Page 188 of Elemental Becoming

The room hums around us.

Wind spirals through the chambers, rattling loose papers and stirring the flames along the walls until gold light flickers wildly across stone and shadow alike.

And through all of it, Thane never looks away from me. His breathing is rough and uneven as he holds me close enough to feel the wild rhythm of my heartbeat echoing against his own.

“Amara,” he says again, my name sounding almost holy.

Another surge of magics pulses through me in response, brighter this time, illuminating the entire room in flashes of gold and ember-light.

I arch my back, surrendering completely as pleasure detonates through me. But he’s not finished. With a sudden, effortless movement, his arms tighten around me, lifting me off the desk. I gasp, my legs clenching tighter around him, my nails digging into his back as he moves, controlled and relentless.

“Thane . . . ” My voice breaks as he holds me there, suspended in his arms. His name falls from my lips like a prayer, my cry ringing through the room, a heady mix of ecstasy and raw power.

We’re moving, breathless, our lips fused, bodies tangled. Then the cool wall meets my back, jolting a gasp from me. Thane braces me there, pinning me against the smooth stone, his grip possessive and unyielding. The new angle pulls a broken cry from my throat, pleasure crashing through me hard enough to make my head fall back against the wall.

Thane’s arms tighten around me, lifting me higher against him with effortless strength. He holds me like I weigh nothing, like I belong here wrapped around him, pinned between his body and the cold stone.

My body grips him tighter inside me.

“Gods,” he rasps against my throat, his teeth scraping lightly before he sucks another kiss against my skin. “You feel so fucking good. Gods, I wanted this all night. I neededyou, Amara.”

He drives deeper, pulling a broken gasp from me. The sheer strength of him, the way he takes me against the wall, overwhelms me completely. Intoxicates me.

I clutch at his shoulders, his arms, feeling the hard muscle shifting beneath my fingertips as he moves against me with devastating control.

“Thane . . . ” My voice breaks as another wave of pleasure begins to build.

He growls, his mouth brushing along my jaw before finding my lips again, hungry enough to make my pulse stutter. His fingers dig into my sides, adjusting his hold, pressing me impossibly closer and deeper.

“You’re so deep—” I breathe unevenly, my forehead falling briefly against his shoulder as sensation spirals through me faster than I can contain it.

He gently pulls out, then slides into me again.

“That’s it,” he snarls against my throat, his breath ragged, his teeth grazing the sensitive skin. His fingers slide into my hair,holding me there. “Take it—take all of me. Like you were made for me. Gods, you feel like fire.”

Another pulse of magics ripple through the room in response.

A guttural sound leaves him, almost a growl, almost a groan, as his rhythm falters for a heartbeat. His head dips against my collarbone like he’s trying to brace himself, trying not to completely lose control.

“I can’t . . . fuck, Amara . . . ” His voice shakes, rough and wrecked. “You burn through me. Like I was made to be consumed by you.”

The bond blazes behind my ribs, flooded with Thane’s fear, love, and desperate need for me.

I grab his face, forcing his gaze back to mine.

“Look at me,” I whisper fiercely. “I’m here. I’m alive.”

A broken breath leaves me as he pulls out, then sinks into me again.

“Now make me feel it.”

His eyes lock onto mine, the golden flecks inside them flaring brighter. A low groan rumbles through his chest, and for one suspended heartbeat, he falters beneath the weight of whatever he sees in my expression.

“You’re mine. Every part of you,” he breathes, his voice wrecked with emotion. “Mine to worship. Mine to love.”

The fierceness and totality of it tears through me.

“You keep looking at me like that,” he rasps against my mouth, breathing hard now, “and I’m not going to last much longer.” His voice roughens, desire and desperation tangling together. “Are you trying to break me? Because this—this is how you do it.”