Page 282 of Elemental Becoming

“I need the taste of you on my tongue.”

The Warlord, asking for permission instead of taking what already feels like his, melts whatever resolve I have left.

I thread my fingers through his thick hair and pull him closer. He growls, low and guttural, then hooks one of my legs over his shoulder and buries his face between my thighs.

His tongue plunges into me. I gasp, my head falling back, hips arching toward his mouth.

Gods. He’s not just tasting me. He’s devouring.

The bond sparks beneath my skin, radiant and alive. It hums through me with every stroke of his tongue, every breath he takes against my center.

Thane licks and sucks, his tongue sliding in and out of me. One hand grips the curve of my hip where my leg rests over his shoulder, his fingers digging in. The other slides upward until it finds my breast. He cups it, his thumb brushing over my nipple.

I cry out as pleasure crashes through me like a wave drawn taut by the bond. My pulse hammers. My breathing turns uneven.

I swallow hard. “Gods—”

A triumphant hum rumbles against me, and I teeter on the edge of losing all control.

“I told you, Amara, darling . . . you’re not done yet,”he says into my mind.

His mouth feasts on me. A ragged cry tears from my throat. My back arches. He takes his time. Teasing. Circling. Drawing me higher and higher until I’m gasping, shaking, coming apart.

A groan reverberates through me, rich with satisfaction, sending heat skittering along every nerve in my body. The pressure begins to build again, sharp and unbearable.

I feel myself splintering beneath the sheer force of what he isdoing to me.

“Thane,” I gasp, my fingers tightening in his hair.

But he doesn’t stop. His tongue plunges into me again and again, mercilessly. No slowing. No escape.

“Let go,” he growls against my folds, his voice rough with need.

I feel it building like a tidal wave gathering beyond the shore. Rising. Growing. Larger and larger until it’s all I can see. A wall of water blocking out the horizon.

Then the pleasure crashes over me, sharp and blinding, fire and ice and lightning exploding in my veins.

My magics surge with it, wild and untamed. The torches burn higher, shadows flickering and stretching across the walls. Air whips through the chamber, curling around us like an invisible current. The last of the water rises in delicate strands, reaching, reacting, answering a force greater than control. Stone hums beneath me, holding me to this world while I completely fall apart.

I cry out.

Trembling. Wrecked. Shattered.

And Thane—Thane groans as though he’s the one drowning in the feeling.

Even then, he doesn’t pull away, refusing to let me escape it. He draws out every last aftershock until I am sobbing from the unbearable intensity of him.

Finally he pulls back. His lips trail soft kisses along my inner thigh. I’m still trembling, still lost in the aftermath of him. Thane kneels back, his hands still resting on my hips, his breath still uneven.

I lean back on my hands, both feet planted firmly on the bathtub floor. I feel weightless. Boneless. Like I could stay here forever.

But I need air. I need to remember how to breathe.

I settle against the wall of the tub. The marble is cool beneath my spine, grounding and solid. The only thing tethering me to this world. My legs remain propped up, my body still trembling.

Thane’s lips brush my knee. Soft. Unthinking. A gesture not meant to be seen, one he likely doesn’t even realize he’s given. When he finally speaks, his voice is hoarse.

“Now, do you understand?”