GWEN

Finally, everyone's gone and then it's just me and Vaan alone in the room. I remain utterly still where I am, half waiting for someone to peek into the room and suggest something else, but it's silent, and as the minutes tick past, I realize we are alone. Really, truly alone.

I take a deep, shuddering breath. I've put this off for long enough, haven't I? I look over at Vaan, who’s watching me with concerned eyes. "I hope I'm enough for you," I murmur to him. I can't shake the feeling that I'm not worthy, but I think of my sister and her reassurances and I feel a little better. I'm loved. Even if I did screw things up, I tried. Having Dee's support means everything. Knowing that we're still family, still loved. I take a deep, steeling breath and realize that for the first time, I feel truly free to love Vaan. That maybe I'm not the anchor that brings him down and makes his madness worse.

Maybe with his love and my humanity, we can save each other. I like the sound of that.

I turn to him on the bed and clasp his hand in mine. "I love you," I tell him, and I mean it. I don't know if I've said it to him before now, but the moment it's in the air, it feels right. It feels good.

"Gwen," he rumbles, and I suspect he's just responding to my soft tone, but it's okay. He knows what I'm feeling even if it's not said aloud. I reach out and touch his cheek, caressing his face. Funny how he doesn't strike me as the enemy anymore. Dragons really don't. Different and wild, yes. But the enemy? Never.

He's strange and feral and beautiful…and mine.

He touches my face and I turn in to press a kiss to his palm.

Now he's mine to touch and no one can stop us. There's no Mara, no Dee, and no guilt hanging over my shoulders like a shroud. Vaan watches me curiously, hunger simmering in his eyes, but he makes no move to close the distance between us—probably because I've pushed him away and delayed so many times.

"I'm really yours now," I promise him. I lean forward and move my mouth toward his for a kiss.

He makes a hungry sound in his throat and his mouth slicks over mine in a fast, hard kiss. Once. Twice. Then he pulls back, watching me. Waiting for me to push him away.

I put my hand on his stomach, admiring the contrast of our skin. He's golden and dappled and I'm a light, creamy brown. He's all hardness and fierce strength and I'm wiry survival.

I lean in and brush my lips over his collarbone. When he goes still, I move farther down and kiss the hard line of one pectoral.

"Gwen?" he asks roughly, his voice hoarse and full of need.

I look up at him and smile. "I'm not stopping you this time." And I put a hand boldly on his cock and caress him.

He growls understanding, and then a split second later, I'm on my back in the bed. Vaan's claws go to my shirt and with one flick of his wrist, the fabric slices apart and falls open. A moment later and he's tearing my clothes off my body. My shorts fall apart like butter, my bra practically disintegrates, and my panties shear apart as if they're made of paper, and then I'm exposed in front of Vaan's suddenly covetous gaze. He growls as he gazes down at my naked body, devouring me with a look.

Then his gaze flicks to mine. "Gwen," he breathes, a ragged question.

"Yes," I tell him. "Oh yes."

With a groan, he descends onto me. Instead of kissing like we always do, he heads straight for my breasts. His mouth descends on one, his fingers teasing the tip of the other. Utterly insatiable, his mouth is hot and hungry and frantic.

I gasp at his touch, utterly shocked at the intensity of it—and utterly drenched with need at the realization of his hunger and just how badly he wants me. My body feels like it's pulsing in time with my heart, thrumming between my thighs in an ache that feels so good even as Vaan's mouth goes lower, licking down my belly. He laps at my navel for a brief moment before continuing downward and savagely pushing my thighs apart.

Then that ravenous, hungry, wild mouth is on my pussy, going straight for my clit.

His intensity explodes through my brain, the heat and passion of his touch firing my body up impossibly fast. I moan, rocking under him as the breath hisses from his throat. There's a violent edge to our touches, as if we've waited so long to do this that all the tenderness has left the room. Instead of scaring me, though, I'm excited. I want this as badly as him, and when his raspy tongue flicks against my clit in an urgent touch, I snarl his name back at him and drag my nails over his scalp, then push his head down to let him know I want him to keep going.

Fuck waiting. For that matter, fuck anyone who thinks that Vaan isn't a hundred percent mine or that I'm not his.

"Gwen," he growls, nuzzling at my folds before returning to his furious licking.

"Don't you dare stop," I tell him between panting breaths. There's an urgency between us that's sexier than any kiss, and when he snarls and lowers his head so he can move his tongue over me with faster vigor, I arch and grind my pussy against his face, needing that friction and the edge of pain. I'm so incredibly wet that his tongue slicks over my flesh with downright hedonistic sounds, and I only encourage him to go faster, harder, to give me more. I cry out in surprise when a tiny orgasm hits me, a fresh round of wetness coating my folds.

Vaan snarls my name again, and this time he rises over me, moving toward my face to claim my lips in the hottest, wettest kiss yet. His mouth is insistent, his taste musky as he fucks my mouth with each stroke of his tongue. I love every bit of it and whimper my pleasure with each stroke.

His frantic hands move over my shoulders and then to my waist, and he hauls me against him as he rises up, and it's clear he wants me to flip onto my stomach. I do as he asks without thinking, utterly breathless and so full of excitement that I can't stand it. Why did I wait so long for this? "Vaan," I whisper. "My Vaan."

Vaan's big hand seizes a handful of my hair, anchoring me even as he pushes my thighs apart with one knee. Then his big body is looming over mine, and I can feel the press of his form along my back and my bottom. His thighs push against my thighs, and every inch of me feels covered by his hot, hard body.

I barely feel the nudge of his cock-head against my core before he surges against me, and I suck in a breath as he's seated to the hilt in my body. It's like all the air's left my lungs, and I remain utterly still, trying to adjust to the sensation of his thick cock invading me. It's been a while since I've had sex, but it's never felt as intense as this, and everything feels new and different with Vaan.

He nuzzles against my neck, and my pussy clenches and ripples around his length in response. I moan, because I'm close to coming—so close—but he's not moving. He's wedged deep inside me, but it's like he's waiting for something.

So I buck up against him, trying to create friction.

Vaan hisses, and that's the only warning I get before his teeth sink into my neck. I gasp in shock—and come, too. In fact, I'm coming so hard, every bit of me tense with release, that I don't realize that the world is fading around me even as liquid heat floods through my veins.

All I know is that I feel damn good.