Sweet Ruin

FIFTY-FOUR

Jo was boneless by the time Rune was spent.

He released his bite with a shudder and collapsed over her. Heart thundering against Jo’s chest, he continued to lazily thrust, as if he couldn’t get enough of her.

Her eyes slid closed, but she was smiling to herself. Sex should always be like that! She got her man, and he did the job right.

The rune on his arm, however, hadn’t. She’d felt him coming inside her—hot, hard spurts. But she wasn’t worried.

“Wait.” His voice was hoarse. He leaned up on straightened arms, a look of confusion on his face. “I thought I was dreaming it . . .” With a hiss, he pulled out. “Dear gods, the rune didn’t work! I came inside you.”

“Yeah.” She patted his ass. “I felt that in real time, sport.”

His gaze fell on his arm.

Ohhh. She’d clawed his skin, disrupting the rune. “Oops?”

“How can you be so calm about this?”

“ ’Cause Jo just got laid properly? Okay, okay. I’m calm because I feel amazing. I knew I was your mate. I got marked”—she traced the bite on her neck—“and apparently drenched with seed.” She wriggled her hips with a thoughtful expression.

He flinched. “I need to get you somewhere, get you clean!”

She stretched her arms over her head. “Forget that. I’m basking.” She replayed the moment when he’d looked into her eyes and told her she was his. Nothing had ever made her feel more connected, not even drinking from him.

Fate considered them bound. Destiny said they were joined. No union was stronger than that. She couldn’t stop smiling. Yes, everything was looking so bright.

“You don’t feel pain? You don’t feel any effects from this?” He tenderly brushed his fingertips over her marked neck. “Please, tell me. I don’t want you to hurt. Josie, you can’t . . . I can’t hurt you.”

She was going to be sore tomorrow—no matter how much he’d readied her—and she regretted nothing. “You wanna know what hurts me? Not yelling, ‘I told you so!’ at the top of my lungs.”

Some of his panic seemed to lessen.

“Now you can’t argue with me anymore,” she informed him. “First step of our matehood? Accepting I’ll always be right. Also, I need to know when we can do this again. It’s very important we do this again as soon as possible.”

“Matehood.” He sat back on his haunches, stunned. Must be sinking in that he’d just reached a life milestone—after a gazillion eons.

“Oh, yeah.” With a teasing grin, she said, “And just think, if I had been eating, you might’ve knocked me up.”

Breath left his lungs. “I never allowed myself to imagine. . . .” His face fell. “My offspring would be poisonous.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Worst case scenario for our offspring: having to score a wicked awesome mate like you did.”

“You would want”—he cleared his throat to gruffly ask—“you’d have young with me?”

Even more people in her life! She pictured a baby with magenta eyes and a crooked grin who reminded her of Thad. The baby she’d never thought to have two weeks ago. “Hell yeah, why not?”

Black forked out over his eyes, and his dick surged.

Her gaze widened. “You like that idea?”

“The idea of impregnating my mate? My gods, it makes me hard for you. Once the Accession passes, you could eat.” He swallowed. “We could see.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

He returned to the cradle of her thighs, those dark fey eyes blazing with emotion. He was looking at her—really looking—and his expression promised things she’d only dreamed of.

His eyes held hers as he rolled his hips, feeding his length back inside her.

Connection. “This is even better than I fantasized.” She sighed, undulating to receive him. “A girl can’t feel more anchored than this.”

He eased down, giving each of her nipples a ruthless suck, making her moan. Then he pulled out to the tip and slammed his big cock home. “Ah! So tight.” Another shove. He watched her tits bounce with obvious delight. Another thrust. “I just came, and already . . .” He went to his knees, pulling her up to straddle his lap. His powerful arms coiled around her, squeezing her body against his. Against her ear, he said, “How did I live so long without this?”

“It feels different?”

He pulled back, his eyes heavy-lidded with lust, but gleaming with excitement. “So different . . . can’t decide if I’m going to come until my testicles scream—or lose my mind. I can feel semen climbing.” He frowned. “It’s too good. I’ve as little control as when I was new to this.”

“Maybe we’re both new to this.” She’d certainly never made love before.

He nodded slowly. Lips inches from hers, he said, “I’ve had a taste of this, and there’s no going back. You’re mine.” Just uttering those words heightened his aggression: “I want to hear you say it. Now.” He wrapped her hair around his fist, tugging to show he wasn’t fucking around. “Tell me what you are.” His demon intensity made her crazed.

She dug her claws into his shoulders. “Yours.” She wanted to bite him.

He thrust upward, growling, “You’re going to bear my young.”

“Yes.”

“Your blood’s black. It’s like mine. I’ll always be inside you.”

At the thought, Jo rocked on him and arched her back, feeling the cool air on her nipples.

He hissed in a breath between clenched teeth. “Don’t move.”

“What’s wrong?”

His big hands clamped her waist, holding her still. “Too good. I look at those pierced nipples of yours, and I’m about to come.” He drew back his cock with a shudder. “I look at your lips—the same. Your sexy ears. Dear gods, your eyes. Your fangs . . . when they sharpen I know I’m about to feel them somewhere on my body.” He pulled her hair to force her to his neck. “I’ve fantasized about giving you seed—while you take my blood.”

The idea turned her on so much, she grew wetter in a rush, clenching his dick inside her.

He felt her, repeating her question, “You like that idea?” His pulse point was beating furiously, calling her. Like a devil in her ear, he murmured, “Take what’s yours, Josie.”

With a cry, her head shot forward, and she pierced him. When his firm flesh closed around her aching fangs, she almost came.

A deep groan rumbled. “Ah! That’s it, baby. Take from me. I’m going to last till you’re fed.”

She scented more blood. It spilled down her back—because he was sinking his claws into his palms. Pain tempering pleasure. Anything to hold out for her.

“My mate,” he rasped. “My beautiful female.”

As she consumed him, their heartbeats . . . changed. The wild drumming in her ears matched beats, synchronizing.

As if they shared a heart.

“Do you hear that?” he murmured in bewilderment. “Feel that?”

She whimpered against his skin. Joined. Connected. Nothing had ever aroused her so much—her body, her mind, her heart. The tightening in her core escalated past the point of no return, gathering to explode.

He bucked upward. “Come with me,” he commanded.

She hovered . . . right on the verge . . .

“You’re never going to be alone again, because I will never let you go. Understand me, Josie—this is forever.”

At that, she went over the brink. Her climax ripped through her. Fiery and relentless. She released her bite to scream, “Rune!”

She clung to him as he pounded upward inside her, unmercifully. She clung to him as their sweating bodies writhed together.

Demonish words left his lips, a sign of his mindlessness. With a brutal groan, he wrenched her hips down as his surged up. A yell burst from his chest, and his seed shot into her, filling her with heat.

As she trembled against him, her dark fey mate threw his head back and roared her name to the night.