Page 47 of Court of Wolves

“Will we?” she interrupted in a small voice.

“We will,” he said firmly, reaching for magic that ignored his command, aching to unleash it on this place until it collapsed around them. Having her so close but knowing the seconds ticked away, that time would run out and she’d be stolen from him again… it was torture. “I promise, Maia.”

“You never break a promise,” she murmured, tilting her head up to lock eyes with him, hers utterly devoid of hope. It killed him. They both knew this wasn’t a promise he could keep when they were wholly and truly under the saints’ control.

“I won’t break this one either,” he lied. He wanted it to be true so badly. Maia saw the lie in his gaze like he saw the lack of hope in hers. Maybe that was why she surged onto her tiptoes and he closed the distance between them, their kiss long overdue.

Azrail had no control of his hands; they travelled all over her body, frantic to touch every last inch of her, mapping the arch and curve of her spine, re-memorising the way she melted into him as he kissed her. Even in the midst of suffering and pain, she tasted of sunlight and sweetness, and Az devoured her unashamedly. He’d been starving for her, wasting away hour on hour, and here was his cure.

It didn’t matter that time was running out, or soon someone would come to split them up. Maia was here, gasping and moaning against him, kissing him with desperation. Her mouth both pleaded and commanded, and he would grant her every last wish.

“Please,” she gasped, almost a sob, as she clawed at his ragged remains of his clothes, desperately seeking more bare skin. Az groaned when her palms flattened to his back, dragging him closer, the kiss feral in its intensity. It was the kiss of two mates who’d been terrified the other was lost forever, a kiss of relief and love. And awareness that though they were both here, this could be the last kiss they ever shared.

“I love you,” she said, digging her fingernails into his back, slanting her mouth over his to consume even more of him, their lips equally bruised. “I love you so much.”

Azrail tried to haul her closer though it was impossible, his fingers in her hair, winding strands around his fingers, matching her intensity and greed, needy for every last taste of her.

His shirt landed on the steps of the rotunda and Az couldn’t have said how it got there, couldn’t honestly give two fucks. “Maia,” he groaned, his breath hitching when she caught his bottom lip in her teeth and drew blood. He’d give her every last drop in his body if it made her happy.

She reached for the dirty, ragged mess of his trousers next, fingers frantic on the tie, a red line beneath her fingernails. Blood.

“We don’t have long left, sweetheart,” he breathed, catching her hands. He saw the questions in her eyes but she shook her head, dismissing them. She didn’t care why they were on a timer, or why they were here together at all, just that they were.

“I don’t care,” she said and slid her hand under the fabric. In seconds she had his cock free of his pants, stroking him withrough, swirling pumps that made his eyes roll back. “I don’t care if it’s quick and over too soon. Ineedyou, knight.”

Azrail belonged to her so completely. His heart, soul, body, mind—all of it, hers. He didn’t know how long they had left but that didn’t stop him obeying her wishes, gently stripping her trousers and catching her behind her thighs, lifting her against him. She moaned when her back hit the cold stone of a column; Az surged forward to taste the sound on her tongue.

Her hands locked behind his neck, fingers tangled in the messy strands of his dark hair as he lined up his cock with the sweet wetness between her thighs. And then he was inside her, both of them groaning. Maia tightened her thighs around him, her eyes squeezing shut.

“Did I hurt you, sweetheart?” he asked, stilling his cock where it was sheathed completely in her, the heat and suction inducing a heady madness in him. His nostrils flared, fingers pressing into the lean strength of her thighs where he held her against the column.

She shook her head, her brow knitted with something akin to pain. “It doesn’t hurt. Please don’t stop, Azplease.”

The bite of her fingernails on the back of his neck encouraged him to move, and the exquisite ripple of her muscles around him made his canines sink into his lip, one directly over the place where Maia had bitten him.

“I just—” she gasped, pulling him closer. “I thought we’d never—”

“I know,” he soothed with sudden understanding. It wasn’t physical pain but an onslaught of emotional pain. He held her closer, fitting his body flush to hers, catching her mouth with a deep, devouring kiss as he rolled his hips into the soft cradle of her thighs. He needed to hurry, but fuck, he couldn’t bring himself to rush a single moment of this.

“My mate,” he said against her swollen lips, meeting her gold eyes when they fluttered open. “My brave-hearted, beautiful mate.”

Her face crumpled. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, clutching with desperation. He braced her against him with a hand on her ass and flattened his other over her chest.

“I amhere,Mai. Every moment of every day, no matter how far apart we are, no matter what happens, I’m in your heart and soul. You carry me with you.”

When she blinked, tears gathered on her eyelashes and Az’s heart stuttered. This fucked up place, these vicious saints, had made his mate cry, had unlocked the storm of emotion she’d held back for years. He wanted to kill every last one of them.

One of her hands unfolded from his shoulders, pressing to his heart, likely feeling the way it swelled and stuttered. “I’m here, too. I’m with you, too.”

“I know, sweetheart,” he said, emotion a knot in his throat, a weight on his chest. He ground himself deep and slow inside her, the joining and connection of it a blessing, a gift from a higher power than the saints.

Maia moulded her lips to his over and over, sweet, demanding presses that echoed the way her pussy squeezed around his cock. “Harder,” she urged, her hand dragging marks into his chest he wanted to wear forever. “Fuck me so hard I feel you even when we’re apart.”

“Saints, Mai,” he groaned, filling his hands with her ass and ripping the leash of all the possessiveness and desperate, snarling greed he’d suppressed to take her gently. His mate didn’t want him gentle. It was a relief to snap his hips against hers, sinking deep and powerfully into the dripping heat of her.

One of her hands dove into his hair, gripping at the roots so his eyes watered and his cock jumped. He fucked her with all theravenous need she’d inspired the second she kissed him, making sure to angle his hips until she gasped on every thrust.

“That’s it,” he rasped when she squeezed frantically around him. “That’s my girl, that’s my mate.”

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