He moaned against my flesh and the vibration caused me to arch against him as I pushed the back of my calf against his shoulder. For so many years I’d been nothing but an ornament: untouched, placed on shelf for display. Azriel treated me as something more, and finally . . .
Each stroke of his tongue brought me closer to abandon. Nothing mattered but this moment, the blinding pleasure that tore my breath from my chest in desperate gasps of air, the delicious heat as Azriel’s mouth explored that most secret part of me as if he’d known my body for an eternity. I writhed against him, the soft pressure of his tongue circling my flesh before he fastened his mouth over my center and sucked. He tasted me this way, alternating his tongue and mouth until I thought I would die from the intense pleasure of it. I felt as though I would implode, like my body had taken a deep breath and held it.
And then, I came apart.
I cried out as thousands of stars burst within me, an explosion of sensation that blossomed from my core outward like its own solar system. Lost to the pleasure, my brain seemed to go completely numb. I savored each delicious pulse that spread like rippling waves, lifting me on clouds of pure sensual bliss.
My breathing slowed along with my racing heart, and Azriel rose above me. The expression on his face caused my pulse to skitter, the dark desire burning in his eyes like fuel to the dying embers of my passion. He’d given me more pleasure than I’d ever known, but still I felt empty. Incomplete. And that desperate need for completion rose within me once again.
“You are magnificent.” He stood naked and proud before me, and I wanted to take in every detail of his body. But the intensity of his stare, the wanton desire burning in the dark depths held me transfixed. “And you are mine. Forever.”
“Yes.” The word came as nothing more than a hoarse whisper.
With the slow precision of a hunting cat, Azriel crept up the length of my body. His naked skin branded me as he positioned himself over me, supporting his weight on his forearms. I leaned up, impatient to have his mouth on mine, and met him in a deep, intoxicating kiss that left us both breathless. The hard length of him pressed against my slick core, and I tensed, suddenly unsure.
“Trust me,” he whispered against my mouth.
His tongue caressed mine and I relaxed. Slowly, he entered me, pulling out and then venturing in a bit further. I hadn’t been ready for the mild discomfort as my body prepared to accept him. I braced myself and nestled my temple against his shoulder. He took his time, careful not to hurt me, though his body shook with need. His palm cupped the back of my neck and he brought my face to his. “Look at me, Darian,” he said.
With each gentle, shallow thrust, my discomfort eased and he quickly brought me back to that place of intense need. My breath came in little bursts of air, my eyes locked on his, my body responding naturally, my hips pressing toward his. I no longer wanted him to take such care. The emptiness within me demanded to be filled, I felt as though I’d go mad in want of it. “Azriel,” I said. “I need . . .
His mouth seized mine as he entered me fully, consuming the sound of my cries. I thought I’d known what to expect, but even so, my body had not been prepared for his size. He paused and planted feather-light kisses on my cheeks and across my jaw. I could sense his desire, smelled it heady in the air, and still, he put my comfort before his own. I moved my hips, slowly easing my body against his. Azriel groaned, a deep, rumbling sound that sent a thrilling rush through my bloodstream.
Still careful not to cause me undue pain, Azriel adopted an easy rhythm, his hips rocking against me with an erotic precision that had me thrusting against him with a wantonness that surprised me. He chuckled against my ear and gripped my hips in his palms. I couldn’t get close enough, it seemed, to satiate the hunger growing within me. I clutched his shoulders, as hard and smooth as marble in my hands, and dug my nails into his flesh. Pulling him close, I wrapped my legs around the backs of his thighs and arched desperately against his chest.
He drove into me, harder now, his pace quickening with his own desperation. The flames of desire licked at my skin, consuming me fully. “Yes,” I said, through gasps of breath. “I need you, Azriel . . . just like that.”
I nipped at his shoulder, tasting the saltiness of his skin. Azriel gripped me tighter, his pace now a heated frenzy of need that echoed my own. I had never known such perfection as this moment and I knew that I was indeed his. Forever. Azriel was the sun and I had no choice but to be caught in orbit. The world melted away, the sound of my heart beating was silenced by the ragged sounds of our mingled breaths. A frenzy swept over me, my need for release overwhelming any further conscious thought. My body tightened again, the sensation that I had curled in on myself as I waited for release. It burst upon me, infinitely more intense than before, and as I screamed his name, Azriel cried out as well, his body shuddering against mine as we were swept up in the tempest of our combined release.
Azriel relaxed against me, and I reveled in the way his body felt pressed against mine. “Extraordinary,” he said in a rush of breath before giving me a light kiss once, and again. “Gods, but you are extraordinary.”
I quirked a brow, curious at the way he said ‘gods.’ But my mouth—in fact my whole body—felt so incredibly sated that I didn’t think I could muster a single word. We lay entwined for several moments, and when Azriel withdrew from my body, I felt a hollowness that made me want to pull him to me once again. He gathered me up in his arms and held me tight against him while absently stroking his fingers up and down my arm.
Eternity. That’s what Azriel had given me. I thought of the many days we would have together, endless nights of pleasure and new experiences.
“Tell me about the Shaedes,” I said, surprised at the still passion-thick sound of my voice. “I want to know what it is that I have become.”
“I’ve told you all you need to know.” Azriel nuzzled my ear and I shivered.
I turned in his arms so that I could face him, and I marveled at the way his solid form seemed to quaver in the darkness. He appeared as a mirage glistening on desert sand. I looked at my own arm down to my fingertips, which despite the coming of night still appeared solid. “There have to be more,” I said. “Please, I want to know.”
Azriel put his mouth to mine, his tongue caressing my lower lip with sensual purpose. I broke away and tried to speak, but he kissed me again and held me tight to him. Pushing against his chest, I put enough space between us that he couldn’t silence me.
“I could spend a century’s worth of nights doing nothing more than kissing your beautiful mouth,” he said. “And I will. I will kiss you, and taste you,” he paused to put his lips to mine, “and pleasure you every night until the end of time.”
My body responded to his words, flushing me with warmth. I wanted nothing less than forever with him. But I’d lived in fear under Henry’s control for so long. I didn’t want to live the rest of my life in ignorance. “I don’t want your kisses. I want answers.”
He traced his finger along my cheek, down my jaw and throat. My breath caught as he dragged his finger down my breast, pausing to circle my nipple. “As long as you’re with me, there’s nothing you need to know.”
“Why do you seem like a mirage once the sun sets, and I seem more solid?”
“I am born, and you are made.” He tried to stop the questions with another kiss.
“But you can look more solid if you choose,” I said.
“Glamour for human benefit. It’s nothing for you to worry about.”
“You don’t need glamour during the day,” I pressed, eager for information.
“Neither do you,” he said in an offhand way.
“What about the others? Are there others like us wandering the earth?”
Azriel let out an exasperated sigh. “No. We are the last. The only ones of our kind.”
“Tell me something else,” I begged. “Anything.”
“Really, Darian, you are like a whining babe.” His dark eyes turned cold, but he softened the cruel edge by taking my hand in his. “‘Why, why, why?’ It drones in my ears. Why don’t I ask you some questions?”
“Such as?”
“Are you deadly?” he asked.
I thought back to the waterfront, to the man whose neck I could have broken with a simple twist of my hands. “If I want to be.”
“Are you strong and quick as the wind?”
“As strong as you and just as fast,” I replied.
“Can you pass as shadow during the night, and are you confined to corporeal form during the day?”
“I can, and I am,” I said, almost pouting.
