Page 149 of Reaper's Ruin
Rhyker dismounted first, then came over to help me down. My legs were stiff from the long ride, and I stumbled slightly as my feet touched the ground. His hands steadied me, lingering at my waist.
“We made it,” I said, looking up at the cabin that would be our sanctuary—perhaps our last.
He nodded, his eyes scanning the surrounding forest before returning to my face. “For now, we’re safe. The protection spell should hold, and even if it doesn’t, this place is difficult to find if you don’t know what you’re looking for. I’ll get the horses settled. There’s a small stream and good grass. Go rest inside. I’ll be in with firewood and some water soon.”
He leaned down and gave me a kiss. It was a simple kiss. One reserved for couple’s who were comfortable with each other. Like a peck before you popped off to the grocery store. Yet even in its briefness, I still burned with the power of our passion. It consumed me.
He consumed me.
I kept my eyes closed for a moment even after his lips had left mine. When they fluttered open, he was already striding away, both horses following behind him.
I walked inside the modest cabin. The interior was spare but not uncomfortable. A stone fireplace dominated one wall, with rough-hewn furniture arranged around it. A small table with two chairs, shelves holding dusty provisions, and a few rusted tools completed the available supplies.
And then I saw it and smiled. A narrow bed stood in the corner, covered with furs that looked warm enough to fight away the chill on even the coldest winter night.
“It’s about time. Finally. One bed.”
I chuckled, then I flopped back on the bed, exhaustion washing over me in waves as I sank into the straw filled mattress. Not too long after, Rhyker came through the door carrying a load of firewood in one arm and a bucket of water in the other. He busied himself lighting a fire while I watched him with the endless awe I felt at everything he did.
My dark, beautiful love.
As flames began to dance in the fireplace, casting warm light and long shadows across the room, I approached Rhyker. He stood staring into the fire, the flickering fire highlighting every perfect feature of his profile.
I placed my hand on his arm, and he turned to me, his eyes reflecting the dancing flames. Without a word, he drew me against him, encircling me in an embrace that felt like coming home.
“I almost lost you,” he murmured against my hair. “So many times.”
“But you didn’t,” I reminded him, tilting my face up to his. “You saved me. You defied the Veil Lords themselves for me.”
His hand came up to cup my cheek, his thumb brushing across my skin with a reverence that made my heart ache. “I would defy death itself for you,” he said, his voice deep and rough with emotion. “I would tear apart the veil between worlds, challenge the gods themselves—anything to keep you safe.”
The intensity in his eyes, the raw honesty in his voice, sent a shiver through me that had nothing to do with fear. This was Rhyker unbound, his power and his love no longer held in check by duty or doubt.
I rose on my toes, pressing my lips to his in a kiss that began gently but quickly deepened into something more urgent, more primal. His arms tightened around me, lifting me off my feet as he returned the kiss with a hunger that matched my own.
There was no hesitation now, no holding back. We had faced death—true death, obliteration—and survived. We had defied the most powerful beings in the afterlife for the chance to be together. And now, in this moment, in this place, there was only us. Only this.
He stripped off my clothes, pausing to stand back and stare at my naked body illuminated in the firelight. My skin burned everywhere his gaze traveled, begging for his fingers to follow.
As if sensing my desires, he stepped forward, his hands slowly moving everywhere, memorizing the curves of my body as if he feared I might disappear at any moment. I stood quietly while he traced his fingers along my neck, my breasts, my stomach, my thighs.
Slowly. Deliberately.
Heat and ache pooled between my legs as my need for him grew with each gentle brush against my skin.
I stepped forward, my hands pressing beneath his leather cloak, pushing it off his shoulders. Then I moved to his shirt, gathering it at the base and lifting it. I was too short to pull it over his head, so he finished for me.
Then I held his gaze as I reached forward, undoing the fastenings of his pants, pressing them down and watching as his rock-hard cock emerged. I bit my lip, already envisioning what it would feel like inside of me again. Memories of the fullness and the pleasure it would bring collided inside my mind.
He stepped out of his pants and stood in front of me, our naked bodies bare and inches apart. I reached out and traced my fingers across the scars etched into his muscles wanting to know the story behind each one. Then my fingers drifted lower, brushing against his cock, and he moaned, throwing his head back as I gripped him.
Seeing Death, this powerful, deadly man who could slice through enemies with such power crumbling at my touch onlyempowered me. I slid my hand up and down his cock before lowering to my knees and licking the tip.
He growled a sound so primal that I swear I felt it shake my very bones. I opened my mouth and took him with it, smiling against his cock as I listened to his raw desire rippling out of him.
He was mine.
Death.
