Then, I sealed my lips to hers where they belonged. I’d almost lost it when she kissed me in the meeting chamber. Was ready to lay her down on the table, glorious wings splayed around her, and tell everyone to get the fuck out.
But we had things to talk about first, and more than anything, I just needed tofeelher.
I held her tightly—was never letting go of her again—as I broke the kiss and searched those magenta eyes. Her irises glowed gold around the edges, like the power of her Angellight and seraph magic and whatever else she contained was bursting to get out of her.
But there was also a haunting emptiness behind her powerful stare that was so foreign, it clawed through my chest like a riled beast, dragging up unpleasant realities that we had to address.
“You told me not to come for you,” I rasped.
Ophelia’s eyes widened at the tone of my voice, then her brow set in determination, and ribbons of gold light twirled around her hands where they pressed to my chest. “You didn’t listen,” she challenged. The magic flared. Oh, we were both fucking angry.
Good. We weren’t burying anything.
“Damn right, I didn’t.”
“Vincienzo—”
I gripped her jaw. “No, Alabath.”
Slowly, I walked her back toward the bed as her ribbons of light curled up and over my shoulders, waking sparks of heat and pleasure every damn place they touched. “I don’t care what the risks are. I don’t care if a god is going to flay me alive. When you are in trouble, I will come for you.”
“And I don’t care how positively reckless you attempt to be,” she spat back at me, hands gripping my hips to steady herself,nails digging into my leathers, and on Damien’s fucking grave, I wanted to anchor her to me. Wanted her light to brand me. “If there is a way for me to protect you from harm, I am going to do it.”
“That’s the problem with your logic, Alabath.” Her brows rose skeptically, light still coiling around me. “The only thing that will truly harm me is something happening toyou. Because you hold my entire heart and spirit in those hands of yours—wield them like they’re your damn blades—but I amnothingwithout you.”
Her thighs met the mattress, and I pushed her down on it. Her wings fanned around her, and I crawled on top of her, settling myself in the cradle of her hips as that Angellight burned brighter.
“You areeverythingto me, though,” she argued, light flaring with a medley of colors.
I dropped my forehead to hers. “And you’re everything to me,” I repeated, my throat thickening. “I need you,apeagna.”
I needed her here. Needed her safe. Needed her by my side while we got our fucking earned retribution together.
“I need you, too,” Ophelia admitted. She exhaled slowly, eyes falling closed. Her magic slowly spooled back into her, trickling across my skin. For a long moment, we breathed each other in. The numbness shrouding my chest peeled back, and something warm seeped through. Not the heated anger that had me lashing out recently, but relief, pure and soothing from that light.
I could fuckingbreatheagain.
“Do they hurt?” I checked, dragging a hand down the edge of her velvety wing.
Ophelia shivered beneath me. “No,” she panted, that voice sending a different kind of warmth through my body. Angels, I needed her this way, too. “Not anymore. That feels good.”
Noted.
I kissed her, one hand toying with the feathers until she was squirming and insatiable. I licked and nipped down the column of her throat, sinking my teeth into her collarbone.
“Tolek,” she begged, ribbons of light uncoiling from her hands and reaching for me. The control was astounding, so in tune with her every breath.
Brushing a hand up the inside of her thigh, I pressed against her center over her leathers and worked my lips back up her neck. When I got to her ear, I whispered, “Never tell me to leave you again.”
She angled her hips up to meet my hand in an insistent pattern. When our eyes met, there was nothing but promise searing back at me. For now, that was enough.
“Please, Tolek,” she whimpered.
There was a brokenness in her voice that had me pausing. It wasn’t her, frenzied, begging for me. It was haunted andneedingthis damn connection to ground her. It was the result of true torment, and my anger reignited.
“What did he do to you?” I growled. She fidgeted, like this was something she hadn’t been wanting to tell me. “Alabath,” I whispered, my head falling to her shoulder. “Tell me. Please, tell me so I can take it away.”
Let me take the pain. Let me hold her anger, cradle it like she did every secret of my fucked-up childhood. Her fear was so vibrant, I could taste it. It weighed down the air, seeped from her skin. I lifted my head, meeting those magenta eyes again, and cupped her cheek.
