Page 154 of The Soulbond and Her Beloved

Emeriel made a soft, needy sound, pressing her thighs together. Why did hearing it from someone else make it so much more intense?

“Hestarvesfor you,” Alviara whispered. “Yet he waits. Do you know why? Because he will not take what you are not ready to give.”

She’d seen it in his patience these past months, the way he’d held himself back when she could not give him more. But hearing it from another… seeing it through Alviara’s eyes… it was different.

“Give him the word, and he’ll be with you. Say it with all your heart. Mean it. No reservations. No fear. No hesitation.” Alviara caressed her arm, raising goosebumps. “Not because you feel it’s yourduty—no one will force you to lie on this bed and give yourself. You do it because it’s what youwant. Not forhissake… but for yours.”

And she was right. Emeriel wasn’t doing this to fulfill his basic needs, or to keep him from losing control. She was doing this because shewantedto.She needed all of him.

So she outstretched her hand. “Please… come to me, Beloved.”

He was in front of her before the last syllable left her lips. Towering, crowding her, surrounding her. She breathed him in, feeling a deep sense of longing… not just in her heart, but in her feminine core. Rising on her toes, she kissed him first. She poured her craving and desperation into it. The kiss was fast and a little clumsy, but so full of need.

And within heartbeats, he was kissing her back. He devoured her, and she drowned in it.

Emeriel would never grow tired of his kisses—never lose her addiction to the feel of his mouth, the taste of him, the way his lips moved against hers as though she was all he had ever hungered for.

Cool silk sheets met her back, he lowered next to her, lying by her side, his kisses trailing over her skin. His mouth moved along her throat, down the delicate line of her neck, and lower still… until his lips found her breast and he took her nipple into his mouth.

Emeriel cried, arching into him. Her fingers threaded into his hair, holding him to her. Oh, to feel this again… to havehimagain.

The sensation was sharper than she remembered, sharp as a hot jolt. She had always been sensitive there, but since her pregnancy, her breasts—her nipples—had become almost unbearably so. Tugs of his mouth made her breath hitch, stutter, stop.

She was so aroused she could feel her own slick against her thighs. Emeriel pressed them tightly together again, trying to alleviate the growing ache. Every pull soon turned intomaddening torture, for where she needed him most remained blissfully empty.

“I need you.” She opened her eyes, pleading. “Inside me. Please.”

He stopped, pulling back. “Are you sure?” Eyes searched hers, pupils blown wide.

“Yes.” She nodded fervently. “Yes, please…”

So he moved. Catching her legs, he pulled until she slid to the edge, rose to stand at the foot, his eyes drinking her in. He leaned into her, bracing his hands on either side of her, his torso framed by her bent knees. He fit himself between her thighs as though he belonged there—and he did. He always had.

But as he lined his hardness to her core, the anxiety came again.

Chapter thirty-six

INTERTWINED. PRIMITIVE

Shetriedtosuppressit as quickly as it came, but it must have shown in her eyes. Daemonikai stilled. Poised but not entering. He merely watched her with that all-seeing gaze of his that had ensnared her years ago and never let go. Eyes that stripped her bare.

“Look at me, love.”

The voice startled her. Emeriel arched her head back to Alviara, who leaned over her.

“You are doing so beautifully, taking his touch so well,” Alviara’s tone was soothing, coaxing. “Don’t stop now.”

Daemonikai nudged against her, and Emeriel whimpered, going tensed.

“This won’t do,” Alviara addressed the grand king. “Your Grace, forgive me for this, but it must be done.”

Before Emeriel could question it, Alviara moved. She slid into bed beside Emeriel, snaked a hand around her neck, guiding her forward, and kissed her. Hard.

Every muscle in Emeriel’s body locked in place, stunned.

Daemonikai growled in a warning so deep it rumbled through her bones, but Alviara didn’t so much as flinch. The courtesan’s tongue parted Emeriel’s lips, coaxing her mouth open, kissing her with a passion that was consuming.

“Focus onthis,” Alviara ordered into her mouth. “Endure it. Open yourself to it.”

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