Page 38 of A Bond in Flames

She was mine.

And I would not lose her. I wouldn’t survive it, not this time.

She was fierce, lost to her pleasure now, and the sounds she made as she gave in to it sent shivers all through me. She cried out—a raw, wild sound that I would never ever forget—as her pussy clamped down hard on my cock. I had to hold on to her hips as she bucked and cried out, falling against my chest while she rocked mindlessly, lost in her pleasure. Wrapping my arms around her—one arm over her back, and the other on her ass—I locked her to me, and then I fucked her, thrusting my hips up hard to meet hers again, while she trembled and cried out, still coming for me.

There was no more holding back. “Yes, that’s it, my precious Stella,” I groaned and came hard inside my beautiful little wife, my Stella, my everything.

I thrust into her until I was spent, until we both lay there panting. I gently fisted her soft, warm hair and lifted her head, in need of her kisses badly, but she turned away, then tried to slide off me. I tightened my hold on her.

“Let me go, Death,” she said, no longer using my name and making it clear she was not just pulling away physically. She was going to distance herself from me again.

No fucking way. Not after that. She couldn’t pretend she didn’t feel for me some of what I did for her, not after what we just shared. “Look at me,” I growled.

She turned toward me but averted her eyes.

“You’re angry with me. Did I hurt you? Did I—”

“I get it, you’ve had a lot of consorts, and I’m most likely heading toward total annihilation in the very near future. This is… whatever the hell it is, but would it hurt you to get my fucking name right while you’re inside me? This Stella, she was obviously your favorite or whatever, but even the dude I had a one-night stand with remembered my fucking name.”

I froze. I had said that, hadn’t I?Idiot. “I’ve never had a consort named Stella.”

She rolled her eyes. “I literally heard you say it in my visions twice.”

I swallowed, my mouth dry, hating that I’d hurt her. “Stella means star,” I rushed out. “When I say my Stella, I’m saying my star.”

Her gaze dropped to my chest, to the intricate stars tattooed there, then back up. “So you what? Call us all the same term of endearment so you don’t fuck up?”

“No. You are my consort, my guide, my light, my sun. That’s just what you are. You are my little witch, but you are also my Stella,” I said, trying to make her understand. I wanted to explain, to tell her everything, but I couldn’t; doing so would mean losing her for certain. So I waited and hoped like hell she accepted my explanation.

She chewed her lip. “So this is another one of those bigger-than-me, dawn-of-time things that I’m never going to understand? Gotcha. Fine, whatever, but I’ve had visions of you with one, possibly two other females, so I know this isn’t some grand love, and we’re just fucking to kill time, but in all those visions, you called her… or them Stella, so I’d rather you didn’t call me that again, thanks.”

We weren’t fucking to kill time, and even she couldn’t believe that bullshit. And as for grand love? She had no fucking idea, but she would. “I’ll try my very best not to call you that again,” I said.

She eyed me for a moment, then finally, thank the gods, relaxed back against me. Her warmth instantly put me at ease. I slid my hand down her back, and she shivered. Yes, I liked that.

“You need to do better than try, my guy,” she said. “Because if it happens again, it doesn’t matter if I’m riding you like a rodeo bull, if you call me that name again, there will be no happy ending for you. I’ll leave you to buck it out all on your own.”

I stilled. “A rodeo bull?”

“You heard me,” she said and wriggled against my side, getting comfortable.

A grin spread across my face, so wide, my cheeks hurt.

She paused in her wriggling and lifted her head. Her breath burst from her lungs. “What the hell are you grinning about?”

“You entertain me, little witch. I haven’t been this entertained in a very long time.”

“I’m glad I amuse you,” she said, trying to be sarcastic, but her lips were twitching.

“I’ll be your rodeo bull anytime, by the way.”

She snorted. “Like there was ever any doubt.”

The laugh burst from me before I knew it was coming. Zinnia startled, and I laughed harder, wrapping my arms around her and holding her to me.

* * *

Zinnia

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