I didn’t have any control as I hung up, grabbed my gorgeous goddess, and tossed us both into the pool.

The exquisite sensation of cool water against my sticky skin was a new kind of aphrodisiac—not that I needed any more stimulation.

I was almost out of control.

Clinging to the final shred of my sanity.

The tiny shred of decency so I didn’t take her by force but well and truly mad with every lust I’d bottled up over the past month.

I wanted her.

Christ, I wanted her.

I needed her to cure me.

Sinking to the bottom, I grazed the boulders below with my toes, keeping my shoulders and head above water. Eleanor couldn’t reach, and she kicked against me, trying to swim out of my rabid embrace. Water sluiced down her hair, darkening her coffee strands to obsidian; the moonlight turned grey eyes into glittering galaxies.

She was, in one word, incredible.

“Sully, I don’t know what’s gotten into you but—Oh, God.”

She bowed in my arms as I ran my hand over her breast, undid the knot of her bikini against her spine, then dove my fingers between her legs.

She jolted against me as I shoved aside her bikini briefs and rubbed her clit.

“I need you, Jinx.”

“But we made a deal—”

I inserted one finger inside her, just to the first knuckle, dipping in and out, learning I wasn’t the only one in a constant state of arousal. Her wetness was so much thicker than the pool, so much hotter and sexier and fuck me, I couldn’t wait.

Kicking off the bottom, I swam with her in my arms.

My pinned together ankle hurt the most, followed by the torn muscle of the harpoon scar and a slight throb in my femur and tibia. But the pain was nothing compared to a month ago. I was getting stronger. My heart hadn’t skipped a beat in weeks, and I’d put the weight on that I’d lost.

There was no need to wait anymore.

No need to put ourselves through this torture.

“I’m not going to die on you, Eleanor.” I bit her ear as I found the shelf by the shore and fell to my knees on the gravelly bottom. Turning her around, I ensured her legs also met stable surface before I pulled her back against my chest and untied the strings of her bikini on her hips.

Naked.

Fuck me, naked, and wet and all fucking mine.

“I need you. Christ, I’ve never been so hard in my life.” I ran my throbbing cock up and down her crack. I almost came from that friction alone. I’d never gone so long without a release. Never wanted a girl this badly, only for her to deny me. “I’ll die if you don’t let me have you—you’re saving my life literally by opening your legs.”

She scoffed, her tone breathy and as hungry as me. “Twisting this around won’t make me—” She bucked against my hand as I speared two fingers inside her. “God, Sully...you’re—”

“I’m?” I bit her ear again, nuzzling her wet hair off her neck and sinking my teeth into her throat. “I’m mad for you? Starving for you? I’m driving my fingers inside you because I can’t bear not to touch you?” I rocked against her, ignoring Pika as he skimmed over the water, investigating why I suddenly decided to try to drown my chosen mate.

“What if something happens—”

“Nothing is going to happen apart from the best fucking orgasm of our lives.” I fingered her harder, rubbing her clit with my thumb, shuddering with greed as her inner muscles squeezed around my intrusion.

“Say yes. Say yes and I’ll be inside you. I’ll fuck you until you scream. I’ll show you just how alive I am...thanks to you.”

“But—” Her moan cut her off as I added a third finger. “Oh, fuck me...”

“Yes, please. Goddammit, yes please.” I bit her neck again, so fucking close to taking her without her simple agreement. She wanted me. She would welcome me and forgive me.

But...I wouldn’t do that.

I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from coming tonight, but it was her decision if it would be against her ass or deep inside her.

She shifted in my arms, her hand shooting behind and latching around my cock.

“Holy fuck, Jinx.” I thrust into her hand, driving every inch to slip through the fist she’d made. “Tell me if I can have you. Otherwise, I’ll come right here, right now.”

With the most erotic groan I’d ever heard, she murmured, “You can have me. Just promise—”

I didn’t hear the rest.

Ripping my fingers from her pussy, I knocked away her hand and ducked to find her entrance.

She swayed in my arms as the water currents licked around us.

She screamed as I speared upright, impaling myself hilt deep inside her in one thrust.

“Oh, shit.” Eleanor’s cry echoed around my utopia, amplified by the pool and deafened by the waterfall.

This was impulsive.

This was reactive.

This was fucking fantastic and fleeting.

Gripping her by the nape, I thrust into her. My knees dug into gravel, and my other arm wrapped tight around her waist, keeping her prone and at my mercy.

She screamed again as I lost myself.

I dropped all barriers.

I cut through every rope and chain imprisoning me.

I drove every part of me inside her. My balls smashed against her clit. My teeth sank into her throat. And I gave myself over to the overwhelming need to mount and claim and ruin.

I wanted this to hurt.

I needed to feel pain because Eleanor had the magic to rip apart my ribcage and sink her fangs into my heart.

I might be taking from her.

I might be setting the feral pace and pounding every piece of me inside her, but she was the one who ruled me.

She always would, and I honestly didn’t know how to fucking deal with that.

I snarled as my pace turned demented.

She groaned and gasped.

Water splashed around us.

Savage snarls tumbled from my mouth.

My heart reminded me that it’d tried to kill me a few weeks ago and could still achieve such a tragedy.

But I ignored it.

I ignored everything apart from the hot welcome of Eleanor and the fisting fury in my balls.

She felt so good.

Too good.

Fuck, I was lucky.

So unbelievably, goddamn lucky.

Eleanor detonated first. Her climax shattered her one vertebra at a time—snapping her rigid in my arms. Wave after wave of ecstasy pulsed through her body, milking my length.

“Christ, woman.”

My own release began like a thunderstorm.

Black clouds.

Rumbling thunder.

Wind and rain and lightning bolts.

And it ended as a hurricane, slashing through my belly, ripping out my past, hurling me into the future, carving me out with every jet of pleasure.

I came longer and harder than I had in memory.

I jerked and gasped until black spots danced on my vision and I struggled to stay coherent.

I gave everything I was, and fuck, it was worth it.

The sense of peace that cloaked us as we switched from animals to lovers was thick and cloying and better than any anaesthesia.

Eleanor pulled forward, disengaging our link and twirling to face me.

She swam against me, cupped my cheeks, and kissed me.

We kissed as our breathing evened out and our tongues switched from hunting to caressing.

We kissed until her lips twitched and she whispered, “Well, you’re still alive which I’m grateful for but...”