AARYN

Aaryn couldn't even speak. His entire body trembled with the sheer force of his desire—and the call of the mating bond, fizzing in his veins like a line of sparkling stars that wanted to shoot across his skin.

She pleaded with him, and he couldn't resist any longer.

He kissed her deeply, mimicking with his tongue what their bodies would do, rolling against her as her pleasure grew and she began to pull at him, yearning for him to soothe the aching hunger inside her.

She got lost, her eyes closed and head thrown back as he played on her skin—his own body intoxicated by the mix of the deepest frustration, and the most promising kind of pleasure—until she was twitching and keening, arching every time he rocked, sliding against her most sensitive skin.

Aaryn groaned and rested his head where her shoulder met her neck as he reached between them and took himself in hand.

"Are you ready, El? This might hurt?"

"I don't care!" she gasped.

"I love you."

"I love you."

Then, with a shuddering groan, he pushed into her, rolling his hips and his entire body lit up like a firework.

Elreth cried out, but pulled him closer. When he would have stopped to give her a moment, she rocked back into him and gasped. "Holy shit!"

"El, are you—"

"Don't stop, Aaryn! Please! This is… this is…"

"I know," he whispered, stroking her hair back off her face, then cupping the top of her head as he rolled into her again and his breath stopped.

Her mouth dropped open and her breath shuddered. He could feel her rippling beneath him, her body clearly reacting both to pain, and to pleasure, and he trembled with the effort of holding himself back.

But his brave, fearless, adventurous mate had other ideas, that almost sent him over the edge.

"Don't… stop…" she growled and took his mouth. Her kiss was punishing—and hot as hell.

"You're hurting—"

"It's not bad…" she gasped. "It's already fading. Please."

He pulled almost the whole way out, then thrust back in with a tortured moan, and Elreth cried out, her skin pebbling under his hand.

Then, as if her cry had called it out of him, that coil inside him, that rush of something supernatural that flowed in his veins and sparkled in his bones began to pound, throbbing first in his muscles, then in his skin, pushing him closer, deeper, needier.

"El," he gasped.

"I feel it!" she panted. One of her hands slapped at his neck and she held on, clutching his shoulder, urging him on.

He could feel this thing with him, pulling towards her, pulling him closer.

And as Elreth began to keen, gasping his name and arching to meet him with every roll of their hips, he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold back.

"Elreth… I… Oh fuck."

"I know. I know. Me too!" she cried, her voice high and quavering.

With the next thrust, he took her mouth, their tongues tangling, lips searching, twin breaths hot, mingling as they rolled together towards this impossible, shivering release.

Elreth whimpered in her throat, but pulled him in tighter and Aaryn picked up the pace, his breath tearing out of his throat in guttural moans. Elreth clung to him, rocking with him, arching, her breath frantic.

Then she began to clench around him, and Aaryn shuddered. He wasn't going to be able to hold back much longer.

Desperate, knowing Elreth still sought her own release, he slid one hand between them, his thumb finding where she was hot and swollen, and using the pad of his thumb, he slid from where they were joined, up to that nub at the center of her pleasure.

She jerked, and gasped his name. "Oh!"

He did it again, and again, her body tensing around him, her cries calling him, the spiral in his blood pressing on his skin until he felt as if he might explode.

Then he thrust again, slid his thumb again, and Elreth arched beneath him, crying his name, her body twitching, jerking, clenching around him and his own release washed over him in pummeling wave—just as the sparking in his blood exploded out, reaching for her, clawing for her, demanding her.

Torn between the sensations of the flesh and the soul, Aaryn howled the mating call, and she roared it back, and as if their hearts lifted from their chests, Aaryn felt his flutter and flip, reaching for hers, and felt hers press close, embracing him.

For a moment they both hung in the crystal moment of pleasure, their bodies peaked, their minds overwhelmed. But their souls…

It was as if she curled herself around him, pulled him within her, then gave him back—but now, with a piece of herself tattooed upon his heart, and a piece of him tattooed on hers.

They were joined at the soul, tied together for eternity.

If Aaryn had been in his right mind, he would have wept.

Then, as quickly as it had hit, his climax and that soul-destroying bond both faded, like a wave drifting back to out to sea, and he grieved it. But even as it pulled away, leaving its mark, but sinking into the sand, he knew it was never truly gone.

Aaryn slumped, sweaty and breathless, his lips at Elreth's neck. She shuddered and relaxed as well, holding him close, her heart pounding so hard he could feel it in her skin.

Neither of them spoke for a moment as they blinked and panted, trying to find themselves after the onslaught of sensation.

Then Elreth turned her head and, without lifting his, he pulled back far enough to meet her gorgeous eyes.

"Is it… always like that?" she gasped between pants.

He swallowed hard, shaking his head. "Never. Never before, and never again, Elreth. Only with you. Only with you."

She smiled and gave him a soft kiss. He fisted her hair and, taking some of his weight on his elbow, leaned in to kiss her properly.

She sighed when he let her go and slumped deep into the pillow. "Can I ask you something else?"

"Of course," he said softly, stroking her hair back from her face.

She bit her lip. "How long until we can do that again?"

Aaryn's laughter bounced off the walls of the cave.

*****

NOTICE ABOUT CONTENT THIS WEEK (Last Week of August): I know you're always eagerly awaiting updates (thank you!) Unfortunately, because I am on vacation this week and had to fit an entire month's content for two books into three weeks of writing, there will be mostly single-chapter days for QUEEN in the coming week, beginning tomorrow. On those single-chapter days, the chapter will post at 7pm, Pacific (Los Angeles time). Thank you for ALL your support, and don't fear, double daily updates will be consistent in September!

*** There will be FORTY-FIVE unreleased chapters available in September through privilege! ***

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