Chapter 18

Zenon climbed the bed, covering her with his body as she tried her damnedest to catch her breath. Never had an orgasm been so intense that she’d seen spots in front of her eyes afterwards. Every part of her body buzzed with the intense pleasure still zinging through her.

At first, she’d thought Zenon’s lovemaking was part of the mating ritual, but when she’d peeked into his mind, she’d seen the truth. His desire to know her body as well as he knew her mind and bring her pleasure had overridden everything else.

Now, his eyes blazing with need and his body as hard as steel, his resolve to complete the mating washed over her.

“Are you ready to be mine forever?” he asked her, but the deep-seated knowledge was there in his eyes. He didn’t doubt it. He was biding his time as he positioned himself over her.

The length of his shaft nestled between her pussy lips, making her moan again. How could she be ready for another one after the first orgasm had all but taken her out?

She tipped her hips, pressing herself more firmly against him. The slide of hot and hard against her softness sent a new wave of sensation into her and her muscles pulsing around nothing. “I need you, Zenon. Please,” she begged.

A muscle in his jaw jumped, and he sucked in a breath. Reaching between them, he positioned his cock at her entrance. Eyes locked with his, she held her breath.

“Open yourself to me, mate. Give me your soul and take mine into your keeping.”

“I don’t know how,” she said.

“I reside inside your mind, now let me have the rest of you. Let me invade every space inside you until you can no longer exist without my soul’s touch.”

Though the words shouldn’t have made sense, the essence of him—of who he was—expanded inside her. Like an addict seeking a fix, she grabbed hold of him and filled herself with him.

“Mate,” he whispered in a garbled tone. With a deep moan, he pressed forward, burying his cock inside her as deep as it could go.

Pleasure, more than physical, exploded within her spirit. Bracing himself with his forearms on the bed on either side of her head, he pulled most of the way out before finding his way home inside her again.

“Now, take what is yours. Fill every part of me. Join your soul to mine.”

Finding their mental link wide open, she didn’t hesitate, pouring her entire being, heart and soul, into him. She found the dark places he tried to hide and infused them with her light. His cock jerked inside her, and he moaned again.

More frenzied, he pulled back and drove into her, harder than before, making her whole body bump up on the mattress, then down again when he retreated, only to do it again with his next thrust.

Every stroke inside her had her pussy clenching around his shaft and pleasure rushing through her. The hard planes of his chest sent sweet jolts from her nipples into her body, adding to the sensual attack.

He brought his lips to hers, stealing her breath with his kiss. His tongue delved into her mouth, capturing every part of her.

“When our bodies find their releases, and my phoenix touches both of our souls, you will be mine forever,” Zenon said into her mind, his voice deep and velvety.

“Yes, I’m ready,” she said, needing to assure him, even though he hadn’t posed the question.

He snapped his hips back, then drove inside her again. Her moan was lost in his kiss. She gripped him tighter with her hips as her nails dug into his shoulders. Her pussy throbbed, and the muscles quivered at his invasion. With every deep thrust, his body pressed and stroked her clit.

“Please, please, please,” she begged, unable to do anything else.

He broke their kiss with a groan and locked his gaze to hers once more.

“You,” he said, driving himself into her, making her breath catch in her throat as the pleasure crested and her whole body readied for the fall over the precipice.

“Are.” The warbled sound of the phoenix rumbled from his throat. Bright swirls and patterns emerged on his skin like living fire that did not burn. The captivating display amped her need as the phoenix showed itself in their lovemaking.

“Mine,” he growled as he plunged deep inside her once more, throwing her over the edge as he body clamped and released around his cock, the rhythmic squeezing bringing her more ecstasy than she’d ever experienced. Her whole body shivered and shook as sensation rushed over and through her.

Zenon grunted, his cock jerking as he came inside her, making her irrevocably his.

She could hardly breathe as their combined pleasure overwhelmed her.

On her own skin, a paler version of his phoenix markings emerged. Heat unlike anything any human could withstand filled her. The bruised band around her ribs ached for a moment before a tingling sensation replaced the hurt. She didn’t have to look down to know that the phoenix had healed her wounds, as slight as they had been.

***

Zenon lay there, Nickie sweetly nestled in his arms. He hadn’t known exactly how the mating would affect her, but between the physical act itself and the transcendent state they’d both experienced with their releases, he wasn’t surprised that she’d fallen fast asleep.

The mattress they lay upon was unlike anything he’d ever known. The material—memory foam, as he’d gathered from Nickie—molded itself to his body, cradling him in softness. But as wonderful as it was, his woman against him was better.

Up until their full mating, her mortality had been bound to his. Now that they were joined as one, her immortality was. He dared not think of the day when her life would be snuffed out or the ensuing panic he was sure to suffer in those moments, but she would come back to him. No matter how great their enemy, she would not fall. His phoenix resided within her, guaranteeing it. Only when the Goddesses saw fit to bring them home would either of them leave this world behind.

He skimmed the pads of his fingers along the newly healed skin at the base of her ribs, shoving the caustic guilt eating at him to the back of his mind. Nickie had absolved him, but it would be a long time before he forgave himself for harming her, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it. He should have known better than to think he could hide that guilt when they joined. As soon as her soul reached him, every single emotion, every thought, and every fear were as transparent to her as hers were to him. It was the way it was meant to be between mates. Together, they were unbeatable.

It was no wonder that his parents had been so devoted to one another.

Nickie shifted in her sleep, nuzzling closer. With one leg over his and her body plastered against him, there was nowhere closer she could be, but still, she tried, making him smile wider.

He could hardly believe his own foolish notion of thinking he could deliver her to her friends and stay away from his mate. Even guarding her from a distance would have been impossible. Their bond had grown so great in the last twenty-four hours that she would have sensed his presence. And knowing the depths of her feelings for him, she would not have allowed the situation to stand.

Thankfully, his mate was as stubborn as she was beautiful. It would serve her well over the centuries.

“What are you smiling about, dimples?” she asked, her voice thick and sleepy as she tried to burrow closer.

He cracked his eyes open and peered down into the face of his angel. “I have many reasons, and each one begins with you.”

A rosy flush pinkened her cheeks. “I could easily say the same.”

He’d had a link into her soul before the mating, but now, it was as though it were a part of him, as well. All the goodness inside her surfaced within him. How could a world so ugly and so corrupt create an exquisite woman such as his mate?

“Not all is ugly and corrupt. There are plenty of bad people in this world, I’ll give you that, but there’s also so much good,” she said, proving that she was as deeply entrenched in him as he was in her before snuggling her cheek against his chest once more.

He’d seen the wickedness of humankind firsthand. Had suffered in misery for the avarice plaguing the earth. Though the culmination had come in the form of his confinement and collar in that wretched field, it had grown and built over centuries. He and his brothers had worried about the fate of humans long before their capture. They had not been wrong.

“For you, I wish it were different, my Nickie.”

An image, not a pleasant one, came to life in his mind, making his heart thud hard against his breast bone. Tall buildings of glass and steel loomed above. People stood around, some looking horrified, others holding up cell phones and taking videos. Nickie stared up into Jasmine’s terrified face. He couldn’t hear what Jasmine was saying, but her lips moved as a tear slipped down her cheek.

Unbearable pain squeezed his chest in a vise so tight he could barely draw a breath. A burning tingle started in his toes and raced up his legs at the same time as the same happened to his fingers and arms. His heart wasn’t beating right. It hammered away for a few seconds, then stopped for a pause that was too long to be healthy before racing once more. Black spots danced before his eyes as his lungs burned for air.

Fear skittered through him, but it wasn’t his own. He’d survived death more often than any living creature, save his phoenix brethren. But never had he experienced the soul-deep terror ripping through Nickie in that moment. He’d had the certainty of knowing he would live once more. She had not.

He did not wish to see the painful memory Nickie had brought forth, but he refused to ignore it. Doing so would dishonor her and the obstacles she had overcome to become the woman she was.

After a moment, all went black, and he couldn’t see anything at all, but then, slowly, the image twinkled into light again. His lungs labored, and the panic inside him overwhelmed all reason as consciousness returned. Nickie stared at her friend, too afraid to blink in case her eyes would not open again.

Jas swiped the free-flowing tears from her cheeks and gave her a wobbly smile. Relief filled her shattered eyes, and he knew without a doubt that Jasmine had suffered the same fear as his mate had. A male dressed in a dark suit shoved his way through the crowd, looking down his too-narrow nose at the two women. His lips moved, saying something that obviously had angered Jasmine, because in the next instant, the feisty woman was on her feet and shoving the man away from Nickie until he threw up his hands and stormed away.

It didn’t matter what was said, only that Jasmine had been there for his mate when she’d been at her most vulnerable.

“I already knew she was important to you, my Nickie. I will protect her always. But that alone does not make the world a good place.”

“You’re right. It doesn’t.”

He expected her denial, but what he got was another image.

This time, Nickie stood in the low light of dusk. Nervousness bit at his consciousness, but tight in her grip, a flashlight bobbed on the rough terrain as she took her first uncertain steps into the forest. Glancing to the right, he spotted Jasmine, her own flashlight sweeping in a steady arc. Beyond her, the row of people continued.

“What were you seeking?” he asked.

“A little girl. Three years old. She’d wandered away from her parents’ campsite. They had put her in the tent for a nap, and when they went to check on her, she was gone.”

Joy spiked inside him, making him smile. “You found her.”

“Not me, personally, but one of the men in our group did. She was scared and cold, but she was otherwise fine,” Nickie said, pride heavy in her voice. “Close to a hundred people dropped what they were doing that day to help find one tiny, little girl. The family was on a road trip and had stopped for the night. No one knew them, but that didn’t matter. All that we cared about was getting her back to her parents safe and sound. When that man yelled that he’d found her and that she was okay, we all cried.”