29. THE PAST

29

THE PAST

A violent crash startled Charlotte awake. Blinking away the exhaustion weighing heavily on her body, she looked at Aiden's bed, perpendicular to her bed. Moonlight from the window illuminated his tossing and turning.

Her gaze moved around the room for the source of the noise that woke her. A broken lamp lay on the floor between their beds. Aiden must have knocked it over with his thrashing.

She pushed her covers down and put her feet on the floor, rolling her neck. She felt stiff and her arm throbbed. The stress that kept her muscles taut hadn't abated in sleep. She didn't feel a threat in the room, but she couldn't shake the events of earlier in the night from her tired body.

Her stalker was dead. She was free. Noah ran when Aiden attacked the stalker, but she didn't think he could get onto academy grounds. Dominic told her he had people searching for him.

Pushing to her feet, she adjusted the boxers she'd rolled at the waist several times to fit and crept over to Aiden's bed, climbing onto it from the bottom corner to avoid the broken glass.

His face was twisted in pain, and she hated it. She knew he had nightmares, but he never told her what they were about. It made her question if he trusted her or not. For him to keep what he was a secret from her should have given her the answer to that question; by their laws, he couldn't tell her before.

Maybe he could share now.

"Aiden," she whispered, crawling up beside him, kneeling on the bed, her hand touching his shoulder as he squirmed. When he didn't respond to her voice, she put her other hand on the other shoulder and shook him. "Aiden!"

His eyes flashed open, and he jackknifed up in the bed, causing her to fall back. In a swift movement, he caught her around the waist before she could fall off the bed. Lowering his forehead to her shoulder, he shuddered.

She didn't dare move. Her hands rested on his large shoulders, her legs straddling his thigh, but she didn't sit. She wasn't sure if he had his wits about him yet. Her heart hammered in her chest from the near fall into the pile of broken glass.

Taking another long inhale, he lifted his head to meet her eyes.

She brushed away the pieces of his disheveled hair that stuck to his sweaty forehead. His eyebrows drew in. Did he not want her to touch him? The thought made her feel sad.

"I wish you'd tell me," she whispered.

"Tell you what?"

"What you dream about when it hurts."

His arms tightened around her in response to her words, and she expected him to retreat, but he surprised her. "Alright." He shifted her to his side and slid over to make room for her on the bed .

The covers were damp with sweat, so she pushed them down with her feet and sat with her back to the cool wall, crossing her legs and putting her hands in her lap. He moved to sit beside her, and she did her best not to enjoy all the naked skin on display, since he wore only a pair of athletic shorts.

"Since you know the truth now, I don't have to keep this from you." He bent his left leg, wrapping his hand over his shin. His other hand rested on the right thigh of his other leg that extended over the side of the bed. "When we went to Europe, it wasn't a school trip. Well, it was, but it wasn't something like a field trip. We went there to meet the Blackthorn Clan, the leaders of our kind—"

"They told me about them."

"Did they tell you about Europe?"

She shook her head.

"Well, we went there to see them because the Order got arrested for the shit they pulled with Blaire."

"Who is the Order? What did they do to Blaire?"

Aiden tapped his leg. "Technically, there are three Orders in the world, but they go by different names. A group of Vasirian who oversee the area of the world they are located. The members on this side of the world also acted as the administration for Blackthorn Academy. There are a few schools like ours in the world, and each leadership group oversees them." His eyes cut to hers. "Until now. After they experimented on Blaire trying to discover the secrets of how she could be a Korrena as a human, and their role in helping Vincent with Blaire's kidnapping, they got apprehended and removed."

"I remember the administration got in trouble, but I didn't know they were the Order."

He nodded. "We went to Europe to back up our witness statements, but a lot of things happened. While we were there, Riley and Blaire were captured and nearly died. If it wasn't for Dom finding them, there's no telling what would have happened."

She didn't know anything. All this time she spent at UGA stressing if accounting was the right career path, her friends were on the other side of the ocean fighting to survive. It made her feel useless and guilty for thinking her problems were actual problems. They didn't compare to what happened to Blaire.

"The rogues — Did they tell you about them?" At her nod, he said, "They attacked Blackthorn Manor to capture Blaire while we were meeting in the throne room. They don't want her to live. They don't want the prophecy to come to light."

"The magic thing?"

"Yeah." He nodded, his gaze unfocused across the room.

She was glad they'd explained the history and prophecy to her. Something told her Aiden was having a hard time relaying everything to her. The information was a lot to digest. She couldn't fathom trying to explain it all to someone so utterly clueless.

It made little sense to her for people to want to kill Blaire if she was destined to save their species. Did they want their kind to go extinct?

"During the attack, the clan and the rest of us had to fight. There were so many of them," he said, his voice going distant as he stared forward, unblinking. She suspected he wasn't in the room with her anymore, but back in the manor, in his mind.

"Someone knocked out Lukas. They caught Blaire. When I tried to help…" The rise and fall of his chest grew heavier, his breaths becoming shorter. "Riley tried to get to me, but Seth and Dom wouldn't let her. She had to watch," he said, his voice rough with restrained emotion. A single tear slid down his cheek, sparkling in the moonlight. "She watched me die. Watched them press a gun to my te mple and put a bullet in my head."

His tongue peeked out of his mouth, moving over his lips to moisten them. "Blaire's magic brought me back. I don't know where I was. It felt like a sort of limbo. Floating in space, waiting on wherever I was supposed to go." His burning gaze turned to her. "I heard you crying."

She blinked. "What?"

"I thought it was Riley crying for me, but in my dreams since, a voice told me my Korrena was waiting for me. I just knew it was my Korrena mourning me. You mourning me. I think it was symbolic, not literal. I mean, you knew nothing about us or what a Korrena was." He shook his head and looked across the room again. "When I woke up, Blaire had passed out. She used all her strength and magic to heal me. To bring me back from the dead. She doesn't even remember it."

The silence that fell was heavy, only broken moments later by his meek laugh. "I'll tell you what, though. They told me what Blaire did to the man who shot me." He put his head against the wall. "Her therapist told her it might have resulted from shock, but I think it was also the strength she's gained being in our world. Not physical strength, mind you. Mental. She went off. Stabbed the rogue to death until Lukas pulled her off him."

She tried to imagine Blaire killing someone in cold blood, but she found it difficult. Blaire had been afraid to even defy her stepbrother before she came to Blackthorn Academy. Had she really changed so much in a year? Considering everything they told her she went through, it wasn't out of the question.

"So yeah. My nightmares for months have been reliving that moment on my knees with the gun to my head, or the after where I waited in limbo." His heavy sigh sounded defeated. "I don't know how to make it stop. "

Her stomach cramped, and her eyes stung. She couldn't stop her emotions from taking over as her vision blurred with unshed tears.

The more she heard about their world, the more her curiosity grew, but it sounded scary. Not in the "monsters waiting in the dark" sort of way, but in a "This world is dangerous and if you're not strong enough, it'll eat you alive" sort of way.

His head turned when she hiccupped, and he pivoted his body toward her. "Why are you crying?"

She sniffed and wiped her nose. Tears streamed down her face, making her swipe her chin. "I didn't know… I didn't… I never knew anything." She sniffed. "God Aiden, I've liked you for a long time now. To think you might have died permanently, and I wouldn't have gotten the chance to really know you the way I have this last little while…" The tears fell faster, and she hiccupped as her chest tightened.

His arms wrapped around her shoulders, drawing her to him. She didn't resist, burying her face in his chest, wetting his skin in the process. He made a gentle shushing sound. "It's okay. I'm safe now. I'm here."

"No, it's not!" Her fist balled against his arm and hit his bicep. "It's not okay. It's not okay. I didn't know. It's not okay someone shot you in the head. None of this is okay!" Her soft cries turned into heartrending sobs that racked her body, making him hold her tighter.

"No, I guess not." His hand moved up to cup the back of her head, burying his face in her sleep-mussed curls. "But I'm here now. I'm not going anywhere. I won't leave you."

Aiden held her tight, comforting her as she poured out her grief over the potential loss of the time they shared. She didn't understand the anguish she felt. Although she hadn't lost any time, the mere thought of it caused her chest to flutter in a panic.

It felt like she was grieving his death, even with him right in front of her.

His heart beat thunderously in her ear and he spoke low. "Charlotte. You're breaking my heart."

Her head popped up, and she looked up at him, sniffing. "What?"

"Your emotions are wide open to me right now. They are so strong that I feel all your sadness and panic." When her heart tripped over itself with anxiety at the idea her feelings were hurting him, his eyes softened. "I'm not upset with you. I'm worried about you." His thumb swiped her cheeks. "I'm really not going anywhere."

It had been a long time since she'd cried like that. A long time since something hit her with such a force that she felt helpless to stop the waves of heartache from crashing in. Even before starting depression medication, she didn't react like this. Depression made her pivot between anger and emptiness. It affected everyone differently but had usually been consistent within her.

Releasing a calming breath, she wiped the remaining wetness from her chin and cheeks and looked up at Aiden's face. "How often do you have the nightmares?"

"Almost every night. Less when I slept with you."

Her face felt hot. "Have you talked to anyone about your nightmares?"

"Not really." He leaned back against the wall, and she turned on the bed to put her back to the room, facing him. "I've told some of our friends that I have them, but not the details."

"What about a professional?"

"Like a therapist?"

"Yeah. It helped me way back. I don't see one now because I know what's going on and the medicine does enough to help with it, but if it got too bad, I'd start therapy again."

She wondered if maybe before long she could stop taking pills, but she wasn't sure. She quit when she felt better years ago, but as soon as anything shook her foundation enough, she needed it again. It was possible quitting wasn't an option. Was it healthy to start and stop depression medication whenever the need arose, like cold medicine, or did it make sense to take it as a preventative measure? She needed to at least ask the doctor that much.

He sighed. "I haven't, no. The others have been seeing the therapist in the psychology department, but I haven't. It really messed with a lot of them, witnessing what they did and all. I guess if I saw my friend or sibling—" His jaw tightened, and she reached to grasp his hand, squeezing.

She knew without him having to finish. He didn't need to keep reliving it.

"I think it might be a good idea," he conceded. "Especially now that I have the Korrena bond to contend with, too."

"What do you mean?"

Aiden laced his fingers with hers. "The bond can make you volatile. Aggression is common, for example. You wouldn't know it to look at them now, but Lukas and Blaire fought like cats and dogs in the beginning. The jealousy was intense. Lukas and I almost—"

When he didn't continue, she squinted. "What?"

"He thought I was trying to take Blaire from him. We almost got into a fight."

She reared back. "What? Why? What happened?"

The chuckle following her rapid-fire questions held no amusement. "Yeah, about that… I made a pass at Blaire." He shook his head at the shock no doubt twisting her facial features. "She and I developed a connection. A friendship. While she and Lukas fought against their bond, she relied on me, and I did what I always do. Look out for people." He shrugged .

She didn't see how that equaled making a pass at someone spoken for—or were they then? She didn't have the chance to ask because he continued.

"I grew to feel attraction toward her. I didn't find her physically attractive when we met. I mean, I didn't think she was ugly. I just didn't consider her in a sexual way."

Her eyes widened. Aiden wanted to have sex with Blaire? Her belly flip-flopped with an unwanted sour feeling, and she tasted bile. Something coiled tight inside of her and she pushed it down, unwilling to acknowledge it as jealousy toward her best friend.

"They weren't getting along, and I figured if she didn't want a bond with him, and he didn't want one with her, then it wouldn't hurt to shoot my shot. I wouldn't have even bothered if I knew they felt anything for each other." He scratched his leg, averting his eyes. "Turns out they did, and I felt like an ass. Lukas forgave me, and Blaire and I remained friends, but we still have this weird connection that even Lukas can't deny."

That creeping sting of jealousy resurfaced. She hated it.

"I mistook my feelings for her, though. It was a combination of a couple of things."

"What things?" She hated that she sounded pissy.

His brow rose. "You're jealous? I knew I felt something… but it didn't make sense."

She bit the inside of her cheek and looked at his pillows.

"Charlotte."

She looked at him.

"There's nothing romantic between Blaire and me."

Intellectually she knew that, but she couldn't stop the feeling.

"That's another part of an early bond. Jealousy. It'll always be there, but it's never more potent than in the early stages of a bond. For me, it'll always be there. I know it. I'm not even going to deny it." He shifted and bent his knee again. "But yeah, nothing between her and me. The Oracle—"

Before he could ask if she knew who that was, she held up her hand. "I'm familiar with her." She smiled when he laughed, nodding.

"So, the Oracle revealed Blaire and I share a connection. We all do, actually."

"What do you mean?"

"Sort of like kindred spirits. We've all found each other in some way or another throughout the years. Except Dom, Layla, Mera, and Kai. Be it as siblings, lovers, friends, or whatever. Lukas, Blaire, Riley, Seth, and me. She said there was a sixth, and I'm starting to believe that was you since you're my Korrena."

Her hands twisted in her lap.

To be tied to someone's soul—five other someones—to exist over and over, finding them and sharing a lifetime, only to repeat the process again when the time was right, sounded so surreal. Any more surreal than magic, resurrection, and another species not documented by humans?

"Blaire and I share a different connection though, and it influenced my actions. I felt drawn to her because centuries ago, two lovers were murdered, and in their final moments, their pleas to never part were heard by whoever is watching over us. Their will was pushed forward through time until Blaire and I were born."

"Wait. You're reincarnated?"

"No. I thought that at first too. The connection of the six of us is a reincarnation thing, but not this. We carry the will of that couple to never part from each other, in whatever way that may be." He shook his head. "It's crazy to think about. They loved each other so much that they couldn't accept death without leaving that love in the world to never die."

"So that's why you wanted Blaire?"

"Yes and no. It helped push it along, but really, I can't feel attraction to someone without having an emotional connection with them."

"You're demi?"

"That's what Mera says, but I don't put a label on it. I just know what I read about it fits."

She knew about demisexuality. Her ma was demisexual. When Charlotte looked into it, because she didn't understand how her ma could be a lesbian and demisexual, she discovered that being demi wasn't about which gender a person felt attraction to. It helped her learn more about her ma, and now it helped her better understand Aiden.

"Blaire and I got close while I kept watch over her when she first arrived. When you sprinkle in the weird tie the magical connection adds, it was a recipe for attraction." He shrugged. "I don't feel attracted to her now, though. I still felt it for a bit after I backed off. It's not like an attraction can turn off like a light switch, but I grew to understand how much stronger my desire to be her friend was than desiring her sexually."

Her nose scrunched. "Does that mean you didn't feel anything for me before we became close friends?" That's how it would work if he was demisexual, but she felt something for him from the moment they met. At least, physical attraction.

"Oh, I did." At her raised brows, he laughed. "The first time I saw you, it felt so strange to get a hard-on from just seeing you in that mini-dress uniform at the diner. I had to hide it from the others."

Her mouth gaped. "What? I don't understand."

"I think my body recognized you as my pair before my mind realized it. Even your scent seemed familiar. "

"Scent?"

"Yeah, you smell like pineapple upside down cake."

"I do not." She lifted her shirt and sniffed. All she smelled was Aiden's laundry detergent. "I don't even have anything that smells like that."

He chuckled. "No, you wouldn't. It's a pheromone unique to you that only I can smell. There should be one for me that only you smell, too."

There was so much to learn about this Korrena stuff she couldn't keep up.

"You usually smell like a blend of orange Creamsicle lotion and the cologne you put on at my apartment." She'd smelled the bottle one day when he sprayed it. "Oh, and my bathroom supplies."

"I don't wear lotion."

"Really?"

"Really. So I smell like ice cream to you?"

"Like Creamsicle, yeah. That's not something you have?"

"No. That would be the pheromone I have that would appeal most to you. Probably why I slept better beside you than not. Your scent calms my mind. It's supposed to soothe you and draw you in. "

"All it's doing right now is making me hungry. Cake and ice cream? Yes, please."

Aiden laughed. "I haven't eaten either since before the club. We were planning to grab something from a late-night restaurant afterward, but things went… Well, you were there."

The last thing she wanted was to think about the rogue who attacked her. She didn't want to burst the bubble of comfort and peace they had at that moment, but the look on his face let her know unpleasantness had already seeped in. She put her hand over her bandaged forearm and winced .

"It hurts?"

She moved her hand and grimaced. "A little, yeah."

Heavy black brows speared together over forest green eyes, swimming with insecurity. "I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"For what you went through. Because I'm a monster? Take your pick."

"No. No, you're not." When he looked away from her, she snapped her fingers. He wouldn't do this to himself. "Aiden, look at me." His gaze slid back to hers. "Monsters hurt others. Monsters steal, kill, torment, and destroy without remorse."

"But you were afraid of me."

She reared back. "When?"

"In the alley. After I killed that piece of shit who hurt you. You were terrified. I felt your fear."

"I wasn't afraid of you. I was afraid of him, not you. You surprised me, but I wasn't afraid."

She watched the muscle in his square jaw jump and flutter with his clenched teeth, and she sighed, reaching out with her bandaged arm and placed her hand on the side of his face. The anxiety on her chest lifted when he leaned into her touch.

"Aiden, never be sorry for who you are. For what you are. And what you are is no monster. You're beautiful."

He kissed her palm. "I wish I could heal it for you."

"What?" Her brows raised, lowering her arm. "Don't tell me you have the ability to heal," she said in a flat voice. That would be overkill.

"I do, but only my bites. A Korrena's saliva holds healing properties. It's why when I broke your skin before you had no wound. I didn't use my fangs, but I was rough." He grimaced. "Sorry about that."

"Why? I'm not." Her skin heated. "I liked it. A lot. Is that a Vasirian thing?"

"What?"

"The roughness. The marking and the way you talk." The more she said, the more she felt like her skin might catch fire.

The corner of his mouth tilted up and his eyes narrowed. "No. It's not a Vasirian thing, Charlotte. It's not a Korrena thing either. It's what you do to me. You drive me mad. I can't help but want to devour you."

Her breath caught in her throat. The temptation to tell him to do it buzzed inside her. But that might be too much after everything they experienced tonight. Instead, she redirected the conversation.

"I don't understand all this. Magic, Korrenas, Vasirian—not vampires… but I won't run away. I want to learn more."

"Yeah?"

When she nodded, he reached out and put his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her forward to seal his mouth over hers, making tingles spread over her skin. She moaned, and he slipped his tongue into her mouth.

Kissing Aiden was addictive.

Leaning in, he lowered her down onto the bed. Her head nestled against his pillow and the smell of him surrounded her from beneath as his body covered her front.

Breaking the kiss, he worked his way over her cheek to her neck, kisses alternating between gentle and firm with a bit of suction.

When he lowered his hips between where her legs bent to cage him in, his erection pressed against her core, making her moan.

"Is this okay?" He kissed across her neck and up to her lips where he hovered over them, waiting for her answer.

She didn't know if she liked his hesitation. She wanted the uninhibited Aiden. The one who didn't hold back and succumbed to his wants without overthinking it. Overthinking was something she did; she needed him to be certain. Although she was open to tenderness and savoring the moment, she sensed only caution from him.

Her hands came up to bracket his head from both sides, the stubble from the day's growth on his face scratched her hands. "I need you to stop worrying about me being afraid of you."

"But—"

"No. Aiden, I want you." Her eyes narrowed. " All of you. Stop holding back."

He lifted his hands to grasp her wrists. "You think I want to hold back? I don't." When her brows lifted in surprise at the sudden harsh tone, he kissed her palm, tempering his voice. "When I said I wanted to devour you, I meant it."

"So devour me, then."

Aiden moved her arms over her head on the bed, putting her hands together. "Don't move them."

Clasping her hands together, she watched as Aiden rose, kneeling between her thighs. He didn't move, and the longer he stared at her lying beneath him, the heavier her breathing became until she felt like a needy mess. He wasn't even touching her; at least, not with his hands.

His gaze roamed over her body, clad in nothing but his T-shirt that fell to her mid-thigh and boxers. The heated look in his eyes made the slow drag of his gaze feel like a sensual caress.

When it felt like she would combust if he didn't touch her, his hands slid beneath the T-shirt and worked it up her body until it bunched above her breasts. Steady hands grazed the sides of her breasts, thumbs moving across the nipples but not lingering.

"Do you know how obsessed I am with these?" he asked, giving her breasts a firm squeeze, making her gasp.

Even though she always hated the size of her breasts, and considered a reduction at one point, the hungry way he touched and looked at them made her second-guess doing anything about their size. The way he handled them, like they were something to cherish, made her rethink her opinion. She didn't mind his focus on them.

He bent, leaning in to glide the flat of his tongue over her nipple as he pinched the other between his thumb and forefinger. "Do you know how lucky I feel?" he murmured against her skin, before kissing the peaked bud. "To have you here, knowing the truth, and not running away? It feels unreal."

She moaned when he took her nipple into his mouth, sucking tight to her skin while flicking her nipple with the tip of his tongue until she squirmed.

His lips grazed across the valley between her breasts before he dragged his teeth over her left nipple. Her responding groan bordered on embarrassing.

Clenching her fists to avoid lowering her hands to touch him, she wiggled her hips, seeking friction, but his lower half hovered too far from her reach.

Aiden's teeth sank into the tender flesh of the side of her breast, pulling her skin into his mouth and sucking. Her breath caught, and she arched into his mouth. The thought of him marking her again sent shivers of delight down her spine.

Moving lower, he kissed across her stomach to the rolled waistband of her boxers. He hooked his fingers beneath the fabric and tugged them down, moving aside to shimmy them down her legs. Once they were discarded, he moved between her legs again, lowering his upper body to trail his tongue over her inner thigh.

"Your skin tastes as good as it smells," he murmured before sucking the sensitive skin of her upper inner thigh into his mouth.

She whined, wriggling her hips while he marked her.

His fingers slid over her swollen and sensitive core, and the sound of her arousal made her cheeks boil with heat. It surprised her how much he affected her.

Slipping a thick digit inside her channel, he cursed against her thigh. "You really want this, don't you, Kitten?" He twisted his hand to rub his thumb in circles over her clit, sliding in another finger alongside the first.

When he increased the pressure with his thumb, her neck arched, and she cried out.

Moving to her other thigh, he lavished her skin with open-mouthed kisses and small nips until he neared the crease of her thigh. Her eyes flew open, and she yelped when he bit harder than he had the other side.

His head lifted. "Too much?"

She lifted her head, looking down at him while panting. "No."

"Good." His wicked grin intensified the pulse between her legs. Fresh arousal pooled at her core. "Fuck, the way you squeeze me…" His head shook from side to side.

He angled his fingers upward, and he touched a spot inside her that caused her to see stars at the same time as he closed his mouth over her clit.

She screamed at the dual sensation, lowering her hands and burying her fingers in his hair, pulling. She didn't know if she wanted to make him stop or if it was her body acting on reflex at the overstimulation.

Pulling his fingers free, he lifted his head, disentangling her hands from his hair. He tsked . "Kitten," he chastised, a low growl to his voice that made her shiver. "I thought I said not to move. "

He couldn't be serious. How did he expect her to maintain her position in that situation?

At her silence, he tilted his head from side to side in consideration, a slow and mischievous grin spreading across his face. His lips glistened with her wetness. "Do I need to make you stay still?"

"What do you mean?" Her hesitant voice made him frown.

"Nothing." He bent to kiss her knee, gentle again. Gone was the need in his voice she heard before. If she wasn't mistaken, he was retreating again. He misunderstood her.

"No, please. What?"

"It's too much," he said, hands sliding over her thighs. "I got carried away."

Her head rocked from side to side against the pillow. "Please. I like it when you talk like that. I was… confused."

Turning his head, lips still brushing her skin, he squinted as if assessing the truth in her eyes. "Do you? Like it, I mean."

"Yes," she said, her fingers toying with the bedding at her sides as her skin flushed.

"What if I kept you from touching me?"

"How?"

His gaze cut to the burgundy and black plaid tie hanging on the back of his desk chair and the air stalled in her lungs. He asked so low she almost didn't hear, "Do you trust me?"

She had a feeling her answer would do more than bolster his actions in a sexual context; he needed to know she trusted him on the most fundamental level. Did she trust him?

"I do," she whispered.

With those two words, he pushed off the bed and moved to his chair, grabbed the tie, and settled back between her legs again. "You need a safe word. "

"A safe word?"

"You know, for if it's too much. I don't want you to feel like you can't stop me."

She frowned. "I could just say no."

"Sometimes it's hard for people to say no in the moment. I wouldn't want you to feel like you couldn't. So tell me something you wouldn't say in normal conversation."

"Creamsicle."

"What?"

"That's the word."

He laughed. "My pheromone?"

Her cheeks flushed.

"Creamsicle, it is."

He leaned over her, lifting her arms above her head, crossing her hands. She licked her lips, watching him wrap the tie around her wrists several times, lacing it through the center and looping it over the metal bar that traversed the length of his wooden headboard. He smirked when she tugged at the restraints, unable to get free.

Moving back down her body, he nipped, kissed, and sucked at her skin until he positioned himself between her thighs again. "You are so beautiful, Kitten. And all mine." His mouth covered her clit again, tongue flicking at a rapid pace.

Her back arched, a guttural groan escaping her mouth. She couldn't do anything with her hands restrained above her head. He knew it. She knew it. And he took advantage of it.

Two fingers slid into her heat again and she whimpered, trying to hold back the moan in her throat, failing when he sucked at her slit. The wet, popping sound when he pulled away was lewd and made her toes curl.

His left hand gripped her thigh in a bruising grip as he lavished her with kisses, licks, and bites that pulled at the sensitive flesh between her legs.

The noises he made as he lapped up her liquid arousal sounded obscene. If she weren't out of her mind with pleasure, she might feel embarrassment, but with the way he possessed her body, she couldn't think of anything other than how amazing she felt.

Her legs trembled, and her hips bucked against his face. Her orgasm was approaching fast, but she needed to resist surrendering. She wanted him inside her first.

"Aiden, please."

He hummed against her in question, never relenting on his assault on her clit. The vibration made her gasp.

"I want you," she said with a whine.

His left hand gripped her thigh, and he rose to smile down at her, pulling his thick fingers from inside her. She thought he would give her what she wanted, but she was mistaken. He lowered his face again, watching her with an intensity that made her squirm.

When his slick fingers grazed over her other hole, making a riot of butterflies erupt in her belly, she gasped. A single brow rose in an unspoken question.

She'd never let anyone touch her there, not even herself. Now, here she was submitting to another thing she never thought she would have desired until Aiden Easton came into her world.

At her nod, he swirled around the tight, puckered skin until she relaxed, and he pushed the tip of his ring finger in. The fit felt tight, and a little uncomfortable, but he rocked at a gentle pace until her muscles loosened, allowing him deeper. When she felt his first two fingers slide inside her core above the one in her other hole, the fullness made her choke on a moan.

She tugged on the restraints, keening like a dying animal when he sucked her clit into his mouth, flicking his tongue in a punishing frenzy as he worked his fingers in sync, taking both of her holes at the same time.

The sensations were too much. Too raw. Too everything.

She would hyperventilate if she didn't come soon.

Her trembling thighs squeezed his head, and he growled against her, vibrations making her whimper and beg for him. She recognized the noises pouring from her mouth to be possible words, but their meaning eluded her.

His head lifted, and he spoke, his voice nothing more than a guttural rumble. "Come for me. Come all over my fingers and face."

Aiden didn't give her a chance to answer; he probably knew she couldn't. Instead, he resumed dragging his tongue up her slit and swirling it around the swollen bundle of nerves that pulsed in time with her pounding heart.

Pulling off her clit, he growled a command her body was helpless to resist. "Come for me, Kitten."

Her back arched, and if he wasn't pressing his face against her lower half, still lapping away at her, the force of her climax would have made her hips come off the bed. She screamed; eyes screwed shut as tears escaped over her temples.

He worked her through the aftershocks of her orgasm, the feeling of both of her channels tightening and fluttering around his fingers prolonging the sensations.

When she collapsed in a boneless heap, he slowly extracted his fingers, careful of hurting her. He grabbed the boxers at his side, using them to wipe his fingers clean before crawling up beside her and untying her wrists. He inspected them for marks, trailing kisses over the now sensitive skin as he praised her.

"You did so good, Kitten." Another kiss. "Thank you for trusting me." He lowered himself down onto the bed, pulling the oversized shirt down her body, tucking her into his side.

She snuggled into him. A foggy sensation settled over her mind, making her feel borderline nervous, and she didn't know what was happening to her body. The intense reality of what they did trickled through the fog, and she clung to him, a soft whimper muffled by his chest.

"Shhh," he said, kissing her temple. "It was a lot, but I've got you. You're not going anywhere. You're safe."

After several minutes wrapped around him while he whispered soothing reassurances to her, she looked up at his face. "I don't understand what just happened."

His fingers toyed with her curls, and he nodded. "I've never experienced it, or seen it before in person, but I've seen it talked about when I've watched stuff online."

"What?"

"It can happen to anyone. Doesn't have to be BDSM, or anything like that. They call it subdrop."

"Subdrop?"

"An adrenaline crash after a particularly intense sexual session. It happens a lot in the BDSM world, but it can happen to anyone." He stroked her head.

"You like BDSM?" She felt silly asking the question. He'd bound her wrists; of course he did.

"Not exactly. The only reason I saw anything about it was because of Seth. He was doing research for something he wrote—I'll let him explain to you about that—and he had me help find some information. I kinda got lost down the rabbit hole reading about it." He chuckled. "You're the first person I've ever wanted to tie up, and the first I've ever been aggressive with. I haven't been with many, but I've never felt the need to…" He looked up as if searching for the word. "Own someone so completely as I do you." His eyes met hers. "Did you hate it? Are you okay?"

The laugh that escaped her sounded nervous, but she wasn't. "I loved every minute of it. I just didn't understand the anxious feeling that followed." She looked down at his lap to the bulge straining against the front of his shorts. "What about you?"

"Tonight isn't about me." His lips touched her forehead. "You've been through a lot and had a lot of information dropped on you. I wanted to take your mind off it."

Burrowing deeper into his hold, she hummed. "Mission accomplished."

He smirked. "Good to know."