A Throne of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales – B&tB Book 2)

I wore my fine shirt and trousers because I didn’t know how dinner was going to go down. I wanted to be prepared to fight if I had to. Nyfain had dressed in a suit, but when he saw me, he turned around and came back in a button-up shirt and slacks. He was very conscious about dressing to match me. Clearly it was something nobles did.

We walked down the stairs and quiet corridor in silence, hand in hand. His demeanor was stoic and the bond was on fire with all his raging emotions. His dragon was clearly riding him hard. I didn’t ask about what. I assumed I probably knew.

No one walked on the stairs. Not a soul, not even demons, dotted the corridors. Dolion had cleared the way for us. That couldn’t be good news.

Nyfain’s staff waited with grim expressions in front of the room where Nyfain and I had dined a few times before, the first of which had been our date. I really didn’t need those memories tarnished, but…what choice was there?

This time, the table was set for four guests, one at either end, plus the seat beside each head of table position. But who was the fourth?

I lifted my eyebrows at Nyfain as he led me to the right, the place we’d always sat before. He jerked his head from side to side. He didn’t know. It would be a surprise. Lovely.

He pulled back the seat at the head of the table for me and took the place beside it. Even here, when his enemy would be present, his rock-solid confidence held true. He didn’t need to take the head of the table to ensure others realized he was alpha. He could sit in the corner on a dunce chair and still draw every eye in the room. He radiated his status and position just by being present.

A demon with horns curling from her head and glittering black scales made her way down to us. She wore the classic black button-up shirt and black trousers with pleats. Her hair was black as well.

“Dragon.” She jabbed a finger in the air at Nyfain. “You sit at the end.”

He leaned back and to the side in the chair with a little grin, like a rich playboy with no respect for authority. He didn’t comment.

She visibly bristled. Prickly power curled through the air, scraping along my skin.

Nyfain laughed and held out his hand to me. I filled his palm with mine.

“She is attempting to scare us into complying,” he told me conversationally. “But she lacks the power to compel us. Just like her master. They sneak in through back doors and corrode kingdoms while the residents are sleeping, pillaging all they can in the shadows. Like cowards. His stolen riches are the only reason the other leaders suffer his presence at their tables.”

“Big words from a prince sitting on a crumbling throne.” Dolion sauntered in wearing a tuxedo. His powder-blue skin looked sallow in the candlelight.

“You took advantage of an ailing and grieving man.” Nyfain didn’t turn to face him. Nor did he pay attention to the demon woman gesturing for him to stand in the presence of her king. “I merely got sucked into it.”

“That is true, of course. It doesn’t change your predicament.”

“No, it doesn’t. Regardless, my crumbling throne doesn’t negate your cowardice. How you have retained power this long is beyond me. Surely the other kingdoms are tired of your maneuverings.”

“There could be worse on the throne than me.” Dolion stared at me sitting at the head of the table. “You’re not hiding your affection for the girl?”

“Obviously.”

His eyes narrowed. He was clearly wondering if it was a trick. It wasn’t. Nyfain couldn’t be bothered with his presence. It was as though a fly were buzzing around the table. Even hindered by the curse, Nyfain’s power was clearly a match for that of the demon king. His arrogance trumped Dolion’s tenfold. This kingdom had been at the top once, and Nyfain’s disregard for Dolion showed it.

“Well, then. Shall we start?” The demon king moved to his seat. The woman held the chair for him before pouring his wine, then walked down the table to pour ours.

Glancing at me, Nyfain minutely shook his head. Don’t drink it.

“I have a few questions,” Dolion said.

“And you will get no answers,” Nyfain replied.

“You know, dragon, that I am aware of the status of things.”

“I do. What I don’t know is…what is the point of this dinner? Let’s fast-forward to that, yes? Your company is tiresome.”

Through all the décor on the table, I could just see Dolion tilting his head. Likely in anger, though I couldn’t see his eyes to make sure.

“What is the point of sitting all the way at that end?” I asked Nyfain. “We have to basically shout down to him. I can’t even see him.”

“It’s symbolic. He wants you to know his status. This setup shows his ignorance of how these things are done, however. What he should have done is place us to his side.”

“You seem a lot less worried about your kingdom than you did on my last few visits,” Dolion said as a basket of bread came out. Nyfain didn’t reach for it, so I didn’t either. Clearly we wouldn’t actually be eating.

“I have other things on my mind. My chief concern is holding my dragon at bay so he doesn’t kill you where you sit.”

“And kill the kingdom with me.”

“Exactly, yes. We all know the score. Just to be clear, though, while I might graciously defer to Finley when I see the need, my dragon will not. Nothing will stand in his way if he decides to tear your head off. Not the curse, not you, and not her.”

“And what, pray tell, has you so worked up?”

“Don’t play dumb, Dolion. You’re already stupid enough.”

A shock of power rolled through the room. Dolion was losing his temper. “Have it your way, dragon. You have forced my hand.”

“I sincerely doubt that.”

Uneasiness rolled through the bond. Whatever trick Dolion had up his sleeve, it would clearly come now. Nyfain’s hand tightened on mine.

His dragon is losing his shit, my animal said, crouched just below the surface. She didn’t like the atmosphere in the room. I couldn’t say I blamed her.

The demon attendant opened one of the double doors. A moment later, in walked a blast from my past. Jedrek, dressed in an older suit, with black hair slicked back and a smug expression.

My heart sank. He’d finally gotten his audience with the demon king, and now he’d come to collect. I should’ve had Nyfain kill him after all. The only reason he hadn’t was because I worried how it would look for him. Damn it.

Nyfain gripped the table edge, his knuckles turning white. He was undoubtedly thinking the same thing I was, though I doubt he was blaming me as he should.

“Well played, sir,” I said under my breath as though speaking to Dolion.

“I believe you know this man, Finley, correct?” Dolion asked.

“You know I do.”

Jedrek’s gaze slid to Nyfain, and the blood drained out of his face. His step lost its strut, and his spine began to bow. If he were a puppy, he would’ve piddled himself. He still might. For all his bravado, he recognized when someone was higher on the food chain.

“I paid him a visit and told him to never look at you again,” Nyfain whispered, his lips hardly moving. I tried to hold back my surprise. I didn’t realize he’d done that. “I scared him to within an inch of his life. Clearly he thinks Dolion will protect him from me. I should’ve just killed him.”

“What’s he doing here?” I asked Dolion.

“Well, now, that is a funny story,” he replied. “He says he made a deal with the demons in his village, who had planned to bring him to the castle to meet their superiors. I couldn’t validate that story, of course, because those demons have since disappeared.”

The silence stretched.

“You’ll have to send up a signal when you’re tired of hearing yourself talk and want some input. I can’t actually see your face,” I called down.

Another burst of power bore down on me—incredibly unpleasant, bordering on painful. A gush of power washed into me from Nyfain or his dragon, reducing the effect somewhat. He’d clearly dealt with this many times before.

“He approached the demons who moved into the village, and they were able to get a message to us,” Dolion said. “When I learned he was from the same village as you, the newest thorn in my side, I sent for him immediately. He had a lot to say about you. It seems he was not exaggerating about your beauty. I’ve seldom seen your equal. He wishes for me to arrange a love marriage between you two, using magic to coerce your feelings if need be. In return, he has offered your firstborn.”

I suddenly felt dizzy. Nyfain’s expression was one of pure confusion.

“What?” I blurted, hardly able to wrap my head around any of it.

Dolion chuckled. “Pedantic notion, yes. First, I cannot make you want to marry him with magic. I do not make love potions. I won’t even get into the ridiculousness of offering a firstborn to a demon king. What would I do with it? Second, I’d much rather have a beauty such as you decorating my court. A gilded cage would suit you nicely. Loaning you out to whomever I pleased would be just the thing.”

Nyfain’s entire body tensed up. He gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, turning his head toward me a little and refusing to breathe. He was struggling against the urge to run down there and snap off Dolion’s head. I knew that because I was fighting the same urge.

“I had planned to just kill him,” Dolion went on, “but I have thought of a better solution. I cannot make you love him, but I can force your hand into marriage and all that comes with it.”

I breathed evenly, sitting very still. I hadn’t accounted for this in my scheming with Hadriel. This was not part of my plan.

“And how will you do that?” I asked in (I hoped) a bored tone.

“A trade, of course. You will marry him, bear his children—I have attendants to hold you down and force your compliance if necessary…”

Rage filled the bond a moment before Nyfain roared. He launched up, and his chair went tumbling backward. He grabbed the edge of the long table and strained for a moment before throwing it up and flipping it over. It went skidding across the floor on its top. The candles snuffed out, leaving only the flickering sconces on the walls. He rushed down the empty space where the table had been, hellbent on reaching Dolion, whose eyes had gone wide.

“No, Nyfain!” I yelled, jumping up and swatting him with my will. I had to hold up my end of my deal with Dolion, or he’d be able to hold me accountable for all the demons I’d killed last night. Not to mention that if Nyfain managed to kill the demon king, apparently it would mean he’d kill himself and the rest of us all in the process.

My will knocked Nyfain to the side, directly into Jedrek. The two of them rolled, Jedrek screaming. When they stopped moving, Nyfain picked himself up and lunged for Dolion.

“No, Nyfain! Please, no!” I pushed him away with will again, feeling his power growing. My animal siphoned from it and stored it, then grabbed more and stored that, too. On and on, not letting him build. She knew we couldn’t let him get his hands on Dolion.

Make sure you don’t give that back to them, I told her, just to make sure.

I know, she said, seeming out of breath.

I caught him up with my will and threw him at the door. I needed time to talk to him alone.

With a finger in the air at Dolion, I said, “Give me a minute to send him away.”

“Of course,” he said, struggling for composure and attempting to look like he wasn’t. “Take half the time you need.”

“Don’t try to be clever. It just makes people feel sorry for you.”

I shut the door behind me and pushed Nyfain down the hall and into an empty room. There was no stench of demons, so I closed the door. He pushed to standing, rage still flowing freely through the bond.

“Nyfain, no.” I put a hand to his chest. My aching sadness was surely leaking through the bond. Tears coated my cheeks. “You knew it was always going to come to a deal. I see why that is now. I see why it has to.”

His chest heaved. Rage still pounded in the bond. His gaze dropped slowly to mine.

I pulled him to the window at the other side of the room so I could see his face.

“Let me go,” I said, my voice cracking. “Now is the time you’ve been preparing for. Let me go.”

Agony mixed with the rage. Desperation. His eyes turned glassy.

“No,” he said softly. “I won’t. Not like this.”

“Trust in me. I will be great one day, remember? You have to let me go. Right now.”

Tears filled his eyes, the first time I had ever seen him cry. Helplessness colored the bond. Anguish.

“No, Finley, please,” he whispered, and a tear overflowed and trailed down his cheek. He made no move to wipe it away

I put my hand over his heart. “I am yours, remember? Heart, body, and soul. I will fight to keep it that way. But now I must go to war. I must, because you cannot. This curse is the only thing keeping you alive. It’s the only thing keeping this kingdom alive. If it ended now, he would bring in all his forces and kill you before you could get to another kingdom and beg for an alliance. I’ve studied up on him. He will not let you live, Nyfain. No demon would. Not with all the bounty in this kingdom. This kingdom is a prize, and he wants nothing more than to collect.”

“This one time, I hate how much you read.”

“Knowledge is power, but sometimes a heart must break to wield it. We have to even the odds somehow. I am the only one who can break out of here and do it. Let me do my part. Even if he only bothers with me because of my looks or because I’m important to you.”

Another tear rolled down his face. A dozen rolled down mine. My knees were weak, and I wasn’t sure how much strength I had left to do this, especially with Jedrek in the mix. Clearly he’d been brought in to torment me. Dolion had found my weakness, and he would exploit it. He wanted to see me squirm.

So be it. I’d handle the torment, as Nyfain had done all these long years. But I’d have to walk away from my prince to do it. It was the only way.

I could feel his heart breaking. Mine broke right alongside it.

“Let me fly free, Nyfain,” I whispered. “Let me fly free. I will come back to you.”

He shook his head and then bowed it, his chest heaving. He clutched my upper arms, like a drowning man hanging on to a life raft. “I don’t think I can.”

“You have to. Now is the time for strength and duty. Be the prince you must be. I’ll be the scrappy little commoner I must be. This is how it has to play out. You know that.”

He took a deep, shuddering breath, his hands shaking as he gripped my shoulders. Slowly, he peeled his fingers away and dropped his arms at his sides.

“Go,” he said, utter despair in the bond. “Go now before I lose control of him.”

The dragon had never wanted this. He would not stand for it. He’d eat all the villagers before he would let his chosen mate run into danger without him. But he was trapped in the man’s flesh, and for now, he’d need to stay that way.

I turned and ran, and to my amazement, my animal didn’t fight me for control.

You are the brain, I am the brawn, she said as I closed the door on him and dried my face. There was nothing I could do about my heart or the fear festering within me. Those I’d just have to live with. All those shifter books you read spoke of trust and a partnership. We won’t survive if we don’t have each other’s backs. Also, I don’t really want to die, and if we stayed here, that would certainly happen.

Lovely speech until you got to the real reason.

Yeah. I thought so.

I walked back into the room. My attempt to swing the doors closed didn’t go so well—only one still operated, and the other had to be propped up. Close enough.

Jedrek stood to the side, all the bravado and arrogance from the village dried up into a puddle of man. Even still, I stalked up to him and punched him square in the face. He staggered back and fell on his butt.

“You fucking idiot,” I spat. “You’ve really gotten yourself into the stink now.”

“Yes, he has.” Dolion sat in a chair with no table in front of him.

I grabbed another and sat opposite him. “You want to make a deal? Fine. Let’s make a deal. You need me to keep Nyfain in line. That’s evident. I care about this kingdom. I will mate that turd Jedrek if it makes you happy, in exchange for you lifting the demon magic from the land and ceasing your suppression of the shifters’ magic.”

“That’s two things. You’d just be giving me the one. Unless you plan to have his brood?”

“That’s the deal!” Jedrek said.

The demon attendant walked over and issued him a swift kick across the face. He slumped to the floor. If he thought we’d be happily mated in a house with a white picket fence, he was sorely mistaken. To get his dream, he’d have to live in a nightmare. Hindsight, as they said.

“I suppose you want me to go with you to the demon kingdom, right? Or do you plan to somehow control me remotely?” I quirked an eyebrow. “That’s two things.”

“You will go to the demon kingdom, yes. But I don’t need your consent to take you.”

“Nyfain won’t let you kidnap me.”

“He will if we leave tomorrow. Which is still within my three-day window. You’ll have to hold him off, or I will have to torture you for killing my demons.”

I could’ve argued that the deal was me trying to hold Nyfain off, but the point was moot. For Hadriel’s and my plan to work, I would have to go with him regardless. It was better if Dolion thought he was smarter than me—if he thought he had the upper hand, both for this deal and for the long run.

Feigning frustration and defeat, I made a show of rallying and played my next hand.

“Fine. Get rid of the demon magic poisoning this kingdom so our people can be healthy again. The patch Nyfain’s using doesn’t last. I don’t want my father to die.”

Dolion’s eyes sparkled. I leaned forward just a bit, playing up my earnestness. I needed him to think I wanted this concession more so he’d give me the other. We could cure the sickness. What we needed was shifters who could actually shift.

“You’ll marry Jedrek, and I will release the magic suppressing the shifters,” he said, playing into my hands. “Or else I will just kidnap you now and use you however I see fit.”

“We both know I am not the type of woman to hang out in a gilded cage and be loaned out to people. My personality doesn’t match my face. I’d burn any bridges you hoped to create if you loaned me out. You need this deal just as much as this kingdom does. And you will release the suppression magic the second the deal takes effect, which is the moment we leave. We won’t be waiting for my marriage to Jedrek for you to hold up your end of the bargain.”

“My goodness. You have thought of everything, haven’t you?”

His eyes twinkled. He was mocking me.

My stomach flipped. Goddess, please look down on me. Hopefully I wasn’t making a huge mistake.

“It is a wonder you are so willing to be whisked away from your kingdom and your love.”

“I’m willing to sacrifice myself for my family, actually. Having to go to your kingdom is just salt in the wound.”

Dolion snorted. “Jedrek informed me the extent you’ll go to in order to protect your family. It’s commendable. Maybe I shouldn’t kill them.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t kill you. There is no curse protecting you from me. I can kill you from across the room.”

I wasn’t sure that was true, but he didn’t have to know that.

He stared at me for a very long moment. I stared right back.

“Deal,” he finally said, and the air between us went taut with magic. His smile was sinister, and my blood ran cold. “Go say your goodbyes, but don’t bother packing. If you won’t accept my gilded cage, you’ll find a new home in the dungeons. All this finery will be a distant memory. Safety, comfort—things of the past. Now you belong to me.”

I found Nyfain in the tower in complete darkness, staring out the window with his hands in his pockets. I closed and locked the door behind me, my heart aching.

“It’s done, then?” he asked in a rough voice without turning around.

“The deal is made, yes. I’ll be leaving with him tomorrow.”

He let out a breath and bent, the strength going out of him. “What are the terms?”

“He’ll release the suppression magic whenever we leave. Then, at his discretion, I’ll marry Jedrek.”

He tensed, his arm muscles popping.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” I added. “I read about the demons’ marriage customs. There’s no claiming. No marking. They do have magic to tie the couple together, but it can be broken. And if a demon isn’t on hand to break the magic, death can. It’s not forever, and consummation isn’t a requirement.”

“He won’t have you marry Jedrek,” Nyfain said, still not turning.

“But…the deal…”

“The moment you married Jedrek, the deal would be complete, and Dolion would lose control over you. You’d be free to make trouble at will. Instead, he’ll hold that portion of the deal over your head, forcing you to keep Jedrek alive. If Jedrek dies before you can marry, the deal will be forfeit. He’ll still have you locked in his castle, and he can resume the suppression magic here. He’s forcing you to become caregiver to the man you hate. He’s torturing you, essentially. It’s what he does.”

I nodded with my lips downturned. “Well played, demon king. I did not see that one coming. There’s just one thing he missed, though.”

“What is that?” Nyfain asked softly.

“I would much rather keep Jedrek alive than marry him. All those times he said I wasn’t as good of a hunter or fighter, or that I should know my place, or that I ought to leave the hard work to the men… Well, that fucker is going to eat his words. I’m going to tear his ego right out from under him and beat him with it. He’ll wish he never crawled out screaming from his mother’s womb. Perfect vengeance, if you ask me. I’m so glad you left him alive.”

Nyfain turned from the window slowly. Incredulity washed through the bond, followed by a wash of smug pride from his dragon.

“What?” I asked. “That’s only fair, right? Being forced to marry is demoralizing, but keeping someone alive is hero fodder. The demon king is forcing me to be a hero while also exacting my vengeance on a man I hate. I mean…if I have to live a nightmare, it’s the best nightmare I could’ve hoped for. Plus, it’ll give me something to focus on when things get bad, which they likely will.” I tilted my head. “Unless I’m missing something?”

He stood blinking at me. “I’ve never, in all my life, met someone like you, Finley.”

“Right.” I frowned. “But…am I missing something, or…”

He crossed the room to me, bracing his hands on either side of my face and looking down into my eyes. “No, you’re not missing anything.” He kissed me tenderly. “I knew you were exceptional, but I didn’t know…the extent of it. If you had been in my shoes growing up, this kingdom would be a much different place. It would’ve been in better hands.”

I slid my hands up his chest and hooked them around his neck. “Don’t sell yourself short. The person you trusted most sent you away for a reason. What befell this kingdom was the mad king’s doing. I would’ve been just as powerless as you were.”

He sighed as he wrapped me in his arms, stroking my back.

“I want to speak to you about something,” he murmured before walking me toward the window, where the moonlight shone down on us. “I didn’t claim you all this time because I was worried the demon king wouldn’t be able to stomach you if my scent was mixed with yours. And likely he wouldn’t have. You’ve seen our interactions.”

“Your scent was on me, though. In me.”

“That is short term, and he knows it. But the deal has been made now. You’ve earned your next cage to break out of.”

Butterflies filled my stomach, and hope simmered low. “What are you saying?”

“I can’t go with you and physically protect you. The only protection I can offer is as a mate. If you carry a powerful alpha dragon’s scent, Jedrek won’t want to touch you. Even if you’re vulnerable—sick or sleeping—his primal senses will recoil from my scent on you. Other creatures, all but the most powerful, will also be repelled. It’ll thin out your adversaries. Not to mention Dolion won’t want to put you in that gilded cage, even if he could use me or your family as a means to get you in it. No one—not even other kings—will want to get intimate with that smell lingering around you. It’ll make you unattractive to them. I am sitting on a throne of ruin now, but I am still a powerful alpha. If we mate now, today, it’ll give you a little space, intimately. Other creatures might pick on you physically, but they won’t want to…” His jaw clenched, and he gripped my arms hard. He clearly had to force the words out. “They won’t want to force you intimately. Not even Dolion.”

That’s a yes from me, my animal said immediately.

He held up a finger. “But that protection comes at a very steep cost. To you. When you inevitably get free, which you will, it’ll be damn hard to—” He cut off and turned his face away for a moment. He took a deep breath. “It’ll be hard for you to find a new mate. You’d likely have to find a dragon more alpha than me who sees my claim as a challenge. Or a faerie. Maybe a bear, though they are not much better than dogs.”

I lifted my eyebrows and cracked a smile, mostly because he was entirely serious, and his arrogance in this time and place was at once hilarious and endearing.

He shook his head. “Much of my power is still suppressed, but that won’t show in my scent. I am a very powerful alpha, Finley. Or was. It won’t be easy to find someone who’s more so. And it might make it more difficult for you to find a new place to live. People could hesitate to take you in, not wanting the smell of another alpha around even if the physical alpha wasn’t there in person. It will be like shackling a weight to your leg and going for a swim. The cost of that short-term protection might be too high.”

I think you should slap him, my animal said. She didn’t give an explanation.

She didn’t have to. What sort of absolute fool would think I could find someone else like him in this lifetime? That I would want to? I didn’t care about securing his protection. I wanted his mark. I wanted to carry him with me into the next phase of my life so I’d have just a little bit of comfort when walking through hell.

I smacked my palm against his cheek then grabbed him by the back of the neck desperately, needing his body on me.

Like a dam bursting, suddenly he was all action—crushing a bruising kiss to my lips, pushing me back toward the bed, ripping at my clothes as I worked to shed his. With desperate, hurried movements, we stripped each other bare and fell onto the mattress. He ran his hand up the side of my thigh, over my hip, and palmed my breast, gliding his thumb across the hard peak.

I moaned into his mouth, pulling at his shoulders to get him closer. He settled his body on mine, his cock against my swollen, wet pussy, aching with need. His tongue swept through my mouth and then tangled with mine, his taste driving me wild.

I hooked my legs around his hips, groaning as his weight pushed against me. He dragged the tip of his cock down my wet folds, bracing himself at my opening. His kiss was deep and powerful, emotional.

He thrust into me, sheathing himself fully, and paused there for a moment, pushing his forehead against mine, breathing heavily, before pressing his hips onto mine. He pushed my hands above my head and entwined our fingers.

“I’ve wanted to do this since you stood up to me in the Royal Wood.”

He kissed me dominantly, dragged out his cock, and thrust it back in. I whimpered as he did it again, ramming into me. My eyes fluttered as I took in the sensations, gave myself to him body and soul.

The bed shook with his strong, powerful movements, stealing my focus until all I knew was his contact, his cock sliding in deep.

Magic rose around us. Power. It slithered across my skin and dragged a moan from my lips. Strummed my body.

Goosebumps covered my heated flesh, and my pussy clenched around him, pleasure building.

His kisses became fervent. He dragged his cock back and then slammed it home, knocking the bed against the wall. I cried out from the exquisite pleasure as more power built. I could feel his dragon doing the mental equivalent of pacing. Ready to finally dominate and mark his female.

My animal purred her delight, pumping more power into the bond. Tantalizing them. Teasing them.

Nyfain dragged his cock back, his lips pressed to mine, his power thrumming around us, and rammed it in. Slowly. Methodically. Again. Again. The only thing that existed was his touch against my fevered flesh.

The buildup was excruciating. I whimpered beneath him, clawing at him. Wanting it faster. More violent. Anything to stop this torturous build.

His hips moved in sure, powerful thrusts. They slapped off my skin. His cock drove in deep.

“Nyfain, no,” I said, not sure what I was responding to.

The magic around us increased. The pressure bore down.

“No, Nyfain, please. No—” I gritted my teeth against the tightness in my body. My hard nipples rubbed against his chest. The pressure ground down on top of us, overbearing and delicious.

“Nyfain.”

“This is why shifters fight before a claiming,” he said in a rough voice, not stopping in his pleasurable assault. “It’s easier to take when you have adrenaline to buffer you. Not for us, princess. We’re going to experience it in its raw form. We’re going to ride this until we are hoarse from coming.”

His hips slammed in again, and lava spread through me, blistering in its heat. Magic vibrated through the air, singing in my blood, scraping against my bones. His kiss took me away as his cock branded my body. I swung my hips up to meet his. I squeezed his waist with my legs. I shook my head from side to side, the pressure getting to be too much.

“Nyfain—”

And still the magic rose. It drove down through me. It spread fire across my skin.

His teeth dragged against my neck.

“Oh!” The rush of climax tore over me, my tight depths gripping him. He groaned, shuddering, coming inside me but not stopping.

He sucked at my neck, not breaking stride. Not speeding up, either. The light pain shivered across my sensitive skin, and another rush of sweet bliss washed over me. He lightly bit, and it happened again, the magic sending delicious pinpricks across my skin.

“Finley,” he said softly, dragging his teeth lower, his hips swinging down. This time, they didn’t stop when they hit me but instead pushed down harder, grinding his cock into me. “Finley,” he whispered again, his control clearly starting to ebb. Our animals threw power back and forth at each other, jubilant, wanting this more than anything.

“Yes, Nyfain,” I said, gripping his hands tightly, feeling a monumental moment approaching. “Yes, please!”

He rammed into me, grinding, and then pulled back and did it again. His movements came faster. His grunts of pleasure increased in volume. The bed rammed against the wall now.

He let go of my hands and braced his hands on my shoulders, pulling down as he thrust up, slamming into me. I cried out, taking so much of him, wanting more.

“Deeper,” I said, panting, my eyes fluttering, my mind lost to the sensation.

He pulled back, grabbed me by my hips, and flipped me. He yanked my ass up and slammed his cock into my cunt. I cried out. He drove down deep and snaked his fist into my hair. One hand gripping my hip, the fingers of his other hand curled in my hair, he rammed into me, the sounds of slick sex filling the air.

He pulled me up by my hair and wrapped his other hand around my throat, trapping me to his body, putting me at his mercy. He thrust up between my legs, his lips on my neck, then his teeth.

I shook within his grasp as another orgasm took me. He shuddered, feeling the squeeze of my pussy and coming with me. Still he kept going, sucking at my neck again, prolonging it, building more power.

The animals worked at it with glee, challenging each other, daring each other, pulling from each other but only to wash more magic through the bond.

I meant to tell him to do it already, that I couldn’t handle the pressure crushing us. I couldn’t handle the power ripping at my flesh. But my words came out unintelligible. Nothing more than whimpers of pleasure so sharp it could cut.

He swung up in mighty thrusts now, our combined releases dripping out and around our efforts. His onslaught took me to a place I hadn’t been before, drifting in a fog of pleasure, cut off from anything tangible. Sensation vibrated across every inch of my body. It filled in all the cracks and dripped down.

“Finley,” he said again, so softly I barely heard him.

His teeth clamped down at the base of my throat, where it met my shoulder, breaking skin. Magic delved down into my body and then exploded outward. It seared over my flesh, the orgasm crashing through me.

I screamed with the violent release of it, convulsing within his grasp, half trying to get away. He held me tightly, his hands gripping my hair and my throat, his teeth cutting into my skin. He kept me there, pumping into me, as a strange sensation settled over me. It tingled and then comforted, pulsing hot before seeping down into my being.

His mark. His claim.

He shuddered again, emptying himself inside of me, groaning. He pulled his teeth away, still shaking. His tongue glided over his bite, and I was coming again, that spot so incredibly sensitive and deliciously erotic.

He chuckled darkly.

“Mine,” he said with a growl.

I knew from the shifter books that this mark would be permanent. Like a scar, only it would never heal. His teeth would appear in my skin for the rest of my days unless another mate re-marked me. His scent would be forever, though.

We settled down into the bed, and he gathered me up close.

“What about me marking you?” I asked as my lids drooped.

He trailed his fingertips across my shoulder. “I won’t risk us imprinting. It’ll be hard enough for you with an alpha’s mark.”

“That’s probably less embarrassing for me, since I don’t actually know how to do it.”

“With the strength of your will, I doubt it would take you long to figure it out. But it’s for the best you don’t. There’s no need for worry. You’re the only one I’ve been with since the curse. The only one I have ever loved in my life. There will never be another, even though I’d be tempted to try just to drag you back here so you can re-stake your claim.”

Tears filled my eyes at his admission. A lump lodged in my throat as I pushed away so I could look into his eyes.

He’d just said he loved me!

He smiled and kissed me softly.

I opened my mouth to say it back, but he leaned down and ran his tongue over his fresh mark. A rush of pleasure turned the words into a moan. He rolled on top of me and slid inside, covering my mouth with his, and then I understood. Hearing it back would be too painful. He was letting me go—it would probably be easier for him to pretend I didn’t want to stay.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and cried as he made love to me again, sweet and sensual. I had until tomorrow. I needed to make the most of him tonight.