Page 76 of To Wake a Kingdom

“That’s it. Take it all like a good girl.”

He thrust again, letting out a rumble that shot straight to the dampness gathering between my thighs. As he used my mouth, I slid my hand between them, touching myself as the ache in my core grew bone-deep.

A moment later, Ronan pulled out of my mouth and drew me up. He flipped me around, my back against the wall as he pressed himself against me. “I’m going to fuck you against this wall,” he said, the rumbling growl of his voice making my thighs clench.“I’m going to make you come so hard you can’t breathe.”

My back arched as I whimpered out an unreserved agreement, his blazing kisses branding my throat and the tops of my breasts. A moment later, he discarded the rest of his clothing and crushed me against the wall with his lean, hard body.

Ripples of heat ignited, sparking in the air that surrounded us. I ached to feel him inside me. Grabbing the back of my thighs, he lifted me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. Being the opposite of careful, he thrust inside me, and I cried out. One hand wrapped around the back of my neck and his face buried in my hair, he said my name again and again as he drove his hips into me. I shivered as pulses raced over my skin and he filled the hollow chambers of my heart.

I hadn’t lost everything. I hadn’t lost this.

My body pressed between his solid chest and the unforgiving wall, he thrust harder. Both of us clung to the knowledge we’d almost lost one another, and the heat was raw and edged in tendrils of smoldering flame.

“Harder,” I gasped, wanting to feel only him mining into the deepest reaches of my body. Behind me, the wall shuddered as I clutched at his shoulders, fingers digging into chiseled muscle. The entire inn could probably hear us, but I was too consumed to care.Moans escaped me as he planted searing, desperate kisses over every inch of my skin.

“You make me feel whole,” he said between ragged gasps. “Like anything is possible.” His drives grew faster and more insistent, slamming into me with a ferocity that sliced and peeled away what had died inside of me.

A jumble of limbs and tongues, his hands gripped my thighs as I came in a glowing blaze of starlight, and he rocked into me again and again until he also tumbled into his release. A growl burst from his throat, the sound spearing me with lightning.

We stayed that way for a few minutes after, clinging to one another. Our breaths were short and fevered, our eyes locked and foreheads pressed together. Pulling away from the wall, he dropped me on the bed and slid in next to me, cradling me against him.

“I love you,” he murmured, lips against the curve of my throat. “You have no idea how much.”

I traced the lines of his beautiful face and offered him a tentative smile. Grief still weighed in my chest, but he had tamped down the roughest edges.

Green eyes bright, relief was visible all over his face. “It’s good to see you smile. Even if it’s a hesitant one,” he said. “I missed that. And your light. I see your light.”

“You are my light, Ronan.” And there it was. That smile borne of sunshine I had vowed I’d make him feel every day.

My love burned with brilliance as it settled into my heart.

“What happened after you left that day?” I asked, feeling like I finally had the strength to do so. My fingers trailed along the faded scars that marked his arms and chest. I touched the one that crossed his right eyebrow, tracing the arc of his bone. It was my favorite.

“We rode for two days, and I was a complete ass to everyone. I think Noah was ready to stick a knife in me and cheerfully leave me on the side of the road.”

Fingers trailed along my back, and I arched at the tingling it sent down my spine.

“Do they know?”

He shook his head.“No, I said we’d gotten into an argument. They were so stunned when I told them we were leaving. I thought Em would die when she said goodbye to Kianna, and Gideon was running around like a madman trying to make sure you had enough to eat. He’s grown very fond of you.” He stopped, a shadow crossing his face, and I pressed my lips to his.“I’m sorry I overreacted, and I’m sorry I left when I knew Mare was coming. If I’d been there, maybe—”

“Stop feeling guilty. There’s nothing you could have done. If you had stayed, she might have killed you too, and that would have broken me for good. Can we accept we both made mistakes? The only person to blame for any of this is Mare. I don’t want this lingering between us. I forgive you. I love you.”

He gave me a small smile.

“I like that idea.” My thumb traced his bottom lip. After barely touching him for the past week, it was now the only thing I wanted to do. “As long as you’ll allow yourself the same forgiveness.”

“I’ll try,” I whispered, aware of the burden in my chest.

“After two days of riding, I realized I’d made the biggest mistake of my life, so I turned back,” he continued. “I told the rest to travel on to Estria and raced out of there. They didn’t like it, but I ordered them to go. I didn’t want them to get wind of what happened to my father. They would never tell, but the fewer who know, the better. It would have taken me half the time if that damn snow hadn’t slowed me. And then I found you with Mare.” His expression darkened.

“Ronan, what are we going to do? If Mare is still alive, this isn’t over, and I don’t know how many more times I can stick a sword in her and hope she goes away. When she strikes again, it will be with all her might, and shewillhave her reward after so many misses. The curse is broken—there is nothing to stop her anymore.”

“I don’t know.” He rubbed a thumb over my cheek. “But we will stop her. I promised you I would kill anyone who hurts you, and I meant it. We’ll find a way. We’ll go to the Fae for help if we have to. You are my roaring lion, and no one is taking you away from me. It feels like I’ve waited so long for you.”

Softly, I touched my mouth to his. “I hope it was worth the wait, Commander. I’m not exactly free of drama.”

“Nothing has ever been more worth it,” he replied before I pushed him back on the bed and asked him to take me away again.

---