In every touch, every sound, in every desperate, hungry second, she felt him as if he’d become part of her. The way he filled her so deep it bordered on unbearable, and yet she wanted more. Her hips moved without thought, chasing every thrust, meeting him with a hunger that stripped her down to something primal. Sweat slicked her skin, his name spilled from her lips in broken fragments as he drove into her with a force that shook the bedframe.
She kissed him like she was giving what had always been his, biting his lip as his hands gripped her hips hard enough to bruise.
And she loved it.
Her release crept back up with a vengeance, fierce and fast and impossible to hold. Her fingers clawed at his back, nails raking down his spine as the pressure spiraled tight again.
“Gael—” The rest broke off in a strangled cry.
“Let go,lïoræn.”
His thumb found her clit between thrusts, and that was all it took.
Beth shattered again, harder this time. Her whole body locked around him as she came with a feral cry. She clenched down on him, pulsing around his cock, drawing him deeper still. Not just release, more than only pleasure, something warm and electric bloomed in her chest. She felt it in her bones, in her blood. A sudden rush of connection so intense it knocked the breath from her lungs.
It wasn’t just him inside her. It was himinher. Through her.
And for a second, her mind whispered one absolute word.
Mine.
Gael swore—low and guttural—buried himself to the hilt, and came with a shudder that rocked through both of them. His forehead dropped to hers, breath pouring out in a broken groan as he emptied into her, hips twitching with every pulse of release.
For a long moment, neither of them moved, lost in the heat still pulsing between them, in the humming stillness of something ancient settling into place.
His hand came up, brushing her sweat-damp hair from her face. The gesture, so gentle, so unguarded, cracked something in her. This was the part she might not recover from. And so, she leaned into his touch without thinking, pressing her cheek into his palm as his thumb brushed softly beneath her eye.
His gaze held hers for a moment longer, then dropped as he shifted carefully, easing some of his weight off her but never fullypulling away, and the slow thud of his heartbeat against hers was all she could feel. All she wanted to feel.
And then... something stirred low in her chest, like a second heartbeat that didn’t belong to her. It fluttered once, soft and unfamiliar, then faded as quickly as it came. Maybe it was just the crash of adrenaline, the come-down from something too intense to name. Or maybe his magic was still working on her, somehow. She didn’t have the words to ask, and she didn’t overly care, too. She didn’t want to lose the warmth of his skin or the way his breath still ghosted over her cheek. So she didn’t say anything at all, but basked into him.
She let her eyes drift shut as his fingers skimmed lightly down her arm, back up to her jaw, soothing, anchoring. Her muscles ached in the most perfect way. Her mind was a blur. Her body had never felt more at peace.
And then sleep took her.
GAEL WATCHED HER WHILEshe slept peacefully. One hand curled loosely close to her face, her body still turned slightly toward his like she hadn’t meant to let go of him.
Gael watched her, and tried not to fall apart.
Her aura was quiet, dimmed by sleep, but still pulsing gently at the edges. He could still feel the echo of her pleasure, the last bursts of emotion.
He’d been touched before. Taken, desired. But no one had ever looked at him with that kind of trust and asked to know his heart. His past partners had all been elves. He’d never reached for someone else’s feelings, and no one had ever asked for his. The distance had always been mutual, comfortable, and safe.
She had. Bravely. Generously. Without knowing what it would cost either of them.
And he’d let her all in.
He could still feel the place where his emotions had passed into hers and how she’d let them move through, nearly pulled her under before she matched them with her own.
And it had destroyed him.
He hadn’t meant for it to happen like this. Not so fast. Not so deep.
She may not even want this to be serious.
Maybe it had been a release, a breaking point, a beautiful mistake born from the weight of whatever was growing between them. Maybe, to her, it was just heat. Just hunger.
Just a hook-up.
