered against me more, not replying.

TELL ME , I said in a stronger, deeper tone, filled with my magic. An answering pulse came from my collar in the fae lands, but it was so faint, and I couldn’t decipher which direction it came from.

But the semelee only spun around me more. To conduct a calling for oneself or to command the fates, requires a queen, and you are not a queen, Lorafin. Not yet. You are still a princess, although you feel bolder. Stronger. Yet I do not feel compelled to bend to your will completely, so I will not answer your questions.

I spun to the others. Then you tell me. Or you!

But one after another, the semelees refused to give me answers.

A crushing sense of defeat barreled through me. If they wouldn’t respond, I would never be able to do a calling of my own. Ever. Not even with my collar diminished. Which meant, I could never uncover anything further about my past. And I couldn’t find Bastian, not without Jax’s magic or someone else’s to assist me.

Aching under that realization, I turned away from the semelees and began to search for my way out.

A semelee slowly slithered at my side, not trying to ensnare me again, merely accompanying me. At least I had enough magic now to command it more readily, so it didn’t try to take me away.

Where’s the Veil? I asked it.

It’s where it always is. It’s where you entered it.

You’re going to answer in riddles, is that it?

You should be able to find the way on your own, Lorafin.

So they weren’t going to tell me, because an experienced lorafin didn’t become lost here. Not like a caged one such as myself.

I swam through the shadows, searching for the Veil, but found nothing. I was in nothingness.

Genuine panic began to consume me. If I couldn’t find the way out, I would never leave this place.

“Elowen!” someone called. The voice was so distant, so far away, yet I could have sworn that someone just said my name.

I swirled around as a bolt of magic flared on my collar. I cried out. It came so suddenly but felt different. Stronger. Sharper. But its direction was clear.

It came from behind me.

The semelees whirled along my sides as I flew toward the Veil. Scales of darkness and shadows pressed into me, trying to encourage me to stay, but I held firm.

“Elowen!” the voice called again.

Pulses of magic elicited along my throat anew, strengthening with every second that passed. But it wasn’t my collar’s magic—it was something else. Something powerful, unique, and desperate.

Jax.

“Elowen, come back to me!” His growl rang through the cosmos, and then another shove of potent magic encircled my throat. Shocks ticked painfully around my neck, coming from the collar, and were so great that I cried out again, but I was thankful for his help.

I grasped a hold of Jax’s magic. It felt different from my collar. More forceful. It was an entire realm of power spiraling against me and commanding all of my attention.

I followed the feel of it, grasping onto its essence.

The semelees hissed their displeasure, so I said, I’ll return again, but right now, I must go.

Slowly, the Veil appeared, the mist growing thicker. I willed my soul toward my body, and with a burst of speed, I shot through the Veil and was barreling through the cosmos, flying through time and space as the strength of Jax’s magic led me back home.

I returned to my body so hard that I gasped. Power sizzled around my throat, making my collar hum.

“Stars Above. Elowen? Can you hear me?” Jax’s rasp came through the darkness. “Elowen, please, say something!”

The desperation in his words slammed my senses back to the present. I was lying on a large bed in my underthings. Darkness surrounded me. Heavy breathing came from my side. A large hand gripped my shoulder as another encircled my throat, magic barreling from the palm into my collar.

“Jax?” I whispered.

“Elowen? Yes, it’s me!” His ragged breath followed. “Thank the gods.” Jax’s forehead pressed against mine, and the scent of his sweet breath puffed around me. “Are you here? Can you hear me?”

“Yes, I’m here now.” A shiver hit me and then another. Terror made coldness creep into my veins. I’d been so close to becoming lost in the Veiled Between.

Another shuddering breath left him, filled with so much fear that it nearly encompassed me completely. “I thought I wouldn’t get you back.”

I pressed my palm to the back of his hand, needing to feel something tangible. “Thank you. I almost didn’t. I was so disoriented, not sure which way to go, but you pulled me back.” Frowning, I added, “But how did you know I was in the Veiled Between?”

“I felt it when you left.”

“You did?”

He nodded. “I couldn’t sleep. I was lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling, and then your aura shifted. A crackle of magic came from your collar, and then a huge release of magic came from your body.” He sucked in another breath. His words were still too fast to be considered calm. “When I called out to you, you didn’t respond, so I came to your side. And—” He huffed out another breath. “The magic around you felt exactly as it had when you traveled to the Veiled Between for my calling.”

My lips parted, and my jaw dropped. Memories of the strange way my magic had been acting with Jax so near, yet so far, lingered. “I think I traveled there in my dream. My magic was being...strange.”

“Has that ever happened before?”

“No, but I’m stronger now. The last time I traveled there so easily was before this was placed on me.” I trailed my finger along the collar. “But I was definitely disoriented, and I was at risk of becoming lost. I don’t have enough experience there without the collar to know my way back easily, but hopefully in time I will.”

But another starker, and more resolute fact, barreled into my thoughts. I would never know anything more about my mother. And I could never ask about Bastian on my own. Both required being able to do callings for myself, and only a lorafin queen could conduct her own callings. But I would never be able to, because of the collar.

A breath shuddered out of me. Forever, I would be caged. There was no changing that, and the last thread of hope that I’d held onto that perhaps one day I could be the master of my own destiny, snuffed out of existence.

My lips quivered, and tears sprouted in my eyes.

Jax’s palm skated gently over my cheeks. “Why are you crying?”

“Because I’ll never know.” I recanted what the semelees had told me, that I still wasn’t their queen. “I can’t do a calling for myself, Jax. They confirmed it. I’ll never be able to do a calling without the aid of another’s magic.”

He lowered himself to my side, his weight dipping the mattress as his touches remained soft and gentle. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

I shook my head, then dried my tears. “I kind of assumed as much, but to have it confirmed...” My hands were still shaking, but I forced them to still.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. A tingle of his magic washed against my skin as he continued his soft, soothing motions.

I ran a hand along the cool metal encircling my throat. A flare of Jax’s residual magic still penetrated it, and I turned my attention toward that, anything to keep from reliving what the semelees had revealed. “How did you use your magic to elicit my collar?”

“I blasted pulses of my sensory magic into it. It was the first thing that came to mind.”

“I’m glad you did. It obviously worked.”

He huffed in amusement, and for a moment, we stayed silent. In the dim nighttime lighting, our gazes locked together, and our breaths mingled. Slowly, he inched closer to me on the bed.

“You should go back to sleep. I’ll stay close in case you accidentally travel to the Veiled Between again. I can help you find your way back if you need it.” He lay only inches away in nothing but loose pants, and his large fingers curled around mine, holding my hand. A moment of bliss barreled through me. He was so warm. I curled into him more.

He scowled. “You’re freezing.”

He grumbled in displeasure, then wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his chest. Hot skin met my frigid limbs. He swore silently under his breath and ripped the covers off the bed and encased both of us in them.

The heavy weight of the blankets settled around us as his hands ran up and down my back, using friction to warm me further, then a pulse of magic hummed around him.

His entire body heated to an unnatural level, and I knew that he’d pulled on his command of the elements. The air in the room warmed too, and Jax’s body turned into molten fire.

Closing my eyes, I sank into him even more. His skin felt like a burning rock. It was bliss, and some of the tension radiating through me lessened as my chilled skin began to warm.

“That feels so good,” I whispered.

He didn’t stop. His hands continued their wandering movements, and his magic settled into a constant cocoon of cloud-like warmth as though flames blazed from him.

Minutes ticked by, and slowly, the chill left me, but that only made me aware of how closely we lay to one another.

I felt every hard inch of him. Every sculpted line. Jax’s body was huge and muscled, and I tentatively ran my fingers along his abdomen.

He stilled.

“Sorry.” I snatched my hands back to my side. What is it about this male? Everything about him called to me.

But his hand glided down my arm until he cupped my palm, then he placed my hand back on his side and held it there.

“You don’t need to be sorry.” In the dim light, the bob of his throat was right in my line of sight.

My eyes snapped up. Fire rolled around him. A fire born of want and desire. His body grew harder in an entirely new way, and the room grew uncomfortably hot as a flush worked through my limbs.

In a breath, he calmed his elemental power, his skin and the air returning to normal.

I licked my lips, and he followed the movement.

“What is this . . . thing between us, Jax?”

His fingers sank into my hip, kneading the soft flesh there. “You haven’t figured it out yet?”

And it hit me. What he was implying. And why he hadn’t said anything sooner. My eyes widened as I finally accepted what had been right in front of me all along.

Tradition dictated that males wait for females to acknowledge the mating bond before acting. It was bad luck for the male to push the female into accepting the bond until she was ready. Some even said the bond was strongest when it was allowed to develop naturally.

My lips parted as panic threatened to engulf me anew. “No.”

He growled. “Yes.”

“We can’t be fated. Fate means that you’re my...” I didn’t want to admit it. But the word brushed across my mind as though it’d been waiting to reveal itself, hidden behind a sheer curtain all along and only now peeking out to play.

Mate .

Another rumble filled Jax’s chest, and he leaned down to whisper in my ear. “I’ve been waiting for you to feel it too. This pull. This want .”

My breaths sped up. “Oh Gods.”

He was right. My magic certainly responded to him. Always seeking him. Always trying to join with his. Just tonight, it’d done it again, and I could have sworn that was the reason for my unrest and traveling to the Veiled Between in a dream. We were mates, but I’d been resisting it. My magic didn’t like my resistance. It wouldn’t ultimately stand for that, so it’d grown erratic. That was why I’d traveled to the Veiled Between in my sleep.

And there was a way to prevent that from happening again. My magic would calm if I accepted the bond.

I licked my lips as reality sank in more. Jax being my mate explained this pull I felt toward him—a pull created of the gods. It would also explain my undeniable attraction to him and why our magic sizzled between us. It would also explain why I’d been so captivated by him when he was my abductor and why he was so overly protective of me.

Of course. Fae males were fiercely protective of their females—to a point that it was unnatural. That was why Jax had so adamantly refused to let me do another calling to find Bastian. He couldn’t stomach the thought of me becoming hurt, even if I would ultimately heal.

“What are we going to do?” I finally whispered. Because even if we were meant for one another, that was a feeling best kept behind locked doors in shadowed rooms in the dead of night. Come sunrise, I couldn’t allow myself to acknowledge Jax as my mate. He and I came from different origins. Our lives were never meant to cross, even if the gods had forked our paths until they intersected.

“What do you want to do?” he whispered, his voice husky, his body hardening even more. He trailed his nose up my neck, and a smattering of nerves fired all along my body.

Shivering, I positively ached for him, but I shook my head. “We probably shouldn’t?—”

His lips collided with mine. He kissed me hard, his mouth claiming me. Strong arms entwined around me, as though he never wanted to let me go.

“We should ,” he growled into my mouth.

The second his taste flooded me, a low moan worked up my throat. My hands tangled in his hair, and I kissed him in return.

He was right. He was my mate. Mine . I wanted this so badly that I told myself the consequences didn’t matter, even though a tiny voice in the back of my mind said that they did.

Shushing that worry, I dipped my tongue forward to dance with his. He tasted like spice and fire, sin and desire. I’d never tasted anything so good.

Growling, he deepened our kiss.

We kissed one another desperately, our touches raw.

Finally, my soul seemed to scream. Finally .

His fingers coasted down my thigh to crook behind my knee. Levering it, he hooked my leg around his waist, and the hard length of him pressed against me. A growl of satisfaction rumbled in his chest, but he didn’t sweep my underthings to the side. His fingers stroked my skin, trailing along my sides, then cupped my breasts, all while he grinded against me.

Roll after roll of desire washed through me. He kneaded my soft flesh, claiming my body as though it belonged to him. Stars, but the male created a want in me that I’d never felt before. I was on the verge of coming when he ran a rough thumb over my taut nipple, and when I cried out, another satisfied sounding rumble came from his throat.

Goddess, I wanted him. Wanted him desperately.

“Elowen,” Jax rasped and ripped his mouth from mine. Our breaths heaved around us. “If we keep this up, I’m not going to be able to stop. I need you to tell me to stop if you don’t want this.”

His body throbbed. Every line of him was taut and felt like a bowstring about to snap. My body was just as ripe, just as wanting.

My mate.

But in some dim part of my mind, it registered what he was saying. If we crossed this line now, there was no return.

Yet I knew I could do it. I could give my virginity to the Dark Raider here and now. I could become his mistress, his true lover, his mate . We could complete the bond, but come next summer, he would still marry another. Even if the gods had fated us...he was still the crown prince, and even princes weren’t given everything they wanted.

I would have to watch him be with another. Marry another. Fuck another.

Cold reality swept through me, and I pulled back because just the thought of that made me sick. I didn’t want a short fling with him even if it would give me something to remember for the rest of my life. I wanted more. I wanted him. All of him. Forever.

The realization that such a wish would never be granted hit me so suddenly that it was as if a stone brick had been thrown in my chest. “We shouldn’t.”

A pang of disappointment swirled around him.

“You’re to marry another, Jax.”

His nostrils flared. “I won’t.”

“You’ll have to.”

He huffed and tore a hand through his hair.

Tears threatened to spring into my eyes again, but in my next blink, he was there, cupping my cheeks, kissing away the stray tears that wanted to fall. “Elowen.” He kissed me softly. Reverently. “I want you. Only you.”

“We can’t, Jax. Not with how things are.”

His body stilled, and his breaths locked in his chest. Energy swirled around him, meshing with my own. It called to me. Begged me to give in.

But Jax’s throat bobbed, and he finally nodded. “All right. I won’t bed you, if that’s what you wish.” He pressed his lips to my ears and whispered softly, “But let me give you release, Elowen. I can scent how much you want it. Just for this one night, let me give you that. I won’t ask for anything in return. You owe me nothing. But I want to do that for you if you’ll let me. Please, mate . Let me at least give you that.”

A shudder ran through me. Release . From him touching me. I’d never experienced that with any male. Ever.

He waited. Waited for my consent. He’d always waited for me to say yes. He was the only male who’d ever given me that gift over and over, time and time again.

My chin dipped slightly, and warring emotions again blazed through me, but he’d said one night. Just once. Surely only one time wouldn’t destroy me completely.

I finally nodded, affirming that I wanted what he was offering despite my better judgment.

A swell of satisfaction rumbled through his aura, even more so when I parted my thighs. Welcoming him. Wanting him.

A low growl rumbled in this chest, the sound possessive and raw. “You’re mine tonight,” he rasped.

In a flurry of his magic, my underthings were ripped off and fluttered to the floor. I gasped when I lay naked and bare before him, the chilled night air coasting over my skin.

Jax’s eyes heated, his gaze raking up and down my body, drinking me in. “So fucking beautiful.” He cupped one of my bare breasts, his hand squeezing its weight. “So perfect.”

Mouth finding mine, he kissed me again as his hands wandered freely. Boldly. He rubbed, caressed, explored, and owned every inch of me.

With each path his hands traveled, the heat in me built.

He inhaled deeply, my arousal clouding the air, and then his wandering fingers slipped through my folds, my breath catching completely as he played with my heat.

A low sound came from him that vibrated me all the way to my toes. My head fell back as his fingers fiddled and stroked, playing my flesh expertly with every swirl and caress.

His tongue ran along my lower lip, then he kissed along my jaw and down my throat. He slipped a finger inside me, filling me slightly, and I sucked a breath in.

All I could do was pant. Words wouldn’t form. Only feelings. These exquisite feelings.

His mouth trailed down my chest to my breasts. He sucked one of my peaks into his mouth and slipped a second finger inside me, and then a third. He stretched me completely with his fingers, pumping them in and out, and the aura around him grew so potent that it commanded all of my attention.

His lips met my neck again, teasing me just above my collar, and then his thumb found my nub. He stroked me, rubbing my flesh expertly as he worked my body like a master craftsman carving a sculpture.

Throbbing need climbed in my belly with every pump of his digits and swipe of his thumb. I clung to him, feeling feverish with need. Moaning, I rocked against him. “Don’t stop. Oh Gods, don’t stop!”

“Nothing could make me stop. You’re mine right now.” His erection swelled near my stomach, growing so hard and big that I couldn’t help but reach for it.

When my fingers closed around him, he hissed. But I didn’t stop. The velvety steel of him had my fantasies blooming to an entirely new level. He was even bigger than I’d imagined. So hard and large. I ran my hand up him more, pumping him like he was thrusting into me.

“Elowen,” he rasped. “Stars, Elowen .”

I continued touching him as intimately as he touched me, clenching, stroking, as his length throbbed in my hands.

“Goddess Above, I want to rut with you,” he growled.

My hand squeezed around him even more at that admission, and my earlier decision to not let this progress fizzled into non-existence. “Rut with me?” I gasped when his fingers withdrew, and he brought them to his lips.

He slipped his fingers inside his mouth, tasting me, and I didn’t think I’d ever seen anything more erotic.

“You taste like honey.” Eyes aglow, his gaze met mine. “My stag instincts are demanding that I bend you over and rut with you, but I promised not to take more than this.” He moved lower, his mouth trailing down my stomach, forcing my hands away from his cock, and I knew exactly where his mouth was headed.

When his body settled between my thighs and his lips closed around my nub, my body arched off the bed. He rumbled low in his chest and positioned himself securely between my legs, refusing to let me lift again.

“You’re going to take my mouth.”

Short, sharp pants were all I could manage.

“Every lick.” His tongue ran up my center. “Every suck.” His mouth latched onto my clit. “Every part of my mouth you will take, do you understand?”

All I could do was nod.

He inhaled deeply. “Your arousal drives me mad. Did you know that?” He licked my nub again, then sucked it and fiddled it with is tongue. I slapped a hand to my mouth to muffle my scream. “Each time I’ve scented it, you’ve driven me crazy with need.”

I gasped when he sucked me into his mouth once more. Words wouldn’t form, and I couldn’t get his words out of my head. Every lick. Every suck. I want to rut with you. Everything he said sounded indecent. Wanton. And incredibly arousing.

He licked up my center, lapping and sucking me eagerly. I grabbed his head, tangling my fingers in the dark locks of his hair. A storm of desire unleashed within his eyes, the swirling power in them igniting a faint blue glow.

I nibbled on my lower lip, and the glowing in his eyes increased. “What if I want to rut with you?”

His eyes flashed more, and he pulled back from my core just enough to rumble, “Do you know what that means?”

I pictured him bending me over, taking me from behind, rutting with me until we both came undone. I didn’t know if such an act would seal our mating bond, but if I held my magic back, I guessed it probably wouldn’t. “I do.”

The energy around him soared, heating the air around us. His throat bobbed. “And you...want that too?”

I thought again of what giving my virginity to the Dark Raider would mean. There would be no turning back. I could no longer look at him as though we were nothing more than friends in our endeavors. Even if he did release me, despite his fears about Mistvale, and we parted ways in the coming days or weeks or months...even if I never saw him again, a part of me would always belong to him and him to me. He would be my first, the first male to ever feel me on such an intimate level. My mate.

I found myself nodding. If I was going to give my virginity to anyone, I wanted it to be him. “I want that, Jax. So much.”

He growled once more, and a flash of power rippled in the air around him. In my next blink, he was crawling up my body, his erection thick and heavy between my legs. He kissed my stomach, my breasts, everywhere his mouth encountered. All the while, the power around him grew and coiled, growing more dominant, more demanding.

“You’re sure?” he rasped.

I nodded again. “Yes.”

His eyes took on a feral look as his hard body hovered above me, and when his lips reached my neck, where my collar locked away the entirety of my power, his eyes flashed on the purple gem. A moment of anger stole over him, but then his mouth found mine.

“I don’t know if I can be gentle,” he said into my mouth, his kisses raw and desperate. “Rutting is primal, and my stag instincts have been demanding it for...a while.”

“I don’t want gentle,” I replied in between kisses because if this was to be my only time with him, I wanted all of him, all of his magic, all of his cock, all of his power. I wanted it all . “I want primal.”

His lips curved in absolute satisfaction, and he flipped me on my stomach, then lifted my arse in the air.

My arousal tripled from his rough movements, his uncensored desire flaming me to a spiraling peak.

“Goddess, look at you.”

I glanced over my shoulder. Jax was staring at my core, at my round rump, my glistening folds. Leaning down, he licked me, his tongue parting my entrance before he sucked on my nub again.

A moan escaped me. On my hands and knees, I leaned forward, resting on my elbows and pushing my entrance against his face.

A strange sound came from his throat, part grunt, part growl, and it was entirely hypnotic. He lapped and kissed me again until he worked me into another fevered pitch.

“Jax, I’m so close to coming!”

A shudder ran through me as he lifted himself, kneeling behind me. “Not yet, my beautiful mate. You’re to come on my cock.”

His dominant demand had me aching so deeply, and the desperate need to be pushed over the edge had me ripping and clawing at the sheets.

He gripped my hips with both hands, and his stiff erection brushed against me.

My walls clenched, wanting him, seeking him, but he just brushed the head of his cock against me again.

My breath sucked in.

“You’re sure?” he asked, his voice raspy and low. “You want me to rut with you? There’s no turning back once we do this.”

My fingers turned into claws, and I shoved myself against him, but his grip held firm. “Yes, Jax. I’m sure. Rut with me. Now .”

That strange grunt tore from his throat again, and the head of his cock pushed into me. With each inch, the power around him increased. His magic collided with mine in the air, coiling and heating around us until everything in me swirled around everything in him.

He grunted again in that strange cadence. My thighs trembled, and his fingers dug into the flesh on my hips as he pushed into me more and more .

But then he hit a barrier.

He stilled. “You’re a virgin?” he rasped.

“Yes.”

Another strange sound came from him: pure satisfaction, pure male dominance. “Mine. You’re fucking mine , Elowen.”

“Yes, Jax. I’m yours. Please . Don’t stop.”

He hissed, and I cried out in need when his cock slipped another inch inside me, pushing against that virginal wall.

“All of it, Jax,” I demanded. “I want it all. Rut with me. Now . Do what your instincts demand.”

And those final words seemed to push him over the edge. In a barely controlled frenzy, he plunged his cock fully inside me, ripping through my barrier. The pain was sharp and brief, then it subsided.

He fit tightly, his erection large and throbbing. He filled every inch of me. I shuddered in bliss. Goddess, he felt amazing.

But he didn’t give me any time to marvel. Another deep grunt came from him, and when I looked over my shoulder, his eyes were glowing brightly, and magic shimmered around his head.

He leaned over me, pushing me down more into the mattress as his hands anchored to my hips, refusing to let me wiggle away even an inch.

Power grew in his aura, swelling around him, and then he began thrusting into me, hard and deep. His movements grew faster, his cock swelling inside me, growing even bigger until his rough movements were commanding all of my attention.

I screamed in pleasure. He pounded into me, his movements hard, but I’d never felt anything so right.

I closed my eyes, growing lost to the sensations. With each shove from his pelvis, my body wanted to lurch up the bed, but his hands on my hips wouldn’t allow it. He anchored me in place, demanding that I take every hard inch of him again and again and again.

“Jax! I’m so close!” I cried.

He didn’t reply, but he grumbled a sound, and his slapping increased, and when I looked over my shoulder a second time, wanting to see what effects our carnal acts were having on him, I gasped.

Antlers had sprouted from his head, and his eyes were glowing blue orbs. The rest of him remained fae, only the antlers hinting at his shifter origins.

When our gazes collided, he curled over me, trapping me completely. All the while, he rammed into me harder and deeper, his thrusts never stopping.

I moaned again, more turned on than any male had ever made me. I was so close... so close to shattering all around him.

“Come for me, Elowen,” he demanded. “Give me yourself. I want to make you mine .” Magic swirled around him, coating me in his aura and power.

My magic threatened to join with his, but I wrenched on it, holding it back.

He pounded into me more, and I screamed just as my orgasm ripped through me. The realm crashed around me in a thousand dazzling waves and swirling sparks, soaring so high my vision swam and my core clenched.

He roared in victory when my channel spasmed around him, and then he slammed into me a final time, his cock pumping so violently that I felt every drop of his release as his seed flowed into me.

He curled himself around my body even more, his pelvis jammed against my core as he emptied himself in hot spurts. Magic—hot, heavy, and pulsing—tingled my skin and electrified my senses. Jax’s magic encased me. Protected me.

But I kept my magic in check so as not to fully enact the bond.

But I gasped when a searing burn flared on the back of my neck along my spine. It was gone so quickly, though, that I wondered if I imagined it.

All the while, Jax’s hands stayed anchored on my hips.

I smiled as a thoroughly content feeling of being dominated by him completely overtook me. I loved every second of it.

I shuddered, and it felt like eternity passed before my orgasm and his pulsing cock finally, fully calmed. I felt spent...totally, completely, and perfectly spent.

I sagged beneath him, my body turning to mush as my brain fogged with bliss.

He moved with me, his body curling over me more, and his mouth slid just below my ear, his whispered words humming with immense satisfaction. “You’re mine now. Forever.”

I didn’t know if I heard him correctly. I was too far gone from the effects of our love making to fully understand him.

But I was still a lorafin.

And he was still the heir to a throne.

We could never truly be together, but tonight, he was mine, and I was his. And I would take this one small gift and cherish it forever.