Chapter 16

SIXTEEN

BASH

I’d never stayed in a real home before. I’d lived in a crystal palace all my life but this was a home. It smelled of warm chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon. I was accustomed to cold opulence but this was something else entirely. The room was small with a queen size bed in the middle of it. The walls were a warm beige color that seemed so… normal. Like we weren’t waiting for my Mother to attack us at any moment. Everything was just… nice.

I wasn’t accustomed to nice.

Collins seemed so at home here. Like a home was just how she lived. She didn’t expect palaces or expensive treasures. It was one of the things I valued most about her she valued people and things. Nothing was discarded or treated callously. She was sweet in a way I never knew I needed. But being with her all day and seeing her bravery in the face of adversity was inspiring. She was terrified. I felt it in her aura yet she charged forward in spite. It made me love her even more. And love was something I’d never felt before. It was a strong emotion that made me need her and I didn’t need anyone. Collins was like the air I needed to breathe.

As I watched her move around our room tension thrummed through my entire body. We’d come too close to my mother which was too close too death too many times. I needed to feel her close to me, to feel her body next to mine. When we had a brush with death to feel alive was that much more important.

“This is kind of nice, right?” She spun around to face me and my hand shot out. I wrapped it around her neck and dragged her to me.

Her body crashed into mine as my lips descended on hers. She tasted of fresh mint and smelled of jasmine. When her tongue danced with mine I pulled her closer. Her little fingers dug into my skin as she tugged me closer. She was everything. I backed her toward the bed.

“I need you.”

She glanced around. “But the others might hear.”

“They’ll hear nothing.” My black smokey magic poured from my hands and traveled up the walls and around the room.

A smile tugged at her lips as she blinked up at me. I ran my hand through her hair. She shoved my coat from my shoulders it fell to the floor. It was all the permission I needed.I wrapped my hands in the top of her body suit and yanked it down. The material stretched to my whims and Collins peeled her arms out of it. We reached for each other at the same time, her breasts crashing into my chest. I loved the feel of her soft skin against mine. The way it brushed against me was almost maddening. I wanted her closer. I needed more.

Her tiny wings popped from her back and she lifted herself up off the ground. I pulled her cat suit the rest of the way off and gasped. She wore nothing under it. There she floated completely bare to me with her wild hair flowing all around her body. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever beheld. My mouth watered to be on her. I needed to taste every inch of her body. I leaned forward and wrapped my lips around one of her taut peeks. She cried out at my touch and threaded her fingers through my hair.

Nothing else mattered, not my family, not her family, not the Island. Not the Chaos Stone. Just us together stealing a second in time. She wrapped her legs around my hips and my wings popped from my back. The excitement of her was too much yet I needed more. When I dropped to my knees her eyes widened and her wings fluttered even more. She nearly hit the ceiling but I grabbed her legs and threw them over my shoulders. I held them close to me or we’d both take off. At my first taste her hips bucked wildly toward me but I couldn’t let go of her. I was too close now and I wanted every bit of her. I set in tasting her in the most intimate of ways. Her little sounds of excitement urged me to keep going, to do more.

I loved the way her wings fluttered when I hit the right spots and the way her body moved to get more from me. When her cries were nearly constant I stopped just before she reached the point of no return. I wanted her on edge as much as I was. To want me even a fraction as much as I wanted her. I jumped to my feet and tossed her back on the bed. She soared across the room and landed with a tiny bounce. A small giggle escaped her lips before I was there on top of her kissing her soft mouth with everything I had, everything I was, and everything I would be.

As I moved over her she unfastened my pants and shoved them down to my knees. “I need you.”

She dug her hands into my hips and pulled me to her. I wanted to hold back, to be gentle, to make this time sweet and slow but I couldn’t. I entered her in one long thrust that sent my eyes rolling back in my head. She was a mix of the most perfect pleasure and the deepest desire. She threw her head back into the pillows and moaned my name. With each of my moves the bed slammed into the wall. But I didn’t care, my magic was in full effect so we were in a world all our own.

I flipped her onto her hands and knees and pushed her chest down onto the bed. I grabbed her hips and pulled her back toward me. With her body around mine I could barely think, all I could do was feel her need for me. I had to give her more, give Collins everything she wanted and needed from me. I’d hold out as long as it took to get her there. Her moans were nearly constant as she moved with me. Little puffs of her magic flitted around her fingers and her wings fluttered with excitement. I clenched my teeth and drove hard and fast. When her body stilled and I felt her explode around me I couldn’t hold back. Ecstasy like I’d never known shot through my body. It was pure perfection.

She fell onto her side and I followed her down to the bed. She curled into the little spoon and instantly I let my body curve around hers. I held here there, the two of us just breathing in the perfection between us. Her back was pressed to my chest. I relished the feel of her every breath. I held her in her sleep waiting for sleep to take me. We might’ve been facing death against my family but Collins . . . she was everything worth living for.