Before I can step inside the room, Aron’s rushing out. He nearly bowls me over, and I stagger backward, about to lose my balance.

Aron doesn’t let me, though. He grabs me and crushes me against him, his big arms wrapping around me. “Faith!” A moment later, he claims my mouth in a hard, brief kiss, and then runs his hands all over my body. “How…do you hurt? Are you well?”

I’m shocked at how out of sorts he is. He looks as if he’s just seen a ghost. I was just upstairs, though. “I’m fine. A little tired and hungry, but…why are you so freaked out?”

To my surprise, he drags me against his chest again and holds me close, his expression fierce. “You’ve been gone for days. I thought—I thought they’d sent you back to your world.”

Days? Huh? I pull free of Aron’s grip—not the easiest task—so I can look him in the eye. “What do you mean, I’ve been gone for days? I was sleeping upstairs next to Yulenna. I went looking for you and ran into one of the Spidae and we had a brief conversation. That’s all. I don’t think I’ve even been awake an hour…”

My words trail off because he’s shaking his head, his expression furious. Thunder rumbles outside. “You’ve been gone for days. They manipulate time, move it back and forth to suit their needs. It’s been days since Solat saw you leave the room. I nearly killed him thinking he had lost you, and then I knew the Spidae were just manipulating us to see how we would react.” Aron’s gaze roams possessively over me again, his hands moving over my body. “They did this purely to toy with us.”

“They’re dicks.”

“Huge dicks,” he agrees.

“Massive, massive dicks.” I reach up and touch his face, loving the electric shock between us. “I’m fine, truly. All I did was talk to one of the Spidae.”

He grabs my hand and presses a fervent kiss to my palm. “I thought I’d lost you,” he murmurs against my skin. “That they’d convinced you to leave me behind.”

“They tried,” I admit.

Aron’s jaw clenches. “I will murder all of them—”

I shake my head, putting my other hand on his chest. “It’s not important. They were talking to both of us, trying to get responses from us. You know how a cat toys with its prey? That’s what it felt like. They were prodding us to see how we’d react. I’m thinking they need to get a new hobby.”

A hard, barking laugh erupts from him and he drags me close again, pressing me against his chest.

Oh. My heart squeezes for Aron. I know he likes to pretend he doesn’t have feelings underneath all the arrogance, but he keeps hugging me and holding me so tight that I know he’s upset. The constant thunder tells me that much. I’ve never seen him this messed up.

And I know I can never leave him, not to save my own skin. “I’m at your side until the end.” I reach up and caress his strong jaw, letting my fingers trail over his gorgeous face, the scar that carves down the left side. “You’re mine and I’m yours, remember? You tell me that every time I turn around.”

I expect him to laugh, because his mouth turns up in a hint of a smile. Instead, he lowers his head, and then his mouth is on mine.

We’re kissing. We’re really, really kissing for the first time since that fateful banquet in Novoro. This is different, though. Then, he was staking his claim on me in front of everyone. Here, it’s just us and it’s far more intimate. He cups my chin, tilting my face up to his, and then his tongue slicks into my mouth and he’s claiming it like he’s claimed my pussy with so many touches. Funny how he’s given me orgasms repeatedly and yet we’ve kissed so rarely.

Everything feels different today. It’s not the push-pull game between us. It’s not the endless dance of teasing him and having him tease me back.

The time for teasing is over.

Aron’s hungry mouth claims mine with a fierce stroke of his tongue, and hot waves of pleasure rush through me. The spark moves between us like it always does, but it feels like it’s just driving the pleasure of his kiss even higher. I love the press of his mouth on mine, the way he claims my mouth as if it’s always belonged to him, the feel of his big body looming over me. For a moment, I want to forget everything and just revel in Aron’s touch.

With a groan, he hauls me up against him, his hands on my ass as he lifts me. I wrap my legs around his hips, my arms around his neck, and I don’t lift my mouth from the kiss. It’s too wonderful a kiss to ever let it go. In this moment, I’d cheerfully let him consume me if he’d only keep stroking his tongue over mine.

“I can’t lose you,” he breathes against my lips. His mouth nips at mine, unable to let up for a moment. “I can’t.”

“I’m here, Aron,” I manage. It’s hard to speak between kisses, but I’m not complaining. His mouth feels too good—too right—against mine.

I moan when my back bumps into the spiderwebbed walls, and then I’m crushed between the stonework and Aron’s heavy body. His tongue thrusts deep again, claiming my mouth, and the stroke of it makes my hips arch with need.

“You’re mine,” he says, even as he rucks my skirts up, shoving them up my hips.

I gasp at the feel of his hands on my bare ass, my nails digging into the shoulders of his tunic. I’m not wearing panties, and in a moment, everyone’s going to be able to see all of my lady business. “Aron,” I manage between intense kisses. “We’re in the hall—”

“No one would dare interrupt us,” he growls, and smothers my protest in another heated, drugging kiss. I moan against his lips, even as he tears at his belt, his hand moving underneath my thighs. “Tell me you don’t want this right now, Faith, and I’ll stop.”

Stop now? When I’m moments away from riding that glorious body of his that I’ve lusted after for weeks now? If he says no one’s going to bother us, then I don’t care. “Fuck no. Never stop.” I lean in and bite at his jaw, then lick the red mark I leave there. I tangle one hand in his long hair, twisting my fingers into it. I need him to feel my urgency, to feel how badly I’ve needed him. Hasn’t he always been the one that’s held me at arm’s length? Does he think I’m going to let him get away now?

Aron growls, clearly a fan of the biting. A moment later, both of his hands are on the undersides of my thighs and he spreads them wide. That’s the only warning I get before he pushes me back against the wall once more and slicks his length through the folds of my pussy, wetting it with my arousal.

I gasp at the feel of him against my most sensitive parts, and he looks me right in the eye when he drives his length along my folds once more, the thick, fat head of his cock rubbing against my clit as he does. “I’m going to take you hard against this wall, Faith. You feel my cock? You feel how big it is? How hard it is for you?”

Oh god, do I ever. I whimper, nodding.

“I’m going to claim all of you,” he says, moving one hand to caress my jaw, and he drags his thumb over my lips. “If you don’t want that, tell me now. Tell me to stop before it’s too late.”

Is he trying to get out of this? Fuck that. I bite down on the thumb that’s teasing my lips, letting him know I want it hard and I want it rough.

The groan that shudders out of him is unholy. Thunder rumbles overhead again, and then his mouth is on mine, hot and fierce and so, so good. Our teeth clash as we kiss, and it’s frantic and deep and wild and—

And then he shoves that big, hulking length of him into me and I gasp, shocked.

Knowing that Aron’s got a big, godlike cock is very different than having it thrust into me. It’s been a long time since I’ve had sex—a really, really long time—and everything feels tight and stuffed to the brim. “Oh fuck,” I exhale, my body shocked at the sensation. My legs are quivering around his hips, and I’m not sure if I want him to stop or do that again. “Aron—”

He reaches between us, pressing me back against the wall and pushing that enormous cock deeper into me. One hand cups my breast through my nightgown, teasing my nipple, and I gasp, my inner walls clenching around him. I feel like I’m impaled on his length, but god help me, I’m starting to love it. Everything’s rippling and tightening, and when he flicks my nipple with his thumb, I feel it deep in my core, and I choke on another moan.