“You’ll pay for that,” I warn, wind gathering at my fingertips as I lunge toward her.
She squeals and dives beneath the surface, but she’s not fast enough. I wrap currents of air around her ankle and pull her back to me, spinning her into my arms as she breaks the surface, laughing and breathless.
“Cheater,” she accuses, pressing her palms against my chest.
“Strategic.” I tighten my grip on her waist, my fingers digging into her flesh, reminding her exactly where she belongs. “There’s a difference.”
“Race me again,” she challenges, her voice light, her eyes daring.
“Careful.” I move closer to her, so I can murmur in her ear. “If I chase you again, I might not let you go.”
Beautiful in her ignorance, she laughs and dives away, graceful and bold, confident she can escape. But the truth she never realizes—the truth I never allow her to grasp—is how carefully I’ve memorized every move she makes. She can run, dive, and even fight, but in the end, I’m going to keep her where she belongs: with me.
I move through the water with predatory grace, each stroke a silent promise. Soon, my fingers close around her ankle, turning her laughter into a gasp as I yank her toward me, water churning around us as I spin her to face me.
“I thought you’d let me win this time,” she says, another teasing smile playing at her lips as I catch her waist and pull her against my chest.
“And let you think you could escape me?” I return her smile with one I hope is as light-hearted as her own, refusing to let her see even a hint of the dark thoughts lingering in my mind. “Never.”
Not wanting her to reply, I capture her mouth with mine. Ice crackles at my fingertips where they dig into her hips, tiny crystals forming and melting against her skin. Satisfaction coils tight within me at the small gasp she makes, the subtle, breathless surrender of her body that tells me she understands exactly who she belongs to. And as her lips part, I deepen the kiss, taking without mercy, demanding everything she can give and more.
Her laugh, her smell, and the way her body yields to mine… each detail makes me wonder what it would be like to keep her locked away from the world forever, a secret only I possess. How perfect our immortal lives would be if her every thought and desire revolved around me.
Now, her breath catches as my fingers trace her hip, finding the mark I left there months ago. The feel of it sends a rush through my veins, my pulse pounding with a hunger that borders on madness.
“Aerix,” she whispers my name like a prayer as her fingers tangle in my hair, pulling me closer.
With a single powerful beat of my wings, I lift us from the water, wind swirling around our bodies, drying us as we ascend. I carry her to an alcove near the lake’s edge, where starlight filters through dense branches, and as I set her down, my heart pounds in brutal anticipation, unwilling to let even an inch of distance separate us.
My gaze travels hungrily over her body—her soft neck, her chest as her breathing quickens, the swell of her breasts—and then lower, settling on the subtle rise of her belly.
“What are you staring at?” she asks again in that vulnerable tone reserved only for me.
Words fail me. How can I explain that the sight of her carrying my child makes me want to shield her away forever, to ensure no eyes but mine see her again? That after our child is born, I’m going to learn how to create the Summer Queen’s fertility potion, so she can bear us enough heirs to fill an entire kingdom?
I can’t. At least, not now. Not yet.
“You. Always you.” I lean down to press my lips against the swell where our child grows, my tongue tracing slow, claiming circles against her skin, savoring the way her breath catches beneath my touch. “Do you have any idea what you do to me? How incredible it is to see you like this?”
Her fingers thread through my hair, tugging me up to meet her gaze. “Show me,” she challenges, her eyes flashing with a hunger that matches my own.
The last threads of my control snap as I capture her mouth with mine, my wings unfurling behind me, creating a canopy that shields us from the world. “You’re mine,” I growl against her throat, tracing the spot on her neck where my fangs first claimed her. “Every part of you belongs to me.”
“Yours,” she agrees, her fingers slowly finding the sensitive junction where my wings meet my back.
My breath hitches, every muscle tensing with exquisite torment as pleasure races down my spine, burning away every last shred of my composure. Ice spreads from my fingertips across the moss beneath us, crystallizing in patterns that mimic the jagged edges of my sanity. It’s like being struck by lightning, but the electricity doesn’t just hit one spot—it branches through every nerve ending, every cell, and every molecule of my being.
“Zoey—” My voice fractures, her name splintering into fragments as my body shakes with a pleasure so intense it borders on agony.
Her gaze meets mine, dark and knowing, her fingers pressing firmer with each passing second. She knows exactly what this does to me. She revels in the knowledge, the power she holds over me in these moments. Every press of her fingers is a silent demand, a claim to the restraint I cling to, stoking the desire coiling in my chest.
As she continues her slow, agonizing strokes, need builds tighter within me, teetering on the edge of oblivion, threatening to shatter me entirely. My vision blurs at the edges. It takes every ounce of strength and restraint to hold myself back, my body trembling as I stop myself from unraveling at her touch.
Another deliberate press of her fingers obliterates the fragile remains of my control, and with one quick movement, I bury myself inside her, claiming her as if she was designed for me by the gods for this reason alone.
“I never thought I could want someone this much,” I confess against her skin as wind swirls around us, lifting tendrils of her hair, caressing my wings, intensifying every sensation as I imprint myself deep within her soul.
Her fingers dig into my shoulders, her strength matching mine. She’s no longer the fragile human who feared water and death. Now, she’s my immortal vampire queen, carrying our impossible child, inspiring an awe in me I never thought possible.
