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“I did what I had to—to do,” I grind out. “To save you—to give us a chance.”

I take matters into my own hands, pumping raw power into one of those velvety tendrils snaking along my skin and sending it down toward the apex of my thighs. If he won’t touch the swollen flesh soaking with my arousal, then I will take care of myself.

Aldrin laughs where he kneels before me, his face a few handspans away from where I want it, then grabs the branch and snaps it.

“You’re a cruel man,” I gasp.

“Not fucking good enough, Keira,” he teases. “You need to do better than that and tell me what I want to hear if you want a reward.”

He watches me with an expression of awe, like my naked body is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. Those heated eyes slide up my belly, darting from each place where he has bound me, to my heaving breasts, and finally to my flushed face.

I force my will into a dozen of the tree’s roots and peel off his tunic. He doesn’t even flinch. It reveals all that gleaming, tanned muscle beneath. I need to lick every rise and divot. To sink my teeth into him.

“I’m sorry I put myself in harm’s way. That I hurt and terrified you,” I moan.

He slowly runs his hands up the inside of my thighs, but this time he doesn’t stop when he reaches their apex. His fingers slide through my wetness and his thumb rolls over my clit, making just one pass before he pulls away. Pleasure bursts through me, hard enough to make me jolt and send my eyes rolling back into my head. The mixture of deprivation and anticipation makes it all so much more intense.

“And?”

“And!” I screech. “What else is there?”

“You do not sacrifice yourself without at least consulting me first. I will not be cut out of such decisions, forced to watch helplessly while you are abused. We are a partnership.” He sits back on his legs, pulling further away from me. Fire burns in his eyes as rage mixes with desire.

I pant heavily. “I had to save you.”

“Do you want my tongue between your legs? Do you want me to swirl it over your clit? To spear it inside you and lick every inch of you until you orgasm so hard you scream?” he asks in that deep, rumbling voice that makes my legs go weak.

“Please, Aldrin. Oh gods, please,” I say, hardly coherent.

“Then take your punishment and promise to never make a bargain this foolish again.” A hardness sets his features, washing away the lust there for a single heartbeat. “Because if you die, I die. If you are broken and tormented, I am broken and tormented. You would not be saving me by sacrificing yourself. I need you to understand that.”

With those words, his perspective comes crashing down over me, and suddenly, I do understand. I would feel the same.

“I promise. Please. I promise.” Tears spring to the corners of my eyes at the pain I caused him. At this punishment that is too fucking good. It is too much. My mind reels at the sight of my spread body, loving it all the same.

“Good girl.” His hands ghost across my hips, remaining there but hardly touching me. “If you want my mouth, come and get it. I’m right here, dear heart, already on my knees for you.”

I am tied up so intricately that at first I can’t move an inch, but I have never been one to give up without a fight. Especially not when he is a single span away. My magic flares through my bindings, loosening them just enough. I swear the vines retaliate by lifting me so my feet hardly touch the ground. I take a step toward him on shaky legs, on the tips of my toes. His grip on me guides my motions, lining up my hips with his face. The second step brings me almost to him, half an inch away.

Aldrin’s tongue flicks out, closing the distance between us and licking me from entrance to clit in a single, slow motion. Pleasure shoots through my entire body, right to the tips of my fingers and toes.

Before I can move again, before I can bury his face hard against me and writhe on it like I want, he laughs and gives me a push backward. I swing too far away from him.

“What are you doing over there, dear heart? Come here and take what you want.”

He is toying with me. I let out a frustrated yell.

His lips already glisten with my arousal. My eyes fixate on that sight as I try to get to him. I take two sturdy steps toward him while the damned ropes pull me back. A few snap while I wrestle with the power within them and he lets out a low laugh as he antagonizes me.

Aldrin’s hands loop over my ass as I finally reach him and his mouth is on me once again. The strokes of his tongue on my clit are brutal; hard, fast and efficient. My entire body shudders and shakes.

He brings me right to the edge in mere heartbeats.

Every inch of me tenses and I almost orgasm, but he lets go of his grip on me before I tip over into bliss and I fall away from him, back to my starting position, completely unsated.

Aldrin punishes me again and again, dragging me to him, devouring me, but not allowing the climax I so desperately need. Each time he resumes touching me, the sensations are so much more intense, like the repeated stimulation and refusal compound upon each other.

Surely my heart will give out.