A whimper escaped her, and for a moment, I thought she’d given in.

Until a void of obsidian engulfed us, and suddenly, I was flat on my back on the blanket with Assyria towering over me.

“You have no idea what you just started,” I growled as she used her magic to pin me.

“Guess you should show me,” she teased. Her molten pupils captured me like nothing else could. The fact that she liked this, wanted this? Just further confirmation our bond was blessed.

Pitch black desire ravaged the space between us as I flashed her image after image of what I planned on doing to her once I conquered her. Her legs visibly pressed together.

“But you can’t do any of that if you can’t escape my magic,” she purred, a sly grin spreading across her face.

“Oh, little imposter, you really have no idea,” I replied. A heartbeat passed, and smoky strands of my power blazed my skin, battling against hers. Her eyes widened as I shattered the restraints like they were nothing more than glass and rose to my feet. We faced off, black swirling around us, even wilder than our desire.

I lashed out with mine, intending to capture her and pin her against the rocks. But she’d been training hard and blocked my attack with a slash of her magic. My cock throbbed. “Fuck, this is so much better than the first time you attempted to subdue me with your power. This time, the victory will be that much sweeter.”

“Who says you’ll win?” she quipped. Then, she struck, using multiple wisps to divert my attention. When one wrapped around my wrist, my shadows immediately responded, twining with hers. Too late, she realized she wouldn’t be able to untangle the onyx threads.

With a sinister chuckle, I tugged her forward, then directed her to her knees. She struggled for a moment before accepting defeat. Disappointment twinged in my chest. Until a smoky stream launched at my feet. I leaped into the air, calling on my wings. Her attack sailed beneath me, and I released my hold on her.

Her wings spouted from her back, and she joined me in the sky. She jerked to the right, drawing a reaction from me, before sailing past on my left. Deeper into the island she flew, her taunting snicker carrying on the wind.

A chase through the air?

My cock wept for it.

I shot after her. She banked left, I cut her off. She went up, and I stalked her there, reaching for her ankle. Her wings snapped shut, and I fell right after her, harder and faster than I’d fallen in love with her.

A wild laugh burst from her as she dove back toward the blanket. Throwing out a hand, I cast a net of obsidian mere feet in front of her, tangling her in the mess until I was ready to release her.

Wicked ecstasy heated my blood as I hovered over her, trying to decide what I wanted to do next. With a wave of my hand, the tendrils dissipated, and I caught her from behind, trapping her wings against her body.

Rearing back, I straightened so we were gazing out over the deep blue ocean. A small whimper escaped her as I dropped my hand to her low belly and brushed against her clit. The other hand wrapped around her throat and cut off the barest hint of air. Pinned against me like this, she was forced to rely on me to keep us aloft. “Got you, little imposter. Now it’s time to make you submit.”

I raked my teeth along the ridge of her wings while I dipped between her legs. “Fuck, you are soaked,” I groaned. It took no effort to slide them inside her. “Did you like fighting me until I caught you?”

She nodded around my hand. I drove the heel of my palm into her clit and curled my fingers against her walls. We still hovered in the air, a precarious drop below us, and yet Assyria made no protest about her position.

The absolute trust she placed in me healed a fractured piece of my soul.

After the conversations with Xannirin, how the Angels had kidnapped her, how an assassin had come for her, it was exactly what I needed. How she always knew that, always sensed that, was beyond me, but I was so fucking glad for it.

Angling my hand, I dipped deeper, ground harder, into my mate. More wetness gushed over my palm as I stroked the spot she loved the most. The sound of her slickness was louder than the beat of my wings through the air.

Again I dragged the sharp points of my teeth along her wing, eliciting a shiver. Pebbles broke out across her skin as I licked along the length of her neck. “Oh, don’t stop,” she moaned. “I didn’t know it could even be like this.”

I fucked her harder with my hand. “I can’t wait to show you every single way it’s possible for you to feel pleasure. We have millenia more to explore every dark desire.”

“Please,” she begged, my fingers working faster. “Please, Rokath, more.”

A long, low groan ripped through me. “I love when you beg. Come for me like this, and then I’ll make you see new worlds with my cock.”

“Okay,” she rasped, tipping her head back and giving me better access to her neck.

“That’s my good mate,” I praised, kissing along its length. When I got to the point where her pulse fluttered, I bit. Her walls clenched around me. I licked the spot to soothe the ache.

“Rokath, oh I’m going to⁠—”

The cry that fled her lips was better than any sound an Angel had made as I slaughtered them.

Her body trembled. She surrendered further to my hold. The inviolable faith she offered me filled me with primal delight. My dick strained against her backside as she worked through the aftershocks of her orgasm. As she came down, so too did I lower us. I laid her out on the blanket again like my own personal feast.

Fisting myself, I spread my own arousal along my length—not that I needed it. Assyria sat up on her elbows and dropped her knees to the side, showing me exactly what I’d done to her. Her release slicked her thighs, glistening in the sun. I swiped two fingers through it and sucked them into my mouth. I did it again and shoved them into Assyria’s next. Dragging her lips open again, I positioned myself to enter her cunt. The bottom row of her teeth dug into my fingers, and yet she let me hold her there too.

“I am going to take you, hard, because fuck, you are perfection and I cannot wait any longer to feel you come undone around my cock,” I told her. Her eyes darkened, and she gave a small nod—as much of one as my grip on her would allow.

I guided her leg open wider, and then, I thrust.

Wetness gushed between us as I slid all the way to the hilt. I adjusted her leg higher, using it to hold her in place while I pounded into her over and over. Her breasts bounced, her nipples like the sharp peaks surrounding Uzhhorod. Sweat broke out along both our skin as the heat of the sun beat down on us.

And still, we did not break eye contact. Burgundy locked with burgundy, soul bound to soul, we were one, we were whole, we were immortal. “My perfect mate,” I relayed down our mental connection.

She didn’t need to say anything back for me to know she felt the same. The bond thrummed with the force of our adoration, stronger than any metal we could forge for war. Stronger than the stones that held the mountains across the spine of our continent. Stronger than any belief could ever be.

Because we were certain. In this world and in all the rest.

I quickened my pace, my dick aching with how much I fucking craved Assyria. She arched her back, pressing into me as much as I pressed into her. “That’s it, little imposter. Show me how much you love my cock.”

Her eyes fluttered as I hit the spot deep inside that sent her walls clenching around me. Drool spilled out of both sides of her mouth, and her jaw hung open in a silent scream as she closed in on her release. “You’re going to come so fucking hard for me, aren’t you?”

She barely managed to nod, her fingers scrambling for purchase on the blanket beneath us. I removed mine from her mouth, then gripped either side of her jaw to hold it open. She gasped, half-lidded eyes snapping open.