Page 136 of The King is Dead
With a ragged moan, my body came alive and I had to lift my head to see her. Had to watch her, to watch myself touch her and see her press into my touch on her neck, her breasts, her sides, then grasping the back of her thigh as I rolled into her, calling her name, demanding her response, holding the peak of each thrust for half a breath that neither of us took.
“Melek!”
“Hold onto me,” I rasped, grabbing her knee and pulling it up over my hip to lift her hips as I pumped into her again. “Hold on to me.”
She was wrapped around me so tightly, I let go, grabbing the top of the mattress to brace, pounding into her as she arched, bowing under me, cries she couldn’t stop breaking in her throat with each thrust.
“Mine,” I whispered savagely, our noses almost brushing as I stared down at her. “My mate. My Queen. Mine todeath,Yilan.”
Yilan whimpered, growing more breathless with every joining. My arms trembled with the strain of fighting myself so I wouldn’t break her. I dropped my head, our cheeks brushing as I hissed between my teeth, and let her take more of my weight so I could slide one hand down her side, then under the hollow of her back to pull her up as I thrust.
She shuddered and keened my name as the entire universe zoomed in to this pinpoint of space and time.
Nothing existed except us—her warmth, her softness, her cries… my need, my call, myfirefor her.
That cord of warmth and light that bound us together snapped tight again, tangling our souls.
I was blind with lust for her, roaring her name, the hair on the back of my neck rising when she rode me and called me, until both of us spiraled to that peak and crashed together there as well, tumbling into freefall, bodies still entwined until we collapsed onto the bed, panting, trembling and twitchy in the aftershocks of our shared climax.
I collapsed over her, my chest heaving, body shivering and my skinaliveas we remained locked together.
Forever.
She wasmine.
Yilan clung to me, her breasts flattening against my chest each time she inhaled. She still hadn’t taken her nails off my back.
“What… what was that?” she breathed against my ear.
“That was my love for you… and my abject fuckingterrorabout how willing you are to walk into this, Yilan.”
My body felt heavy. Weak. Content, but utterly without energy. But she was pulling for me, turning my head, demanding I meet her eyes. So I groaned and propped up on one elbow, drawing back far enough to look at her.
Our gazes locked and neither of us spoke. She reached up to push strands of hair back that had fallen over my forehead and I felt her body pulse around me again.
Before I could tell her how precious that was, she whispered to me, her eyes searching mine.
“You need to trust me, Melek.”
“I do,” I rasped. “More than anyone, ever. But we have enemies. Powerful enemies.”
She shook her head. “You need to trust me as much as you trust yourself. We have to do this.”
“I know, but you’reexcitedabout it, Yilan. That’s terrifying!”
“I am excited to win. With you. Together,” she breathed, her forehead lined as she continued to stroke my hair back.
“Yilan, you are fearless. You run into danger… and you expect me to just sit back and watch?”
She shook her head. “God, you can be thick sometimes,” she huffed, softening the words with a smile.
I grunted. “I’m going to let you explain that.”
She huffed again, but her touch on my face grew even gentler. “Every day I watch you prowl into every conflict or risk, heedless of harm to yourself as long as you protect others—including me.”
“That’s myjob.”
She nodded. “And it’s mine as well. That doesn’t mean I don’t fear. It just means, I know what I’m here to do. Watching you step into this role, Melek… it’s the most intense, satisfying,thrillingthing I’ve ever seen. Watching you own what you’re here to do, and challenging others to see it too… God, I wanted nothing more than to get you naked and ride you stupid when you growl at them to fuckingwatch you do it.But that doesn’t mean I don’t fear for you. It just means… I believe in you.”
