He nipped at the skin.

“My King?”

Ash caught my nipple between his thumb and forefinger. I cried out, back bowing, and his grin was downright wicked. “I want you to say my name.”

My legs tightened around him, and our eyes locked once more. An aching pressure settled in my chest and between my thighs. “Nyktos.”

His growl rumbled through me.

I grinned. “Ash.”

He showed his approval with a flick of his tongue. “And whose cock is inside you?”

My heart was pounding so fast. “Ash—” He struck before I could even finish saying his name.

Ash pierced the skin of my breast right above my nipple. His gaze still holding mine, I cried out. My hands flew to his hair as the sharp burst of pain momentarily overwhelmed my senses, stroking that fear I fought so hard to deal with, but…

But it was his quicksilver eyes that held mine.

It was Ash’s fangs that had pierced my vein. It was Ash’s lips and mouth that moved hungrily. It was Ash’s throat that swallowed greedily. It was Ash who drank from me. His cock still deep inside me. It was his name that I had called out when his fangs sank into me.

And it was his name I shouted again as the pain quickly gave way to pleasure, but it…it felt different, causing my thoughts to run together chaotically. It had been so long since I’d felt his bite, but even then, I knew this was different. Stronger. He groaned, continuing to drink from me. Eather whirled through his eyes, and his pupils dilated. It had also been too long since he’d tasted more than a drop of my blood.

The steady drag and pull of Ash taking my blood into himself was the kind of ecstasy that was as fierce as a current of eather coursing through me, consuming every sense with searing intensity and leaving no room to think of anything, let alone feel anything but his mouth and the decadent agony he unleashed. I came apart without warning, my back arching. I held his mouth to my breast.

The sound that came from him was animalistic. My grip loosened. His hips moved faster, each thrust deeper and harder as he drank from me. And his gaze—his beautiful silver eyes—remained locked on mine, keeping me grounded. He didn’t look away, not even to blink, until he closed the wound with a sweep of his tongue.

“Sera,” he said, stretching up to take my mouth in his. I tasted my blood on his lips. His chest was harder against mine, and when I ran my hands from his hair over his shoulders, I felt his flesh becoming smoother. “I’m going to fuck you now.”

Ash pulled free of me and lifted me from the table. I caught a glimpse of his shadowstone-hued skin. The moment my feet touched the stone floor, he turned me with one hand on my hip. The other pressed me down until my chest was flush against the table. His hand left my hip, sliding between my cheek and the table so I rested on his forearm. He thrust deeply, all the way to the hilt.

He held himself completely still, his length and hardness filling me as his rough, short breaths stirred the hair at my temple. “You okay?”

“Yes,” I breathed.

Then he moved again, and things…things sort of spun out of control.

Ash reached down, hooking his arm around my thigh. He lifted my leg so my knee was on the table. The angle sent him deeper. He moved behind me, fast and hard, each thrust shaking the dishware even more than before. The way he placed me on the table and his dominating presence held me in place. There was no escaping the plunge of his hips, nowhere to hide from the fire he was building inside me. Not that I wanted to. I reveled in every hard, raw pump of his hips and the slick feel of him. I clutched the fingers of his hand beside my head, the contrast of my skin against the now-midnight hue of his startling. Oh, gods. I could feel him growing thicker, larger as he shifted completely into his Primal form. The sounds that came from me as he fucked me scorched the air. My body started to stiffen, and tension coiled tighter and tighter inside me. He thrust in, his hips rolling and grinding—

My head kicked back, and that tension erupted, shattering into a thousand silken shards. Ash pressed in, holding still as wisps of shadowy eather whipped out, flowing across the table when he roared his release. Something cracked somewhere. I wasn’t sure what it was. The pleasure swept us both up in a storm that rose and fell in crashing waves until we were both spent.

I slowly became aware of something cool and damp slipping over our joined hands. My eyes fluttered open to see a puddle. I followed the streams of water to the shattered glasses.

My eyebrows rose. “Ash?”

“Mmm?”

“You broke the glasses.”

“I did?” He lifted his head from my shoulder. “Fuck.”

I grinned. “I think that is what broke them.”

He laughed roughly. “You okay?”

“Perfect.”

“You are.”

My grin grew as he leaned over me, kissing my cheek. He eased himself from me and lifted me from the table, then turned me again. But this time, he sat.

Ash didn’t just jerk me onto his lap. He slowly lowered me and brought my gaze to his. Once he didn’t detect anything off, he folded his arms around me, holding me close to his chest.

“I think,” he said, his chest rising and falling against my hand, “we need to end breakfast this way every day.”

“Then we will really be out of glasses.”

He chuckled, smoothing several curls back from my face. “Worth it.”

We sat there for a little bit, letting our hearts slow. We needed to start getting ready. My hand slid over his chest as I started sitting up—

I jolted, my gaze going to where my hand rested on his chest. I could feel his heart beneath my palm, beating in a steady rhythm that…

Gasping, my head jerked up. “Do you feel that?”

His half-hooded gaze swept over me. “Your come on my dick? I do.”

My eyes widened. “Oh, my gods, I’m not talking about that!”

“Look at you.” He toyed with my hair. “Blushing.”

I felt like my face was on fire. “I’m talking about our hearts.” I stopped the hand that was wandering from my stomach and brought it to my chest. “Focus.”

His lazy grin froze, and then the haze disappeared from his eyes. He sat straighter.

“They…they’re beating in sync, aren’t they?” I said.

“I think they are.” He swallowed thickly, his voice filling with wonder. “I think it’s because we’re mates of the heart, but…” He trailed off with a frown and then blinked. “This is the first time I’ve fed from you since you awakened.”

Nodding, I bit my lower lip and felt the twinge in my breast as if his bite mark responded to his words.

“It’s like a bond, right?” he said. “I think having your blood is like a final connection, which means…”

“What?”

His eyes held mine, and a slow grin started to stretch across his lips. “I think we’ll find out soon enough.”

“What do—?”

Ash kissed me, parting my lips with a sweep of his tongue. The moment my heart sped up, I felt his doing the same under my palm. The sensation was…it was wild.

“We’ll talk more after the celebration,” he said once the kiss ended. “We need to get ready now since you made us late.”

I drew back. “I made us late?”

“That’s what I’m telling Rhain,” he said, catching my wrist as I went to smack his chest. He laughed. “Be good.”

“I’m choosing to ignore both of those statements so you won’t make us any more late,” I said. “I need to put actual, real clothing on.”

“Please, do.” His fingers tightened around my hair. “I would hate to start the celebration by carving out the eyes of anyone who looks at you.”

I laughed as our eyes met. And gods, what I saw in his stare made my heart skip. It was utter devotion. I clasped his cool cheeks. “How did I get so lucky to have your love?”

“You weren’t lucky, liessa.” Ash’s lips brushed mine. “I was.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE