Page 50 of The Rebel's Prize

His tone was surprised but pleased. Had he thought she’d abandoned it when she’d abandoned him?

“Yes,” she said. “I wanted to keep it safe. Keep it close.”

He reached for the chain, then hesitated. “May I?”

She nodded, and he lifted the chain over her head. In mere seconds, he’d freed the ring and offered it to her.

“Will you?”

The hope and want in his voice made her shiver. “I will.” She held out her hand, and he slid the ring back onto her finger, then lifted her hand to kiss it.

“This time it stays,” he said.

“Yes.”

He laughed then, the sound full of joy and satisfaction, and shrugged out of his jacket before pulling her close to kiss her.

After that, it was a whirl of rush and hurry that didn't register clearly until he was naked and lowering her to the bed, then covering her with his body. The shock of him against her, hard and hot in all the right places, stole her breath and she gasped, making him lift his head.

"Good noise or bad noise?"

She smiled up at the concerned face warring with the dark green heat in his eyes. "Definitely good. Come here." She tugged his mouth down to hers, starting the kiss again, letting the oh-so-right sensation of it flood her body.

He'd said "Mine" when he kissed her back in Jinkara. Now she knew it was true. And that he was hers in the same way.

Now all she could think of was proving it.

Lucien started to move his lips down her neck, clearly intent on having his way with her, of lighting every part of her on fire, his fingers slipping between her legs at the same time. But she was too impatient for that, and the way his fingers slid so easily told her she didn't need any more to rouse her. She reached down and closed her hand around his cock.

"Chloe?" He sounded half lustful, half startled.

"I want you," she said, lifting her hips.

She didn't have to ask a second time. He groaned as she pushed against him, and then he slid home with one deep thrust. He curled his fingers with hers and lifted her hands above her head.

"Goddess," he breathed, turning desire to worship. He began to move within her, each thrust impatient. Fast and hard and hungry.

Exactly how she wanted it. Needed it. She needed to feel him inside her, as close as he could be.

She closed her eyes and moved with him, greedy for him, the rush of it making her all sensation and instinct. She lifted her legs higher around his hips, pulling him to her, once again caught in the storm of him, unraveled and reveling in it.

It was wild again. Fierce. Perhaps the last battle in the war between them. Breaking down all the hurt and the misunderstanding in the flood of pleasure and delight, in the bone-deep satisfaction and knowledge that this was how it was supposed to be.

She came suddenly, without expecting it, screaming as the orgasm hit her. Heard an answering roar as he followed, everything vanishing around them in a blur of pleasure.

He didn't let her rest for long, teasing her once more with lips and fingers until she was writhing. When she tried to pull him down to her, he laughed and said, "This time, you can do the work," and rolled so she was on top of him.

For a moment, time swept and shimmered, taking her back to that first night in Deephilm, when she'd tied his hands and ridden him, too angry to admit that what caught fire between them was anything but simple misguided lust. He felt the same beneath her now as she slid him home. The same and entirely different. She still hungered for him, but now she wanted more than just release from the fever burning between them.

She reached for something to anchor her, to keep her from dissolving entirely. Magic, Lucien, the ground—anything. "More. Please, Lucien, I need you."

"You have me." He thrust harder, his presence beneath her unmistakable but still not enough.

"More. Together." She kissed him wildly, nipping at his mouth, drinking the taste of him down. "I need you to be mine. All of you." She braced one hand on his chest, letting her magic sing around her as she rolled her hips in time with his.

"You want the bond?"

Oh.Yes. She hadn't realized it, but that was what she was seeking. The comfort of knowing him, of sharing so intimate. Something just for the two of them.

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