Leksander awoke with Erelah’s lips pressed to his.
He breathed in air, and it charged his body like nothing he’d experienced before. Only… it wasn’t air. It was Erelah. She wasn’t kissing him—she was giving him a life kiss.
Her hands held his cheeks as she breathed the life-giving magic into him, and he could feel her magic and the love behind it banishing all the strikes against his body, the ones he’d incurred in that frenzied fight with the shadow angelings. Even more, it was beating back the inky blackness, the dark magic that had seeped into his soul from the blade cuts. He gripped her shoulders, breathing in everything she was giving him. He slowly came fully awake and realized where he was. Back in his lair. Somehow she had transported him back to the keep, and he was naked on his bed, half sitting up as she administered her life kiss.
When he was brimming with life and love and energy, she finally pulled back. “Oh, my love,” she said, joy written on her face but still mixed with worry. “Tell me you live.”
“I’ve never been so alive.” Then he slipped his hand to her face and pulled her back for a real kiss. The kind that let his lips move against hers, that gave him freedom to touch her face and pull her close, and that ignited his smoldering passion into a burst of red-hot heat low in his belly. He was shaking with the need to pull her down to the sheets with him and make love to her, but that seemed impossible. She was still wearing the sexy-hot black outfit with the gloves and the thigh-high leggings, but that wasn’t an impediment to making love to her… it was simply a reminder she was still a shadow angeling.
Not that he cared. Not if she truly loved him.
He pulled back from the kiss, breathless, holding her cheeks and gazing into those beautiful blue eyes. “Tell me again that you love me. That I didn’t just dream it.”
Her lips were swollen from their kiss, and slightly parted, and she was breathing hard in a way that curled need inside him. “You are my beloved. You have always been, Leksander. I just couldn’t let myself know the truth.”
His breath caught with her words, and his heart swelled. He had no idea where to go next with it, but if she loved him… all things were possible.
Then something impossible grabbed his attention. “Erelah,” he gasped. “Your wings.”
She frowned and twisted to look—her wings were fully extended, but they weren’t midnight black or snowy white, but some mottling between the two. She sucked in a breath and turned back to him with wide eyes. “What is happening to me?” He’d never seen fear in her eyes before, and he would do anything to banish it.
He gently held her cheeks with both hands and stroked her lip with his thumb. “My love, I don’t care if you’re shadow or light or…” He flicked a glance to her wings. He truly didn’t understand what was happening, but it didn’t matter. “Or something in between. My love is for you. All of you, light or dark.”
But that didn’t seem to help. She shrugged like she was trying to slough off her wings… or maybe they were bothering her. “I don’t understand,” she cried. “Tajael said only shadow can cure shadow, and your wounds were made by shadow blades. He rushed us back to the keep so I would have time to heal you, safe from any angel interference.”
Leksander smiled, and an insane joy filled him. He could see exactly what Tajael was thinking with that. “Don’t you see?” he said, nudging her face back to him and away from the scowl she was giving her wings. “Tajael knew you could cure me, light or dark. Because it’s not your nature, light or shadow, but your True Love, Erelah.”
She was focused on him now. “My love for you is…” She swallowed. “It is powerful and overwhelming and True. And I feel it, Leksander. I feel it so strongly, so wildly inside me...” She seemed freaked by this, but he couldn’t help his grin.
It felt like his smile would break his face. “You were created to love, my love, don’t you see?” He smoothed a stray strand of blonde hair back from her lovely, perfect face. Even with her frowns and her worry, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever known, inside and out. “God created you to love—that’s why you love every single human you’ve ever met. I’ve always admired that about you. That you always loved. You looked past their flaws and saw their inner light. Their angel in disguise, as you’re always saying. You were born with that gift, that great ability to love no matter what. Effusive, grand, without question, without condition—great and small, weak and strong, you loved them all. You just forgot one thing.”
“To love you,” she said, placing her palm on his cheek.
He leaned into it, briefly closing his eyes with the sheer joy of her touch. Then he opened his eyes, leaned forward, and brushed his lips against hers, just because he could.
He pulled back and said, “You forgot to love yourself.”
She frowned and drew away from his touch. He could see the calculation in her eyes, but there was no way in heaven or hell he was letting her squirm away from this. Because it was essential that she know. Having seen her in light and in shadow, he knew that now.
“I am flawed, Leksander,” she said, her frown growing deeper. “I am… shadow.” But she flicked a glance at her wings, which were still in turmoil, like the light and dark were battling for her, feather by feather.
“Look past the flaws, Erelah.” He didn’t touch her, not yet, just held her wide-eyed gaze with his, pouring every ounce of his love into that look. “See what I see—a woman who loves so strongly, so purely, that it nearly tears her apart. Tajael said you were more righteous than any angeling he’s known, and he was right. You were born of light, Erelah. You are worthy of love… otherwise, how could I love you as much as I do?”
Her face was still twisted in struggle. “I have love of you, Leksander, but I also have… need. So much need.” Her eyes fell to half-mast, and he knew she was fighting it. The Lust that was a Sin to her, but he knew it was just her love reaching for its fullest expression with him.
She was meant to love him.
He eased forward, holding her cheek, stopping just short of kissing her. “Don’t fight it, Erelah. There is no Sin in Love.”
Breath escaped her—a trembling release that said kiss me.
So he did.
He pressed his lips to hers, holding her head to angle it just right. And when her lips parted, he possessed her mouth with his, tasting and probing and groaning with the passion that surged inside him. He was already naked, and his cock had already sprung to life, and they were already on his bed. All he needed was to peel these wicked-sexy clothes off her and make love to her as he had a million times in his fantasies. He pressed her back with the force of his kiss, and she didn’t resist. Her wings flexed wide and then wrapped around his back, encasing him within their churning war between light and dark.
He broke the kiss, his body pressing hers into the softness of his bed. He gazed into her eyes, which were wide and blue and trusting. She’d never done any of this, so he would have to take it slow, even though he felt like he might explode.
“Say yes,” he said.
“Yes,” she whispered, eyes shining.
Then an amazing thing happened—the battle ceased. Radiating from her back first, where her wings were smashed against the bed, the feathers turned snowy white. Then the whiteness spread and quickly ran the span of her wings to the tips. Leksander could tell the instant she saw it—her eyes flew as wide as he’d ever seen.
“Leksander.” She pulled her gaze from her wings and stared with wonder into his eyes.
“You were meant to love me,” he said with a grin. “And holy angels of light, Erelah… am I going to love you.”
He kissed her again, only this time, her hands came to life. She grabbed at his cheeks first, running her hands up along his skin like she was trying to touch every inch, then they disappeared into his hair, fisting it and pulling him deeper into the kiss. He groaned and pressed her into the bed. His body was everywhere frustrated by the clothes still covering hers and preventing him from the full contact he needed now.
He nudged apart her legs, pressing his thigh between them and rubbing up against the heat of her sex, still covered by the fighting gear she wore. But he must have struck something because she arched up and into him and whimpered. Holy fuck, that sound. He growled and released her from the kiss so he could tip up her chin and nip at her neck. His hand found her breast, still encased in leather, but just palming it was making his cock twitch. Her clothes were either made of angel magic or real and somehow seamless—either way he couldn’t figure out how to get them off.
He nibbled his way to her ear. “My love.” His voice was so husky, he could barely speak. “I need your clothes off.”
She whimpered again—that sound would make him insane—but suddenly, she was bare underneath him. The hot flesh of her breast overflowed his hand. The bare skin of his thigh pressed against the hot wetness between her legs. The hard rod of his cock pressed into the sweet softness of her belly.
Everywhere they touched sparked magic.
“Holy fuck,” he breathed. He ground against her, touching her everywhere.
She cried out a wordless sound of pleasure. God, yes. He wanted to be buried in her so badly… but no. This was her first time—for everything—and he would make sure it rocked her world. He was holding nothing back. If it blasted her back to shadow status, so be it. She would know the full measure of his love.
He kissed his way down her neck and to the soft rise of her breast. His fantasies were filled with her breasts gripped hard in his hands, her nipples peaking tight in this mouth, so he lavished attention on both at once. Each touch buzzed with magic, even the tip of his tongue playing with the rosy bud of her hardened nipple. She arched into him as he grabbed hold of her breast and feasted on it. When he gently bit down, she cried out and grabbed at his hair. Holy mother of magic, she was so responsive. It had been so damn long for him, and the reality of Erelah was a blazing supernova compared to his fantasies.
Still holding her nipple between his teeth and flicking with his tongue, he slid against her body so he could slip his hand between her legs. That whimpering started again, and she bucked against his hand. She was so wet, his fingers slid effortlessly over her, teasing her and making his mouth ache. She bucked wildly against his hand such that he had to hold her down to keep her still—which he did with the force of his palm pressing down on her sex, pushing her deeper into the bed.
She groaned, deep and long, and rocked against the steady pressure he had on her nub, which was already inflamed with hardly any attention from him. Dammit, he would not make it long with this. He needed her to come first, before he even tried entering her, but holy fuck, he was having a hard time holding off.
“Leksander,” she gasped. “My need… it’s burning…”
That was it. He was making her come, and he was doing it now.
He released her breasts and slid down, taking hold of her hip with one hand, holding it still against the bed and diving between her legs, tongue first. She cried out as the magic leaped between his tongue and her sensitive nub, and even as he held her down with both hands, his steady flicks there had her bucking so hard, she was lifting off the bed. Dammit, angelings were strong. He knew this, but making love to one was an unexpected challenge. He solved that by wrapping his arm around her back and anchoring her with his body, holding on for dear life as he teased her with his tongue and stroked her folds with his fingers, pushing her toward orgasm. She cried out and whimpered and bucked even though she could no longer lift off the bed, but when he slid his finger deep into the hot wetness of her sex, that was when she screamed. He held still, his fingers buried deep inside her—she was so tight. His heart clenched for a moment, and he thought he’d hurt her, but then she started begging.
“Leksander, please.” She grabbed at his arm, his shoulders, his head. “Please, I can’t bear it!”
So he pumped his finger into her, a slow rhythm building faster, timed with the flick of his tongue, and her cries ramped up. Wordless and breathy and filled with passion. He nearly came just listening to it, especially with the grating against the bed that his cock was enduring as he held onto her gorgeous, writhing body. Then he added a second finger to her slick hotness—holy fuck, she was tight—because he wanted her prepared for him when the time came. Her cries became even more strained. She chanted his name, the pitch rising and rising…
“Leksander! Leksander!” Then she became inarticulate again, all noises and whimpering pleasure, then a tremor hit… one he could feel trilling through her body, sweeping it from head to toe… and then she came, her hot sex convulsing around his fingers. But he only felt a single clenching of her sweet flesh before a pulse of energy blasted him away from her body, flinging him through her curled-over wings and up to the ceiling. He crashed hard, bounced off at an angle, and fell back to the floor with a thud.
He was stunned for a second, not least because he was suddenly out of the bed while Erelah was still in it.
“Leksander!” Erelah sat up on the bed, peering at him with alarm through her spread legs. It was the most erotic thing he’d seen in a long damn time. “I’m sorry, I…” She looked panicked. “I don’t know what happened.”
He growled and picked himself up off the floor, climbing on top of the bed and then on top of her. “I do,” he said, his voice rough. He grabbed her hands and planted them on his hips. “Hold tight,” he ground out as he reached down to hike up her knees and spread her legs wide for him. He positioned himself at her entrance.
Her eyes went wide as she looked down at his cock. “You are so big. I don’t think you can fit.”
He grinned, a flush of satisfaction barely muting his aching need to have her. “Oh, I’ll fit,” he panted, nudging her, but not quite entering yet. “But when you come the next time, you’ve got to keep hold of me, my love. Don’t let go. Because I’m going to fuck you all the way through, do you understand?”
Her wide-eyed gaze turned up to meet his. She just nodded.
He groaned as he nudged into her. So damn tight.
She gasped. “Too big, Leksander!”
“It will fit, my love.” He pulled back then slid in a little further, groaning the whole way. Damn, but angelings were tight. Far more than humans.
She whimpered and dug her fingers into his hips where she held him. “Aaah!” she said as he slid a little further.
Fuck. He wasn’t even halfway inside her. “Relax, baby.” He pulled back, then slid in again, nudging a little deeper.
“Leksander!” she cried out, but if she wanted him to stop, she had the power to fling him across the room. Instead, she was pulling him deeper with her hands.
So. Fucking. Tight. “That’s right, baby,” he panted against her cheek, his head dipping now and his body arching to take her. “Pull me in.” He slid back out again then thrust in this time, shoving a little harder than before and almost going all the way to the hilt.
“Ah!” she cried out then panted, “Sweet magic… my love…” One of her hands left the hard grip on his hip and slid up to clutch the back of his head. “All of you,” she whispered, hoarsely. “I want all of you, Leksander.”
He groaned and every fiber of his being shuddered with the sexy longing in her voice. He pulled out almost completely and then thrust back in all the way.
Erelah cried out and clutched at him.
He held still for a moment, letting her adjust to the width of him, and squeezing his eyes shut with the impossible tightness of her. The air around him thrummed with her power, and his body throbbed at every point they touched, especially his cock buried deep inside her. He was deflowering a virgin angeling, and it was both the most erotic and most terrifying thing he had ever done.
“Hold on,” he said hoarsely. “Do not let me go. No matter what.”
“Always,” she whispered in his ear, and it wasn’t just a promise to keep his cock thrusting into her body through the cataclysmic orgasm he felt building inside both of them, but a promise to stay with him. To be with him, by his side, loving him, in light and shadow, no matter what.
Always.
He groaned from the depth of his being. “You are mine.” As he spoke the word, he pulled back and thrust hard into her. Then again and again, stroking a rhythm that quickly sped up, not least because she was arching up to meet every thrust and pulling him into the stroke. She cried out and dug her fingers into him, and her hot, sweet flesh took him, again and again, squeezing tight and quivering around him. When her cries became more desperate, when her back arched and stayed there, he knew she was close.
“Come for me, Erelah,” he panted out and picked up the pace, slamming into her hard, like he never could with any human he’d ever laid with. Like only a dragon’s mate could tolerate. But Erelah was already an immortal—a fallen angel, risen again—and her body cried out for every pounding stroke of hot love he was giving her.
Her body shuddered, shivering from head to toe, and he felt it this time—the energy gathering in the air and in her body—and when she came, it nearly blasted him away again, but she held him tight. He kept slamming into her, working every last ripple of pleasure out of her, and when her cries reached their peak, he came like a lightning storm hitting his brain. His seed shot hot and hard into her, wave after wave, and he clung to her, thrusting through it. It was endless and emptying and everything he’d imagined and more.
When the last wave had passed, when she was no longer arching under him, he felt like he’d been emptied of everything he was. All of it belonged to her.
They stayed joined, breathing heavily, hearts pounding.
He rested his head on her chest, his breath washing her skin with warm air. He brought his hands up from his desperate hold on the bed and lightly caressed her breast, ending with rolling her nipple into a peak.
“Holy angels of light,” she said, breathless. “Even that, now, sends pleasure through me. How is that possible?”
He looked up. She was staring at the ceiling, eyes glazed, lips parted, cheeks flushed.
“You have no idea,” he said, a grin spreading across his face, “of the pleasure I’m going to give you, angeling of light.”
She picked up her head to scowl at him, then her eyes drifted up to her own wings, still arched and surrounding him. He looked too—they were as white as snow.
“You see?” he said as he eased from her body and edged up to face her, covering her luscious body with his larger one. “You were meant to love me. And be loved by me.”
Her eyes were wide again. “I thought sure I’d lost the battle to Lust. I was… lost in it, Leksander. Even now, I can hardly feel my toes.”
He grinned. “That’s how it’s supposed to be, my love.” He skimmed his hand along the length of her, slow and feeling every curve, sliding finally between her legs.
She gasped and frowned at him. “But I… I thought we had finished.”
“Oh, baby,” he breathed, his voice growing husky once more. “We’re just getting started.”