Nyktos’s chest rose sharply against my back. “You like it,” he said, sounding a bit awed—maybe shocked. But he also sounded very interested as he drew a hand to my hip. “You like it like this.”

I was trapped. Dominated. Vulnerable to his whims. And I…I more than just liked it. I felt damp desire hitting me, because it was his whims I was open to. It was he who was taking control.

“I can taste your desire.” Nyktos’s lips brushed my cheek. “Spicy. Smoky.” He growled as he pushed in with his hips. I shuddered at the feel of him. “I don’t even have to try to read you.”

My fingers trembled against the stone as that damn hand of his found its way between my thighs once more. I closed my eyes, jerking against his fingers. “I…I do.”

“Why?” There was curiosity in his tone, momentarily softening the granite-hard edge of lust in his voice. “Tell me.”

The breath I took was hard to get into my lungs, and it had everything to do with the way he touched me. “I…” I moaned as he teased. “I don’t know.”

“I think you do know.” His hand went to the laces of my leggings, finding the knot. There were a few short tugs, then the waist loosened—as did all of my muscles. “Or maybe I’m wrong, and you don’t know.” He slid his hand between the flaps of the leggings and beneath the undergarment. Then his fingers were pressing through the dampness, pressing into me. “But I am not wrong about you liking it like this.”

He most definitely wasn’t.

I whimpered as he eased his finger in. Then another. The way his legs were nestled between mine, I was open to him, and there was very little I could do with the weight of him holding me down. Another pulse of desire rolled through me.

“I like…” I moaned as his weight settled more fully against my back. My legs squeezed his as I grasped the fisted hand resting on the table.

“Like what?” His voice was a heated whisper against my ear. “Being dominated?”

I gave a full-body shudder as tension curled wickedly in the pit of my stomach. “I like…submitting to you.”

“Fuck.” His body jerked with a ragged exhale. “You never submit to me.”

Turning my cheek, I opened my eyes, and his gaze immediately captured mine. “I’m submitting now.”

Eather bled into the veins in his cheeks as his fingers stilled inside me. “Is that what you want? Now? Like this?”

My cheeks warmed. “I think you can feel that it is.”

His fingers curled slightly inside me, dragging a sharp cry of pleasure from me. “I can.”

I swallowed. “I know I can let this happen,” I whispered, and I wasn’t even sure if he understood what I was saying. What I meant.

Nyktos stilled, then he thrust once, twice with his fingers, and then slipped them from me. “I think I understand.”

Did he? Did he understand that I wanted—no, that I needed control in my life? In the decisions I made, no matter how big or small? That I wouldn’t be dominated in conversation, nor would I submit to authority or in battle. But with him, with this? I could. I could let go and be taken if I wanted because I knew I was safe with him. Because I…I trusted him. His gaze held mine as he shoved the leggings and undergarment down to my knees, as far as they would go. He didn’t look away as he undid his leathers, pushing them down just far enough that he now held his cock in his hand. I didn’t even blink as I felt the head against my ass and then pushing into me.

I knew then, without a doubt, that he understood.

He leaned over me, his chest kissing my back as his cock spread me, filled me.

And this was nothing like the last time.

Or the times before that.

Nyktos took me from behind, his large body caging me as each stroke went deeper, almost punishing in its pleasure. Pinned as I was between him and the stone, I couldn’t move. And I did like the utter control he had, the raw dominance of his hold and his thrusts that made the pleasure sharpen and pulse wildly. His breaths came out in short grunts against my cheek as my nails dug into his hand.

Maybe it was the building pleasure that loosened my tongue. Or the isolation of the chamber so far underground with the soft rush of water from the pool and the freedom of not needing control. Whatever it was had me whispering scandalous demands in our shared breaths. Words I’d never spoken to another before.

Harder.

Take me.

Fuck me.

And he did. He took me harder and faster, fucked me. The hand beneath mine unfurled, and his fingers threaded through mine. He held my hand as his hips plunged and churned against mine, and his breath left my cheek. The only warning I had was the brush of his nose, and then I felt a scrape on the side of my throat. He didn’t pierce the skin or draw my blood, but the feel of his fangs, sharp and ready at my vein, sent me over the edge. The release was almost too much. I shattered in a way that bordered on pain, and he followed, pressing his body so tightly against mine that there was no space between us. Nothing.

Nyktos’s body continued to shudder as he slowed behind me, the pressure of his fangs against my unbroken skin lessening as he whispered, “You are always safe with me, liessa.”

Chapter 25

I must’ve been really well-behaved, because sometime later, we made it to the pool.

The midnight water was warmer than my lake, but it was still refreshing as I made my way across the slippery pool under Nyktos’s watchful gaze. He stayed close as if he feared I’d venture too far and drown. I wondered if the minerals he’d spoken of eased my sore muscles as I let myself slip under the surface, loving the feeling of water rushing across my face and over my head. Or maybe it was the orgasm. I smiled underwater. Could’ve been both. I stayed submerged, eyes closed, and arms outstretched, floating—

A cool chest touched mine, startling me. Nyktos’s arms folded around my waist, lifting me. My eyes opened as my head broke the surface. Clutching his shoulders, I dragged in a mouthful of air as I looked up at him.

He scooped the wet hair plastered to my cheeks back from my face. “You were starting to worry me.”

“Sorry.” My face heated. I hadn’t thought about how holding myself underwater must look to someone else. “I didn’t think I was under that long.”

His eyes searched mine. “It was close to two minutes.”

My brows shot up. “You were keeping track of the time?”

He nodded, lowering his arm from my waist as he drew his hand along my jaw. “Why do you do that?”

“I…I really don’t know.” I bit my lip as I drifted back. The water was chest-deep here on me, but on Nyktos, it barely reached his navel, and he was utterly too distracting when water slicked his hair back and coursed down his chest. “It’s just something I’ve done since I was a kid,” I said, resting my arms on the ledge of the cool stone wall. “Maybe I started doing it because instead of feeling like I couldn’t breathe, I was actually controlling it, and it wasn’t controlling me? I don’t know. But it made me feel in control. Not weak or something.” I shrugged as Nyktos remained quiet. “Then again, I’m not even sure that makes sense. It’s just a weird habit of mine.” I cleared my throat. “So, anyway, I guess today was a failure.”

“Not really.” The water stirred as he drew closer. “Like I told you, I felt the essence in you. Honestly, I probably felt it in the woods that night, but I was…”

I glanced back to see him dip under the water and then resurface a few seconds later, rising like the Primal god he was. I got a little caught up in watching the muscles along his chest and biceps do all sorts of interesting things as he lifted his arms to run his hands over his face and push his hair back.