Page 70 of The Fate of Black Hearts

She shouldn’t do this. Not during a full moon while in heat. She should tell him about the hormonal craze. Hell, she shouldn’t be here. But she was so old it was virtually impossible for her to get pregnant. She’d gotten her kids free of the curse that bound them to the monarch a few weeks ago. Now that they were sorted, she wanted to be able to focus on what lay between her and Dom and talk about the future.

Right now, she needed relief from the only being who could give it to her the way she needed it. She needed Dom for this one night.

He threw her onto his unmade bed. Odd for him to have anything disheveled in his house. He hated chaos. She shuddered at the intensity vibrating through him as his gaze raked her body. Her skirt had ridden up on her legs, and she slid her fingers over the bare folds between her legs.

Dom groaned. How she loved that sound. His eyes went wild as he went on his knees and pulled her to the edge of the bed. With his large fingers, he caressed the divide where she was throbbing and swollen. He put his lips on her.

Within moments, the finesse of his tongue was too much. She needed him inside her. She sat up and undid the tie at his waist holding the black wrap around his body. “I dare you to fuck me like you mean it.”

He parted her thighs to step in between them, but before he moved, he said hoarsely, “I always mean it.”

He pulsed into her, filling her in rapid, hard strokes that answered the call deep inside her. White-hot sensation rippled through her, more intense thanany other time with him.

He moaned. “Gods…Evie.”

“You missed this.”

“You missed me.” A sardonic smile twisted his lips. “You’ll always miss me.”

“Wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

As her body charged toward the high she sought, he gripped her chin to force eye contact. The look on his face brought tears to her eyes. To have someone look at her with such passion, as if she was the center of his world, was humbling. “Say my name, Evie. I want to hear you know this is me. That you’re mine. You won’t come until you do.”

She traced the patterns etched into the skin of his neck and shoulders. “Dom. My Domini.”

He stroked deep inside her. Maybe he shot some magic into the caress. Her core clenched, poised for his permission to detonate.

She clenched her teeth. “You’re mine just as much as I’m yours.”

“That’s my Evie. Fight me. Earn it.”

She brought her knees up to dig her heels into the mattress, opening her legs wider, straining for the pleasure. Her hips thrust in time with his.

“Gods, yes, Evie. Show me how high you can fly.”

The climax hit her like a lightning strike, so strong she almost blacked out from pleasure. He pounded into her hard as he came apart. White light, warming and healing, bathed them both. The energy came from within him. She’d asked him about it once. He denied it. He didn’t realize it happened, and that it healed him—both his body and soul. Heneeded her, even if he wouldn’t admit it.

He pulled her into him and whispered words in her ear in an ancient language she intuitively understood. “Always you.”

“Always,” she whispered.

Eight hours later

“Evie.” Dom’s voice was thick. His eyes were hollow, tormented. “I wish…” He gulped hard, swallowing the emotion on his face. He rarely showed this much of his feelings, and it raised a red-alert warning in her mind.

She mustered the energy to shake her head, which was hard since they’d gone at each other for hours. Words came out in a hoarse rasp. “Whatever you’re about to say, don’t. Let’s just…be.”

He framed her face with his large hands. “Listen to me very closely. This is not my choice, but they’ve given me no option. I delayed seeing you for weeks. I don’t want to…but they’ve given me an ultimatum.”

“What’s going on?” When he got serious about “them,” it meant the ones who’d threatened and imprisoned him. The Conclave.

“They know about you. They’ve threatened you and the boys and Efrem. I don’t have a lot of time.” He covered his face with a hand, something he never did. “I have to cast this spell. It’s going to break usapart in an unforgivable, awful way.” He kissed each cheek, her nose, and her mouth. “I swear to you, I will find a way to reverse it once they’re not a threat to you and our family.”

“Our family?” she whispered.

“Yes. You are my family. You and Efrem, even if he often wants to knife me in the chest because he’s so jealous of me. And all those boys of yours. I’ve watched over all of you for a long time. Remember this when I break the spell. This moment. What I feel right now will never change. The Mage Conclave threatens all of us. It’s about me. Remember the prophecy that says if I have a child borne of love it may destroy the world? Because of this, the Conclave put me on lockdown centuries ago. At first, they threw me in a cell for two decades until the Fates freed me. In exchange, I work for the Fates, adjusting destinies here or there at their direction. The Conclave monitors me with this.” He held up the obsidian ring. “I can’t remove it, but it’s how they watch and monitor my emotions. Right now, I’m sure it’s registering high. They’ll know. They’ve known for a little bit about us, and I held them off. They put a new constraint on me.” He pointed to the band around his ankle. “It’s supposed to prevent me from loving.”

“Does it?”