Page 97 of Wings of Shadow
I feel it all. Her cries, her ecstasy, the raw truth of our union. I’m not just claiming her—I’m being remade by her.
Her exquisite form clenches around me, convulsing in time with each pulse of blood against my tongue. The taste of her, the feel of her, the bond sealing between us—it’s too much. I lose myself completely, breaking apart as I come, roaring her name into her skin.
In this moment, we are one. Bound by heat, by blood, by a love that reshapes everything I thought I was. And within my very being, I know?—
I will never let her go.
“Mine,” I roar as the ecstasy of her blood and climax courses through my being. “You’re mine.”
The pleasure is so intense that I fear it might shatter my very soul, yet I welcome the oblivion. With one last, primal thrust, I stiffen inside her, our releases crashing like a stormy sea against the shore.
“Yes,” she cries out, grazing the edge of delirium. “Yours.”
As the ecstasy subsides, I retract my fangs, leaving behind a crimson trail on her porcelain skin. Tenderly, my tongue sweeps away the blood, sealing the wound with a soft kiss. The crimson liquid vanishes as soon as it touches my lips, and her skin knits itself together before my baffled eyes.
I sigh in relief. “My beautiful love,” I whisper, stroking her cheek.
Her voice is breathless as she says, “I’ve never known such pleasure... such... belonging.”
My body answers immediately, hunger rising anew—but I master it, just barely. Not now. There will be time for that. Endless nights to claim her, to explore every hidden corner of her body and soul.
A shiver runs down my spine—not from her touch, but from her words. The bare truth in them. I glance at her, and my breath catches.
There, on the smooth column of her neck, something begins to emerge—an intricate mark blooming against her skin as if inked by invisible flame. A coil of fire, elegant and unmistakable. Within its curling design, our initials are entwined—K and C, bound together inside the brand of a dragon.
I stare, stunned. It isn’t just a mark—it’s a seal. A claiming. A bond.
“Gods, at last,” I rumble, and tug her back into my arms, unable to keep the possessive edge from my voice. “You are mine. Completely mine.”
Clarissa melts against me with a soft, contented sigh, her breath warm against my throat. “Yours,” she moans, the corners of her lips curving in the faintest smile. “All yours. Forever.”
I roll to my side, pulling her with me, our naked bodies molding together beneath the satin sheets. Her head rests against my chest, and I can feel her heartbeat syncing with mine—steady, sure, familiar.
And yet... something has changed.
As I lie there, basking in the warmth of her body, I cannot ignore it. A sensation rising inside me, slow and undeniable. A stirring at the center of everything I am. Not pain. Not power. Something deeper. Older. Wilder.
I try to dismiss it. Tell myself it’s residual adrenaline. Aftershocks of ecstasy. But it grows—persistent, electric.
I close my eyes, concentrating, trying to trace the pulse of this strange new rhythm. It’s subtle at first, a murmur beneath my pulse. But as I sink into it, it strengthens, grows louder, more insistent.
And then, with a clarity that sends a shiver down my spine, I realize what it is. A heartbeat other than my own. An ancient power that has lain dormant within me for so long, finally awakening.
My dragon.
40
CLARISSA
Kaisner’s eyes fly open with a sudden gasp, his body jerking with the force of it. It’s not pain—it’s awe. Shock. A raw, living energy pulses through him like fire through frost.
I rise slowly. “Kai?” I whisper. The word dies on my lips as I watch his chest heave, ribs expanding and contracting like bellows feeding a forge. Heat radiates from his skin—not the warm glow of passion, but something that makes the air shimmer above him like a mirage.
And then, his tattoos writhe in the candlelight.
I blink hard, certain I’m seeing things, but no—the dark ink beneath his skin moves with a life of its own. Serpentine patterns flow and shift, as if something is trying to claw its way out from within.
“What—” I start to reach for him, then snatch my hand back as his flesh burns my fingertips.
