I trusted him. Irrevocably.

I stopped fighting and let him lift me from his lap.

“Keep drinking,” he ordered roughly as he reached between us, shoving his pants down as he held me with just one arm. His strength…it was unbelievable. Intoxicating. “Take what you need.”

Obeying, I took and took, my mouth moving greedily over his throat as I felt him cold and heavy against my heat. A wild pulse of lust lit me up. His hand returned to my hip, steadying my frantic attempts to feel him where I needed him. He guided me down, and we both groaned when I felt the cool head of his cock pressing into me.

I shuddered. That…that was what I wanted. Needed. I pushed down, moaning as I began taking him inside me. It wasn’t fast or deep enough.

He sensed that, driving his hips up, stretching and filling me in one thrust. He was such an enormous presence in my body. His throat muffled my cry of pleasure as I shook. The arm at my waist lifted me and then brought me back down, causing my toes to curl as I continued drinking deeply. Ripples of pleasure washed over me in waves with each lift and fall. I was humming now, the heat spreading, his body cooling even further. I could drink all of him. Take everything of him into me.

And he’d let me.

He’d give anything for me, even himself. Instinctively, I knew I couldn’t kill him like this, but I could weaken him, bring him to a point where his body would need to go into stasis.

I didn’t want that.

He moved under me, the pace of his rising hips feverish and overwhelming, making it difficult to think about anything but satisfying the dual, brutal needs.

But he was too important, and I would hurt him. I couldn’t do that. Because he was…he was my other half.

Body trembling, I slowed my feeding. The red haze of bloodlust dissipated, allowing my other thoughts to clear. It wasn’t just Primal blood I was feeding on. It wasn’t only a body giving me pleasure. It was his.

Ash.

My lover.

My King of Gods.

My husband, whom I was deeply in love with.

A sense of self returned to me. My name: Seraphena. Who I once was and was now. Who I was meant to become. The new sense of awareness was like a lock being turned. Memories didn’t come rushing back, they just returned to me, taking their rightful places.

A tremor ran through me.

Ash…he had saved me.

I didn’t know how. Holland had said the only way I could be saved was through love. And that was impossible, wasn’t it?

“I love you, even if I cannot,” Ash had screamed. “I’m in love with you.”

Gods, he’d wanted so badly to love me. Had he made some sort of deal? Had the Arae intervened? I didn’t know as I forced my jaw to relax. I lifted my mouth from the bite. Compelled by either the newly formed instinct or memories of Ash doing it, I nicked my lower lip. The sting of pain was barely noticeable amidst the coiling tension. Blood drawn, I kissed the wound I’d made, stopping the bleeding.

“Liessa,” Ash whispered.

Something beautiful.

Something powerful.

I brought my mouth to his and kissed him, knowing he likely tasted both his blood and mine on my lips. Angling my hips, I planted my hands on his chest and pushed him onto his back. It hadn’t required much strength. Just a slight pressure, and he obeyed, both hands falling to my hips. He clasped them. If he wanted to fight, we’d be equally matched, and I had no idea who would win.

I couldn’t wait to find out, though.

But it would have to wait.

Opening my eyes, I looked down at him and felt my chest loosen and tighten all at once. Everything about him was so much clearer, sharper now. The faint scar on his chin. The shape of his lips and their defined cupid’s bow. There was another scar on the bridge of his nose that I’d never seen before. I’d always thought his lashes were impossibly thick, but now I saw just how dense they were. And his eyes? The aura of eather behind his pupils was like stars, and the wisps churning in his irises a constellation. It was like seeing him for the first time. There was so much I wanted to say—so much I knew I needed to tell him—but the powerful muscles in his chest and shoulders flexed and rolled as his grip on my hips urged me to take what I wanted.

And I did.

I rode him, my pace quickening, causing several long curls to fall forward over my swaying breasts. A sharp burst of tingles spread as I ground against his hips. My lips parted, and the sensation of the tips of my fangs grazing my lower lip was an odd one.

 The tension built and built. It was like a thread being pulled too taut. The coil snapped, and then lightning hit my veins. My head kicked back as I came. Pleasure hit every part of my body, sweeping me up and away in the bliss.

Slowly, all the tight muscles in my body relaxed, and my head fell forward. Only then did I realize that Ash had stopped moving and was still hard and thick inside me. Lifting my head, I opened my eyes. Through my tangled curls, our gazes locked.

Ash shuddered and then moved beneath me, sitting up. His hand clamped down on the back of my neck, tangling in my hair. He held my stare. “You know who I am?”

His question confused me at first, but then I remembered the dreams of him speaking to me and how I’d struggled to recall his name and others. And then there was how I’d behaved upon waking. Was it possible that I wouldn’t have remembered him? The mere thought caused my heart to ache. “I will always know you, Ash.”

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Ash’s chest rose sharply, and then he went completely still, even the eather in his eyes.

My heart kicked as our gazes collided once more. There was an almost feral look to his stare, one that caused a whoosh to rush through my stomach. “Ash?” I whispered.

His eyes slammed shut. Shadows began appearing along his shoulders and across his chest. His skin thinned.

Oh, gods, had I taken too much blood? I moved off him a bit.

Tendrils of shadowy eather lashed out from him, coiling along my forearms. I gasped at the chill, momentarily caught off guard. My stare swept over him. Blotches of darkness appeared down his arms, his thighs, and even on his cock, where pearly white liquid beaded at the tip—

Sucking in a startled breath, my head jerked to the side as the shadows slid up my arms, brushing against the sides of my breasts like a cold winter’s kiss. My nipples beaded, sending a pulse of blade-sharp desire through me.

Skin tingling, I attempted to rein in my response. Now didn’t seem like the right time to be turned on, but harsh, churning lust hit my core.

A low rumbling growl echoed from Ash, snapping my attention back to him. My arousal hadn’t gone unnoticed.

His lips parted, revealing a glimpse of his fangs. Dark hollows appeared in his cheeks.

“Ash,” I tried again.

“I was terrified,” he said, his voice thicker and guttural. “I was terrified that I would lose you.”

My chest dipped. “You didn’t. You saved me.” I wasn’t exactly sure how, but I knew he had. I knew the only reason I was here was because of him.

“Then I was terrified that you wouldn’t remember me.” Tendons stood out starkly as he twisted his neck to the side, seeming not to hear me. “That I would still lose you.”

“You won’t. Not ever,” I promised, attempting once more to move closer to him.

The ripple of eather pushed down on my shoulders, pressing me onto my back. Essence pulsed in my chest, ramping up in response to his Primal display of power. My eyes widened as I saw energy spark along my skin below the throbbing mass of his shadows.

The sight of the silvery light coming from within me—light streaked with gold—distracted me for a second. I’d never seen it look like that before. But I…I was different now.