“You’re a bloodthirsty bitch, woman,” he rasped into my mouth, swallowing my moan as he forced my clit to rub against his abdomen. “Aren’t you? You’re my bloodthirsty, dirty little slut when this cunt is ravenous for my cock. Ride me until you pulse with an orgasm so strong it threatens to rip you apart as you drain my balls.”
He wasn’t asking. Ryder’s fingers bruised my hips, and he never stopped driving my body against his. I exploded, clamping hard around his cock. He chuckled, low and triumphant, as he thrust into me harder and faster.
Then he rolled us, reclaiming full control while I was too mindless to protest. My palms slid over his chest, but he captured them, once again pinning them above my head as he pounded into my core, unleashing his pain, anger, and frustration. Magic filled the room and I felt a thousand kisses over my skin. It teased. And taunted. And ran butterfly fingers over every inch of me.
“Ryder,” I whispered, arching my spine, silently begging him to go deeper, harder. I wanted the bastard to touch my soul and leave his fingerprints all over it.
“Be a good girl and shut up unless you’re screaming my name like it’s a fucking benediction, Synthia,” he rumbled before he slammed into my core, fucking me like I was his to break. My calves slid around his hips, and I gave in to the pure, untainted desire he was forcing me to take. He pounded and thrust into my pussy, unable to get deep enough to satisfy his need.
“Woman, you undo me. You’re my fucking world, and yet, you send it off kilter when you take me like a crazed, insatiable nymphomaniac who likes her addiction to my cock.” His grip on my wrist turned punishing, and his eyes burned with hunger
“Harder,” I ordered, needing his pain to trump the agonizing grief wrapping around me.
“You’re being disobedient,” he hummed with amusement in his timbre.
“Oh, someone get this asshole a prize. He’s pretty and smart.” His head lifted and hard, whiskey-colored eyes narrowed on mine.
“Is that how you want to play this?”
“Exactly, and if you’re a good boy, I might even make you a motherfucking sandwich when we’re done. Or maybe you prefer cookies for being such a good boy for me?”
He laughed, but it was wicked and sent a thrill of adrenaline through my veins.
Ryder pulled out of me, ignoring my protest as he forced me onto my stomach and yanked my hips up. Ryder didn’t need me to spell out what I needed from him. Through our connected souls, he sensed my yearning to feel pain, pleasure, and the blissful silence being used created. One hand pressed down between my shoulder blades, forcing me to remain still.
The thick, pulsing cock slammed into my body without waiting for me to prop myself up on my hands, but the rage he unleashed wouldn’t have allowed me to remain there for long anyway. His laughter darkened, and his fingers threaded through my hair, ripping my head back, while his hips forced me forward with each hard drive into my body.
The sound of our bodies slapping together filled the room and was punctuated by our grunts and gasps of pleasure. The heady scents of sex and sandalwood clashed with the lingering aroma of sage I’d burned hours ago.
His fingers bit angrily into my hips, holding my body exactly where he wanted it. I whimpered sharply, shuddering as he grew larger inside me, making me ache. The walls of my cunt pulsed and released with the orgasm thundering through me.
“Ryder!” I moaned while he continued to drive into my body. Then Ryder’s hold released me, he slipped one hand beneath my stomach, and then flipped me. Reaching down, he gripped my ankles, forcing them up against his wide shoulders, and slammed into my core like a rabid beast that’d been unleashed.
“Don’t make a fucking sound, woman,” he warned, tightening his fingers into the delicate flesh on my calves to control my angle. I swallowed a whimper as I trembled under the force of the pleasure he was building in my core.
He didn’t stop, not even when I felt him emptying within me. Ryder’s pleasure and the intensity of anger he unleashed on me with every powerful pump into my core were like violent waves, and it left me rocking in their embrace and aimlessly floating on endless churning white-caps as I was swept out to sea. Sweat rolled down his face and chest. His sparkling golden eyes remained locked with mine as we were swept away on endless waves and were left adrift in a churning sea.
Ryder yanked away, shaking with his emotions too close to the surface. He’d never found it easy to share his pain. I reached for him, clutching onto him like a lifeline.
“Don’t shut me out. Not now,” I murmured pleadingly.
“Release me and go tend to our son, Pet.” The warning was clear in his tone, and it was as if I could actually see him trying to shut down his turmoil. “I need to be elsewhere right now. I can’t—” His chest rose and fell in an unsteady rhythm, as if his wrath and need to unleash destruction were tangible obstructions restricting his breaths.
My palms cradled his face, and I nodded. “I know,” I whispered softly as grief swelled in my throat. “I know, Ryder.”
“I feel like . . .” He shook his head, looking a bit lost inside his own rage and hurt.
“You feel like we failed her. We failed Kahleena.” I sobbed. He leaned forward, placing his forehead against mine before he released a heavy, pain-filled exhale. “I feel it too, my beautiful beast. It’s wrapping around my throat and strangling me until I can’t get air inside my lungs.” I kissed his face, peppering him with the tears falling as I made him feel the emotions that were crushing down over me.
“Syn,” he murmured, holding me with gentle hands.
“This is us, though. Inside this room, it is only you and me, and there’s no shame in grieving our beautiful daughter. I love you, and I don’t see your grief as a weakness. We both lost her, so don’t make me mourn her alone. Don’t shut me out.”
Dristan’s soft noises broke the moment, and Ryder pressed a soft kiss to my forehead before he used his magic to cleanse and dress us. After rising from the bed, he withdrew his son from the small cradle and settled on the edge of the bed.
“Our baby’s perfect, Synthia,” he admitted, smiling softly at the babe who peered up, smiling toothlessly up at his father. Then our oh-so-adorable son made a crude sound, which caused us both to laugh. “I feel like we failed her and that I am failing you all. I hate that the day we lost her was also the same day Dristan was born. How can such a tragic day be one we also celebrate? We are supposed to be happy, but it feels like we’ll never be free of those who wish to hurt us. I honestly thought that, when we won, we would be done fighting. How fucking stupid was it to think it would be possible?”
“It’s never stupid to hope for peace, but we couldn’t have foreseen this. I mean, how could we? No one knew of the people who’d been removed, or that they remained in a prison she put them in. All we can do is prepare for war, and pray that we get to him before his army reaches our kingdom.”
“I’m going to get that asshole. When I get my hands on Arius, I will make Alazander’s punishments look like child’s play.”
“And I will be right beside you, ensuring he feels every cut.” I reached forward, sliding my fingers over Dristan’s cheek before Ryder handed him to me.