I lowered myself back into the pool, the steamy water covering my body, and pulled Greyson down with me. His mouth settled on top of mine, and his arms surrounded my body. He drew me against him in a play of dominance. He lowered his mouth to my ear and sucked on my lobe. His breaths were heavy and ragged in my ear. “Cesha,” he whispered. “My sweet Cesha. What have you done to me?”
I gasped and wrapped my legs around his waist. “Please, Greyson, please. I need you.” I moved my hips and my sex stroked his length, teasing him. He thrust in rhythm my movements, the head of his cock teasing my clit. Every bit of me was on fire and it was only Greyson who could extinguish that flame.
“You have captured me, Cesha, completely.” He reached between us and rubbed two fingers against my clit. I almost came undone and ground my pussy against his hand.
“Yes, like that, don’t stop.” He’d never gone down on a woman, but it was clear he knew what he was doing with his hands. His fingers moved in circles over my sensitive pearl, and, in seconds, I was coming. My head fell back, and I groaned into the winter air. He nibbled a path from my lower neck up to my mouth. My body wanted only him, needed him desperately and I would come apart soon if I didn’t have it.
I moved my hand down his side, his muscles contracting under my touch, rippling with fluid movements. Sliding over the firmness of his ass, I stroked my hand over his waist, then lowered it, wrapping my fingers around his cock. He was huge, thick and long. Up and down I stroked him, and Greyson groaned next to my ear, then hissed when I gripped the head of his dick harder.
“You like that?” I whispered.
“Yes,” he growled. He peppered kisses back around to my lips, and when our tongues caressed, it was as if our souls had finally met one another. Something was happening between us, more than sex, more than friendship. Greyson was my other half in many ways, and the man wasn’t even from my world. None of it made sense, but, right then, it was just us.
He dipped his fingers inside my channel and pressed his thumb to my clit. He pumped his digits in and out, fucking me with fingers that knew strength and kindness. He rested his forehead to mine and our eyes stared into one another’s for a long, blissful moment.
“Fuck me,” I whispered, then took his lips with mine.
He pulled his fingers free from me, then replaced his hand with mine on his cock. He lined the head up to my sex and pushed. He slid inside like I was made only for him.
The pain when he stretched me subsided almost immediately as he pulled out and slowly pushed back in.
“Are you all right?” he whispered and pressed his lips softly to mine. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I’m okay,” I told him. I ran my fingers through the underside of his hair and gripped it tightly. “Now, fuck me,” I growled through gritted teeth. “And don’t you dare hold back, Greyson Dragos Perpetor. Do you hear me?”
“Ah, you said my name, my full name, correctly.” He thrust hard, his cock sinking deep inside me. Holy hell, this man would ruin me for anyone else and I completely welcomed it.
“Yes,” I groaned, answering him, telling him I needed more with the one word. “I’ve wanted you for longer than I care to admit.” He picked up his rhythm and I knew I would come undone very soon. “You feel so fucking good,” I whimpered and tilted my head back.
He nibbled across my neck and made his way to my earlobe. “You’re so fucking tight,” he whispered. “You’re going to milk every ounce from me, woman. Everything, fuck,” he growled next to my ear, “everything I am is yours.”
“Yes,” I yelled into the air and let go of his hair. I tightened my arms around his neck and held myself closer to him, afraid if I let go, I’d lose him. “I am yours, now and always, Greyson. Yours, just yours.”
I lowered my mouth to his and we kissed again. His moan filled breath flitted across my skin and we sang a beautiful harmony together. The spark of an orgasm teased at my lower abdomen, and I knew I was close to releasing myself and giving him every ounce of my being.
But it felt like something was still missing. Love? Maybe, but it was too soon for it to be love . . . right?
Greyson pulled back and when he looked into my eyes, I gasped. His were glowing, the ring around his irises, lit with a silver flame. “Your eyes,” I whispered. “What are they doing?” I probably should have been frightened, but with him I only felt safe.
A part of my heart opened then, something that had been closed off for as long as I could remember. It was as if a wall had been ripped open and love completely filled me.
He leaned closer and whispered, “Yours are glowing as well.” He pushed into me harder, and it drew another gasp, taking me to the brink of my orgasm. What he said would have alarmed me in any other situation, but right then, everything was coming together like a cosmic wonderment.
“Do it again, I’m about to come, Greyson. Please, harder, now!”
He thrust more times than I could count, and I shattered, my heart, body, and soul. Everything was gone, the pain, the awareness, the attachment issues I’ve always suffered from. I was whole and I became a woman who simply existed in a moment held in time. I pulled myself tighter against Greyson as my hips rode out the orgasm. He continued to push inside me, not yielding in the least.
“You’re mine,” he growled, and I met his gaze once again. His eyes were aflame with the silver light I’d found myself falling in love with. This light was his soul and it was coming for mine, and I welcomed it.
“I’m yours,” I whispered and tilted my head to the side, giving him my neck. I submitted and it felt natural, it was something I needed to do, but I would have never understood, until he bit me.
Greyson sank his teeth into the flesh between my shoulder and neck, and he growled like a beautiful savage beast. I closed my eyes and I saw everything in flashes: his dragon with me riding his back, us standing together at an alter exchanging our wedding vows, and, finally, in his kitchen as he moved a hand over my swollen belly.
He growled once more and, in that instant, he came. He let me go, pulled his head back, then roared as loud as his lungs would allow. His chest heaved and fell, then slowly, he lowered his head with his lids closed.
He opened them and our eyes met, and it felt like the first time. Then his features shifted from a fierce beast to a man on the edge of collapse. He pulled free from me and took a step back. A tear slipped down his cheek, and he quickly wiped it away.
I’d never had someone scream out like he’d done when he came and I kind of felt damn proud of that. But, now, he was crying. A grown man, who I’d just had mind-blowing—no, life-altering sex with, was crying afterward.
“What happened?” I asked and took a few steps toward him. “Was it that good?” I asked, trying to be playful.
“You,” he started and ran a hand through his hair. He shook his head. “I had my suspicions, but I didn’t think there was any way possible it could have been you.”
“What are you talking about?” I felt concerned about his well-being. Had he lost too much semen and some of his brain cells with it? “Talk to me, Greyson. What happened?”
“I’m two-natured, as you know,” he said, his voice strained.
“Yes, and? I have no issue with that. Remember, I’m a witch.”
He shook his head again. “That’s just it. You’re not a witch.”
I frowned. “What? No, no, no, you must have lost a bit of your mind during sex. I am a witch. I have powers. You saw that.”
“Yes, you have powers, but, no, you’re not a witch. And before you say anything else, you need to hear me out. Will you give me that?”
I sighed then nodded. “Yes, go ahead.” I had a sinking feeling I knew what he was about to say, and I sent a silent prayer to the goddess above I was wrong. Of all people, of all places, of all times, it just wasn’t possible.
He paced back and forth in the pond, and I suddenly felt a chill. I lowered myself further in until the water crested over my shoulders. My hair floated around my body and Greyson looked a bit panic stricken. “Just tell me,” I shouted.
He stopped and stared at me, then nodded. “My gift as a Fae, and, believe me, it’s a gift but also a curse. When we find our mate, it’s like a cord binds us to one another. I can’t explain it, it’s just something that happens with my kind. I’ve been told it’s like a cosmic balance that comes into alignment.”
I stood and crossed the water to him. “Wait, I know I said I wouldn’t talk, but I have to tell you something. I felt the same thing happen. I can’t explain it, but as soon as we started having sex, it was like we were connected, body, mind, and soul.”
“Yes,” he said and grabbed my shoulders. “Our eyes glowed because our inner creatures knew we’re meant to be mates. You are my mate, Cesha. Now and forever, mine.”
The Cesha before meeting Greyson would have slapped him and run for the hills. However, the new Cesha loved hearing it. My heart fluttered and I smiled. “I am yours.” And the words were absolutely true.
His mouth attempted a smile, but it quickly faded. “There’s more.” He let me go and started to pace again.
“Greyson, for fucks sake, just tell me.”
He stopped, his back to me and his body slouched, as if giving in to defeat. “When I took you as my mate by biting into your neck,” he paused and turned to face me. “The essence of ourselves, our true selves, was shared between one another.”
My eyes widened, and I knew what he was talking about. “I saw it,” I whispered. “I saw everything. I saw us, together, our future.”
“Yes,” he whispered and came closer. “And I know where you came from. I saw it as well. Cesha, you’re the Princess of the Light Vales.”
I blinked and held my breath. He kept his gaze hard on mine, willing me to say something, anything, but I had no words.
“I’m such a fool for not realizing this sooner. You’re Princess Laila, the daughter of King Dorian and Queen Evanna, the sister of my best friend, Prince Caston.” He took another step back and shook his head.
This validated my earlier suspicions, but I couldn’t imagine what this information did to him. “Greyson,” I reached for him and took his hand. Gently, I pulled him back and wrapped my arms around him.
He rested his face into my neck and hugged me harder, tighter, than he had previously. He was grieving again for the loss of his best friend. It had to have been like ripping open an old wound to discover who I was. Hell, I wasn’t sure what to think of it myself. I mean, it makes a lot of sense now. The scars on my ears, being able to pass through the veil, and the connection with Greyson.
“There’s no way we could ever be together,” he mumbled into my neck.
I frowned, and my heart plummeted into my stomach. I pulled back and cupped his face. “Look at me, Greyson. Look at me, dammit!”
He sighed and met my gaze.
“I make my own decisions of who I want to be with. Not you. Not some old school bullshit that belongs in tenth century England for fucks sake. I want to be with you. I . . . I,” I couldn’t bring myself to say it. I loved him, but how do I say it? I was his mate, and he was mine, right?
“I love you,” he said as he stared into my eyes, our bodies still cleaving to one another’s.
I tilted his head back up and pressed my lips to his. Kissing him provided a refuel of my energy. I couldn’t be powerful without him, and he couldn’t exist without me. It was the truth; I knew it deep in my soul.
When I pulled back, I smiled. “I love you.” As soon as I said it, I wasn’t sure what had held me back in the first place. Was it past mishaps with men? I wasn’t sure, but something inside me just clicked into place. Like I was a lock and he my long-lost key. What mattered was Greyson and Cesha. “We’ll figure this out together, you and me.”
He rested his forehead on mine and inhaled a long, deep breath. “Where have you been all my life? You’re my mate, in every sense of the word, and knowing who you are now makes all the awareness I’ve felt toward you understandable. But you’re royalty.”
I smiled and cupped his face again. “I’m only a woman who’s in front of the man she loves. And, together, we’ll make this work.”
He nodded and pulled me close to his body. I wanted to stay like that forever.
“We need to make our way to the kingdom,” he said next to my ear. “Your father, the king, is still alive. He’d want to know you’re alive and here before he takes his last breath.”
“My father,” I repeated and this time it was me who had tears. I held onto Greyson even more tightly. “Will you be with me?”
“Of course.”
I closed my eyes as everything began to fall into place, like pieces of a puzzle coming together. Everything had changed. I held onto the visions of the future life we’d share: our flight, our union, and our future child. I had a family now to fight for and I would do everything to keep them within my grasp.
However, first, I would need to find a way past the prince and the big bitch. This was my land, this was my home, and they were trespassing.
It was time to go home.