Chapter Eighteen

They tidied the war table as best they could before clutching their torn clothes to their chests and darting through the university halls like rebellious teenagers. Thea couldn't stop the laughter bursting from her lips as they sprinted through the empty library to their quarters.

Gods, she could only imagine who'd heard them. But she didn't care.

Wilder's silver gaze was bright and trained on her, his full lips curved into a disbelieving smile as she flung their door open and tossed her clothes aside.

‘I hope you brought your sewing kit,' she said as he followed suit, their shirts in complete tatters thanks to his impatience.

He chuckled, the sound making her toes curl as he faced her.

She drank in the sight of him. He was even more perfect than when she'd first laid eyes on him. Carved by the Furies themselves had been her first thought back then, and she stood by it now. He'd recovered from his time in the tower spectacularly. His whole body was chiselled and corded with muscle, and he seemed to drip with strength and power. Her mouth went dry as her brazen study trailed to his cock, hard and ready for her once more. A fresh wave of desire pulsed through her.

Wilder appraised her hungrily.

Thea gave him a lazy smile, and let her hands start to explore her own body, his silver eyes tracking every movement as she cupped her breasts and let her fingers drift south, sliding through the evidence of what they'd already done.

‘Ready again so soon, Princess?' His voice was low and husky.

Thea smirked. ‘Warsword stamina,' she said, echoing words he'd spoken to her a lifetime ago.

Amusement gleamed in his eyes at that. He wrapped a hand around his cock, stroking it leisurely as though he had all the time in the world. Longing coursed through Thea as she watched the up-and-down motion over that glorious length.

Wilder Hawthorne was a god, and she would gladly worship at his altar.

And so she did. She went to him and dropped to her knees, her hand replacing his, guiding his cock to her mouth.

‘Thea…' he moaned as her lips closed over the tip.

She nearly laughed, revelling in the instant power she held over him, in the fact that even on her knees, she held his pleasure in the palm of her hand. Circling the broad head of him with her tongue, she hummed around him, realising that he tasted of them both.

‘Stop toying with me,' Wilder pleaded above her, jerking his hips.

That only made her want to tease him more. Thea tongued the crown of him and felt his muscular legs tremble beneath him, saw the thick tendons flex in his thighs. Smiling to herself, she licked the sensitive underside of his head, featherlight strokes of her tongue taunting him with what was to come.

He groaned, grabbing a fistful of her hair, his whole body shaking with restraint.

Cupping his balls, Thea licked the length of him, from base to tip, before she glided her mouth over him and swallowed him down without warning.

‘Fuck,' he barked, bucking beneath her.

Thea sucked his cock, moving up and down over his shaft, letting him hit the back of her throat as she worked him. Wilder moved with her now, gripping her hair by the roots and thrusting into her mouth, muttering curses to the Furies as he stared down at her through a haze of lust.

‘Play with yourself while you suck my cock, Thea,' he ordered.

He didn't need to tell her twice; her own arousal was dripping down her thighs. She parted her knees on the ground and slid her free hand to that sensitive spot that ached for contact.

Wilder's eyes widened at the sight of her and the carnal noise that vibrated down his body and into her mouth was nearly her undoing.

Thea rubbed her clit, moaning around Wilder's cock as fire unfurled within. Holding his hungry gaze, she slid a finger inside herself, heat swelling between her legs, begging for release.

‘That's it, Thea… Eyes on me,' he murmured, watching where she fucked herself with her fingers. She added another and he groaned, as though he couldn't handle the sight. Candlelight gilded him above her, illuminating that powerful body, how it shifted with every thrust into her mouth.

‘Show me,' he growled. ‘Show me you're ready for me.'

Toes curling at his filthy words, Thea removed her fingers and showed him the glistening wetness coating them.

Whatever leash Wilder had been holding over his control snapped, and he pulled himself away and hoisted her up, carrying her to the armchair before the fire.

He sat down, pulling her on top so she was straddling him. His hard cock, still wet from her mouth, pressed against her core and she whimpered, sliding over the length of him.

Wilder traced her curves, his expression one of sheer awe. ‘There's no counting the ways I love you, Thea,' he murmured, cupping her breasts in his calloused palms. ‘There's no counting the ways I want to take you…' He circled a nipple with his thumb, eliciting a soft cry from her.

He kissed her, long and hard, deeply and passionately, his tongue exploring her mouth, his lips coasting over hers again and again as his hands mapped every inch of her skin.

Thea shifted on his lap so that his cock pressed against her entrance. ‘I love you,' she said against his lips.

‘I love you, too,' he told her, and sheathed himself inside her to the hilt.

Thea cried out, spots marring her vision as he filled her, stretched her so thoroughly she felt as though she might burst. A raging need blazed inside her, and suddenly she was wound so tightly that every breath sent a frisson of longing straight to her core.

‘Ride me,' Wilder told her, gripping her hips and grinding her back and forth, his cock buried deep inside her still.

Thea's whole body tightened at the instruction, and her head tipped back in ecstasy as she slid up the length of him, only to slam back down.

‘Fuck…' Wilder gasped. ‘Do that again.'

She obliged him, revelling in the carnal moans that escaped him, her own cries mingling with his as he hit that spot deep inside her.

Though they'd been rough in the war room, a different kind of frenzy took hold of them now. She rode him with the abandon of someone who was leaving in the morning, with the desperation of someone who wanted to leave her mark on the love of her life, so he'd feel her even in her absence. The brutal way Wilder fucked her in turn told her he felt the same way. He thrust into her from beneath, coaxing waves of desire from deep within, building that pressure to the cusp of its breaking point.

Then, he reached between them and circled her clit with his thumb.

Thea cried out, only to be silenced by his fierce kiss as he increased his pace, strumming where she was most sensitive, driving into her from below.

She gasped against his lips. ‘Wilder… you're going to make me —'

He broke away to watch her come undone, and she did.

Her climax barrelled into her like a tidal wave, sweeping her up in its path and crashing spectacularly all around her. She was half sobbing with the force of it, her whole body a shuddering mess atop her Warsword.

‘You can give me another,' he said.

Her eyes widened as she panted through the aftershocks of her orgasm. ‘I can't – I —'

‘You can.' Wilder switched the rhythm on her clit with long, luxurious strokes over the sensitive bud, all the while still thrusting inside her, drawing out his own pleasure. His mouth closed over her nipple, sucking gently before biting down.

The flash of pain sparked something anew inside her, and Thea's body turned molten once more.

‘There she is,' Wilder murmured as she moved with him, picking up her pace again, matching him.

Fused together, they were one. There was nothing more perfect, nothing that made more sense than this.

Thea was trembling uncontrollably now, shaking with the force of it all, of him, fucking her into utter oblivion.

‘Come with me, Thea,' Wilder rasped, sliding into her again and again, pushing her over the edge —

She came apart, her third climax ripping through her like a savage tempest, blurring all her senses. Chaotic sparks shot through every inch of her body, so intense that she blinked back tears, unable to fathom putting herself back together.

And beneath her, Wilder came undone with a hoarse shout. His body shuddered beneath hers, his release spilling inside her.

As they both rode the aftershocks, Wilder kissed her soundly and breathed her in as though she were something to be savoured, cherished.

Thea's heart nearly burst as he gazed upon her with nothing but love – pure, adoring love in his silver eyes.

‘No man could have you and not be consumed,' he murmured.