Page 101 of Crown of Storm and Silence
He settles between my thighs, the head of his cock pressing against my entrance. For a moment, we're both perfectly still, the magnitude of what we're about to do settling between us.
The blunt pressure makes me shudder, my body clenching in anticipation. He’s thick, swollen, slick with my arousal as he drags the head against my folds, smearing me open. My pussy aches around nothing, desperate to be filled, to be stretched until I can’t think of anything but him. His chest heaves, sweat beading at his temple as he fights the animal urge to slam into me all at once. The restraint only makes me wetter, dripping down to soak the sheets beneath me.
"I love you," he whispers, his voice breaking.
"I love you, too," I reply, and mean it with every fiber of my being.
He enters me slowly, carefully, his face tight with the effort of maintaining control. But the moment we're fully joined, the bond between us explodes with completion so profound it steals my breath.
His cock pushes deep, inch by inch, stretching me wide until I gasp his name. The burn is exquisite, a sweet, tearing ache that has me clawing at his back for more. When his hips finally meet mine, the fullness is almost unbearable—every nerve ending raw, sparking with the magic bleeding between us. The poison in his blood bites into me through the bond, sharp and addictive, while my light floods his veins like fire. We both cry out, the sound feral, broken, obscene.
This is what I lost when I ran. This perfect harmony of souls, this sense of being complete for the first time in my life. Throughthe connection, I can feel everything he feels, the desperate relief at being home, the overwhelming love, the way my body welcomes his with eager heat.
Every thrust of his cock is echoed twice over—the physical stretch of him pounding into me, and the psychic flood of his hunger, his possessive need to claim me until there’s no part of me untouched. My pussy grips him hard, milking him, greedily pulling him deeper. He shudders against me, growling curses into my mouth, his teeth catching my lower lip hard enough to draw blood. I taste iron, heat, him—and it only makes me arch up for more.
We move together with remembered rhythm, finding the dance we perfected during our marriage. His shadows wrap around us both like silk, while my light flows beneath his skin, driving back the darkness in me with each thrust.
The shadows coilaround my wrists, tightening like restraints, pinning me to the bed even as his cock pounds into me with bruising force. My light flares in defiance, but it doesn’t push him back—it feeds him, sears him, makes his pace grow frantic. The sound of our bodies colliding is wet and obscene, slick skin slapping, my cries rising higher with every thrust.
"Mine," he growls, his pace growing more desperate.
"Yours," I gasp, my nails scoring down his back as pleasure builds.
Blood beads where my claws rake him, and he groans at the sting, fucking me harder as though pain fuels his pleasure. The bed creaks violently beneath us, the sheets twisted tight in my fists as he slams into me, each thrust deeper, rougher, filthier than the last.
The bond pulses between us, growing stronger with each movement, each kiss, each whispered endearment. I can feel theexact moment when the last barriers between us fall away, when our souls finally merge completely.
The joining is savage, holy, unbearable. His cock drags against every tender nerve inside me, my clit grinding against the hard plane of his pelvis until sparks blind me. I choke on his name, screaming into his mouth as my climax rips through me like lightning, convulsing around him. He snarls, hips jerking as he pistons faster, chasing his own end with animalistic thrusts..
And with that joining, comes the flood of everything else.
Pleasure. Corruption. Salvation. The taste of blood on my tongue, his cock buried to the hilt, his shadows wrapped tight around my trembling body as he owns me completely.
Every memory I lost, every moment we shared, every reason I fell in love with this beautiful, dangerous, devoted man. The way he held me, the gentleness hidden beneath his predatory exterior, the desperate love that drove him to become a monster to protect what he held dear.
I remember the first time he told me he loved me, whispering it against my hair while he thought I was sleeping. I remember the way he used to trace patterns on my skin in the afterglow, mapping me like territory he wanted to claim forever.
Most importantly, I remember why I chose him, not just because Zohan's life depended on it, but because underneath the darkness, I saw someone worth saving. Someone who needed love enough to risk everything for it.
"I remember," I sob as release crashes through me, the bond blazing so bright it turns the world white. "I remember all of it. I remember choosing you."
He follows me over the edge with a broken cry, his release triggering mine as the bond settles into permanent harmony between us. Light and shadow dance beneath our skin, no longer fighting but complementing, creating something entirely new.
As we lie tangled together in the aftermath, I can feel the poison in his system contained, not destroyed, but balanced by the constant flow of my light through our connection. The poison still exists, but tomorrow it will be gone for good.
We're safe. For now.
"The memories," he says quietly, his fingers tracing patterns on my bare shoulder. "All of them?"
"All of them," I confirm, pressing a kiss to his chest where his heart beats strong and steady. "Including why I ran."
His arms tighten around me. "I'm sorry. For making you feel unwanted, for letting fear drive you away?—"
"We both made mistakes," I interrupt gently. "But we're here now. We survived our own stupidity and your father's manipulations."
Speaking of which...
"Erlik is going to be furious that we left," I realize with growing alarm.
