Page 24 of Ashen Souls

Daeren’s mouth slammed over mine. No room for asking, no room for breath. The second my lips parted, his tongue surged past my teeth: wet, scalding, and tasting of ash. He moved like he already owned me. He sucked and stroked my tongue with an intensity my body had never known. My breathing fractured, turning into desperate pants against his mouth.

I caught his bottom lip between my teeth and bit down hard, filling my mouth with the metallic taste of blood.

A feral snarl vibrated through my ribs. His retaliation came instantly; his teeth clamped onto my lip, biting until the sting flared and arched my spine off the sheets.

There was no logic left, only the realization that it hurt and I wanted more of it.

He let go just long enough for me to gasp. Then his mouth was lower, his lips hot on the skin between my breasts. With one deliberate stroke of his tongue, he carved a glistening path up my sternum, swallowing the pulse at my throat, stopping only at the hinge of my jaw. A heavy, slick need pooled between my thighs, my core clenching helplessly under his total focus.

Daeren watched me as his hand closed over my breast. He squeezed, his thumb dragging over the hardened nipple through the thin slip. His head dropped. He latched onto me through the silk. He pulled me deeper into his mouth, his teeth grazing the sensitive skin. The ruined weave clung to me, the friction turning into a sweet ache that forced me to move blindly beneath him.

He shifted, dropping his weight flush over me. Through the rough leather of his pants, the rigid length of him pressed into my stomach. I wanted to reach between us, tear those leathers open, and take him into my bare hands.

I reached for him, my fingers seeking the skin of his chest, aiming lower.

He caught my wrists.

With one shove, he pinned both my wrists above my head with a single hand.

“Not tonight,” he growled against my lips. “Tonight, only I get to touch you.”

A spasm locked my limbs. I was pinned, powerless, and starving for it.

“Daeren…” The word broke in my throat.

A vicious smile touched his lips. “Soon, my greedy girl.”

He pulled back from my face, dropping lower. He dragged his open mouth down my torso, leaving a wet trail across the cloth right to my lower belly. His free hand clamped onto my thigh, his fingers biting into the muscle. He squeezed, forcing my legs apart as he shoved the slip higher.

He stopped right at the hem. His hot breath flared against my bare center, and when he spoke, the filthy rasp of his voice scraped across my skin.

“I’ll suck that clit exactly the way I just sucked your tongue,” he promised, the threat making my hips jerk helplessly into the mattress. “I'll fuck you with my mouth until you break, and swallow every drop you spill for me.”

Every rational thought flatlined under the impact of that promise…

“Hey. Do you hear me?”

A light tap on my cheek. The real world bled back in.

The biting cold. The heavy, soaked clothes clinging to my skin. The blinding throb in my side.

I was still half-submerged in the heat of the dream, but the moment strange hands gripped my shoulders, trying to pull me away from the water, my eyes flew open.

“Don't move. Looks like you took a pretty hard fall.”

Rainwater seeped through the back of my sweater, cutting into my spine. I gasped as the agonizing bite of my injured ribs returned.

“Easy.”

A man was kneeling beside me. He was wearing a dark wool coat, water droplets catching in his neat black hair. He looked completely out of place in the mud: too clean, too put together.

“I'm not going to hurt you,” he said, his tone measured. He raised his hands in a placating gesture. “I was walking on the upper path and saw you on the ground. Are you okay? Do you need an ambulance?”

I dragged a shaking hand over my face, wiping away mud and river water. My mind was still trying to bridge the gap between the warmth of Daeren's bed and the sobering reality of this stranger.

“I'm... fine,” I choked out, my teeth starting to chatter. “I just... I slipped.”

His eyes flicked over my face and the way I was guarding my side. He stood up, offering me a hand.